14ymedio – Page 123 – Translating Cuba

Musicians and Dancers at Risk of Electrocution Due to Leaks at the Havana’s National Theater

Exterior of the National Theater of Cuba on Wednesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, March 23, 2023 — The leaks that flooded the stage of Avellaneda Hall at the National Theater in Havana, where the Cuban National Ballet performed last Sunday, created more than just an “uncomfortable moment,” as musician Osmany Hernandez noted in a social media post on Tuesday.

The accompanying images on Facebook illustrate the magnitude of the disaster. A thin thread of water runs across the top of a music stand and drops of water fall from its lamp as the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatro de La Habana accompanies the ballet. Water can also be seen filtering through the ceiling between the spotlights.

“A piano, stringed instruments, conductor, musicians and wet electrical equipment.” Hernandez notes all are impacted by “the routine leak that appears whenever it rains.”

Witnesses told 14ymedio that even the artists were in danger, with ballerinas dancing on a wet stage near high-voltage equipment. They reported that leaking water could also be found throughout the building: “On the tables, above the musicians, in the basement and on windows. “Even the musicians and the instruments got wet.” Despite these conditions, the performance went on, uninterrupted.

In a social media post, Osmany Hernandez, a bassoonist and instructor at Havana’s Guillermo Tomás Conservatory, asks authorities to take action “to safeguard one of the few theaters we have left.”

He took the opportunity to remind readers that the Karl Marx Theater and the Grand Theater of Havana are “closed due to termites,” and that the Amadeo Roldán has been closed for years due to construction problems resulting from “a terrible repair job.” continue reading

“Our National Theater is now overrun with termites and there is growing deterioration of the facilities and musical instruments, such as harps, that are kept there,” he continues. It is a claim that is corroborated by his colleagues.

One of them is Igor Ernesto Corcuera Cáceres, director of the National Concert Band and professor at the Higher Institute of Art in Havana “And that’s in Avellaneda, which is the space in the best shape… Imagine what that says about its step-sister, the Covarrubias Hall, which is infested with bats and termites. The ONLY harp the National Symphony Orchestra still has is in serious danger of being ruined, not to mention double basses and other instruments.”

“Inconceivable indifference and deterioration,” adds René Gacives. “To the list, add the Sala Dolores in Santiago, which is now closed and in danger of collapse, and the International Choir Festival center in Santiago de Cuba.” Hernandez’s reply: “And nothing is happening.”

“The cultural budget is being cut. The complaints by our soloists, concertmasters and alternating soloists are not being taken into account under the new model, which is discouraging to those of us who choose to stay. And on top of that, we’re not allowed say anything.”

In another post, Hernandez mentions that he was ordered not to reveal anything on social media about the complaints. “And when exactly will some of these urgent problems be taken into consideration? Is it better to stay silent than to point out problems that threaten our professional existence? I don’t think everyone in a position to solve this problem knows about it. I know that those who are truly interested in culture are bending over backwards to resolve this.”

“I know that the staff of the National Theater of Cuba are dedicated and go out of their way to help,” Corcuera Cáceres concedes. “But things at this point are now more than they can handle. They don’t have the budget or resources to solve this problem. It takes investment at a higher level (so to speak).”

Water soaks a music stand in the orchestra of the Cuban National Theater’s Avellaneda Hall. (Screen capture)

The flutist Alberto Rosas is even harsher in his comments: “This is the result of the incompetence, fraud, ineptitude, inefficiency and corruption of a failed system that plagues the Cuban people. This is the the sort of thing has always been condemned and denounced by conscientious citizens. I am fully aware of that. But because the theater does not have an owner, no one suffers the consequences. Its leaders wash their hands of it to safeguard the meager benefits they get compared to ordinary people for their poor performance. Cuba is falling apart. This is what they’ve done to what was once known as the Pearl of the Caribbean.”

The National Theater of Cuba opened in 1979 to coincide with the Sixth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. However, the authorization for its construction dates from 1951, before the Revolution. The original plan was inspired by the Radio City Music Hall in New York but that vision never came to fruition.

The musician who published the original post ended the thread by reporting, “Today they began to repair the roof. I hope it turns out well. Many of us who work there really need it.” On Wednesday, 14ymedio confirmed that some sort of repair is being carried out. At least there was a workman on the roof.

The musicians’ complaints coincide with the publication in official media outlets of a report acknowledging problems of inefficiency and corruption at state cultural organizations. Artists consulted for this article interpret the report as an attempt to do away with these organizations and allow small or mid-size private companies to take over their operations.

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Two Cubans Arrive in Key West on a Motorized Hang Glider

The motorized hang glider in which two Cubans arrived in the United States. (@mcsonews/Twitter)

EFE/14ymedio, Miami/Havana, 25 March 2023 — Two Cubans were arrested this Saturday at Key West International Airport, in southern Florida, where they arrived aboard a motorized hang glider, police sources confirmed.

Adam Linhartd, spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, said that the two Cuban citizens, about whom he claimed to have no information, were handed over to the Border Patrol.

The arrival occurred around 10.30 am local time, and apparently the Cubans had not suffered any injuries during their flight.

The Border Patrol limited itself to reporting the detention of the two migrants without giving details and thanked the Monroe Sheriff’s Office for its support.

The tourist island of Key West is located 90 miles from Cuba and, like the rest of the Florida Keys, is an area where Cubans land in rudimentary boats.

Arrivals by air, like today’s, are unusual. On October 21, 2022, Cuban pilot Rubén Martínez Machado fled Cuba in a Russian-made Antonov aircraft and landed at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, located in the middle of the Everglades. Originally detained, heis now free, after a judge granted him political asylum.

One of the arrivals was a 29-year-old pilot of the Cuban Air Services Company, belonging to the Cuban Aviation Corporation, and he left the Island from Sancti Spíritus.

Customs agents interrogated the pilot as soon as he landed, and he was immediately put in the custody of the authorities.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuba’s Elections for Parliament Start With Low Attendance and Less Enthusiasm

In the bus station of the city of Camagüey, a polling station for travelers was established, but it looked empty this Sunday morning. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 March 2023 — The low attendance at the polling stations is marking Sunday in Cuba, where this March 26th the polls have opened early to ratify the 470 candidates who will occupy, for five years, the 470 seats in the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP).

Although more than 8.1 million people are eligible to participate in the process, in many of the 23,648 polling stations the images of few lines were repeated this morning. Most of these were in the early hours but the numbers have diminished as the day progresses, according to reports compiled by 14ymedio.

In several polling places in the municipalities of Centro Habana and Diez de Octubre, in the Cuban capital, at the stroke of nine in the morning, the volunteers who work at the polling stations and the children dressed as pioneers who traditionally guard the ballot boxes, were barely visible.

“Here the only ones I have seen go to vote are the organizers of the election and a neighbor who is an official of the Inder [National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation],” a young artist living in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood in Centro Habana told to this newspaper, having decided herself not to vote this Sunday.

An polling place in Havana opened its doors early to ratify the 470 candidates of the National Assembly of Popular Power. (14ymedio)

The travelers who arrived this morning at the bus station in the city of Camagüey also found a polling station located on the premises to provide facilities to voters who are far from their areas of residence. However, 14ymedio verified that very few of the passengers approached the table to obtain a ballot. continue reading

“I came to visit my family because now I was able to get a ticket from Havana and if I wasn’t going to vote in the place where I live, I’m not going to do it here,” claimed a retiree who was waiting at the station to buy a ticket back to the Cuban capital.

Nor, in the city of Sancti Spíritus, has enthusiasm to participate in a process in which parliamentary candidates need to receive the support of more than 50% of the valid votes cast to occupy their seat in the ANPP been perceived in the early hours of the day.

The only polling place where more than a dozen voters were seen waiting to vote is located on the Zaza Highway and its residents are mainly military. “In my neighborhood, even the elderly say that they are not going to vote because that doesn’t solve anything anyway,” says Yania, a young resident of the city’s historic center.

The low attendance that is perceived so far does not surprise anyone. The two previous occasions in which Cubans have participated in an electoral process have been in the referendum on the Family Code, last September, when the abstention was almost 26%, and in the municipal elections in November, in which it reached a historic high of 31%.

A polling place with few voters on Avenida Acosta in Havana’s Die de Octubre municipality. (14ymedio)

On this occasion, several opposition organizations and activists of various political colors called on people not to participate in the elections, with the hashtag #YoNoVoto. The abstention campaign was answered by the Cuban regime, which filled the official media with calls for a “united vote” to guarantee that the 470 candidates are elected.

Since early hours, the political police have prohibited several elections observers from leaving their homes, according to a complaint by Zelandia Pérez, coordinator of the Cuban Commission for Electoral Defense and a resident in Havana. State Security placed a police patrol outside Pérez’s house to prevent her from observing the electoral process.

Where long lines have not been lacking on this day is outside the bakeries, shops and other commercial premises dedicated to the sale of basic products. So far, Cubans seem more interested in getting something to put on their plates than in ratifying the parliamentarians of the next legislature in their seats.

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A County in Northern Ireland Requests Doctors From the Cuban ‘Henry Reeve’ Brigade for a Hospital

The South West Acute Hospital, in the Northern Irish city of Enniskillen, closed the emergency surgery room in November due to a lack of staff. (HSC)

14ymedio, Madrid, 24 March 2023 — Given the lack of staff in one of its hospitals, a local government in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) is asking Cuba for doctors. As reported on Thursday by the BBC on its news website, the authorities of Fermanagh County have sent a letter to the Embassy of the Island in London in which they ask if the Henry Reeve Brigade “could provide assistance” to the South West Acute Hospital, in Enniskillen, “so that it can meet the required staffing standards.”

The center had suspended its general surgery service in the emergency room last November due to a lack of healthcare workers.

As is the case throughout the United Kingdom with its National Health Service, the management of the hospital budget and the hiring of personnel are carried out by trusts that are distributed throughout the country. In this case, the Western Trust is responsible.

On March 15, the county’s policy and resources committee extended an invitation to this trust to accept the proposal, but the local media has not reported whether it has responded or not.

The Fermanagh Herald mentions that the problems of this trust “to recruit and retain medical personnel” in that hospital have caused a crisis, which local councilors are trying to remedy by importing Cuban health workers. continue reading

The diplomatic headquarters responded to the politicians immediately, indicating that the request for medical personnel had been transferred to the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba. A letter signed by Marta Castillo, who is in charge of cooperation matters at the Embassy, asks for as many details as possible about the staff and specialties required by the County Council, and also suggested holding a video call with the councilors about it.

Not all members of the Fermanagh Council, however, are satisfied with the hiring of Cubans. The most enthusiastic is independent counselor Eamon Keenan (from the left, judging by his social networks), who is responsible for the initiative and stated that he “never had any doubt” that Cuban doctors would take the county’s request seriously. He alleged that the Western Trust itself had expressed its willingness to hire staff “at the international level,” so this was “a great opportunity.”

“Cuba, a country that lives under strong economic sanctions from the United States, can and is willing to send medical support to us, the poor people of Fermanagh,” Keenan said.

Counselor Victor Warrington (of the Unionist Party) was more skeptical and pointed out that they need “permanent responses to our problems and not a Band-Aid.” In addition, he specified that the imported Cubans “probably would be temporary.”

For his part, Donal O’Cofaigh (of the Labor Party), said that even if Cuban doctors were there for only one or two years, their presence could help “stabilize” the situation until they found “permanent surgeons.”

The Henry Reeve Brigade, defined as an “international contingent of doctors specialized in situations of disaster and serious epidemics,” was created by Fidel Castro in 2005, as propaganda after the passage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Since then, it has intervened in different countries in cases of floods, earthquakes and outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it acted in a total of 40 countries, according to data from the Cuban Government.

Unlike other missions in Havana, it boasts of being “charitable,” and has even been proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize. According to the NGO Cuba Archive, the Henry Reeve Brigade is simply an “exportable product” of the military dictatorship, and, as it warned the award committee in Oslo in a public letter in 2020, “it is an intrinsic part of a human trafficking scheme” that violates international law.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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World Press Baffled by Cuban-Style Democracy

Cuba does not hold real elections but all the trappings — campaigns, rallies and propaganda — are there.

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 24 March 2023 — Two days before elections for Cuba’s National Assembly, the world press is watching the lead-up to the vote with bafflement. The conclusion: no one really votes in Cuba but all the trappings — campaigns, rallies, and propaganda — are there to serve as staging for Cuban-style democracy.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) describes President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s appearances during the run-up as an “unusual political campaign,” especially in Santa Clara, the city that nominated him for national office and from which he has been re-elected “more than a dozen times.”

The French news agency describes Cuba as a “communist country unaccustomed to electoral campaigning” as exhibited by its current president, who is trying to contain growing voter apathy in a “dissatisfied society.” It also cites Cuban electoral law, which prohibits “all forms of individual electoral propaganda,” something none of the candidates – praised to a fever pitch by their local media outlets – have complied with.

The Associated Press (AP), an agency which generally takes a complacent attitude towards the regime, has adopted a more critical tone in its analysis of the electoral process. “The day’s result seems inevitable, though one closely-watched indicator will be how many voters abstain,” it says.

AP notes ironically that Cubans will elect 470 representatives from a list with the same number of candidates. “There are no indications that the current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, will leave office and, for this reason, is expected to be re-elected,” it adds bluntly, underscoring the predictability of the result. continue reading

The Spanish news agency EFE describes the situation as “relevant and controversial,” indicating that what is really at stake is not the parliamentary election itself but the legitimacy of the system, which widespread absenteeism will call into question. “The fact that Cuba does not allow international observers to monitor these elections is, to say the least, troubling,” it finds.

“In the absence of public opinion polls, one group to follow is young voters, among whom disenchantment and political disaffection are widespread after years of severe economic crisis,” it says, noting that 13,000 Cubans over the age of sixteen will be going to the polls for the first time.

In a lengthy article, Al Jazeera recounts the history of the last six decades from the official point of view, highlighting the embargo against Cuba and extolling achievements in education and health. It avoids criticizing the system but it does address the potential issue of low turnout. “Voter absenteeism has become a feature of recent elections in Cuba. Participation in the November 2022 municipal elections, for example, fell below 70% for the first time, indicating a disconnect in a political system that depends on public support,” it explains.

Argentina’s digital newspaper Infobae refers to to a “decline in credibility” of both the regime and the electoral process. It believes social discontent, which has worsened since the protests of 2021 and 2022, will take its toll on the Cuban government’s international image. “The living conditions that underlie both the defiance and the mass exodus, probably along with low voter turnout as well, remain unchanged,” it says.

The Mexican digital news site Sin Embargo [Nevertheless] accuses the regime of perpetrating an “electoral simulation.” It notes that, at a minimum, a democracy should ensure certain conditions: “multiparty participation, competitive elections, freedom, accountability, rule of law.” It argues the absence of these reveals the iliberal and autocratic nature of the island’s system.

Meanwhile, government-controlled news outlets such as Prensa Latina and allied organizations such as Venezuela’s Telesur continually present this Sunday’s elections as “a show of support for the socialist social and political model.” Despite describing the technical aspects of the voting process, none of these outlets, nor Cuban officials themselves, explain the inconsistencies international analysts have pointed out, or the intense campaigns candidates have waged in recent weeks.

Parties, extended periods without blackouts, somewhat better stocked store shelves and an overwhelming call for a “united vote” — the pro-government slogan intended to discourage low turnout and encourage people to vote for the pre-selected candidates — are failing to alleviate the tension, felt both inside and outside the island, that already characterizes the run-up to these elections.

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Red Paint Covers Up Giant Anti-Communist Graffiti in Cuba

A garish red was crudely and sloppily painted over the sign, which has been attributed to an anonymous organization, The New Directorate. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 24 March 2023 — Early Tuesday morning a message critical of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) was scrawled on a wall in Aguirre Park, in Havana’s Revolution Plaza district. It has since been covered up by a coat of red paint. The garish color was crudely and sloppily applied over the graffiti, which is believed to be the work of an anonymous organization, El Nuevo Directorio (The Student Directorate), or END.

On Friday, passers-by looked on furtively, laughing at the wall where the words “No to the PCC,” written in huge letters, were being eradicated. In spite of the midday heat, several people sat around in random locations, carefully gauging the mood. Local residents, who are well-aware of State Security’s surveillance techniques, stayed clear of the area. “They always do the same thing,” says one woman who came to pick up her daughter at school. “They’re waiting to see if the person who painted it returns to the scene of the crime.”

In the background, the red paint is glowing even more intensely but no one dares go near. Dumpsters overflowing with trash and refuse round out the scene. On the other side of the wall is the stadium of the University of Havana, an institution that END has said it would like to see “disrupted.” END’s members have taken up the tradition of painting inflammatory, anti-government slogans, just as another organization, the University Student Directorate, did in the 1930s against the country’s tyranical president, Gerardo Machado.

“We’ve infiltrated your universities, your hospitals and ministries. We have so much information that we will destroy you from within,” read a message posted a few weeks ago on END’s Twitter profile page. It has described itself and “a movement for peaceful, active action” that adheres to “the ideas and legacy of [José] Martí and José Antonio Echeverría.” continue reading

The organization is thought to be responsible for another sign, painted on the facade of the school’s Department of Physics on March 20. A week earlier, someone also wrote, “Down with the dictatorship, the murderous Castros” — in sand and in broad daylight — down the middle of Crespo Street, near the corner of Trocadero, in Central Havana.

In that instance, authorities got rid of the sign very quickly. That was not the case with the graffiti in Aguirre Park, where it remained until the following morning as counterintelligence deployed a monitoring device and stationed dozens of agents in the area. Political graffiti has become more common since the protests of July 11, 2021.

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Restrictions on Mineral Extraction Force U.S. to Import Cuban Nickel through Other Countries

The Pitt-Wasmer family has filed a lawsuit over the confiscation of mines in Holguín province. The mines are adjacent to those of another company, the Moa Bay Mining Company. (ACN)

14ymedio, Havana, 15 March 2023 — The nickel that the Canadian company Sherritt International extracted from mines in Moa and Punta Gorda, in Cuba’s Holguín province, has a clear pathway to large electric car factories in the United States. In response to pressure from environmentalists, the Biden administration adopted a series of measures in January restricting domestic mineral extraction. As a result, it will now have to import products containing Cuban raw materials in violation of the U.S. trade embargo. Or so claims William Pitt, one of the heirs of the Pitt-Wasmer family, whose mines were seized by Fidel Castro in 1960.

The new restrictions have halted mining operations of enormous mineral reserves — particularly copper, nickel and cobalt — at the Duluth Complex, an area in Minnesota that is a critical source of the country’s strategic metals. The American automotive industry uses large amounts of these raw materials to manufacture electric cars and, without access to domestic sources, must look for them beyond its borders.

In two related commercial transactions described as a “cobalt swap,” Cuba will repay the Canadian company a debt of 362 million dollars. As Pitt sees it, the deal — which was approved by the Biden administration — fits the Cuban government like a glove. “Now, it will be able to sell and export the nickel and cobalt from my family’s mines in Moa and Punta Gorda, and launder the money through another country,” he complains.

Pitt claims Sherritt sold the Cuban minerals to Panasonic to be used in batteries it makes for electric vehicles. Panasonic says it then sold the batteries to Tesla, the EV company headed by Elon Musk. “Supposedly, Musk broke off the deal once he found out where the minerals came from,” says Pitt, though he adds that neither Panasonic nor other companies in Europe and Asia have stopped buying minerals from Sherritt. continue reading

An editorial published in the Wall Street Journal in late January argues that blocking mining operations in Minnesota is politically advantageous to the Biden Administration. The state has huge, untapped deposits of copper, nickel and cobalt. However, the White House also wants to increase production of electric vehicles, for which these metals are essential components.

The administration’s action, claims Interior Secretar Deb Haaland, will protect these resources, preserve the traditional way of life of Minnesota’s native American communities and, in turn, please environmentalists. But automobile production must continue apace so the metals will have to be imported from countries that offer maximum “flexibility.” Countries like Russia, China, Indonesia, the Philipines and probably — thanks to the deal with Sherritt — Cuba.

Sherritt sold the Cuban minerals to Panasonic to be used in batteries it produces for electric vehicles. Panasonic says it then sold the batteries to Tesla, the EV company headed by Elon Musk. (Facebook/Baterías Panasonic Peru)

“Cuba is moving towards and economic system similar to Russia’s,” says Pitt, one that he believes will quickly evolve into an oligarchy of millionaires who will control all sectors of the economy, including mining.

He fears the Cuban government will take advantage of its deal with Sherritt — it just paid off a portion of its multi-million dollar debt with 760 million tons of cobalt valued at 27 million dollars — to ship minerals to the U.S. Resources that once belonged to his family are being continually extracted from these mines.

“Any Cuban industry that depends on natural resources such as tourism, sugar, fishing, medicine and transportation will fall under this system and end up being controlled by oligarchs, just like in Russia,” he claims. “The irony is that electric cars from the U.S. will be powered by batteries made with Cuban metal.”

In Pitt’s opinion, the Cuban regime will always opt for “swap-outs” as a way to pay off its creditors since it does not have the monetary resources to settle its accounts, as was demonstrated in a recent legal battle it faced in London over its unpaid debt. It is not uncommon for debtor nations to resort to this type of barter exchange and Cuba has often used this method of payment.

As he told 14ymedio last December, Pitt believes the deal with Sherritt sets a dangerous precedent in terms of the regime’s negotiations with other countries and depletes one of the few valuable resources the island has left.

Another issue is the way the Cuban government manages the Pitt-Wasmer resources. “It has to figure out how to pay us, the owners of those mines, before it can do a swap to pay its debts,” he says. The family has filed suit over confiscation of the Holguín mines, which abut those of another company, the Moa Bay Mining Company. That property, formerly owned by the Rockefeller family, was also expropriated by Castro.

The Cuban government is trying to improve relations with Washington in order to ensure its economic survival and its actions can be explained as a geopolitical strategy consisting of selling off pieces of the country.

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Cuban Actor Ruben Brena Dies at the Age of 70 in Havana

Rubén Breña acting in a drama on national television. (ICRT)

14ymedio, Havana, 23 March 2023 — Cuban actor Rubén Breña passed away this Thursday in Havana at the age of 70, official media reported. The artist died after spending several days in intensive care at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital due to complications from erosive gastritis.

This Wednesday, and after several postings on social networks by friends close to the artist who denounced the lack of medicines to treat Breña, the official press published a note, something unusual in the health system of the Island, by the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital saying that the hospital had “everything necessary for his care.”

“From the first moment the patient had all the treatment required for erosive gastritis with the application of 20 mg of Omeprazole according to the protocols,” said the note, which caused outrage among Cuban Internet users for the severe shortage of drugs that the Island’s health system has suffered for more than two years.

According to the note, the actor had arrived at the hospital “in shattered health.” continue reading

“Incredible, but true: Rubén Breña is in intensive care at Ameijeiras. He needs Omeprazole and vitamin K (not orally) and there is none,” complained the actor and television director, Rolando Chiong, a few hours before the official publication.

Breña, known mainly for his diverse characters in dramatized series on Cuban television, was born in Pinar del Río in 1953. In the early 1970s he graduated from the National School of Theatre Direction of the Ministry of Culture and became part of the Zafarrancho and Trotamundos theater groups. In addition to theater and television, he worked in film and radio.

On television, his performances are remembered in dramatic works such as Tierra brava, Historias de Fuego, Cuando el agua regresa a la tierra and Salir de noche. According to the official media Cubadebate, Breña “was a self-taught painter and was fond of music and poetry.”

“Rest in peace, friend, man and great actor. Someday, someday. The good ones die, the fucked keep being fucked and living. That’s why, damnit, every day I don’t regret what I say,” actor Erdwin Fernandez wrote on Facebook, from the United States, when he learned of Breña’s death.

Among the official recognitions that Breña received in life, the Actuar Award for Life Work awarded by the Artistic Agency for the Performing Arts in 2019 stands out.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Police Will Go ‘House to House’ in Villa Clara to Find the Water Thieves

To carry out the theft, screws from the pipes were removed, and piping networks were connected that led to the fields of local farmers. (Vanguardia)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 March 2023 — The Villa Clara Police discovered 13 illegal connections and nine leaks in the Hanabanilla, a 15-mile system of pipes that supplies water to a large part of the central provinces of the Island. The farmers of the area had made multiple punctures in the pipes to divert the water to their agricultural fields.

The Hanabanilla, which takes its name from the reservoir that feeds it in the Villa Clara municipality of Manicaragua, extends from Jíbaro, in Sancti Spíritus, to Zapatero, in Villa Clara. The greatest damage occurred, according to the official newspaper, Vanguardia, between the towns of Porvenir and Biajaca, where the drainage left 10,000 people from the towns of Mataguá, La Yaya and Jorobada without a water supply.

To carry out the theft, screws from the pipes were removed and piping networks were connected that led to the fields of local farmers.

The authorities will apply sanctions to those involved and promised to carry out a “program for the suppression of leaks,” which are also common in the system. The official press also says that these water thefts also occur at the Paso Bonito-Barajagua pumping station, in Cienfuegos, but states that the Villa Clara Police “has no jurisdiction to act” there and that they have already informed the neighboring province to “take similar measures.”

According to the local newspaper Vanguardia, the authorities have been trying to contain the illegalities in the area for months. They assure that they have renewed the electrical panels that generate the pumping capacity in Hanabanilla, but that the illegal drainage decreases the pressure of the network and makes it impossible to supply the area. continue reading

The newspaper also points out the population density of the territory and says that, despite this circumstance, the police will go “house to house” to find the offenders. The newspaper says that an “official warning” would be a matter of interest to the inhabitants of Manicaragua and that, “in case of recidivism,” the fines and penalties will increase.

The loss of water in the area — in the midst of a drought that has affected, above all, the central part of the country — has been a blow to the cost of the tanker trucks that deliver water, for which large amounts of fuel are needed and often impossible to get, due to the “energy contingency.”

The illegalities, the price of getting water to mountainous and remote communities and the incompetence of Cuban hydraulic resources companies were not mentioned, however, in the speech given this Thursday at the United Nations Conference on Water by Cuban Vice President Inés María Chapman.

Chapman dedicated her speech to celebrating the Regime’s management and to complaining that due to the US blockade, the Island was not able to have better results.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘In the Hospital, in Las Tunas Cuba, the Light Bulbs and Even the Window Panes Have Been Stolen”

Almost all the benches in Plaza Calé have lost their slats. (Newspaper 26)

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 7 March 2023 — Based on the robberies and vandalism, the inhabitants of Las Tunas are “dismantling” the city’s public spaces. The list of “reprehensible” acts, as the official press called them this Monday, is extensive: garbage dumps, destruction of buildings, theft of furniture and corruption in state establishments.

The most alarming situation is going on at the provincial hospital, which, according to its directors, treats more than 7,000 patients daily. “The light bulbs, the screws for the window panes and the panes themselves have been stolen,” denounced Carlos Pérez Santiesteban, deputy clinical-surgical director of the center.

The people who accompany the patients take advantage of their stay in the hospital, according to the doctor, to get hold of what they find, from a piece of metal to the chair braces. To make matters worse, the doctor complains, “stretchers and wheelchairs are abused, mattresses are unprotected, food is eaten on the beds and liquids are spilled.”

Pérez, who describes the ability to control the situation as “difficult,” also regrets that people steal or destroy the installation’s switches, and that they intentionally dump waste in the corridors, bathrooms and gutters of the building. In addition, they habitually scratch the walls, smearing them with grease and damaging the paint. continue reading

According to the press, the “fury” of the people from Las Tunas has an explanation: they behave “as if they were bothered” by the good condition of public spaces. It is no longer a question of neglect, but of vandalizing what cannot be transported to homes, such as park benches or the walls of a building.

“In a bakery, for example, flour and oil are stolen and sold in the same neighborhood.” Nobody has scruples when it comes to “taking advantage” of public goods

Las Tunas, the report states, “has large bills” related to “collective property,” and attributes it to a “a training problem” to young people that later in life affects their adult behavior. However, it does not mention at any time the deficiencies and shortages – common throughout the country but exacerbated in the eastern provinces – that have triggered crime rates in Cuba, although they]se do not justify other behaviors such as dirtying and vandalizing hospital facilities.

There are people who even steal marble pieces “to make a grinder for spices and meat,” an astonished citizen of Las Tunas said. He was recently interviewed by the official press, which also publishes photographs of the “ragged sites” of the city. Almost all the benches at the Plaza Calé are missing their slats, while the metal railings of the Colón Street bridge –whose potholes are a danger to traffic– have been sawn off and stolen.

The fence of the Hermanos Ameijeiras Airport is in the same sorry state, whose wires and poles, already damaged by rust, have been cut and “recycled” in homes.

“Everyone here ‘struggles’, cautiously states one of the interviewees in the official report. “In a bakery, for example, flour and oil are stolen and sold in the same neighborhood.” No one has scruples when it comes to “taking advantage of” public goods, it doesn’t matter if they are food or construction materials –rebar, stones, bricks– that are already part of some structure. That notion, he admits, is even “accepted.”

Another problem is the city’s state of hygiene, to which the local newspaper has referred on other occasions. The amount of garbage in the streets, the puddles of urine in squares and parks, and the fact that almost all the garbage transportation of the waste depends on horse-drawn carts – for which Community Services pays little and late – increase the population’s discomfort.

The “latest fashion,” the newspaper claims, is breaking bottles and leaving the glass shards on the streets, which are already littered with excrement, paper and potholes. At the height of the problem, the text devotes several paragraphs to giving lessons in “socialist morality” and civility to the people of Las Tunas, whose attitude cannot be explained and who will end up, he insists, by leaving only “bits and pieces” of the city.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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‘No to the PCC’, a New Protest Sign Against the Cuban Regime Appears in Havana

The protest sign against the Cuban Communist Party on a wall in Aguirre Park, in the Havana district of Revolution Square. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 March 2023 – A new protest sign against the dictatorship caused surprise among Havana residents on Thursday. This time it had the words “No to the PCC” (Cuban Communist Party), written in giant capitals on the wall at the back of Aguirre Park, in the Revolution Square district.

The action took place in the early hours, judging by videos posted on social media by an organisation calling itself The New Governing Body, which alludes to the University Student Governing Body (DEU) which confronted Gerardo Machado in the Cuban republic of the 1930’s.

During the morning, 14ymedio confirmed that the protest sign was still there, as there was no means of instantly cleaning it off, like there had been on previous occasions. What was present though was an enormous State Security operation, with dozens of Interior Ministry motorcycles visible or concealed between the bushes.

“They must be on the lookout for anyone taking pictures”, said a local woman through clenched teeth, as she passed by, surprised. “Don’t get your phone out, not even to make a call, because they’re everywhere”.

A new protest sign against the dictatorship caused surprise among Havana residents on Thursday.

Un nuevo #cartel contra la #dictadura ha sorprendido este jueves a los habitantes de La Habana👉 https://t.co/l3IMxZ7meK La acción tuvo lugar de madrugada, a juzgar por videos difundidos en redes por una organización anónima que se hace llamar El Nuevo Directorio @NuevoDirectorio pic.twitter.com/dPgYTyrorm

— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) March 23, 2023

On 14 March, in broad daylight, the slogan “Down with the dictatorship, murdering Castros” was written in sand in the middle of Calle Crespo / Trocadero, in central Havana. On that occasion it was removed very quickly, as reported by this newspaper. continue reading

This kind of action, unprecedented in the history of the dictatorship, became frequent after the mass protests of 11 July 2021. In February 2022 an enormous sign appeared in Calle Gervasio / Enrique Barnet (Estrella) — also in central Havana — which read “Patria y vida” (Homeland and Life). That one also appeared during nighttime hours and was removed in the midst of a massive police presence.

A few weeks earlier, another sign of considerable size, on a wall on Calle General Serrano / Via Blanca (Santos Suárez), mobilised a whole mob of police, military and agents on Suzuki motorbikes and in a forensics vehicle. It read: “Down with motherfucker Canel”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Nightmare of a Cuban-Russian Couple, Pursued in Both Countries For Their Rejection of The War in Ukraine

Cuban citizen Carlos Jiménez, and his Russian wife Daria, pictured in a Havana street. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 24 March 2023 — Before being forced to escape from Russia because of the threat of his being recruited to fight in the war in Ukraine, the Cuban Carlos Jiménez was living a quiet life with his wife Daria in Kushelevskaya Doroga, St Petersburg.

They met whilst studying philology at the hydrometeorological University in Russia which, although it sounds odd, has a prestigious program of language and literature studies. Carlos already spoke the language because as a child he lived in Moscow for five years when his father worked at the Cuban Embassy.

These days he is an admirer of Russian culture, amongst other things Russian, because of the influence of his wife. Through her he got to know the writer Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita), the works of Dimitri Yemets, a children’s writer whose books are the most Russian that he has ever read in his life, he says. Through Daria he got to know the Russian rock group bi-2, which has become his favourite, and he has seen the best of Russian theatre and cinema and also Soviet cinema.

The young couple are currently in Havana. She is very scared of what could happen to him. He is very scared of what could happen to her. The nightmare began in Russia and has kept going for them all the way to Cuba.

One afternoon, two armed men banged heavily on the young couple’s door in St.Petersburg, looking for men to fight in the Ukraine war. “At that moment we knew we couldn’t stay in Russia”, says Carlos. We took out all of our savings, sold everything that we owned, which wasn’t much, and set off towards Armenia. We couldn’t ask for help from my wife’s family because being a foreigner I wasn’t well received there”. continue reading

It wasn’t a matter of choice, Armenia was just the first destination possible for them because Russia had already cancelled almost all flights to other countries. There they found that the cost of accommodation rose massively because of the sheer numbers of Russians that were emigrating and because of this there was no other option for them than to travel to Havana — at the beginning of January of this year. Havana is where Carlos is officially allowed to stay, in his parent’s house. He knew that staying there would be difficult because of their differences in ideology, but he had no other option. Daria was also not well received by Carlos’s parents.

“On the morning of the 8th of March a uniformed guy came into our room, accompanied by my father. He didn’t even bother to knock this time. He was an ’immigration official’. He said that my wife had been in the country longer than was allowed for foreigners, but this was a lie because we had only been there for 55 days and you are allowed 90 days. He was very strange and aggressive. He couldn’t explain the actual objectives of his visit and kept changing his story, saying that there had been complaints about noise, but without explaining who had made the complaints. Finally he set a date for a meeting for a different day at the immigration office in East Havana. For the whole time he refused to even speak directly to my wife”.

One hour after this supposed immigration official left the house, Carlos got a telephone call commanding him to turn up at the police station.

“At this station, where we had to wait for more than two hours, they took me to an office where the presence of my wife was ’not allowed’. There, three armed men lectured me about my poor conduct, and the most surprising thing was that they said they had witnesses! The door opened and then in came my parents, who lied! — so much about me and about Daria. But they could not even look me in the eyes”.

The couple still have to attend a meeting of the 9th of March, presumably to clarify Davina’s status as a migrant.

“That was not an immigration office nor even a police one. There, they shouted at us they insulted us, they threw chairs and banged on the table and did everything to intimidate us and humiliate us. They tried to frighten us in every way possible. They interrogated me about our motives for leaving Russia and about my contacts — about friends I have here in Cuba who they take to be troublemakers”.

“They also even argued that our marriage was not legal because we didn’t get married in Cuba and because of this my wife could not live here with me. They wouldn’t even allow me to interpret for her, and she hardly knows any Spanish. When I tried to explain to her what was happening they told me to shut up, saying that only they had the right to speak”.

After hours of interrogation they gave us another meeting arrangement, this time at the central immigration office, and they left us with the threat that we would ’pay’ for our insolence.

The first thing that occurred to Daria was to contact the Russian Consulate in Havana to ask for help. Because she’d always heard that Cuba and Russia were friends and brothers, she supposed that everything would be okay, that it had all been a misunderstanding.

With the help of Carlos as a translator Daria told this newspaper “We called the consulate and explained my situation, then a man told me that there was another number that I should call. When I dialled this number a few moments later the same voice came back at me not even trying to hide his laughter; this made me realise that here they would not help us so-called ’traitors’”.

When finally they got to speak to the actual Immigration Office they were spun yet another tale: they were told that the real problem was Daria’s economic insolvency. Also a complete lie.

“They told us we have to leave the country immediately. But we don’t have any ticket to travel anywhere, because we don’t know where we can go! We are in a terrible situation. We can’t stay in Cuba because the secret police are after us and neither can we go back to Russia because there’s no security for us there either”.

She says something in Russian which Carlos doesn’t translate straightaway. They take each other by the hand, and at length he says: “We’re so scared that something terrible could happen to us”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Between the Ballot and the Ticket To Leave the Island, Cubans Prefer To Emigrate

On Infanta Street this Wednesday, a young man in a ration store looked at one of the many official posters which, in these last weeks, promote a united vote for the parliamentary candidates.(14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 23 March 2023 — To vote or not to vote in the elections for Cuba’s Parliament, on March 26, is a dilemma in the face of which many Cubans have already taken sides. The economic crisis, lack of hope and little confidence in state institutions favor abstention in a country where not attending the polls is considered a political statement and can involve reprisals.

Among those who are overcoming fear and say that they will not vote are retirees whose pensions don’t go far enough, young people who have not known anything but scarcity since they were born and potential migrants who set their sights outside the Island. The dissatisfaction and mistrust that lay beneath the surface of Cuban society could materialize in an increase in abstentions this coming Sunday.

On Infanta Street this Wednesday, a young man in a ration store looked at one of the many official posters that in recent weeks promote a united vote for the parliamentary candidates. The colorful advertising stands out in the store, which has only a couple of products on display. On the counter, a small blackboard announces that allocation of cigarettes and cigars for the month of January are now being sold.

“I don’t even plan to go out that day, and I’m going to close the windows so they don’t bother me to go vote,” clarified another young woman who arrived at the bodega (ration store) to ask about the arrival of salt. “Two years ago I turned 16 and am on the electoral roll, but I’m not interested. I didn’t go to vote for the Family Code [in September 2022], and I’m not going to go this time either,” she says bluntly. continue reading

The reason borders more on indifference than on rebellion. “It’s not going to change anything if I go or not,” she tells 14ymedio. “My mother has been attending all those processes for 40 years and what does she have now? Nothing. A half-collapsed house, four old rags to wear and some children who only think about leaving this country as soon as they can.”

While she is speaking, an old woman arrives but doesn’t join the conversation. She makes a gesture of denial when she hears the young woman’s words. It is in the elderly where the official propaganda of the united vote and the attendance at the polls as a sign of support for the system penetrates with greater depth. They are the ones who are most afraid of change or have spent more years of their lives supporting the Government.

Maurín, 21, lives in the Havana neighborhood of San Pedro in the municipality of El Cotorro. In front of the door of his house extends a street that years ago lost some of its asphalt. Garbage accumulates on the nearby corner, while the line for the only kiosk that sells food in the area almost reaches his window. “How am I going to go to vote if they haven’t even fixed the basics?” the young man asks, indignant.

With an engineer father and a nurse mother, Maurín questions the role of the delegates of the National Assembly of People’s Power in his neighborhood and the ability of parliamentarians to improve the lives of citizens. “In San Pedro we have been demanding [from the delegates] for years and years in the Accountability meetings that they fix our streets, improve the quality of the bread and open new stores to buy food, but none of that has been resolved.”

Disbelief has taken over many of the residents in the area, a phenomenon that is repeated throughout the country. To try to arouse enthusiasm in recent weeks, the Cuban ruling party has launched a campaign that includes meetings with voters, an avalanche of advertising in the national media, the reduction of annoying blackouts, and agricultural fairs to sell food at prices a little cheaper than in private markets.

However, the ideological offensive does not seem to be bearing fruit among a population that is tired of so many daily difficulties. For Maritza, 64, until recently employed by a branch of the Ministry of Culture, it is striking how people in the streets no longer hide that they will not vote on Sunday.

The Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel seems to fear a growth in abstention, which for decades remained below 10% but has experienced a significant increase in recent years. In last November’s municipal elections it reached an all-time high with 30% of voters absent. For the ruling party, attendance is measured as a sign of support for the system and the Communist Party.

“In the line at the bank I heard two employees who were talking and saying that they were not going to vote on Sunday. For me it is unprecedented that in a state work center people talk so openly in frank defiance of the system,” she tells this newspaper. “Before, that was unthinkable, and it shows that between fear and defiance, many are choosing defiance.”

Cuban dissidents have also raised the tone in the calls for abstention as the electoral date approaches and, for the first time in a long time, they have agreed on the “I don’t vote” premise, which has been joined by activists of various political stripes.

In Santa Clara, Ignacio, 47 years old and self-employed, has also decided to abstain. “The deputies will not solve any problem because they are the gears of this machine but not its essence. They are mostly a group of puppets without voice or vote because everything in Cuba has always been planned in that manual of ’continuity’,” he says.

Ignacio recognizes that others will go to the polls but says their attendance is not exactly because of a belief that the National Assembly will help improve life on the Island. “One of the saddest things is the political apathy of these people and the hopelessness that leads them to vote or take any decision dictated by the Government, such as voting for everyone,” he emphasizes.

Others, such as Jorge, a 23-year-old university student and resident of Camajuaní, Villa Clara, recognizes that he will go to vote on March 26 because he feels that attendance is “practically mandatory.” He does not want to stand out publicly and prefers to avoid teacher retaliation that could result from not going.

However, he recognizes that no candidate for parliament represents him “because the politics they defend has nothing to do” with his way of thinking. “The election process will solve absolutely nothing. All leaders follow the same ideology and do not change anything once they are elected,” he concludes with skepticism.

There are also those who seem impervious to the official campaign for the March 26 elections and say they are not even aware that voting will take place. “I don’t care about that; I just want to survive every day and wait for my sister to find me a sponsor to go to the United States,” acknowledges 19-year-old Jean Marcos. “The only place I’m going to go is to the airport when I have my flight.”

Jean Marcos’ friends share his position. Given the choice between the ballot or the ticket, they all seem to opt for something that gets them out of Cuba as soon as possible.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Chancellor Says That It Is in the Interest of the United States To Have the Island on the Terrorism List

Bruno Rodríguez believes that the position serves the United States “for its criminal policy of economic suffocation.” (Screen capture)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 24 March 2023 — The Government of Cuba affirmed on Thursday that the United States never intended to remove the Island from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism because it “is convenient.”

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez declared on Twitter that the North American country has no plans to “correct Cuba’s unfair classification” since “it is convenient for its criminal policy of economic suffocation.”

Rodríguez echoed the statements this Thursday by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in which he said: “We are not planning” to remove the Island from the list.

During an appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, Blinken said “if there is a review, it will be based on the law and the benchmarks it establishes, which, as I said, have a very high bar.”

The Cuban head of Foreign Affairs stated that Blinken “confirms, in fact, that the State Department’s qualifying lists are nothing more than tools of political and economic coercion, totally divorced from such sensitive issues as terrorism, religion, human rights, drug trafficking, corruption and other things.”

The inclusion of Cuba on the list in January 2021 was one of the last decisions made by the Trump administration before leaving office. continue reading

The United States then justified the measure, which entails several sanctions, alluding to the presence on the Island of members of the Colombian ELN guerrillas, who traveled to Havana to start peace negotiations with the Colombian government.

The Island was taken off the list in 2015, during the rapprochement promoted by US President Barack Obama. It was put back on by Trump, who during his term redoubled the sanctions against Cuba and paralyzed much of the “thaw” stimulated by his predecessor.

The current Biden Administration has made some gestures towards the Island, such as the elimination of the remittance limit for Cuba, but it is still far from Obama’s rapprochement.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mother Seeks Justice for Her Son’s Death at the Hands of Two Cuban Police Officers

14ymedio, Havana, 23 March 2023–The Territorial Military Tribunal in Havana absolved two police officers accused of killing Exduyn Yoel Urgellés Huete in the municipality of La Lisa on October 7th. Milagros Huete, his mother, maintained her silence all these months for fear of reprisals, but on Tuesday she confronted the officers during an interview with independent news outlet Cubanet, “You killed my son!”

According to Huete, Sub-lieutenant Raunel Castillo Milanés’s defense and that of Sergeant Eudys Jiménez Matos claim that “there was not excessive use of force.” The young man’s mother believes the opposite: both agents, she says, ignored the vital signs and the correct application of the containment technique, a maneuver which aims to immobilize the person who is detained.

Her son and one of his friends, called Yunieski, who dedicated themselves to the illegal sale of air fresheners, witnessed a police operation to arrest a thief who stole a gold chain in La Lisa, the woman said. When they arrived at the scene, they found a group of people who took off running and, instinctively, Urgellés also took off running because two weeks earlier he had been fined 2,000 pesos for his informal business.

Urgellés had a daughter who is a minor and the sale of air fresheners was the only means of subsistence he’d been able to find, said his mother. “I understand it is wrong, but it was his job,” she said. continue reading

Agent Castillo caught up to him and sprayed him with pepper spray. “They handcuffed him and threw him on the ground,” narrated Huete who is sure that, having consulted the court documents, Officer Jiménez joined the interrogation. They asked him why he stole the chain, but Urgellés declared that he did not know anything about that and attempted to explain why he had run off.

Not listening to his story, said Huete, the policemen put her son in a patrol car with his head down and had a conversation about the containment technique. When his partner asked, Jiménez responded that he didn’t know how to implement the technique and Milanés proceeded to show him how to apply it.

He placed his left arm between the arms of a handcuffed Urgellés and moved his head forward and back. After the “demonstration,” Jiménez attempted to apply the technique himself in the “same conditions and without using force,” because, they declared, the detainee remained “calm and communicative.”

Subsequently, in the patrol car they headed to the Aleida Fernández polyclinic looking for the victim of the robbery which had resulted in his presence there, presumably to take a statement, but the person had already been discharged. Once again, the car headed to the police station in La Lisa.

Upon reaching the station, one of the agents noticed that Urgellés was foaming at the mouth. “Immediately” they removed the handcuffs, stated the court document consulted by his mother, and they took him to the Cristóbal Labra polyclinic two kilometers away where “they arrived a few minutes later.”

Urgellés arrived in cardiorespiratory arrest, in a cyanotic state and without positive vital signs. For 30 minutes they tried to resuscitate him, but he was finally declared dead due to “asphyxia.”

During the trial, which Huete attended, military prosecutor Gabriel Pérez Lázaro disregarded the arguments of the young man’s lawyer, Pedro Roberto Valdés, who said that none of the two agents nor the patrol car driver had been arrested, “they had to attend to” other things unrelated to Urgellés’s “detention.”

“The result of the trial was freedom for both police officers,” stated the frustrated mother, who at that time lashed out at Castillo and Jiménez who had murdered her son.

Exduyn Yoel Urgellés Huete used to work as a baker in La Lisa until, according to his mother, he was assigned to oven duty. After falling asleep several times and burning the bread, he began to have problems at work, and he finally resigned. Soon after, faced with the impossibility of finding legal work, he and his friend Yunieski began selling air fresheners, said Huete.

Urgellés’s widow, Yuraimy Galdo Pérez told CubaNet that the young man was “an excellent father.” “The girl, since dad lost his life, is sick every month,” she said and added, “It is another case that goes unpunished.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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