14ymedio – Page 195 – Translating 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, 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)

EFE (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, 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, 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)

EFE (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, 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, 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, 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, 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)

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, 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, 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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The U.S. Congress Refuses to Let Cuba Purchase Food on Credit

In 2021, the United States doubled its chicken exports to Cuba, which amounted to 253 million dollars. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 July 2022 — On Wednesday, the United States Congress rejected, by 260 votes to 163, an amendment presented by Democratic legislator Rashida Tlaib that proposed expanding agricultural trade with Cuba and authorizing deferred payment for a year.

Republican Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart celebrated the defeat of the measure and said that he won’t support initiatives that seek to make unilateral concessions to the Cuban government, which he called a “brutal and anti-American regime.” He added that while “hundreds of political prisoners are still in prison, we cannot reduce the pressure on a regime that uses its income to further oppress the Cuban people.”

Last Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House of the United States issued a statement explaining Amendment 137, which aimed to facilitate the export of food and agricultural products to the island.

In the statement, Congressmen Gregory Meeks and Jim McGovern supported the amendment. “This common sense legislation, which has been supported by both sides and by agricultural groups throughout the country for more than a decade, would create thousands of agricultural jobs in the United States while providing desperately needed food at a lower cost to the Cuban people.”

Both legislators argued that the economic crisis facing the island is what forces thousands of Cubans to stand in line for food and leave for the southern border of the United States. “This amendment would help alleviate the economic burden by suspending U.S. agricultural export regulations and extending credit to Cuban food buyers for a year.”

However, they didn’t explain that food and medicine are exempt from the U.S. embargo. Among the demands is that Cuba has to pay in cash up front, an anomaly in the international context, but one which hasn’t prevented tons of food from arriving monthly on the island. continue reading

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated that the U.S. doubled its chicken exports to Cuba, which amounted to $253 million.

Last April, a group of U.S. farmers participated in the Third Agricultural Conference in Havana, where they discussed the possibility of increasing trade and selling, in addition to chicken, wheat, corn, beans, milk and beer, but affirmed that the embargo was an obstacle.

After the conference, the Cuban side claimed the right to export to raise money and buy other products that cannot be produced on the island. “We don’t want them to give us anything. We want the possibility to buy and sell,” said the cooperative member, Abelardo Alvarez.

According to data from the United States Congressional Research Service, before 1959 Cuba was the ninth country in the export market for U.S. agricultural products, while today it is below 50th. In addition, the island also sold products to its northern neighbor.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture of the United States maintains that without the embargo, exchanges would be around $1 billion per year, compared to the current $250 million.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cuban Deputy Regrets That All Hotel Stores Accept Payment Only in Hard Currency

Hotel Grand Aston Havana, built in 2022 by Gaesa on the Malecón. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 July 2022 — Cuba’s Minister of Tourism is sticking to his forecast and maintains once again that the target of 2.5 million foreign travelers will be met this year. Although in the first six months of the year, the island received only 682,297, the Cuban authorities are determined that geometric progression cannot be applied and that, since growth has been exponential in recent months, the goal will be achieved.

“For the July-October period, 1,105,000 visitors are expected to arrive,” said Juan Carlos García Granda, head of the branch, on Wednesday at the meeting of the Commission for Attention to Services, where parliamentarians analyze the different sectors as a preliminary step to the ninth ordinary session of the National Assembly of People’s Power.

Despite optimism, the meeting brought to light some problems in the tourism sector, on which the Cuban Government has placed all its hope for the future.

“The most important problems are road signs, currency exchange and car rental. In some places there was dissatisfaction with hygiene in the municipalities and with the infrastructure of roads, buildings and cities,” said García Granda, who also admitted that transport and workers’ uniforms are scarce.

The worst thing, however, is the lack of variety in food and drink, something that occurs every day in the daily life of citizens but that, in the case of tourism, should be on the fast track by extending contracts that would “favor the acquisition of resources.”

In the middle of the session, a deputy, José Castañeda, drew attention to the serious disadvantage that in hotels all stores accept only freely convertible currency (MLC), “which is a problem with the national market.” continue reading

García Granda placed the rooms on the island at 78,862, with Havana, Matanzas and Villa Clara in the lead. The minister said that travelers value the destination Cuba despite all the inconveniences, suggesting that the investment seems appropriate to him, but contrary to what it may seem, it is still little.

“In this year, 1,049 rooms have been recovered out of the 5,167 planned until December,” added the official, who estimated the number of rooms that are not in order at 13.2%, even though during the wide stoppage of the pandemic an investment plan was implemented to update the situation.

The perception of Cubans, even among those closest to the ruling party, theorized by different economists, is that the Cuban authorities are investing wildly in hotel facilities and tourism while the country falls apart. However, García Granda categorically said at Wednesday’s meeting that the pace is proportional since, even, “the growth of tourists has always been higher than that of rooms since the 1990s.”

When calculating, the minister chose 2019 compared to 1990, and stated that the growth of visitors was 9.1%, while that of rooms was 4.9%. In 2022, the Cuban economist Pedro Monreal argued that even if the long-awaited 2.5 million international visitors were reached, there would be a little more than half of Cuba’s hotel rooms left over. “69 tourists rotating per room in 2018 compared to 32 in 2022. It would seem rational to adopt a ’pause’ in hotel investment. There are other priorities,” he said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Honduras and Cuba Sign a Memorandum to Strengthen Their Bilateral Relationship

The Honduran diplomat pointed out that the memorandum of understanding will serve for the peoples of Honduras and Cuba to persevere in strengthening ties of closeness and solidarity. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Tegucigalpa, 19 July 2022 — The Governments of Honduras and Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations, an official source reported on Monday in Tegucigalpa.

The memorandum was signed on Sunday by the Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eduardo Enrique Reina, and the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Strategic Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, along with the Cuban ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Juan Roberto Loforte, the Presidential House said in a statement.

“This memorandum opens up to us the possibility of going through new paths of collaboration in science and technology, literacy programs and scholarship exchange, among others,” Reina said.

“Cuba has a lot to teach in the field of health and public education, because it has obtained universally recognized achievements in these fields, and I hope that this valuable acquisition will be a fundamental ingredient in this new stage that begins,” he added.

The Honduran diplomat pointed out that the memorandum of understanding will serve for the peoples of Honduras and Cuba to persevere in strengthening ties of closeness and solidarity, as well as mutual understanding, the statement adds.

Reina also expressed the solidarity of the Honduran Government, chaired by Xiomara Castro, in the face of the economic blockade “of which the island has been a victim,” in addition to “continuing to raise its voice to condemn interference and intervention in the self-determination of the Cuban people and in the internal affairs of Havana.” continue reading

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Strategic Investment indicated that the signing of the memorandum “represents the rebirth and strengthening of the bonds of brotherhood, solidarity and cooperation between Honduras and Cuba.”

Malmierca recalled that his country has supported the people of Honduras in areas such as health and education through medical brigades and literacy campaigns.

“Nothing says more about solidarity and friendship between our peoples than the presence of our Cuban doctors in Honduras,” he said.

The senior Cuban official said that the program of cooperation in health matters between the two countries was “truncated by the coup d’état” of June 28, 2009 against the then-president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, who is now an advisor to Xiomara Castro, his wife.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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