Cuba’s General Controller Is Dismissed, and a Hard Hand Is Requested Against ‘The Scoundrels and the Bums’

President Díaz-Canel says that private businesses in Cuba “do not have” the Government’s confidence

Bejerano said last May that the Alejandro Gil case felt like a “betrayal” /EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 20, 2024 — The General Controller of Cuba, Gladys Bejerano, in office for 14 years, was removed from her position, as confirmed by Miguel Díaz-Canel this Friday. The president, defending a policy of “severity,” unexpectedly announced the dismissal in a brief speech in Parliament, which held its ordinary session this week.

Díaz-Canel stated that, after an “analysis” by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, the change was determined as part of the “normal process of renewal of the cadres,” a euphemism to which the regime resorts when it removes a high official. In addition, the appointment of Mirian Barbán González, 48, until now the first Vice Comptroller General, as the replacement for Bejerano, 78, was approved.

“Her ethical and revolutionary behavior is an example of a communist militant for everyone,” Díaz-Canel said about Bejerano. The change takes place in the middle of a government campaign against corruption, whose most public and controversial chapter was that of the former head of Economy, Alejandro Gil, dismissed in February and whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

About Gil, Bejerano said last May in an interview with EFE, that the case felt like a “betrayal” and that the deep economic crisis in which the Island is immersed has increased corruption, because “there is a greater need” and a shortage of “everything,” although this “is not a justification.” continue reading

In recent months there has also been an unusual number of changes of senior political positions in the country

Gladys Bejerano is the last high official to be removed so far this year. In May, the Council of State of Cuba dismissed Ricardo Cabrisas as Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, although he kept his position as deputy prime minister. With Cabrisas, there are now six ministers removed so far in 2024.

In recent months there have been an unusual number of changes of high political positions in the country, which add up to a dozen governors, deputy governors and first provincial secretaries of the Party. In most cases, the reasons for these dismissals have not been disseminated.

During his speech this Friday, Díaz-Canel also said that “many” of the more than 11,000 MSMEs legalized on the island since 2021 “did not respond to the trust of the State” and that, in this case, “law and order” will prevail. The president criticized private businesses, which have not had “the transparency that the population demands.”

The word “vagos” [bums], which continues to gain ground in the speech of the regime, was also recurrent in the president’s speech. “Zero tolerance for those who take advantage of economic difficulties to enrich themselves without contributing! Zero tolerance for the indolent, the scoundrels and the bums!” he said, a phrase that the social networks of the Presidency have turned into a slogan.

Díaz-Canel, like the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, spoke viciously about the MSMEs during the sessions of Parliament. He stressed that the Government will act against “lack of control, illegalities, tax evasion, speculation and fraud, wherever they come from.” Similarly, he clarified that these actions do not mean “a witch hunt against private businesses,” an expression that he has repeated several times during the meetings.

Marrero stated that the State has lost control of 2 billion dollars that is circulating in irregular activities

Last Wednesday, Marrero stated that the State has lost control of 2 billion dollars that is circulating in irregular activities, such as the connection between the private sector and the informal foreign exchange market, which individuals access to be able to import their products. In this regard, Díaz-Canel denounced that “a good part” of the small private companies “have been dedicated to the commercialization of imported products, which, although they solve some immediate shortages for the citizenry, do not contribute to the development of the country.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Regime Acknowledges That Cuba Has Fewer Than 10 million Inhabitants

According to data from ONEI, as of December 31, 2023, 1,249,733 Cubans were outside the country

Archive image of the streets of central Bejucal, in the province of Mayabeque / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, July 19, 2024 — The Cuban Government acknowledged this Friday that the country has fewer than 10 million inhabitants and that the population continues to decrease. The latest data recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI), as presented in the session that took place in the National Assembly after the draft Migration Law was presented, are from 2023 and slightly exceed that figure: 10,055,968.

However, the deputy head of the organization, Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, explained to Parliament that “given the demographic dynamics recorded in the first months of 2024, the contraction of the number of births and the continuity of the movement of people abroad since the last months of 2023, the current population of Cuba is fewer than 10 million inhabitants and will continue to decrease.”

Similarly, the official admitted the migratory exodus, saying that “in the last three years, the mobility of the Cuban population abroad has intensified, with prolonged stays outside.”

The latter, Alfonso Fraga continued, is not reflected in the calculation of the resident population, “since an important part of that population is not defined as migrant.” According to current legislation, the “migrant” definition comes after two years of permanence abroad are completed. This definition was suspended and has been successively extended since 2020, due to the Covid pandemic. continue reading

“In the last three years, the mobility of the Cuban population abroad has intensified, with prolonged stays outside”

Therefore, ONEI will modify the current calculation methodology and introduce the concept of “population with effective residence”: someone who “resides permanently, accumulated 180 days or more of residence during the last 365 days and has not died.” Likewise, it will distinguish between “immigrant,” someone who accumulates 180 days or more of residency in the country, and “emigrant,” someone who does not reach that number of days in Cuban territory.

According to data from the organization itself, as of December 31, 2023, 1,249,733 people were outside the country. Alfonso Fraga stated that “about 75% of them should be discounted from the population, for not having effective residence in the country in the period 2021-2023.”

Other data also recognized the galloping aging of the population. The bleeding caused by migration is more striking in the active population group. Cubans between the ages of 15 and 59 decreased by more than 800,000, making up 59.5%. Alfonso Fraga indicated that the Island “will present an aging economy, characterized by the high cost for society and family in the assistance to and care for the growing older adult population. The cost of social programs will increase with the necessary security and social assistance and the lower basis for the renewal of the labor resources of the country.”

A distinction will be made between “immigrant,” someone who spends 180 days or more in the country, and “emigrant,” someone who doesn’t spend that number of days in Cuban territory

The number of births will also decrease, he admitted, and he estimates that in 2024, it will be below 80,000, the lowest figure since 1959. For “more information” about the “effective population,” Alfonso Fraga asked for a census, something that has not been done since 2012.

According to an independent study carried out by the renowned Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, made public ten days ago by the Spanish agency EFE, the population of the Island is at 8.62 million people. The calculation is based on the number of Cubans, 738,680, who arrived in the United States between October 2021 and April 2024. Migration is the main cause of the 18% decrease in Cuba’s population between 2022 and 2023.

The recent UN demographic perspectives report also draws a bleak picture for Cuba: in 2012, when it had 11,303,175 inhabitants, the peak of population was reached, but when the 21st century ends, there will be 50% fewer inhabitants, only 5,577,280.

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.

The Cuban Parliament Approves Migration, Citizenship and Immigration Laws

It is confirmed that residents abroad will be able to keep their properties on the Island

The Citizenship Law was presented by First Colonel Mario Méndez, of the Ministry of the Interior

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 20, 2024 — Controlling the “Cuban migration process” was the euphemism that a senior official of the Ministry of the Interior used to describe the stampede of recent years on the Island, during the debate in Parliament for the approval, this Friday, of new laws on three issues: Migration, Citizenship and Immigration. The new regulations aim to “design procedures” for Cubans who leave the Island and also to control the “increase in the number and diversity of migratory irregularities with the involvement of foreigners.”

The Migration Law provides that Cubans residing abroad can keep their properties on the Island, even if they have spent more than two years away. They will no longer be called “emigrated” — as those who spent more than 24 consecutive months without returning to Cuba have been known — and those who spend “most of their time in the national territory” will be called “actual residents.”

Cubans who reside outside the Island will also be able to apply for the status of “investors and entrepreneurs.” The law will allow foreigners to access permanent residence if they have “an important patrimony abroad” that “allows them to start a business or make investments.” continue reading

“Enlisting in any type of armed organization with the aim of violating the territorial integrity of the State” will bring with it the loss of nationality

For its part, the Citizenship Law, presented by First Colonel Mario Méndez, states that “enlisting in any type of armed organization with the aim of violating the territorial integrity of the Cuban State” will bring with it the loss of nationality. In addition, the document provides for the possibility of a Cuban having multiple citizenship — which was already recognized by the Constitution of 2019 — provided that, on Cuban soil, they do not make use of their foreign citizenship. Méndez said that Cuban citizenship can be acquired by birth or by naturalization.

As for the renunciation of citizenship, only those over 18 years of age who, living abroad, prove that they have another citizenship can do so. It cannot be done by those who have debts to the Cuban State or are being “sought for the commission of a crime.” Several NGOs and human rights defenders have warned about the potential political use of denationalization in Cuba, pointing to Nicaragua as a recent example.

During the debate of the law, the deputies were more open when it came to recognizing the alarming migratory situation in the country. The ethnologist Miguel Barnet, trying to soften the panorama, celebrated the law and proposed to call those who left “cybergrandparents, cyberparents and cyberfriends.”

The Aliens Law, applicable to all foreigners who are temporarily or permanently on the Island, including diplomats, was also presented by Méndez, who hurried to clarify that the document didn’t receive much criticism during its drafting. “Most people didn’t comment on the law or have an opinion; it was the least controversial,” he said.

The law is proposed to “regulate the care, protection and documentation of foreigners who settle in national territory”

According to José Luis Toledo, president of the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the law aims to “regulate the care, protection and documentation of foreigners who settle in national territory.” Toledo stressed that the law “will establish the cases and the way in which foreigners will be expelled from the national territory,” and which institutions will be in charge of executing that process.

Foreigners will be able to reside in Cuba as “provisional residents,” a new category that represents a prelude to permanent residence, or as “humanitarian residents: refugees, stateless persons and political asylum seekers” that the Government considers as such.

“The exercise of the rights of foreigners in Cuba is only limited by the rights of others, for reasons of defense and national security, public order, health, exceptional and disaster situations, and by force majeure, with the approval of the competent authorities,” warns the document, about the “conduct of respect” for the regime that foreigners must maintain.

Despite the authorities’ attempts to disguise the seriousness of the situation in Parliament, the Cuban exodus has not stopped in recent years

Despite the authorities’ attempts to disguise the seriousness of the situation in Parliament, the Cuban exodus has not stopped in recent years. This Friday, while the triad of laws was being approved, 27 rafters were returned to the Island by the U.S. Coast Guard Service. Counting them, that makes 850 people sent back from different countries in the region so far in 2024.

The rafters had left the coast of Mariel in a rustic boat, the Ministry of the Interior reported. According to the U.S. authorities, there are 180,925 Cubans who have entered the country in the last nine months through legal channels (through the southern border or by humanitarian parole), and it is estimated that, if that pace is maintained, at the end of the fiscal year – September 30, 2024 – 245,000 Cubans will have entered.

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.

Marrero Blames Private Businesses for the State Deficit and Praises Forced Sales for Violations of Capped Prices

According to the Prime Minister, private individuals evaded 50 billion* pesos, and 354 sales of ’hidden’ products had to be forced

The authorities have forced the sale of some “hidden” products. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, July 18, 2024 — We could not expect anything other than a long list of economic penalties from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero’s intervention this Wednesday in Parliament, in which he evaluated the activity. He did not disappoint. Most perplexing was the revelation that private individuals allegedly evaded 50 billion pesos*, “a third of the fiscal deficit,” he emphasized.

It is not known if the prime minister made a mistake, since the deficit, confirmed that same day, did not reach 100 billion, but that detail is almost a minor matter. “It is not clear how the emerging non-state sector would have been able to defraud the omnipresent Cuban Government for an amount of 50 billion* pesos,” the economist Pedro Monreal, astonished, wrote on X. “If that were the case, we would be facing colossal government incompetence.”

Error or not, it was not the only demonstration of that “incompetence.” In the delivery of land in usufruct, 388,000 tenant farmers have been “purged, 130,000 illegalities being detected,” and in livestock, 107,000 owners have been visited with 98,000 violations found, key data within the sectors that, fundamentally, feed Cubans. The numbers demonstrate the absolute carelessness with which production has been supervised in a country where the State constantly monitors its citizens. continue reading

The numbers show the absolute neglect with which production has been supervised in a country where the State constantly monitors its citizens

The urgency to sanction those who sold food with capped prices without complying with the rule is shocking. And beyond: in the face of what the popular imagination calls “the kidnapping of the chicken” – in reference to the MSMEs that chose not to sell it in the midst of the uncertainty about the price – the inspectors have forced its release for sale.

“We’re going where the products are,” said Marrero, who cited the number of forced sales of hidden products at 354 at the established prices. As a result of the breaches of this resolution, which has only been in force for 10 days, 53 licenses were withdrawn and 21 confiscations made.

The Minister of Finance, Vladimir Regueiro, had already anticipated that in less than 72 hours, 400 violators of the price cap would be ‘hunted,’ so it is not surprising that on the 11th, 12th and 13th, 891 inspections were made that found 4,000 violations, whose fines amount to more than 13 million pesos. The authorities said they had 7,000 inspectors, but it is not known how, given the shortage of workers; Marrero said that it could be 20,000. “The objective is not to close businesses, but to persuade sellers to follow the established prices,” he concluded.

Some positive data for public accounts did appear, such as the amount of money raised in tariffs on final products, where the figure went from 108 million pesos to 610 million

Some positive data for public accounts did appear, such as the amount of money raised in tariffs on final products, where the figure went from 108 million pesos to 610 million. In terms of taxes, the forecasts were also improved with 159 billion pesos, 10% more than planned.

But when talking about agricultural production, it is doubtful that there is a properly descriptive qualifier after the previous two were already “the worst in history.” Marrero said the figures for the sugar harvest are not yet known, and he did not reveal the number of violations, but it will soon be released. He did admit that “planned production was not achieved to meet the demand, although it went from 83 days to 150,” and that foreign investment is necessary to “save” that industry.

The Prime Minister also insisted on the decentralization of production, whose hiring amounted to 95% in June, so that each territory better organizes its needs and potentialities.

Another of the issues outlined, although we will have to wait to know more, was that of the future business law, which will aim to “update” the rules for private individuals and “order” relations with the state sector. Although it is impossible to expect a real and necessary revolution, the prime minister cited an important issue, undoubtedly the result of the numerous cases of corruption that are appearing in what the authorities call “chains,” which is nothing other than the usual public-private collaboration in capitalism.

The new regulations will require the verification that there are no family or personal ties between the parties, in addition to the fact that the corporate purpose must be verified and the price must be fair. When the law exists, the important thing will be compliance, which is uncertain if you listen to Marrero’s speech from the beginning. The rule will include, among all the issues cited by the Prime Minister, the profit cap, already in force. “There can’t be more than 30% profit. Today, sometimes up to double or triple the profit is applied,” he said.

“There can’t be more than 30% profit. Today, sometimes it is applied up to double or triple the gain”

In the speech, other general data were provided for housing, care for the vulnerable and crime, the latter with percentage values once again, instead of totals. Marrero admitted that there is still a “high amount of crime, although with a decrease of 10%” compared to previous months, and cases of robbery and theft of livestock decreased by 20%; it is not known about how many or compared to what time. “We have a people of “Homeland or Death”** for which we will continue in combat, convinced that it is possible,” he concluded.

However, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, held back his pearl of wisdom for a very long preamble dedicated to the evils of the “blockade.” Alejandro Gil Fernández’s successor restated the already known figure of the decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.9%, and he divided it by sector. Among those that increased their GDP are tourism, communications, construction and social services associated with culture and sport, but activities related to agriculture (a huge 12.7%), livestock and fishing, manufacturing, sugar production and social services of health and education decreased.

Alonso Vázquez fixed the mess of the official press, which erroneously indicated, days ago, that there were 1.8 million tourists and then clarified that the total was 1,321,900, which leaves the June total at just 147,012 international travelers. The figure harbors another catastrophe, since it is again lower – and for three months – than that of the same month of the previous year (154,590).

Foreign exchange revenues from exports improve – despite the fact that last year, according to Marrero, 63.939 billion pesos were lost in the sale of medical services, the jewel in the crown – fulfilling the plan at 88%, which is 24% more than a year ago. Tobacco, charcoal, seafood and biopharmaceuticals lead, while nickel, rum, sugar, honey and shrimp fall behind.

According to Marrero, 63,939 billion pesos were lost in the sale of medical services, the jewel in the crown

According to the accounts, the largest current expenditure on imports is for fuel and food, but no numbers were given, except for the 900 million dollars that the “forms of non-state management” spent on buying abroad, 622 of which are mipymes. No authority dared to repeat the fanciful data presented last week by the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, who spoke of an “oil bill for the country of more than 4 billion dollars,” without providing any data that would justify that excessive expense.

“It is unsustainable to maintain the importation of 100% of the products that are distributed, which cost the country 1.7 billion dollars annually at current prices, even though there is productive capacity in the country,” said the minister, urging an increase in production. As if all he had to do was ask.

Translator’s notes:

* The value of the Cuban peso against the US dollar is in constant flux; right now 50 billion pesos is roughly 2 billion dollars.

**See ‘Homeland and Life’

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.

Cuban Regime Presents the Jet Ski ‘Terrorist’ To Distract Cubans From the Crisis

Humberto López’s program gave little news, except for the detainee’s statement and his links with the self-styled group “The New Cuban Nation in Arms”

Ardenys García Álvarez on Canal Caribe identifying the members of The New Cuban Nation in Arms / Capture

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 9 July 2024 – Not much that was new was announced in a national television program which was supposed to reveal details about the “terrorist plot against Cuba, organized and financed from the United States,” which was finally dismantled by the Police and the Armed Forces. The 30 minutes that the special lasted, led by the spokesman of the regime Humberto López, had abundant information about the case that became known last December, when a man was arrested for trying to illegally enter the Island on a jet ski with three pistols, which this Monday became five.

The only news was the name of the detainee, who made himself known the day before: Ardenys García Álvarez, a 40-year-old Cienfueguero, allegedly emigrated and resident in the United States since 2014. His statements and the videos and images of the group to which he supposedly belonged were the most spectacular part of López’s program, which had two guests — Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle and Prosecutor Eduard Roberts Campbell — to give a theoretical basis to what some members of the exile have already considered propaganda to divert attention.

His statements and the videos and images of the group to which he allegedly belonged were the most spectacular part of López’ program

The program began by reviewing the events, which occurred in November, when García Álvarez entered Cuba illegally through Matanzas on a jet ski “with the intention of carrying out violent actions.” A few days later, the famous National List of Terrorists was approved, which includes 61 people – including the politician Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat and the influencer Alex continue reading

Otaola – in addition to 19 organizations “that carry out actions against state security,” whose members, they warn, are “sought by the authorities.”

García Álvarez, according to his testimony, was a member of one of them, the self-styled New Cuban Nation in Arms, captained by Willy González – who mocked last night’s program on social networks – and who claims that a recruitment group in Florida is willing to use violence to liberate the Island from communism. The group said it was the author in 2022 of the fire against the Provincial Court of Havana, but despite everything, it has only 800 followers.

In the video broadcast by Canal Caribe, García Álvarez recounts how he came into contact with the group through Telegram – although he never indicates if he did it out of conviction or for money – and began to carry out training activities on shooting ranges with several of its members, including Willy González. He also identifies in the photographs Jorge Luis Fernández Figueras El Lobo and Dayan Quiñones, among others.

The individuals appear equipped with a military uniform and the logo of The New Cuban Nation in Arms, which includes the national flag, three stars and two crossed machine guns

The individuals appear in military uniform with the logo of The New Cuban Nation in Arms, which includes the national flag, three stars and two crossed machine guns, and they are seen practicing with weapons that the accused identifies. In another of the fragments, one of them reads a statement: “We, the New Cuban Nation in Arms, believe that the fastest way to achieve it [liberation] is armed struggle, putting the lives of a group of determined men at risk in order to save the lives of many others.”

Humberto López, who describes the fragment as “interesting,” reviews the facts with Colonel Álvarez Valle, including the arrival on the Island of the accused – currently in pretrial detention – on a jet ski with a Florida license plate and “in perfect navigation condition.” In addition to the vehicle, he adds, “a large number of ammunition that had been in a plastic bottle” and scattered by the boat was confiscated, as well as five pistols – which in the December version were three – of the American Tactical brand and two different models of Smith & Wesson, manufactured in the United States, along with a Steyr, from Austria, and a Taurus, created in Brazil. All, the researcher remarked, “were acquired in the United States.”

In addition, the rest of the team had binoculars and wore balaclavas “suitable for violent activity.” López goes so far as to ask – aware of the dubious importance of the story – if a man with this minimum amount of equipment would be dangerous for a country, but those present emphasize that it is not about that but rather about the implications and seriousness of his intentions.

García Álvarez accumulates accusations for multiple crimes, the most serious: acts against state security, punishable by ten to 30 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death penalty.

García Álvarez accumulates accusations for multiple crimes, from illegal entry into the country – which already implies three years in prison -to the most serious: acts against state security, punishable by ten to 30 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death penalty, for “those who violate the territorial space on board a ship or aircraft, clandestinely enter the nation or organize or are part of armed groups to intervene in the commission of crimes contemplated in the Criminal Code.”

Some secondary individuals, also accused, appear in the program, including the father of the main actor, Roberto García Ávila, who was allegedly involved in the son’s plans, and Pavel Fernández Alfonso, with whom he allegedly shared his intentions. Fernández Alfonso had the idea of looking for a farm in which to house more people he would recruit, with particular emphasis on members of the Army, for having training and access to weapons.

The program reserved the final ten minutes to characterize Willy González and broadcast some of the videos he posts on his social networks threatening the Cuban regime, as well as José Luis Fernández El Lobo, to whom several sabotages of the electrical system are also attributed. Both are part, they observed, of the national list of terrorists, and they accused the United States of doing nothing to arrest or extradite* them.

“They are making an effort to ’legitimize’ the list of alleged terrorists in order to continue using it

Humberto López claims, citing a Resolution of the United Nations Security Council, that States must “adopt all measures to pursue investigating and punishing those who are linked” to terrorist acts. Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Democracy Movement, told Miami television, at the end of the program, “They are making an effort to ’legitimize’ the list of alleged terrorists to be able to continue using it, not only for propaganda but also in possible meetings with the United States.”

Anti-Castrist journalist Ninoska Pérez Castellón, who is also part of the aforementioned list, said on her radio program that this is a new maneuver of the regime, overwhelmed by its internal problems. “It’s all about drawing attention away from the real situation of the country, and this is the kind of thing that worked for them for a while with Fidel Castro. I don’t think it will work for them anymore, given the current situation of the people of Cuba,” she said, adding that the goal is to “calm the population, keep it subdued and make them believe that they are defending it from something monstrous that comes from outside.”

Humberto López, on the other hand, considered his program a public service, despite the fact that nothing was said that was not already known, and the staging indicated more of an effort to generate unity in the face of an alleged external enemy. “Here we are going to continue defending the truth and objectivity of the phenomena. We will continue to look for all the information and make it available to the public. Impunity will never, never be the answer to such serious acts of this nature.” His last sentence, on the other hand, revealed a disturbing glimpse of doubt about the strategy. “I believe that the repudiation of the people of Cuba exists and will continue to be energetic.”

*Translator’s note: Cuba and the U.S. do not have an extradition treaty.

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.

Committed Diplomacy Award for Switzerland’s Ambassador to Cuba on ’11J’

Cadal praises the work of Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the repression

The former Swiss ambassador to Cuba, Mauro Reina /CADALTV/YouTube/Capture

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 9 July 2024 — The former ambassador of Switzerland to Cuba, Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the police repression during the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), received the Award for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights on Tuesday. From Buenos Aires, where the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal) has its headquarters, he celebrated the support of the people who were “democratic referents” during the demonstrations and who ended up in “forced exile.”

Reina, born in 1964, resident on the Island from 2019 to 2023, witnessed the repressive wave of the regime after 11J. He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks they face in their freedom and security.”

Cadal remembers the series of messages sent on the social network X by the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana after the protests. The first of them, published on July 15, expressed the Embassy’s “concern” over the events and unambiguously demanded respect for “freedom of assembly and expression.” It was one of the first institutions to call for the release of political prisoners and to directly ask the authorities for an “inclusive dialogue” with the protesters. continue reading

He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks to their freedom and security”

The Embassy also publicly lamented the exile of jurist Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, a “close contact” of the diplomatic headquarters. In the same message it condemned the stampede of professionals and citizens who, due to their opposition to the regime, had felt forced to leave the country.

Fernández, who was until recently in the Academics at Risk Program of Harvard University, congratulated Reina on the award and said he had been an “example” of a diplomat committed “to his responsibilities to his government and to his respect and sensitivity for the problems of the Cuban people.” He also pointed out that Reina had developed his work in the diplomatic context of Havana, where it is uncommon for diplomats to ask the regime to account for its actions against human rights.

Maintaining the balance and decorum inherent in his profession, Fernández said that Reina understood “the pains and greatness of the Cuban people,” and he kept abreast of the political events that he had experienced on the Island.

Reina also received praise from the journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa, a resident of Spain, who congratulated him for accompanying those who “were pushing to change the course of life in Cuba.” He agreed with Fernández that it was “a gesture that very few foreign diplomats in Cuba have the courage to carry out.”

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion”

Finally, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion” and his “sensitivity to the great problems faced by Cuba and the issues of democratization and civil society.” He stressed the tact of the diplomat when transmitting the vision of his Government without losing his close relationship with the opponents, which he expressed “openly” at all times.

In an interview given on Monday to the Argentine journalist Jorge Elías, Reina explained that “in human rights issues, neutrality does not play any role.” He described his days in Havana as “very interesting and sometimes difficult.” Relations between Cuba and Switzerland, he alleged, are “quite intense,” so that any support for the opposition was a delicate issue. He assured that at all times, during his mission, he had been supported by the Swiss authorities. He assessed the current situation of the country as a “multidimensional crisis” because the authorities do not want to give up their “dogmas.”

Born in Lugano and graduated in Law from the University of Geneva, Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana. Since August 2023, he has been Ambassador of the Swiss diplomatic mission in Denmark.

Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana and Denmark

Since 2003, Cadal has awarded the Prize for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights to 16 diplomats who have resided in Cuba for some time and have stood out for their firm position in the face of the regime’s abuses. The organization also presented a special prize to the Chilean writer Jorge Edwards, whose book, Persona Non Grata can be read as the chronicle of a diplomat carrying out his work in a dictatorship.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Tin Can Carpets Are Back on the Streets of Havana

In Havana, it has become common for recycling collectors to leave containers on the street / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 July 2024 — The man is about 50 years old and carries two sacks loaded with empty soda, malt and beer cans. He heads to Lealtad Street, in Centro Habana, where the neighbors already know him, and sit on the threshold of their houses to watch his routine. The job, long-standing on the island but almost extinct due to the pandemic – which scared away tourism, a great consumer of these drinks – consists of precisely placing the containers on the asphalt and waiting. When a car finally crushes them, they will be ready to sell as raw material.

For at least four years – since Covid hit hard and the Yumas [foreigners] and the food disappeared – the collectors have hardly been seen in Havana. Their momentary disappearance, however, has not made them strangers to Cubans, whose imagination since childhood, along with other jobs on the Island — such as sharpening scissors or buying empty perfume bottles — still remembers “the old men who collect cans.”

They are almost always elderly, bent over by age and the weight of their bags. Most are men, but occasionally you see a woman.

The profession has a range of different collectors with regards to opportunities and resources. Some have tools to make their work easier, like the man who was carrying — on a tricycle and a wheelbarrow — sacks of cans of old Tu Kola, imported beers or the national Cristal and Bucanero beer this Wednesday on Belascoaín Street. Others, those in a worse situation, combine the activity with searching for food in the garbage, they go around in tattered clothes and with tanned faces. continue reading

Whether self-employed or not, collecting cardboard, aluminium or plastic has been one of those jobs that have always existed. It has achieved fame with buyers of “any little piece of gold,” and its worst moments with thieves of bronze statues and plaques. In any case, the metal always ends up melted down in a private workshop and turned into rings or water taps.

Lealtad Street, in Centro Habana, also displayed cans this Wednesday / 14ymedio

The job has even become mechanized: now it is the drivers who crush the cans with their vehicles, although there is always the risk of puncturing a tire. The collectors choose streets with little traffic because, although it takes longer to crush the cans, they are not visible to the police and inspectors. This also allows them to place and then remove the containers calmly, without being run over.

Others continue to use more “artisanal” methods, and press the containers with sticks, stones or with their feet.

The demand for flat cans is set by buyers, who ask for empty, clean and crushed containers. The most demanding are the private ones, who also pay more. For the collection of raw material for recycling, the State offered at the beginning of the year about 30 pesos per kilogram of aluminum. The same amount that the collectors must pay monthly for their license, not including social security. Private individuals will pay up to 100 pesos for the cans.

The collectors are almost always elderly men / 14ymedio

Although there are still those who “bite,” since the State company Materia Prima stopped paying due to lack of funds during the pandemic, few have returned to work with the State. Instead, they sell what they collect to scrap dealers who make tin cans, pots and aluminum cutlery.

For some, the work of the collectors is a curious example of the “productive chain” and the “circular economy” that the Government yearns for its own companies. What today is a malt in the hands of a Canadian, tomorrow will be a can crushed by a vehicle and the day after a jug to heat milk.

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ATMs in Cienfuegos “Die” at Any Time of the Day

The lines to withdraw cash begin to form from dawn, with the arrival of the first ‘coleros’ who charge 1,000 pesos to wait in line for others

It is common for Cuban banks to replenish ATMs with bills once a day / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Cienfuegos, 19 July 2024 — The ATMs located at the Banco Popular de Ahorro branch on Cienfuegos Boulevard seem to be working this Friday. Customers are encouraged when they see the screens lit up, but then start typing and immediately realize that there is no money available. It is barely two in the afternoon and the machines are already “dead.”

The ATMs at this bank branch had been putting money in at around 9:30 in the morning. The line to make withdrawals had been organized since dawn, with the corresponding coleros who charge 1,000 pesos to wait in line for each person willing to pay them for their service. A similar scene occurred a few blocks away, at the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec) located on San Carlos Street. There, since 5:00 am, Victor had been waiting, after trying to collect his pension for more than a week.

The employees of both banks warned, as if they had agreed, that only 500 peso bills would be dispensed, and that only two cards per person could be inserted. “They treat us as if we were sheep,” complained a female shop worker, who said she had been on the verge of withdrawing money several times, but “when it’s not the cash that runs out, it’s the power that goes out or the equipment that breaks.” continue reading

The lines, which have been forming for hours, dissolve as soon as the cash runs out / 14ymedio

The lines are slow and grow longer as the morning goes on. Two hours after the first withdrawal, Victor felt that nothing had happened, and he had the additional fear that order of the line* would be lost when several customers left and gave up on their attempt. It was then that the only ATM in service at Bandec jammed, to the disbelief and displeasure of the customers who were left without cash.

“Right now the BPA on the Boulevard and the Bandec on Argüelles Street have run out of money. They say they will put in a little cash after noon,” explained a man in a white coat, without much hope of achieving his goal. While people continued to arrive to grow the line, an employee of the bank itself verified that the problem with the ATM had been solved. Despite the reproaches of the angry crowd, he also took advantage of the opportunity to insert several cards and withdraw a few bills.

A card ejected like a spring confirmed the collective feeling: “That’s all it’s going to give!”

Looking at his old automatic watch**, Victor sensed the inevitable. Although he still had the option of going to the bank in Argüelles, he would probably have to go back to work in the early morning, exhausted by an unresolved issue. A card that was ejected as if spring had been thrown out confirmed the collective feeling. “That’s all it’s going to give!” said the owner of the card, who was close to achieving a miracle.

Those who had been there since the early hours of the morning remembered the words of the bank employee: “Today we are only going to put money in once.” After the disappointment, some people decided to march in procession to the bank on Argüelles Street. Among those who decided to try their luck in the new line that could already be seen in the distance, was Victor, who walked along writing on WhatsApp to his grandson, who lives in Spain: “This looks like a wake. Here the ATMs die at any time of the day.”

Translator’s notes:
*When Cubans join a line they ask “who’s last” and then watch that person to know when their turn is. In this way people can  mingle, wander around, even run other quick errands and still ‘be in line.’
**An automatic watch has a mechanism in the movement that automatically winds the watch through the wearer’s movements, and does not require a battery.

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Cubans Will Have To Wait Until 2025 for the Access to Information Law To Come Into Force

Raúl Castro himself admitted that the regime is in no hurry to “eliminate the excess of secrecy”

Raúl Castro greets Miguel Díaz-Canel, reappointed to his position as President of the Republic in April of last year / Screen Capture

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2024 — A request from Raúl Castro 15 years ago – “to eliminate excessive secrecy” – was cited as a leitmotiv when drafting the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, approved this Thursday in Parliament. The document supports, at least in theory and for the first time in the country’s legal history, the right of Cubans to obtain official information in a “truthful, objective and timely” manner.

This right is part of the Constitution – it is prescribed in articles 53, 97 and 101 – but until now it has been ignored by the State. The complaint about the lack of information has even reached the official press, which has lamented that the authorities are secretive when it comes to offering data and figures to support the news.

The emblematic case last year was the number of femicides. At least two official newspapers – Girón and Escambray – described the difficulties in addressing the issue when no authority provides the total number of women victims of gender-based violence.

The also official newspaper Invasor, for its part, was much more direct in describing the State’s “inventory of silences” and invoked – for not being able to offer truthful information – the Communication Law, approved in 2023, “given that ministries, business groups and agency directorates had parceled out at their convenience who, how, when and what to say.” continue reading

This right is part of the Constitution – it is prescribed in articles 53, 97 and 101 – but until now it has been ignored by the State.

Supposedly the law – explained this Thursday by the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, Eduardo Martínez Díaz – is supposed to oblige “the organs of the State and others responsible for providing public information” to respond to those who request information. The text, Martínez Díaz said, is based on a “comparative” reading of 123 other international laws and 11 decrees approved in Cuba, which touch on the subject.

In the presentation, the minister quoted Castro several times to remind that, despite the existence of the law, “a State will always have to maintain a logical secrecy in some matters, that is something that no one disputes,” although, he considered, “it is necessary to put on the table all the information and arguments that support each decision.”

The regulations, according to Martínez Díaz, to which Miguel Díaz-Canel paid special attention, are aimed at the “system of public registry, document and archive management, the government information system, the computerization of society, the protection of personal data and the social communication of the Cuban State and Government.”

According to the minister, “making state management transparent” means using more technology in the Public Administration and ensuring that people have “wide availability of public information about its actions, by all possible means, without having to request it.” He believes that there are “subjects obliged” to respond to this particular law, including “higher State bodies, Central State Administration bodies, their subordinate and attached entities; provincial and municipal entities and other national entities and companies that provide public services.”

The law will supposedly force “State bodies and other subjects responsible for providing public information” to respond to those who request information.

The law, as the minister warned, provides for the limitation of information for “exceptional reasons”: if it is classified data, if its disclosure is considered “dangerous to, affects or violates sovereignty, defense and national security,” if it violates intellectual property rights or damages the environment. “Applicants are responsible for the use of the information they access,” the text explains. “Doing so improperly may generate administrative, civil or criminal liability, in accordance with current legislation.”

The law will come into force 180 working days after its publication in the Official Gazette and it remains to be seen to what extent the “obligated subjects” will respect it. Until now, the policy has been “I keep quiet, then I inform,” as Escambray summed up a year ago. “Every obstacle in access to information is one more step towards censorship,” said the official newspaper at the time, denouncing the wall of ice that the leaders had “directed” to be erected between reality and the press.
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A 60-Year-Old Man Dies in the Collapse of a Building in Guanabacoa, Cuba

The person was identified by neighbors as Miguel, a resident in the area.

Municipal authorities shared images of the collapse / Municipal Administration Council of Guanabacoa

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2024 — A building collapse that occurred this Wednesday on Cadenas Street, between División and Versalles, in the municipality of Guanabacoa, in Havana, left at least one dead. The information was shared on social media by the Municipal Administration Council and by several residents.

According to the report, the collapse of the facade of the building at number 61 on the street injured one of the residents of the neighborhood, who “was treated quickly.” The man, recognized on social media as Miguel, age 60, later died.

At the bottom of the post, which did not offer any further details, many users criticized the state of the houses in that area, many of which, they say, are over 100 years old and in poor condition.

“I am speechless. This has all of us neighbors in a bad mood. That collapse killed a person, a beloved neighbor. If they don’t get their act together, the houses in Cadenas are going to kill many more people,” warned a neighbor, who claimed that the rubble had reached her door. continue reading

In the images and videos shared on social media, firefighters can also be seen searching through the stones and wood that have fallen from the building, which are blocking the entire street. Some residents also ventured into the interior of the collapsed building in search of the injured. Only a few walls of the building remained standing.

Such incidents are a frequent occurrence in the capital, especially when rain and bad weather soften the foundations of buildings already in danger of collapsing. At the end of June, when Havana experienced several days of storms, at least 19 buildings suffered partial or total collapses, according to a source for 14ymedio who preferred to remain anonymous.

The collapse of a villa on Calle 26 between 27th and 29th in the municipality of Playa, which was recorded by several passers-by and neighbors, was one of the most widely reported incidents of that time, in which it is estimated that there was at least one death and several injuries.

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Cuban Activist Angélica Garrido Is Released After Serving Three Years in Prison for 11J Protests

Political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales was hospitalized in Santa Clara on the 21st day of his hunger strike

Angélica Garrido at home after her release this Wednesday / Screen capture

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, July 11, 2024 — Activist Angélica Garrido was released on Wednesday, July 10, a day before the third anniversary of the 11 July 2021 (’11J’) anti-government protests for which she was imprisoned and after having served her sentence in full. Her sister, the writer María Cristina Garrido, still has four of the seven years of her sentence left to serve. “I have just served three years of an unjust sentence for crimes manufactured by State Security. I leave with my sister María Cristina my soul, my heart and my spirit,” she said in a video shared on Facebook from her home.

The activist also sent regards to all the 11J prisoners as well as to the common prisoners, “victims of this nonfunctional and tyrannical system that has kept the people in constant misery and repression.”

Garrido emphasizes that the struggle of political prisoners is, despite being “non-violent” – she says it several times – “illegal and prohibited” by the Government, which prohibits free expression, demonstrating that in Cuba there is no democracy and that exercising rights is punished with imprisonment.

“Our non-violent struggle is to raise our voice for an entire people who urgently demand change and ask for a life in freedom,” she says, ending with a call for the liberation of political prisoners and of Cuba. continue reading

She ends by saying, “Don’t be discouraged, my brothers and sisters, the homeland is proud of us.”

She ends by saying, “Don’t be discouraged, my brothers and sisters , the homeland is proud of us.”

Garrido has served the three years in prison confirmed by the Provincial Court of Mayabeque, ratifying the sentence imposed in the first instance after rejecting an appeal. The activist and her sister participated in the 11J demonstration of San José de las Lajas and were later arrested and accused of contempt and attack for Garrido, and of double attack for her sister; hence, the difference in the penalty.

Since then both have remained in the Guatao prison, in Havana, where they have denounced torture and repression and have led some protests, such as the one they carried out in September 2022, refusing to wear the uniform of common prisoners and initiating a hunger strike.

A few days later, both partially lifted the protest, refusing to eat the prison food, only what their families could bring them. Luis Rodríguez Pérez, Angélica’s husband, was able to go in to give her some food and explained that she was “plantada. She rejected the food of the prison, a mattress and the common prisoner’s uniform, and she would not live in the barracks with the common criminals,” he said.

In November, the activist (now 42 years old) was punished and put in an isolation cell, where she spent more than 50 days, according to her family, who said that the Criminal Code provides for a maximum of 10 days of imprisonment in these cubicles.

“In that cell, the water she has for bathing and drinking comes from a small pipe that is a few centimeters from the latrine; that is, from the hole in the floor where she takes care of her needs – it mixes there,” her husband told the press. He was able to take Garrido medicines and said that her cell was “the smallest and roughest of all,” and the lack of hygiene was causing her health to deteriorate.

In 2023, when Angélica Garrido began to get passes, both she and her sister received the Patmos prize, along with the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, also 11J prisoners. The award, which the religious organization presents annually at the end of October, was awarded for the first time to more than one person, and although none of the winners could attend the ceremony, State Security tried to sabotage the announcement, which mentioned several of the organizers.

Garrido’s release took place just one day after the hospitalization of political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales, due to a hunger strike that lasted 21 days. This Wednesday, the CubaDecide platform warned of his critical state of health.

[[“The deterioration is progressive and could be irreversible. We hold Raúl Castro, Díaz-Canel (president of Cuba) and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, responsible for the life and physical integrity of Carlos Michael Morales”]]

“The deterioration is progressive and could be irreversible. We hold Raúl Castro, Díaz-Canel (president of Cuba) and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, responsible for the life and physical integrity of Carlos Michael Morales,” said the organization, which accuses State Security of having kept the prisoner incommunicado in a punishment cell because of his strike.

The opponent’s family has not been able to see him or talk to him since the beginning of his hunger strike, and doctors have warned about the consequences to his health.

Morales was transferred this Tuesday to the Provincial Hospital of Villa Clara from the Guamajal prison and is, they warn, in danger of suffering a cardio-pulmonary arrest or kidney failure and dying.

CubaDecide denounces that Morales “has been unjustly imprisoned since May 4, 2024, in retaliation for his publications on social networks,” and he has been subjected to “constant rape and torture, which forced him to start his second strike on June 19, with a single demand: his immediate release.”

The platform has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the international community to support his demand.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Some Cars That Are Incompatible With Our Society Are Entering Cuba’

Prime Minister warns that imports of luxury cars will be controlled

A recently imported Mercedes with a private license plate in Camajuaní, Villa Clara. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2024 — A black and white, 650-horsepower Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 parked in front of a shabby house in El Guaso, Guantánamo. A brand-new Rubicon jeep moving through the outskirts of Morón, in Ciego de Ávila. A brand-new Mercedes-Benz, which a soldier “on foot” looks at in amazement as he turns a corner in Havana where someone has painted a sign: “Fidel among us.”

“They are on board,” said Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on Wednesday, referring to the owners of luxury cars. “Haven’t they realized that the gasoline in Cuba is not good for that?” he concluded, in a joking tone, before launching a warning: “There are some cars that are coming in that are really not compatible with our society, they are not necessary, and we have to limit the amount based on the interests of the country.”

In Cuba, known around the world for its vintage cars – actually survivors of a shortage of parts and vehicles after 1959 – there are hundreds of luxury cars in circulation, as confirmed by car enthusiast groups on Facebook. They started out as “diplomatic” cars, since only embassy personnel drove vehicles of that calibre, but the term was extended to all types of recently imported cars, which no longer go unnoticed. continue reading

They started out as “diplomatic” cars, as only embassy personnel drove vehicles of that caliber, but the term was extended to all types of cars.

“We have regulated how the importing of vehicles into the country should be,” Marrero began, describing in his speech the “new policy for the transfer of ownership of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, their commercialization or importation,” of which all the details are not yet known.

The State decreed, first of all, that all vehicle sales within the Island – including used bodies – will be made in national currency. Only the state-owned company Servicios Automotores will be able to import and sell car and motorcycle parts in foreign currency, but “exclusively as replacement parts.”

Diplomats, Cubans on “missions” and Cuban businessmen abroad will be able to continue importing cars from abroad, he added. However, there will be “requirements to guarantee technical compatibility” so that the cars that enter the country do not “melt down.”

According to Marrero, the transfer of ownership of a vehicle is authorized. The Government welcomes the importation of tricycles – “it helps a lot with the needs,” he added – in which the current Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, has placed his hopes. “These regulations are in the process of being implemented,” he clarified.

The circulation of luxury cars in Cuba began as a rumor – the first photos of a Tesla or a Lamborghini were fake – but it is now a fact. Camajuaní, the mecca of Cuban footwear in Villa Clara and where shoemakers – converted into elite SMSEs – have built real mansions, is a good example of the proliferation of “diplomats.” This newspaper collected images of recently imported cars – such as a Mercedes-Benz with a private license plate, parked in the peripheral neighborhood of La Ceiba – by shoemaking families such as the Chávez, the Cintra or the Fernández.

A brand new Mercedes-Benz, which a soldier on foot looks at in amazement as he turns a corner in Havana where someone has painted a sign: “Fidel among us.” / RR.SS.

But it is in Facebook groups, such as Diplomatic Cars in Cuba , where the wide circulation of these vehicles – often without license plates – is best evidenced. In this type of group, advertisements for the sale of high-end cars are also published, such as a 2019 Dodge Challenger whose owner gave a full demonstration on a track and demanded that payment be made in the United States.

Fans warn of the many drawbacks to maintaining such a vehicle in Cuba, including a lack of fuel and the poor state of the roads. While one user praised the power of his Aston Martin, another pointed out the pothole in front of the wheels with a comment: “There we can see one of the many holes that will quickly destroy your very expensive suspension.”

Several collectors, even in the midst of the crisis, have the money not only to import new cars, but to restore old gems, such as the 1977 Pontiac Firebird whose photo was shared by a user. One of the enthusiasts knew the vehicle well and identified it as an old car from the Mexican Embassy in Havana during the 1980s. The diplomats, he reported, sold it to a wealthy family from Playa, and it was “missing” for years but has now been restored, it is not known by whom.

Many of these cars have been linked on numerous occasions to the families of the regime’s military leadership. Fidel Castro’s grandson, Sandro Castro , confirmed these suspicions in 2021, when he published a video while driving a Mercedes-Benz, which he described as his new “toy,” at 140 kilometers per hour.

The average Cuban – an expression that has reached its most literal meaning with the transportation crisis – without money to import the expensive “jeeps” to which Marrero referred, asks himself in groups only one question: “What do I have to do to be a diplomat?”

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A Cuban Mother Is Murdered by Her Husband of 30 Years

Damaris Rondón, 48, was a teacher at the Fladio Álvarez Galán School of Sports Initiation

Damaris Rondón was 48 years old / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 11, 2024 — Damaris Rondón, mother of two children, died at home in a rural town on Isla de la Juventud, after being assaulted by her husband on June 22. The attack left irreversible damage that caused her death on June 29, reported the Observatory of the Cuban feminist magazine Alas Tensas. As has happened on other occasions, the news had been reported on social networks, but independent platforms had not yet confirmed it. The 48-year-old woman was a teacher at the Fladio Álvarez Galán School Sports Initiation School, on Isla de la Juventud.

The first reports said that Rondón’s husband, identified as Luis Yero, “waited for his two children to leave the house and struck his wife on the head with a bat.” After the attack, the man committed suicide.

The attack left her with irreversible damage, which caused her death on June 29

The same Facebook post pointed out that, after the attack, Rondón was rescued and taken to a hospital, where she remained alive for four days; however, “she died from the blow to her head.” The couple had been married for 30 years, and although they lived in Isla de la Juventud with their children, they were natives of El Sitio, in Manzanillo, Granma. continue reading

Alas Tensas also confirmed the femicide of Yunaisi Bruzón Almaguer, reported by 14ymedio on June 25. The 54-year-old woman was murdered in the town of El Llano, in Holguín, and hers was the sixth death due to gender violence perpetrated in Cuba last June, including the death of Rondón.

Posts on social networks by activists and people close to Bruzón related how she died after receiving multiple stab wounds, allegedly from an unknown person. He was later identified as Carlos Rodríguez Cruz, and he surrendered to the police the next day.

Alas Tensas’ report included, for “gender reasons,” the murder of a man on July 8, in the town of Suferry, in Ciego de Ávila, at the hands of his daughter’s former partner. The man, his sister and a neighbor were injured in the attack and hospitalized.

The observatory urged the authorities to investigate at least six cases of sexist violence to determine if they are femicides

With the confirmation of both femicides, 27 are now registered on the Island in 2024, according to the count of this media. In 2023, there were 87 murders due to gender violence counted by independent platforms and media.

Likewise, the observatory urged the authorities to investigate at least six cases of gender violence to determine if they are femicides: three in Havana, two in Santiago de Cuba and one in Villa Clara.

Last January, the regime recognized that more than 16,000 Cuban women and girls who live in a situation of violence and are at risk of being victims of femicide in their own homes. No specific steps to prevent these crimes have been announced to date.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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One of the Few Hearses Still in Operation in Cuba Crashes

Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after the vehicle crashed into a tree in Holguín

The crash happened at the intersection of Martí Street and Central Highway / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Holguín, 15 July 2024 — Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after crashing the hearse against a tree this Saturday at the intersection of Martí Street and the Central Highway, in Holguín.
The vehicle, which was not transporting a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk, a witness to the accident reported to 14ymedio. The wounded, with minor injuries, were immediately rescued.

In recent years the Cuban government has received several donations for hearses, but the transfer of coffins by means of this transport is increasingly deficient. The service has had to be assumed by private and state cars not licensed to carry coffins, or even by carts pulled by horses and oxen.

The vehicle, which was not carrying a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk

Due to the poor condition of many of these vehicles and the lack of maintenance, they often break down on the way to the cemetery or on the road. In Las Tunas, for example, last February, of the 13 hearses that the province had, only four were in working condition. Two are in the capital, and the other two are in Colombia and Jobabo. continue reading

“The fundamental cause of the low technical availability of these cars is the lack of tires and electrical components, mainly batteries,” the deputy director of Hygiene and Necrology of the province, Raúl Ernesto Martínez, explained at the time. To this is added, of course, the general lack of fuel, spare parts and modern vehicles on the Island.

In any case, the families are the ones who suffer the most. The delay of the drivers to pick up the deceased and the bureaucracy of the Communal Services are well known. The sector is constantly criticized, and many Cubans, feeling helpless, go on social networks to denounce the ineffectiveness of the authorities.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Economic Debacle of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Abandoned by International Tourism

Artisans complain about the increase in the price of raw materials / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, July 7, 2024 — Cienfuegos was never a tourist enclave of great importance like Havana or Varadero, but its architectural charm, more republican than colonial, attracted those looking for city tourism but without the bustle of the capital. In recent years, however, the number of travelers passing through the Pearl of the South has fallen, and, at least since the COVID-19 pandemic, the businesses that depended on that movement are fewer and poorer. A few meters from the city’s boulevard, next to José Martí Park, the artisans of the Cultural Heritage Fund have a space dedicated to the sale of their products. From wooden sculptures to textiles and costume jewelry, the stalls that offer handmade merchandise have been losing their prosperity.

María Luisa, an artisan who manages one of the tables, has witnessed the debacle. “Sales have been greatly affected. Just a few years ago, up to ten buses with tourists stopped here every day, and, although almost everything we sell is for them, from time to time some Cuban would come here to shop too,” she tells 14ymedio.

“Then we could even have the luxury of giving discounts, because we had enough profit to live on,” recalls the 43-year-old cienfueguera, who sells all kinds of memorabilia that can attract interest from abroad: paintings by Compay Segundo, maracas adorned with Cuban flags, cow bone necklaces and Che magnets. continue reading

Other private businesses that lived off tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle / 14ymedio

In the current situation, María Luisa explains, the prices of raw materials have risen so much that “it is not only difficult to get them, but also to make a living from handicrafts… If before those who did better had enough to hire a seller, now it is the artisans themselves who sell the products. Between investments, taxes and paying for table space, many have had to abandon the sales,” she says.

Other private businesses that lived on tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle of the sector. This is the case of the small hostel managed by Alberto, who is worried that this off-season will be the last. The cienfueguero has a two-story Republican era house that he fixed up a few years ago to receive tourists. However, with his age, 72, and how difficult it has become to get food and cleaning supplies, “it’s hard to provide services.”

The costs per night in a private hostel range between 20 and 50 dollars, or, if the owners accept the exchange, its equivalent in MLC (freely convertible currency), depending on the characteristics and location of the place. “Before, food service could be provided to guests, but now between how expensive the food is and how difficult it is to find varied and quality products to offer them what they want, we have almost begun to provide only a simple breakfast.” Offering other services such as the internet, common in other countries, is also a challenge. “It’s spending money on something that most of the time doesn’t work, or the connection is very slow,” he explains.

The house has also begun to show humidity in some corners, which causes Alberto headaches in advance since, if he needs any major repair, the materials will not only be impossible to find, but they will also cost him “an arm and a leg .”

Even so, many of the foreigners who pass through the city prefer a private hostel, which offers a more personalized service, rather than staying in state facilities. It is to be expected, therefore, that these will also suffer from the lack of customers. The La Unión hotel itself, in the city, with a four-star category, recently had all of its 46 rooms empty.

Most of the customers of state hotels are nationals / 14ymedio

“We try to make up for the absence of international tourism with the authorization of services for domestic customers. Although not everyone can afford the prices of our pool or cafes, at least we try to please our visitors, although sometimes we have broken elevators and other deficiencies that cause logical inconvenience to both tourists and employees. Our profits are below what was planned, but we do our best to pay good attention,” a worker of the complex managed by the Spanish Meliá, who has accommodation from 70 dollars a night, explained to this newspaper.

At the end of the chain are the restaurants of the city, many designed to exclusively receive tourists, which have now suddenly been left without a clientele and have had to “adapt.” Facing José Martí park is the El Palatino cafeteria, whose current customers are – contrary to their initial purpose – “cienfuegueros who come to have a coffee, a beer or a drink from the canteen.” Musicians no longer play there, and there are no tips for the waiters, condemned to survive with “very low wages for these times.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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