14ymedio – Page 346 – Translating Cuba

"Solidaridad Entre Hermanos," an Initiative to Send Aid Directly Between Miami and Cuba

The distribution of donations will be handled by the Catholic Church and members of Cuban civil society.

14ymedio/EFE, Miami, 7 May 2020 — The Miami municipal government and the Foundation for Pan American Democracy urged Miamians on Wednesday to donate “basic necessity” products to help the Cuban people deal with the Covid-19 crisis through the “Solidaridad entre Hermanos” (Solidarity Among Brothers) initiative.

Donations will be collected at the Mana Convention Center in the Winwood neighborhood and the shipment will be sent to Cuba on May 16, according remarks at a press conference from Miami Mayor Francis Suárez, and the directors of the Foundation, Omar Vento and Rosa María Payá.

The distribution of the donations will be carried out by the Catholic Church and members of Cuban civil society, they stressed. continue reading

“Within the Island, we have contacted a network of churches that are willing to receive and deliver humanitarian aid,” said Payá, director of Cuba Decides. “It is a challenge to make this shipment to the Island, but [especially] in the exceptional conditions that our country is experiencing due to the insufficient response from the authorities,” she added.

Payá stressed the responsibility that exiles have, as Cubans, to help their compatriots: “A list of products will be collected that will then be sent to Cuba by sea. Among the products that we will send are detergent, soap, masks and gloves, disinfectant towels, acetaminophen, diapers, powdered milk, protein bars and canned food,” Payá said.

The foundation has requested that people donate only “products that comply with customs regulations.”

“Customs fees should be reduced or eliminated when it comes to aid. This initiative is one of solidarity between brothers. It has absolutely nothing to do with the political position of any person who wants to help. It is about helping Cubans on the island at a time of great crisis,” added Payá.

At the moment there is no restriction on the part of the Government of the United States that prevents the shipment of these materials to the Cuban population, but the Foundation for Pan American Democracy wants “to fulfill all the legal requirements that the Island demands” for this aid to go directly to the citizens.

Regarding possible obstacles that the Cuban Government can impose on the distribution of this humanitarian aid, Omar Vento was confident that “there is no reason to prevent it” although he said that “it would be very regrettable if they made that decision.”

“We have no control over the situation of the Cuban regime. This is going to be humanitarian aid without any kind of implicit message. What the regime does about it is not in our hands,” he said.

Mayor Francis Suárez, who was ill with Covid-19, said for him it is a matter of pride “to be able to carry out this event and demonstrate the solidarity of the community” from the main city of exile.

“If we are having a difficult time in the United States, the world’s largest economy, and in Miami, a city that was making tremendous progress; we can have no idea of how the pandemic is affecting people there,” added the mayor.

Suarez argued that, as in other communist countries like China, in Cuba “the severity of the coronavirus is unknown,” since the government is hiding information.

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The ATMs in Havana Run Out of Cash

This Saturday the line in front of a cashier on Calle Infanta, in Havana, turned the corner and despite the risk due to the recent fall of a collapse of part a balcony in front of the bank, the remains of which can be seen in this photo. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 10 May 2020 — In these days of confinement to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, the lines in Havana are not limited to the purchase of food and toiletries. Also the lack of cash in many ATMs causes endless waiting to get convertible pesos (CUC).

“This is the third ATM I’ve tried and it has no chavitos (Cuban convertible pesos, or CUCs), a retired woman lamented this Saturday as she tried to get some money to do some shopping at a store in Cayo Hueso in Havana. The area where the woman resides is under a strict quarantine and residents are not allowed to leave a perimeter marked with yellow ribbons and police cordons.

Finally, after visiting several bank branches, the retiree got money from an ATM on Calle Infanta near the corner with San Rafael, but she had to stand in line for four hours to do so. “I only had five CUC bills and shortly after I left the money ran out and those who were waiting were left empty-handed,” she tells 14ymedio. continue reading

Paying in cash is still a very widespread practice on the Island where, as of the end of 2019, 6.2 million magnetic cards were in circulation, but using them in commercial networks is usually a cumbersome task. Many small state stores do not even have a point-of-sale machine, and others suffer constant crashes in communication between devices and banks.

Wearing their masks and trying to keep the distance of one yard, more than fifty people are waiting to withdraw money at a cashier on Calle San Lázaro. Some had marked their place in line shortly before dawn and by mid-morning several official “line organizers” arrived to try to bring order to what was already turning into a riot.

“People are very sensitive in these queues because it is about the money,” says Yasmari Río, a neighbor in the neighborhood who has marked the line since six in the morning. “I have a Fincimex card that my sister recharges me from abroad and I take out the convertible pesos here,” he details. “But I haven’t been able to withdraw a penny for three days because there is no cash at the ATMs in this area.”

“Here you have to pay almost everything with hard cash,” says Carmelo, a vendor at a fruit and vegetable stall located in an agricultural market near Calzada del Cerro. “For all agricultural products, cash is needed, so people have to line up at the cashier to come here to buy,” he explains.

“We had not accepted chavitos for several months, but with all this epidemic, you have to take what you get,” adds Carmelo. “There are people who have come here almost crying because they have money on the card but there is no cash at the ATM and they cannot buy food. They have even offered me a watch to give them something, but I have not accepted.”

Although Cubans have been losing confidence in the convertible peso (CUC) in the last year, due to fears the government is going to end the dual currency system and eliminate the CUC, the crisis unleashed by the coronavirus seems to have produced a truce. Last February, the Ministry of Internal Commerce announced that food service establishments under state management could only use the national peso (CUP), and that further triggered the uncertainty, but right now a good part of those businesses are closed.

“Go to the ATM at the Ministry of Transportation to see if you are luckier,” explained a security guard from the bank on Estancia and Conill to a customer this Friday; someone who claimed to have already gone to three different ATMs without any success. “They are serving us a little money and we are running out very fast, so people are lining up early to catch up.”

The alternative to the ATM, which could be the bank branch window, is not recommended at this time either. In Havana there are 90 branches of Banco Metropolitano, but with the arrival of the pandemic in Cuba, their service and hours have been reduced. On weekends most of these banks are closed, which causes more lines in front of the ATMs.

In the informal market, vendors have long accepted the use of the US dollar in their transactions. The US currency is now trading above 1.15 CUC and may even reach 1.20. The rise in the dollar is also due to the closing of the official exchange houses (Cadeca), where the price has not moved for years from 0.87 dollar to 1 CUC because it is a market controlled by the State. The Cadecas pay out $0.87 USD for 1 CUC.

Other businesses accept payment with foreign magnetic cards to purchase home dinners and special combos for Mother’s Day. But they are the few and daily life continues to function “with money at the forefront, without so much technology,” acknowledges Luis, a young messenger who until a few weeks ago made a living by collecting pensions for various elderly people who cannot travel to the ATMs.

“My business is on hold right now because in most of the ATMs are regulated so that nothing else can be done with a card, so as not to delay the line or to run out of cash,” he explains. “The pandemic has already reached our pockets and that is a bad sign, because without money nothing works.”

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"The Bus Left, What a Pain"

The patients and their companions watched as the blue bus left without taking them with them. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Julio Aleaga Pesant, Havana, 8 May 2020 — The patients and their companions were surprised. A beautiful caravan of 16 new blue buses, from the company Ómnibus Nacionales, passed festively at full speed in front of them, led by two police motorcycles that facilitated their passage. The public admired the semi-empty buses, amid the economic restrictions exacerbated by the pandemic.

The spell was broken when the social worker at the Calixto García hospital, a robust black woman in her 30s, wearing a white coat, beige lycra and a facemask, ran out of the hospital entrance to University Street with her hands up, trying to stop the caravan that descended vertiginously in search of the avenue of the Presidents.

The faces of the patients and their companions contracted and a unanimous scream came from those 20 throats. Nooo! They could not believe it. The buses that needed to pick them up and take them to their destination provinces had just passed and they would have to wait more than 48 hours to have that opportunity again. continue reading

It all started a month earlier, when no one suspected that interprovincial transport would be suspended. Víctor Manuel, a diabetic patient, had to be admitted to the emergency room and operated on. His left leg was amputated. An older adult, he lives alone, in tenement with high ceilings and a collective bathroom in Central Havana. Now he needs assistance, that’s why one of his sisters, who lives in Bayamo, came to accompany him in his misfortune.

After four weeks and careful attention by hospital professionals, he was released, but Víctor Manuel would have to move to the east of the country with his sister. In order to solve the situation, the family member contacted the social worker, with the receipt of a travel letter, prepared by the patient’s GP, filed in the central archive and with the approval of the hospital director, she would make the reservation for two.

When the isolation of the provinces and the suspension of interprovincial public transport were decreed, many stranded travelers decided to pull strings with the hospital social workers and, needless to say, they offered villas and castles in order to board the next bus to their destination.

They were not alone in their endeavor. According to social workers consulted by 14ymedio, the police officers who were confronting the public at the National Bus Terminal in Havana, suggested that frustrated travelers go to the hospitals and try to “resolve” their travel, that is offer a bribe.

However the unfortunate travelers, some because of the summary trials and personal attacks in the media on alleged corruption and hoarders, and others out of dignity and honesty, had to resort to the most elaborate island tricks to reach their destination.

After being abandoned by the buses, the social worker understood that she had three tasks ahead of her. First, calm the outraged patients and their companions. Second, contact the command post of the Ministry of Transport. Third, according to the response from the carriers, guarantee that the problem would be solved, or discourage the would-be travelers so forcefully that those affected understood that there was no possible way out or possibility of solving the problem at that time.

Victor Manuel seemed to be in the group of the most understanding and, from his wheelchair, optimistically awaited the return of the transport.

The command post, callous and apathetic, passed sentence: “The bus left, what a shame. Return the patients to the next departure within 48 hours.”

Did the person think beyond the mobile phone earpiece all the structure to be removed? Did he imagine the social worker facing the fired sick and their companions? Did he calculate the cost per bed occupied and medical treatment for patients, in addition to food? All at the expense of the public purse.

And what about the cost for the companion. He managed to abstract himself, become the command post, to understand how a suitcase is unpacked, where there are wheelchairs, buckets, fans, bedding and other unfathomable belongings that patients and their companions take to hospitals. Why couldn’t the caravan retrace its steps? What was the human and economic cost of the extravagant decision not to collect the sick and their companions? All those questions will remain unanswered.

Víctor Manuel retraced his steps and thanked the social worker calling her by name, while she wrote down her phone number in case a new opportunity presented itself. He cursed under his breath and left pushing the wheelchair, while the sister, as old as he, carried the rest.

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Sarita Reyes: Goodbye to One of the Smiles on Cuban Television

Sarita Reyes died this Wednesday at the age of 84 in Havana.

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernández, Havana, 7 May 2020 — When I was a child one of the smiles that populated my childhood was that of Sarita Reyes, one of the most popular Cuban actresses of the last century. Versatile, witty and with a touch of authority, her presentations on the program Behind the Facade were the first that came to mind when I learned this Wednesday that the presenter had died at the age of 84 in Havana.

Reyes was a part of a time of great actors and in which millions of eyes rested simultaneously on television screens throughout this Island. It was a few decades when the country was marching to the tune of what was said in the national media, was watching the news, and repeating the dialogs from Cuban soap operas in the streets.

An era was past and swept away, somehow, by the arrival of new technologies and the eruption of the ’Weekly Packet’, in which Sarita reigned doing honor to her surname, with her excellent diction and charisma. Thus, she captivated us in her appearances on the program San Nicolás del Peladero, kept us in suspense when she read some news in her profession of announcer, and we saw her shine on the big screen in fiction feature films such as De cierta manera (1973), by Sara Gomez.

However, for years her name has hardly been heard. The necessary official tributes were lacking for her long career, and new generations of Cubans have barely been able to watch those moments that she left us.

With Sarita Reyes’ death on May 6, not only does a life of creativity and dedication to acting end, but so does a chapter of great names that, for decades, gave birth to legendary characters, made us laugh with their wisecracks, and also generated criticism or applause. For once, hearing her name has not made us smile but has left us silent.

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The Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba, Days 45-47: Animal Insults and Verbal Poverty

What Mariela Castro most betrays with such a blunder is that she lacks humility. (EFE)

14ymedio Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 7 May 2020 — Just outside the Havana cafe which, until a month ago, was open on Tulipán street, a stray dog waits patiently. He doesn’t know why the place where some customers used to throw him bones is now empty and doesn’t even smell like food. In the midst of the pandemic hundreds or thousands of abandoned animals have been left even more helpless on this Island.

Meanwhile, the little stray we picked up when the Covid-19 crisis began in Cuba already has a name and seems to have forgotten the rigors of the street. We have named her Chiqui, although she threatens shortly to no longer honor that name, which means “little one.” One challenge has been trying to rid her of the fleas that she brought with her in the midst of this crisis, which has made scarce the few veterinary drugs that were on the market.

But with patience, we have also removed all the tiny ticks from the puppy. Blood-sucking animals that Mariela Castro tried, this week, to compare to the activists who promote platforms outside those hosted by the government. The animal-insult seeks to dehumanize the different, detract from the character of a person who thinks contrarily, and promote rejection of those who cannot even claim the category of homo sapiens, as suggested by the words of the sexologist. continue reading

I have not been surprised. Twelve years ago when Mariela, speaking as director of the National Center for Sexual Education, gave a talk in the building dedicated to universal works of the National Museum of Fine Arts, I asked for the floor and asked her, “When can we Cubans come out of the political closet?” After an evasive response, days later Ms. Castro threw a barrage of expletives at me online and called me “gallita,” a “cocky hen.” For her, I was reduced to a farm animal, confined in a body with a beak and feathers.

Attacking another with adjectives like gusano, burro, puerco or garapatilla (worm, donkey, pig, tick) puts on display the characteristics of the person who launches such insults. One of them is her deep verbal and mental poverty, unable to find more sophisticated and even subtle ways of criticizing the behaviors that she does not like. If “honor, honors”… denigration, denigrates and nobody is more muddied than the one who growls an insult of this type.

On the other hand, such attacks denote the arrogance and haughtiness of those who launch them. If, in addition, it comes from a woman born in a powerful crib and surrounded by privileges all her life, comparing others with tiny animals cannot fail to be read as the conceit-filled gesture of an aristocrat for whom anyone who is not at her social or economic level is a little less than a parasite or an insect.

However, what Mariela Castro most betrays with such a blunder is that she lacks the humility to surround herself with advisers who would advise her on her public image. Like her father and her uncle, the sexologist does not seem to listen to recommendations on how to speak without transmitting hatred, tension or contempt for others.

Chiqui, the little dog who arrived in our house full of garapatillas, seems more closely related to our house cat who is so different from her, than does Mariela Castro to the activists who demand more spaces for the LGBTI community in Cuba: freedom of association to be able to represent themselves without being in the shadow of an official institution, and the legalization of equal marriage, among other demands.

Anyway, animals give us many lessons and this morning I found the little stray and Totí the cat asleep, huddled in an embrace. I have thought to send a photo of that ability to coexist kindly to the director of Cenesex… But better not, so she won’t gift me with another insult, one with with four or eight legs.

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The Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba, Days 42-44: Without Bread There is No Country

The products that once were the most desired and scarce, are the same again today. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 5 May 2020 — I remember that one of the first signs of the Special Period was the difficulty in buying bread. In those years in the 1990s I lived in the Havana neighborhood of San Leopoldo and near my house there was a bakery that sold unrationed goods until, little by little, only one offering remained on its shelves and it became rationed.

One day I woke up to a long line to buy bread. After that, for the next few years, I spent hours and hours in that waiting, although I rarely came home with a full bag. On one occasion, my family was so hungry that they devoured what little I had bought through the ration book while standing on that same corner.

Today, we are close to similar scenes. In the neighborhood where I live, many have gone years without seeking out rationed bread because remittances and informal vendors allowed them to avoid the crowds at the state premises on Hidalgo and Lombillo streets. But that ended. Tyrians and Trojans are now there from the early hours, in a long line. continue reading

The products that once were the most desired and scarce, are the same again today, as if the timepiece of necessity moves its hands to the same demands. Rice, chicken pork, milk, vegetable oil, bread and vegetables are the protagonists of our anguish. Everything derived from raw materials purchased abroad – like flour – is on the red list of the most vulnerable, given the international crisis to which is added this country’s lack of liquidity.

So at home we have given up bread for breakfast. It’s OK. At that hour, I have always preferred a nice tea, because nothing more elaborate goes down my throat. But I am aware that this country cannot function without bread, though the nation could take a few steps without sugar or coffee, but not without that white mass that goes equally well with honey or with garlic.

We are a nation tied to our slices, slaves of the crumb, illegitimate daughter of yeast. “Without bread there is no country,” I think they should have said, because in the end many of us do not add sugar to coffee, nor do we like syrupy sweets, but we all enjoy a good loaf. To wheat what comes from wheat and to sugar what comes from cane.

Life goes on, however, beyond the plate.

This Monday our little dogs barked at four in the morning and I had a bad premonition. Shortly after we learned that a downstairs neighbor had died of respiratory failure. The details of his death remain to be clarified but he is a person who had worked on the construction of the building 40 years ago, so he leaves a significant void.

The problem is that the people who die in the midst of the pandemic leave without hardly any tribute. With the Covid-19 crisis, which in Cuba — according to official figures — has claimed 69 lives, funerals are brief and fearful. Few dare to go to the cemetery to accompany the remains, not knowing whether they carry the dreaded coronavirus. Saying goodbye these days is done more alone than ever.

In the middle of the afternoon they have come to ask Reinaldo to unstick the elevator of the building, which has been stopped near the ground floor. The problem is that, at that time, the body of our deceased neighbor was still in his apartment without the health authorities having come to check on him and confirm or refute that he died of Covid-19.

When Reinaldo was expelled from journalism, in that distant December of 1988, he had to earn a poor living as an elevator mechanic. Thinking to sink him, they pushed him into the most popular of occupations for someone living in a 14-story building. Who’s going to mess with the guy who gets you out when you lock yourself in a metal box several feet off the ground?

So I share my life with the journalist and the mechanic. If he can’t unblock the elevator, the official company can take hours and days to do it because the bureaucracy is long and tedious in these parts. But, we must add to this that we live different times. Right now, we don’t know whether Covid-19 has reached our neighborhood, our concrete block, and a floor near ours.

So, this Monday, when the phone rang for help to free someone from the stuck elevator — an always risky operation without official support, although widely desired by the community — we preferred to pass the buck and ask: And what would you do?

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The OCDH Celebrates the Release of 6,579 Prisoners in Cuba

Prisoners fear the spread of coronavirus in the jails, where problems of maintaining hygiene are frequent. (EFE)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, May 1, 2020 — The Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos [Cuban Observatory of Human Rights] (OCDH) welcomes the release of 6,579 prisoners announced by the Government this Thursday. “It’s a positive measure in the framework of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the organization, which is based in Madrid.

The President of the Criminal Division of the Cuban Supreme Court, Otto Molina, specified that in March and April, 421 people who complied with pre-trial detention were now freed and awaiting trial at home with the “corresponding restrictions”, while the other 6,158 were granted early release.

In the case of these last, “the Court assessed that with the time served (of the sentence), it’s not necessary to complete the sentence in confinement,” and decided to grant the prisoners conditional freedom and official discharge, Molina explained on State television. continue reading

For the OCDH, the release moves “in the direction of the actions of different governments in the region and agrees, partially, with the concerns, demands and proposals presented publicly” by this organization on March 18, 19 and 30.

“It’s important that the Cuban Government continue advancing and immediately free all political prisoners. Presently, more than a hundred political prisoners remain in the country’s jails,” added the Observatory.

“Also, we consider it counterproductive that 335 people were imprisoned in the last few days for violating the conditions of social isolation when the Penal Code itself anticipated other types of sanctions that are less severe,” it concludes.

Since the start of the epidemic on the Island at the beginning of March, the Cuban judicial system began to impose strict sanctions for crimes like “the propagation of epidemics” — including circulating without the obligatory mask — and “attack” against health workers, inspectors and agents of order.

They also have increased persecution and punishment for those who practice “illicit economic activities”, “speculation” and “hoarding”, crimes especially sensitive for a country that suffers from chronic shortages, compounded now by the pandemic.

The President of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court said that they have held 418 trials on the Island for “crimes associated with COVID-19”, and 596 people have been tried with 503 sanctioned. Of the people convicted, 335 received prison sentences because their conduct “attacks the greater good of health, puts the collective security at risk and demands a strong response,” he emphasized.

Several trials have been televised to “set an example”, and the police have permitted State media to accompany agents on raids to capture criminals, who are identified and questioned on camera.

“The procedures are handled with speed, guaranteeing due process and personal rights, but quickly, so the response is prompt, timely,” Molina notes.

Up to now, the Cuban authorities have assured that there are no outbreaks nor cases of Covid-19 in the prisons on the Island, where prevention has been maximized to prevent contagion, and periods of isolation have been established for new inmates.

In spite of the official recommendation to remain at home, several independent journalists and Cuban activists have been summoned recently to present themselves for “interviews” at police stations.

Fines have been imposed on some for presumably having violated Decree Law 370 by publishing on social networks; among other things the decree regulates the use of information technology and communication in the country, but not the exercise of journalism per se.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Impact of the Pandemic Will be Devastating for Cuba, Economists Warn

Shortages may continue to worsen with worsening macroeconomic figures. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2020 — With the arrival of the coronavirus, Cuba has entered a phase of great difficulties that affect the tourist industry, imports and families’ standard of living. Experts agree on this, trying to predict the impact of the pandemic on an economy weakened over many years.

“One internal factor and three external factors have combined in Cuba in 2020 to produce the ’perfect storm’, writes the economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago in the magazine Convivencia (Coexistence).” The internal factor is the continuation of the central planning model (…) The three external factors are the crisis in Venezuela and the consequent cut in its advantageous economic relations with Cuba, the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump that have reinforced the US embargo and the Covid-19 pandemic. “

According to Mesa-Lago’s analysis, “the drops in tourism and projected remittances for 2020 alone are equivalent to 5% of GDP in 2019.” continue reading

The economist recalled how between 2011 and 2018 imports on the Island decreased by 18% and exports fell by 60%. It is also estimated that the prices of Cuba’s main exports — nickel, sugar and tobacco — falling due to the crisis in the world economy.

Mesa-Lago acknowledged that in a previous analysis he was projecting a crisis that would be less than that of the 1990s, but “Trump’s increasing measures and Covid-19 are diminishing those favorable differences.” The expert quoted the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, who said that the country is studying measures “similar to those of the Special Period.”

The economist highlighted in his analysis that Cuba has been able to export medical services to other markets again, taking advantage of the pandemic. However, he recalled that these figures do not compensate for the loss of markets such as Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia, where the Island had more than 9,000 doctors deployed in the last two years.

Unlike other countries in the region, Cuba cannot expect a rescue package from international financial organizations, to which it does not belong, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Nor is there any good news for the island’s tourism industry. Analysts predict that its recovery will be slow if immediate measures are not taken, according to Cuban economist Emilio Morales, director of The Havana Consulting Group, specialized in market analysis on the island.

“The Island’s main markets were already in decline before the arrival of the coronavirus but the impact of the pandemic will be devastating,” added the expert, who said that, although other Caribbean countries also face the lack of tourists, in the Cuban case the crisis “could be more complicated.”

Morales says that an “optimistic” forecast places a gradual recovery of the tourist industry in June and a total of arrivals as of January of roughly 1.7 million travelers, “which would represent a sharp drop of 59.5% compared to the figure reached in 2019.”

“In the case of the Cuban economy, the tourism industry is one of the sources that generates the most jobs and contributes the most income to the country’s battered economy. Therefore, the impact caused by the Covid-19 it will be devastating,” he added.

According to official data, more than 80% of hotels in Cuba are closed and the employees have been sent home. Before the arrival of the pandemic, the tourism industry had revenues of more than 2.184 billion dollars, according to the Government.

Morales believes that the state monopoly on hotels and the tourism industry in general does not allow the Island to compete with the main destinations in the Caribbean region, especially Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

“Problems with the quality of the service, the lack of maintenance of the hotel infrastructure, the value for money of the tourist products on offer, difficulties with food, and strong competition in the region, are all some of the causes of the decline in the Cuban tourism industry,” he explains.

Before the arrival of Covid-19, a sharp drop was reported in the number of visitors from the five main European countries whose nationals visit Cuba. The number of visitors from Germany, Italy, England, Spain and France between 2017-2019 declined by 29.20%.

Morales emphasizes that Canadian tourism — for decades the largest supplier of tourists to Cuba — has also declined. “The Canadian market had its first drop in 2016, of 6.93%. Subsequently, in 2017, it declined again by 5.93%. In 2018 the decline continued with an additional 2.16%. In 2019 it had a slight growth of 0.9% compared to 2018.”

Finally, tourism from the United States grew strongly after the thaw led by former President Barack Obama, but then sank after measures taken by President Donald Trump in retaliation for Cuban support for the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro.

“The boom in the U.S. market began in 2015, when visitors from the United States including both segments jumped to 453,925 travelers, which meant a growth of 20.7% compared to 2014 (350,091 visitors),” according to Morales.

However, as of the end of 2017, the number of North American tourists arriving by air decreased and the number of cruise passengers began to increase. Several Florida companies added Cuba to their itineraries, and the number of Americans arriving by ship rose to more than 341,000 in 2018.

“In 2020 we will see a substantial decline in terms of tourism from the United States. Already this year Cuba has experienced a decline in January (-19.58%), February (-13.17%) and March (-32.54%). And since then the arrival of tourists has been almost nil.”

In 2019, as a result of the worsening of tensions with Venezuela, Trump prohibited cruise ship travel to Cuba and, later, suspended flights to all airports on the Island except Havana. This last measure is particularly affecting Cuban-Americans, who are the second largest source of tourism on the Island and contribute to the economy of their country of origin with foreign exchange and merchandise. Those who have family on other parts of the Island prefer to fly direct, rather than make their way from Havana.

Cuba initially tried to take advantage of the Covid-19 crisis in Europe to attract tourists, arguing that the heat killed the virus. However, it had to suspend that campaign and close its borders when the first cases appeared on the Island. According to Morales, with the loss of this source of income, the liquidity crisis will worsen and will translate into an increase in scarcity of basic products and an impoverishment of the country.

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Les Luthiers’ Clever Humor

Goodbye, maestro Marcos Mundstock. The best tribute is to continue making everyone laugh. (EFE)

14ymedio, Carlos A. Montaner, Miami, 3 May 2020 — The first time I heard Les Luthiers it was a beautiful cantata dedicated to the laxative. It was titled “Laxatón.” It was delicious. The laughter arose from the incongruity among those young people — we were in 1972 — dressed in tailcoats, who did not move a muscle of the face, but spoke of the movement of the intestines, in the middle of a rigorously articulated musical composition. I thought they were great.

He was the bald man in the group and had unusual natural grace. Marcos Mundstock died, a few days ago, at the age of 77. He was the founder of Les Luthiers, a septet, which became a sextet and later became a quintet. It is an excellent Argentine group of comic-musicians, or vice versa, created in 1967 by Gerardo Masana, who died prematurely in 1973.

Musical instrument makers are called luthiers, so the name, in French, reflected one of the most creative facets of the ensemble: They could make interesting music with almost anything that could be blown, strummed, or struck. They invented instruments. Like Leonardo da Vinci, who made a paper organ that sounded reasonably well. continue reading

When I was a child, in Cuba, I saw, laughed and enjoyed Gaby, Fofó and Miliki, three Spanish clowns who played different instruments. The group was so welcome in Cuba that they decided to settle in the Island. But, when they were already established, “the Commander arrived and ordered the fun to stop.” The clowns and their families also fled Cuba, among the thousands of compatriots who fled in terror, not without first seeing censored an innocent song that they used to sing: “El ratoncito Miguel” (Miguel the little mouse). Why? Because of a stanza that said: “the thing is / horrifying and really scary.”

But the song didn’t end there. It seemed to State Security that it incited the ruler’s assassination, even if it had been written by Félix B. Caignet (author of the novel The Right to be Born) long before Fidel Castro appeared in the country’s history. This is how it ended: “You will see / how hungry a mouse will die, / there is no cheese anymore, / much less a ham flake, / we are going to see / who is going to pluck [the cat] Misifú’s heart.” It was intolerable.

I met Gaby, Fofó and Miliki again in Puerto Rico. It was my daughter Gina’s turn to enjoy them. In 1970 I moved to Spain with my family. And there were the “TV clowns,” as they were known, indulging in their ways, as fun and talented as ever. Then the family had grown, and they made my son Carlos happy. It was as if the accordion they played had become the fun soundtrack of our lives.

Translation from Latin American Herald Tribune

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Cuban Government Cancels Global Air Flight Contracted To Repatriate 120 Cubans From Ecuador

Aeroregional is linked with Global Air, which owns the plane which crashed in Cuba in 2018.

14ymedio, Havana, 22 April 2020 – The group of Cubans trying to return to the island from Ecuador still doesn’t know when they will be able to go. The humanitarian flight planned for this Thursday from Quito to Havana was unable to enter Cuban airspace because it was operated by a company linked with Global Air, the owner of the plane which crashed in Cuba in May 2018.

“The aviation authorities of the Republic of Cuba determined that the plane proposed to make the flight was connected with a company involved in the tragic accident which happened in Havana on 18 May 2018, which cost the lives of more than 100 passengers, and for that reason the Cuban aviation authorities have decided not to permit this flight”, announced a communication from the Cuban embassy in Quito.

According to the document, the authorities hope to rearrange the flight with another airline, “including Cubana de Aviacion” and hope to have further information in the next few hours. continue reading

The decision, taken for reasons of security, leaves “up in the air” the return plans of over a hundred Cubans anxious to leave Ecuador, one of the countries hit worst by Covid-19, with 520 official deaths, 902 probables, and 10,398 positives. The numbers might be higher, because the country is overwhelmed by the pandemic and the undertakers can’t cope.

In order to leave Ecuador, the passengers, whose application was accepted, had to pay $480, except for children under two whose tickets cost $100, and who could be paid for from the 18th onwards. Many of those affected complained about the elevated price charged by the airline, especially for a humanitarian flight.

However, the fact that payment had to be made by PayPal makes future refunds easier.

Last April 17th the embassy indicated an agreement for the evacuation of a maximum of 120 people who should have gone Thursday, April 23rd at 9:00 from Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, to Jose Marti in Havana, in a flight operated by Aeroregional, which would return with Ecuadorian citizens stranded on the island. The flight had special permission, as air space is closed in both countries.

The initial communique specified that Cuban emigrees or those with residence permits in other countries could not take this flight to return to the island.

Aeroregional, based in Ambato, was formed in the mid-90’s, but in June 2018 its owners sold their interest to the main shareholder of Global Air, the Spaniard Manuel Rodriguez Campos, who was named as president of the company at the beginning of last year.

The plane which crashed in Havana on its way to Holguin was owned by Global Air, a company with a long record of failure to comply with safety regulations, and also was prohibited from flying in various areas. A technical report from Cubana de Aviacion advised against hiring any planes from Global Air, but on that occasion they did so, with fatal results.

The families of the victims of the accident, as well as the only survivor, Mailen Diaz Almaguer, have not been financially compensated, although at least there is a hearing pending in Mexico.

Translated by GH

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A 42-Year-Old Masseur, Alexander Alazo, Arrested for Attacking the Cuban Embassy in Washington

Cuban Embassy seat in Washington attacked in the early morning hours

14ymedio, Havana, 30 April 2020 — The alleged perpetrator who fired several shots at the Cuban Embassy in Washington in the pre-dawn hours this past Thursday has been arrested by the police and answers to the name of Alexander Alazo. According to El Nuevo Herald, the individual is a 42-year-old man who had lived in Miami-Dade County and who has a license to practice massage in Texas.

The same newspaper which confirmed the information in public records indicated that Alazo has a police record for several traffic violations in Florida and in other states. However, there is no evidence of a conviction for crimes or criminal activities.

According to the Secret Service, who are in charge of the investigation, “The individual was arrested for being in possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition, for assault with deadly intention, and for possession of a high-capacity [automatic] device.” The alleged attacker, who resides in Aubrey, Texas, offered no resistance. continue reading

The attack took place with an assault rifle around 2:00 in the morning against the exterior of the diplomatic mission in the northwest section of the US capital. Municipal police arrived at the location after neighbors notified them of the shots.

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations issued a communicado in which the attack was confirmed, and stated that no employee had been injured

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations issued a communicado in which the attack was confirmed, and stated that no employee had been injured, although the building certainly had been, due to the impact of the bullets.

The building is secure and protected, since it is equipped with a system to confront any threat against its personnel and installations.

“It is an obligation of any nation to adopt all appropriate measures to secure the locations of any accredited diplomatic mission in its country against any intrusion or damage, and to avoid the disruption of peace of the mission and any assault on its dignity,” declared the communicado.

Translated by: Pedro Antonio Gallet Gobin

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Day 41 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: The Empty Square

From my vantage point, I have seen one of my neighbors — the one who sells the fuel from his state vehicle on the black market — applaud with an excessive frenzy. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 1 May 2020 — It was drizzling when dawn broke. On this morning of May 1st, the famous lucky downpour – something that people expect as a good thing as soon as the fifth month of the year begins – had not yet fallen. Nor was the traditional noise heard at dawn announcing the start of the massive arrival of people for the Workers’ Day parade. My neighborhood was silent and asleep.

For more than two decades, since I have lived in this concrete block near Rancho Boyeros Avenue, I have learned that from midnight on April 30 it is almost impossible to take in the line of buses bringing people from distant neighborhoods and provinces coming to fill the Plaza of the Revolution. On this date, the hullabaloo overwhelms everything.

But this year, with Covid-19 having already claimed 64 lives so far according to official figures published this Saturday, the parade was suspended. It is not a significant loss because the event is more about applauding power than a coming together to express some kind of demand from workers. In 2020, instead of the usual mass congregation, the national media have called on Cubans to applaud and commemorate the day of the proletariat from each house. My good luck is… I live on the 14th floor. continue reading

From my vantage point, I have watched one of my neighbors – like the one who sells the fuel for his state vehicle on the black market – applaud with an excessive frenzy. Washing the sins of illegality often entails a show of fervent support on these dates. I remember some friends who had a visa to emigrate to the United States and the day before they went to parade in the Plaza so as not to “get marked,” out of fear of being refused the right to leave.

Also, this morning I saw a red flag waving on the balcony of the same neighbor who yesterday complained about the very poor ‘module’ of four eggs, a little cornmeal and some noodles that he had been given for being over 65, in order to survive the pandemic. His wife, who spends all day speaking ill of the Party leaders, today even today launched a “Viva Díaz-Canel!” and beat out a sound with an old wooden rattle.

The group in power appropriated a date that was for all the workers. They censored the demands on the signs and erected billboards with slogans of support; they cut off the right to strike while promoting the obligation to applaud; they prohibited the existence of independent unions and turned the only union allowed into a direct pulley for the transmission of power.

After the screaming this morning, which lasted just a couple of minutes, life returned to the “normal” of confinement and the obsessive search for food. Unlike other years, this time the intense smell of urine from the public toilets placed along the nearby avenue did not reach us, nor did the echo of patriotic songs echo in the loudspeakers, as the parade-goers left at full speed.

“Onion!” an illegal vendor yelled at the bottom of the building. For this little merchant there was no holiday today. In the end, he is not facing a boss who takes a succulent surplus value from him, but a State for which the sale of agricultural products right now is a trench that it wants to fully dominate. After the proclamation, the neighbor who until a few minutes ago was shouting political slogans came down like a thunderbolt to buy a string, for which she paid a quarter of her monthly pension.

Then silence returned. I cut up some beets, made rice and looked towards the Plaza of the Revolution. That ugly tower that cuts the landscape in two can be seen from our balcony. Instead of an anxious crowd leaving the place, I saw only empty streets and a light rain drizzling down any vestige of false enthusiasm.

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Days 38 to 40 of the Covid-19 Emergency in Cuba: Under the Bed

Long lines and shortages at state markets lead many to opt for the black market. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 30 April 2020 — These are days of risk to health and freedom. The Cuban government is taking advantage of the Covid-19 emergency situation to further curtail the right to free expression, but also to hold “show” trials that are more circus than justice. At the center of this attack is the black market, the alter ego of Castroism.

Yesterday a neighbor told me that pork would “drop” at 47 CUP (Cuban pesos, less than $2 US) per pound, brought directly from Artemis. I smelled, in the air… not cracklings, but danger. “Thanks, but these days I can’t buy a pin under the table,” I said bluntly, and I’m not exaggerating. It is a rare night that the TV news does not feature cases of the diversion of state resources and unsuspecting buyers sentenced to heavy prison terms.

These types of topics dominate the news as products become scarce and the lines to buy food lengthen, with the apparent aim of removing the responsibility for the shortages from the authorities and putting it on the shoulders of a few thieves and informal merchants. However, in a country immersed in the clandestine economy, a large part of the population is involved in acts of this type, although they do not confess it. continue reading

I remember the first expressions relating to the black market that I learned before I was ten years old. If someone said they had “three meters of red cloth,” I already knew that they were offering three pounds of beef. “They gave me flour,” said a nearby neighbor when the powdered milk arrived, and “an ugly anthill has appeared in the house” was someone else’s code to announce that she was selling coffee.

Metaphors and similes mask a world in which we Cubans have lived for decades and from which we cannot separate. In our existence, the role of the black market is such that it is almost impossible to find someone who can boast of never having resorted to these informal networks. If the person who has never stooped to buying something illegally was urged to throw the first stone, not even a pebble would fly.

Every once in a while, the Plaza of the Revolution takes measures against that deep Cuba where everything is for sale, from medicines to passing grades to get by in school. These are cyclical turns of the screw that give the impression that informal traders and the diversion of state resources have “gone too far,” but they barely manage to move the surface of the waters of an underworld that, on this island, is as deep as the ocean.

In the midst of one of these windstorms, we must redouble our caution.

A friend told me that she called an illegal detergent vendor who had saved her in previous crises. “I am under the bed until the pandemic passes,” replied the merchant, half-joking half-fearful. I liked the phrase because in the midst of all these tensions, we are at risk of losing that popular humor that manages to mock even death. Imagining a whole people hiding under their mattresses wrenched a smile from me, in the midst of the arduous task of searching for food.

While waiting outside the Youth Labor Army market near my house, I imagined 11 million people crowded together in the narrow space under a bunk. Holding their breath and peering out at a pair of boots and military pants as they walk around the room looking for anyone who has bought at least one illegal aspirin.

It was my turn to enter the market and I kept laughing to myself about the image. I got some carrots, beets and a packet of birdseed. Doves, blackbirds, the occasional mockingbird and little sparrows frequently come to our balcony to eat. At least they will have their guaranteed food for the next few days, without having to dive into the dangerous waters of the black market.

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Cuba’s Demographic "Winter" in the Times of the Pandemic

The number of births in Cuba in the first quarter of the year, 23,666, is clearly fewer than the number of deaths, 27,269.

14ymedio, Elías Amor, Valencia, 29 April 2020 — In the midst of the serious crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, unfortunately, is starting to wreak havoc, not only in health but also in economic terms, the State newspaper Granma presents us on the cover with information that, of course, will go down in the history of journalism professional.

Nothing more nor less than a meeting with President Diaz-Canel is referenced to analyze the demographic dynamics of the country, and to report how population data from the first quarter show an absolute decrease in the population, given that the number of births (23,666) is clearly lower than deaths (27,269) and forecasts say that this trend will continue throughout the year.

Astonishingly, Díaz-Canel left the pressing problem of the pandemic for a few moments and devoted himself to evaluating, according to Granma, “the fulfillment of the program of attention to this important matter, in a context of population decrease, low fertility levels and increased aging.” continue reading

The data and information, drop by drop, were offered by the supposedly “disappeared” Mariano Murillo, who continues as “head of the Permanent Commission for Implementation and Development,” when we thought he had left office. He was in charge of showing the negative and tragic balance of 3,603 fewer Cubans, a part of the natural decrease of the population of Cuba.

They should have already addressed this problem a long ago. As should have Raúl Castro. Because the demographic “winter” of Cuba is not a phenomenon of now, but has been simmering for more than a decade. It is a problem that does not have an easy solution, but rather has very complex structural aspects and, what is worse, it will not be solved with patches and specific measures, no matter how much “intelligent, intensive work, with adequate follow-up, seeking to have more births, to stop the population decrease” is done by the authorities.

How have we gotten to this situation? What is the seriousness of the matter? And what solutions does the problem have?

The official argument is that we have reached this situation because the Cuban population ages due to a high life expectancy, a positive fact if there were a recovery of the demographic cohorts at the base of the pyramid. But since there are not enough births, the segment of the population of Cubans 60 years of age or older has increased to 20.8% of the total population; a figure that during 2020 will continue to grow up to 21.2%.

There is also talk of treatment for infertile couples, which according to Murillo’s data reached a figure of 138,977 couples, who show up at municipal and provincial consultations and high-tech centers, and it the success of this program is outstanding, having achieved, in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020, 11,678 pregnancies.

Best of all, Granma announces (once again the propaganda reaches the inadmissible) that “to continue finding efficient solutions, around twenty measures are being studied to stimulate the birth rate, which include greater care and protection for pregnant women, for working mothers and fathers and for families responsible for the care of minors. “

The point is that these 20 or 30 measures are not going to solve the problem. In reality, the stagnation of the Cuban population has a lot to do with the terrible state of the economy, the general poverty of the population, the overcrowding of families in houses that are falling apart, the low purchasing power of wages and the absence of freedom of choice.

One would have to wonder who might want to bring their offspring into the world to see them spend their daily existence between ideological slogans and absurd lines to “resolve things” — the terminology used to define shopping for food and other necessities.

This is the main issue, that Cubans have lost faith in the future of their country, and that the youngest, as far as they can, choose the path of emigration to straighten out their lives. If they analyzed the birth rates of Cubans abroad, they would see big surprises.

Díaz-Canel is not right when he says that demographic dynamics is a matter of the greatest complexity, because it is one of those that most impacts the present and future life of Cuba, its economic and social development.

It is just the other way around, as one has to see. It is because of Cuba’s structural poverty, which its government neither acknowledges nor wants to fix, that demographics are sinking without remedy. The causality of economic relations, in this case, is fully justified.

For more than a decade, the Cuban population has grown little or not at all. Those who have tried to solve this problem without reforming the structures of the old and reactionary communist social system have failed. There is no point in “filling” the Constitution with rights for families if there is then no way to exercise them or to put them into practice.

Daycare centers, grandparents’ houses, attention to conciliation, protection of pregnant women and infertile couples, yes, all that is very good as subsidies that fatten the state budget, but the objective must be to improve the living conditions of Cubans, and that depends on economic forces, especially the private ones.

And to achieve this goal of improving the productive structure, unfortunately, nothing new is on the horizon. Next year, Murillo’s data will be much worse. You can be sure of it.

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A Group of Independent Cuban Farmers Calls for the Liberalization of Agriculture

Cuban farmers remember when they could negotiate independently with the United States.

14ymedio, Havana, 29 April 2020 — The League of Independent Farmers and the Cuban chapter of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (Flamur) have launched a campaign directed at the Cuban Government demanding the liberalization of agriculture in Cuba in the context of the Covid-19 health crisis. In their opinion, the crisis could lead to famine, due to the poor state of agricultural production and the dependence on imports, which are more complicated during the pandemic.

The demands of the campaign, called Sin campo no hay país (Without the countryside there is no country), are specified in five proposals: freedom of production and distribution, of price setting, and of importing and exporting without intermediaries. In addition, they ask to eliminate all taxes for ten years and the delivery of permanent property titles.

The League members note that they could trade directly with the United States, since the laws only prevent trade with the State and its companies, but not with independent producers. continue reading

In support of this they cite the case of Nestlé, which in 2016 wanted to buy coffee from Cuban farmers and was authorized to do so by the US administration, but Havana blocked the agreement through the official National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), which denounced that the objective was “to influence the Cuban farmers and separate them from the State.”

“Of course, ANAP did not consult farmers to speak on their behalf. This closed the door to billions of dollars of US investment in the agricultural sector,” the statement said.

The group calls on the government to depoliticize agriculture, especially considering that it imports 80% of what is consumed in the country, and to look at the example of Vietnam, which liberalized the sector during a famine in 1986 and from that point took barely four years to become self-sufficient and to have surpluses.

Although they acknowledge that Raúl Castro, during the reforms that came at the beginning of his term, favored agricultural production, they lament that prices were capped, with control exercised through the state entity Acopio, and that there was “repression of urban vendors and truck drivers.”

“After six decades of state failure, on the verge of a national catastrophe, maintaining the internal blockade of private producers is a crime and colossal stupidity,” they warn.

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