Cabaiguan Has It All: Cubans, Canary Islanders and Commerce

Among the city’s most prosperous private businesses is La Cuevita, which takes its name from a big open-air market in Havana.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus 3 April 2023 — “There have always been people with money here,” says a vendor of household utensils in  Cabaiguán, a town in Cuba’s Sancti Spíritus province. He is talking to a recently arrived visitor from another province, who is surprised both by the wide range of products the vendor has for sale as well as their high prices. “Everything here is imported. What the ’mules’ don’t bring in, we get from mipymes (small and medium-sized private businesses, or SMEs).”

Among the merchandise in the store, which is located in a house dating from the early 20th century, are small metal shelves for food storage, kitchen utensils, wall decorations, clocks and containers to store everything from food to tools to cosmetics. “Tell me what you’re looking for and we’ll have it in Cabaiguán,” he tells the visitor, whose only interest is finding a matchbox. “A simple one or a flashy one?” asks the merchant.

The wide selection of goods in Cabaiguán is due, in part, to the large number of area residents who have Spanish nationality. “This is the Canarians’ Cuban perch,” says Leopoldina, an 82-year-old retiree who was among those who met last February with the Canary Islands’ president, Angel Victor Torres, during his trip to Cuba. Having a Spanish passport has changed people’s lives here because it allows them to bring things over and sell them.”

Among the city’s most prosperous private businesses is La Cuevita, which takes its name from a big open-air market in Havana. The business is located in a very large house, which extends across and entire block. Each room houses a different shop, each specializing in clothes, dishes, shoes or household appliances. There are no dark or dangerous corners. The store has ample lighting, smiling employees and a wide variety of products. continue reading

“They’re well stocked. The clothing stores are all very well designed so people don’t leave without buying something. They’re cozy, well organized and easy for customers to find what they’re looking for,” says Jorge, a resident of Sancti Spiritus who is on a short visit to the town. He admits he is impressed by the wide variety of products, things he cannot find in the provincial capital. “I’ll be coming here every time I need to buy something.”

“I’ll be coming here every time I need to buy something,” claims a resident of Sancti Spiritus, who was impressed with to the wide variety of products for sale in Cabaiguán. (14ymedio)

La Pinta, named for one of Christopher Columbus’s ships, is one of La Cuevita’s main competitors. Customers enter through what was once a family’s living room. Subsequent rooms display hardware, women’s clothing, children’s toys, mobile phone accessories, imported coffee, vitamins and nutritional supplements. Most of the merchandise comes from Mexico, Panama or other neighboring countries.

“In this town we’re advanced,” boasts a resident who is selling a wide range of bathroom hardware items: sinks, hoses, drains, and sanitary fittings. “Before, people here used to live off the land but now they live off this,” he says, pointing to packages of white cement and some silicone tubes that are part of his extensive stock. “We’re the town of the three C’s: Cuban, Canarian and commercial. A list to which one snarky passerby adds, “And costly too.”

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Citizen Insecurity Is Growing, According to the Cuban Conflict Observatory

A total of 363 repressive actions of the regime were registered by the organization in March, of which 64 occurred during the voting. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2023 — The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) recorded 372 demonstrations against the regime during the month of March. In its most recent report, the Miami-based organization also documented numerous cases of repression against activists and human rights defenders.

In its report, the Observatory highlighted the reappearance of graffiti with slogans offensive to the Government, such as “No to the Communist Party” or “Down with the dictatorship.” In addition, it detected an increase in protests by 60.3% compared to the 232 registered in March of the previous year.

However, taking into account the 711 demonstrations reported in February 2023, there has been a decrease that the OCC explains: the organization has decided not to include in its inventory, as they have been doing so far, the permanent campaigns of 200 activists.

The Observatory reported protests in 15 provinces of the Island, of which Havana, with 126 incidents, accumulated the majority. According to the report, of the demonstrations that took place in March, 189 were related to the claim of political and civil rights (50.8% of the total), while 183 were caused by demands for economic and social rights (49.2%).

During the month of March there were also several events related to the elections of deputies to Parliament, the ones with the lowest attendance since 1959. At least 8.1 million people were called to participate in the process, but 70.92% of the electoral roll attended, a figure that the Observatory finds unreliable. continue reading

The report also points out that the regime took advantage of the elections to repress several dissidents and independent journalists. In the middle of the electoral process, journalist Julio Aleaga Pesant was arrested and handcuffed for two hours inside a police car. Days later, a car with a military license plate rammed the car in which he was traveling through the capital. One of the collaborators of Diario de Cuba in Santiago de Cuba, Amado Robert Vera, was also harassed by State Security.

In addition, three CubaNet reporters — Enrique Díaz, Ángel Cuza and Osniel Carmona — were monitored in their homes and told to stay inside on election day. Finally, the organization stated that the regime prevented independent observers from monitoring the voting and observing the counting in the polling stations.

The Observatory stressed that crime and citizen insecurity intensified in Cuba in March. “What is most worrying are the violent crimes, especially by gangs of adolescents and children.” In the different provinces, in the first three months of the year, 10 murders took place in an attempt to steal a phone, a gold chain or an electric bike.

Femicides were also an alarming issue, the report said, with 19 murders between January and March (half of the total number of victims registered on the Island in 2022, which closed with 36).

In its report, the organization reiterates that insufficient wages and rampant inflation exacerbate social discontent, while mental illnesses increase, in a panorama of lack of medicines. “A one-off case revealed the apathy of people who witnessed the spectacle of an elderly woman with mental disorders who came out naked to protest. Those around her laughed or filmed her with their cell phones, but it took time before someone deigned to help her.”

The repression in the context of the parliamentary elections also occupied a central place in the report of another NGO, the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid. A total of 363 repressive actions of the regime were registered by the organization in March, of which 64 occurred during the voting.

Of these cases, 93 corresponded to arbitrary arrests and 270 to “other abuses.” There were 27 acts of harassment against political prisoners, and multiple police arrests were also reported, including that of Cuban YouTuber Hilda Núñez, alias Hildina.

Another notable case, the OCDH added, was that of activist Aniette González, arrested on March 23 and prosecuted for “outrage” to the Cuban flag in Camagüey. As for the political prisoners, they denounced the lack of medical attention to Maikel Puig and the violence of the jailers against Yuliesky Méndez, both in the Quivicán prison, in Mayabeque.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s National Bank Will Appeal the British Judgment on the Debt

The BNC is today a commercial bank, but until 1997 it acted as Banco Central de Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 April 2023 — The Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC) will appeal the sentence of the Superior Court of Justice of London which, on Tuesday, ruled in favor of the investment fund CRF I Limited by recognizing its rights to a debt of 72 million euros contracted by the Island.

Although judge Sara Cockerill granted a small technical victory to the regime, by estimating that the creditor is the BNC and not the Republic of Cuba, in reality nothing changes fundamentally, since this entity was subsumed into the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) and, ultimately, the Cuban State must assume the debt contracted by its own institutions.

In fact, the news of the appeal of the sentence has not been announced by any director of the bank, but by the Cuban Minister of Justice, Oscar Silvera. In a press conference reported by Prensa Latina this Wednesday, the minister reported that the defense of the BNC will appeal “by means of a document that must be submitted before May 19 of this year.”

From that moment, Silvera indicated, “the defense will have all the options to discuss and prove all its allegations, based on the possibilities and characteristics of English law.”

The minister highlighted the part that is convenient for the regime, that is, that the British magistrate left the Cuban State out of the lawsuit, returning to use the argument that “CRF is not Cuba’s legitimate creditor”: “It was not the República, because it never gave up its guarantee, and we consider that it is not a legitimate creditor of the BNC, because the act where that assignment was accredited is illegal.” continue reading

In Silvera’s opinion, the documents presented by CRF in the English court “were the result of a fraudulent action that was judged by the Cuban courts and the defendants testified at the hearing held last February in London.” With this, he was alluding to the conviction of various officials for alleged bribes paid by the investment fund to get them to approve the transfer of public debt and, with it, harm the country, which was Havana’s main line of defense in London.

“There are documents that prove the intention to harm the country and to affect the financial flows of the Cuban economy,” Silvera also said, considering that “the vulture fund’s actions” were “in bad faith.”

The news of the sentence in London was presented this Tuesday as a triumph by the official press, although it could not hide the most important thing: “From now on the process will continue only against the Banco Nacional de Cuba, which will have the right to establish the claims that permitted by English law.”

The litigation began in late January in a London court after the Cayman Islands-based venture capital fund CRF I, founded in 2009, sued the Island, considering itself the largest holder of the Island’s sovereign debt.

The BNC is today a commercial bank, but until 1997 it acted as Banco Central de Cuba. The BCN continued to be responsible for the registration, control and servicing of the debt it had placed until the creation of the BCC, which is why it is a defendant.

The debt originated from two credits that Cuba closed in 1984 with the European banks Crédit Lyonnais and L’Istituto Bancario Italiano, with the BNC as guarantor. Three years later, Fidel Castro declared his country’s debt “unpayable” – and in general the debts of all the former colonies as well – and the Island stopped complying with its creditors until Raúl Castro, in 2006, changed this policy.

Cuba renegotiated its debt with the Paris Club, but not with the London Club, to which CFR belongs, which claims to have received no response from Havana in the seven years during which it tried to make contact.

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At the Summit Against Inflation, Diaz-Canel Offers Barter and a Thousand Cuban Doctors

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel during the virtual summit against inflation. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 6 April 2023 — Eleven countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, including Cuba, agreed on Wednesday to create an alliance to jointly confront inflation. In that virtual meeting convened by the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, made several proposals, which he described as “practical actions of great impact” and include resorting to barter and making a thousand doctors available to his partners.

In their final statement, the leaders of Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines agreed, among other points, to “generate a principled circle of prosperity, economic growth and sustainable development for Latin America and the Caribbean.”

To do this, they commit to creating a “technical working group” composed of representatives of the Government of each country to establish an action plan with “logistical, financial and other measures” that allow “the exchange of basic basket products and intermediate goods” in “better conditions,” with the priority of “lowering prices” for the “poorer and most vulnerable” population.

The assembled countries consider that the rise in prices around the world is due, among other things, to “extra-regional military conflicts,” the slow economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and “a large external debt that especially affects low- and middle-income countries.” The text also mentions among the causes of inflation “the application of unilateral coercive measures contrary to international law that affect some countries,” without specifically referring to the United States sanctions against the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela. continue reading

Thus, they highlight “the need to have a more just, democratic, inclusive and supportive international financial system that allows the countries of our region to access the necessary financial resources and improve the conditions of external indebtedness.”

Without forgetting “the current trade agreements that each country maintains” – for example, those of Mexico with Canada and the United States, Caricom or Mercosur – they commit to “finding alternatives that allow improving physical and economic access to products.”

Some of the leaders gathered virtually at the summit against inflation. (Prensa Latina)

Among their proposals are “improving the efficiency of the entry and exit of products through ports and borders,” the “exchange of intermediate inputs, machinery and technology for the benefit of agricultural productivity” and “facilitating access to credit at the international level.”

The joint statement includes a good part of the suggestions made by Miguel Díaz-Canel in his speech. The Cuban president suggested barter, or exchange. “This is an attractive modality for Cuba due to the severe restrictions imposed on us by the blockade and the arbitrary and unjustified inclusion in the list of countries that, according to the United States, sponsor terrorism, which severely limits the country’s financial relations,” he explained in his speech, picked up by the official press.

Díaz-Canel, the head of a country immersed in an unprecedented crisis, also urges them to “take advantage of the potential, capacity and political will to undertake, without delay, practical actions of great impact on the well-being of our peoples.”

As an example, he says: “In Cuba we have two plants with the capacity to produce fertilizers; however, we do not have the necessary raw materials for it. To produce fertilizer we need phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. If some of the countries reach an agreement with Cuba to supply these inputs, we would be able to produce fertilizer and export it, and I think this is a scheme that can serve in other areas and in other countries.”

He also offers Cuba’s “extensive experience, particularly in the Health sector. We would be able to provide 1,000 comprehensive general practitioners to the populations that require it and also apply programs to confront chronic diseases such as diabetes and blindness,” reiterates the president, whose health missions deployed in dozens of countries are the country’s first source of income, ahead of remittances and tourism.

Díaz-Canel took the opportunity to thank the Mexican president, whom he refers to as “brother Andrés Manuel,” for organizing the summit.

López Obrador himself starred in one of the most controversial moments, declaring, with laughter and without an iota of irony: “I should go to Cuba and live there.”

The leaders called for an in-person meeting on May 6 and 7 in Cancun, Mexico.

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.

US Court Rejects a Lawsuit by 12 Cuban Heirs Against Two French Banks

BNP headquarters in Paris, one of the banks sued by the heirs of Carlos Núñez. (CC/De Boubloub)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, April 3, 2023 — The lawsuit against two French banks, Société Générale and BNP Paribas, for alleged trafficking in goods confiscated by the Castro regime was dismissed last Thursday by a court in New York. The complaint, based on the United States’ Helms-Burton law, was made by a dozen heirs of the Cuban, Carlos Núñez, owner of Banco Núñez, seized in 1960 by the revolutionary government of the Island.

Société Générale and BNP Paribas were sued for doing business with the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), owner of the former Banco Núñez after the nationalization, from which they would have obtained more than a billion dollars since 2000.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil has argued that Núñez’s heirs lack evidence to show that the Société Générale continued to handle BCC funds after the $ 1.34 billion fine that the entity agreed to pay in 2018 for evading U.S. sanctions against Cuba and other countries between 2004 and 2010.

As for BNP Paribas, the magistrate points out that the claims are too old and that it lacks jurisdiction to intervene. According to the plaintiffs, the entity routinely delivered cash to the BCC in Switzerland, in addition to making transactions with entities that work with it.

The news was released by the British agency Reuters, which tried to talk to the parties, without any of them – -neither the banks nor the heirs of Nuñez — willing to make statements. continue reading

The case began in 1996, when the approval of the Helms-Burton Act opened the way in the United States for this type of claim. However, the suspension of Titles III and IV prevented the litigation from advancing in those 23 years. The reactivation of both sections of the rule by Donald Trump, in 2019, re-opened the way.

In 2018, Société Générale agreed to the payment of a fine to avoid further sanctions from the U.S. Treasury, which accused it of having “intentionally and consciously violated U.S. economic sanctions related to Cuba, especially the Trading with the Enemy Act, preparing, carrying out and hiding U.S. dollar transactions using the U.S. financial system.”

The French bank made transactions worth $12 billion, of which approximately half were carried out from New York.

For its part, BNP Paribas paid a fine of $8.97 billion in 2014, imposed by the Treasury and Justice departments for having managed thousands of transactions with entities on the Island worth $1.7 billion.

“This fine, which is the largest imposed in history by the United States Government for violations of the blockade against Cuba and the sanctions in force against third countries, violates the norms of International Law and qualifies as an extraterritorial and illegal application of U.S. law against a foreign entity,” the Cuban Government denounced at the time.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Updated Data From Hurricane Ian Indicate That It Reached the Maximum, Category 5

A street in Cuba with the damage left by the passage of Hurricane Ian, last September. (EFE/Yander Zamora/Archivo)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 3 April 2023 — Ian, the devastating hurricane of 2022, briefly reached category 5, the maximum, with winds of up to 160 mph near the west coast of Florida. It caused the death of 156 people and damage of more than 112 billion dollars in the United States alone, according to data updated on Monday.

A new report from the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) indicates that Ian reached category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in Florida last September as a category 4 hurricane.

Hurricanes of the highest category are rare in the Atlantic basin, but Ian’s maximum sustained winds reached 160 mph in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, near where it made landfall in the Fort Myers area, on the southwest coast of Florida.

Ian thus became the 38th hurricane since 1924 that reached this maximum intensity of wind, even briefly, about seven hours before its impact on U.S. territory.

In addition to Ian, the four category 5 hurricanes computed in recent years were Lorenzo (2019), Dorian (2019), Michael (2018) and María (2017).

The NHC report also says this system left at least 156 direct or indirect deaths in the United States, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the country since 1980. continue reading

Also, the damage caused by Ian amounted to almost $113 billion, which places it as the third most expensive hurricane in the United States, only behind Katrina ($19 billion) and Harvey ($151billion), and the most expensive in Florida’s history.

Of the almost $113 billion in damages, most of it ($199 billion) occurred in Florida.

The fourth hurricane of 2022 in the Atlantic basin formed in the central Caribbean and passed through Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba before entering the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall in Fort Myers, on the west coast of Florida and, later, in South Carolina.

The system made landfall in southwest Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 28, crossed the state, entered Atlantic waters and, two days later, hit South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane.

Of the 66 direct deaths attributed to Ian, all in Florida, 41 were due to the storm surge that occurred in the area where it made landfall.

In central Florida, 12 direct deaths were recorded from the floods, according to the NHC report, which blames the hurricane for another 90 indirect deaths in the United States, including 84 in Florida, five in North Carolina and one in Virginia.

The main cause of death in those cases was lack of access to timely medical care, hurricane-related accidents and heart problems.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Several Hours Delay in Collecting the Body of a Woman Who Jumped from a 12-Story Building in Camaguey, Cuba

Image disseminated in networks of the body covered with a sheet, at the foot of the stairs of the building, one of the most recognizable in Camagüey. The slogans read: “The fatherland is worth more than life” and “No one surrenders here”. (Facebook/Egberto Angel Escobedo Morales)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2023 — A woman died this Tuesday after leaping from the top floor of a high-rise apartment building in the central Carlos J. Finlay avenue in Camagüey. The news became known, like so much else that the official press does not report, through social networks, and was confirmed to 14ymedio by the funeral home where her body was held in the afternoon. From there her identity and her approximate age were reported: her name was Lourdes Arias Morales and she was about 50 years old.

Around 8 in the morning, on-line commenter Egberto Ángel Escobedo Morales shared, “a lady dressed in a guard’s uniform and who apparently does not live in this building, decides to take her own life by jumping from this 12-story building,” which, he says, “has the record of about 15 suicides including this one, according to the residents.”

Escobedo Morales attached in his post photos of the body covered with a sheet, at the foot of the stairs of the building, one of the most recognizable in the city, and denounced: “It is 9:35 am and legal medicine has not yet arrived, just a patrol car that covered the body.”

Around the unidentified body, the slogans painted on the walls of the building’s entrance – “The country is worth more than life”, “No one surrenders here” – gave the scene an even more gloomy air.

And he continued: “The social and economic crisis unfortunately increases the cases of suicide, crimes and all kinds of violence in the desperate Cuban population.” continue reading

In the same city, last February, the official press confirmed the death of Michel Amodia Ferrer, director of the Camagüey Business Business Group, which his relatives reported was by suicide.

The data published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) indicate a rise in the number of suicides in Cuba in 2021, the last year recorded, although the Government does not call them that, but rather deaths from “intentionally self-inflicted injuries.” The rate per 100,000 inhabitants went from 14 in 2017 to 16 four years later.

Although the Island has the highest suicide rate on the continent, according to figures from the World Bank and other institutions, such as the Pan American Health Organization, the official media rarely address the issue.

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Cuban Regime Disguises as a Victory its Defeat in the London Trial for the National Bank of Cuba Debt

Demonstration of opponents of the Cuban regime during the trial in London. (Facebook/Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 4 April 2023 — The High Court of Justice in London ruled on Tuesday in favor of the investment fund CRF I Limited by recognizing its rights to a debt of 72 million euros contracted by the Island, although it has released the Cuban State from its direct responsibility. Judge Sara Cockerill has awarded a small technical victory to the regime by identifying the creditor as the Banco Nacional de Cuba (BNC), which does not change anything fundamentally since this entity has been subsumed into the Banco Central de Cuba (BCC), and, ultimately, the Cuban State must assume the debt contracted by its own institutions.

Once this preliminary question has been resolved, the magistrate declared herself “competent to judge the debt claims presented” in the London court and will be able to enter the merits of the lawsuit on a date yet to be determined. However, Havana can appeal this ruling, which opens the door to a demand from CRF for the entirety of the Cuban sovereign debt it owns, some 1.2 billion euros.

Initially, the news was disseminated by the official press and signed by the official spokesman Humberto López, who had privileged access to the resolution and prioritized the part of the sentence dedicated to the technical point of little relevance – “CRF is not a creditor of the Cuban State” – to present it as a victory: “It means that the Republic of Cuba is out of the lawsuit.” However, he could not hide the most important thing: “From now on the process will continue only against the Banco Nacional de Cuba, which will have the right to establish the claims that English law allows.”

The resolution, however, devotes extensive paragraphs to explain why the trial is going ahead and insists that although the BNC “lacked the capacity to consent on behalf of Cuba,” it did so on its own behalf and therefore “the debts represented by the agreements were validly assigned.”

The judge considers that the CRF has, consequently, “the right to rely on the contractual provisions contained therein in terms of the jurisdiction of the English court,” which makes it “competent to judge the debt claims presented here.” continue reading

The decision satisfied the investment fund, which indicated, through its president, David Charters, its interest in “finding a solution with Cuba that (has) zero impact on its budget for at least five years, recognizing the difficult economic situation that crosses the country.”

“Cuba gained a technical point in this sentence that we have already corrected and we do not expect this matter to affect the eventual final result, which is a complete victory for CRF,” he added with regards to what remains to be determined.

The litigation began at the end of January in the London court after the venture capital fund CRF I, founded in 2009 and based in the Cayman Islands, sued the Island for considering itself the largest holder of the Island’s sovereign debt.

The BNC is today a commercial bank, but until 1997 it operated as Banco Central de Cuba (BCC). The BCN continued to be responsible for the registration, control and servicing of the debt it had placed until the creation of the BCC, which is why it is a defendant.

The debt originated from two loans that Cuba closed in 1984 with the European banks Crédit Lyonnais and L’Istituto Bancario Italiano, with the BNC as guarantor. Three years later, Fidel Castro declared his country’s debt “unpayable” – and in general that of all the former colonies – and the Island stopped complying with its creditors until Raúl Castro, in 2006, changed this policy.

Cuba renegotiated its debt with the Paris Club, but not with the London Club, to which CRF I belongs, which claims to have received no response from Havana in the seven years during which it tried to make contact. For the regime, the fund, which it describes as a “vulture,” is not a legitimate creditor, since it obtained this debt illegally, bribing a BNC employee who was convicted of bribery on the island and had to testify in the trial from jail where he is serving a 13-year sentence for bribery.

In addition, the defense of the Cuban Government alleged that the established procedures were not followed: obtaining two signatures and government authorization.

CRF I rejected the accusation of bribery and doubted the veracity of the imprisoned official’s testimony. He further stated that it acquired the debt correctly and is, therefore, a legitimate creditor.

Dozens of opponents went to London during the trial to protest at the gates of the court against the Cuban regime and urging the judge to force the Government to pay, although what was being resolved in court was not that issue, but the legitimacy of the fund as a creditor

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From Havana, US Agricultural Businesses Ask That Cuba be Removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorist List

Paul Johnson affirmed that Washington’s sanctions harm the interests of businessmen on both sides of the Florida Straits. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 April 2023 — American agricultural businesses, meeting in Havana on Tuesday, criticized Washington’s inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, because in their judgment it lacks ’common sense’ and affects the opportunities to invest in the Island.

During the inauguration of the IV Cuba-USA Agricultural Conference, which ends on Thursday, the president of the bilateral Agricultural Coalition, Paul Johnson, affirmed that Washington’s sanctions harm the interests of businesses on both sides of the Florida Straits.

Likewise, he welcomed the “new economic policies” on the island and called for greater cooperation between the two governments and between companies, as well as an increase in academic exchanges.

All this, continued the president of the Bilateral Agricultural Coalition, in order to “solve shared problems” and “build trust.”

In addition, Johnson added that “the connection between US and Cuban citizens” is the “best hope for removing political obstacles” between the two countries.

In this sense, Frank Castañeda, president of the Agricultural Business Group of Cuba, thanked the “active role” of the US lobby in that sector to “erode the blockade, which inflicts so much anguish and pain on the Cuban people.” continue reading

Castañeda highlighted the government reforms in the Cuban agricultural sector, which allow foreign businessmen to invest in that area of ​​the economy.

The IV Cuba-USA Agricultural Conference is expected to conclude this Thursday with a press conference.

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Cuba Has Double the Number of Femicides Compared to the Same Period in 2022

Rosa Amelia Sotolongo was murdered by her partner in Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havena, 4 April 2023 — Rosa Amelia Sotolongo, 22, was murdered last Sunday by her partner in her home located in Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos province. Sotolongo marks the 20th victim of sexist violence so far in 2023, a figure that doubles the nine femicides that were registered by the same date last year.

Although her case has not yet been confirmed by the independent organizations that keep track of femicides — in the absence of official statistics — a friend of Sotolongo, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the independent newspaper CubaNet that the murderer brutally attacked the victim with a machete, in the presence of her two children. Some details have also come out on social networks that support this version.

According to the facebook page headed Cubanos en Uruguay y Brasil, the assailant, who has not yet been identified, arrived at the house on Sunday morning and stabbed the victim several times in her chest and lung. The subject attacked the woman in front of her five-year-old daughter, who, upon witnessing the scene, took her two-year-old brother and went with him to the neighbor’s house to call the police.

Two police officers arrived at the scene, but they requested reinforcements from a provincial station located 64 kilometers from the victim’s home. “I cannot understand how two armed men were afraid of one who did not have a gun,” questions the CubaNet source . continue reading

The version circulating on the networks is that the subject threatened two people who tried to stop him and even injured a young man who defended himself: “Then she got stabbed inside the house.”

Network users assure that the agents arrested the murderer, but the source consulted by CubaNet could not confirm this version. Her friend insisted that the subject had a history of violence with Sotolongo and that he had previously attempted suicide “because of his mental illness.”

Two weeks earlier, the previous victim was Darisleni Fuentes Infante, murdered by her ex-partner on March 19 in the Popular de Pesquería Council, belonging to the municipality of Baraguá, in Ciego de Ávila. Ten days earlier, Elaidy Alonso Arbolaez, 27, was also killed by a man who “harassed her” in the community of Condado, in the municipality of Trinidad, in the province of Sancti Spíritus

Most of the femicides registered on the Island are carried out by partners and ex-partners of the victims. To date, February is the most violent month with 13 murders, in addition to three in January and three in March. The ’reddest’ provinces have been Guantánamo, Villa Clara, Matanzas, Camagüey, Havana, as well as Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus and Ciego de Ávila.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Paraguay Sends Humanitarian Aid to Cuba for Hurricane Ian and the Industrial Fire in Matanzas

In the fire at the Supertanker base, 17 people lost their lives. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Asunción, 5 April 2023 — Paraguay will send seven tons of medical materials to Cuba as part of humanitarian aid following the consequences of the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker base, which caused the deaths of 17 people last August, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry.

The medical supplies are also delivered “in response to the country’s request” to deal with the devastation left by Hurricane Ian, in September 2022, read a statement published by the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry.

The industrial fire in Matanzas and the passage of Hurricane Ian in Cuba were “events that seriously affected the essential infrastructure of that country,” it said.

“The shipment of the donation will be made with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Paraguay, which assumed the costs for the arrival of the lot in the city of Havana,” the Foreign Ministry added.

The Paraguayan Foreign Ministry explained that “the donated inputs do not affect the needs of the Paraguayan population,” since, according to the note, “these are products with sufficient availability by the Ministry of Health, corresponding to remnants of the preparation in the face of last year’s covid-19 pandemic.”

“This gesture of international solidarity cements the bonds of friendship that unite the peoples of Paraguay and Cuba, and contributes to reinforcing the role of our country as a provider of international cooperation,” it added.

The fire at the Matanzas supertanker base is considered the biggest industrial disaster in the history of Cuba and has had serious economic, energy and environmental repercussions for the country.

For its part, the passage of Hurricane Ian, category three (out of five) on the Saffir-Simpson scale, caused considerable material damage in western Cuba, as it passed north towards Florida.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Relatives Ask for Help to Find 35 Rafters who Left Cuba in March

The US Coast Guard reinforced surveillance on the high seas and has detained several groups of Cuban rafters. (Twitter/@USCGSoutheast)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2023 — The Humanitarian Parole established by the United States last January has not deterred Cubans from continuing to leave through irregular means, and dozens of them continue to try to reach the Florida coast. This is the case of two groups of at least 35 people who are missing, according to their relatives.

Santiago Jesús Álvarez, one of these disappeared persons, had to sell his refrigerator and television to be able to pay for the trip on the raft, his mother María Álvarez told Univisión 23. Twenty people left Santiago de Cuba on the boat on the 16th March, including several children and a pregnant woman. “I would like to know that at least he is alive, that he is in the Bahamas and that he will return one day.”

According to official data, in the last six months the Coast Guard has frustrated the landing attempts in Florida of 6,250 Cuban rafters, a figure that already exceeds the 6,182 for the entire previous year.

The twin brothers Alexey and Asley González Méndez, 31, their friend Yusdiel de Armas and 12 other people, who left the island for Sagua la Grande on March 24, are also missing, reported Yaiset Rodríguez Fernández through his Facebook account. “Their relatives and friends are desperate because they have not heard from them,” he stressed.

Jairon Leal commented in the publication that this group could be the one that was intercepted by a US Coast Guard vessel, since there were 15 people found, “several of them from Cienfuegos.”

The US agency reported this Tuesday that it “transferred 23 Cubans aboard the Manowar ship” to the Bahamas after they were rescued from the area known as Placer de los Roques.

That same day, it was reported that another 47 people had been returned to the Island on the ship Margaret Norvell after two interceptions off the Florida coast. On Sunday the US returned another group of 67 Cubans. Lieutenant John Beal of the 7th District reiterated that “those rafters who go ashore will be detained and processed for removal.”

Although the landing of Cubans in Florida has decreased since last January, the chief officer of the Border Patrol, Walter Slosar, documented with images the arrival of 89 nationals of the Island in the month of March. The largest group was registered after the arrival of 48 Cubans in two rafts at the Dry Tortugas National Park on March 4.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The First Effects of the London Trial’s Verdict on Cuba’s Debt

Headquarters of the Central Bank of Cuba. (Flickr/Maxence)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 5 April 2023 — On January 23, a trial began in the British High Court of Justice for a debt claim of the CRF I Ltd. fund (plaintiff) against the National Bank of Cuba and the Republic of Cuba (defendants). A trial that, as expected, was not going to have a quick resolution, as finally happened on April 4, with the ruling of Judge Sara Cockerill, in charge of the trial. It took just over two months to arrive at a solid document of 94 pages, structured into 41 sections and some conclusions, and whose reading, loaded with legal technicalities as it could not be otherwise, comes to resolve, for the moment, the judicial matter related to a sovereign debt claim.

Rivers of ink have led to this conclusion of the trial, which is expected to become a precedent, and which is interpreted as a win by both parties.

For Cuba, because it will not have to face payment of the debt, at least for the moment. It is already established that CRF is not a creditor of the Cuban state but of the BNC, which means that the Republic of Cuba is out of the lawsuit. From now on, the trial will continue only against the BNC, which will have the right to establish the defense allowed by English law.

For CRF I, because it is not qualified as a “vulture fund,” and the court accepts its ownership of the debt and its status as a legitimate creditor, as well as the conditions under which the entire financial operation has been developed.

It could be assumed so far that everyone is happy and that Judge Cockerill’s decision is very Solomonic, but that’s not the case. Consulted legal experts, who are able to read the contents of the sentence with a much more professional look than an economist, can reach a series of conclusions that deserve attention. continue reading

The ruling, subject to appeal, leaves both parties without achieving their main objectives. CRF I finds it difficult to collect the claimed debt; hence, a director of the entity has already offered to begin negotiations with the regime. For Cuba, the sentence represents an international slap on the wrist for terrible public management of its debt policy and an anachronistic bureaucracy that transfers responsibility to employees to prevent the damage from reaching the top.

It is true that the judge does not investigate in depth the totalitarian roots of the communist regime, and this can make him lose perspective, but he did address economic and financial issues in a comprehensive way, even with that brief historical recourse to the background of the BNC in the times of Prío Socarrás [President of Cuba, 1948-1952].

No one should see in the ruling a document critical of the management of the regime prepared by the democratic opposition. It is a text of an independent judicial ruling that shows the complex mechanisms and bureaucratic tangle with which the Cuban communist regime attends to its financial affairs. First conclusion: it does not seem that the list of investors in Cuba is going to increase.

In addition to the breaches of the debt service, the algorithms of international analysts will be nourished by the information from this ruling, and the Havana regime, no matter how much its spokespeople say, is going to be demoted as a recipient of investments and loans.

The international image of terrible managers, corrupt practices and falsifying ownership of credit institutions to avoid lawsuits which derives from the ruling, should worry the regime, because it entails loss of credibility and trust and will make it even more difficult to access the international financial markets. The proximity to the closing off of credits is more than real. What will probably happen, since the parties have not achieved their objectives, is that they will appeal the ruling and prolong the trial.

In fact, a careful reading of the judgment guides the plaintiff (and many others) how to approach the claim to collect the debt, but the regime has some tranquility in the short term and is allowed to present the result as a triumph.

That is why I agree with my colleague Emilio Morales when he points out that in any judgment about the debt of the Cuban regime, the mechanism of transferring that debt from one entity to another has to be analyzed. That analysis is essential to “determine whether Havana’s assets are today in tax havens or in the hands of foreign entities that could be sued.” He adds, “the genesis of this conflict is to determine how they they were able to remove those assets from the BNC and transfer them to the BCC. There was an act of bad faith in the 90s when dividing the bank.” On these issues, Judge Cockerrill did not want to get involved.

And one last observation. The regime announced last January that the Superintendency of the Central Bank of Cuba, as a technical body with autonomy for the exercise of its functions assigned by the law related to the inspection, surveillance and control over the institutions that carry out financial and banking activity in the country, would be “in charge of reporting the results of the trial in a timely manner.” That has not happened. Instead, a Cuban television journalist has assumed that role.  Even in their statements they contradict each other. Our nerves are on edge.

Translation by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

United Nations World Food Program Reports that Cubans Between the Ages of 14 and 60 Suffer from Malnutrition

Cubans have access to unhealthy food that ends up causing obesity and malnutrition. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 5 April 2023 — “The diet of the average Cuban household is poor in micronutrients and not sufficiently healthy or diverse due to limited and unstable availability of nutritious foods, socioeconomic factors, and poor eating habits.” The World Food Program (WFP), an arm of the United Nations, is forceful in its annual report on Cuba, which provides data that allows us to verify that the testimonies collected by 14ymedio are not anecdotal.

The document evaluates the current situation of the country, summarizes the aid that has been sent and reviews the challenges that the Island is facing due to the national and international crisis, as well as political decisions that it “supervises,” such as the Tarea Ordenamiento* (Ordering Task), which “still It hasn’t achieved the desired results.”

The assessment that the WFP makes of the Cuban diet could hardly be worse, especially if one takes into account that the country subsidizes or guarantees some foods, precisely with the collaboration of that organization. “Dietary diversity is limited and nutritional recommendations for all age groups are not met,” the report highlights, with a concrete example.

“The rationed food supply for the population group whose age ranges from 14 to 60 years only covers 36% of energy intake, 24% of daily protein recommendations and 18% of fat,” it says, citing an official study. continue reading

The WFP states that the consequences of malnutrition are overweight and obesity precisely because of macronutrient deficiency. According to the report, this is a growing concern for the health authorities, despite which the preparation of highly sugary and salty foods continues to be favored.

Emphasis is also placed on the inequality generated by access to foreign currency: those who do not receive remittances suffer the most from malnutrition. “The monthly minimum wage is insufficient to cover the nutritional requirements recommended for the Cuban population (2,300 kcal),” the document added. State workers and retirees are among the most affected.

The Ordering Task, which also eliminated much of the pre-existing food subsidies, takes much of the blame for the food shortage. In the opinion of the WFP, the measure contributed to boosting inflation above expectations – 40% year-on-year from October 2021 to October 2022, which currently already exceeds 44% and in the food sector is greater than 70%. The result of this is greater vulnerability.

“As a result, the country experienced food shortages, including the main cereals (wheat flour, rice and corn), beans, vegetables, dairy products and meat (beef and pork),” adds the text, which specifies that Cuban households spend between 55% and 65% of their income on food, a disproportionate percentage.

Picadillo (ground meat) in a Cuban butcher shop. (14ymedio)

Despite this, the report is not particularly hard on the government and considers that the situation could be even worse. “Cuba was ranked 83rd with a score of 0.764 in the 2021-2022 Human Development Report, above most Latin American countries, due to the country’s social protection programs and universal access to basic services. In addition, it praises the extensive vaccination coverage against covid-19 with the nationally produced vaccines, although the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) is still not forthcoming.

To alleviate the food security problems that the Island suffers, the WFP collaborates with the authorities. In 2022, the agency bought $10.7 million in rice, oil, flour, cereals, corn and soy mix, as well as other powdered foods with macronutrients, including milk, after discovering in data from the National Institute of Hygiene , Epidemiology and Microbiology that there was a high prevalence of anemia among babies from 6 to 23 months of age in Havana and other central provinces. Thus, it was decided to expand the coverage, which was also planned for the eastern zone at the request of the Cuban Government.

The WFP served a total of 10% more people than in 2021, a total of 789,068 beneficiaries, 56% of whom were women.

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] 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. 

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Unattractive Salary Leads Cuban Baseball Player Yasiel Gonzalez To Resign

Since March, baseball player Yasiel González has not been on the Holguín team. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 April 2023 — Yasiel González was one of the eight players who did not appear a month ago on the list presented at the Pernik Hotel by the Cachorros de Holguín team for the 62nd National Series of Cuba. A journalist based in the United States, Yasel Porto, reported on Wednesday that the 26-year-old athlete resigned from Cuban baseball “without confirming the reasons.”

González has been seen in the stands of the Calixto García stadium supporting his former teammates. According to the Facebook site “Colada Power,” the baseball player from Gibara wanted to leave the sport because of “the low salaries.”

Porto stressed on his social networks that behind the departures  of several players and the desertions are “the material conditions within a tournament that grows weaker every day” and where the players of the National Series receive an average of 3,500 Cuban pesos (145 dollars), “a very low figure, which is not enough for almost anything” in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 2,100 pesos (87 dollars).

The figures from 2020 for the players on the Island depend on their category. A member of the national pre-selection who participates in the National Series receives 3,525 Cuban pesos (156 dollars) monthly; while a player from the Reserve of the National Pre-selection and the National Series receives 2,400 pesos (100 dollars), according to Play-Off Magazine. continue reading

The tournament is “managed under the amateur concept,” a source told 14ymedio. “There are baseball players with professions, so what they do is ask for a sports license and the Government covers that amount.” To the money they receive are added the diets they are given and what they get from the products that are shared that they can “sell on the left [under the table],” an example of these being soft drinks.

Like Yasiel González, at the beginning of March, Rafael Viñales decided not to participate any longer with the Leñadores de Las Tunas. “The disappointment of not participating in the World Classic” and his current economic situation led him to leave baseball, according to journalist Gretel Yanet.

“Athletes begin to realize that their salary does not give them enough to support their families or they have housing and transportation problems, like everyone in the country. Then they begin to see other possibilities outside,” warned Juan Charles Díaz, the coach in the pre-selection of Vegueros, in February.

Díaz was clear: “Many athletes are leaving because there is no insurance and they do not have their problems solved.” Figures from journalist Francys Romero indicate that last year at least 120 Cuban players left the Island in various ways.

Iván Prieto decided not to return to the Island after his participation in Team Asere in the World Classic. (Facebook)

Others take advantage of the trips to not return. Cuban baseball player Iván Prieto, who decided not to return to Havana after his participation in the World Classic, signed his contract with the Mexican team of the Campeche Pirates last Tuesday. The agreement was announced by the Leona Sports agency, which represents the catcher, and according to the habanero Carlos Pérez, he has signed for the 2024 season.

A few days ago Prieto told Cuban Pelota that he decided to leave the Island because he saw that his “career was stagnant” with the current level of the National Series. “The decision was first because of sports issues, because I want to improve myself and prove myself in a higher level of baseball,” said the athlete.

This native of Holguín made the decision not to return to Cuba after being in the United States. “I thought about it, I analyzed it, I talked about it with my family and decided to make the decision,” in search of the dream that “everyone has, which is to play at the highest level in baseball.”

Prieto defended the teams of Holguín and Granma in seven National Series. Among his statistics, an offensive line stands out with an average of .287, with 36 doubles, a triple and 17 home runs.

He was the third catcher of the Cuban team in the West Palm Beach Pre-Olympics of 2022, and after his decision he became the first player to stay within the framework of a World Classic.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.