14ymedio – Page 159 – Translating Cuba

United Airlines Returns to Cuba with Daily Flights from Houston and Newark to Havana

Negotiations for the resumption of operations in Havana coincide with the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the Department of Transportation. (Facebook/United)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2022 — United Airlines resumed its direct flights to Havana from Houston, Texas, and Newark, New Jersey, on Monday, after two and a half years of suspension due to the covid pandemic. The Cuban Airports and Airport Services Company (ECASA) reported that the airline will operate a daily flight with both cities.

The first flight arrived on Monday morning at José Martí International Airport from Houston, after several months of negotiations and infrastructure adjustments. United, based in Chicago, planned to restart operations on October 31, 2022, but requested an extension from the United States Department of Transportation because it needed more time to review expired contracts with service providers and equip the terminal where it would be accommodated.

The airline operated 14 weekly flights to Havana in March 2020, seven from Houston and the same number from Newark, when it suspended its operations due to the closure of borders and restrictions on the entry of travelers due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Negotiations for the resumption of operations to Havana coincide with the lifting of the restrictions imposed by the Department of Transportation during the government of former President Donald Trump, which prohibited the commercial flights of American companies to small airports outside the capital. continue reading

The first to operate a flight to an airport outside Havana was American Airlines, which on November 3 began operations at Abel Santamaría International Airport, in Santa Clara, to revive tourism in the provinces. The airline also plans to connect Miami with the destinations of Varadero, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.

Cuba is at the beginning of its high season for tourism, and through the streets of the historic center of Havana, the increase in travelers is already visible, this newspaper can confirm.

The Cuban authorities expect that with the increase in flights, , the second largest currency generator after the export of health services, will recover, compared to the meager tourism results recorded in 2022. Official data confirm that the sector will close this year well below the levels of 2019, when more than 4.2 million travelers arrived on the Island.

The Government celebrates with pomp the growth of tourism by more than 552% in 2022 compared to 2021, when there were still travel restrictions. This year has seen the arrival of 1,553,461 travelers from January to September, including travelers from the Cuban community abroad. However, the results are far from the set goal of receiving 2.5 million tourists before the end of the year.

Thus, the Ministry of Tourism had no choice, in October, but to recognize that the goal will not be met and reduced the projection to 1.7 million international travelers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Nuns Producing Communion Hosts Again with Support from Overseas

When production came to a halt, the Discalced Carmelite convent in Havana lost one of its principle sources of income. (Facebook/Vida Cristiana)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2022 — The Discalced Carmelite nuns of Havana, who make most of the communion hosts consumed by the Catholics on the island, announced Tuesday that they will resume production. In a previous statement the nuns expressed regret that the country-wide flour shortage prevented them from supplying Cuban dioceses with hosts as they had been.

“To our surprise, the news went viral,” the Carmelites said in an announcement released by Vida Cristiana, a Cuban Jesuit publication. Alluding to a biblical parable about “multiplying the loaves,” they report that they received flour from individuals and institutions in the United States, Puerto Rico and Spain as well as the usual allotment they receive from the state.

“We are now resuming production so that we can offer this service to the Church as soon as possible,” they add.

“We ended up buying hosts in Havana because the Carmelites have a flour contract with the government, a situation that doesn’t exist in other dioceses,” says Fr. Alberto Reyes, a priest in Camagüey. The most practical solution for the church was to consolidate the purchasing process by buying exclusively from the convent. Otherwise, the hosts would have to be produced in the provinces, which would have meant having to deal with “the flour problem,” explains Reyes. continue reading

“Even though the nuns have a contract with the state, the process is still complicated. Flour shipments get delayed, supplies run out, a lot of signatures are required for delivery. But, good or bad, the problem is being resolved,” he says.

According to several priests, the Catholic church has been informed that the shipment of flour from which the nuns’ allotment will come has already arrived at the port. “I don’t think this will reach a crisis level, or that we we won’t be able celebrate mass because we don’t have hosts,” Reyes said.

In an announcement published on November 2, the Carmelites reported they were working “with the little flour we have left” and anticipated the national supply of hosts would soon dry up. The message, accompanied by a telephone line for anyone who wanted to help, sparked controversy along with the support of many Catholics on the Island and in Cuban exile communities.

When production came to a halt, the Carmelites lost one of their principle sources of income, threatening their financial self-sufficiency. The nuns at the Havana convent still face the challenge of power outages, which impact their ability to normalize operations.

In the event of another crisis, an alternative would be to import the required quantity of communion wafers from the United States or Europe. But even that would not resolve the problem. “It’s not a product that you can store indefinitely,” says Jose Luis Pueyo, a Spanish priest working in Caibarién. “It’s best not to wait too long before consuming them. That’s why production and supply has to be ongoing.”

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Russia and Cuba Address the ‘Unacceptable’ Unilateral Sanctions Against Their Countries

Ricardo Cabrisas, Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba and main negotiator of its foreign debt. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow, 18 November 2022 — On Thursday, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov and the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas, addressed the “unacceptable” unilateral sanctions against their respective countries.

Both “underlined the firm position of both countries that unilateral sanctions in violation of the UN Charter and the principles and norms of international law are unacceptable,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Riabkov also expressed his “unconditional support of Cuba for lifting the illegal US embargo on the Island.”

The deputy minister and Cabrisas held a meeting on the eve of the XIX meeting of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission on Commercial, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

During the meeting, Riabkov and Cabrisas also discussed current issues for the strengthening of the strategic partnership between Moscow and Havana in the political, commercial, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian spheres.

In addition, they exchanged views on key issues of the international and regional agenda.

The meeting takes place before the arrival of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Saturday night in Moscow, where at the beginning of the week he will meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Boris Titov, Russian Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of Workers, who was invited to the Havana International Fair (Fihav), said hours earlier from the Island that Cuba and his country are negotiating the possibility of carrying out transactions in rubles and cryptocurrencies with the aim of dodging international sanctions and facilitating “mutual payments.”

The politician stated that “compensation mechanisms” and other “private” options are also valued as an alternative to payment in dollars.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Independent Journalism in the Face of the Uncertain Future of Twitter

It is not known what will happen to Twitter but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 20 November 2022 — The winds of uncertainty are blowing over Twitter: massive layoffs, an attempt to charge for account verification, and inflammatory statements by its new owner, Elon Musk, have fueled doubts about the future of this social network. In Cuba, questions are also growing about a tool that is vital for activism and independent journalism.

The crisis that the blue bird is going through comes at a very sensitive moment for the Island. There are only a few days left before a new Penal Code comes into force that will further restrict freedom of expression and the exercise of the press. By the time this new legal code is in force, the need to denounce repressive excesses will multiply and Twitter’s 280-character postings is the main channel for these demands to reach the largest number of international organizations, media outlets, and associations that watch over human rights.

To the extent that the social network seems to be about to become a thing of the past, the scope of these complaints will diminish and the visibility of civil society actors on the Island will also decrease. In addition, the insecurity surrounding the San Francisco company emboldens the Cuban regime, which in recent months has suffered several virtual defeats with the cancellation of its official accounts that spread ideological propaganda and attacks against dissidents.

Twitter has always been a thorn in the side of Castroism, which saw from the beginning the threat posed by a technology that offered citizens the ability to publish immediately, even without the need for internet, as it was used widely on the Island through mobile phone text-only messages. After a time of reticence against this social network, the regime ended up opening its own accounts assigned to institutions and party leaders, but it has never been able to hide its displeasure towards the tool. It has always had a dislike for this restless bird. continue reading

Now, spokesmen for the regime rush to pluck the wounded bird, boasting that they always foresaw its fall from grace. The instability that has gripped this microblogging service sounds like music to their authoritarian ears and they are already fantasizing about the company’s closing and the end of the loudspeaker that it has represented for the opposition and independent Cuban media. Unable to impose their narrative online, they are anxiously waiting for the voices of Cuban citizens to stop being heard.

Twitter has a great responsibility towards those of us who live on this Island. For us, to keep “twittering” about our reality is not a matter of trends, entertainment, puerile conversations or the desire to kill boredom. A tweet can make the difference between being on one side or the other of prison bars, it is capable of stopping a repressive act, and revealing the coercive practices of the political police. In our case, it is not a channel to display our morning cup of coffee or our feet sunbathing in front of a pool, but a very important layer of the protective shield that we need so much.

It is not known what will happen to Twitter, but it is easy to predict what will happen to the thousands of Cuban users of that network if its fluttering stops: we will be more gagged and surrounded by greater dangers.

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“The Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry” is Presented at the Miami Book Fair

Acosta defines the post-1959 stage as the “decay of Cuban Freemasonry.” From one of the nations with the greatest influence of the order worldwide, it became one of the weakest. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 18 November 2022 — The book, Del templo al temple. Silencios y escándalos de la masonería cubana [From Temple to Temple. Silences and Scandals of Cuban Freemasonry] (Editorial Primigenios, 2022), by journalist Camila Acosta, will be presented from November 18 to 20 at the Miami Book Fair. It’s a history of the Masonic order on the Island, which details in a special way the order’s vicissitudes after 1959.

Acosta’s research, which had as its background a documentary that she recorded for her graduation thesis at the University of Havana, is presented as the reverse of the story that the regime — in the figure of historians such as Eduardo Torres Cuevas — has attributed to Cuban Freemasonry.

In the back-cover note, the writer and Freemason Ángel Santiesteban Prats points out that the book allows access to a history that “had been extinguished for six decades because that was decided by Fidel Castro,” and he affirms that Acosta has provided a “response to the censorship of the totalitarian regime” on the circumstances in which the order was forced to operate after the revolutionary triumph.”

“Camila Acosta entered a world forbidden to those outside the Masonic fraternity,” continues Santiesteban, who also regrets that the “majority of the Masons themselves barely knew about their own history.”

In a volume of 422 pages that is now for sale on Amazon, Acosta reviews the historiographic tradition that precedes the order and provides details about the female branch, the Daughters of the Acacia, and about the Masons who, in turn, have participated in movements opposed to the Government. continue reading

Criticizing the material she addresses, Acosta defines the post-1959 stage as the “decay of Cuban Freemasonry.” From one of the nations with the greatest presence and influence of the order worldwide — with more than 34,000 members — it became one of the weakest in its context. Confiscations of property, infiltrations and aggressive propaganda against its postulates were part of Castro’s strategy to dismantle Cuban Freemasonry.

Obsessed with the possibility that institutions such as fraternities, secret orders and churches would form an opposition front, the Revolution launched systematic attacks on the Masonic infrastructure and threatened young people not to join its ranks.

The exile of many Cubans — including numerous Masons — between 1959 and 1970 is another cause for the decay of the order, says Acosta. Those who remained in the country were forced to report to the Government who attended the meetings, what issues were discussed and who espoused them, as well as “deliver copies of the minutes” and “pay heavy fines for not doing so or delaying,” she says.

“The very fact of belonging to Masonry or some fraternal or religious institution was interpreted by the authorities as a symptom of lack of revolutionary devotion,” Acosta explains in the ninth chapter of her book, which details the schism that the order experienced when it tried to move the headquarters of the Great Lodge of Cuba to Florida.

From the more or less intense persecution of those years, the Cuban Freemasonry organized different initiatives such as the Clandestine Masonic Movement, with expressly anti-communist guidelines.

After several decades of tension, with the arrival of the so-called Special Period, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its financial support, and the return of Cubans to religion and other related practices, Freemasonry experienced a boom in membership. However, in 2011, the program Razones de Cuba [Cuba’s Reasons] revealed the complicity of former Masonic Grand Master José Manuel Collera Vento with State Security, which increased disappointment with the order and suspicion among its members.

This episode triggered numerous difficulties and tensions between the Government and the order, and exposed the constant “manipulations” — in Acosta’s opinion — that Freemasonry suffered at the hands of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party.

The most recent stage in the history of the order, including the imprisonment of several Freemasons during the so-called Black Spring of 2003, or the letter signed by the Masonic Grand Commander to Miguel Díaz-Canel against the police repression of 11J [the protests of 11 July 2021] are also addressed by the journalist in her investigation.

Acosta, born on the Isla de la Juventud [Isle of Youth] in 1993, is a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC in Havana and writes for several independent media. From Temple to Temple was published by Primigenios, a Cuban publishing house based in Miami with a catalogue of almost 500 titles, directed by the writer Eduardo Casanova Ealo.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The ‘Prisoners’ Voices’ Campaign Begins and Calls for the Release of Three Cuban Artists

The Voces Presas campaign demands prompt freedom for the poet María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga Rivera. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2022 –The writer María Cristina Garrido and rappers Richard Zamora Brito and Randy Arteaga Rivera, arrested by the Cuban regime, are the three faces of the Voces Presas campaign launched this Friday by the organization Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), in partnership with Civil Rights Defenders (CRD, from Sweden). The movement appeals to the international community for solidarity, and it demands the prompt release of the artists, imprisoned for their political opinions.

Many people in Cuba who have dared to “challenge the false problems and narratives promoted by the Cuban regime,” said Julie Trébault, the director of ARC at PEN America, “have paid a very high price for their creative expression, becoming victims of imprisonment, surveillance and house arrest, or being forced into exile.”

The Voces Presas campaign uses digital platforms to disseminate the profiles and trajectory of the three artists, as well as music videos and fragments of their works. To this is added documentation on the harassment and imprisonment they have suffered at the hands of the Cuban regime.

The poetry of María Cristina Garrido, born in 1982 in Quivicán, province of Mayabeque, addresses issues of the daily life of Cubans. Her career as an activist prompted her to be part of the Cuban Women’s Network, a space to visualize the problems of Cuban women. In March 2022, she was sentenced to seven years in the Guatao women’s prison after being accused of resistance, aggression, incitement to crime and public disorder for participating in the large demonstrations of July 11, 2021 (11J) in favor of freedom.

For the same reason, rapper Richard Zamora Brito, known as El Radikal, was arrested. Initially detained in the Combinado del Sur prison, in Matanzas, he was released on bail and is now under house arrest and subject to forced labor.

Rapper and anti-racism activist Randy Arteaga Rivera also participated in the July 11 demonstrations in Santa Clara, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. The Government accused him of being involved in the organization of the protests and of shouting insults against President Miguel Díaz-Canel. continue reading

“The Cuban authorities continue to use the judicial system to repress dissent and freedom of critical expression,” said Erik Jennische, director of the Latin American Department of Civil Rights Defenders, who pointed out that this campaign is directed at the Cuban Government so that they immediately release all imprisoned artists and guarantee the free exercise of art and activism on the Island.

They also urge the embassies of the European Union and the American continent based on the Island to demand that they be allowed to visit the three imprisoned artists and issue a report on their conditions.

The organizations ask that the Cuban Government be pressured to eliminate the need for state approval to exhibit their works freely, as required by Decree 349, which limits independent artistic expression.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Wants to Import Russian Fertilizers, Hydrocarbons and Wheat

Wheat field in the Rostov region, in Russia, in an archive photo. (EFE/EPA/Arkady Budnitsky)

14ymedio (With information from EFE), Madrid, 18 November 2022 — Cuba has shown interest in fertilizers, hydrocarbons and wheat from Russia at the XIX meeting in Moscow of the intergovernmental commission for cooperation between the two nations.

“The Cuban side expressed its interest in stable supplies to the Island of fertilizers, hydrocarbons and Russian wheat,” the Russian Ministry of Economic Development told the official TASS agency.

During the negotiations, the parties also discussed the current state and prospects of bilateral trade and economic relations.

In particular, cooperation in the humanitarian, scientific and educational fields was addressed, as was the implementation of projects in the industry and energy sectors, although no details were offered.

To deepen ties in the humanitarian field, an agreement has been signed between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Cuba on cooperation in the field of higher education, the statement concludes. continue reading

The meeting of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission takes place on the eve of the arrival in Moscow of the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who will meet early next week with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to participate in the inauguration of a monument in honor of Fidel Castro.

These days, both countries have intensified contacts and statements. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Riabkov, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas, addressed on Thursday the “unacceptable” unilateral sanctions against their respective countries.

Riabkov also expressed his “unconditional support for Cuba to lift the illegal US embargo of the Island.”

A day earlier, within the framework of the Havana International Fair, Boris Titov, Russian presidential commissioner for workers’ rights, said that both nations are negotiating the possibility of carrying out transactions in rubles and cryptocurrencies, with the aim of dodging international sanctions and facilitating “mutual payments.”

In confirming Miguel Díaz-Canel’s official trip to Moscow, the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, said that it was “a very important visit”: “Cuba is a very important partner for us. We have a lot to talk about.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Desertion of Cuban Athletes Continues, Now a Pentathlete and Three Rowers Escape

The three Cuban rowers are hoping to cross the US border. (Jit)

14ymedio, Havana, 17 November 2022 — The escape of athletes continues to fracture Cuban sports. This Thursday, the abandonment of the pentathlete Melissa Garlobo in Brazil, joined the Wednesday escape of rowers Ernier Tamayo, Alexei Carballosa and Nayala Torres in Mexico. According to journalist Francys Romero, the latter are close to “crossing Mexico’s border with the United States.”

So far this year “there are already 53 athletes of different specialties,” who take advantage of their stays abroad to end their sports relationship with the Island, the reporter said on his social networks.

Garlobo’s desertion occurred on October 28, just after finishing in 33rd place in the specialty tournament that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In this contest Cuba won six places for the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023. The decision of the granmense was signaled as “a serious indiscipline,” said the official media Jit.

Melissa Garlobo, together with Diana Leyva and Delmis Pérez, won the bronze medal in August during the Pan American Modern Pentathlon Open Championship in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, thus guaranteeing their participation in the Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023.

In Mexico, this Wednesday three other rowers, Ernier Tamayo, Alexei Carballosa and Nayala Torres, took advantage of an oversight to sneak away and follow in the footsteps of Boris Luis Guerra, who on Sunday separated from the team of 15 Cubans who have been developing their training on the Virgilio Uribe Olympic track in view of the Central American and Caribbean Championship that will begin on November 23 in El Salvador. continue reading

In recent months, there have been defections of Cuban athletes from various disciplines: baseball, boxing, volleyball, Greco-Roman wrestling, handball and athletics. Official data in the last decade show that more than 800 athletes have left Cuba and take advantage of their stay abroad to separate from the delegations.

One of the most recent baseball defections was that of receiver John Andy Rodríguez, who left the Island for the Dominican Republic. Rodríguez had an outstanding performance in the Matanzas U-15 team “with eight matches in the last National [where he] achieved 38 innings and an average of .250 and a double,” Francys Romero stressed.

Carlos Yoel Amat, on the other hand, took a flight to Nicaragua. Born in Güira de Melena, in his last National Series he defended the Hunters team, averaging .375 in 48 games with 36 hits in 96 turns at bat. Amat’s intention is to reach the United States. Another of the players is the habanero José Enrique Aballí, who participated in Cuban youth teams and the National Under-23 Series.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Seeks More Than 3 Billion Dollars in Investments for Tourism / 14yMedio

5-star hotel under construction, on Primera and B, Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 18 November 2022 — Although the Cuban Government has emphasized this year the need to raise foreign capital for sectors in extreme emergency, such as food, agriculture and transport, the bulk of its offers return to the usual: tourism. Of the 708 businesses that are part of the new portfolio of opportunities, there are six that exceed 250 million dollars. Of these, three involve tourism.

Although it could be argued that building a hotel complex is more expensive than many of the other projects, the example of the imbalance is given by the comparison between the first investment and the fourth. The most expensive, at 1,072,000,000 dollars, is a golf real estate complex, almost double the 650,000,000 dollars that they budget for the construction of a completely new sugar mill.

The star project of the portfolio, by its value, plans to urbanize an area of 568 acres in Guardalavaca, Holguín, through a mixed joint venture with Cubagolf. There will be a course with 18 holes, a club, a 5-star hotel and another super luxury hotel with spa, in addition to 1,648 homes, including houses and apartments, with sales in perpetuity, and sports and commercial and service areas.

A little less expensive, the second project in order of investment is extremely similar to the first. The national investor is also the state golf company and foresees a course of the same size, surrounded by a resort hotel, another 5-star hotel and spa, a 4 star hotel equipped with different water sports and 1,122 houses. In addition, this real estate development would have a club, spa, commercial and service areas and green spaces. Its budget is 951,561,400 dollars and its location, ironically, is Bahía Honda, in Artemisa, where just three weeks ago the Border Guard troops sank a boat of balseros [rafters] fleeing Cuba, resulting in eight deaths, including one girl under two years of age. continue reading

The third most expensive project planned by the Government is, in this case, related to food. The goal is to build a factory of ammonia and nitrogen compounds that will serve the agricultural industry by producing fertilizer. The cost is $900,000,000, and the plant would produce 400,000 tons of ammonia per year and 370,000 tons of urea. The waste would be used to produce carbon dioxide, argon and ammonium sulphate. This plant will be located, if it is possible to move it forward, in Matanzas, north of the long-suffering thermoelectric plant, Antonio Guiteras.

In the midst of a radical crisis of what was its star product, sugar, Cuba proposes to invest 650,000,000 dollars in a new sugar mill “with high standards of efficiency in productive and energy processes.” It is the most open project since neither the location nor the investment modality has been determined, and it offers — as an alternative to the joint venture — the completely foreign company option. It should be remembered that last year, the harvest was — and the adjective is not new — the “worst” in history, and the lamentable state of the sugar mills has forced this year’s production to be concentrated on just 23 of the 56 that still exist.

It is followed, in fourth place, by another development linked to tourism and golf. In this case, the complex is valued at $641,500,000 and would be built in Cumanayagua, Cienfuegos. Here the golf courses are doubled — two of 18 holes — and the club, the 5-star hotel, 2,055 homes and commercial, service and sports areas are repeated, in an area of 865 acres.

Lastly, with an amount of $251,500,000, the Government proposes the construction of a complex for the production of solid oral generic drugs in tablet form, antiretroviral drugs, contraceptive hormones, aerosols and dry powder inhalers. It is intended, they claim, to cover national demand and replace imports and even be able to export if successful. This factory would be one of those located in the Mariel Special Development Zone, created in partnership with MedSol laboratories.

In addition, in investments above 200,000,000 dollars there are two other hotels in Holguín. The projected high amounts, not to mention those spent in recent years, come at a time when tourism figures are at their worst.

This Thursday, the numbers of foreign visitors who arrived on the Island in October reached 123,588. This is the fifth best data of the 10 months, and with it, tourists total 1,198,402. So it’s already perfectly viable that the Island won’t even reach the lowest official goal of closing the year with 1,710,000 travelers. The Government had planned for 2022 to have 2.5 million tourists after two years of closure due to the pandemic, but all efforts have been in vain, and in mid-October the target had to be lowered by -31.7%.

Although there are two of the best months of the year in the sector, it is unlikely that the goal will be reached, since it will take more than half a million travelers between November and December, an average of 250,000 tourists per month, which seems excessive considering that July, with 152,480, was the best figure of the year.

This has not prevented the new construction of the Spanish Iberostar hotel with the Cuban Gran Caribe located on the beach of Santa María del Mar, east of the capital, to be presented at the Havana International Fair yesterday.

The 5-star establishment will be ready in four years and will be constructed “under the concepts of sustainable development” contributing “largely to the diversification of the offer” of sun and beach, which now aspires to be extended to events and congresses.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havana: The Art of Makeup, or When Galiano Becomes Avenida de Italia

Galiano has never been an easy street. There’s no commercial route in the Cuban capital that doesn’t pass through it: everything dies and is born at its gates. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 November 2022 — By day it’s the street called Galiano and by night it becomes Italy Avenue. While the sun shines on its faded edifices and its cracked walls, it’s just another arterial road in Central Havana, with its beggars and its street vendors, but when evening falls it becomes an all-new shop window of Christmas lights, a sparkle that dazzles the locals and ruffles the feathers of those others who have to live through long hours of power cuts.

Galiano has never been easy. It doesn’t have the range of Reina nor the ancestry of Paseo del Prado, but there isn’t a commercial route in the Cuban capital that doesn’t pass through it. Everything dies and is born at its gates. Do you need a disposable razor? Glue to fix grandma’s coffee cup? A belt to keep your trousers up? You can find all this and more in Avenida Italia, a name no one actually uses but which could help you if you were lost.

Now, the official press is talking about transforming the street and turning it into “an innovative urban zone, fit for the principles of the circular economy, digital culture, creativity, and valuing all the products of the supply chains”. Pure word-soup that hardly resonates at all among the tiny shops and street vendors or in the threatening looks of the police on non-stop patrol.

“It is a project which is being made with Italian collaboration and co-finance. We are working with the Italian Agency for Cultural and Economic Exchange with Cuba” (AICEC in Spanish), states an article in Havana Tribune, which prefers to use the more glamorous name of the street in order to ingratiate itself — the hard way, but anything to get a few Euros — with the boot-shaped peninsular that has little or no connection with the scar that Galiano has become, which stretches from the Havana coast all the way down to El Curita park.

At night it becomes Neapolitan and cosmopolitan with lights strung up on high, which might fool some tourist into believing, wrongly, that this sort of lighting is common elsewhere in the dingy streets and dark stairwells of Havana. Local media are full of pictures of workers installing the bulb-festooned cables and there’s no lack of opportune interviews with passers-by talking about the wonders of these fireflies of hope above their heads. But the dawn always arrives in Galiano. continue reading

Day comes and the lights are no longer noticeable, the guy who asks you for money on the corner of San Rafael is again begging for something to enable him to eat, the lady who offers sponges to freshen up, and who disappears every time a police officer passes by, returns to the doorways. And of Avenida Italia only a memory remains. The makeup only lasts while the sun doesn’t shine.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Unable to Enjoy the Amenities of the New Sancti Spiritus Bus Terminal

Bus terminal in Sancti Spiritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, November 14, 2022 — The Sancti Spiritus National Bus Terminal began operations in 2019 after an investment of more than six million pesos. Though is it the most modern terminal of its kind on the Island, all its functions, except passenger drop-off, remain on hold.

“The last time I was here was during a power outage,” says Juan, a Havana journalist who often travels to Sancti Spiritus. He claims that he has never seen the cafe open and the lack of food services has forced him to drink water directly from restroom sinks.

His account is consistent with an article published on Monday in Escambray, an official newspaper that likens the building to a museum, “with waiting areas that are clean and empty most of the time, spotless wall surfaces, and furniture that looks as though it could be brand new.

The terminal has three waiting areas that can accommodate more than 350 people, food service facilities, a retail area, a lactation room, mail services, wifi and internet navigation zones, a taxi stand, a medical station, a reception desk and a left-luggage office. Almost none of these services has ever been used.

“You can’t get on the [passenger] waiting list here. You have to go to the old terminal, the one that was supposed to be only for local and intercity buses. Nowadays, the bus leaves the new station and then, if it has any empty seats, goes over to the old station to pick up passengers. Then it hits the road and heads towards Havana. It’s ridiculous,” says Juan. continue reading

According to Escambray, a passenger who does not have a reserved seat can get on a waiting list to buy a bus ticket but, since the outset of the covid pandemic, has had do so at the old provincial terminal even though the new terminal reopened in late 2021.

“They told me this was because of covid,” one passenger tells Escambray, “but they’ve already lifted most restrictions in the rest of the country. Why then does this terminal only serve travelers with reservations, which these days are only about half what they were in 2019?”

Jose Lorenzo Garcia, provincial director of Sancti Spiritus Transport, insists the operating procedures mimic those of bus stations in Havana other parts of the country. “Obviously, the new terminal now has a more limited use but, once the nation’s fuel situation stabilizes, we’ll be able to gradually add more trips. We’ll be able to accommodate the more than one hundred buses that were, on average, stopping here every day,” he adds.

Escambray reports that most people entering the terminal already have reservations so they go directly to their buses without using the building’s auxiliary services. Meanwhile, the old station buzzes with activity despite its unsanitary conditions, lack of seating or food options, poor lighting and poor ventilation. Worse still, buses almost never stop there. Drivers arriving from the east drop off passengers at the new terminal without going to the old terminal to pick up other travelers, even when their vehicles have empty seats, leaving outbound passengers waiting in vain.

“I’ve spent three days waiting for a bus heading east but, so far, none have shown up. I’m traveling with an eight-year-old and the worst thing is there’s almost nothing here to eat. And what they do sell is low quality and expensive. Also, there’s no water to wash your hands in the sinks and the waiting area is almost never cleaned,” complains one would-be passenger.

Yaíma Gonzalez Perez, one of the managers for the bus company Empresa Viajero, says that she must rely on her cell phone for light when selling tickets during power outages, adding that the building also lacks adequate ventilation.

Natacha Castro Piña, another Empresa Viajero employee, believes improving the old terminal should be a priority even though it is little used. “We’re not asking for resources for ourselves as workers, though we could certainly use them.” she says. “I just wish customers without reservations could feel they were being well served and could enjoy a basic level of comfort during waits that can last more than twenty-four or forty-eight hours.”

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15 November, The Day the Cuban Dictatorship Lost all its Masks

Government supporters during a demonstration outside the home of Yunior García Aguilera on Sunday 14 November 2021. (EFE)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 16 November 2022 — Ever since we first called for the Civic March for Change we knew that it would be a practical impossibility to make it happen. Even so, it was worth it to make them unmask themselves to show their absolutely tyrannical character, above all in a context in which they tried to present themselves as a State of Law/Rights.

Two weeks after 11J [11 July 2021 protests], the judicial organs of the regime held a press conference that is still shocking in its cynicism. The president of the supreme tribunal, in a faltering voice, denied there was a body of opinion which spoke of an avalanche of judicial trials. According to Rubén Remigio Ferro, he only knew of 19 cases involving 59 people. Later it became known that the number of defendants was, scandalously, approaching a thousand.

Another ploy by this man would be to claim that the tribunals operated independently and that they only had to follow the law. Díaz-Canel himself then contradicted this, saying that “in Cuba we don’t work with a separation of powers, but with a unity of powers”. Remigio must have wanted the ground to swallow him up, although for that he’d have needed to have a sense of shame.

The big lie, which definitively pushed us into organising the march, came when we heard him say that “[holding] different opinions, including political opinions different from those which are dominant in the country, did not constitute a crime”. According to the supreme tribunal president, “demonstrating, far from constituting a crime, was a constitutional right”. continue reading

From the Archipiélago platform, and along with the Council for the Transition we tried to expose these lies. Many of us have suffered prison for protesting on 11 July. And despite having done so unquestionably peacefully, with the international press as witness, we were thrown in a refuse truck and put behind bars.

The first date we chose was 20 November. It was necessary to make our application formally and well in advance. The world would watch our every move. The first reply from the regime was the most threatening possible: the Armed Forces declared 20 November as a National Day of Defence and announced a militarization of the country for the three preceding days.

We kept our composure. Calmly, we explained that we had no interest in a violent confrontation with the army, so we put forward the date to 15 November. This date was chosen carefully because on that day the country would reopen the airports for international tourism and so they couldn’t use the pandemic as an excuse to prohibit the march.

The regime then resorted to using all the repressive mechanisms at its disposal: the municipal governments, national television, district attorneys and all State Security agents. They interrogated any citizen who dared to “like” our posts and filled social media with pictures of the batons with which they would come out to beat us. They even organised vaccination centres for children along the route we proposed for the march. It was clear that almost no one would dare to come out. And so it was.

If the regime had had a minimal amount of intelligence they would just have put low limits on the numbers of people allowed to join the march, or they’d have designated a route far from public visibility. But they couldn’t do even that. The donkey who reckons to be the head of the dictatorship didn’t want to run any risk. And it remained clear for the whole world to see that the people of Cuba have no means whatever to express a political opinion that might differ from the official line.

The international press followed the story closely and barely anyone in the world had any doubt that the banning of the march showed that we, in trying to organise it were justified in our demands. But the dictatorship has a long history of achieving Pyrrhic victories. So they played the only cards remaining to them: discreditation, character assassination, confusion, sowing of suspicion, generation of division, forcing us into exile, launching a campaign of slander against us.

Sadly, this campaign worked for many Cubans. We still suffer like a messiah in that we’re punished if we’re not seen to be flayed and crucified on a cross. It comes hard for us to realize that before leaders we need citizens. And that to face up to a dictatorship isn’t about being a superhero but it’s about learning, effort, resolve and survival.

A year after these events there’s still a lot for us to reflect upon concerning their true impact. What is beyond question though is that on that day the dictatorship’s masks were torn to pieces.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Cuba President Diaz-Canel is Going on a Business Trip

Cuban President Diaz-Canel in Algeria, with his wife Liz Cuesta at his side. (Twitter)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 17 November 2022 — Nothing to object to. This is among his functions as a communist leader, and in addition, with this international journey, leaving FIHAV [International Business Fair] halfway done in Havana, what we all know is confirmed once again: the embargo/blockade that he talks about so much doesn’t exist. However, before continuing, it’s worth explaining why this blog, dedicated to economic affairs, pays attention to Díaz-Canel’s international relations. Very easy.

First, a trip like this is not improvised from one day to the next. A good indicator is that Raúl Castro, with a wide range of leaders, was to say goodbye at the Rancho Boyeros international airport. Go and find out what the old communist said to his successor. If anything. The snapshot from the official government newspaper Granma, with Rodríguez behind, is eloquent. On the other hand, the state press has already assured itself by saying that this trip arises from official invitations received by Cuba.

Second, the trip is due to economic reasons. For a long time, there has been no money in the state coffers. It is urgent to seek support, whatever it may be, to weather the storm until a new USSR or Venezuela appears ready to carry the deadweight Cuban communist country.

Third, the choice of countries on this trip has not been trivial. Algeria, Russia, Turkey and China confirm the ideological bias of the Cuban communist bet and the urgent search for a financier willing to pay the bills.

Let’s go in parts.

At his first stop in Algeria, where he will be from November 16 to 19, Díaz Canel told the communist state press, “we have high expectations with this visit.” What expectations? Who has the expectations? The grandson of Fidel Castro who organizes parties for millionaires, or the Cuban who receives a miserable pension with an inflation rate of 32.7%? continue reading

At the Algerian international airport, Díaz-Canel, accompanied by his wife Lis Cuesta, was received by a second-level court, Aiman Benabderrahmane, the prime minister, and the ministers of Health and Culture, Abdelhak Saihi and Soraya Mouloudji. The president was not there.

Then, in an airport enclosure, there was a meeting between the delegation of Cuban communists and their Algerian hosts where they remembered Fidel Castro, who visited the African country on more than one occasion and where he maintained very good political relations with its leaders. With this fanfare, which came out of the blue, because they were stories of more than six decades ago when the world was different from the current one, Díaz-Canel intoned the main issue: bilateral ties, consolidating “good relations.” Translated into understandable language: money, money and money.

And, basically, because you can’t be wasting time, Díaz-Canel’s main objective seems to be to solve the serious crisis of the Cuban electroenergy sector and put an end to the blackouts that alter the conditions of production and life in the country.

The Cuban communist leader’s Twitter has been the source of information for his followers, and so in a message, he said that “after two years under the impact of COVID-19, we crossed the Atlantic again,” adding that the journey “responds to Cuba’s political and economic priorities, as well as to efforts to alleviate the effects of a post-pandemic crisis that overwhelms everyone, and, in our case, is exacerbated by the effects of the U.S. blockade.”

Before proceeding, it’s advisable to review the available data. At their first stop in Algeria, Díaz-Canel and Lis Cuesta, accompanied by an entourage that included Bruno Rodríguez, Alejandro Gil, Rodrigo Malmierca (who was also absent from FIHAV), José Angel Portal and the new guy, Vicente de la O Levy, minister of energy and mines, had no choice but to recognize that Cuba’s foreign trade with the African country is unbalanced and complicated.

Cuba’s exports amounted to $904 million while imports amounted to a figure of over $277 billion (2021, last available year). The balance sheet is very favorable to Algeria, and the foreign trade coverage rate is 0.32. Cuba’s annual deficit with the African country is more than $227 billion, so payment, for a bankrupt regime, can be problematic. Algeria occupies a prominent position on the list of creditors and is getting nervous. On the other hand, what can Cuba offer to this country? More doctors? Artists? Advisors of various branches? Technology maybe? It’s difficult and complicated. Algeria is on another wavelength, nor does it seem that it’s going to send tourists to the Island either.

It seems that the trip involves negotiating the payment of the accumulated debt, which can be much higher than billions of dollars, observing the figures of recent years. The state press threw out balls and described the work agenda on Algerian soil with activities such as “the exchange of Díaz-Canel with his host counterpart,” (who did not receive him at the airport), “a meeting with collaborators of the Cuban medical brigade and members of the state mission of the Island” and a little tourism, with visits “to places of cultural and historical importance of this nation.”

It’s too early to assess the consequences of this trip. There is the impression that no more can be expected than a certain continuity and that the Algerians will continue to wait to collect what is due them. A few commitments may even be signed to muddle through, in the style of the aviary deal of the former Soviet CAME*. The relationship between the two countries doesn’t admit alternative scenarios. And get ready for the best in this journey, which has just begun.

*Translator’s note: CAME, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, was an economic organization from 1941-1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the Eastern Bloc countries and other socialist states.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Unusual Procession of Little Pioneers With the Silver Maces of the Old Cabildo of Havana

Children dressed as Pioneers with the maces of the old Cabildo of Havana, from the 17th century. (Tribuna de La Habana)

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, November 16, 2022 — A strange mixture of rites, which have become commonplace in recent years, came together on Tuesday night at the ceremony held at the founding site of Havana, the Ceiba de El Templete, on the eve of its 503rd anniversary.

It was attended by the highest authorities of civil power, Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first Secretary of the Party in the capital, and Reinaldo García Zapata, governor of the city, but also those of the church. Specifically, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, archbishop of Havana, from whom “the people received a blessing” and who accompanied a procession through the streets surrounding the Plaza de Armas.

However, the most surprising image of the evening — in addition to being extremely worrying if it’s confirmed that the maces are the original pieces — was that of two children, dressed in white shirts and red scarves, the uniform of the Pioneers, holding the maces of the old Havana Cabildo. Made of silver in 1631, they are, according to Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring in his book Havana. Historical Notes, “the oldest works of art in Cuba.”

Both valuables objects are in the custody of the Office of the Historian, founded by Roig and administered until 2020 by the late Eusebio Leal, and they are stored in the former Palace of the Captains General, today the City Museum. It’s not the first time they have been taken out of safekeeping for the same ceremony. continue reading

The official press echos “an emotional letter calling for the conservation of historical heritage,” “warm and simple words” that, says Tribuna de La Habana, “sixth-grade pioneer Laura Hernández García, from Camilo Cienfuegos Primary School, read” at the ceremony.

The ceremony ended, the official press reports, with the song Razo a la Ceiba by Leo Vera, and a concert on the esplanade of El Templete.

Beyond the unease caused by seeing the little Pioneers, ignorant of the historic value of what they carried in their hands, no one is surprised that the celebration of the foundation of the capital mixes ideology and religion.

In 2019, the Cuban regime paid tribute to the priest Guillermo Isaías Sardiñas Menéndez, known as Father Sardiñas, on the 55th anniversary of his death.

Nicknamed the “father of the olive green cassock,” the official press has frequently praised “the coherence between his religious faith and his conviction as a patriot and revolutionary,” although in the historiography of the Catholic Church the mentions of his actions have been more discreet.

But the intersections have not only been between Cuban communist ideology and Catholicism. In 2008, fifty santeros officiated a ritual with drums and animal sacrifices to wish “long life” to Fidel Castro on the day of his 82nd birthday, then convalescing from an intestinal disease.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Prime Minister Criticizes ‘Obsolete Mentalities Against Foreign Capital’

Three Cuban ministers witnessed the inauguration of the Mexican pavilion at FIHAV [the Havana International Fair] 2022. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 November 2022 — For a second time in a week, the Cuban Government felt the need to affirm that it will fulfill its international commitments and will settle “the delays that exist in the transfers with the exterior.” That is, “from the possibilities of the country,” said the Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, upon inaugurating the Forum on Investments and Presentation on Foreign Investment. A few days earlier and with the same emphasis, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, said the same thing on Cuban Television.

“These are hard years, but we have the conditions and confidence in the country’s ability to anticipate difficulties,” said the prime minister, who assured — no one knows who’s responsible — that the authorities are fighting against “the obsolete mentalities that exist against foreign capital.”

This start explains the data they provided below. Displayed triumphantly, the numbers fall short if compared to expectations. Malmierca explained that between January and October 30th, businesses with foreign capital worth 402 million dollars have been authorized on the Island. Of these, two are located in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) and 13 are hotel administration and marketing contracts.

In 2013, when the ZEDM was inaugurated, it was estimated that it would attract 2.5 billion dollars annually, which gives an idea of the shipwreck.

In 2021, 2.736 billion dollars had been raised in the eight years since its opening, compared to the 20 billion that should have been achieved according to projections. The minister presented yesterday the current balance sheet of foreign Investment: 272 new businesses outside the ZEDM and 51 within, of which 104 are joint ventures, 161 are international economic association contracts and 56 are totally foreign capital. In addition, 15 are in the process of liquidation. continue reading

The failure is evident, and the holder of the portfolio during all this time has been Malmierca himself, who took office in 2009, but the closest thing to self-criticism he pronounced yesterday was: “We have to articulate foreign investment with the Development Strategy, promote new business opportunities and eliminate obstacles,” from which it follows that he sees options for improvement.

The only novelty he announced, however, was the possibility of offering a special taxation regimen and guarantees for renewable energy sources, in addition to opportunities in distributed generation (renewable energies) and new compensation mechanisms.

For the rest, the usual. The minister said that there are “advanced negotiations in more than 50 new projects, with an amount equivalent to 9 billion dollars,” of which we will have to see when they end up being realized, if they are done. There were also no surprises in the sectors of most investment: tourism, food, transport, professional services, trade, construction, industries, energy, biotechnology, health, information technology and mining.

Malmierca also spoke about the progress of the “Foreign Commerce Single Window System*,” which works in most countries although it has been implemented in Cuba for only a year. Between January and September of 2022, more than 204 applications have been processed, and, since the system has existed, cooperation agreements have been signed with more than 15 entities, and 66 interests have been attended to, 27 of them with proposals under negotiation, including those of Cubans residing abroad.

The minister reviewed the most recently approved rules that, in his opinion, improve foreign investment, although the results for the moment are what they are. “The objective is to develop foreign investment businesses in wholesale and retail trade to capture financial resources, expand access to supply markets and obtain advanced management methods, technology and marketing techniques in order to achieve a stable supply of goods and improve the efficiency of trade in Cuba,” he added.

The event presented the new portfolio of opportunities, which includes 708 projects, 30 more than in 2021. There are 101 new ones, including three in the ZEDM, 71 of those that had previously disappeared and 229 that were modified, especially as they affect the business category, the total investment and the description.

Among the novelties, the minister highlighted four projects in the financial banking sector, eight in wholesale and retail trade and 11 “business opportunities” with the private entities presented by local governments. More data: 197 of the proposals are from the food sector, especially in agricultural production, the food industry and the sugar industry.

The FIHAV, meanwhile, continued on a day in which the state press — along with the foreign press, the only press authorized to enter the enclosure — highlighted the presence of more “friendly” countries: Venezuela — more “brother” in this case — and Mexico.

The presence of 63 Venezuelan companies with exportable offers “represents a sample of the unwavering brotherhood between Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” said the Venezuelan Minister for National Trade. The sectors with the greatest presence are agro-industrial, construction, food, beverage, culture, wood, industrial, multisectoral, chemical, services, textile, promotion agencies, government, air, marketing and telecommunications.

As for Mexico, three ministers visited its pavilion this Tuesday: Rodrigo Malmierca, Juan Carlos García Granda of Tourism, and Eloy Álvarez of Industries. “President López Obrador has expressed very clearly that we don’t need to talk so much, we have to do things directly, and he has demonstrated this in all the steps we have been taking,” Malmierca said.

In addition, the Mexican ambassador, Miguel Díaz Reynoso, told the press that “the political, diplomatic climate, the context of broad collaboration and the personal affection between Mexico and Cuba favors” an increase in the country’s investments, which participates with 40 companies in the agro-industry, construction, maritime logistics, information technologies, tourism and textile sectors.

One of them, the Publishuttle Marketing Company, signed contracts with two Cuban naval supply and boat charter companies during the event.

“The change has been seen (in the policy towards foreign companies in Cuba), and there is a lot of support from the Embassy. It has been a good experience,” José Francisco Padrón, CEO of Publishuttle, told EFE.

The press agency highlights the treatment given to Mexico compared to the one given to Spain, Cuba’s second commercial partner. It had one of the largest delegations at the event, but the Spanish entrepreneurs were not visited by any senior official, although the press took a multitude of photographs, especially of the coffee makers and pots and pans of the well-known Magefesa brand.

The country brought 80 companies, fewer than the 110 at the last FIHAV, held in 2019.

“We want a prosperous Cuba, a Cuba in which the economy works, and after covid (…) the situation is not easy, but Spanish entrepreneurs are here,” said Ambassador Ángel Martín Peccis.

*Translator’s note: National Single Window systems allow traders to submit all import, export, and transit information required by regulatory agencies via a single electronic gateway, instead of submitting and processing the same information numerous times to different government entities, including some that are automated and others that still rely heavily on paper. (Source: World Bank)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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