14ymedio – Page 237 – Translating Cuba

Graffiti, Demonstrations, and Even Masses: Forms of Protest during the Month of January in Cuba

Some of the anti-government protest signs which appeared on the streets of Cuba in January. (Cuban Conflict Observatory)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2022 — Growing repression in Cuba has not prevented anti-government demonstrations. According to the latest report from the Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC), a total of 275 protests occurred in January, the majority (175 or 65%) of which were politically motivated, and among them, 160 had to do with prisoners detained as a result of the July 11th (11J) protests.

“This is highly significant if you consider that since July 11, 2021, Cuban society has endured state terrorism, the extent, brutality, and magnitude of which had not been seen before the largest national rebellion,” states the OCC in its report. “As evidenced in the ongoing trials, any peaceful participant of the protests–even if they are a minor and only expressed themselves on social media–could be sentenced to between 5 and 20 years in prison.

The protests, the Observatory explains, have manifested themselves mostly as “individual or small group actions,” such as painting graffiti or signs, celebrating masses, or posting videos and photos on social media. This strategy has the goal, says the organization of continuing to have “visibility and impact,” while limiting “the risk of repression faced by its implementers.”

The Miami-based NGO compares these figures with those of June 2021, when 240 protests occurred. “The number of monthly protests is an indicator of governability, but the current psychological and material context in which they occur confers immediate severity upon them,” argued the Observatory, which assures that “the hyperinflation predicted by economists is a bad omen” for the government in 2022. continue reading

Last month, the number of protests for economic and social reasons reached over a hundred. These were focused, the organization states, on “the inflationary consequences” of the “Ordering Task*” and the “denunciations” of GAESA, the military conglomerate whose ’tsar’, General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, was revealed to Cubans, according to OCC, but also focused on citizen insecurity and domestic violence.

In this regard, the report stresses the “wave of crime” affecting the Island, exemplified primarily in the number of thefts reported on social media and the independent press, the control of which “the State seems unable or uninterested in prioritizing.”

The OCC highlighted the victory of two of the protests in January: one in Santiago de Cuba, where they closed a pediatric nephrology center and assigned the building to “an unidentified person or entity,” which resulted in the return of the house to the Ministry of Public Health; and the other was the response of the same ministry, which improved supply issues in the Clinical Surgical Hospital in Havana following the appearance of accusations in the independent press.

“The government actions and omissions further weaken governability instead of strengthening it,” stated the Observatory, which asserts that “imposing a system of terror, hardening the penal code, continuing to limit private entrepreneurship and increasing control over food production are deepening the conflict.” They conclude, “The protests are simply the symptoms of the systematic disease which consumes Cuban society.”

*Translator’s note: Tarea ordenamiento = the [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ which is a collection of measures that includes eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and others.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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For 3,000 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Water Comes Once a Month

14ymedio, Madrid, 2 February 2022 — The lack of water supply in some areas of Pinar del Río has reached a point of insanity. For up to 30 days at a time, 3,000 people in several municipalities in the province’s capital are without any water supply, according to Antonio Rodríguez Rodríguez, president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) who visited the area on Tuesday.

The official went to Pinar del Río to announce that the arrival of nine pumping teams, of the 51 teams on the Island, is expected to improve the situation of the territory, which is today the most damaged on the island, although Villa Clara did not lag far behind

Three of these teams will go to the main pipelines, one to the community of Briones Montoto, another to Los Palacios and a fourth will work on re-pumping in the city of Pinar del Río, although no date was given for when families affected by this situation might hope for improvements.

The identified culprits are fundamentally two, the US “blockade” and the “disorderly growth” of the population. “If it were orderly, it would have its infrastructure and we would not have that problem. The analysis points to around 26 settlements that have grown and that today do not receive the service,” said Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman. continue reading

To alleviate the problem, a comprehensive intervention is necessary that includes the pipeline, the distribution network, the storage network and the interior networks that supply the homes.

Workers repair a pipeline in Pinar del Río in 2019 (Juventud Rebelde)

According to Rodríguez Rodríguez, the Council of Ministers approved giving priority to Pinar del Río and Villa Clara in a loan granted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. “This will be a source of financing that will allow us to not only to carry out the investment works, but also to sustain them and guarantee the training of the personnel,” who will operate them in the long term

This last issue seems to be of vital importance since the official explained that the pumping equipment that will arrive soon will be assembled and checked by the Water and Sanitation company to ensure its proper functioning since “not a few of those previously supplied have burned out,” according to the provincial newspaper Guerrillero, which did not add who was responsible for these events.

According to the authorities, 1 contract with the University of Pinar del Río will guarantee the improvement of the management processes of the Aqueduct Company and its municipal division.

Serious supply problems force more than 4,000 people to be supplied with tanker trucks, known as pipas, of which more than 3,000 have “cycles of more than one month,” which is how the Cuban bureaucracy describes the frequency with which, in this precarious way, a service as basic as water is delivered.

Less serious, by comparison, seems to be the situation in Mantua, where it is planned to build a pipeline which will and receive water from tanker trucks roughly very seven days. People living in Herradura and Entronque de Herradura experience the same ’drought’ conditions and interventions are also planned there.

Guerrillero notes that the province constructed a 30-inch pipeline last year, replacing one section with another to eliminate deliveries en route and the worst sections of the 36-inch conductor were eliminated to be able to carry water to the city. Judging by the results, it does not seem that the plan is going very well

In 2021, works of more than 4.5 kilometers were carried out on the main pipeline, in addition to 20 kilometers of networks and pipes that have improved supply, according to the official press, “although difficulties still prevail,” they admit. For this year, 418 interventions are planned, of which 148 will be in the provincial capital “as soon as possible.”

On the Island there are problems in more than 240 of the pumping stations, as evidenced by the usual lack of supply in towns ranging from the capital to small rural towns where water is conspicuous by its absence.

However, Cuba has been exporting engineers to South Africa for almost 10 years to help the Department of Water and Sanitation fight that country’s infrastructure problems and share their knowledge.

In turn, the Cuban state-owned company for the maintenance and repair of hydraulic works and the Spanish electrical supply company ERKA recently joined forces in order to offer “comprehensive services to water and sanitation systems in Cuba.” The agreement also provides for diagnosis, construction, repair, rehabilitation, assembly, start-up and after-sales services, as well as a guarantee on networks and facilities on the Island.

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Religious Fundamentalism in Cuba Does Not Represent a Threat to the Regime

Adiel González Maimó, 31, belongs to the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba (FIBAC). (Jancel Moreno)

14ymedio, Javier Roque Martínez, Havana, 1 February 2022 — Adiel González Maimó, English teacher, theologian and leader of one of the communities that make up the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba (FIBAC), is proof that the Protestant faith is compatible with the defense of LGBTI rights.

At the age of 20, he realized that “he could be a Baptist Christian and love another man without being condemned to hell” within this denomination, which belongs to the official Cuban Council of Churches and is the only one that ordains women.

González, included among the most influential queer people of 2021 by the Cuban platform 11M , speaks in this interview about the relationship between churches and the State and the Family Code bill, which recognizes rights long demanded by the LGBTI community , whose debates begin this Tuesday.

14ymedio. How do you foresee the participation of conservative religious activism now in February, when the Family Code is discussed? Will it be an activism on the same level as the one that occurred during the discussion of the Constitution?

Adiel González Maimó. I believe that the activism against the Family Code is going to make itself felt. In fact, they are already organized around the campaign for a school without gender ideology. And after their partial achievement on this issue (Ministerial Resolution 16/2021 whose application was postponed) they are now going to focus on the Family Code.

They are going to oppose the issues of same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, assisted reproduction for same-gender couples, and supportive gestation, which are rights that are directly linked to the LGBTI community, and also [against] an issue that they worries a lot, which is that of parental responsibility. Those are going to be the points that they are going to focus on.

What probably won’t happen is that these churches launch large demonstrations in the streets. First because of the health situation. And, second, because I believe that we are not going to see events like these in Cuba again for a long time, at least not anything of a character contrary to the Cuban Government or to any of the initiatives of the Cuban Government.

14ymedio. In 2018, during the debate on the new Constitution, many churches managed to organize and pressure the State, especially to prevent the recognition of the right to equal marriage. What weight did this have in the visibility that Christianity has gained since then?

AGM. Undoubtedly, 2018 marked a before and after in terms of the visibility of conservative and fundamentalist Christianity. That year something unprecedented happened: different denominations, which generally do not have such close ties – at least institutionally – and that generally do not come together for almost anything, created a united front against article 68. That was a historic event. We are talking about the largest Protestant Churches: the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Methodists, who formed a front that I call anti-LGTB because, basically, their opposition was to same-sex marriage. continue reading

14ymedio. Some religious groups claim that they actually campaigned more broadly for individual rights, but that all the attention went to the issue of same-sex marriage. Do you think this is a fair claim?

AGM. Their opposition was to same-sex marriage. This was the case, regardless of whether within these Churches there were pastors who advocated a multi-party system or the direct election of the president. There are pastors in the Methodist Church or in the Western Baptist Convention, for example, who have positions contrary to the prevailing political, economic and social system in Cuba, but that does not mean that these are the positions of the denominations. That has to be completely separated. The common agenda was against article 68, not against the Communist Party.

14ymedio. After that, the Alliance of Evangelical Churches was created, an independent organization that in some way challenges the Council of Churches of Cuba. That was also historic.

AGM. Yes, but it was something very ephemeral. The Alliance arises against the Council of Churches, because the Council never ruled against article 68: it gave its members the freedom to freely decide what position to take. The Alliance then arises, but it fractures shortly after because the agenda seemed to take on a more political nuance, different from the traditional anti-LGTBI. So some denominations decided to leave. They never said it publicly, but it is clear that one of the causes was the marked right-wing character that some leaders of these fundamentalist churches were taking. That is why others decided to separate, so that one thing [would not] mix with the other. None of this was explicitly stated, but I read it between the lines.

14ymedio. What do you mean when you say that it began to disintegrate due to the right-wing character of some of its leaders?

AGM. Because its founding leaders had well-known public relations with figures such as Teo Babun and the Evangelical Christian Humanitarian Outreach for Cuba (ECHO-Cuba), an organization considered subversive by the Cuban government and linked at the time to the Donald Trump government.

That is why it was known that this initiative was not going to prosper. And so much so that, three months after its foundation, one of the denominations that created it, the Baptist Convention of Western Cuba, left, and with certainty the pressure from the Cuban authorities was a determining factor in this decision.

14ymedio. Do you think then that the Alliance has been a failure?

AGM. I think so. Nothing has been heard of this organization for a long time. They have made no more pronouncements, not even in the face of the events that have occurred in the country in recent months: the demonstrations of July 11, the proposal of [a demonstration on] November 15 or the presentation of the Family Code itself and its approval in the Assembly in December 2021. Nothing has been heard from that organization and I do not think it will be heard from again, unless they are reactivated now, during the popular consultation on the Family Code, where it is proposed to approve equal marriage and other rights that favor the LGBTIQ+ community, which is the only concern of this type of organization.

14ymedio. Is it fair to attribute the non-inclusion of same-sex marriage in the Constitution only to the effect of the campaigns carried out by conservative religious groups, or do you think it was also an issue that divided the ruling party and even society in general?

AGM. No. The non-inclusion of same-sex marriage in the 2019 Constitution was not only due to the campaign unleashed by fundamentalist churches, although it was a key factor. Hetero-patriarchy is an evil that survives in Cuban society, despite the advances that have been achieved in recent decades. That evil was presented with great force in the popular debates around the Constitution and what was then article 68. And, at the same time, it is not a secret to anyone that there was opposition within the leadership of the State and the Cuban Government, in the Communist Party itself and even in the National Assembly of People’s Power.

14ymedio. Several Latin American countries are registering an accelerated growth of the Neo-Pentecostal fundamentalist Churches. Do you think it is the same in Cuba?

AGM. Neo-Pentecostalism is not yet a numerically powerful force in Cuba, as far as I know. Here fundamentalism is more visible in Churches with a longer history of presence and work in our country: the Western and Eastern Baptist Conventions, the Methodist Church, the Evangelical League, the Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church and other Pentecostal denominations that have been working in Cuba since the 1950s.

14ymedio. Why do you think Christian fundamentalism has gained strength in Cuba? What are the causes behind this strengthening?

AGM. It was in the 90s of the last century when this phenomenon manifested itself with greater force and visibility. It was the time of the boom of religious practice in Cuba, and not only within Christianity. The reasons are diverse, but without a doubt the collapse of the socialist camp and the infamous Special Period, with all its shortages and challenges, prompted people to seek refuge from the collapse of the entire philosophical and life system they had believed until that moment, with all that this implied in the economic, political-social and ideological spheres. Since then, within the religious sectors that have grown most steadily, the conservative and fundamentalist churches stand out. This is also the case in the rest of Latin America.

In these churches, spaces for socialization and empowerment are created, especially for young people, something that I see as positive. At the same time, many of them emphasize prosperity and economic well-being, all favored by simplistic and sensationalist messages and activities where technology and social networks play an increasingly important role. And in a country like Cuba, where social inequalities and deficiencies in a large part of the population are increasingly pressing, the existence of these spaces of hope and even of escape from daily problems is, without a doubt, attractive.

AGM. Would you say that it is the poorest people who are approaching the Protestant religion?

AGM. In these Churches, the experience of faith is promoted more than critical logic, and that may be a reason why the less favored groups of society, say the poorest, with the lowest (levels of) education, join them. That is a reality, although it hurts to admit it. But this does not mean – because there is sometimes a cliché – that these churches are filled only with marginalized people or groups. That is not entirely true. In these Churches there are also many professionals and educated people, which speaks of the complexity of this phenomenon.

14ymedio. What worries you most about the advance of fundamentalism?

AGM. The point is that the Christian fundamentalist system of thought is uncompromising. It shows an inability to dialogue and refuses to accept alternatives or criticism of their way of understanding a doctrine or another aspect of reality. In addition, it defends the hetero-patriarchal model of family and society. For this reason, it is capable of violating the human rights of communities such as LGBTIQ+ and women.

14ymedio. Several Protestant pastors were imprisoned or repressed after 11J. Do you see a greater distancing of the Churches from the Government since then, including a greater confrontation?

AGM. I do not think there is a [greater] distancing of the denominations from the Government. There were pastors repressed or imprisoned for demonstrating on July 11 and there was a solidarity movement of some other pastors towards them, but since they were released, everything has remained there.

There are Churches whose beliefs do not coincide with the positions of the Cuban Government in many aspects. These Churches have generally declared themselves apolitical. But this is a position of distancing, not of confrontation, although there are pastors who do confront each other more openly. That has been the case historically and has not changed since July 11th.

14ymedio. But some of the Churches that are not recognized by the State have been more activist.

AGM. There are other minority groups, also fundamentalists, who have maintained a position of more opposition, of confrontation, but they are small groups.

And, at the same time, there is a third side: that of the Churches, pastors or ecumenical movements, whose beliefs have points in common with the Cuban Government: groups within the Presbyterian Churches, the Fraternity of Baptist Churches, some independent ones, institutions that belong to the Council of Churches. They are the ones who met with President Díaz-Canel. These groups make criticisms, but they don’t walk away.

14ymedio. Do you think it is possible that Christianity has a relevant role in the opposition to the Cuban regime (as Catholicism had in the fall of communism in Poland, for example)?

AGM. I don’t think so at all. The Churches and their members have different positions regarding the political-social system that exists in Cuba today. Some offer explicit support, without the slightest doubt, although with criticisms of the system; others with a tacit opposition, not open; and, to a lesser extent, an explicit confrontational opposition with the government. But, at the same time, the denominations have interests to take care of so as not to lose their capacity for work and dialogue with the Cuban authorities. That is an inescapable reality, no one can ignore it.

So, yes: opposition initiatives exist, dissidents within the Christian sector exist, as they exist in society as a whole; but at the moment I don’t see it as something significant, something that will make a big difference, beyond the traditional opposition to the approval of rights for the Cuban LGBTIQ+ community.

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Editor’s Note: This work was supported by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IPWR), written by Javier Roque Martínez and edited by 14ymedio. The IPWR is an independent, nonprofit organization that works with the media and civil society to promote positive change in conflict zones, closed societies, and countries in transition around the world.

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U.S. Pears for Sale in Cuba, but Only to Those with Hard Currency

The pears being sold are of the Anjou variety, grown in Oregon and Washington and distributed by CMI Orchards (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, January 31, 2022 — Plump, clean, green pears were for sale on Monday at Galerias Paseo de El Vedado, a hard currency store in Havana, for $0.90. One surprised customer’s face said it all when saw the sticker indicating the fruit’s origin. “American pears in Havana?” she asked the store clerk as she pondered the product. “Yes, yes,” he said. “They’re very good. Nice and sweet.”

The woman, a fifty-year-old who has lived with the U.S. embargo her entire life, asked incredulously, “Can these be imported under the blockade?”

The pears were of the Anjou variety, grown in Oregon and Washington and distributed by CMI Orchards, one of the latter state’s largest producers.

In spite of their high price, the customer could not resist and decided to buy five. “I hope they’re worth it considering how expensive they are,” she sighed as she wandered off with a full shopping bag.

The government as well as official media outlets routinely blame the U.S. “blockade” for all the island’s economic woes without ever mentioning that the country can import American food as well as medicines as long as it pays for them in cash. In fact, the United States is Cuba’s largest supplier of chickens.

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Cuba’s New Penal Code Maintains the Right to Kill

In most cases, the death penalty is applied in the name of defending the interests of the State and the legitimacy of its institutions.

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 31 January 2022 — The death penalty, by firing squad, appears as one of the applicable sanctions in 28 articles of Cuba’s new Penal Code, still pending approval. Also included among the main sanctions are deprivation of liberty, correctional work with and without internment, home confinement, service for the benefit of the community, limitation of liberty, fine and reprimand.

Of all of them, the only irreversible sanction is death and it is imposed, leaving the accused with the hope of reducing it to a life sentence or 30 years in prison, as has happened since an imprecise moratorium was introduced, 19 years ago.

In most cases, this sanction is applied in the name of defending the interests of the State and the legitimacy of its institutions.

This is how it is expressed in the articles numbered from 112 to 116 that refer to the participation in an armed aggression under a foreign flag or engaging in espionage; article 119 typifies the different variables of an armed uprising with the purpose of changing the Constitution or the Government; 121, for those who organize or participate in a social revolt; 123, foresees the action of armed forces insubordinate to the central command or a palace coup, and others where mercenaryism, the violation of maritime or air space, the use of chemical weapons or explosives are mentioned. continue reading

Of particular interest is what is specified in Article 154, according to which the death penalty is imposed on “whoever executes an act against the life, bodily integrity, freedom or safety of any person who, due to the nature of the activities carried out, enjoys relevant recognition in society, or against their closest relatives.”

These crimes against the powers of the State probably do not excite the public enough to provoke enough approval to apply the death penalty; perhaps for this reason, as a “righteous bait” that will surely have the unrestricted support of the population, Article 344, refers to the murder of a person, and becomes explicit when narrating the presumed aggravating circumstances that would justify a sentence to the firing squad.

Among the aggravating circumstances is mentioned that the act has been committed for a price, reward or benefit of any kind; if it has been carried out against a person who is notoriously incapable of adequately defending himself; if it has been motivated by gender discrimination; if the suffering of the victim causing other unnecessary harm deserving execution for the crime; if it involved premeditation; and if, when executing the act, it was done knowing that, at the same time, the life of another person or persons was in danger.

Other aggravating details are added, such as acting out of sadistic impulses or brutal perversity; having illegally deprived the victim of his liberty before killing him; committing the murder with the motive or occasion or as a consequence of committing a crime of robbery with force on objects, robbery with violence or intimidation of people, corruption of minors or sexual assault. It is difficult not to want to punish these atrocities with death.

Once social acceptance of the State’s right to legally kill a citizen is achieved, a dissuasive weapon of enormous power has been achieved to prevent any destabilizing action.

The subject is thorny.

At the end of 2002, the Moderate Opposition for Reflection Roundtable published a Charter of Rights and Duties for Cuban citizens. The first article of that charter, which undoubtedly intended to inspire a new Constitution, stated: “Every Cuban has the right to life. No Cuban may be sentenced to death or executed.” In the debates that arose between various civil society organizations, the most controversial point was precisely that of the abolition of the death penalty.

As a spokesperson for that project, I had the opportunity to hear numerous arguments for and against. I remember what a passionate father of a family used to say, whom I will call Juan Martínez out of elementary discretion: “If someone rapes or kills a child of mine, he deserves the death penalty.” And someone replied: “And what happens if it is your child who rapes or kills another? Do we have to put in the Bill of Rights that the death penalty is correct if the child of Juan Martínez is the victim, but If it turns out that that child is the perpetrator, then it does not proceed.

There was a dramatic silence in the small room where the issue was being discussed. When the controversial point was put to the vote, everyone was in favor of the proposed wording, including the vote of Juan Martínez.

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Petition to the European Parliament to give the Sakharov Prize to the Cubans of 11J

The Council believes that this recognition of 11J would be “a strong message in times of democratic uncertainty.” (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Madrid, 31 January 2022 — The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba has proposed to the European Parliament that it award the 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression to José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Félix Navarro Rodríguez as representatives of the July 11th Demonstrators from the spheres of politics, culture and civics and humanitarian empathy.

In a statement signed by its four vice presidents, Marthadela Tamayo, Manuel Cuesta, Juan A. Madrazo and Iris Ruiz, and its Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Elena Larrinaga, the Council believes that this recognition would be “a strong message in times of democratic uncertainty,” and believes that, although the protests last July were spontaneous and nobody had to call them, these three leaders have promoted demands over time that have planted in Cubans the spirit that took them to the streets on that day.

“The three went out to unite and lead, if that were the case, the demonstrations in their respective territories. That is why they were imprisoned exactly on that day or on another,” adds the text, which also recalls that the three are in Cuban prisons. “In the fleetingness of their attempt to accompany the citizens in these days, they communicated the new social fact of Cuban civic and political life: leadership is not in the constituted power, but in the power to be constituted.”

The Council reviews the relationship of each of the candidates with the events of 11J. In the case of Félix Navarro Rodríguez, the citizens managed to prevent his arrest; Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara called on protesters to come out when he saw that protests had already broken out in some cities and he was arrested near the Malecón in Havana; while José Daniel Ferrer marched and was arrested in his city, Santiago de Cuba, where he was being cheered by those demonstrating alongside him. continue reading

“Many protesters are in prison today; these leaders are with them,” claims the text, which ends by assuring that “giving them the 2022 Sakharov Prize would distinguish both the Cuban people and three of its best leaders in a single act of recognition to the new democratic citizenships.”

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize since 1988, and it is an award named in honor of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, which recognizes exceptional individuals and organizations in their defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Endowed with 50,000 euros, since its creation it has been received by personalities such as the South African leader Nelson Mandela, the young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, the Spanish platform ¡Basta Ya! and, this last year, the Russian opponent Alexei Navalni.

In Cuba, the Ladies in White and Guillermo Coco Fariñas have won the award. Fariñas and Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, recently threatened to return the prize if the European Union does not change its policy towards Cuba.

“The Sakharov Prize must be a commitment by all parties to never use diplomatic silence in the face of human rights violations and, even less, in the face of crimes against humanity,” they said in two letters sent to the community institutions.

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In Cuba, Bread and an Ideological Circus for Jose Marti’s Birthday

The animators of the activity invited children and young people to repeat slogans and sing political songs, although without much success, since most of them were focused on reaching for something to put in their mouths. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 January 2022 — “What a way to have bread here!” said a resident of Infanta Street in Central Havana, speaking sarcastically this Friday while waiting to shop at one of the improvised kiosks in Martyrs’ Park where, for the 169th anniversary of the birth of José Martí, the government held a political act accompanied by a food sale.

“I hope they continue to do these fairs, but in the neighborhood bakeries they have a hard time,” added the woman standing on a corner located a short distance from where the teenage Martí was sentenced by the Spanish colony to forced labor in the quarries of Saint Lazarus.

Very early in the morning, the park was decorated with July 26th flags, which had nothing to do with the birth of the national hero, while elementary and high school students were brought to the place to create a supposed crowd that commemorated the date. The animators of the activity invited children and young people to repeat slogans and sing political songs, although without much success, since most of them were focused on reaching for something to put in their mouths. continue reading

The main attraction of the celebration was concentrated in two tents where they offered snacks and bags of bread, an increasingly scarce product on the Island where the lack of flour and other ingredients hits production hard. Nor was it enough to be there. Those who wanted to buy had to form a huge line and as soon as the products were sold out, the rest of the crowd left the place.

“The bread is done, the activity is done,” said one of the last attendees to leave Martyrs’ Park, having barely managed to buy two loaves of bread with their corresponding croquettes.

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‘Comunistas Cuba’ Supports the July 11th Protests and Condemns the ‘Exemplary’ Sentences

Many people point to the existence of a growing movement on the Island, which identifies as leftist but is not in favor of the Cuban government.

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 January 2022 — The left, in solidarity with the July 11th protesters, “fulfills its socialist commitment to support the working class,” stated Comunistas Cuba, a Trotskyist group that opposes the current government leadership and which published a statement positioning itself against the trials of the July 11th protesters.

In a long preamble referencing Marxist theory, Comunistas Cuba stated that those who took to the streets on July 11, 2021, were a group of workers who experience hunger and need, tired of “the bureaucracy which sharpened the economic crisis when it imposed the Ordering Task*” and which does not suffer its consequences.

In line with what it considers the opposition, Comunistas Cuba believes that the population there was making demands that were not only economic but also political because “they clashed against a political system, which increasingly reserves the revolutionary and socialist only for discourse. They cannot think as the people think if they do not live as the people live,” they add.

The statement accepts the concept of the “imperialist blockade,” but refuses to completely attribute the social uprising to it. However, it believes there has been enormous neglect of the most populous neighborhoods for a long time, from the infrastructure and basic supplies to lack of spiritual services and increasing inequality. continue reading

“What can the Cuban working class do when faced with this if the bureaucracy does not listen; when each time its young intellectuals critique, they are questioned politically, even branded as counterrevolutionaries; when syndicates** are far from fulfilling the mandate of the working class and the working class is far from wielding power? July 11th was nothing more than a desperate expression of the Cuban working class,” they write.

The statement takes stock of the data provided by the prosecutor’s office on January 24th, which stated that 790 people have been indicted and that, according to Comunistas Cuba, underestimates the number of people who took to the streets since the 790 represents only a small portion of those who were arrested, and not all who participated were arrested.

Furthermore, it is strongly against the reaction of the authorities and security forces. “A State which represses the working class for protesting demanding economic changes is a State which is far from being socialist.”

Comunistas Cuba requests that its defense of antigovernment protesters not be confused with support for right-wing opposition, or those who work for the United States, “and try to impose on Cuba a pro-imperialist, anti-communist capitalist dictatorship” and specifically mention José Daniel Ferrer.

“Our claim is in solidarity with the working class, not with those who conspire to impose a system which subjects the working class to imperialist exploitation,” they specify.

The statement believes the marches were historic and the international left has an obligation not to “turn a deaf ear to what occurred before and after the protests.”

Comunistas Cuba also highlights how young the protesters were and deplores any attempt to stain their reputations by describing them as delinquents when only 21% of them had prior records, according to data provided by the prosecutor’s office; these data have been questioned by other organizations due to the types of crimes with which they are charged, among other reasons.

They also consider the trials unacceptable, “clearly politically motivated,” and the imposition of sentences “exemplary.”

“The Cuban Communist Party’s strategy against the July 11th protests is Machiavellian, not Marxist.”

Another sector that does not escape the criticism of the group is the civilians who are willing to do the work of the police or military. “Citizens who, although not members of the police corps, were protected by the Government and beat protesters; they enjoy complete impunity or at the very least, have not been referred to publicly. The weight of the law must also come down on those citizens,” they demand.

The statement concludes with a demand that those being unjustly accused be pardoned, especially those younger than 20 years who were demanding their rights either peacefully, or in legitimate self-defense.

“We demand the immediate approval of the protest law so that the right to expression in the streets is not illegal, and those who exercise their right to protest are not criminalized or attacked politically,” they conclude before finishing off with various Marxist slogans.

The Comunistas Cuba group is not large, but is mostly young, according to people close to it who point to the existence of a growing movement on the Island which identifies as leftist but is not in favor of the Cuban government, viewed as a bureaucratic and bourgeoise elite.

Translator’s notes:

*Tarea ordenamiento = the [so-called] ‘Ordering Task’ which is a collection of measures that includes eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and others. ** These syndicates are associations of workers, but they don’t have bargaining power, like a real union

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Berta Soler Arrested When She Asks for Freedom for Political Prisoners in Cuba

The moment when the leader of the Ladies in White is arrested. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 30 January 2022 — On Sunday, women in plainclothes at the service of Cuba’s State Security arrested Berta Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White, “as she left the organization’s headquarters in the Lawton neighborhood in Havana,” denounced the activist Ángel Moya Acosta.

Moya published a video showing the moment Soler was arrested carrying a gladiolus and launching slogans calling for the “freedom of political prisoners” and respect for human rights. “Down with the dictatorship. Down with Diaz-Canel,” the activist was heard saying while a repressive act was deployed against her.

On January 24, Berta Soler and Bárbara Farrat were detained and held for several hours as they left the organization’s national headquarters in Lawton in Havana, where they had gathered to peacefully protest for the freedom of political prisoners.

Farrat spent 10 hours in the Cotorro Police Unit, where she refused to drink water or eat food and was released after being fined 30 pesos. Berta Soler, Lourdes Esquivel, Gladys Capote and Yolanda Santana were held in cells at police stations in Cotorro and Guanabacoa and fined 2,000 pesos each, in addition to being warned by the authorities. continue reading

Soler had already announced that the demonstration on the 23rd will be followed by others on coming Sundays. “We will continue repeating our presence and it is extremely important that more people join, so that the repressors understand that families are active for the release of their loved ones.”

Moya had already warned of acts of repression since last Friday. “Operation underway today, by the repressors of State Security against the headquarters of the Ladies in White in Lawton in Havana,” he posted on his social networks with three images of men in civilian clothes at the service of State Security.

On Saturday the 22nd, one day before the demonstration by the Ladies in White, Soler announced that they were threatened in the province of Matanzas and in Havana with “prison and fines of 5,000 Cuban pesos,” if they insisted on taking to the streets.

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Coup de Grace at the Havana Book Fair

Volumes with the face of Fidel Castro and others praising the Communist Party at the 2020 Book Fair, the last one held. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 30 January 2022 — There was a time when I would leave school and walk as fast as I could until I reached several used book stores that were on my way home. After completing the journey, it was not uncommon to have in my hands a volume of Victor Hugo, some compendium of science fiction stories, or a tome on the French Revolution. That anxiety became more intense during the days of the Havana Book Fair, when many Cubans hoped to find something new to read.

This year, the main publishing party on the Island has been postponed as a result of covid-19, but the event has been languishing for years. The moments of greatest dynamism and influx of international authors that were experienced at the beginning of this century are a thing of the past. Those days ,when I was lucky enough to experience the Fair from within as an employee of the Gente Nueva [New People] publishing house, remain in my memory. That immersion in its inner workings allowed me to know the deep problems that would end up accelerating its death throes.

Censorship marked the Fair from its beginning. It wasn’t uncommon for a title to be put back in its boxes on the very day it was released and for some justification to be invented to prevent it from reaching readers. I had to see beautiful stories dedicated to children that were never sold because their author has just gone into exile and made critical statements about the regime. More than once, directors panicked when they noticed that a text by Mario Vargas Llosa or a novel by Milan Kundera had slipped in among the foreign books.

But it was not only a matter of censorship. All of us who worked on the fairs held each February dedicated more than 16 hours a day to making the event happen. The conditions in which we worked were terrible. Many times there was no water to drink, continue reading

lunch arrived late and we were subject to the annoyance of readers who did not understand the delays and the absence of certain authors. We were the targets of anger and exploitation.

The invited authors did not have a very good time either. While some internationally renowned figures were treated like royalty, most locals saw bureaucracy and extremism take the shine off their literary moment. It was not infrequent for releases initially announced with hundreds of copies, to appear with barely a dozen for sale. Copyright payments were as meager as they were convoluted to collect.

The Fair has also been killed by the inability to acquire the right to distribute the great works that have been written in the last quarter century. The mania for pirating books and not paying a penny for their massive printing, that characterized the “revolutionary impetus” of the 1960s and 1970s, left the Island as a predator in the eyes of the planet’s big publishing houses.

Little by little, the meeting at La Cabaña fortress – a place with dark connotations for freedom – became the fanfare of an inaugural speech, the naming of a guest of honor country granted more for political convenience than for literary merit, and a space to shop for knitted purses, woodcut horoscopes, hot dogs and football stickers. Good titles became increasingly scarce and difficult to acquire due to their prices.

Last Sunday, when I learned of the postponement of the Havana Book Fair, I did not feel sorry for that teenager who hastened her pace to climb the hill that separates the bay tunnel from the first moat of the colonial fortress. Rather, I had a moment of relief knowing that the corpse of what was a good time for reading will be able to rest in peace for a few more weeks, without so much manipulation.

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The Three Options of a Cuban: Obedience, Escape or Rebellion

On July 11th, 2021 thousands of Cubans at various points throughout the Island participated in the largest act of rebellion in the history of the country. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, January 29th, 2022 — To say it poorly and quickly, for a Cuban who lives on the island subject to the current dictatorship, only three options remain: obedience, escape, or rebellion.

Obedience

Obedience can be taken on consciously, accepted for fear of the consequences of rebelling, or mimicked to create a space for escape.

Those who consciously accept it are the ones who possess a militancy based on their convictions. They act as soldiers, convinced that “the boss’s orders embody a mandate of the Homeland,” believing that those who occupy those very high positions are enlightened bearers of a solid political foundation and grantors of all the elements necessary to make the decisions; elements which can not always be divulged because discretion is a weapon of war and the enemy must not know everything.

Those who obey out of fear have come to the conviction that any rebellion is useless because it would be mercilessly quashed, whereas they view the crumbs offered to them as an advantage. Their low self-esteem leads them to believe (with or without reason) that they would not be capable of surviving or prospering in the competitive society to which they could escape.

The mimics are difficult to identify, because they can far exceed the displays of enthusiasm and “revolutionary fervor” of those who are genuinely convinced. You see them at the reaffirmation marches waving little flags and smiling for the cameras; applauding, praising, raising their hands to approve whatever is proposed, and, if necessary, wielding a club to confront opponents. Until their visa is approved and they gather enough money for a ticket.

The price of obedience is the surrender of oneself. The prize, the peace of not ending up in jail, and the security of counting on the assigned quota of misery.

Escape

It is difficult to calculate the exact number of Cubans who have chosen this option. To know it would require adding those who already have a continue reading

residency, even citizenship in another point on the planet; those who live outside the country but return to “punch the card” before the 24 months required by law for them not to be considered emigrants, and sadly, those who rest at the bottom of the sea in the cemetery in the Florida Straits.

The decision to emigrate is not as dramatic today as it was in the half-century during which the concept of “definite departure” was in force, although black lists still exist to deny entry to those who are “inconvenient” or to sanction for several years those who are considered “deserters.”

“Traitors will not return here,” pounded the hymn of the National Revolutionary Militias in 1960, when everyone who “abandoned the country” was considered an enemy. Two decades later, in the midst of the Mariel stampede, they were described as scum. “We don’t want them, we don’t need them,” argued the commander.

When it was discovered that money could flow from abroad, the discourse changed in an attempt to depoliticize emigration. The so-called “economic motives” as a reason for escaping were used similarly by authorities to portray a normal country and by some emigrants who didn’t want “to look for problems.”

There have been many forms of escape: risking one’s life at sea or in the jungle; asking family members to legally sponsor loved ones who remained on the Island; staying behind while on an official mission, a cultural event, sports competition; requesting humanitarian refuge. The thing is to leave.

The price paid for this option is being uprooted, referring to metaphorical cultural, spiritual, familial roots which ground an individual to a place. The prize, if one arrives, are the fruits: the tangible fruits obtained through one’s own efforts.

Rebellion

When a person respects himself, he is not in a position to obey that which is unacceptable to him. That is the case of children who confront the absurd imposition of authoritarian parents; women who break up with their abusive husbands; a worker who encourages a strike to force the employer to increase salaries or improve work conditions, and the citizen unsatisfied with his/her government.

In countries not governed by a dictatorship, citizens are not forced to escape their country because they have, through their vote at the polls, a civilized alternative to change things. Furthermore, they have the right to rebel, expressed in the sacred right to take to the streets and protest, appealing to a degree of violence that, from the ethical point of view, is acceptable if they do not manage to be heard by peaceful means.

Rebellion has a history in Cuba. But there is no space to tell the story the whole world knows. The latest dictatorship in our history (hopefully the last) is also the longest-serving and the one that has produced the most victims.

Rebels in the mountains, armed explorers, terrorists, conspirators of all kinds were active in the 1960s. The options of peaceful resistance appeared later, defenders of human rights, political party organizers, civil society activists, independent journalists. Rebels, all of them.

On July 11th, 2021, thousands of Cubans at various points throughout the Island participated in the largest act of rebellion in the history of the country. Not against the colony, nor against the dictatorships of Gerardo Machado or Fulgencio Batista, did this many people take to the streets on a single day to protest, to demand freedom and rights.

They were the ones who refused to continue obeying, the ones who wanted to change the country, not to change countries.

The price of rebellion during the last 63 years has been high: executions, long prison sentences, attacks on your reputation, prohibitions on leaving the country, the impossibility of practicing your profession. The prize is reduced, for the moment, to the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing what is correct.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cabaret Montmartre, Moscow Restaurant and Now a Hotel under Construction

A sign on the corner of Humboldt Street indicating construction at the site of the old Moscow restaurant. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, January 21, 2022 — A red and yellow sign on 23rd Street in Havana’s Vedado district alerts passersby to one of the city’s latest building projects. “P Street closed. Detour through O Street,” it reads in capital letters, turning an onlooker’s gaze towards the site of the old Moscow restaurant, where workers were setting up a construction fence on Friday.

The building’s neighbors, who for decades have been complaining about the ruin, a breeding ground for mosquitoes and rats, look on in wonder at what would seem to be repairs were it not for the sign at the corner of Humboldt Street that clearly states the purpose of the work: “Hotel under Construction.”

Faced with years-long complaints and public discontent, authorities announced their intention to demolish the building, arguing that the extensive damaged caused by the 1989 fire, combined with years of abandonment, made it impossible to save the structure.

They later unveiled a plan on television to demolish the main structure while preserving the existing underground parking garage in order to construct a new hotel on the site.

Over the course of its history the site has had several uses: a dairy farm, then Havana’s first greyhound race course in the 1940s, followed by the luxurious Café Montmartre in the 1940s. With two bars and a casino, it wasopen every evening and featured live music. continue reading

The most famous stars of the era paraded through the French-style nightclub: Mexican composer Agustín Lara, Spanish singer and dancer Lola Flores and, of course, Cuba’s own Benny Moré, Olga Guillot and Rita Montaner. It was reported that, in 1947, Frank Sinatra cut into a giant cake amid its lavish interiors in celebration of his recent wedding to Ava Gardner.

It was here also that Fulgencio Batista’s head of military intelligence, Antonio Blanco Rico, was assassinated.

When Fidel Castro came to power, the business was appropriated and converted to a workers’ canteen. In the 1960s it was turned into the Moscow restaurant, coinciding with the country becoming a Soviet satellite, with a menu featuring Russian specialties. One of its signature dishes was solyanka, a soup made with an abundance of sliced meats.

“An uncle of mine was a captain in one of the Moscow’s dining rooms,” recalls Sandra, a 45-year-old Havana native who remembers stories he used to tell her. “My brother and I were fascinated by a book, printed in Russia, that told you all there was to know about the restaurant. That’s how we learned the difference between a meat knife and a butter knife.”

One weekend in 1989, when the building was undergoing repairs, a fire broke out in the restaurant’s lower floor that ultimately destroyed the whole place. It seems to have been an omen. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union collapsed.

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A Call for Governments that Host Cuban Workers to ‘Say No to Forced Labor’

In addition to the situation of doctors and health workers, they also denounced that of teachers, cruise ship staff, architects, engineers, and even artists. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 26, 2022 — Not only are doctors and health workers affected by the harsh work regimen of the so-called international ’missions’, but so are thousands of other professionals such as teachers, cruise ship workers, architects, engineers, and even artists.

During a videoconference, organizations presented the third addendum to the claim of abuses committed by the Cuban regime during the international sale of services, initially submitted in 2019 to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations.

As the liberal Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and event co-organizer, Dita Charanzová, said, the report includes “the testimony of Cuban professionals outside of Cuba who have been subjected to grave injustices, persecution, slavery, threats, violence, harassment, family separation.”

With that, they aim to show how a total of 1,111 professionals from different sectors were “used by the regime as propaganda to show solidarity with other countries,” when, noted the Czech MEP, “this does not reflect the real intentions of the Cuban Government.” The original 2019 claim, with 110 witness statements, was expanded one year later to include 622 statements.

For Charanzová, “governments that receive these services from Cuba should be firm and demand changes,” and “say no to slavery and forced labor.” continue reading

The MEP also mentioned that the European Union will soon submit legislation on sustainable corporate governance and, in that context, will request “consideration for the situation of Cuban workers on international missions.”

Furthermore, she insisted that the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement EU-Cuba, signed in 2016, “is not working,” for which reason she insists it be suspended and sanctions applied, within the EU’s legal framework, against the Cubans responsible for violations of human rights. The MEP also criticized the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, who in her judgment, “has not put any pressure on the (Cuban) regime to comply with the Agreement.”

The Cuban Government’s international missions are designed for professionals to work in other countries. Although the initiative is usually associated with contingents of doctors, for decades it has placed more than 400,000 professionals in 164 countries; musicians, cruise ship workers, engineers, athletes, and professors also participate, very notoriously, for example in the case of Venezuela.

In a survey of 894 anonymous informants, completed by three NGOs, 75% confirmed that they did not participate in the missions voluntarily and 13% alleged coercion. Eighty-seven percent reported that economic factors influenced their decision and 66% confessed wanting to escape the situation they faced with the lack of alternatives on the Island.

The report also provides documentary evidence of the so-called eight-year law, which prohibits entry into Cuba during this period of time for professionals who abandon their mission early or do not return to complete it.

These organizations have obtained, among other documents, a consular certificate that declares one a “deserter” and another which ratifies the denial of entry of a Cuban citizen into his own country.

There are two payment models for missions, the report explains. In the first, the worker is paid by Cuba, and receives between 9% and 25% of what Cuba charges the host country. According to these NGOs, the Cuban government pays professionals an average of $525 a month, while charging, on average, more than $3,500 per person, pocketing 85% of their salary.

In the second model, a state-owned staffing agency, which functions as an intermediary, takes a commission on the salary, normally between 75% and 90% of the base salary. The NGOs present documents with regard to this, for example, a worker for the Italian-Swiss cruise ship company, MSC, receives a salary of 408 euros a month, of which 326.40 euros are garnished, leaving the worker with 81.60 euros for a month’s labor.

This specific company is also named in the report as one of the beneficiaries of the system. In this manner, it has employed thousands of Cuban workers with an average monthly salary of $727 per month (640 euros), which includes the portion controlled by Cuba and an undeclared portion. This sum is much lower than the minimum wage established in Europe, especially for jobs with a 77-hour workweek without days off.

The document also points to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which retained 5% of the salaries of 8,400 Cuban doctors who, every year for six years, worked in the Mais Médicos [More Doctors] program in Brazil. In 2018 alone PAHO obtained $128 million through this mechanism.

The report also shows how the sale of professional services, which are referred to as Cuba’s international missions, is the largest source of hard currency for the country, greater than remittances and tourism, since at least 2005.

Shortly after the report was published, without referencing it, the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, criticized the United States on Wednesday for associating the international missions with human trafficking. “The false accusations of the U.S. Secretary of State which links Cuba with human trafficking seeks to tarnish the solidarity efforts of Cuban medical cooperation, which saves lives and the merits of which are unquestionably recognized by the international community,” tweeted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, one day after Blinken accused the governments of Cuban, China, North Korea and Russia of participating in human trafficking.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Havana Firefighters Travel by Tricycle

The vehicle belongs to Command 1, which is located on Agramonte street, on the corner of Corrales, in Old Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 28 January 2022 — An electric tricycle belonging to the fire department caught the attention this Thursday afternoon of many passers-by on Carlos III Avenue, in the Cuban capital. The vehicle was traveling along with three other units of Command 1, which is based on Agramonte street, corner of Corrales, in Old Havana.

A soldier was driving the brand new red tricycle with a beacon on the roof, while two others were riding in the back together with some equipment that is usually used in emergencies such as building collapses and fires.

To the deteriorated fleet of fire trucks and cars, which is made up of the Russian-made Zil, the Chinese Howo Sinotruck and the Japanese Isuzu, these electric tricycles are now added, which reach a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour and an approximate range of 45 miles per charge. The vehicles are similar to those used by the routes covered by the Ecotaxis in the Cuban capital.

See 14ymedio instagram video here.
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The Acquittal of Three July 11th Protesters on the Isle of Youth Suggests a Shift in the Prosecutor’s Office

Police operation outside the Santa Clara court that tried 11J protesters on January 10. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 28 January 2022 — The Municipal Court of the Isle of Youth has acquitted three July11th (11J) protesters for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requested three years in prison for a crime of public disorder. They are Ramón Salazar Infante, president of the Pinero Autonomous Party (PAP), Martha de los Ángeles Pérez Acosta, head of the same party’s human rights department, and Francisco Alfaro Diéguez, leader of the March 13 Movement (M13).

According to the sentencing document, provided to 14ymedio, the events that involved them “do not typify the crime of public disorder provided for and sanctioned” in the Penal Code.

The trial was held on December 29 and, according to what Salazar Infante told the newspaper Cubanet, the ruling has been a relief and has taken them by surprise, in view of the excessive and exemplary sentences that the courts are imposing throughout the country.

A fourth protester charged in the municipality, Juan Luis Sánchez González, was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of “attack,” compared to the five requested by the Public Ministry. The activist was in preventive detention in El Guayabo. continue reading

The sentence was issued on January 10, although it was not made public until the 22nd, so it was not clear whether those affected, in particular Sánchez González, can appeal it, since both he and the Prosecutor’s Office have 10 days to do so.

The account of the events states that Sánchez González was passing through the place of the demonstration at the time that Loisel Castro Herrera (arrested and released a month later with a fine) was running pursued by two officers, José Rafael García Salazar and Reulis Piñón Pileta, and there, “the accused Juan Luis placed himself between the agents and the aforementioned citizen and without saying a word, he hit officer Reulis on the chin, causing a bruise, an injury that did not require medical treatment.”

The sentence details that Sánchez González denied having dealt the blow to the agent, but that this was confirmed by the testimony of the agent and by at least two witnesses. Both the relatives who have attended the trials and various civil organizations have warned that the witnesses provided by the Prosecutor’s Office lie, exaggerate or distort the facts.

In addition, neither the prosecutor’s petition nor the Court’s ruling refers to the beating that Juan Luis Sánchez González received by the agents after they arrested him.

As for the three acquitted, the document emphasizes that they acknowledged their participation in the demonstration, but that “there were no crowds of any people in the park where the defendants went,” and that “no disturbance was generated in the few minutes of these acts” and that the three defendants “stopped their behavior as soon as officer Iraimis Durán took them out of the group of people and peacefully walked to where they were told they were being arrested at that moment.”

Salomé García Bacallao, a member of the group Justicia 11J, which supports the families of the detainees with legal advice and shares the information available on the trials, sees in this court’s decision “a pattern”: that “the sentences are being delayed.” On the other hand, says the activist, “we also do not know if in those 15 days (between the oral trial and the publication of the sentence) they modified the sentence due to the international pressure that is being exerted.”

García Bacallao recalls that the trial against 36 young people present at the protest at the corner of Toyo, the place that became the most iconic image of that Sunday, when the protesters overturned a police patrol car, begins on Monday in the Provincial Court of Havana. The activist has the impression that this process, unlike what has happened so far, will be covered by the official media.

Among the defendants are six minors under 18 years of age, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requests sentences of between 13 and 23 years in prison:

– Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro (17 years old), 23 years in prison
– Kendry Miranda Cárdenas (17), 20 years
– Brandon David Becerra Curbelo (17), 18 years
– Nayn Luis Marcos Molinet (16), 17 years
– Lázaro Noel Urgelles Fajardo (16), 13 years
– Giuseppe Belaunzaran Guada (17), 13 years

On February 7, in the same trial, the following defendants will also be prosecuted:

– Juan Emilio Pérez Estrada (27), 25 years in prison
– Asley Nelson Cabrera Puente (39), 25 years
– Donger Soroa González (30), 25 years
– Yoanky Báez Albornoz (27), 25 years
– Alexander Ayllón Carvajal (23), 23 years
– Ronald García Sánchez (28), 23 years
– Jorge Vallejo Venegas (35), 22 years
– Alexis Borges Wilson (57), 22 years
– Henry Fernández Pantera (40), 22 years
– Francisco Eduardo Soler Castañeda (49), 22 years
– Lauren Martínez Ibáñez (18), 21 years
– Duannis Dabel León Taboada (22), 21 years
– Adael Jesús Leyva Díaz (24), 21 years
– Dayan Gustavo Flores Brito (22), 20 years
– Óscar Bárbaro Bravo Cruzata (23), 20 years
– Yussuan Villalba Sierra (31), 20 years
– Daisy Rodríguez Alfonso (38), 20 years
– Ricardo Duque Solis (55), 19 years
– Edel Cabrera González (28), 19 years
– Luis Armando Cruz Aguilera (21), 18 years
– Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro (19), 18 years
– Yunior García Vizcay (27), 18 years
– Adrián Oljales Mora (23), 17 years
– Yunaiky De La Caridad Linares Rodríguez (24), 17 years
– Oriol Hernández Gálvez ( 48), 17 years
– Rafael Jesús Nuñez Echenique (21), 16 years
– Brayan Piloto Pupo (18), 16 years

This Thursday the trials in San José de las Lajas and Quivicán (Mayabeque) and Havana concluded. However, the sentences have not yet been announced.

The fourth process carried out this week, in Jovellanos, Matanzas, where the opponent Félix Navarro and his daughter, the Lady in White Sayli Navarro Álvarez, were tried, among others, ended on Tuesday.

In an audio released by former political prisoner Ángel Moya, Sayli Navarro explained that his trial went the same as others held to date (with only one companion allowed per defendant and the room “full of soldiers”), and denounced that both his father and other prisoners were handcuffed, with the cuffs known as shakiras, the entire time.

“These handcuffs have chains that are attached to the waist, and they also have other chains that go directly to other cuffs that they put on their ankles, and that’s how they walk,” said the opponent’s daughter, who was concerned because the friction of the cuff on the ankle of her diabetic father, can cause an injury and worsen his ailments.

“There was a boy who said that here at the police station they had beaten him” and even pointed out which officers were there, but the young man, she says, was denied, several times, the medical care he needed after the beating he received.

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