14ymedio – Page 137 – Translating Cuba

Cuba: ‘What Use is an App to Track Buses if There are No Buses’

The app offered to provide real-time location information for buses on routes in Havana, but there is a big gap between what was announced and what has been achieved.

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 17 January 2023 — The looks of those that wait go from the mobile phone screen to the avenue. After a while, a bus stops at Porvenir Street, in Havana, although it hadn’t previously been seen on the mobile phone app ’MovilWeb Urbanos’. Between vehicles that disappear from the map and others that appear out of nowhere, the tool generates more distrust than certainty.

The beta version of MovilWeb Urbanos, exclusively for Android, threatens to become a failure, as did the Donde hay app, which attempted to inform clients of which products were in stock at the state-run stores. Instead of avoiding long walks and hours in line, that mobile app became a target for mockery and complaints, just as is happening now with its first cousin dedicated to public transportation.

“You see the application and there are no buses nearby, and suddenly one appears which hadn’t been there,” complained a user who unleashed his discontent in an article published by the official press Cubadebate where they recognized the precipitous fall from grace of MovilWeb Urbanos. It was that very outlet which, with much fanfare, announced the launch of that tool in October last year.

The app offered to provide real-time location information for buses on routes in Havana, but there is a big gap between what was announced and what has been achieved. Sixteen-year-old high school student Richard recalls the enthusiasm when he heard the news of that launch. “I thought it would save time and stress getting to school but in the end it failed me so often that I deleted the app from my mobile phone.”

“The problem is fundamental, because they assume that all buses have a GPS installed and that it is activated at all times,” questioned the adolescent. “But if you are following the bus route it’s possible that halfway through it disappears from the map and then you don’t know at what time it will arrive at the bus stop where you are,” he adds. A disaster which causes frustration and distrust among users. continue reading

Developed by GeoMIX, an agency of the Geocuba business group in collaboration with several entities of the Ministry of Transportation, the app doesn’t cover the routes of all Havana terminals and when you search for buses that travel high demand routes such as the P2 along Rancho Boyeros Avenue, a short message warns that “there is still no information.”

Of 135 bus routes included in the Beta version, including primary routes, feeder routes and complementary routes, only half offer information to monitor its vehicles. Some details which have changed since the launch of the tool, such as a change in the point of departure, have not been updated and in those cases the changes have not been reflected at all the bus stops.

The constant internet interruptions and areas of low data coverage which characterize the internet connection provided by the telecommunications monopoly, Etecsa, add another layer of insecurity to MovilWeb’s use. Congestion on the network, a cloudy day that slows down navigation or an area without 4G can all render the app inoperable.

But the human factor seems to be the cause of the biggest problems. According to Rafael Barrios Garriga, the Deputy Director for Development at the Provincial Transport Business of Havana (EPTH), in those areas, each dispatcher must manually enter the vehicle departure and arrival data for the app to update but “on occasion the person responsible for updates does not do it.”

“Add to this the drivers who irresponsibly disconnect the devices. MovilWeb also allows us to identify those who do that. With those drivers we conduct an analysis and we recently issued guidance to prevent this,” the official tells Cubadebate, though without referring to the reasons the drivers choose to turn off the buses’ geolocation.

“It is big business to use urban transport vehicles as if they were private, that is, drive a route they create, decide on the number of passengers to be transported and even the price they charge privately,” reported to 14ymedio an EPTH driver who a few months ago decided to leave his post “on the bus” and opted for a position “at the terminal, with more peace and less surveillance.”

“What Use is an App to Track Buses if There are No Buses?” adds a state employee. “That makes no sense and since they announced that that thing for mobile phones would begin working we knew it was not possible to maintain all of that information because, simply, we don’t even know when a car will be able to leave the terminal nor what day it will be in or out of service.”

In May of last year, the Governor of Havana, Reinaldo García Zapata acknowledged during a meeting that in Havana, only 30% of bus fleet was operable for public transportation, “which is why the situation is dire.” The problem has been exacerbated in the last several months and, although the data have not been updated, one only needs to visit the bus stops in Havana to sense the decline.

Along with its errors, MovilWeb Urbanos has reached a low point for mobility in the city. Faced with its constant blunders, many riders have learned to lower the credibility of the tool though they continue to use it. “I use it, but I accept the risk that the information is not real. I’ve seen it all: buses that appear as if they are going in one direction and it is the opposite, buses that appear as if they are on another bus’s route, etc.” complained another user.

On Tuesday, an old Giron bus painted with images of giraffes and lions — that at one time covered routes serving Cuba’s National Zoo — stopped at the corner of Boyeros and Calzada del Cerro. “Come on, we’ve reached Carlos III,” yelled the driver and a dozen older passengers headed toward the open door. The vehicle never showed up on the MovilWeb Urbanos app, where the wide avenue appeared completely empty on the map.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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‘She’s Quiet’: Cuba’s University of the Arts (ISA) Has a New Dean

His assignment was never well received by his students nor the professors. José Ernesto continued to be a little snob, well connected but lacking his own merit, a “moron.” (ISA)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 18 January 2023 — A rumor had been going around the Island since December of last year: the dean of the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) had been relieved of his duties. This euphemism is usually used in Cuba when referring to party hacks who are dismissed or dethroned. Many simply go on to occupy other positions. Some, if suspected of disloyalty, are condemned to the pajama plan. While the more fortunate ones, if well connected, tend to fall up.

December 12, 2022 was the last day the Universidad de las Artes’ Twitter account tagged José Ernesto Nováez Guerrero in its publications. The next day, in his place it began tagging Rolando Valentín Ortega Álvarez, who was the director of the Centro Nacional de Escuelas de Artes [National Center for Art Schools]. And just two days later, during a visit by the booed minister Alpidio Alonso to ISA, its tweets were already referring to Rolando Orgega as the dean of that institution. The discrete revelation occurred amid the celebration of Cultural Workers’ Day, while ISA was preparing its delegation to attend the Congress of the Federation of University Students (FEU).

There was no official announcement, nor a press release. There was no farewell in the State newspaper Granma, nor a brief notice of the new tenant occupying the highest seat of leadership. To this day, many professors and students continue to be unaware of the substitution. ISA changed the dean as if he were the subject of a Bad Bunny song, “Ella es callaíta” [She is quiet].

In August 2021, quite the opposite occurred. A month after the most significant social uprising in Cuba, with much fanfare the official media announced one of Iroel Sánchez’s disciples as the new dean of the Universidad de las Artes. Nováez Guerrero didn’t have the CV, nor the degrees, nor the required level of teaching experience for such responsibility. He did not have the slightest idea, but he didn’t need it. The young Taliban had posted on Facebook, “The streets belong to revolutionaries and communists. Homeland or death! The combat order is given.” And that, automatically, converted him into a master and doctor in the eyes of the dictatorship’s bureaucrats. continue reading

His assignment seemed to form part of Iroel Sanchez’s strategy to place his fandom in key positions within cultural institutions. The “Las Villas clan” took advantage of the social whirlwind to position their pawns on the chess board and accumulate power and influence, aware that the party had started. Díaz-Canel, more scared than Ceausescu and not knowing from where the shots would come, preferred to surround himself with those from his province (we know that regionalism in Cuba continues to be key to understanding political moves.) It didn’t matter much to him that his speech abused the word “science.” If they needed to place a novice like Nováez in a position that was too big for him, they’d just do it.

Furthermore, ISA was not just any university. Professors Anamely Ramos and Omara Ruiz Urquiola were from there. From its classrooms graduated Tania Bruguera and a certain playwright they prefer not to mention. The Universidad de las Artes had already been the scene of several hunger strikes, some which received media attention such as the “split pea soup” strike. ISA was playing a role similar to what the University of Havana had played in the past. It was imperative that they put out that flame before it spread uncontrollably to the rest of a sector so dangerous (and powerful) as the students.

His assignment was never well received by his students nor the professors. José Ernesto continued to be a little snob, well connected but lacking his own merit, a “moron.”

But Nováez lasted less time in that position than it takes a Master to obtain their diploma. The cushions in the dean’s office did not have time to adjust to the bottom of the brand new dean. What happened? Did his little poems not motivate those cloistered in the meetings? Did he not realize that corruption tends to run rampant in these institutions? Or did he clash with the big fish of other clans, such as Viceminister of Culture Kenelma Carvajal, the wife of Alex Castro Soto?

For now, Nováez the novice, will need to be statisfied with representing the Network of Cuban Artists and Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity, a network so obsolete it only serves to trap trolls in the southern seas.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Spy for Cuba: Belen Montes

The released prisoner acknowledged that she was spying for Fidel Castro, and after her release when she arrived in Puerto Rico, she said she was an irrelevant person who would lead a private existence. (Archive/FBI)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 14 January 2023 — If Ana Belén Montes had been arrested in Cuba for spying for the United States, I have no doubt that she would have been executed by a firing squad, as happened to so many Cubans who fought for freedom and democracy for their country; and if her life were miraculously saved, she would have been frightened, like so many political prisoners of the regime, of the Manto Negro prison, the favorite women’s dungeon of the government she still defends.

Montes’ crimes were many, apart from supporting the bloodiest dictatorship that the continent has suffered.

For 17 years she served the Island totalitarianism by sending Havana information that affected the management of several hundred American agents. She spread influence in favor of the Castro dictatorship in the circles where it developed, as well as the belief that Castroism was not a threat to the United States. In addition, during her trial, she was associated with the shooting down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, which resulted in the death of four young civilians who were carrying out humanitarian work.

U.S. military counterintelligence specialist Chris Simmons told Ricardo Quintana, a colleague of Radio Martí, that the spy should have been sentenced to life imprisonment because there was enough evidence that the Salvadoran guerrillas attacked the Fourth Brigade barracks five weeks after she visited that facility.

Simmons claims that Montes passed information to Cubans about when exactly the garrison would be almost defenseless, pointing out “that four-hour period that it was at that base, and this helped the guerrillas kill an American adviser and 70 Salvadoran soldiers. Yes, we know that the information, at the very least, went to Russia and China, and, of course, to several guerrilla groups.” continue reading

The released prisoner acknowledged that she was spying for Fidel Castro, and after her release when she arrived in Puerto Rico, she said she was an irrelevant person who would lead a private existence, while condemning the United States embargo on Cuba, demonstrating that her convictions have not changed, which is why, on the Island of her desires, instead of being free, she would have been reconvicted at least once.

I am convinced that if Montes had been imprisoned by the regime for which she spied, apart from remaining in prison after serving her sentence, she would have suffered other particularly painful experiences. Her confinement would have passed under the mantle of oblivion, as happened to Cary Roque and Ana Lázara Rodríguez, among many other women, of whom no one spoke or heard from during their long years of imprisonment.

Ana Belén Montes’ prison in Cuba would have been marked by hunger, overcrowding and lack of medical attention, without discounting the mistreatment and humiliation to which the henchmen of the regime are so prone. Better not to imagine what would have happened to her if she had declared in a Cuban prison a year after her sentence that she had obeyed her conscience and that the policy of the United States towards Cuba was cruel and unjust, adding, “I felt morally obliged to help the Island defend itself from our efforts to impose our values and our political system on it.”

There is no doubt that she is a woman of strong convictions, which will lead her to repeat the past, because everything seems to indicate that potential allies will not be lacking if, as Senator Marcos Rubio and Mr. Chris Simmons claim, the Cuban espionage network remains vigorous, with up to 300 agents active in the United States and two-thirds of them working in the Miami area.

Although there are those who doubt it out of naivety or by being useful idiots, saying it’s just stupidity is very generous. The Castro totalitarian system has two regular practices inherent in its scorpion nature: to repress the population as much as possible and to destroy the United States by any means within its reach and through espionage against this country, something that it has been carrying out since 1959.

I’m convinced that this confrontation will only end when one of the parties disappears. For my part, I will work for the end of Castroism.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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More than 200 Cubans Returned by the United States to Mexico are Taken to a Shelter in Hermosillo

Cubans have been in the Ana Gabriela Guevara Gymnasium hostel since January 6. (Radio Formula)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 January 2023 — On January 5, Yanisey González managed to reach the United States. The American dream that he seemed to have achieved was cut short when the Border Patrol put him in a van along with migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guatemala to return them to the border with Mexico and deliver them to agents of the National Institute of Migration (INM). “They didn’t give me the option to apply for asylum,” he tells 14ymedio.

“They gave me a document with a code,” said a 27-year-old girl; the Border Patrol officer said it was her pass to the parole. “I must scan it and do the procedure from Mexico to apply for a temporary residence permit.”

Yanisey was taken to Hermosillo (Sonora), a place where she thought she would be deported. Last Friday, Ana Gabriela Guevara entered the Gymnasium, which since October 2022 was set up as a shelter for migrants. There are more than 200 Cubans on this site.

The young woman, originally from Pinar del Río, made the journey together with her cousin and a friend, but they were arrested in Veracruz and deported. “I’m not going back to Cuba. There, if you go out into the streets, they hit you with a stick and even put you in jail. Yes, there are blackouts, there are no medicines, they reduce your ration book… for the Government everything is the fault of the blockade [i.e. US embargo].” continue reading

Daniel, another Cuban who is in the shelter, left the Island along the Nicaraguan route. “We made a stopover in Panama before Managua, but out of the whole journey, Mexico has been the worst nightmare. The agents extort you with the threat of deportation. You have to pay for all the paperwork. The coyotes are everywhere.”

This habanero is accompanied by his cousin and an uncle. They all returned from the border of Piedras Negras (Coahuila). “When we arrived in Sonora, we were informed that we must now do the procedure from Mexico and that if we insist on crossing, they will deny us the parole for five years.”

A source who preferred not to disclose his name confirmed that there are 221 people in the gym hostel and that another group with 150 migrants is expected to arrive this Thursday.

The director of Attention to Priority Groups and Migrants, Bernardeth Ruiz Romero, explained that Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans are provided with health services, and as the number of returnees increases, they will be taken to other shelters. “We are providing the relevant humanitarian attention: a roof over their heads, legal guidance, and we have even promoted some days with Migration.”

The governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo, announced the possibility of employing migrants, without detailing conditions and salaries. “If they want, we would seek to accommodate them at work and help them on their return, with resources from the state government or under the protection of federal programs for their return by air to their countries of origin.

Last week, the Border Patrol began the return of Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico. The expulsion of these migrants who are in Hermosillo took place under Title 42, a controversial regulation implemented by the previous president, Donald Trump, during the pandemic, which allows for rapid deportations.

The Government of Mexico supports the Joe Biden Administration’s program through which, in exchange for 30,000 monthly paroles, the United States will deport Cubans and others in an illegal situation.

In the state of Chiapas, several Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Guatemalans protested this Thursday for attention to their transit demands. Migration let them know that the United States would return them if they entered illegally.

Despite the announcement of the closure of the border between the United States and Mexico, the crossing of Cubans continues along the Nicaraguan route.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ana Belen Montes: Anachronistic Spy for Cuba

Austrian actress Lotte Lenya, playing Soviet Colonel Rosa Klebb in the film “From Russia with Love” (1963), one of the most remembered villains of the Bond saga. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 15 January 2023 –The spy is defined by an ability to keep a secret. The secret configures everything else — temperament, friendships, love, fear, sex and loyalty. The accumulation of confidential information makes the spy a danger to both sides. The expiration date depends on how quickly the secret changes hands. The vertigo of such a life has to be addictive.

For several weeks I was obsessed with the way in which the spy Ana Belén Montes had been shaped by the secret. It was, above all, a communication problem. Montes started from resentment against her country and a bulletproof loyalty for Castro. We know that she had been transmitting data to Havana since the eighties and that she met every day with her contact, like a disciplined reporting machine.

Her appearance couldn’t be more mediocre: short hair, office worker’s dark circles and cheap suits. It’s revealing that Havana has celebrated her release with such reluctance after twenty years in prison. Only the back benches of the regime showed some enthusiasm in their propaganda.

The release of Ana Belén Montes reminds the world of things that Havana would prefer not to reveal. For example, the fact that Cuba’s espionage network is still in action, although its scope is modest and its methods are outdated. One sees Montes and knows that at the end of the line Castro is waiting, in suspense, holding the phone. Both figures — Mata Hari and the Kaiser — are dinosaurs, parodies, relics of the Cold War.

If Montes were a villain in a James Bond movie, she would not be the blonde Tatiana Romanova but the repulsive Rosa Klebb. Unappetizing, Sean Connery would have avoided seducing her. I find it easier to see her behind an old Macintosh, downloading the Pentagon files on a floppy disk, while nervously drinking coffee. continue reading

Twenty years after her capture, we still don’t know who Montes is. Was she in love with someone when she was handcuffed? Had she planned her retirement, did she get bored of playing? What was the last movie she saw as a free woman, what did she like to eat? What did she think of the situation on the Island — hunger, poverty, the Special Period — and the paranoid twilighted Castro of 2001?

The fundamental problem that Montes brings the discussion back to what is the ideology of the spy. No modern intelligence service is effective because of the political loyalty of its agents. Money, blackmail or coercion are less fragile than enthusiasm for a certain government. Montes, however, said she did not receive any remuneration for her services. She acted out of fidelity to an ideology, out of resentment toward her country, because of her strange bond with Castro. That is the most obvious mark of her anachronism.

Not even Bond — who worked for Queen and Country — could say so much. Alcohol, remorse and women are his territory. On the contrary, Montes’ homeland does not exist. It is not Puerto Rico, even if she has relatives there; nor the United States, whose government she does not support; nor Cuba, where it would be a hindrance to the diplomatic romance with Washington. She has no other region left but her guarded personal freedom and her memory.

There is another explanation for Montes, perhaps more credible than ideology. Lust for the secret. The accumulation, classification and possession of secrets. The exhaustion of a life dedicated to the flow of data, typical of a machine, of a superior intelligence. Her capture, at a time of maximum overload, was the system’s response to the virus.

When a spy is burned, the best thing that can be offered to her, after such a long time, is anonymity. Reality, always gray and ordinary, recently brought us back to an Ana Belén Montes with gray hair, crows feet and a benign smile. She doesn’t want to talk; she doesn’t want to know anything about her past. As if Havana whispered instructions to her again, as if she were still wearing Rosa Klebb’s costume with honor, she announced the spy’s first commandment to the press: “I as a person am irrelevant. I have no importance.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Regime is Cruel to the Family of Luis Robles, ‘The Young Man With the Placard’

Yindra Elizastigui and her son Lester Fernández, brother of Luis Robles. (Collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 January 2023 — Yindra Elizastigui, mother of Luis Robles, “the young man with the placard”, reported on Monday that her younger son, Lester Fernández, has been detained since 19 December and is currently being held in the Valle Grande central penitentiary in Havana. Via a Facebook Live link the mother said that they were accusing the young man of “an illegal attempt to leave the country”, as he was arrested whilst building a boat.

“They didn’t arrest him at sea”, she stressed, after leaving the Provincial Tribunal in Havana. “The border guards gave him a 7,000 peso fine”, according to what they told Yindra. The seven others who were arrested with her son were fined 3,000 pesos and “they have all been free to go about their business since that day”, the woman said.

Yindra Elizastigui said that the way in which they brought the charges against her son is a clear “reprisal for being the brother of Luis Robles, who is suffering an unjust imprisonment”.

Lester Fernández was arrested and taken to the police station in Cojímar. His mother tells us that in this place the first question that the State Security officer asked him was whether he was the brother of Luis Robles, because the surname Elizastigui is very rare on the Island. continue reading

The young man’s mother doesn’t understand why they transferred Lester from Cojímar to Villa Marista, State Security’s centre of operations. “Why did they take him there? Why didn’t they release him like they did the others that they’d arrested that day?

She only hopes that they don’t accuse Lester of being the “leader, the instigator, the one who paid for everything: food, fuel and everything that they found” for the building of the boat.

“It seems it’s not enough for them to make me suffer for one son, and now they have the other one”.

“Enough now. I won’t give up until I see them set free”, she posted on the same social media page, along with two photos of the boys, after she had gone live. “Freedom for my sons Luis Robles Elizastigui and Lester Fernández Elizastigui and for all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience”, she demanded.

The mother of Robles has gained notoriety on social media since she started to denounce the unjust imprisonment of her son Luis Robles and the maltreatment he has suffered in prison. The woman reported on her first Facebook Live last June that Robles had received constant ill treatment, such as being photographed unclothed and against his will.

This denouncement by Yindra was made a few months after learning about the sentence of five years in prison for the youth, condemned for demonstrating peacefully on 4 December 2020, on the central boulevard of Calle San Rafael in Havana, with a banner in his hands asking for the end to repression and freedom for the Cuban rapper Denis Solís.

“Perhaps a lot of the people who are watching and listening to me will say that I took a long time to speak out because it’s a year and six months since my son Luis Robles was jailed, unjustly I believe, and I know many other believe that too”, she said. “I have dared to go live today because I am outraged and disturbed by what is happening to my son”.

Robles is currently serving his sentence in the maximum security prison Combinado del Este.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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United States Repatriates Another 82 Cuban Rafters Who Will Not be Eligible for the New Permit

Four Cuban rafters in a rustic boat whose journey was thwarted when they were detained by the US Coast Guard. (Twitter/@USCGSoutheast)

14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2022 — With the image of four rafters on some logs mounted on Styrofoam plates, the United States Coast Guard reported on Monday the repatriation of 82 people to the island on the ship Angela McShan. Cubans who are caught in an illegal attempt to reach Florida will be expelled and as a consequence “will not be eligible for other immigration options,” Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson stated.

The group was delivered to the port of Orozco, in Bahía Honda, Artemisa province. According to the Ministry of the Interior, this is the seventh “joint operation with the US so far this year.” In total there are 1,052 Cubans who have seen their American dream frustrated.

From the ship Angela McShan, 13 women and 69 men disembarked. The US authorities detailed that the Cubans are part of 13 interceptions carried out by air and sea in the first 10 days of January.

The commander of the Coast Guard, Jorge Valente, reiterated to the rafters, as usual in these cases, to refrain from making trips in rustic boats and stressed through a statement that “the White House and the Department of Homeland Security announced new legal routes to enter the United States.

The new US immigration program facilitates the granting of up to 30,000 temporary permits each month to Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians, and Venezuelans, but it will also deport nationals and others in an illegal situation.

Those applying for humanitarian parole must have a sponsor or family member who is legally residing in the US and must pass a strict background check. The beneficiaries will be able to stay legally for two years in US territory and request a temporary work permit. It is estimated that 360,000 people from those four countries could legally enter the United States within a year.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) noted that since August of last year more than 5,200 migrants arrived in 306 rafts. To increase surveillance and prevent the disembarkation of more rafters, the National Guard has been mobilized.

As part of these operations, this Tuesday the Coast Guard reported that 32 rafters were transferred by the ship Manowar to the Bahamas, in response to two interceptions of people smuggling off Miami. “Do not pay smugglers to enter the United States illegally,” the agency warned on its social networks. Coyotes “don’t care if you live or die.”

Since October 1, 2022, the Coast Guard has cut short the crossing of 4,917 Cubans.

The journey of nationals from the Island also continues unstoppable by land. In Nueva Laredo, Tamaulipas (Mexico), 14 Cubans were detained for hiding in a warehouse waiting for a coyote to take them across the Rio Grande. In this place there were also 21 migrants from Guatemala, 13 from Honduras, 10 from El Salvador, seven from Ecuador and four from Nicaragua. Migration took charge of the detainees to define their situation.

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At Least 36 Migrants Died Trying to Cross the Darien Jungle in 2022

File photography of migrants in the Darien Gap (Colombia). (EFE/Mauricio Duenas Castañeda)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Geneva, 17 January 2023 — At least 36 migrants died in 2022 when they tried to cross the Darien jungle, on the border between Panama and Colombia, one of the most dangerous routes in the world, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

The figure, derived from data from the Missing Migrants Project (which provides daily updates on people who perish on migration routes around the globe) is possibly “only a small fraction of the true number of lives lost” in that area, warns the IOM in a statement.

“Many migrants die in the Darién Gap without their remains being recovered or [anyone] notified,” stresses the organization, which calls for the establishment of “safe, orderly and regular alternative routes to prevent migrants from being in a situation of vulnerability.”

IOM also calls for investigation into human smuggling networks, as well as increased investment and support in migrant host communities.

The United Nations agency gives this figure a week after the Panamanian government reported that in 2022 the number of migrants who crossed the Darién almost doubled compared to 2021, rising to almost 250,000 (including 150,000 Venezuelans, 29,000 Ecuadorians, 22,000 Haitians and almost 6,000 Cubans).

This increase, the IOM affirms, “coincides with the deterioration of economic and social conditions in the countries of origin and throughout Latin America,” a situation that according to the organization must be responded to “with a coordinated regional response and international cooperation to face the urgent humanitarian needs.”

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Cuba’s Famous Ice Cream Parlor Closed for Lack of Ice Cream

The panorama of the ice cream parlor, at one time characterized by the very long lines that had to be endured before entering under the shadow of its concrete roofs, was bleak. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, JuanDiego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 January 2023 — Coppelia, one of the many symbols of the utopian dreams of the Cuban Revolution –- in this case producing more and better flavors than the United States — is closed to the public this Tuesday.

It is not due to remodeling, as happened in 2019, nor due to sanitary measures, as it was for months during the covid pandemic – when, in fact, they did sell take-out at their outside counter – but quite simply because there is no ice cream.

The employees responded directly to customers who were surprised that the establishment had not begun to serve the public at its usual ten in the morning. “There isn’t any, there isn’t any ice cream.”

The panorama of the ice cream parlor, at one time characterized by the very long lines that had to be endured before entering under the shadow of its concrete roofs, was bleak. Lights off, chairs piled on the terraces, silence.

Traditionally called the “Ice Cream Cathedral” in Cuba, Coppelia was inaugurated in 1966 and, like so many things during that time, lived a brief splendor. It soon began to languish, until the crisis of the Special Period, when the quantity and quality of its supply drastically dropped. However, even those terrible ’90s the ice cream parlor did not end. On the contrary, being one of the few things that still worked, the crowds were enormous and, once the circulation of the dollar was allowed, it was common to see foreigners enter with their currencies without having to wait in line. continue reading

Its remodeling almost four years ago aroused much expectation, but it could not stop the decline of the place that, with the Ordering Task, at the beginning of 2021, suffered another blow: prices rose exponentially, from the weight and a half that each ball cost to seven .

Last March, they raised the cost of the product again – 9 pesos for Coppelia ice cream and 7 for Varadero, of lower quality – among numerous criticisms for using soy milk in production. Shortly after, the prices dropped slightly, but every week the supply dwindled.

This Tuesday, the outside window was only open for a while, to sell a strange peach ice cream, which seemed to have no milk, very different from the one they usually serve on the terraces.

“Let’s go, mi’jo, “ a woman said resignedly to her companion on Tuesday morning, “the cathedral of ice cream is no longer even a little chapel.”

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Cuba’s Villa Clara Ranchers Organize Guards to Stop Cattle Theft

“They say that they kill our cattle because we don’t take care of them, which may be true, but I assure you that the only thing left to do is put the cattle to sleep inside the house.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2023 — Not even the threat of going to prison for up to 10 years for the illegal slaughter of cattle stopped this crime in Villa Clara, which closed 2022 with unprecedented figures of 12,237 head of cattle stolen or slaughtered. These events grew 200% compared to the previous year and are leading the farmers to create bodies of guards to watch over the cattle.

The data was published this Monday by the State newspaper Granma , under the title Impunity, Scourge of Livestock. In the text, the official newspaper is inclined to show cases of producers who managed to confront criminal groups, but offers figures that show that the crisis in the sector worsened in 2022, both due to criminal acts and to the lack of food and water to support the cattle.

Roberto Pérez García, in charge of the Genetics and Livestock Registry of Villa Clara, explained to the newspaper that theft and illegal slaughter of cattle registered an excessive growth last year with 8,166 cases, more than double the 4,071 reported in 2021. Those accounted for in 2022 correspond to 2.4% of the horse and cattle numbers of the province, added the official, who acknowledged that the figures could be higher because not all the events in question are denounced or known by the authorities.

Furthermore, this figure does not include the 22,000 cows that died last year in the same province due to lack of water, food and medicine. Pérez García recognized that the preventive control of the unit that he directs was lacking, as well as “the joint action” of other institutions to support the producers in the care of their animals.

The official indicated that these are historical records, and that in November alone the number of stolen cattle rose to 1,800, with a similar figure for December. continue reading

“Sometimes they say that we farmers kill our cattle because we don’t take care of them, which may be true, but I assure you that the only thing left is to bed the cattle down inside the house. Do you know where my oxen were when they took them to me? In the doorway of the house, and even so they had no compassion for an old man over 80 years old,” laments Rodríguez Alfonso. “Never before has the same vandalism been experienced.”

With the economic crisis and food shortages, cattle rustling has become organized by gangs that clandestinely slaughter the animals and then sell the meat on the black market at ‘gold’ prices. Many producers do not report the thefts to the authorities because they are threatened or because the Police do not bother with the cases.

The lack of inputs for the manufacture of fences and other protection and security mechanisms also hinders the care of livestock. The possession of weapons in the hands of ranchers is prohibited and to defend their animals they must call on the guards with machetes or build improvised devices that serve as shotguns.

Yusniel Benavides Gutiérrez, chief prosecutor of the province’s Department of Criminal Procedures, assured the newspaper that only 1% of the cases reported last year reached the courts, despite the great impact these crimes have on economic activity.

“These are complex situations to clarify, because they occur in complex areas and there are many delays in filing the complaints, which limits the opportunity for the investigation, to which is added the existing lack of control in the cattle herds in all places,” said the prosecutor.

Benavides Gutiérrez noted that the penalties for these crimes are from four to 10 years in prison for illegal slaughter, or from three to eight years for trading meat on the black market. However, the gangs of slaughterers managed to evade the authorities and, just as in Villa Clara, the province of Las Tunas also registered a record growth in these acts at the end of last year with the theft of 5,305 head of cattle, about 2,207 (71.2%) more than in 2021.

The official newspaper points out that the same situation was experienced in the base business unit of Juan Pedro Carbó Serviá, from Placetas, until Midiala González Madero took over the management of the entity and met with the workers and residents of the area to “commit to them to solve the problem.”

“Without inflating the workforce,” said the woman, a body of guards was created to monitor and count the cattle.

In the same vein, Yamilé Báez Fernández, president of the Bernardo Díaz cooperative, from Cifuentes, said that she has not suffered from theft or animal sacrifices for 10 years. The woman indicated that a patrol system was formed with 60 members of the institution, who rotate to provide surveillance in the pastures.

Both producers insist that they had the support of the Ministry of the Interior, but it is not constant in the rest of the Cuban territory where the criminals intimidate the producers, as happened last week in Cienfuegos. There, the rancher Yordany Díaz was murdered after confronting a gang that had killed a cow on his property. In this case, the authorities have not provided more details than those that came out on social networks, nor informed whether those involved have been arrested.

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Shortage of Condoms in Cuba Causes Rebound in Sexual Infections and in Abortions

Condoms are also sent in the humanitarian aid packages of organizations abroad. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 14 January 2023 — The shortage of condoms in pharmacies and health centers is taking a heavy toll on Cuban families with a rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as well as unwanted pregnancies and abortions, said Dr. Deglis Luciano, head of the Program of STIs in the province of Guantanamo.

The official explained to the provincial newspaper Venceremos that, between January and October 2022, there was also an increase in cases of vaginal discharge syndrome, a disease that causes burning, stench, irritation and discomfort when patients urinate. There was also an increase in syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.

Health reports indicate that in 2022 the highest number of abortions in the last two years was recorded, although the number performed is not specified. The doctor also recognized that unofficial abortions are not counted, carried out by the health system, but with no records kept, in which the risk of sterility increases and they can also cause the death of the woman.

The Venceremos note, titled Between Precautions and Deceptions, acknowledges that “in recent months” there has been a marked deficiency in the availability of contraceptive methods on the Island, such as condoms, pills and injections, the most popular and affordable for family planning for women. This “reduces or precludes sexually active people from having relationships responsibly,” she added.

The same newspaper quotes a young Cuban woman, Melissa, who reports that her most urgent concern is to get the birth control pills, rather than “carry on with the calendar in hand” to keep track of ovulation. “That there is talk of dealing with STIs with condoms, and that there is no way to buy them at a reasonable price, I am amused, although it is not funny. How much more time will it take for the problem to be resolved,” questioned the woman. continue reading

The condom shortage is not a recent issue in Cuba, but it worsened with the covid-19 pandemic. A publication in this newspaper in 2020 found that pharmacies did not have the product in their inventories, considered one of the most efficient because it is a barrier to the spread of diseases and unwanted pregnancies. The only places where they could be found, and with a limited supply, was in stores that accept payment only in convertible pesos (CUC), but at a prohibitive price for Cubans.

In the note, the official newspaper of Guantanamo acknowledges that the virtual candonga [private market] takes center stage in the absence of a formal and orderly market to control the sale. Numerous groups on social networks offer contraceptive products, some through the popular Revolico classifieds site, which “become almost the only option” for Cuban families.

A recent survey with high school students revealed that young Cubans consider it very difficult to acquire contraceptive methods, especially due to the high prices in hard currency stores or in the informal market.

In the black market networks, a condom can be worth 50 pesos and birth control pills are fixed at the cost that “the seller wants,” said those consulted in the study, for whom there is no choice but to “adjust with them.”

The shortage of condoms has led the health authorities of Santiago de Cuba to begin distributing the prophylaxis drug (PrEP) last September, capable of preventing the spread of the virus that causes AIDS. The doctor Manuel Felipe Moreno Soto told the newspaper Sierra Maestra that few people go for this treatment, although the plans are to open more consultations in four municipalities of Havana and also in the capital of Santiago due to the high incidence of HIV.

“PrEP is an additional preventive method for people who do not have HIV, but who have a higher risk of becoming infected due to biological characteristics and the conditions in which they carry out their sexual life, marked by stigma and discrimination,” said the doctor, who insisted that the drug has been shown to cut transmission and decrease the incidence of the virus.

This drug was introduced in Cuba in 2019 under the auspices of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and other United Nations agencies, and the first tests were carried out in the municipalities of Matanzas and Cárdenas.

Among the products that Cuban emigrants who visit the Island bring in their suitcases, there is an increasing presence of contraceptive methods. In social networks, money collections are frequent to bring luggage loaded with medicines to the country and, among them, the necessary condoms have gained prominence to the extent that they are absent from national pharmacies.

The morning-after pill and intrauterine devices also often arrive in the country with travelers who import them for their families or for resale on the black market. A single one of these pills to stop pregnancy costs between 700 and 900 Cuban pesos in the informal trade.

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Cuba: Theft and Slaughter of Cattle Grows More Than 70 Percent in One Year in Las Tunas

During the past year there was a “notable increase” in crimes against livestock; in 2022 there were 5,305 events. (Newspaper 26)

14ymedio, Havana, 15 January 2023 — The theft and slaughter of cattle in the province of Las Tunas reached historical figures at the end of 2022, with an increase of 71% in cases compared to 2021. These facts, added to the loss of productivity due to lack of water and food for the animals, affected the production of meat and milk, according to an article published this Sunday by Newspaper 26 .

The provincial newspaper indicates that during the past year there was a “notable increase” in crimes against large livestock — such as theft, illegal slaughter or robbery with violence — which at the end of 2022 totaled 5,305 events. This meant an increase of 2,207 cases compared to the 3,098 reported in 2021, and two times more than in 2020, when there were 2,394.

The municipalities of Las Tunas, Jobabo and Majibacoa concentrated most of the crimes, which frequently occurred due to the lack of care by private or state owners, according to information shared during a meeting between producers and authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the article, the private sector suffered more cases of cattle thefts because it concentrates 80% of the province’s bovine mass, especially equine cattle that are easier to move and are used for various production or consumption purposes. “Activity that deteriorates several productive indicators such as the collection of milk and beef, with its consequent impact on the nutrition of children and pregnant women, fundamentally,” the newspaper says.

Official data shows that the crimes did not stop, despite the fact that in August 2022 the Cuban government approved new sanctions to prevent irregularities in the breeding and trade of cattle, which entails fines of up to 20,000 pesos. continue reading

In this regard, in the meeting with the producers it was highlighted that the farmers’ surveillance brigades do not work, in addition to the fact that huntsmen are needed in the dairy farms and there are several failures in the infrastructure, such as poorly constructed fences. There is also not enough security in the pens where the cows feed, which are infested with weeds, so it is common to see the animals loose on the tracks and in pastures.

Manuel Pérez Gallego, member of the Central Committee and first secretary of the Communist Party in Las Tunas, promised that the security forces will increase surveillance in the neighborhoods, as well as develop activities for the development of the sector, which in 2022 decreased by 4,400 heads of cattle due to “mismanagement and insufficient availability of water and food.”

At the meeting, the producers denounced that the modus operandi of the gangs of thieves is based on reaching the farms with threats to the ranchers and their families, and they commit the crimes with “total impunity.”

This happened in Cienfuegos this week with the murder of Yordany Díaz, a producer from Juraguá, from the Cienfuegos municipality of Abreus, who confronted a gang of thieves that was dismembering a cow that had been killed on his property. According to the neighbors, the man was “vilely beheaded” by the criminals, according to Alejo Bermúdez reporting on social networks.

In the midst of an economic crisis and scarcity, the theft of cattle has skyrocketed in recent years by groups that then sell the meat on the black market, at prices impossible for the majority of Cubans. Although the Government usually blames the producers for not monitoring their farms, the farmers claim that the uniformed officers do not provide security either and do not follow up on various cases of complaints.

The black market for beef is the final destination for many of these stolen cows, despite the fact that in 2021, and for the first time in decades, the Cuban authorities authorized ranchers to slaughter their cattle and market the meat and other derivatives. The measure sought to encourage livestock production and reduce illegal slaughter, often perpetrated by the owners themselves, but three years after this easing, animal theft has not been stopped.

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Cuban Court Revokes House Arrest of Troubadour Fernando Becquer, Who Goes to Prison

His recent stumbling block when publishing two songs on networks has finally cost Fernando Bécquer imprisonment. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 January 2023 — The Cuban singer-songwriter Fernando Bécquer has been confined in a penitentiary center, according to a statement published this Thursday by the People’s Provincial Court of Havana. The singer-songwriter was serving a penalty of “3 years and 4 months of limitation of freedom” (household) for sexual abuse.

According to the statement, Bécquer “recently committed serious acts that flagrantly and notoriously fail to comply with the requirements of good conduct and respect for the rules of social coexistence” to which he was obliged and “had been previously warned.” For this reason, the Popular Municipal Court of Centro Habana, on January 10, issued a new resolution in which it established that the troubadour “will comply with the sanction imposed in an internal regime in a penitentiary establishment.”

The change in sentence was also reported this Thursday by the official affiliate Qva en Directo, which, with the testimony of “neighbors” of the building where the troubadour lives, confirmed that the sanction had been “reconsidered” and Bécquer was transferred to a “prison center.”

A day earlier, the activist Marta María Ramírez demanded transparency in the case by posting on Twitter that “several sources point” to the “imprisonment” of Bécquer on January 10 “after violating feminists in networks, in breach of the sentence.”

The Bécquer case began last December 2021, when the independent magazine El Estornudo published a report with testimonies from five young people who accused the musician, in a very detailed way, of different episodes of abuse between 10 and 20 years ago. continue reading

The singer-songwriter, known for his affinity with the regime and for his multiple connections with the artists closest to power, denied the accusations at that time and described them as “slander.” “I don’t believe in anything, I believe in the Revolution,” he insisted at the end of a concert in Havana. Months later, some thirty women joined the complaints with their testimonies.

Last Tuesday, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) denounced the singer-songwriter for the misogyny of the lyrics of two songs that he published on his networks. The official organization then considered that the lyrics of the songs are “disrespectful, highly violent against Cuban women” and pointed out that these types of actions “are intolerable and must be denounced and punished for constituting hate messages.”

The FMC, by expressly naming the troubadour, considered that the songs are not only evidence of the machismo that persists in society, but that they constitute a “mockery of justice” coming from a man who has been found “guilty of sexual violence.” However, at the moment when the complaints of the abuses began to come to light, the mass organization issued a message of support to those affected without citing the musician and said that “guiding and accompanying the women in each process has been a priority.”

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A Depressed Employee Among Empty Shelves, a Reflection of Cuba’s Misfortune

The Pan-American Store at Boyeros and Camagüey, in Havana, this Monday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 16 January 2023 — A few years ago, through one of those entertaining TED conferences that spread like wildfire on social networks, Barry Schwartz popularized the expression “the paradox of choice” which can be summed up as follows: choosing between too many options produces paralysis and dissatisfaction, which can cause a kind of very negative stress in modern industrial societies.

None of this will happen to the customers of the Panamericana store on Rancho Boyeros and Camagüey avenues, in Havana, where the shelves looked almost completely empty this Monday.

“How come it’s like this!” a surprised customer remarked — one of the very few in the store which requires payment in freely convertible currency (MLC). An employee responded, sighing with resignation: “Do you see how it is? The last time there was a more or less decent assortment here was in December and we’ve been like this ever since.” continue reading

On the shelves there were hardly any very expensive products that people do not usually buy, such as beef that is unaffordable to the average Cuban, or Christmas munchies at 16 MLC, or the occasional wrinkled and expensive package of beans.

Gone are those images of the establishment in which the refrigerators looked full and the lines at the door stretched four blocks. That was in July 2020, just after the Government announced the sale of food and toilets in MLC, a measure harshly criticized by the population, a large part of which does not have access to foreign currency.

Although a year later the same market, one of the largest in the capital along with Cuatro Caminos, in Centro Habana, and 3rd and 70th, in the municipality of Playa, was in crisis due to shortages, it cannot be compared to its present state. .

“There’s nothing, this is stripped, let’s go,” a couple commented among themselves.

To explain the “paradox of choice” there are scientific studies that speak, for example, of the damage of an “overload of alternatives” in the brain if there are many options to choose from. Thanks to the Revolution, the Cubans’ brains are safe.

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‘If You Go to Cuba, Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Too Much,’ Canadian Tourists are Warned

The Canadian market is one of the main sources of income for the sector at a time when the country is in an economic recession. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 12 January 2023 — Some 160 passengers landed this Wednesday in Varadero from Canada with the low-cost airline Swoop, which inaugurated its routes from Toronto to the Island. The news has been reported with optimism in the official press, which aspires to recover the market that has attracted the most tourists in recent decades, but it comes just one day after a consumer organization from the Canada recommended not having very high expectations when traveling to Cuba on vacation.

All inclusive in Cuba: don’t get your hopes up, is the title of the article published Tuesday by Protegez-vous, an association belonging to International Consumer Research and Testing whose members investigate and advise consumers on all kinds of goods and services. In it, they ask those who choose to spend their vacations on the Island to be aware that they must choose five-star hotels if they are looking for the quality they would get for a four-star hotel in Mexico or the Dominican Republic, although even that option does not guarantee that they will find it.

“If a person tells me that eating well is a priority for them, I don’t recommend Cuba,” Annie-France Lambert, from the Voyages Simon Pelletier agency, told the association. The specialist explains to her compatriots that the bulk of the tourists that the island received were Russians and Canadians, but with the plummeting of Russian clients after the war in Ukraine, the lack of income is evident in food services, even in the best hotels.

“With tourist income in Cuba cut by almost half, there is a direct impact on the quality of services and food,” she says. “There won’t necessarily be any seafood and you may be without wine, alcohol or soft drinks for a few days,” Lambert continues. Her recommendation is not to expect the great luxuries you’ll find in other Caribbean destinations if you don’t pay “a great price.” continue reading

The article also warns of how complicated it can be to get the money refunded if the client is not satisfied. “Unless the travel agent has omitted or misrepresented some information, the consumer doesn’t have much recourse,” says Moscou Côté, president of the Quebec Association of Travel Agents (AAVQ) and manager of the Voyages Constellation agency.

To request compensation, it is necessary to demonstrate that the services do not correspond to what was promised verbally or in the written contract. “For example, a client could not ask for compensation for considering that the food served was not good if they had been warned before their trip of its poor quality.”

Lambert also details that the compensation by the agency is proportional in case of agreement. “If, for example, we told the client that there was a seafood restaurant and there was not, we compensate the damage at its fair value, that is, one meal of 21 in a stay of one week,” she explains. The compensation can be in cash or on a future trip, although if the parties do not agree, it will be necessary to file a claim in court.

Those consulted for the article also explain how to cancel the trip, something that will only be allowed if you have insurance or a clause that allows it. If not, it is possible to exchange it for a more expensive destination, specifies Côté.

Lambert for her part recommends that, for those who persist in going to Cuba despite the warnings, it is best to be realistic: “Go without having too many expectations, the disappointments will be less. That is what we usually say!”

Swoop’s new flights seem to stray slightly from scenarios like these. The airline does not force you to buy a complete travel package, with hotel and other expenses included, so it makes it easier to go to rental houses or other options, although the recommendations for consumers would be, in this case, even more necessary, since access to a certain quality of food or other elements is complicated.

Swoop Airlines will fly three times a week to Varadero from Toronto, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and is the 16th company to choose the Juan Gualberto Gómez airport. A few weeks ago, the authorities blamed the bad tourism figures this year – which until December totaled just over 1.3 million travelers compared to the 1.7 then expected and the 2.5 projected at the beginning of the year – on delays of the airlines to return to the Island, although the flights have been taking place for a year now, after the worst of the pandemic.

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