There Will Be No Foreign Investment for the Private Sector in Cuba

One has to worry about what the communists don’t know how to do, which is nothing more than creating a favorable environment for the prosperity of business. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 23 July 2022 — In recent days, we have witnessed a torrent of measures by the Cuban regime to get the economy of the island out of the vicious circle in which it has been locked by the communist economic model that the authorities are stubbornly determined to apply.

And of all the ministerial hodgepodge of proposals, some hilarious ones such as the recovery of the “microbrigades” or the “in-person learning” reminiscent of the revolutionary old days, those related to foreign investment in Cuba have undoubtedly been the ones that have received the most attention — in some cases, resulting in undesirable confusion.

The person responsible for this mess has been the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, who reported in the National Assembly on the activity of his department, exemplified in the negotiation of 57 projects with foreign capital in prioritized sectors of the economy, valued at almost $5 billion, all of them still without a materialization date.

Malmierca, immune to discouragement and the fact that the application of Law 118 on foreign investment has been a resounding failure since 2014, told the deputies that “if you work well and make an effort, we have the conditions to attract more foreign capital despite the existing difficulties,” with less conviction than what these words really say.

The difficulties, in line with the official argument of the regime, come, of course, from the ‘blockade’, but also, and here comes the interesting thing, from what Malmierca called “works that depend on us, including delays in the procedures and the lack of preparation in the negotiating groups.”

Actually, if those were the obstacles to the development of foreign investment in Cuba, there could be some hope, but when you compare the Cuban experience since 2014 with that of, say the Dominican Republic, you can understand why foreign capital turns its back on Malmierca and, nevertheless, lines up to be able to enter the neighboring Caribbean island.

Trying to attract investment only with a law is a waste of time. First, you have to worry about what communists don’t know how to do, which is nothing more than creating a favorable environment for business prosperity, so that people can increase their standard of living and companies can operate freely. In Cuba, that is simply impossible, and therefore, not because of laws or obstacles, foreign investment passes it by. continue reading

But Malmierca knows how to catch attention and that is why, after recognizing that the management of his department leaves much to be desired (at the end of last year, 285 businesses had been approved in Cuba since 2014, 49 located in the Mariel Special Development Zone and 29 reinvestments), he announced that “about seven foreign investment projects linked to forms of non-state management are being studied, and the relevance of approving businesses in domestic trade is being analyzed.”

The deputies of the Assembly, who at that time were sleeping peacefully, felt a small convulsion. Some even used their mobile phones to say that Malmierca was thinking of authorizing foreign investment in the private sector. People couldn’t believe it.

So when the minister changed the subject and began to talk about the virtues of the unique digital window and the measures to attract foreign capital at the municipal level, everyone’s interest was in that mention of the possible entry of foreign investment into private businesses — something that, until now, had been banned. Everyone wanted more information, but the deputies of the Assembly rarely bother the top leaders of the regime, so it would be best to wait.

Little by little, the State newspaper Granma’s headline summary of the news — “There are possibilities of attracting more foreign capital” — began to run from mobile to mobile. Yes, but how would that idea be translated into reality, in view of the experience since 2014? It seemed evident that Malmierca was proposing an update of the policy for attracting foreign investment in Cuba and its flexibility in favor of more profits, as well as the actions being taken to encourage and improve this mechanism, but was there really a will to open foreign capital to the private sector?

Malmierca had said that the reforms that were going to be introduced would in no case mean that “the socialist character of our government would be violated,” but someone saw that the portfolio of opportunities for foreign investment had included, among other options, small projects and 60 others that emerged from the territories. They were no longer the great millionaire pharaonic projects that used to frighten foreign investors for the mobilization of required financial resources.

But so far, nothing more. The natural date would be the 38th Havana International Fair (Fihav-2022) to be held in November. Apparently someone said that there were preparations being made “for exceptional projects, and the strategic axes of the National Economic and Social Development Plan until 2030 will be taken into account.”

And reading the news, someone said they had mentioned it. Granma reported “the minister pointed out that another flexibility of the policy is the possibility that the more than 4,000 forms of non-state management can work with foreign investment, in accordance with the provisions of the law.” That’s it. This is the key to authorizing the entry of international capital into the private sector, but it’s advisable to read it in detail and to not be in a hurry.

“Working with foreign investment” is not well known and is not the same as receiving foreign capital and offering a stake in it, by the way, which at no time is mentioned. These are very different things, and until the proposal is outlined, you have to understand the first version: “work with foreign investment.” And that’s not nothing.

Then there are the dangers that aren’t obvious. If Malmierca wants there to be foreign investment in the retail sector, the first thing that has to be achieved, and this seems almost impossible in the Cuban economy, is that there are products to be sold and bought and also purchasing power to do so, and it doesn’t seem that these two parameters are currently in the reality of trade and the retail trade circulation of the Cuban economy.

Little by little, people calmed down. No one should expect any change in the foreign investment policy because the communist regime’s nature is to have absolute control of the economy and to prevent the accumulation [of profit] and the prosperity of private businesses. There will be no foreign investment in the private sector, at least with the 2019 communist constitution in force. The alarms stopped going off. It’s very difficult to get out of the vicious circle of the Cuban economy.
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Note from 14ymedio: This article is reprinted with the permission of the author. I was originally published in Cubaeconomía.

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Translated by Regina Anavy

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

‘Give Him Death’

Oswaldo Payá (L) and Harold Cepero (R)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, 22 July 2022 — It has been 10 years since Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero were assassinated in Cuba. It was July 22, 2012. We’ll get to that later. Ángel Carromero, a Spaniard, and Aron Modig, a Swede, were, more or less, witnesses to the murder. Carromero was a delegate of Nuevas Generaciones (New Generations,) the youth organization of the Spanish Popular Party, and Modig was the president of Sweden’s Young Christian Democrats.

A few days ago, I received an excellent book by David E. Hoffman, Pulitzer Prize winner and editorialist for The Washington Post, GIVE ME LIBERTY: The True Story of Oswaldo Payá and His Daring Quest for a Free Cuba. The Pulitzer Prize is a guarantee that Hoffman knows how to investigate. He wouldn’t buy a pig in a poke.

For those unfamiliar with American history, “Give me Liberty” is a famous speech Patrick Henry delivered at St John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, on March 23, 1775, as the American Revolution was brewing. His words, which electrified the audience, ended with a well-known phrase in the country, “Give me Liberty… or give me death.”

The very well researched work, especially regarding the history of Payá, was sent to me by John Suárez, who replaced Frank Calzón, the founder and soul of the “Center for a Free Cuba,” a think tank devoted exclusively to freedom for Cubans. Perhaps it is the only one of its kind in a city where think tanks abound.

As I was saying, Give me Liberty convinced me of what Ofelia (Payá’s widow) and Rosa María (Payá’s eldest daughter and founder of “Cuba Decides,” a formidable collaborator in her father’s work) had already warned me about, that the regime assassinated Oswaldo and Harold, although it was not what Raúl Castro intended to do. He wanted to scare them, not kill them, but he condoned the action as soon as it was done. For Fidel and Raúl it was obvious where their loyalties lay. Hence the brutal cover-up, as always happens – the episodes of the sunken ships with their cargo of innocent children, the “13 de Marzo” and the “Canímar,” and the executions of General Arnaldo Ochoa and Colonel Tony de la Guardia et al, are the best known, but not the only ones.

Cuban secret services, organized and trained by communist Germany’s Stasi in the 1960s and 1970s, have conspicuous and invisible ways of carrying out the persecution of any targeted individuals on the island. They wanted to give a lesson to the “arrogant Europeans” that were on the island to train Cubans in the details of the transition, so they chose the “conspicuous” formula.

A conspicuous vehicle, typical of the fearsome Cuban State Security, a red Lada, which followed them for a long time during the journey, even hitting the rear end of their car, causing the accident that would result in the death of the two Cubans (what a coincidence!) continue reading

It was not the first time that Oswaldo Payá had been followed conspicuously. An associate of Payá stated that days before the assassination of the opposition leader, together with Harold Cepero, they used the same procedure to try to instill fear in Payá, only that on that occasion they overturned his vehicle, and the car was left with the tires facing up.

That is why State Security (the Cuban political police) exhibits erratic behavior. On the one hand, they did what they have always done, what internally they felt authorized to do – terrorize dissidents. But in this case both people were killed.

If they died on the spot, or if they were killed later, in both cases there is a cover-up and very suspicious behavior. Mary Anastasia O’Grady, a great expert on Cuban affairs, insists that he was assassinated in an article (“How did Oswaldo Payá really die?”) published in the Wall Street Journal on April 7, 2013.

Why do they deny the family the opportunity to examine the body and perform an autopsy? Why don’t they respond to the accusations made by the jurists of “Human Rights Watch”? What is the point of refusing to share the evidence with supporters and opponents if they have it at hand and it is a golden opportunity to shut up the opponents of the Cuban revolution for many years?

No one believes the story of the “revolutionary arrogance.” When it has been necessary, they have lowered their heads and swallowed their pride. Both are already dead, and the story can be told. Fraga Iribarne told Fidel Castro that they were going to hang him by the testicles if he did not change his behavior. Fidel left Galicia that early morning, but he did not reply to Fraga. He swallowed his response.

Today, and since the Chavista charity ended, the country has worsened and has become a pigsty due to the lack of every basic item (electricity, medicines, drinking water, food), to which is added the presence of dengue fever, Covid and of other similar misfortunes, as if the seven plagues of Egypt affected Cuba.

Ultimately, what Oswaldo Payá proposed with the “Varela Project” is extraordinarily valid. In 2003, 19 years ago, he proposed going “from the law to the law,” taking advantage of a space left by the current legislation to ask the nation if it insisted on communism or if it evolved towards other more intelligent and sensible ways of organizing coexistence. At that time Fidel Castro was still alive and, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity that his opponent gave him to rectify, he came out with a rude remark and accused him of being “the CIA by other means.”

He did not give him freedom. Instead, he gave him death.

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Cuba: Electrical Power Restored in Jaguey Grande and Caibarien Shortly After the Start of Protests

Protests on Friday morning in Jagüey Grande, a town in Matanzas province. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 22 July 2022 — Electrical power blackouts led to at least two protests in Cuba during the early morning hours of Friday: one in Jagüey Grande, a town in Matanzas province, and the other in Caibarién, in Villa Clara province.

According to accounts posted on social media, protestors also demonstrated by banging pots in Caibarién’s Lili de Sagua la Grande neighborhood. A similar event is reported to have taken place in Morón, a town in Ciega de Avila province, though no photographs were available of either demonstration.

However, multiple videos of the protest in Jagüey Grande show dozens of people, dimly lit by cell phones, marching through streets to chants of “freedom” and “turn on the power,” with some also shouting “everyone into the streets.”

“Look at this neighborhood. It’s abusive,” someone can be heard saying amid the din of shouts and pot banging.

Two protests were reported in Villa Clara. Though there are no photos documenting the one in Sagua la Grande, some posts claim power was restored a few minutes after the start of the demonstration.

An electrical power shortage led to at least two early morning protests in Cuba on Friday.

Power was also restored in Caibarién after protestors could clearly be heard shouting “turn on the power,” a slogan that has become popular since students at the University of Camagüey adopted it during protests on June 14. continue reading

There has been a constant stream of comments on social media since photos of these protests began circulating. Another protest took place in Pinar del Rio just a week ago. All the demonstrations have been peaceful, made up mainly of people banging metal pots, and quite large relative to the limited size of the towns in which they occurred.

Though some social media posts have called for Cubans to storm hard-currency stores, hotels and even government installations, like protestors in Sri Lanka did, most have urged demonstrators to be cautious, march peacefully and document their actions on cell phone videos so no one can accuse them of violence.

So far, there has been no official response to the protests other than a statement regarding the events in Palacios that said the people have a right to express their discontent and that critics in Miami have exaggerated the scope of the demonstrations.

The government continues to ask for patience as it deals with an unusually bad electricity shortage. The public is aware there is no short-term solution — officials themselves have said so — but is demanding the burden at least be shared equitably.

Cubans are aware that, though the capital is experiencing outages and blackouts, the provinces are suffering even longer periods without power, a situation which is becoming increasingly obvious. What is not known is how officials will find a way to mollify a population experiencing so many plagues — heat, hunger, dengue fever and covid, all at the same time — and with so little left to lose.

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

No Surgeon Operates in Cuba Without the Money From Miami and the Bribes for the Staff

Surgeons in Santa Clara, Cuba, also treat patients from Ciego de Avila and Cienfuegos. (Arnaldo Milián Clinical-Surgical Provincial Hospital)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 23 July 2022 — For every surgery that is performed in Cuba, someone is paying a lot of money in Miami. Without dollars, imported medicines and bribes, there is no one to operate, says Julia, a 68-year-old from Santa Clara who suffers from breast cancer. Thanks to her son, who lives in Florida, she has passed with luck, although not without disappointment and negligence, through the different stages of treatment.

Since her diagnosis at the end of 2021, Julia has had to send her son complex lists of medicines, equipment and serums that oncologists require. The “medical power” recommends that patients search for a guardian angel beyond the borders of the Island. If they do not find one, they always have to ask for the symbolic question, “who’s last in line,” and then join the line themselves, a line lasting two or three years, to enter the operating room

“Gloves, scalpels, rolls of gauze, adhesive tape, swabs, catheters…” lists Julia, who has lost count of everything she should ask of her son. “Before the operation, you have to take the ’package’ to the doctor so she can sterilize it. But be careful: if you get sick and an emergency case arrives, they use someone else’s material without inconvenience and everything goes to hell.”

In addition to the anguish of the disease and the operation, patients who manage to get past the entrance of the operating room must face other surprises. “My sister accompanied me in the first operation, of minimal access,” says Julia. “Everything was faded and the machines were very old. To top it off, my sister saw blood and flies on the operating room floor, and she immediately went to complain.”

“Do you know what they answered?” Julia recalls, indignant: “Don’t worry, ma’am, those flies are sterilized.”

There are only two anesthesia machines in the Santa Clara operating rooms. Even that does not guarantee correct treatment. Julia, for example, was injected with lidocaine, the anesthetic used by dentists, and she had to ask for the dose to be increased on more than one occasion, because she felt the cut of the scalpel. continue reading

But if the operation is painful, chemotherapy is no less so. In Santa Clara, patients from Ciego de Ávila and Cienfuegos must also be treated, so it is common that there are not enough serums for everyone.

Julia was able to receive them through a catheter also imported. Chemo forces the patient to urinate several times, which is why the catheter is so necessary: ​​it allows walking without affecting the flow of serum. However, when she was no longer able to get a catheter, she was given so-called “mochitas” or “butterflies,” whose needle was too fine and prevented her from leaving her seat to go to the bathroom.

They even injected other patients with a regular needle, the kind used in syringes, to which they directly connected the serum cable.

Some doctors take advantage of the wait and recite, as in a restaurant, the prices of the supplies that are missing. A patient from Taguayabón, a rural town near Camajuaní, took home a detailed inventory for when she had the operation: the catheter at 1 dollar; the saline at 700 pesos; a syringe at 30; suture threads can be obtained at 250 and a dressing at no less than 60; the bandages are more expensive, at 600. The final figure produced vertigo.

Julia’s husband, in his 70s, thought he would have enough patience to wait his turn, already delayed two years. His hernia in the testicles became more complicated during the pandemic and he understood that he couldn’t take it anymore.

A friend brought him up to date on fees: $100 for the lead surgeon and another $50 to “touch” the assistant. “Which doesn’t include,” he warned, “the equipment, the anesthetic, and everything else.” Even with all this, the man had to resort to the usual gifts and intercessions.

Both Julia and her husband have undergone surgery and are awaiting further treatment. Their medicines come from Miami and are sent from there with a lot of work, because they have to go through personal intermediaries.

Another privileged option is being treated at the Santa Clara Military Hospital, reserved for personnel from the apparatus and members of the Armed Forces. “They are repairing it,” says Julia, “because they have the money. But the hospitals of ordinary Cubans will continue as they are.”

Although less serious, a foray into the dental clinic can be as painful as an operation. It always starts with a toothache, says Rubén, also from Taguayabón. “One endures a few days, without antibiotics or painkillers, lying in bed or however you can.” Rubén decided to go to the nearest polyclinic, in Camajuaní, to appeal for emergency care. Nothing: there were no anesthetics.

When anesthesia does not show signs of appearing for weeks, dentists resort to Analdén ointment, as long as the patient agrees. The pain, both in the nerve and in the gums, is horrendous.

But Ruben was lucky. Some friends “resolved” an appointment for him in Santa Clara and he was able to get his tooth extracted. “Of course, I had to bring a little thank you gift,” he continues. “As soon as I went out I bought the dentist a can of soda for 200 pesos and bread with ham and cheese for 50.” This is a classic “in-kind” gift, but medical staff prefer cash gratitude.

In Santiago de Cuba the same story is repeated. The odyssey begins with the blood donations required by the Cuban health system to carry out the surgical intervention and does not end until the patient is recovered.

Armando had a colostomy last February. Although it was scheduled for two months before, due to lack of medical supplies, the surgery was delayed. The doctor who treated him warned his relatives that, in addition to surgical gloves, anesthesia and a nasogastric tube, they did not have the ostomy bags for the bowel movements that the patient needs for life.

Over time, and due to the intervention of medical friends, Armando was able to enter the operating room because “anesthesia appeared and the other things he needed” to be operated on, says the 67-year-old man from Santiago, specifying that he received a package from abroad with dozens of colostomy bags that he required, in addition to tape, painkillers, gloves and even cotton.

Another requirement that delayed Armando’s surgery was blood donations. He has blood group O negative and although his family got the donors, it was almost impossible for the volunteers to donate because there were no bags to collect the blood.

In the Blood Bank, located in the vicinity of the Juan Bruno Zayas General Teaching Hospital, they assigned about 20 collection bags per day and the business of selling donations prevented Armando’s case from being resolved through official channels. Once again, “a divine hand” had to intervene, the man sarcastically says, so that the medical supply would appear and he could finally go to surgery. However, a relative also sent him four bags from another country so that they could donate the blood.

But Armando is hypertensive and, after being operated on, while in a hospital room, his blood pressure went up. The sphygmometer used by all the medical rooms on the third floor of Juan Bruno Zayas was damaged and his family had to bring one from his house to measure his pressure. So he also had to do with almost all the medications because the hospital does not provide something as basic as a dipyrone (an NSAID).

Incredible as it may seem, these are the “lucky” stories in their ending. But most of the elderly in need of surgery or systematic care in Cuba have already resigned themselves to the pain and the silent degeneration of their illnesses. They are the same ones who sleep at the entrance to the island’s pharmacies, to get the antibiotic or painkiller strips that later, even if they need them, they will have to resell to earn a living.

“Public and free.” With these adjectives he defines the system of the island’s health system, increasingly dependent on bribes, “leverage” and the pockets of exiles.

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Brenda Diaz, Cuban Trans Protestor of July 11th (11J), is Imprisoned Among Men

Ana María shows the photo of her trans daughter Brenda Diaz, on 18 July 2022, in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Carlos Espinosa, Havana, 20 July 2022 — The face of the Cuban Ana María suddenly changes from total seriousness to a smile from ear to ear when the cell phone rings and she sees that Brenda is on the other end.

It is her trans daughter – an option that Cuban legislation does not contemplate – who is imprisoned in the men’s section of a prison for participating in the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.

“Hello, my life!” shouts the mother at a bus stop in Havana, dressed in a white T-shirt with the image of the 28-year-old girl emblazoned with the word “freedom.”

Brenda Díaz is serving a 14-year sentence in the prison of the Güines municipality (Mayabeque). It is a special penitentiary center — with a section for men and another for women — for people with the HIV virus, like her.

Although in prison she has never lacked her retrovirals –essential in the treatment of HIV-positive people. Ana María must bring her medications for other illnesses she suffers from, such as chronic gastritis and kidney stones, and which are not available in prison, according to what her mother said in an interview with Efe.

“Before I used to see her every 15 days, but now the (prison) directive has changed and I won’t be able to visit her until the end of the month,” Ana María complains bitterly. The last time she saw her was on July 5.

A municipal court sentenced Brenda last March for the crimes of public disorder and sabotage, according to her sentence, to which EFE had access. continue reading

Díaz was arrested along with her 16-year-old brother, Luis Manuel, who tried to prevent the arrest. The minor was released 17 days later, with a fine of 1,000 Cuban pesos.

The sentence claims that Brenda threw stones at one of the controversial foreign currency stores in her Güira de Melena municipality, entered the establishment with a group of protesters and stole a “wall fan, a pressure cooker and a box of jams.”

According to the prosecution’s indictment, Brenda – who was tried as a man and under her legal name, Freddy Luis – had the flowered dress she was wearing at the time of participating in the march confiscated.

Once in prison, she was shaved and placed in the men’s section. Her hair, which she cared for with devotion, vanished in a matter of minutes and that caused her to fall into a strong state of depression, according to her mother.

Ana María reviews the details of the case with a stoicism that is interrupted when she begins to relate that her daughter has already suffered a sexual assault in prison.

Her voice cracks with a tone that mixes anger with sadness: “Sometimes I can’t even talk about it… she’s my life. Because of her illnesses, because of everything. I still can’t get over her being locked up.”

Her daughter’s sentence is not final and on June 17 the appeals trial was held, with which Ana María hopes that the sentence can be reduced or that Brenda can serve her sentence in freedom. So far, the family has not received any notice from the court.

Until June 22, the Cuban Public Ministry had reported firm sentences against 488 11J protesters, with maximum sentences of 25 years for crimes such as sedition, public disorder, attack and contempt.

In the accusation against Brenda, the Prosecutor’s Office collects data that, for the journalist and trans activist Mel Herrera, is “re-victimizing” and “stigmatizing.” For example, in the brief it is highlighted that Díaz wore a dress, that she is HIV-positive and her gender identity is confused with a “sexual orientation.”

“The clothing had nothing to do with what was being judged. It was not a weapon, it was not conclusive evidence. That dress, by pointing it out, is simply revealing a prejudice because the State is wanting to say that that person is in disguise,” complains Herrera in a telephone interview.

In addition, in a paragraph the court highlights that before the 11J protests she was rejected by her neighbors for “engaging in disturbances of the public order,” without specifying what is meant by that.

Herrera recalls that in Cuba it is possible to change the legal name of a trans person on their identity card and also the photo, but not the gender registered at birth.

This legal vacuum allows other arrested trans people like Brenda to end up in prisons that do not correspond to their gender identity. The 2019 Cuban Constitution recognizes the principle of “non-discrimination based on gender orientation and identity.”

In addition, the country will submit the Family Code to a referendum in September, a legislative package that seeks to legalize same-sex marriage, among other issues. However, this will not include changes in legislation to facilitate gender change.

The case of Brenda “shows that although there is political will and an openness from the government, it is very difficult for this to be reflected in practice,” concludes Herrera.

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Bridge in Cuba Used as a Rice Dryer by Villa Clara Farmers Collapses

The greatest weakness of the bridge was “the need for maintenance,” admits the official press. (Radio Sagua)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2022 — The Felipe Pazos bridge, one of the communication routes between Sagua la Grande and the town of Sitiecito, in Villa Clara, Cuba, collapsed this Tuesday. The structure, declared unstable since the 1970s, presented irreparable damage and a total lack of maintenance.

According to official journalist William Surí Martínez, of the Radio Sagua station, the bridge’s greatest weakness was “the need for maintenance, every three years at a maximum, through hatches or windows created especially for that purpose.”

Built in 1956 by the firm Arellanes Mendoza, the Felipe Pazos stood on the Sagua la Grande River thanks to the Roebling system of steel tensioners, which supported the weight of the construction.

With the triumph of the Revolution, it became impossible to replace the damaged tensioners to keep the bridge in optimal conditions, so that, 20 years after its inauguration, the passage of vehicles on that road was prohibited.

The government solution was to build a parallel bridge a short distance from the Felipe Pazos, which is the route enabled to travel from Sagua la Grande to Sitiecito. According to Surí, the local farmers used the original bridge as a drying platform for rice and corn grains.

The collapse of the Felipe Pazos did not involve the loss of human lives, but it shows the irresponsibility of the continue reading

government and the clumsiness of the Cuban constructive bureaucracy. Covered by vegetation, the images do not allow us to confirm that the Felipe Pazos was an expensive structure of considerable size, with a very innovative design for the interior of Cuba.

Neglect has led to the collapse of other bridges in recent years, especially in hurricane and storm season. Hurricane Mathew, in 2016, destroyed the colossal bridge over the Toa River, in the province of Guantánamo. Its reconstruction took almost two years, for which aid was requested in the form of materials from Venezuela.

The residents of Mayabeque saw the collapse in 2021, due to the impact of the rains, of the bridge that gave access to the neighborhood of El Matadero, in the municipality of Madruga. The same thing happened this year, during the heavy rains of June, when an iron structure perished in the vicinity of the old La Polar factory in Havana.

A flood in 2018 also caused the collapse of a bridge in Zaza del Medio, Sancti Spíritus, which some people on the bridge at the time barely escaped.

The El Triunfo bridge , the most emblematic of Sagua la Grande, is another one that is in danger of collapsing. It was built in 1905 to commemorate the passage of the mambisa troops to the city and restored in the 1940s; since 1980 the Government has been studying its demolition.

Despite having been declared a National Monument, the case of El Triunfo repeats the same pattern of neglect by the authorities, as also happens in other heritage bridges in Matanzas or Havana.

On this bridge, the official encyclopedia Ecured assures that “lovers slowly cross its sidewalks because from no other place do they feel such a sense of belonging to the city.” However, the Sagüeros have another opinion: walking carefully is the only way to delay the fall of El Triunfo, at least until the next cyclone.

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In Cuba There is Not Even Enough Sugar Cane to Make Guarapo

Guarapera on Infanta and Carlos III, in Havana, completely closed this Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 July 2022 — The debacle of Cuba’s sugar sector, which recorded catastrophic harvests in the last two years, is affecting an entire cultural tradition in Cuba: the guaraperas, selling guarapo — sugar cane juice.

Instead of guarapo this Friday, they sold mango juice at the premises of Neptuno, between Belascoaín and Lucena, Central Havana. “There is not even a little piece of cane to grind,” the employee told a customer who went in to cool off in the middle of the hot morning in the capital. “The harvest hasn’t even given enough to tie a goat,” the man commented ironically, having to settle for mango juice and complained that it was acidic.

Not far from there, the guarapera located on Infanta and Carlos III, one of the ones that sells the most products in the capital, dispatching it even in bottles, is completely closed. An old woman who came to quench her thirst, turned around, disappointed: “This Revolution gives neither sugar, nor water, nor ice nor shame.”

Traditionally, guarapo has been a drink to quench thirst in the midst of high Cuban temperatures. Served with plenty of ice, it helps to cool one down, in addition to providing enough energy to continue on the road. However, it is also a fragile liquid, which quickly becomes acidic and must be consumed as soon as the cane is ground.

Guaraperas were very frequent in Havana, but in recent years they have disappeared and, currently, there are only a few scattered throughout the city. Given its rapid deterioration, the guarapo is not sold on an itinerant basis nor is it stored in cans or bottles. Although in other countries it has been preserved in containers, in Cuba it is still an ephemeral drink. continue reading

Therefore, going to a guarapera was, in addition to a necessity to relieve the heatwave, a cultural experience: the press crushing the cane, the liquid between yellow and milky coming out of the stalks, the fragments of ice served loudly in the glasses that were then filled with a sparkling and sweet drink. The first sip was like an energetic jolt that ran through the body.

The first blow to the guaraperas was a matter of hygiene, with the lack of detergent to wash the glasses. Then, the supply of ice and, later, the cane began to diminish. The blackouts have given the final blow to many of these places that need electricity for the cane presses. At the counters where a few years ago impatient customers waited while they watched the guarapo flow from the grinding mill, now there are only flies and silence left.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Exceeds One Hundred Daily Cases of Covid for the First Time in Two Months

Health authorities warned ten days ago about a slight increase in Covid cases due to the subvariant BA.5. (14ymedio)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 23 July 2022 — Cuba exceeded one hundred daily cases of Covid-19 on Saturday for the first time in more than two months, confirming 114 new infections.

The last time the Ministry of Public Health registered more than 100 new positives in one day was on May 14, when it reported 103 infected.

Then, the number of people newly infected with SARS-Cov-2 began to fall for several consecutive days, and deaths were not reported.

The total number of PCR tests has also decreased, accounting for about 2,509 daily, according to official statistics.

“As of the end of yesterday, July 22, a total of 714 patients were admitted, 290 suspected cases and 424 active confirmed,” the Ministry of Health said on Saturday in its daily report on Covid.

Health authorities warned ten days ago about a slight increase in cases due to the circulation in the country of the subvariant BA.5 of the Omicron variant of the virus.

They assure that they maintain “control” of the disease, due to the high rates of vaccination with their own anti-Covid 19 formulas that reach almost 98% of the population considered “vaccinable.”

Havana and Matanzas lead the regions of the country with the most reported cases, although they don’t reach one hundred or the levels of last summer, when they exceeded a thousand.

On the other hand, this Saturday the World Health Organization declared an international emergency, due to the current outbreak of monkeypox, after some 16,000 cases have already been reported in 75 countries, many of them in Europe, where the disease was not endemic. Of the total, only five people with the disease have died. continue reading

The decision was announced at a press conference by the Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, two days after an emergency committee with experts in this disease met to discuss the possible declaration, which will oblige national health networks to increase their preventive measures.

The committee had chosen not to declare the emergency at a first meeting held in June (when cases were at 3,000), and on this occasion, according to Tedros, there was also no total consensus among the experts, but the director general decided to declare the emergency in view of the high and growing number of cases in various regions around the world. At the moment, Cuba has not registered any cases of monkeypox.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Tourism in Cuba in the First Half of 2022: From Information Manipulation to the Reality and the Inflation that is Causing Harm

In the middle of the week, calm reigned on the beaches of Varadero, which see the presence of Cuban tourists on Saturdays and Sundays. (Roma Díaz)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 21 July 2022 — In the first six months of 2022, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information [ONEI], a total of 987,008 travelers arrived in Cuba, representing an increase of 557.3% over the same period in 2021, which is equivalent to 809,808 more travelers. Of these, there have been 682,411 international visitors, and they represent 596.3% compared to the same period last year. That is, 567,972 more international visitors than in the first half of 2021.

These data indicate that the Cuban tourism sector is growing and that it’s doing so at an important rate, multiplying by five the figures of the previous year. But once again you have to look at the information manipulation campaigns of the communist regime, and in this case, one can only question the data that, triumphantly, the leaders are offering.

And for four reasons.

First, because despite the dynamism that tourism is experiencing worldwide, the results of the last normal year before the pandemic, which was 2019, are still not achieved in Cuba. That year, at the end of the first semester, 2,561,719 visitors had arrived in Cuba, about three times more than this year, 2022, which, although it has improved compared to 2021, was a year of border closures until November, as a result of COVID-19 infections.

Therefore, it’s advisable to be cautious with the figures. The level of tourist activity in these first six months of 2022 barely reaches 27% of the 2019 figure, and that year 4.2 million tourists arrived during the year. The data for 2022 are still not good, and manipulation campaigns have to be considered, even more so when weak months are now coming for Caribbean tourism that coincide with the summer and the hurricane season. Once again, we will have to wait until November to see if the miracle takes place.

Second, because there are significant changes in the composition of tourism. In fact, the arrival of Canadians is activated and already accounts for 31.3% of the total, with 214,122 visitors (six points more than in 2019, for example). But it should be borne in mind that the second block is made up of the Cuban community abroad, which with 151,008 visitors, already accounts for more than a quarter of the total (ten points more than in 2019). And in third place, the United States, which with 40,600 is ahead of the Russians. continue reading

Leaders should be aware of this data and be careful when disqualifying and attacking their northern neighbor because they can affect demand preferences. Despite the “embargo/blockade,” tourists from the United States to Cuba outperform those from any European country.

Meanwhile, tourists from the markets of the old continent, despite the rise of traditional powers such as Spain, France or Italy, don’t show special interest in coming to Cuba, or they register growth much below the average, which, in the specific case of the Russians, confirms that the measures of the international community are taking effect.  Only 37,654 Russian tourists arrived in Cuba in the first half of the year.

Third, because other competitive destinations in the Caribbean have been launched so far this year, leaving Cuba far behind in the process of recovering tourism after the pandemic. This is the case of the Dominican Republic, which in the first five months of this year received a spectacular figure of 2,396,864 tourists out of a total of 3,000,000 passengers.

The results of this Caribbean destination once again leave Cuba far behind, almost 71% below, which shows considerable difficulty in growing tourism. Other destinations such as Cancun or Costa Rica also show positive data, which may indicate that Cuba’s tourism policy is not adequate and that it should be reviewed.

Fourth, because the results of this first quarter move the economy away from the objectives of the plan for 2022. And we can’t forget the almost sick relevance that Cuban communists attach to their plan for the economy, which is usually rarely fulfilled. If the results of these six months were doubled, tourism in Cuba at the end of the year would not exceed 1.3 million visitors, a figure that is far removed from the communist regime’s goal of 2.5 million, almost by half.

No. Tourism is not going well in Cuba in 2022. Growth is insufficient to overcome the crisis and has nothing to do with what is happening in other countries in the area that have been able to mobilize their market. The worst thing is that the Cuban private sector, linked to tourism, loses growth opportunities and remains stagnant, waiting for the situation to improve. And now there is inflation.

The inflation of the CPI, for example, of the “Restaurants and Hotels” component directly related to tourism, has confirmed the growing loss of competitiveness of the sector. The prices of this component until May increased by 24.61% year-on-year, two tenths less than the average of 26%. Rising inflation reduces the attractiveness of Cuban tourism and reduces demand. It’s a serious problem that the authorities don’t know how to solve.

The authorities have invested too much in the construction of hotels, and now when it comes time to occupy them, they find that other destinations in the area are more competitive in price because they have been able to tackle inflation with effective measures. Suddenly, in addition, they see that the euro and the dollar are on parity, and any possible attraction of European tourists is dismantled. The Cuban communist leaders have no idea how an economy is run, but they won’t accept this, and their obsession with intervening, planning and controlling economic activity has led to disaster. Likewise, for purposes of manipulation, it’s not good to give figures that are fake. Cuban tourism is a good example of this.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Architect Criticizes ‘Pretentiously Gigantic’ Tower K Hotel

The building under construction at K and 23rd streets, which promises to be the tallest in Havana, has become the target of criticism by design professionals.(14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, July 20, 2022 — A building under construction at K and 23rd streets, which promises to be the tallest in Havana, has become the target of criticism by design professionals. The latest to take aim at “Tower K,” popularly known as “Lopez-Calleja Tower,” is Edelberto Diaz Aguilera, a Panama-based Cuban architect. The project is being developed by Gaesa, a hospitality conglomerate operated by the Cuban military under the leadership, until his recent death, of Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, Raul Castro’s former son-in-law.

In an extensive article entitled “Vertigo-Inducing Follies” Diaz Aguilera unpacks what he sees as “mistakes” in the building, which bears some resemblance to Forma Towers, a Toronto highrise development designed by famed architect Frank Gehry.

Diaz Aguilera begins his critique by noting that it does address “the issue of lavish investments in the Cuban hotel sector” which ignore “the growing needs of the people,” a reference to another critique posted a month ago by fellow architect Rafael Muñoz. That piece caused such a stir that the government-controlled press felt compelled to defend the project.

In his post Muñoz expressed concerns about surface irregularities in the building’s recently poured concrete and safety measures to protect workers and pedestrians at this iconic El Vedado site, a stone’s throw from La Rampa, the Habana Libre hotel and the Coppelia ice cream parlor.

“It seems his warnings were not well received and, surprisingly, were interpreted as an act of dissent, which these days is a mortal sin on the Island,” says Diaz Aguilera about the official response to Muñoz’s post. “Let’s hope that, after guests on the hotel’s upper floors get their bill, they don’t ask for binoculars to see Key West considering how much money the island’s officials sank into this project.” Diaz Aguilera’s sardonic comment echoes an anecdote about Spain’s King Carlos III. When told how much it cost to build Havana’s 18th-century La Cabaña fortress, the king was reported to have said, “At that price, we should be be able to see Asturias.” continue reading

The building bears some resemblance to Toronto’s Forma Towers, a project designed by famed architect Frank Gehry.

The ironic quip obliquely makes an important point: the future hotel is facing the wrong direction. Unlike the neighboring Habana Libre, it will not provide views to the north, “the best orientation for the bedrooms” if the goal is to avoid exposure to “the Caribbean sun and the huge amount of energy and money that will be needed to cool them.”

Similarly, Diaz Aguilera takes issue with the choice of insulated glass for the facade. Unless the material is non-reflective, he observes, it “will dazzle the eyes of drivers and pedestrians alike, which might be an intentional effort to produce the glare that one might expect from such a pretentiously gigantic and vainglorious project.”

He also notes that name of the building’s designer remains unknown. “We do not know if [the architect] is domestic or foreign. What is clear is that the architectural strategies employed in the city’s other tall buildings, such as overhangs to shield interiors from direct sunlight, have been ignored.” The approach adopted at Tower K, he says, is more typical of Toronto, “where the sun’s rays are allowed to enter a building to help heat the interior.”

He predicts this “tropical monster” will require powerful cooling systems, which will undoubtedly require large amounts of electricity, “all very sustainable but very much something our professors taught us not to do.”

Even more intrepid and cynical, Diaz Aguilera says, is the decision “to import curtain walls, powerful air conditioning systems and cutting-edge materials at a time when, as government rhetoric repeatedly maintains, the island is suffering under ’a cruel blockade,’ further increasing costs.” It amounts, he argues, to a questionable bet on an industry which has not seen occupancy rates rise above 30% for the last five years.

The architect also raises the issue of the building’s foundations. The cavernous rock on which the structure will sit caused problems during the construction of the Havana Hilton (now the Havana Libre) in the 1950s. “What considerations did they give to the foundations of the tallest building in Havana?. . . How do these costs compare to those of conventional construction?” Diaz Aguilera asks rhetorically.

After observations on the project’s all too predictable cost overruns and a critique that the project represents an attack on “the urban fabric of a city that should be preserved,”  the architect concludes, “Regardless of where the money for this tower might have come from, whoever might have championed it, whatever political faction might have approved it and whatever reasons might be used to justify it, it does not have, nor will it ever have, my personal approval.”

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The Arm Over the Shoulder, the Metastasis of Power in Cuba

In the ranks of the PCC and the UJC, opacity, mediocrity and the absence of authentic leadership reign. It would be enough to look at the character who has been placed at the top of the visible pyramid: the first secretary, Díaz-Canel. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 19 July 2022 — For millions of Cubans it is clear that sovereignty does not reside in the people, but in the Communist Party. We could even say that Article 5 of the Constitution is the Platt Amendment of our times, although in this case it is not a simple removable appendix, but a tumor embedded in the body of the nation.

Article 5 establishes that the single party is the superior force of society and of the State. Any initiative, proposal, idea or solution that opposes this totalitarian power is automatically branded traitorous or anti-Cuban. The main enemy of Cuban authoritarianism ceased to be external a long time ago. Today, all the cannons of the regime are aimed against its own citizens.

Even in supposedly cultural organizations the omnipresence of the Party is confirmed. The statutes of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, from the second article, establish their full obedience to the PCC. And the same thing happens, although with an even more fundamentalist tone, with the Hermanos Saíz Association(AHS). Its statutes read: “The AHS recognizes the political direction of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and the Union of Young Communists (UJC), the leading organization of the Cuban youth movement. For what is established as a principle, the strongest will of all its members in defense of the ideals of the Cuban Revolution.”

It is clear why both organizations turned their backs on their own members after the 27N (27 November 2020) and 11J (11 July 2021) protests. It is more than evident that this is not about civil society organizations that promote the creations of their artists, but crude control mechanisms by the State to monitor and control the guild related to culture.

It is difficult to understand the magnitude of ridicule when one is immersed in that broth of indoctrination and propaganda that normalizes the absurd. But it is unthinkable that, in democratic societies, a cultural association would have to swear allegiance in its statutes to a political party in order to exist.

Nor can Cuban citizens cannot freely choose their representatives, rather these are carefully selected by the Candidacy Commissions, which in turn are controlled by the Party and State Security. The Platform Otro18 [Another2018] convincingly demonstrated how the political police operate to prevent opposition candidates from running as delegates in their constituencies. continue reading

On the other hand, the cadre policy of the single party is designed so that it is not the most capable who climb the rungs, but the most obedient. In the ranks of the PCC and the UJC, opacity, mediocrity and the absence of authentic leadership reign. It would be enough to look at the character who has been placed at the top of the visible pyramid: the first secretary, Díaz-Canel. If this individual was the best choice of the dictator Raúl Castro to occupy his position, we can already imagine what the rest of the troops were like.

It seems that in the Ñico López (Higher School of the PCC) they are in charge of annulling individualities. When listening to the president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power, José Ramón Cabrera, speaking after the protests in Los Palacios, you feel you are facing a pioneer news presenter. Most of these “cadres” or “community factors” have the same gestures, emphasize the same words, are trained in the most simplistic demagoguery: that of placing an arm on the shoulder of the dissatisfied, without offering any concrete solution, just justifications.

The Party’s cadre policy cannot be fixed, because its architects do not tolerate competition. Its victims are chosen from an early age, and the casting takes place in school assemblies. From there, the young cadres begin a career of self-nullification. The continuous, endless and useless meetings will prevent them from frequently attending classes, but their absences will be justified. They will never be able to perform as a good professional sin their field, because the “Revolution” takes up all of their time.

Thus we have Pedro Jorge Velázquez, a young promise of official propaganda. The young man promotes himself as the super “cool and sexy” journalist, although in reality he is a student without many lights, repeating, with an exaggerated need to be taken into account by the nomenclature, but with very poor professional results. And the height of that policy is the “president” himself. The paradox of Díaz-Canel is his being nothing less than an electrical engineer, while under his mandate Cuban is suffering the worst energy situation in the last 30 years.

The only party is a tumor that has already metastasized.

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My Hometown Cuban Vacation in Sancti Spiritus Turned Into an Ordeal

When I got to the bus station to return to Havana, the place was completely dark. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 July 2022 — I could not postpone my trip to the city of Sancti Spíritus any longer. After several months without visiting my family, I prepared everything to arrive in the second half of July and spend a few days with my relatives in the center of the island. I thought I could escape the daily problems that plague Havana, but there I ran into long blackouts , a food shortage more brutal than in the capital, and a population about to explode with indignation.

The first day everyone told me “they haven’t turned off the power yet, you got lucky” and I watched the light bulb in the kitchen to see when it went dark. The first night I was able to sleep with a fan, a privilege that the residents of Sancti Spiritus had already forgotten after so many early mornings fanning themselves or trying to capture some breeze at the front door of the house. But that “sweet welcome” soon turned into an ordeal.

During my second day the blackouts came and as soon as evening fell a cloud of mosquitoes came upon us. You couldn’t stay in the rooms because of the heat, but leaving the house was an absolute guarantee of facing the dawn full of welts all over your body. Among my relatives, several had their skin full of bites and at least one of them also had symptoms of being infected with dengue fever.

At night the neighborhoods remained dark for long hours, inside a few houses the glow of a rechargeable lamp could be seen that barely lasted a short while before leaving those families in the shadows as well. Taking advantage of the darkness, people shouted “Patria y Vida” [Homeland and Life] but nothing happened, because not even the police dared to enter those streets that looked like the mouth of a wolf. continue reading

Everyone I came across seemed to be on edge from not being able to sleep. Many families in the neighborhood where I was did not send their children to school after an early morning without electricity. Others remain silent and do not protest because they make a living from some illegal business and do not want to draw attention to themselves, but no one knows how long that mask will last in the conditions that the people of Sancti Spiritus are experiencing right now.

“Our bread dough spoiled,” an employee at a state bakery told me. “We have been adding cassava to it, because that is what they told us to do, but since we don’t have electricity to work with, it gets in a bad state due to the long hours of waiting.” After describing the situation and, when I thought that she was going to talk about the fact that they had had to discard the raw material, the woman added: “but the same dough will come out as today’s bread.”

Although I had some beautiful moments with my relatives, deep down I was also counting down the days to return to Havana. I never thought I would miss my neighborhood so much with its sewage, its long line in front of the pharmacy and its noisy nights. The two times I bought a small portion of pork I had to pay more than 2,000 pesos. In the end, I spent more than five times that amount on my visits to the farmer’s market and buying a few bags of bread from a private vendor. When leaving, I left a bottle of mosquito repellent that I had brought, because not even that can be obtained in a city that was once prosperous and with an intense commercial atmosphere.

This Tuesday, when I arrived at the bus station to return to Havana, the place was completely dark, there was not even a rechargeable lamp to ensure that passengers could move smoothly around the room. I grabbed only my luggage tightly and held it close until I got on the bus. Inside the vehicle, the air conditioning was at a minimum “because the situation is on fire,” the driver responded to customer complaints.

During the minutes that it took us to leave the city, only a few lights could be seen through the window, the rest was completely dark. Everyone on the bus was silent, trying to detect through the glass some indication that Sancti Spíritus was still an inhabited place, alive.

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Cuban Government Hides the Origins of 20 Million in Foreign Investment Approved This Year

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, Rodrigo Malmierca. (EFE/File)

14ymedio bigger EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 21 July 2022 — In the first half of this year, Cuba approved nine businesses with foreign capital for an amount of some 20 million dollars, according to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, who spoke in a meeting with parliamentarians on Wednesday. Without giving details about the companies, their countries of origin and their exact activity, the official said that there are 57 projects under negotiation that have the conditions to materialize for a committed investment capital of almost 5 billion dollars, which could be produced within a year.

The nine businesses that received the green light from the Cuban government from January to June belong to “priority” sectors, said the minister, such as food production, mining, industry, wholesale trade, construction, information technology, telecommunications and biotechnology.

Most of these businesses “are small” and one of them appears on the list of those approved in the strategic Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), Malmierca reported to the Economic Affairs Commission of the National Assembly of People’s Power in a meeting prior to the plenary session in the coming days.

The minister explained that the Island is updating foreign investment policies in an effort to eliminate “obstacles” that limit access to foreign financing, which he described as “vital” for the performance of the economy. continue reading

Currently those who are committed to investing in Cuba “do so at risk,” but he considered that there are businesses that are “very important” and for which it is possible to support partners.

Likewise, he pointed out that the inclusion of projects with low investment amounts within Cuba’s portfolio of opportunities is one of the lines of action on which they are working.

He also advanced that aspects related to the participation of foreign capital in private businesses are in the process of being defined, where some experiences could begin soon, and added that he considered the possibility of foreign investment participating in wholesale and retail trade in the country.

Last December, Malmierca acknowledged that despite the actions carried out, “the desired results” had not been achieved in the application of the law on foreign investment that has been in force since 2014.

It was then learned that during 2020 and 2021 only 47 new businesses had been approved, and that only 25 of them had been established.

At the end of last year, 285 new businesses had been approved on the island, 49 of them in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and 29 reinvestments.

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After Three Months of Crossing, Two Doctors Harassed by the Cuban Regime Arrive in the United States

Cuban doctors Alexander Pupo Casas and Alexander Jesús Figueredo Izaguirre. (Facebook/Dr. Alexander Raúl)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 21 July 2022 — “Family, we are now in the United States.” With that phrase Cuban doctors Alexander Pupo and Alexander Jesús Figueredo reported on Thursday through Facebook that their three-month journey had ended. The doctors were forced to leave the island after being harassed by the regime.

“I am free, and soon my Cuba will be to take care of my people again,” Figueredo said. He clarified that his arrival in the United States was due to the fact that he “has been fleeing the Cuban nightmare” and was not in search of the American dream.

“[I brought] with me a bag of dreams that I never achieved on the island, some papers, a cell phone and my medical stamp, with which I once treated thousands of patients,” explained the health worker, who lost his job due to his confrontational stance against the Government. “There’s nothing here for me,  but I will remember that one day I was #108356.”

According to figures from the Customs and Border Protection Department, in the past nine months, 157,339 Cubans arrived by land in the United States. Of these, 16,170 requested political refuge in June alone.

Just on July 7, Pupo announced the dangers and insecurity faced by migrants on their journey to reach the United States. “Guatemala has been a total hell,” the doctor said in a video he posted on his Facebook account. “We had to hide from the police again,” he said as a group was watched hiding behind in the undergrowth. continue reading

Pupo reiterated that “in Guatemala, an immigrant lives with fear always present. The police mainly pursue Cuban emigrants to extort them.”

The health worker said on that occasion that “the coyotes were bad” and, because they didn’t pay the bribe to the officers, the group with which they were traveling had to go into the mountains.

“We’ve practically had to become soldiers  in here: jumping fences, hiding and trying to evade all the dangers among the pica pica* bushes,” the doctor explained. “It seems that the shocks are never going to end.”

Pupo recalled that from Nicaragua, his journey to reach the United States had been one complication after another. “Unbelievable what we have experienced in these last few hours: going hungry and in need… I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone.”

Before this publication, Pupo had confessed to 14ymedio that they had the most difficult emigration: without visas, without the support of diplomats, practically without money. “And there were those who said that we were financed, that we were well paid by the CIA,” he added ironically.

*Translator’s note: Source: The scientific name for Pica pica is Mucuna. The course hairs on the pods contain the proteolytic enzyme mucunain which cause the itch and sometimes blisters. 

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Subjected to Animal Behavior While Waiting in Line

A fight in a line while waiting to buy food in Managua, Arroyo Naranjo, where pregnant Ayamey González Valdés, dressed in blue, can be observed (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2022 — Rumors started to spread, as has happened in recent months in Cuba, from some images published on social networks on Saturday. According to word of mouth, a pregnant woman miscarried her baby after a beating in a dispute between citizens and police in Managua, in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo.

The next day, official accounts and pages related to the regime rushed to deny the falsehood: the woman had not had a miscarriage and she was in good health. In a video shared by the official Mauro Torres, it is observed, in effect, how the pregnant woman, identified as Ayamey González Valdés, faints after a violent argument between several people. Later, the Police squad carried her out in their arms.

What those sources in support of the Cuban government did not say is, on the one hand, that the agents, after getting into a fight in a food line, ceaselessly beat several young people that were present. On the other hand, they also ignore the real drama: a system that reduces its people to behave in an almost animalistic way in order to buy food.

The regime prefers to put on a brave face for having “saved” the pregnant woman. Ayamey González Valdés, according to the Municipal Health Directorate of Arroyo Naranjo Twitter account, “was evaluated at the Enrique Cabrera Hospital. An ultrasound was performed, the fetus has good vitality, with a normal heartbeat and the mother’s placenta is intact. While she was being examined, her mother arrived, who was able to listen to the heartbeat of her future grandson’s heart.”

Depending on the sensitivity of the product being sold and how long the people have been waiting for it to become available, some clashes can be more aggressive

La cola* [the line], one of the oldest Cuban institutions linked to the chronic shortages the island has experienced for decades, has been transforming in recent years. The pandemic moved many of these lines away from stores’ main entrance, as a strategy to have more control over customer access, but the end of many health restrictions did not end this practice. continue reading

Now, the lines to buy food continue to form several yards away from the store, in a park, a square or a street, where consumers organize themselves and wait for hours until they are called, in groups of five or ten, to enter the store. This distance fuels suspicions of mismanagement by employees and is also used by those who do not want to wait so long and try to sneak in.

The fights are so frequent that many believe that there is no Cuban line without anger or shoving. Depending on the sensitivity of the product being sold and how long the people have been waiting for it to become available, some clashes can be more aggressive. Lines for frozen chicken, vegetable oil and baby diapers are among the busiest, but punches and bumps can also happen as dozens of people wait to buy hot dogs or bath soap.

No one knows for sure how much time the average Cuban spends standing in lines each week, but as the crisis has deepened, leisure time has become shorter. If the nights belonged to the family in the past, for watching television or going on a recreational outing, now many families start to prepare from the night before to start to form a line that might allow them to buy food the next day.

*Translator’s note: La cola literally translates as “the tail,” refers to a line.

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