14ymedio – Page 163 – Translating Cuba

Cuba’s Economy: Less Control, More Freedom

Cuban farmers have been hit hard by lack of inputs, fuel shortages and drought. (Flickr / Kuhnmi)

14ymedio, Elias Amor Bravo, Economist, October 22, 2022 — There is not a single country in the world whose leaders spend as much time, or consume as much energy, revising and perfecting systems for monitoring and controlling the economy as Cuba. If one were to add up all the hours dedicated to this task, they would surely set a world record for pointless activity.

The consequences are plain to see. The communist economic model, obsolete and exhausted, is one of chaos. The more power its leaders have to devise legal tools and implement action plans for involving themselves in the economy, the worse it gets. Things work better without so much tinkering, oversight and control.

But will the communists acknowledge the failure of their system after sixty-years? Not in your dreams. On the contrary, Granma recently published an article, “Stay on the Path That’s Been Approved,” in which it reports that Prime Minister Manuel Morrero met with the country’s governors and their managers in the Palace of the Revolution to “promote high-priority programs and step up efforts to combat illegal activity.” Granma says his remarks were “right on target” but we fear they will be of little use. Let’s look at why.

Marrero stated that, even when a provincial or municipal problem concerns the central government, it may not be best resolved at the national level. In many cases, he pointed out, the best solution is a local one that takes into account to the conditions of a particular region. What problems is Marrero talking about? The usual ones: “Illegalities and violations that undermine the institutional framework and undermine governmental management.” Therefore, he points out, “the irregularities which are being committed today with such impunity, which have such a direct impact on the public, cannot be tolerated.”

What kind of “irregularities” is Marrero worried about? The ones he is supposed to fix. For example, the recurring issue of accounts receivable and payable. According to the prime minister, this area has been a breeding ground for corruption and criminality. A series of ongoing defaults, in which goods and services are provided before they have been paid for, is an example of poor economic management. This kind of financial malpractice results from the collusion and improvisation endemic to a communist economy. continue reading

Another irregularity that keeps Marrero up at night is the issue of coleros,* which he discussed during a meeting dubbed “Operation Anti-Colero.” This initiative is supposed to put an end to the widespread climate of disorder and illegality caused by the serious economic crisis that the nation’s leaders are incapable of solving.

There was also talk during the meeting about the low productivity of farmland and its impact on the nation’s food supply. The 63 measures intended to encourage the agricultural sector have been a failure. This was confirmed by the National Office of Statistics and Information, which reported that agricultural output has fallen for three consecutive quarters. Marrero was in charge of promoting an alternate reality that nobody else in Cuba has experienced, claiming that hard-to-find produce and other agricultural products were making their way to Cubans’ tables. The truth is that no such data confirms this phenomenon. Food in Cuba is scarcer now than it was a year ago. And its price has skyrocketed, with food inflation twenty points higher than the CPI average.

The problems are the same as always and caused by the regime. Besides the 63 agricultural measures that have not worked, there have been delays in leasing idle land to farmers and delays in the planting of seasonal crops. More than 3,800 hectares have yet to be planted and acreages set aside for growing banana, sweet potato and malanga have been reduced. As long as food is not a priority, the situation will only get worse.

There was also talk about meat and milk not being delivered, how roughly 4,143 suppliers have not fulfilled their contracts with meat companies. National leaders called for local authorities to conduct a case-by-case investigation but we already know the reason for this. It has to do with the disconnect between supply and demand, which is caused by sweeping state interventionism.

The communists feel they need more control, not in general but at the municipal level. The reality, however, is there is already too much control, rigidity and interventionism. If producers had more freedom to produce and to trade with whomever they wanted, the situation would be very different. There are already plenty of tools for control at the municipal level in the Castro economy.

Unlike what was claimed at the meeting, the process by which the state contracts farmers to grow food is burdened by excessive government control and interference. What is really needed is what Vice President Valdes Mesa called spontaneity. He should know because he remembers what Cuba was like before 1959. At that time, there was one cow for every person and no one had trouble finding meat to eat or milk to drink. Not only was there spontaneity back then, there was freedom too.

The meeting also addressed the subject of housing, one of the most intractable problems facing the country. Concerted efforts have yet to made on the ground, leading to understandable public frustration. It was announced at the meeting that, as of late August, 15,790 homes had been completed. Of those, roughly half had been built by their owners and 1,985 were basic housing blocks. With fewer than 30,000 new units in 2022, it looks like another terrible year for housing. Meanwhile, some observers say the country needs another million new units.

Housing construction is still not keeping pace with the production of building materials such as stone, bricks, concrete blocks, roofing and flooring. But the problem goes beyond the materials themselves. What is needed are builders capable of handling large-scale construction and remodeling projects.

The Maternal and Child Care Program was discussed at the meeting also. As of October, 72,846 live births and 539 deaths were recorded, and an infant mortality rate of 7.4 per 1,000 live births. The most common causes of death were perinatal conditions related to prematurity, low birth weight and intrauterine growth retardation, followed by congenital deformities and sepsis.

The problems with the program, such as staff shortages, ineffective attempts to reduce premature births and prenatal diagnostic errors, require immediate attention. What also requires attention is the mortality rate — currently, no one knows what it is — along with the fertility rate, a measure of the number of births by women of childbearing age. Cuba’s fertility rate happens to be one of the lowest in the world, which does not bode well for long-term population growth.

Inflation was also a topic for those at the gathering but little or nothing was said beyond mentioning the need to combat the illegalities without clearly indicating how to do it. There was also talk of new “economic players,” such as small and medium-sized private business, which currently number more than 5,340. There are 59 such state-owned operations, 58 non-agricultural cooperatives and 126 affiliated companies. While the contribution of these private businesses in supplying the public with goods and services was acknowledged, some new measures were announced that will contradict an essential principle of the communist economic model: the socialist state-owned company is the lead player while other types of businesses exist to complement it. This is a bad idea.

Marrero announced that progress is being made in drafting rules that would regulate these new businesses, from the national level all the way down to the the municipal. The idea is to include them as part of local development strategies. This would involve incorporating them into local economic ecosystems by linking them to state-owned companies, governments, universities and banks, and encouraging their participation in social responsibility efforts.

Hadn’t we agreed that these new businesses were to be set up so that they would be free to consolidate within a network of private companies? So why this new attempt to control them and interfere in their operations? Has the law gone into reverse? Many of these businesses are going to shut down if they start feeling too much pressure from the regime, as has happened before. And then we’re back to square one.

Translator’s note: people who are paid by others to wait in line for them.

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The Police Sweep up Vendors from the Doorways of Havana

Police operation carried out last week in a shop on Neptuno and Galiano, in Havana. (*14ymedio*)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 23 October 2022 — The urban landscape of Havana lacks an important element these days: informal vendors who, in parks and doorways, offer everything from matches to soft drinks. A police operation carried out last week swept up these vendors, who sell basic products that are scarce in state stores.

“Not even one was left. These doorways on Galiano Street were always full of people selling many useful things for the home,” said a resident in Centro Habana who, approached the central avenue with the intention of buying a washer for his Italian coffee maker. “At first I thought it was too early and they hadn’t arrived, but a neighbor told me that the police had removed them.”

According to this resident, the raid took several minutes. “They arrested some and took away all the merchandise. Others were fined and warned that if they see them here again the fine will be even higher,” explains Luisa, a resident on nearby Águila Street, who rents part of her room to informal sellers to keep their merchandise.

The operation reached the self-employed fair also located on Galiano Street. Although those who sell there are licensed to sell local handicrafts and other privately-produced goods, according to the police, some were offering industrial products brought from abroad or bought in stores in freely convertible currency. continue reading

Fe del Valle Park, in Centro Habana, without the vendors’ tables. (14ymedio)

The usually-bustling place on Tuesday was practically empty and without the in-and-out of customers that has characterized it for years. Through the doorways in Galiano, from time to time you can see police, who monitor the area so that the street vendors don’t return. A daring one manages to take advantage of the fact that the agents move away to quietly hawk sponges and small bags of detergent.

“There are people who say that it’s the fault of the resellers who hoard the little they buy in the store and then resell it, but most of the things that these vendors sell are brought from abroad,” explains the woman, alluding to the mules that import all kinds of goods from Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

“If you need a sewing needle right now, where do you buy it?” asks Luisa. “Many of the things they sell don’t exist anywhere else, for example, dyes for clothes, lighters for gas stoves or shoe polish,” the woman says. “None of them have become rich selling all that junk,” she emphasizes.

The panorama, when you walk along Reina Street or San Rafael Boulevard is strange without the small tables or blankets on the ground of these informal merchants. The hope that some of their most assiduous customers have is that the waters will soon reach a level when the police raids against them end, and then the stalls will return with their tubes of glue and belts for men.

They do this all the time but then the vendors come back,” considers another neighbor. “Now they are again with the ’battle against illegalities,’ but they don’t recognize that these sellers solve a problem.” In the Fe del Valle park, where until a few days ago the tables alternated with bargains and school items, now there are only a few people sitting on the benches or connecting to the wifi area. It looks like the same place as a few weeks ago, but it no longer is.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexico Opens 749 New Positions with High Salaries for Doctors and More Than a Hundred are Cubans

Former Mexican deputy Beatriz Pagés pointed out that the mission of Cuban medical groups is “more political, more military and more indoctrination than health.” (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2022 — The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador will pay more than $2,600 a month for each of the 749 foreign doctors he invited on October 11 to fill positions in remote areas of Mexico. The amount almost doubles the $1,400 that national physicians currently receive, according to data from the Government of Mexico.

“It’s an insult to Mexican doctors,” Marco Antonio, an orthopaedist who works in Mexico, tells this newspaper. “It’s not fair that while my salary is $1,600 a month, they’re giving $1,000 more to foreigners.”

He also explained that the data isn’t a surprise: “There’s a disparity between the salaries of the Institute of Health for Well-being (INSABI), those of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), and the Institute of Security and Social Services of State Workers (ISSSTE).”

According to the Centre for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP), last year the salary of a specialist doctor was between $830 and $2,300. While at the INSANI, the average salary is $2,000; in the IMSS it is $537, and in the ISSSTE it’s $780.

Of the 2,067 applications received by the Mexican Government, 104 are from Cubans, said the general director of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, last Tuesday. Another 169 specialists come from the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

For the contracted health workers, Mexico will pay the “round-trip airfare, transfer to the place of residence and work center, immigration procedures and requirements, academic validation of educational institutions, food support, and accommodation.” In total, expenses of $36,000 per year are expected for each doctor.

This salary is also higher than that received by the 436 Cubans from a group of 642 hired by the Government of Mexico, who are already serving in several hospitals in marginalized areas. The López Obrador Administration pays the Island $2,042 per specialist and $1,722 for each general practitioner. continue reading

Robledo confirmed that the hiring of new Cuban specialists will be carried out through the Island’s Ministry of Health and Cuban Medical Services, S.A. The latter company, created in 2011, has been accused internationally of human trafficking and forced labor.

The last week of August, the Madrid-based organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) revealed in its report, “The military truth behind Cuban medical missions in Mexico,” that the more than 600 Cubans hired by Mexico “are military” and “none is a specialist doctor” (only family doctors or generalists).

The president of PD, Javier Larrondo, denounced the López Obrador Government for “allowing slavery on Mexican soil” and “financing” the Cuban regime.

Meanwhile, Beatriz Pagés, former deputy of Mexico and director of Siempre magazine, pointed out that the mission of the Cuban doctors is “more political, more military and more indoctrination than health.”

The most demanded specialties in that country are gynecology, obstetrics and anesthesia. Personnel specialized in pediatrics, general surgery, orthopedics, internal medicine, cardiology, neurosurgery, neonatology, ophthalmology, oncology, and cardiology are also needed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Publisher That Rescued the Work of Dulce Maria Loynaz Presents its Catalogue in Frankfurt

Editor Osmany Echevarría Velázquez represented Ediciones Loynaz on October 15 at the introductory seminar of the program. (Facebook/Ediciones Loynaz)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 October 2022 — Ediciones Loynaz, the publishing house of Pinar del Río that publishes Pedro Juan Gutiérrez and Dulce María Loynaz, presents its titles at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt (Germany), which is held from this Wednesday through Sunday.

The invitation was made possible thanks to a program for small publishers, from which twenty companies from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America benefited. According to reports on the event by the publishing house on its social networks, editor Osmany Echevarría Velázquez represented Ediciones Loynaz on October 15 at the introductory seminar of the program.

During the presentation, Echevarría introduced the publisher’s catalogue, its distribution processes and its “positioning as part of the Territorial Editions System,” an official network of the Cuban Book Institute in all the provinces of the Island.

Echevarría pointed out that, after the passage of Hurricane Ian through Pinar del Río, where the publishing house has its headquarters, the province was “wounded in its soul and its land.” He added that, after the hurricane, “we managed to save a selection of printed and digital titles.”

The publishing house was visited this Wednesday by the director of the library of the Ibero-American Institute of Berlin, Peter Altekrueger, and the director of Acquisition and Cataloguing of that institution, Ricarda Musser, who assured there were 180 volumes of Ediciones Loynaz. continue reading

For Ediciones Loynaz, the Fair is “a privilege, a recognition” for its three decades of work. Like other provincial publishing houses, it began in 1991, during the Special Period, in the midst of paper shortages and the Cuban economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union.

On the Island, Luis Enrique Rodríguez Ortega, its director, had guaranteed the official newspaper Granma that the organizing committee of Frankfurt invited them as a tribute to their three decades of work, but, even more so, as recognition of “the System of Territorial Editions created by Fidel.”

The mention of Castro tried to rid the publisher of all suspicion: it’s not the first time that members of Cuban delegations at international fairs take advantage of the trip to leave the country and request international protection.

Granma points out that titles such as Carta de Egipto [Letter from Egypt], from the Cervantes Dulce María Loynaz Prize, or Cuentos de Guane [Tales of Guane], by Nersys Felipe, will be part of the catalogue of Ediciones Loynaz. It modestly mentions the author from Mantazas, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, whose novels are known worldwide thanks to the Spanish publishing house Anagrama.

Echevarría comments enthusiastically that Gutiérrez’s volume, Escritores peligrosos y otros temas [Dangerous Writers and Other Subjects], is the jewel of Ediciones Loynaz: “This book shows another facet of its publisher, the facet of the journalist,” he told the EFE agency.

Born to disseminate the works of the Loynaz siblings, despised by the regime along with other Republican writers, it remains to be seen if the Pinar del Río publishing house will resist the temptation to not return to an Island that is experiencing its most critical moment in decades, after participating in the largest book fair in the world, dedicated this year to Spain.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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U.S. Deports Cuban Man Who Held a Sign Saying ‘Marti Yes, Marx No’ in Mayabeque

Yuri García was arrested by authorities and held for four days and was fired from the state trucking base where he worked as a technician. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2022 — The United States returned to Havana a young Cuban, Yuri García, despite his request for asylum as a victim of harassment by the regime. García spent two weeks on an American Coast Guard vessel waiting for a response, but in the end he was returned, along with other migrants, on September 2nd, confirmed Yucabyte in a note published on Thursday.

The young man stated that he had previously fantasized about migrating, but “never very seriously” until the attacks and harassment by the regime escalated. At the end of August 2022, García abandoned the Island along with other people in a rustic boat, an escape route hundreds of Cubans have used this year to flee the economic crisis, food shortages, and persecution.

On the second day at sea, when the motor had stopped working and they were left without GPS, they were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and were transferred to a vessel. There, the group of migrants requested asylum from officials who “listened to us but did not give us the opportunity.”

“I thought that at least they’d investigate, but now I believe it was just an act. I believe they did not give me the opportunity to show evidence that I am politically persecuted, that they did not take my case seriously,” he told Yucabyte.

García is one of the many persecuted by the regime after he held a sign with the phrase, “Martí Yes, Marx No” in front of the Communist Party building in Mayabeque province, as part of the failed Civic March for Change on November 15, 2021 (15N). continue reading

The 30-year-old Cuban was arrested by authorities and held for four days and was fired from the state trucking base where he worked as a technician. After months of pressure and from his co-workers, he was rehired in January 2022, however, García stated that the surveillance, the psychological harassment, and summons for interrogations did not let up.

The last meeting occurred on July 11, 2022 when authorities expected new demonstrations on the first anniversay of the massive July 11, 2021 (11J) protests. That interrogation was to “warn me that, if I went out to demonstrate, I could face three to six years in prision,” said García.

Desptie the danger, hundreds of Cubans have abandoned the Island this year on small rafts headed for Florida, while others migrate by air to Nicaragua, and then continue on their way to the United States. García stated that he could not afford to buy a ticket, so his only option was by sea.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Police Arrest Egg and Chicken Vendors at the 100th and Boyeros Fair

The authorities confiscated packages of chicken and more than 400 cartons of eggs. ( Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2022 — At least 30 people were arrested by the Cuban police for reselling basic necessities in the area known as Feria de 100th and Boyeros, in Havana. In the police procedure, carried out this Thursday, hundreds of cartons of eggs, chicken and picadillo packages were seized, the official media confirmed.

Elements of the Police and the Technical Investigation Department (DTI), a unit of the Ministry of the Interior, participated in the search. The uniformed officers arrived at the popular fair in the morning, when “from one moment to the next, they began to take away all the resellers who always walk through the area,” said La Página de Mauro Torres, sympathetic to the regime.

A witness to the operation said that merchants sold the products at exorbitant prices, according to the official press, which reproduces the user’s text on Facebook. Among these were the egg cartons at 2,000 pesos and the chicken packages — which in stores costs 90 pesos — at 1,500. “This was an abuse, so good for the police and the DTI,” the neighbour allegedly added.

Another witness pointed out that the operation reached a house near the fair, where they removed a truck loaded with chicken and picadillo packages. This person said that the house “contained more than four hundred cartons of eggs,” which were seized by the officers.

The publication points out that this type of operation enjoys “popular backing” because people who “profit from the needs of others” by selling basic products from the Cuban food basket at prices ten times above the market value are stopped.

The shortage of food and basic products on the Island causes distortions that contribute to fueling the black market, where you can find everything from technology items to sanitary pads for women at high prices. continue reading

The news of the operation has been applauded by many readers of the official newspaper, but there have been quite a few who have complained to the authorities about the inefficiency in controlling “stockpiling” and not being able to guarantee the supply of basic products. “At last we see something that helps break the criminal chain, although they have to get to the bottom, because 400 cartons of egg don’t just come out of nowhere, even less now that there isn’t anywhere you can find them,” said a online commenter.

“Resellers are abusers, but who is to blame for this happening? Where do those amounts of products come from? Are they really resellers?” asks Elina Mendoza. Another commenter, identified as Freddy, asked that those who buy dollars in the Cadecas [currency exchanges] and then resell them on the street be investigated.

Officialdom, for its part, announced that this is one of the investigations they will carry out in Havana against the “resellers who do so much damage to the population.”

The popular Fair, also known as “the candonga [the joke] of 100th and Boyeros” specializes in the sale of hardware products, plumbing, household supplies and other high-demand items that are scarce in state stores. Although, according to the law, merchants or street vendors who offer their goods on site can only sell domestically-manufactured products or handicrafts, the truth is that usually a shopper can find accessories and parts imported or taken from state warehouses.

Among the tables that offer Superglue, children’s toys and pipe joints, other sellers, who quietly tout packages of frozen chicken, eggs, powdered milk and other food items often hang around. The practice is so widespread that the Fair has the reputation of being a place where “everything or almost everything can be found.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Foreign Minister Overwhelms the Press with Complaints and Dubious Figures About the ‘Blockade’

For this occasion, the Ministry has designed a logo that reads “Better without blockade.” (*Cubadebate*)

14ymedio, Madrid, 20 October 2022 — Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, accused the Biden administration on Wednesday of having reached a record for damage to the Cuban economy with the embargo. The minister met with the international press to make the traditional assessment by the authorities before the resolution condemning the US economic policy on the Island is presented to the United Nations General Assembly, which this year will be held on November 2 and 3.

According to the updated report, between August 2021 and February 2022, the losses caused by the embargo amount to $3.8 billion, “a historic sum for a reduced period,” the chancellor said. The figure, calculated by an unknown methodology, is $6.4 billion in the 14 months of the current Democratic mandate, another historic record according to Rodríguez, which accounts for $454 million per month and $15 million per day.

Following the deluge of figures, the Cuban chancellor set the total in sixty years at $154.2 billion, which, translated into the value of gold, would be $139 trillion. “Imagine what Cuba could have done for its people by having those resources,” he complained.

Rodríguez Parrilla, aware that he didn’t count anything other than the last 60 years, added some drama in the language. “It’s not a new design of the blockade, but it has been surgically better designed, targeting each of the main sources of income for the country, seeking to increase the impact on the daily life of our population.”

After presenting the panorama in figures, the chancellor began to concretize it by presenting a reality: Cuba buys in the US market, and this is demonstrated by the data month after month, which confirm that the neighboring country is a supplier of a multitude of basic necessities. “It’s true that Cuba can buy food in other markets, and it’s true that it even acquires food in the US. But the blockade deprives Cuba of the indispensable financial resources* to make those purchases in the US or to make similar purchases in third markets,” he said. continue reading

Since the data, promptly disseminated, corroborate the massive purchases of the Island from the US, Rodríguez Parrilla has insisted on that point, which has become his fundamental argument. Thus, this Wednesday he repeated that Washington applies measures against financial institutions that prevent Cuba from functioning normally.

“Dozens and dozens of banks deny services to Cuba in fear of US fines. Others are forced to reach agreements by the illegal, extraterritorial actions of the US Government, to avoid those fines,” said the chancellor, who added that producers, carriers, shipping companies and insurers are prosecuted, among others, making the purchase of fuel more expensive by a third or half.

“Between January 2021 and February 2022, new data revealed a total of 642 direct actions reported by foreign banks that, in the face of threat by the US financial system, refused to provide services to the country,” reproached the chancellor, who accused the US of discriminating against Cuban citizens, who cannot have personal accounts in some countries, and of causing embassies to go without banking services.

The minister moved on to the central issue of Cuban reality at the moment: the National Electricity System, whose situation he described as “extremely serious.” Although he attributed this reality to a multitude of factors, including lack of fuel, he explained that the impossibility of using American technology has a decisive influence. The blackouts, he said, are “emergency measures” that “our people understand and support,” he said, without even mentioning the daily discomfort caused by power outages, which has been taking citizens out of their homes for weeks to demand the return of power.

“Cuba cannot acquire, anywhere, in any way, technologies, equipment, parts, digital technologies or software that contains 10% of US components, which is a direct impact, as serious as that of the lack of foreign exchange to guarantee supplies,” he argued.

Rodríguez Parrilla insisted that the “blockade” is undeniable — “nobody can seriously or soundly affirm that it doesn’t exist or is a mere pretext” — and is aimed at “provoking the inability of the country to meet the fundamental needs of the population,” and, thus, he considers the attitude of the US to be immoral.

There was no longer the slightest hint of self-criticism, nor of modesty. The chancellor praised the work of the Cuban government in the midst of so much derision and celebrated how the country overcomes each difficulty only to be harmed again. Among those examples were medications, which the country produces 60% of itself, but which are again affected by the lack of funding.

He also cited the vaccines against covid-19, whose endorsement in the World Health Organization remains on hold more than six months after documentation; respirators and oxygen have been submitted, all of them self-produced alone or with the help of partner countries in the face of the “deliberately cruel act” of the US of not “flexibilizing sanctions” in the worst of the pandemic. However, Rodríguez Parilla forgot that humanitarian aid arrived from the US not only at that time, but just one day earlier, when he himself thanked Washington for its contribution to repairing the damage of Hurricane Ian.

“We appreciate the US humanitarian aid offer. The material contribution valued at 2 million dollars through the International Red Cross Federation will contribute to our recovery efforts and support those affected by the ravages of Hurricane Ian,” he said on Twitter.

The chancellor vindicated the changes made by the regime — from its small economic measures to the “diversification of its productive matrix,” and the legislative modifications, although he cited only the Family Code, knowing that the Criminal Code wouldn’t be a very appreciated example — and praised its commitment to modernity. “Cuba changes every day and will continue to change. Cuba is renewed all the time. What doesn’t change, what isn’t renewed, what is anchored in the past, is the policy of the blockade,” he said.

Finally, Rodríguez warmed up to the next presentation of the resolution against the embargo, recalling that historically only two countries vote against it, the US and Israel. “It is universal to repudiate a criminal policy that has neither defeated nor achieved the objectives it set, although it causes a lot of human damage,” he said. And he ended with a plea that sounded like an eternal lament. “Cuba has the right to live without a blockade; it has the right to live in peace. Cuba would be better off without a blockade. Everyone would be better off without a blockade. The US would be a better country without the blockade of Cuba. The world would be better without the blockade of Cuba.”

*Translator’s note: The “financial resources” in this case is the ability to buy on credit, that is without paying anything up front, or potentially ever, as Cuba is known for not paying its debts.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Iranian ‘Patria y Vida’, A Song That Unites Havana with Teheran

Both countries live under dictatorships, allied together as declared enemies of the USA, both having begun with “malevolent” revolutions. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Anna Mahjar-Barducci, Jerusalem, 20 October 2022 — On 19 October 2022 a ’mash-up’ of two tracks: Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] and Baraye (For the sake of…) was uploaded to the Azadi channel on YouTube. The former was performed by Cuban rappers Yotuel Romero, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo Castillo, El Funky, and the group Gente de Zona; the latter by the Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour.

Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life] was associated with the 2021 demonstrations against the Cuban regime and the Communist Party. In a similar way, Baraye has become the hymn of the protesters currently demonstrating against the Islamic Republican regime in Iran.

“For dancing in the streets (dancing in public is prohibited in Iran), for every time we were afraid to kiss our lovers, for the shame of having empty pockets, for the longing after a normal life, for women, for life, for freedom (the protesters’ slogan). For liberty”. So read the lyrics of Baraye — which have been put together by selecting extracts from Iranian social media messaging.

Both songs are hymns to liberty. In fact both countries live under dictatorships, allied together as declared enemies of the USA, both having begun with “malevolent” (according to Patria y Vida) revolutions. The 1959 Cuban revolution brought Fidel Castro to power, and exactly 20 years later the 1979 Iranian revolution toppled the Pahlavi dynasty, replacing it with an Islamic Republic under the government of ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. continue reading

After the death of Khomeini in 1989, Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei became supreme leader of Iran — to date, the longest-ruling dictator in the Middle East.

It’s worth pointing out that singer Hajipour was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard after sharing Baraye on Instagram, because similarly, the Cuban rapper Maykel Castillo ’Orsorbo’ was sentenced to nine years in prison, and the artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (who also took part in the video for Patria y Vida) was condemned to five years behind bars.

This ’mash-up’ demonstrates that the demands for liberty continue to resonate, from Havana to Teheran, hoping that the world might finally take notice of them.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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72 Percent of Cubans Are Living below the Poverty Line

A study has revealed that in 21% of Cubans who live below the poverty line often go without breakfast, lunch or dinner due to lack of money. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 October 2022 — Cubans’ concerns over the island’s food shortage have grown over the last year according to a recent report from the Madrid-based Cuban Human Rights Observatory (OCDH). The organization’s 2021 report found 60% of Cuban citizens believed food insecurity was a major problem. That figure has grown to 64% this year.

The OCDH began polling 1,227 people from 59 municipalities in 14 provinces in July. Its most troubling finding was that 72% of Cubans are living below the poverty line, which the World Bank defines as a daily income of less than $1.90. This is striking for a country that fought a revolution to abolish class distinctions but which has an enormous disparity between those who receive remittances from abroad and those who do not. Of those who said they do not have enough money to buy things essential for survival, 27% receive remittances and 65% do not.

After the food crisis, currency unification was cited as the second most pressing problem (36% in 2022 versus 29% last year), followed by inflation (with concern among Cubans almost doubling from 17% to 31%). The political situation remained in a fairly stable third place, though the number of those who considered it a serious problem rose six points. As a major issue, the government came in fourth, rising eight points, while concern over civil unrest went from 12% to 17%. In contrast, emigration, which was a major concern for only 7% of the public in 2021, rose to 18% this year.

Of those polled, 74% view the government’s economic management negatively while 51% view it “very negatively.” The study also found just how disaffected the nation’s youth are with the current political system. For 42% of those who are 18 to 30-years old, it is the country’s biggest problem. This age group also expressed a high degree of concern for those in prison, with 25% of them citing it as a major problem. This is understandable given the high number of young people incarcerated for participating in protests. The generational divide is also evident when in comes to the embargo. It is a major concern for 14% of seniors aged 61 to 70-years-old. continue reading

The study also indicates that the health care system suffers from systemic corruption, with 56% of those polled saying they have provide a gift or pay a bribe to receive medical treatment. Eight out of every ten people cannot get the medications they need and must turn to the black market, family members overseas or, in most cases, church-based charities (57%).

The numbers are also devastating when it comes to basic services. Some 44% of respondents said their homes needed serious repair while 23% said they are in danger of imminent collapse. Only 23% said their homes are in good shape. Meanwhile, 15% said they lack drinking water and 72% said they have experienced power outages. In July and August 62% of those polled said they were experiencing power outages lasting more than six hours.

On the labor front, 30% said they have full-time work, 14% said they work part-time, 15% are retired and 10% do not work. If we take into account those who work in the home (15%), those who are sick or disabled (5%) and those who are students (6%), it becomes clear that the state is relying on only a small segment of the population for financial support.

It is significant that the majority of those polled, a full 82%, believe there is discrimination in hiring, mainly on ideological grounds. Additionally, 70% believe the labor unions are not democratic and, as a result, 72% said they do not belong to any labor relations organization. Also, 64% believe workers’ rights are not respected in Cuba.

Lastly, some sad statistics: A majority of Cubans say they are unhappy, with 55% expressing this sentiment; 13% say they are “totally unhappy” and only 14% say they think things could get better in the coming years.

“It has been more than six decades with a political, economic and social model that does not work. The lives of a majority of the population are overwhelmed by a shortage of food and medicine, and the deterioration of all public services. The protests that have occurred in recent weeks in various locations on the island, protests in which people are demanding freedom, are the result of this disaster. Awareness is growing that the cause of Cuba’s socioeconomic problems is political,” says the OCDH, which released its study on Thursday.

“The state of civil rights in Cuba should serve as a strong warning to those overseas who still believe that the Cuban model can be applied in their countries,” the report concluded.

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‘The Artist is a Dissident by Definition, says Cuban Filmmaker Orlando Jimenez Leal

Cuban filmmaker Orlando Jiménez Leal in an archive image. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Ana Mengotti, Miami, 20 October 20, 2022 — We artists are by definition dissidents of reality,” says Cuban filmmaker Orlando Jiménez Leal, who took the path of exile after Fidel Castro banned his short film PM in 1961, warning those who protested, “against the Revolution nothing.”

“That was a before and after; it opened our eyes,” says Jiménez Leal, who has been in exile for 61 of his 81 years and will receive an award this Thursday for his career at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami.

Jiménez Leal left Cuba on January 2, 1962, and has never returned because, although he admits that he is “curious,” he finds it “embarrassing” to have to ask for permission to enter, he says in an interview with EFE.

When intellectuals asked Castro after the censorship of PM, co-directed by Sabá Cabrera Infante, if there was freedom in Cuba, he replied that “within the Revolution everything, against the Revolution nothing,” recalls the director, who, among other films, directed with León Ichaso El súper [The Super] (1979), a feature film presented and “applauded” at the Venice Film Festival.

The newly created Archive of Cuban Diáspora Cinema, an initiative that emerged at Florida International University (FIU), will give him an award this Thursday for his career.

The founders of the archive, Cuban filmmaker Eliecer Jiménez Almeida and Spanish professor Santiago Juan-Navarro, consider that PM, a short documentary about nightlife in the slums of Havana, is the “zero kilometer” from which Cuban cinema in exile begins. continue reading

For Jiménez Leal it’s exactly that: the start of a life outside Cuba with stops in the United States, Puerto Rico and Spain. He has been living in Miami now for nine years.

Although he says that his memory of life in exile is “aged” and the previous one in Cuba, on the contrary, fresh, the filmmaker perfectly remembers his time in Madrid during the final years of Francoism, what he calls “watered-down” Francoism.

At that time he was dedicated to advertising, which was also his livelihood in the United States and the way to finance the films he longed to make.

One of those ads was seen by Julio Iglesias in Puerto Rico and, as he liked it, he contacted Jiménez Leal to direct Me olvidé de vivir [I Forgot to Live] (1980), of which he remembers above all its protagonist, an “charming person” and a “good actor,” capable of improvising.

Previously, he had presented The Super in Venice, which he defines as a “Cuban neorealist film” that “opened the eyes to many who had a fixed idea of the Revolution” by presenting the truncated lives of the exiles in the United States.

Friend of film photography director Néstor Almendros, with whom he directed the documentary on the repression of homosexuals in Cuba, Improper Behavior (1984), and of the writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, who went into exile like him, Jiménez Leal says that in Cuba they have not been able to “erase him from memory,” and he has become “a ghost that returns.”

Young independent Cuban filmmakers, many of them also outside Cuba, look for his films and declare themselves his admirers, he proudly says.

The authorities don’t mess with him. “As the saying goes, they (those who govern in Cuba) have other fish to fry,” and he mentions “the demonstrators who demand water, electricity and freedom” in the streets of Cuba, and the “imprisoned artists.”

Jiménez Leal no longer makes movies but is still very connected to the cinema and attentive to news on platforms like Netflix, although he confesses that he is, above all, reading books he has already read and watching classic films.

Cinema has changed a lot, especially with the incorporation of digital media. Before, you needed real talent to succeed in cinema; you had to know about technique and industry issues. Now there are more opportunities but there also is a lot of garbage,” he emphasizes.

Over the years, his cinematographic tastes have changed. The “arrogance of youth” made him consider Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan (1951), a minor film, while at the age of 81 it seems to him a “masterpiece.”

About Blonde, Andrew Dominik’s recently released film about Marilyn Monroe, Jiménez Leal says that it produces “a mixture of feelings” and exhibits the “exceptional” work of Cuban-Spanish actress Ana de Armas.

Among the things he knows he will no longer be able to do is a film that was to be called Cuba Does Not Exist, paraphrasing the exiled Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, who in an interview proclaimed that “Russia does not exist.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Embargo, Yes? Embargo No? Exposing the Eternal See-Saw

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, October 21, 2022–It takes just a small step to go from the sublime to the ridiculous. Bruno Rodríguez, Minister of Foreign Relations of the Cuban communist regime, who just a day before publicly thanked the U.S. State Department for the $2 million in assistance for hurricane damages, the following day, in a speech widely covered by the state press, stated, “the world would be better without the blockade against Cuba.” I insist, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

With this blockade jargon, the Cuban communists have won the propaganda and misinformation battle. That there is no taro root in Cuba, is the embargo’s fault. That there is no electricity, the embargo’s fault. That tourists don’t go, the embargo’s. That financial markets do not lend Cuba money, the embargo’s fault. And so it is; every part of life in the nation are influenced by contentions with its neighbor to the north, the solution of which, on the other hand, is within reach of the communist regime. If it doesn’t do so, it must have its reasons.

And in reality, if there is no food in Cuba, one can observe serious shortages, stockouts, long queues, anxiety, among the population faced with difficulties to secure even the basic food basket, the only embago/blockade responsible for this situation is the internal one; the one imposed on the population by the regime and its economic model. Cuba can purchase food on the market of 192 countries around the world, and it also does in the United States. The problem is the availability of financial resources to make those purchases, which, due to non payment of its debts, are not easy to obtain. What deprives Cuba of access to financial markets is data on its failure to responsibly make payments on its debts. No one, under normal circumstances, is willing to lend to those who do not honor their commitments.

In any case, the blockade/embargo is one of the communications points the communist regime, devised by Fidel Castro, masterfully played in international fora, alarmingly obtaining alignment of countries with theses and arguments that do not fit within any basic economic analysis. continue reading

Such is the effort that a national report was promoted at the United Nations, under Resolution 75/289 of the U.N. General Assembly, titled “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” (August 2021-February 2022), to which the Cuban communists dedicate special attention each year. The referenced document will be discussed for the thirtieth time on November 2nd and 3rd. They are already campaigning.

Moreover, each year, the regime takes advantage of any external factor to dress up the content of the report with a dramatic tinge. This year, why not, it’s Ian’s passage through Pinar del Río. It aggravated the effects of the serious international economic crisis, which is already being felt on the Island though ECLAC barely touches on it in its most recent forecast. The regime’s partners are not in a position, for example, to give away money.

And, since one thing cannot occur without the other, in this year’s report, Rodríguez Parrilla went on to explain that the blockade has taken on new forms, more detrimental if that was possible, in its attempt to accentuate the impact on daily life. Although for that they need to revert back to historic dosuments from 1960, such as that Memorandum of Assistant Secretary Lestor Mallory, who 62 years later continues to give opportunities to the Cuban communists to attack. C’mon it was not that long ago.

To this point, and with history’s rancid analysis, arrives a new estimate of the losses caused by the blockade, which according to the regime, between August 2021 and February 2022 were 3.806 billion dollars, a historic record during a period of only six months. It is as if the Cuban economy depended solely on the economy of the United States, a sort of anexionist focus or something similar.

The regime does not spare any effort. In six decades, at current prices, the cummulative damages total 154 billion, 217 million dollars. At the current price of an ounce of gold, taking into consideration depreciation, the cummulative damages amount to 1 trillion, 391 billion 111 million dollars. And clearly, the political conclusion is always the same: imagine what Cuban could have done if it had had access to those resources. What Cuba would be like if the country had used those resources.

Well, nothing. And everything. An economy doesn’t function better just by having access to money. Just the opposite. The key is how the money is used and whether the resources are allocated in ways that are profitable. And it does not seem that the Island’s prevailing economic model would allow it to reach such profitability with the resources. The blockade/embargo only goes so far, and no further. Everything else is science fiction.

In reality, the United States is the second largest tourist market for Cuba, it sends over 8 billion dollars in remittances per year and allows commerce and imports of 200 million dollars per year. No one sees the embargo anywhere, except for those who have a political interest in it being so. Going from the quantitative calculations of losses, be they the 3.806 billion dollars mentioned or the 6.364 billion dollars of the Biden era, the estimates in terms of GDP is risky and sets a bad precedent.

There is something in the estimates of losses in the report that merits attention for its novelty. The regime maintains that the GDP growth could have been 4.5%, had the blockade/embargo not existed during the period between August 2021 and February 2022. One cannot make heads or tails of this 4.5% and it forces a reflection on the cummulative economic magnitude, how they were calculated and what they really mean.

To begin with, it is convenient to really know how much the Cuban economy has grown in the period mentioned. Data on GDP growth are provided by the ONEI by quarter. Given the dates, it covers from the third quarter of 2021 to the first quarter 2022.

According to data from ONEI, the 2021 inter-annual growth in GDP was -1.4% in the third quarter, then it reached 10.9% in the fourth quather and another 10.9% in the first quarter of 2022. A simple mathematical calculation suggests that, in this period, the GDP grew by 6.8%, clearly more than the 2021 median, which was 3.2%. Then, what is the regime talking about with that 4.5%, which they say could have been achieved without the embargo?

Beware of unfounded statements, and with the calculations that are not adequately justified. Now it so happens that, even with the embargo/blockade, the Cuban economy grew faster than the rate desired by the regime if this dispute did not exist. Who do you believe?

The regime blames the embargo for: the lack of fuel; the obstacles in acquiring replacement parts and other resources based on American technologies; and the difficulties with regard to financial banking matters; commercial, financial or investment transactions; in the direct persecution of producers, transporters, shipping companies, insurers and freight forwarders; problems with the electrical energy system; and medicine. But in reality much of these claims have to do with existing obstacles that prevent the economy from functioning freely. That’s the real embargo.

Translated by Silvia Suárez

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Tobacco Planting Begins in the Area of Cuba Most Devastated by Hurricane Ian

The 2021-2022 campaign was affected by a lack of fertilizer and other inputs necessary for the cultivation of tobacco, the country’s main agricultural export. (Granma)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 22 October 2022 — The Cuban province of Pinar del Río, known for the cultivation of the tobacco leaves of the famous Havana puros [cigars], began planting this week, despite being the area of the Island that was the most devastated by Hurricane Ian at the end of September.

According to state media this Friday, planting began on about 15,500 acres of land, and the tobacco will be mainly destined for export.

The planting program will be extended until January 31 and will be concentrated in the municipalities of San Juan y Martínez, San Luis, Pinar del Río and Consolación del Sur, considered the “tobacco massif” of the province that produces half of the most demanded tobacco leaf. continue reading

About 2,200 acres of covered tobacco — intended for the wrappers of cigars — will be planted, along with other varieties such as Burley, Virginia and Vegas Finas, which are used in the production of pipe tobacco, will be planted, according to the delegate of Agriculture in the province, Víctor Hernández, as quoted by the state Cuban News Agency.

He said that plantings have also begun of seedbeds that were not damaged by the scourge of Hurricane Ian, which crossed Pinar del Río from south to north on September 27, where it left considerable damage to agriculture, housing, communications and electricity service.

He also specified that about 6,200 curing houses are needed — where the tobacco leaves are stored for natural drying — of the more than 10,000 that were damaged by the hurricane winds, equivalent to 90% of the approximately 12,000 in the region.

The impact of the hurricane also caused about 11,000 tons of tobacco that were in the process of curing to get wet, so many of them will have to be discarded, according to official reports.

This blow to the sector occurs at an already delicate time for the Cuban tobacco sector, which produced from January to June less than half of what was planned due to lack of basic supplies, logistical problems and breakdowns, among other problems.

The tobacco harvest, Cuba’s fourth largest income sector, went from 32,000 tons in 2017 to 25,800 tons in 2020, according to official data. The sector employs about 200,000 workers, which increases to 250,000 at the peak of the harvest.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Needs 1.4 Million Travelers to Meet its Tourism Goal in 2022

Tourists in Havana before the pandemic. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 20 October 2022 — Three months after the end of the year, the goal of 2.5 million tourists that Cuba expected is confirmed as impossible. In the first nine months of 2022, 1,074,814 international travelers arrived on the Island, so in October, November and December, there must be 1.4 million more to reach the goal. Although the high season begins next month, the best figure of the year (152,480 in July) would have to triple in those three months to achieve it.

The Ministry of Tourism updated its data on Tuesday, with the publication in the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) of the arrival figures of travelers, including Cubans living abroad, through September. The figure reaches 1,553,461, an increase of roughly five-and-a-half times over the previous year. As for international visitors, discounting Cubans residing abroad, there were 1,074,814 in total, almost six times more than the 180,735 in 2021.

However, the Government is fooling itself again, since the 2021 figures are not comparatively useful. Although they do serve to measure the recovery of the sector after the pandemic, you have to put them in context with those of normal years for tourism, which between 2020 and 2021 plummeted worldwide due to covid-19. If you compare the data of international travelers between January and September of this year with those of 2019, 3,327,392, the difference is a decline of 68%. The contrast is even worse compared to the previous year, 2018, when 3,540,543 arrived. The decline in this case is 70%.

In detail, you can see how the collapse of Russian tourism is affecting Cuban accounts. The statistics break down the number of travelers from each country and compare it with the previous year, so in all cases it grows, given the closure of borders that was in force for much of 2021. Powerful examples are that of Canada, the first country to send tourists to Cuba traditionally, which increases from just 9,265 last year to 324,252 this year. continue reading

Cuban-Americans grew from 19,003 in 2021 to 240,197 in 2022, and the Spanish, at the head of European tourists, who as of September last year totalled 6,091, this year reached 62,157. This is repeated for all the main indicators, even for the catch-all category of “other.”

However, in the case of Russia, the figure completely reverses. In the first three quarters of 2021, 111,228 Russians arrived in Cuba, and this year in the same period barely 38,883 did so. In addition, as expected, almost all arrived until February, 35,871. At the end of that month, on the 24th, the invasion of Ukraine and the international sanctions on Russia began, which left many Russians unable to fly to certain destinations due to the ban on crossing European airspace.

This October, the Russian company Aeroflot resumed its flights to Havana, with routes bordering the North Pole to avoid the exclusion zone, so it’s possible that in the last quarter the numbers of tourists from that country will rebound, the only one that grew in visitors before the pandemic. The market, however, was showing symptoms of exhaustion already at the end of 2021, when the Island was reopened to travelers, and it was shown that the Russians had changed their preferences for the Dominican Republic, which with its strategy positioned itself at the forefront of Caribbean tourist destinations since it opened its borders in September 2021.

In recent months, the Cuban authorities are giving their all to recover one of the sectors that brings the most foreign exchange to their coffers, discounting remittances and “medical missions.”

This week the Health Tourism Fair takes place in Havana, where Cuba tries to sell all kinds of therapies and medical services with a view to the Caribbean. At the end of September, the XIII International Nature Tourism Event was held, in which an attempt was made to convince potential travelers that the Island is more than sun and beach. And also in the middle of last month, the Varadero Gourmet International Festival took place, which generated discomfort in the population for being a showcase of products that citizens can’t even dream of.

In all of them, Manuel Marrero, Prime Minister of Cuba, has supported the target of 2.5 million visitors, defending the idea that it will undoubtedly be achieved despite the difficulties. Months earlier, in May, the leader was the first to postpone the recovery of the sector to 2023, contradicting the rest of the Government and the minister of the branch, Juan Carlos García Granda.

“Next year the leisure industry will recover in Cuba, and for that purpose, the development of FitCuba 2022 will mark a before and after,” Marrero said then at another event in the sector, the Varadero Tourism Fair, to end up joining the official speech. Perhaps his thesis, that of a man who was Minister of Tourism for 15 years, should have prevailed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cuban Pilot Escapes From the Island in a Russian Plane and Lands in Florida

The pilot landed the Antonov An-2 at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. (WPTV News/Screen capture/YouTube)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 October 2022 — Cuban pilot Rubén Martínez left the Island this Friday in a Russian-made Antonov AN-2 aircraft with registration 1885, which landed at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, Florida, around 11:30 am.

According to local U.S. media reports, the authorities confirmed that the pilot had flown from Sancti Spíritus and that he “took a selfie next to the plane after landing,” reports NBC Miami.

In the Dade-Collier airport, located on Tamiami Trail, in the middle of the Florida Everglades and west of Miami, Martínez was interrogated by Customs and Border Protection agents.

The air terminal where the Cuban landed was built for supersonic planes and sometimes is used for pilots to practice takeoffs and landings, said WSVN News, which added that Martinez remains in the custody of Customs and Border Protection. continue reading

The AN-2 model, a single-engine biplane designed by the Russian company Antonov, had its first flight on August 31, 1947. Due to its versatility, it has been used as a tanker aircraft during forest fires. It has a capacity to transport 12 passengers and has also been used as an air ambulance. It is usually used in fumigation work.

A fleet of this type of aircraft was assembled in Cuba in 2017 for fumigation, offering services to the tourism sector, cargo transportation and firefighting, as published then by the official press.

Rubén Martínez was a pilot of the Cuban Air Services Company (ENSA) that belongs to the Cuban Aviation Corporation administered by the Cuban Government. ENSA provides services mainly with fumigation aircraft.

In 2003, an Antonov 24 aircraft from Cubana de Aviación was diverted from the Island to Key West (Florida). The Cuban Adermis Wilson Gonzále, armed with a hand grenade, wanted the plane to land in Miami, but due to lack of fuel the pilot had to make an emergency landing at the José Martí airport in Havana, where he stayed 14 hours.

After intense negotiations, 22 passengers were released, and the plane departed with 25 other people and six crew members to Key West, where it arrived on April 1, 2003, escorted by American warplanes.

A year ago, González, who worked as a civilian construction technician on Isla de la Juventud, was released after serving almost 20 years in a U.S. prison, after being sentenced by a Florida court for air piracy.

Rubén Martínez’s escape this Friday dusted off the case of spy René González Sehwerert, who in 1990, when Cuba began to feel the economic havoc after the fall of the Soviet Union, took one of the small planes from the airfield where he worked as a flight instructor to leave the Island and arrive after an hour’s trip to the United States.

Between October 2021 and August 2022, more than 200,000 Cubans were intercepted by U.S. authorities, according to data from the United States Customs and Border Protection Office. So far, in the first month of fiscal year 2022, more than 400 were intercepted at sea aboard rudimentary vessels.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Have Lost Their Smiles

That laughter on the lips or the cackles set off by anything at all have disappeared from Cuban streets. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 21 October 2022 — We are a dozen people waiting in line. The woman in front of me has her lips pursed as if she is avoiding saying anything. The young man in flip-flops and jeans turns his head from side to side from time to time, while next to him a teenager does not take her eyes off her phone and frowns. The man at the end of the line has released some insults for the delay and even the store’s guard can’t stop complaining. No one smiles, no face even hints at a gesture of joy or complacency.

For years I had to explain to my foreign students who came to learn Spanish on the island that the laughter of Cubans should not be interpreted as synonymous with happiness. “Even at funerals, and despite the sadness of the death of someone close, people will make their jokes and can burst out laughing,” I described. But the stereotype that people in this country felt content and lucky to live under the prevailing political system was as difficult to eradicate as lice in elementary school classrooms.

So, I drew on more data. I spoke to them about the repression, the domestic conflicts fueled by the housing deficit, the high divorce rate, the drama of the suicides about which the ruling party jealously guards the numbers, and the dream most shared by Cubans, that of emigrating to any other place in order to leave this Island. However, my explanations that a thousand and one dramas could hide behind those smiles tourists saw in the streets did not achieve any effect. The cliché of national contentment was stronger than any argument or statistic. continue reading

But even the most widespread and enduring clichés may one day run into the reality that proves them false. That laughter on the lips or the cackles set off by anything at all have disappeared from Cuban streets. The faces of sorrow and annoyance are seen on all sides and, instead of those jocular and hilarious phrases of yesteryear, now emerge complaints, insults and offenses. It gives the impression that a conflict is always about to break out with fists or that anyone might jump down another’s throat at the slightest difference of opinion or friction.

A French friend who worked in Cuba for a foreign firm for many years returned a few days ago after more than five years in Europe. “What has happened to the people?” he asked me. “No one laughs,” he added when he saw that I didn’t understand him. He concluded with a phrase that made me realize that we all have long, serious faces 24 hours a day: “All the faces I see are sad, even the children don’t smile.” We don’t even use that mask that we put on so many times to exorcise pain or dissatisfaction. We have stopped even wanting to pretend that we are happy.

After that conversation I walked down the Avenida de los Presidentes in El Vedado, turned onto Calle 23, continued to L, approached Infanta and quickened my pace towards Belascoaín. Not a single laugh the entire way.
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