‘We Don’t Even Have Bread for Communion’ Says a Priest in Cuba

Every diocese orders the hosts it needs from the nuns, picks them up in Havana and pays a modest fee to help support the sisters. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 3 November 2022 — The monastery of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Saint Teresa in Havana produces most of the communion wafers, or “hosts,” consumed by the island’s Catholics. On Wednesday the nuns announced in an online statement that they would not be able to manufacture or sell any more of them, paralyzing a distribution system that has been operating for decades.

“We’ve been working with what little flour that was left but we’ve already run out of that stockpile,” wrote the nuns, for whom the sale of hosts was one of their sources of income.

The announcement has aroused the solidarity of many Catholics on the island as well as of Cuban exiles in Spain and the United States, who have taken the opportunity to send raw materials to the Havana convent. The sisters have also set up a phone line for anyone who might want to help.

“Since production has been halted, we’ll have to stretch the existing hosts, almost like [the biblical parable of] multiplying the loaves,” says Fr. Jose Luis Preyo, a Spanish priest working in the town of Caibarién, in Villa Clara province. “We’ll have to divide each host into two or three pieces until the supply is replenished.”

Pueyo explains that priests from every parish goes to their local bishops once a month to pick up hosts for their congregations. “It’s not a product that will keep indefinitely,” he points out. “It’s better not to wait too long before consuming it. That’s why production and supply have to be ongoing.”

As for the Carmelite nuns of Havana — they were the subject of the 2015 Spanish documentary “A Million Hosts” — he describes their work as “doing a favor for the  island’s dioceses.” The money they receive for the continue reading

hosts also allows the convent to be economically self-sufficient. “If this turns out to be a chronic problem, which seems unlikely, we would have to import hosts from overseas, as we do now with sacramental wine. We would also have to find dioceses or parishes to produce them, which has already happened to some extent, or to consecrate ordinary bread,” says the priest.

As for the latter option, Pueyo says that this could only be done with bread made from wheat flour without any additives or fillers, something impossible to find in Cuba.

“The hosts are distributed on a monthly basis,” says Pedro, a lay administrator in Villa Clara. “Every diocese orders the hosts it needs from the nuns, picks them up in Havana and pays a modest fee to help support the sisters.

Pedro speculates that the host shortage will lead to rumors about the Catholic church’s relationship with the government. He claims the nuns have an agreement with the regime to supply them with flour but that the government has not lived up to its end of the deal.

“It’s worth noting that Pope Francis does not supply the flour, as some people think, nor is it his responsibility. Every country has its own system for producing and distributing hosts.” He says some hosts are also produced at the local level in Cuba though he admits he does not know how this is done.

Sebastian, a layperson working for the diocese of Matanzas, claims the Carmelites produce all the hosts consumed by the western half of the island. “Years ago the nuns were able to modernize their operation. It’s not ordinary bread. It’s a wafer whose dough must be cooled in a very exacting way, then placed on very hot metal sheets, where it is shaped and cut,” he explains.

Sebastian does not believe a shortage of communion wafers will disrupt religious life in Cuba but he cautions, “It will severely impact the lives of thousands of Catholics who attend Sunday mass.”

He also points out that Catholics are not the only ones affected. “Evangelicals, Anglicans and Orthodox Christians rely on the archdiocese to provide them with hosts for their own religious services.”

“It’s not the first time we’ve faced a crisis but, so far, we’ve always been able to overcome any obstacle. But this time there’s an announcement that speaks louder that a thousand words about the hardships we are facing. It is as though the old saying ‘We don’t even have bread for communion’ were literally true.”

Shortages of raw materials have significantly affected churches and church-related endeavors. Sebastian recalls that, some time ago, Vida Cristiana — a nearly 60-year old Jesuit publication that was one of those which published the Carmelite nuns’ announcement — faced a serious paper shortage. Dozens of other Cuban religious publications faced the same problem, forcing them to delay printing or to shut down entirely.

“Another problem is the electricity shortage. What kind of manufacturing operations can survive  blackouts that last for more than twelve hours?” he asks.

Although the protests over shortages and blackouts seem to have subsided, many people in the country’s interior still suffer from long power outages. These hardships, along with the imprisonment of demonstrators and worsening living conditions, have led the island’s priests and nuns to denounce the situation.

Alberto Reyes, a priest in Camaguey province, posted a message of support to the demonstrators: “Given the unacceptable lack of electricity in Esmeralda, if anyone is going to hold a peaceful protest, let me know so I can ring the church bells.”

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

U.S. Pro-Castro Groups Bring Food and Medical Supplies to Cuba

The donation includes surgical gloves and medical supplies that will be sent to Pinar del Río, the province most devastated by Hurricane Ian. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 6 November 2022 — On Saturday, United States solidarity groups brought to Cuba a donation consisting of pasta, powdered milk and medical supplies, state media reported.

The shipment includes surgical gloves and medical supplies that will be sent to Pinar del Río (in the west), a province affected a month ago by Hurricane Ian, according to state television Canal Habana.

Cuban-American professor Carlos Lazo, manager of the Puentes de Amor project, and the American, Medea Benjamin, leader of the Code Pink organization, delivered the products to Cuban officials at the José Martí International Airport in Havana.

This donation is in addition to others received on the Island in previous months sponsored by American associations and foundations and by Cubans residing in the United States. continue reading

Last June, Lazo was also in charge of a shipment that contained medical supplies to perform liver transplants on eight Cuban children.

Last year, Cuba received 135 donations from 40 countries, mostly supplies and medical equipment for immunization and the fight against the pandemic, according to official data.

The Island is going through a serious crisis due to the tightening of the U.S. economic embargo and errors in national macroeconomic management.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Castro Military Counterintelligence: An Example of Cuba’s Internal Embargo/Blockade

The state apparatus of control and repression is among Cuba’s largest employers.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, November 6, 2022 — Cuban communists blame the embargo/blockade for all the ills that occur in Cuba, but they know that argument is not true. On the contrary, there is an internal blockade by the regime on the Cuban people that prevents them from reaching the levels of prosperity and well-being they want. A much more harmful and lethal internal blockade. There are many examples of this historical attrition. Interestingly, the information is offered by Granma, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, in the article entitled “The history of Military Counterintelligence is the history of the Revolution.”

Here we have a magnificent example of that internal blockade that grips the lives of Cubans: military counterintelligence, which has just turned 60 years old. It’s not surprising that Raúl Castro, through an emotional letter, has abandoned his golden retirement to preside over what Granma calls “the political act and military ceremony on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of Military Counterintelligence, constituted on November 7, 1962, and whose history is, for many reasons, the history of the Revolution itself.”

Well, yes. The history of the revolution, the model of social, economic and political organization that has made Cuba in six decades one of the poorest countries in the world. And why is this counterintelligence an example of the internal blockade? For many reasons. Let’s start with the economic, organizational, functional cost of the thousands of chiefs, officers, non-commissioned officers, cadets, sergeants, soldiers and civil counterintelligence workers.

Thousands of people are engaged in unproductive and inefficient tasks, which respond only to the regime’s objectives of surveillance, control and repression. Unfortunately there are no data to back up this statement, but employment in the branch of public administration, defense and social security, including the state apparatus, reached a total of 31,500 people in 2021, 7% of the total, more than in construction and almost the same figure as in the manufacturing industry. In addition, since 2017, it registered a growth of 6% while total employment decreased by -0.8%. continue reading

What seems obvious is that these people occupied in the tasks of counterintelligence don’t produce food or manufacture products; their work is only reflected in being an instrument of the internal blockade, which is to report information to eliminate from the root any social initiative contrary to the objectives of the so-called “revolution.”

Raúl Castro’s letter confirmed the personal interest of the country’s ruling circle in the members of this body to continue to preserve, “with the professionalism and honesty that characterizes them, the security of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the work of the Revolution.” Let’s say that if that supposed professionalism and honesty were dedicated to more productive and necessary things for the well-being of ordinary Cubans, this argument could be justified, but giving security to the revolution is now getting old, and the effort dedicated to this task is so enormous, that much of the country’s energy is lost in this activity, which counterintelligence performs masterfully.

And apparently not only Raúl Castro wants this organization to continue working and blocking the Cuban people. The speech of some leader of the new generations of officers recognized that, even though much work has been done, the challenges ahead are even greater. And he added, “for revolutionaries there is no rest; we have to be united and work to continue consolidating the gains achieved”: a message that reinforces that unproductive character of counterintelligence, based more on the confidence that the direction of the revolution places in it than on the use of the work of those thousands of people in pursuit of the social good of all Cubans.

The 60 years of existence of this organization have depended on alleged attack plans of the internal and external enemy. Beliefs that, based on being repeated over and over again, end up becoming dogma; in reality, those attacks have never occurred. What usually happens is that the regime, to block the people, identifies a legitimate social protest, such as 11J, as an attack on national sovereignty, and imprisons thousands of people, with long sentences for exercising a widely recognized right in all countries of the world. That is, internally blockading the population.

Are there privileges to be part of this organization? In a general sense, possibly, but it doesn’t seem that employees who engage in these activities have, except in very few cases, better living conditions than average. They have lived with a non-existent creed for 60 years and curiously prepare for an uncertain future, in which, once the nation chooses the path to freedom and democracy, the internal blockade exercised by counterintelligence will disappear forever.

It will disappear as in the famous film, “The Lives of Others,” in which the protagonist, a spy with East German counterintelligence, is faced with a new reality alien to the one he had lived in the period of dictatorship. Most likely, democracy in Cuba will make the entire history of counterintelligence disappear, the history of its “founders, heroes and martyrs,” because unlike what Granma says, we will not inherit anything from them, except a lot of suffering, repression, destroyed lives and internal blockade, and this, of course, at incomprehensible costs for any state.

And as it doesn’t appear that this will happen, the communist regime that governs the destinies of Cubans, the same one that created counterintelligence 60 years ago, will not assume the historical responsibility of transforming the organization so that it really serves the interests of the people and ceases to be an internal blockade. They won’t. Not even with that critical reflection or analysis of what Granma says they do. Many of these actions help to understand the internal blockade that Cuban communists deny, although it exists and is especially serious, above all at this time when the people begin to wake up and realize what is being lost.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Raul Castro Reappears in a Tribute to Cuban Military Counterintelligence

Raúl Castro awarded accolades during the political act and military ceremony. (Granma)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 6 November 2022 — Former Cuban president Raúl Castro, retired from political life in 2021, congratulated the members of Military Counterintelligence on Saturday in an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of the group’s founding.

The Government of Cuba reported that the message of the former president was read during the military act for the creation of the organ of the Revolutionary Armed Forces on November 7, 1962.

Raúl Castro, who attended the ceremony, “expressed his certainty that the members of this prestigious body will continue to preserve, with the professionalism and honesty that characterizes them, the security of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the work of the revolution,” according to the press release.

Castro, 91, witnessed the act dressed in the olive green uniform of an army general and was recognized as one of the founders of military counterintelligence. continue reading

Castro came to power on an interim basis in 2006 due to the illness of his brother Fidel, and officially assumed the presidency in 2008.

In April 2021, he transferred the position of first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (the only legal party) during the VIII Congress of the Party to the current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Three years earlier he left the Government of the Island in the hands of Díaz-Canel to guarantee the continuity of the socialist system of single party and centralized economy.

Since he retired from power, his public appearances have been reduced to the meetings of the PCC, the National Assembly (unicameral parliament) and other specific events.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Justicia 11J Documented the Arrests of 162 Protesters in Cuba Last Quarter

For several nights, hundreds of Cubans went out to protest — with cacerolazos (banging on pots and pans) — the blackouts that followed Hurricane Ian. (Capture)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 November 2022 — Cuban NGO, Justicia 11J shared on Friday that it has documented a total of 162 arrests of protesters who participated in “at least 202 public protests” in Cuba between August and October.

In a report published on social media, the association shared that of the more than 160 people arrested, five are younger than 18 years of age — the minimum criminal age in the country is 16 years — and 78 remain under arrest.

According to the registry developed by the NGO, the total number of detentions since June increased to 188.

The protests, according to the report, occurred in 14 of the 15 provinces across the Island, with Havana being the region with most protests (55), followed by the western province of Matanzas (19).

According to the report, September 30th and October 1st represented 26.4% of the protest days. In just those two days, there were 41 protests, according to the NGO. continue reading

Those were the days after Hurricane Ian made landfall on the easternmost part of the island, which left a good part of the country without electricity and water for almost a week.

As to the use of violence against protesters, Justicia 11J has documented cases in Nuevitas (Camagüey province), where protests occurred over several consecutive nights in August, and in Havana following Hurricane Ian.

“At least four people were brutally beaten (in Havana). The mother of one of those stated that five days after the protest, she had not yet been allowed to see him, even after she was informed that her son was receiving medical care from a maxilofacial surgeon,” states the organization.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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

The Escape of Two Boxers Puts the Cuban Team on the Ropes in the World Cup

Cuban boxers Albert González and Carlos Castillo had been training since September 24 in Berlin, Germany. (Collage)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 November 2022 — The defections continue to knock out, in the international championships, the Cuban boxing team Domadores. This Wednesday, the boxers Albert González and Carlos Castillo left the team in Germany, where Cuba had won its first three bronze medals at the Boxing World Cup, held this year in Cologne.

The athletes didn’t even show up for the scheduled fights, so the national commissioner, Alberto Puig, accused them of having “missed their commitment.”

The escape of González and Castillo, two elite fighters and valuable members of the Domadores, marks a critical moment for a selection that has not yet been replaced by the recent abandonment of Osvel Caballero, who escaped in Mexico after triumphing over his opponent, the Mexican Gerson “Tigre” Escobar.

The boxers, both from Havana, were in training since October 24 in Berlin, along with seven other boxers led by the two-time Olympic champion Roniel Iglesias, the three-time world king Lázaro Álvarez and the world champion in the 75-kilogram category, Yoenlis Hernández. The Domadares group is completed with Alejandro Claro, Sadiel Horta, Rafael Joubert and Freddy Pérez. continue reading

Castillo arrived in Berlin after beating Kazakh fighter Amanat Sabyrgali in the Boxing World Cup, and after receiving his champion credential in the superweights for defeating Cuban Yoel Duvergel in the Playa Girón National Tournament. After his victory, he declared to the media Jit that he had “rewarded” his mother’s many-year sacrifice and announced that that was “his moment.”

For his part, González, who was supposed to debut against the German Ben Ehis, is experiencing an uphill career that led him to be considered by coaches Robinson Poll, Víctor Sánchez and Julio Lázaro Mena, who integrated him into the delegation to face several European opponents at the end of the year.

The two boxers are expected to look for ways to get into professional boxing from Europe or to get to the United States, where their future could be promising, as published by Swing Completo.

The bleeding of Cuban athletes is a constant. This Wednesday, the escape of players Yordy Magdariaga and Juan Raúl Cruz, from the Under-18 national team, was confirmed, according to journalist Francys Romero.

“Cuban baseball players continue to trust that there is more future outside their country than inside. Both Magdariaga and Cruz will begin a stage now of perfecting their tools and, in addition, presenting themselves to talent evaluators,” said the reporter to the media Baseball FR!

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Frightened by Working Conditions, Dozens of Cubans Give Up Medical Studies

There are very few students interested in the specialty of General Surgery, and those who study it are demotivated by the lack of practice. (Facebook/Hospital Antonio Luaces Iraola)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 5 November 2022 — The stampede of 146 graduate students puts emergency medical care in Ciego de Ávila in crisis. A report published this Saturday by the official newspaper Invasor plucks up courage to find explanations. It attributes the figure to the demotivation of young people and takes a long detour to never mention the most obvious cause of the deficit: emigration.

Of the total number of dropouts that the University of Medical Sciences (UCM) registers “in pencil,” 71 have definitively renounced the specialty (26 comprehensive general practitioners, 7 dentists, 1 nurse and 37 specialists in secondary care), while 75 point out that their refusal to continue their studies is “temporary.”

The deficit translates into poor medical care in the province, and to top it off, morbidity rates have increased. Most to blame, in the opinion of health managers in Ciego de Ávila, is the covid-19 pandemic, which closed the operating rooms to operations that weren’t urgent and therefore eliminated the possibility that young residents could train.

“No surgeon is trained by watching,” Dr. Alberto Bermúdez, head of the surgery classroom service at Antonio Luaces hospital, with more than 30 years of experience, laments in the official press.

According to Bermúdez, there are very few students interested in the specialty of General Surgery, and those who do study it are demotivated by the lack of practice. In addition, students “without aptitude” often opt for this specialty. continue reading

“If in six months of specialty, the resident has only been able to do a suture in the emergency room, he is disillusioned; he already did that in the fourth year of his career,” the doctor complains. Of the twenty students he supervised in other years, in 2021 there were only four, of which only one aspires to become a surgeon.

However, the report prefers to point out the usual suspects: the financial situation of the country and the “blockade” of the United States, responsible for a “long list of patients awaiting operations” and, therefore, the “highs and lows of the teaching cycle.”

For her part, the academic vice-rector of the UCM, Mirta Elena Rodríguez, washes her hands: the faculty insist on graduating residents only when they have scrupulously completed the curriculum of the specialty, even if that means delaying the period of studies.

This also means that many teachers must offer their classes and then go to the operating room almost immediately. The pressure of this double routine is also felt by residents such as Rosabel Fiallo, who is taking General Surgery.

“The workload always falls on us, because we’re trained under the principle of ’learning by doing’. After working in emergency, I went straight to the operating room because I had to follow up on cases and take advantage of the time to learn,” says the young woman.

At no time does Invaser mention the fact that many professionals leave the country, in the unprecedented exodus that the Island is experiencing. The renunciation of medical studies is not exclusive to the specialties, but is even more frequent in the undergraduate stage.

The few prospects of practicing the profession with a minimum of necessary conditions scare away future doctors as well as residents.

Kirenia, a young woman who deserted her path to leaving the country, confessed to 14ymedio that she couldn’t see herself “working more than twelve hours a day in a hospital where there are no medicines, the toilets are so dirty that many doctors spend their entire working day without even urinating and earning a little more than 4,000 pesos that don’t go very far.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

The Cuban Regime Takes the ‘Doberman’ of the Embargo for a Walk at the United Nations

Image of the 2021 vote in the UN General Assembly against the US embargo on Cuba. (UN)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Valencia, 3 November 2022 — There is no doubt about it. The Cuban communist regime has taken the fierce U.S. embargo/blockade for a walk in the United Nations, which it keeps for the appropriate occasions. As of now, it achieves international attention in this forum of nations. And, if there is something that continues to provoke rejection and fatigue towards the castrista outcry against the blockade, it’s the way they have to try to convince the world, and to a large extent themselves, of what is that blockade that only exists in the feverish minds of a few.

To begin with, as we have pointed out in this blog on numerous occasions, there is no blockade as such, since Cuba trades, invests, receives tourists and subsidies from 192 countries of the world completely freely. And let’s use correct language. The dictionary of the Academy of the Spanish Language says that a blockade is “a maritime force that blocks.” Has anyone seen any US ship closing Cuba’s traffic since those days of Soviet nuclear missiles? No. Obviously, there is no blockade. What there is is a dispute, and it would be better to use this term.

For example, Castroism says that “the blockade is a system, based on hatred and punitive measures against human beings.” However, for many it isn’t, and it represents a legitimate option of economic rights that, at the time, were trampled upon by the same political regime that governs the destinies of Cubans. No one was worried then about the billions of dollars of property that was seized by Fidel Castro’s communist regime and, worse, the joke of committing to payments that never arrived.

Nobody remembers that episode, but there were tens of thousands of people who lost all their assets, and were not only dispossessed. They were repressed and imprisoned by the regime that had confiscated their property. Between 1959 and 1968, more than 90% of the assets of foreigners and Cubans passed into the hands of the State. No one has ever given the slightest proof of complying objectively and correctly with the compensations. The permanence of the dispute between the United States and Cuba is a firm commitment of the former to the rights of its citizens. It is not an act of hatred, precisely. The punishment applies to those who fail continue reading

to comply. Then, with the passage of time, the dispute acquired other nuances until it reached the present time, 63 years later.

From this perspective, if the international community makes claims for the dispute to disappear, it’s because it ignores the background, or simply, it  has taken the side of the Cuban communists. The dispute is not a “crime against a neighboring nation, noble, solidarity, respectful, that has never attacked or will attack the US.” On the contrary, it is a defense of the interests of its citizens, who were aggrieved by that neighboring nation, and a firm commitment to freedom and democracy.

At the same time, Cuban communists stretch the rope of the blockade to the limit.

For example, they usually say that “the blockade causes Cuban children who suffer from the lack of a drug, the implantation of an organ, or the use of a reagent, for the ridiculous reason of having only 10% of American components.” Or when they say that “Cuba can’t buy food or has to look for it in distant markets, or simply do without because the banks where we must pay don’t accept Cuban financial transactions.”

False. It allows, precisely, the purchase of food of all kinds and medicines and medical equipment in the United States. The data support it. Purchases of these products exceed 200 million dollars a year. The only condition is that Cuba pay in cash. The truth is that with Cuba’s data on debt defaults, that requirement not only seems reasonable, but should be extended to all countries that trade with the Island. The United States does well to protect its exporters.

And of course, there are lies and more lies to distort reality. It’s not true that because of the blockade “the use of the US currency has had to be suspended because no necessary resource is allowed to be acquired with it, whatever it may be.” The dollar is used in Cuba today more than ever, and there is a stable demand that keeps the price high in informal markets, reflecting the deep imbalances of the economy.

Cubans demand dollars and will continue to do so, above the existing supply, because they are a safe haven, a trustworthy currency, and they increase purchasing power and facilitate access to all kinds of goods and services. The necessary traceability of those dollars is something very different, and here once again, if the regime doesn’t get Cuban dollars accepted in foreign banks, it is because the origin of them is unknown, and international payment standards must be complied with, which, for example, Fidel Castro despised. Taking Cuba off the list of terrorist countries can, in this case, even be reckless.

If relations between the United States and Cuba continue to be assessed through the framework of the dispute, there is only one party responsible: the Cuban communist regime. In the text it is very clear what has to be done and how to leave behind this situation that, on the other hand, has always existed and only becomes a threat in those moments when Cuba ceases to have some external partner willing to subsidize its economic and political adventures. In that sense, between 1959 and 1993 there was no talk of any embargo. Reason? The generous Soviet subsidies. Later, with the economic emergencies of the Special Period, the argument of the embargo arose, but when Chávez’s oil arrived, the tension calmed down again.  Until now, when Castroism is in the terminal phase and doesn’t know what to do.

It’s even possible that the dispute is in its final hours. However, there are those who think that it’s now more justified than ever. At the United Nations, Cuba wins every year in votes on this issue. David’s false fight against Goliath always has supporters. What there is no doubt about is that the sacrifice of the United States for giving continuity to a policy that began as a defense of the interests of its citizens and ended up being a wise strategy for the democratic, economic and social transformation of Cuba, will be rewarded when Cuba joins the set of democratic countries of the world. And that will be soon. And then, the dispute will be over.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published on the Cubaeconomy blog and is reproduced with the author’s permission.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

An Officially-Appointed Comedian Livens Up a Havana Fair with Not Much for Sale

Surrounding the crowd, many soldiers guarded the entrance to the square. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 November 2022 — Microphone in hand, comedian Kike Quiñones tried to drag a smile out of the hundreds who gathered in Plaza de Carlos III in Central Havana on Saturday. A fair had started earlier in the day, at which the star attraction was two pieces of fried chicken in an aluminium container for every attendee. But the comic’s jokes didn’t manage to alter the long faces of those who had waited hours to purchase this product.

“I can sell you the right to buy the container because I’ve already waited twice and now I’m only interested in buying the chicken”, a woman explained to a boy, who, after counting the money he had in his wallet, checked if it was enough to pay the 170 pesos for the container and the 40 pesos more that made up the amount for the chicken. “There’s Lada and Moskvitch spares on sale too, but I don’t have a car so I’m not even interested in those either”, said an elderly man who’d been waiting “since before nine o’clock”.

Surrounding the crowd, many soldiers guarded the entrance to the square. “I want to see just what it is you’re filming there, Sir”, quipped Quiñones when a young boy pulled out his phone to record the show. The gag only continue reading

drew a guffaw from one of the soldiers but didn’t at all amuse those who were lining up and who knew very well what kind of problems can result from pointing a camera at the Police and the Special Forces. “They’re laughing now, but for less than that they’ll slap a fine on you or pile you into a truck and cart you off to the station”, said an adolescent who was also waiting for the container and the chicken.

A while later, the line was still growing and the comic’s jokes had come to an end. All you could hear were the grumbles and shouts of those who, fearing they wouldn’t get what they’d waited for, called out for more food to be put out for sale, and at a lower price. Before 12pm the fair was already flagging and still with hardly any food available.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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

Justicia Cuba Calls the ‘Bahia Honda Massacre’ a Crime Against Humanity

From left right and from top to bottom, Aimara Meizoso León, Elizabeth Meizoso, Indira Serrano Cala, Omar Reyes Valdés, Nathali Acosta Lemus and Yerandy García Meizoso, six of the seven victims of Bahía Honda. (Collage)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 4 November 2022 — A commission formed by lawyers, parliamentarians and politicians from several countries stated on Thursday that the death of seven occupants of a boat hit by a border guard ship in Cuba may constitute a “crime against humanity” and asked the Cuban people for evidence to denounce it.

The International Justice Cuba Commission, created in order to bring to international justice those responsible for human rights violations in Cuba, echoed the allegations of survivors and relatives of the seven dead.

In statements released by Miami media, several people said in recent days that the ship of the border guards cut off the boat, in which 23 people were traveling to the United States, and rammed it.

Diana Meizoso, who saw her two-year-old daughter die in the collision that occurred in Bahía Honda, told Radio Televisión Martí on Monday: “They rammed the boat and broke it in half.”

According to Meizoso, when the patrol ship passed their boat, “he (the border guard officer) said: “Now I’m going to break you in half,” and then rammed us and broke the boat in the middle.” continue reading

The Cuban exile in Miami described from the first moment as a “massacre” what happened in Bahía Honda on September 29 and announced for this Saturday an act of support to the victims and their families.

The Justice Cuba Commission, led by Mexican jurist René Bolio, said on Thursday in a statement in Miami that it had analyzed all the available information about “the Bahía Honda massacre,” where “several innocent civilians were killed by Cuban dictatorship officials.”

“These crimes, for their notorious cruelty, for being by the dictatorship against citizens, for having been committed by members of the system, for having used means owned by the dictatorship, and for several other elements, are considered crimes against humanity, according to the Statute of Rome,” he emphasized.

According to the commission, those responsible for these crimes “are not only the material executors, but the full chain of command,” and “universal jurisdiction means that any established court can prosecute such crimes.”

The Commission asked the Cuban people and everyone who has “evidence, proof and information” to send it to Justice@JusticeCuba.org.

They also request “all means of identification of the criminals, their identity, positions, hierarchy and current location.”

The purpose of the Justice Cuba Commission is to constitute an international court to judge the crimes against humanity committed in Cuba.

In July 2017, the then-called International Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against Humanity by Cuba held its first public hearing in Miami, in which victims and witnesses of human rights violations in Cuba participated from 1959 to the present day under the slogan of “Never forget.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Cuba: Pinar del Rio Needs Nine Trains to Transport Tobacco to Other Provinces

Transfers on tobacco trains located in the Pinar del Río facilities destroyed by Hurricane Ian. (Granma)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 November 2022 — More than a month after the passage of Hurricane Ian, which devastated the west of the country, the Cuban government has as an urgent task to protect more than 6,000 tons of raw tobacco, part of which will be transferred to other provinces from Pinar del Río.

There, the local press reports, of the 33,000 tons of stored leaves, 14,000 were damaged by the destruction of the hurricane on the facilities. Now, says Emilio Triana Ordaz, general director of the Agricultural Transport Company, belonging in turn to Tabacuba, they need nine trains to carry about 3,000 tons to Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Cienfuegos.

“With the passage of the hurricane, most of our warehouses, depositories and selected leaves suffered damage. The tobacco was left under waxed or polyethylene tarps, not under the roof, so the mission is to move a considerable amount in and out the province,” explained Triana Ordaz, revealing the urgency.

On Saturday, the State newspaper Granma published, in the words of the same official, that even before Ian “we had decided to send about 2,000 tons of the leaf to the central provinces, to expedite the selling process.”

According to the provincial newspaper, Guerrillero, each train can hold about 300 tons and be filled in four days. “The operation is designed for three trains to be rotated: one being filled, one in the process and another being unloaded,” Triana Ordaz continued. If these plans are achieved, it won’t take more than a month to complete the mission.

Another state official, Vladimir Ríos Pérez, pointed out that they have about 4,800 tons “to sell at a discount,” and they will keep about 1,600 in Pinar del Río “to fulfill the 2023 plan.” continue reading

In any case, they recognize that in San Juan and Martínez, where almost all the warehouses collapsed, “we need to build 1,384 curing houses to guarantee the success of the campaign,” something that probably won’t happen soon.

Tabacuba officials also announced that they have “readjusted” the plans and decided to postpone the campaign for another month, until January 30.

In addition, they report that the insurance covered “80 million pesos and must cover 60 or 70 million more.” The damage to production, however, is significant: Pinar del Río tobacco, even unprocessed, is considered the best in the world, and its quality depends on the integral care of the leaf and the skill of the local farmers.

Meanwhile, this Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel again visited the area most affected by Hurricane Ian. It is the eighth time since the disaster that he has, according to the official press, which displays a tweet from the presidency saying that the president travels to Pinar del Río “every week.”

Despite the usual triumphalist language of the note, it is reported that most of the damage is still not repaired. In the municipality of Guane, only 23% of the 3,450 “affects” that exist have been resolved. And only 400 of the 2,000 homes have been restored in Sandino, one of the “captive villages” where hundreds of families linked to the Escambray uprising were banished in 1964.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

Cuba: The Death of an Old Man in the Food Line of a Store in Luyano Uncovers a Network of Thieves

The old man had been trying to buy for days at the store on Melones Street, in Luyanó, where the police operation was carried out. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 2 November 2022 — The residents of Luyanó, in Havana, say that his name was Arístides and he lived on Manuel Pruna Street, at the corner of Municipio. This Tuesday, he was found dead at the doors of the nearby store on Melones Street, between Enna and Guanabacoa, where he had been standing in line for several days trying to buy something.

Hours after the old man’s body was taken away, the establishment was the subject of a police operation made public on networks by the government of the municipality of Diez de Octubre.

Without alluding to Arístides’ death, a post with images reported on Facebook about the merchandise they found “reserved” at the store. Among the items were 11 packages of chicken “with proof of payment” that, according to the clerks, “belong to the LCC (Lucha Contra Coleros),” that is, to the agents of the groups of the so-called “Fight Against Coleros*.”

They also found “6 packages of chopped meat, 11 bottles of Sedal shampoo,” in addition to three other bottles of shampoo, three bottles of conditioner, valued at 160 pesos each, three “wheels” of H. Upmann cigars and 1,190 pesos inside a drawer in the store manager’s office. In it they also detected “a shortage” of 6,129 pesos “corresponding to sales of October 31, 2022.” continue reading

“You also know that what you found is a small part of everything that goes out the back door”

“All the confiscated products were sold to 5 people from the population, including a mother with a child under 1 year old,” detailed the publication, which immediately filled with comments.

Most of them criticize the military troops deployed to fight coleros, a strategy deployed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to combat hoarders, for which personnel from the Ministry of the Interior and organizations at the service of the regime were used (such as the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Federation of Cuban Women), which was never cancelled.

“You also know that what you only found is a small part of everything that goes out the back door,” says commentator González Monyk. “The manager, the financial personnel, the clerks, the floor cleaners, etc. steal, and the stolen items are removed from the store by the regular customers who shop daily, or through the back door after hours. I know you know it, but I repeat it over and over again: This system does not work and will never work.”

“The LCCs have been a shame,” says Lissette López. “In an infinite hell they have upturned the lives of hard-working citizens. They mistreat and divert what belongs to the people with absolute impunity.”

“That man had been in line for days without being able to buy, because what they got going in there is astonishing”

Tamara Valdés Pérez agrees with her, and elaborates about another business located on Espadero street, La Víbora, in the same municipality as Diez de Octubre: “Just after the chicken arrived, they tell you that there is enough for only 20 people. You can see the motorcycles come and go with your own eyes, taking chicken. That’s why they keep the lines a block away. If there is no more COVID, what’s the point?”

“Today was horrible in Espadero,” says Nydia Rodríguez. “People standing in line for days, the chicken arrives, 20 people, 15 susceptible, and the chicken in the dependents’ backpack.”

The list displayed in the comments about the stores in which Havana citizens express grief about the corruption of the “LCCs” is long: 15th Street and Concepción in the Lawton neighborhood; The Danube in El Vedado; The Cupet de Lagueruela in La Víbora; the store at 84th and 41 stin Marianao; Concha y Fábrica in Luyanó; Cupet de Luco and Calzada de Luyanó, 15th and Dolores in Arroyo Naranjo, where they also complain about El Eléctrico Development.

All in all, the commentators celebrate the operation in Melones, although they point out that “it should have been carried out periodically.”

“A person had to die for them to come to investigate,” a Luyanó neighbor told 14ymedio. “That man had been in line for days without being able to buy, because what they got going on in there is astonishing.” Indeed, it is not the first time that the Melones Street establishment has been the object of complaints by the population, who have been witnesses to the ‘diversions’ for months.

The residents of the place, as they recorded on social networks, are now looking for the dog that accompanied Aristídes, who walked with a cane and, according to another neighbor, had “a son who lives far away” as his only family.

*Translator’s note: Coleros, from “colas” (waiting lines – the same word also means ‘tail’), are individuals who hold places for others who pay them for the service. 

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

Aid to Cuba: Humanism or Collaboration?

History has shown that many recipients of aid have used these riches for their own benefit, selling the donations to the needy population itself. (Granma)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 4 November 2022 — Some of us don’t understand how a significant number of people who defend democracy and freedom can assist dictatorial regimes when they face some type of disaster, either because of natural disasters or because of terrible administrative management, even knowing that those regimes divert the aid to satisfy their governments’ needs.

Consider President Joe Biden, who gave two million dollars to Cuba. The Island dictatorship, in an unprecedented wink, accepted that the contribution be made through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the same entities that the Cuban government doesn’t allow to contact political prisoners.

Solidarity with those who endure and suffer is an extremely laudable decision; however, history has shown that many recipients of aid have used that wealth for their own benefit, selling the donations to the needy population itself, or depositing the money in their own accounts, then outdoing themselves in perfecting repression or in concluding some project that assures hegemony.

The best example of this reality is North Korea, which, due to the terrible economic management of its dynastic dictatorship, endures chronic food crises and even devastating famines, such as that of 1995 to 1997, to the extent that the dictatorship acknowledged continue reading

that more than 200,000 people died, although international media claimed that the deaths reached two million.

Despite its economic difficulties, Pyongyang has managed to mount a powerful army, 1,200,000 active soldiers and more than 600,000 in the reserves, in addition to having nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, plus submarines capable of launching them. It has one nuclear weapon, it says, and despite serious economic problems, is  building another.

The most appropriate question is, how is it possible for a country to achieve such advanced military development and not be able to produce food for its citizens? In these subsidized and indebted dictatorships — North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia — the limited food they offer to their population comes from foreign aid, while their development and military production is basically a consequence of their productive management. Have they discovered the solution to the alternative: “cannons or butter”?

North Korea and Cuba are two countries receiving large economic aid. Billions of dollars have been given from the Kremlin to Pyongyang and Havana for decades. The Koreans developed nuclear weapons, despite the fact that several U.S. governments sent them aid, fuel and other proceeds in exchange for paralyzing the construction of nuclear reactors and the production of plutonium.

For their part, the Castros spent the multi-billion Soviet subsidy and Western loans on the subversion of the democratic order in America and in its African imperial wars. The hunger and difficulties suffered by Cubans are due to the country’s bad government and not because of foreign measures against the dictatorship.

Cuba has swindled material aid from abroad for its benefit. I remember that, in 1963, the devastating cyclone Flora hit Cuba, and the dictatorship ordered that all the goods that were in Customs having been sent from abroad to relatives in need on the Island, be confiscated and sold to the population, a situation that has been repeated on numerous occasions with international donations. This was the case with clothing and Mexican contributions, basically rice and beans, sold in stores that require hard currency; or the extreme example of the sale of cooking oil donated by the World Food Program, which led the Minister of Interior Commerce to declare that “the decision to sell donated oil was an alternative to the shortage experienced on the Island.”

The call of the Assembly of Cuban Resistance to President Biden is timely: sending aid to the Cuban people through totalitarian authorities means nurturing repression and increasing poverty. I don’t doubt that this opinion allows the supporters of those repressive regimes to accuse those who state it of being official haters, but the truth must be told even if it can be distorted.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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

With the Return of American Airlines to Santa Clara, Cuba Hopes to Revive its Provincial Tourism

Arrival of an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 in the province of Villa Clara. (Abel Santamaría International Airport)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 November 2022 — At 09.00 am and with 172 passengers on board, the first American Airlines flight to land outside of the Cuban capital arrived at the Santamaría Cuadrado International Airport in Santa Clara on Thursday, after three years of Covid-19 suspension.

The US airline had already announced in October its reintroduction of operations outside of Havana — including the destinations of Varadero, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba. The Villa Clara airport announced on Facebook that American Airlines will operate twice daily flights between Santa Clara and Miami, with a capacity to carry just over 170 passengers on each journey.

The provincial press recognises that the greatest influx of tourists to the Island comes from Canada, but the Miami connection signifies “a considerable increase in operations” at the air terminal, which receives between 30 and 49 flights a week.

American Airlines only had flights to Havana after the Trump administration prohibited commercial flights to smaller airports outside of Havana in October 2019. In June 2022 the United States Department of Transportation removed the restrictions, opening up the way for airlines to reinstate their routes. continue reading

United Airlines and Delta find themselves in a similar situation but these companies have had to delay their restart dates due to logistical problems, mainly because their contracts with service providers have run out, and the infrastructure at Havana’s José Martí airport has not yet been adjusted.

More than 200km from Villa Clara, at Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport in Matanzas, the Polish airline Lot has also restarted operations and will fly weekly during the first part of the tourist high season.

A total of 252 passengers arrived in Varadero from Katowice, the majority to stay at tourist resorts, Rolando Marichal Pineda, director of the Cubacán company in Matanzas, told the Cuban News Agency.

Whilst the Cuban government is celebrating the increase in air traffic for the winter season, data confirms that tourism continues to fail to recover the ground it lost in 2020 with the pandemic. At the end of October the authorities recognised their failure to resuscitate the sector, one of the main generators of foreign currency, and they revised downwards their initial forecast of international arrivals from 2.5 million visitors to 1.7 million for the year 2022.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine  has also presented Cuban tourism with a bill to pay as Russia was the country that provided the most visitors to the Island in 2021. This year the numbers were down by 65%.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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

Two More Thermoelectric Plants are Shut Down in Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant in Cienfuegos. (September 5)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2022 — Cuba lost two other thermoelectric power plants due to breakdowns this Monday, when Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos and Unit 5 of the Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba left the National Electric System (SEN).

“With these unforeseen departures, an availability of 1741 MW and a maximum demand of 3100 MW is estimated for the peak hour, for a deficit of 1359 MW, so if the expected conditions are maintained, an impairment of 1429 MW is predicted at this time,” warned the Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) in a note disseminated on its social networks, which was closed to public comments.

In recent months, the UNE has resorted to this censorship, aware of the fatigue of the population, which finds Facebook one of the best places to vent. Other organizations, however, have not established these limits, and that discomfort has been shown.

“We’ve been hearing the same song for more than six months, and now, when everyone is asleep, they shut off the power. They don’t care about anything. Until what time will this torture be and for how long?” criticized one user. Another added: “Six months of this year, and you have to count the previous year. The situation only improves when it’s cold. Cuban thermoelectric plants don’t like the heat.”

The Cienfuegos electricity company even held an exchange with a user who was protesting the difference in the cuts between the different provinces. “You, what you do is eat the people’s food, you can’t even pretend that you give a damn and defend that the effect is equitable and that with 90 MW of power the entire province will be turned off when the rest of the country has only a portion of its population. Those who don’t know history can make the mistake of repeating it. And as Fidel Castro said, ’when an energetic and virile people cries, injustice trembles’,” he cried out, adding in his argument that Cienfuegos is one of those places with the least amount of electricity consumption in the country as a whole, and, nevertheless, the light is cut off as much or more than in Villa Clara. continue reading

“The National Electroenergy System is interconnected on a narrow and long island in which the energy blocks must be distributed from one end to the other depending on the demand of each province and the transport capacity of the power lines. In addition, it needs to work with a certain reserve that allows it to assume the variations of demand in moments. So the distribution of the MW to the provinces is not static nor can it be calculated with a simple division,” the company explained.

The comments have multiplied, as usual, in the official accounts that reproduced the UNE note. Some of the users also recalled that there is only one month left until December, when the authorities stated that the problems would be resolved, and yet nothing seems to improve — just the opposite.

Last week, the UNE announced Felton’s departure from the SEN. The thermoelectric plant must do a one-week maintenance to improve the capacity of its block 1, while block 2 has been out  of service for some time.

The Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas is also out of service, although the UNE doesn’t even mention it now. It’s the largest thermoelectric plant in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel trusted that it would recover last August. But today the power cuts continue, along with breakdowns and lack of fuel for the generators, a situation which is getting worse.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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