14ymedio – Page 379 – Translating Cuba

Several Years in Prison for Self-employed Cuban Who Bought 15,000 Apples

The purchase of the apples occurred at La Puntilla Mall, which is located in the Miramar neighborhood in Havana.

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, September 17, 2019 — The seven people involved in the buying and selling of 15,000 apples at the store La Puntilla, in Havana, who were denounced last year by a Party-liner blogger, received sentences of seven months to six years in prison for the crimes of bribery and stockpiling, according to the judicial sentence to which 14ymedio has had access.

The trial occurred in June but nothing has been known until now since the official press has not responded to the matter. This media outlet learned about the sentence thanks to a relative of one of the convicted.

A text published in September of 2018 under the title Robbery in La Puntilla: It’s necessary to go further, criticized “the complicit indifference of employees.” The report was also published by the website Cubadebate and generated an intense controversy. continue reading

Nine months after the incident, on June 17 of this year, the accused were convicted of the crimes of bribery and stockpiling of a continuous nature. The trial, oral and public, took place at the Business System Region Military Court in Havana, due to the fact that the market where the events occurred is managed by the Cimex corporation, a business of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).

Among the defendants were state employees Rafael Tápanes Montalvo, Adonis Semanat Ortiz, and Joel Muñiz Lorenzo, in addition to self-employed workers Luis Eduardo Bruzón Mesa, Alexis Hechavarría Guerra, Raudelis Ramos Mejía, and Eliecer Samada Hechevarría, who bought the apples.

Tápanes Montalvo was a salesman at the Tropicola Warehouse Base which supplies the FAR’s holdings, while Semanat Ortiz worked at La Puntilla warehouse. Both were sentenced to 6 years in prison and the severity of their sentences was due to their working relationship with FAR companies.

Tápanes Montalvo was accused of the crime of bribery because he advised self-employed people via text message about the time and place of apple sales. In exchange he received 20 CUC and minutes for his cellphone, according to the district attorney. The defense insisted that the employee gave that information to facilitate management for the merchants but that he never asked for money in exchange.

The sentence signals that because of the positions that Tápanes Montalvo and Semanat Ortiz occupied in their workplaces, both were considered “public officials,” which means more severe sentences. “As special individuals, they should have prevented corrupt officials from being able to break the barrier of honesty and integrity that must characterize a public employee.”

For his part, Muñiz Lorenzo worked as a driver for Plaza Carlos III and used the state-owned vehicle he drove for apple deliveries, for which he was sentenced to seven months in prison, but he was released after the trial because he had already completed his sentence in pre-trial detention.

The self-employed were accused of speculation and stockpiling and were sentenced to between 3 and 4 years of prison. Stockpiling is a crime regulated in article 230 of the Cuban Penal Code and punishes whoever retains in their power or transportation merchandise or products “in evident and unjustifiably greater quantities than those required for their normal needs.”

However, in the trial it was specified that all the self-employed had their documents in order and correctly paid their taxes. Ramos Mejías, for example, had authorization to deal in light foods and a permit from the administration of the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power of Guantanamo.

The lawyer Miguel Iturría, who works with the Legal Association of Cuba, warns that some jurists believe that the crime of stockpiling “is reserved only for regulated products whose acquisition is limited” but in judicial practice it has been applied frequently against clients of free markets like stores that trade in convertible currency.

“If someone goes to a public establishment to buy 40 or 50 floor cleaning cloths, a product that disappears frequently, he is sold them in the state business and upon arriving home or on the street he is arrested, accused, and, subsequently, punished,” warns Iturría, for whom this “situation is an absurdity.”

For years, since its reappearance in the 90s, the Cuban private sector has demanded access to a wholesale market that would allow them to buy large quantities of products at preferential prices. Despite official promises, they have only opened stores where one can acquire certain products at wholesale but without economic advantages.

Frequently customers of retail stores complain that the entrepreneurs hoard basic essentials like bread, oil, flour, and milk. In the official press they are blamed for the shortages of some merchandise and complaints against those who buy large quantities of food and other products are published.

According to a witness of the trial against the seven people penalized, only three of them presented appeals before the court, which have not yet been ruled on.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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Gas Lines in Cuba Reflect the New "Temporary Situation"

Citizens have a weapon to show the world in real time what is happening on the island: their cellphones. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 19 September 2019 — Lines have been a constant in the lives of Cubans for too many years, especially when it comes to getting food, using public transport or filling the fuel tank. In the last two cases the situation has worsened because, despite calls for calm from President Miguel Díaz-Canel and his ministers, the most notable quality of diesel right now is its absence.

This week, in many gas stations in the country, the cars that line up to fill the tank can wait up to four hours to be able to buy gas, although sometimes they don’t get it, because the service to have any to sell, they are just waiting for the supplies to show up.

This Wednesday at a gas station in Playa, on 5th avenue and 142nd, the line of cars exceeded three blocks, with the same situation at the roundabout near the CUJAE University. At the Cupet station on 84th and 13th the line of cars was over a quarter mile long. At another point of sale, located on Paseo and Malecón street, the vehicles reaches 12th street, a six block line of cars, one behind the other, waiting to fill their gas tanks, which is also limited to 40 liters per person.

Meanwhile, the official press and television repeat as a mantra that the situation is “temporary” and they mention neither crisis nor shortages. But now, unlike previous years, citizens have a weapon with which to show the world in real time what is happening on the Island: their cellphones.

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Fewer Arrive, Few Stay and They Don’t Spend Much; Cuban Tourism Stalls

A steep decline in the number of cruise ships has dealt the island’s economy a hard blow. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, September 15, 2019 — Marcia and Luis own a guesthouse on one of the most centrally located thoroughfares in the colonial city of Trinidad. It includes a handicraft shop and serves as a meeting point for foreigners looking for guides who can show them “the hidden face of the city,” one of the best preserved on the island. But for the past six months they have had little business.

“We started noticing a drop-off at the end of last year but we thought it was a seasonal thing and that it would get better by February or March, when we normally have a lot of guests,” says Marcia. “But instead things just got worse. Now we are losing money and paying for our [operating] license out of our savings because there aren’t many customers and those who do come spend very little.”

Recently published data from the National Statistics Office confirms this impression. Tourists from the top five European countries seem to have lost their enthusiasm. The number of visitors from France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy fell 10% to 25% in 2018 compared to the previous year. continue reading

In the sitting room of a colonial-era house there is area set aside for the sale of handicrafts, pen and ink drawings, traditional clothing and refrigerator ornaments. “Two years ago this room was full of people all day long,” recalls Luis. “But the customers who spent the most and gave the biggest tips are gone. They were the ones who were not part of a tour group. Now they arrive by bus, spend half an hour in the city and leave.”

A few yards from the privately owned restaurant Sol y Son the situation is not much different. “We went from having customers lining up outside to having to hunt for them in other areas,” confesses a young man in white shirt, who holds a menu, trying to attract customers.

He believes the reason is a change in the type of tourist. “Now there are more people coming as part of packaged tours and fewer who come on their own.” Accustomed to paying a tip of at least 10%, Americans, who started coming after the 2014 diplomatic thaw, created an expectation that, for every bill, there would be a nice tip.

However, customers from other parts of the world did not have the same custom. This became a source of resentment in privately owned businesses catering to tourists, which face high taxes, license fees and government inspectors, who are often paid under the table to look the other way.

Almost 300 miles away, another one of the country’s major tourist centers is resentful over the decline in visitors from the United States and Europe. Viñales had been so crowded in September, “we had to ask permission to cross the street,” says Guillermo Luaces, who along with his wife rents two rooms in their house, located “in the shadow of the cliffs.”

Luaces describes a worrying situation: “There are fewer of them, they don’t stay for long and they spend the bare minimum.” The combination has been fatal for the finances of local entrepreneurs, who must pay expensive license fees, high personal income taxes and other costs associated with being located in a highly desirable tourist area.

However, Luaces is reluctant to lower his prices to attract more guests. “We are as low as we can go to make this worthwhile. An my house we charge 35 convertible pesos for one night, breakfast included. If we went any lower, we would be losing money,” he says. “Between electricity, taxes and the cost of breakfast supplies, there is very little profit.”

Several self-employed workers in the area interviewed by 14ymedio blame the drop in tourism on several factors. New regulations imposed by the Trump administration which limit Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba top the list, but other internal factors could also be contributing to the tourist sector’s sluggish numbers.

“Customers say Cuba is a very expensive country for tourists and that, for what they pay here, they could spend more time in the Dominican Republic or Cancun, which offer more amenities,” says Reyna, a cook who works in a privately owned restaurant a few yards from Viñales’ main park. “They complain about the services in general and that everything costs a lot.”

In Havana, the main port-of-call for cruise ships, the current situation is affecting thousands of entrepreneurs whose businesses are based on tourists willing to buy small items. A few yards from the Sierra Maestra Cruise Ship Terminal, a cafe offers soft drinks and snack plates, most with English names.

“Most of our customers come by boat and, although everything is included onboard, they often want to try some local dish, so we sell small combos accompanied by cocktails,” explains Dayron, one of the young employees at the cafe. “But we’ve had to change course in the last few weeks. Now we’re trying to attract more local customers to make up for the drop in tourism.”

The change is reflected in restaurant menus. “We used to offer a daiquiri and something to snack on, such as stuffed tostones, but now most of our sales are beer and sandwiches, which is what the locals consume,” he says. “We have to try to survive until the Americans return. But let’s hope they don’t take too long because businesses here are in the red.”

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European Tourism in Cuba Records a Steep Drop and Hotel Occupancy Plunges

In the colonial city of Trinidad the fall in number of visitors is experienced most dramatically in local businesses. (M. Wong/Flickr)

14ymedio, Havana, September 14, 2019 — Tourism, one of the few dynamic branches of the Cuban economy, is also in crisis. Official statistics published this Saturday by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) do not yet reflect the plunge in American visitors since July but do reflect a substantial fall in European travelers between January and June of this year.

Although it’s true that the number of tourists from the US increased some 40% in the first half of 2019 (from 266,185 in the same period in the previous year to 372,669), it’s necessary to stress that this increase is solely attributable to trips on cruise ships and, additionally, it is temporary given that Washington prohibited them in June so that Havana would cease its interference in Venezuela and its support for Nicolás Maduro.

In a statement made in July, the Minister of Tourism himself, Manuel Marrero, explained that the suspension of cruises would affect “more than 560,000 Americans in the rest of the year,” which allows one to predict a total collapse of the only sector of tourism that was expanding. continue reading

Since the prohibition on cruise ships, the arrival of foreigners in Cuba has decreased at least 20% according to official figures, although some economists believe that the percentage is even greater.

Official figures were just published on international tourism in Cuba in the first half of 2019. Compared with the same period of 2018, visitors increase (+2.4%), revenue barely increases (+0.2%) and the occupation rate is reduced (-6.8%) pic.twitter.com/IYGLrbb4qR

-Pedro Monreal (@pmmonreal)

Canada continues to be the primary source of visitors (more than 725,000 in the first half of the year), with a slight growth of 1.1%, while Cuban-Americans (305,680) are in third place and are the only ones to register a significant increase (6.4%).

On the other hand, the five main European clients are losing interest in Cuba: France (-10.3%), Germany (-10.4%), England (-17.8%), Spain (-15%), and especially Italy (-25%). Nationals of those countries totalled more than 516,000 in the first half of 2018, but only 437,000 in the equivalent period of this year.

Despite the decrease in European visitors, the total arrival of tourists grew 2.4%. However, revenues only increased 0.2% (as always, ONEI doesn’t say anything about the costs of running hotels, which doesn’t allow one to know the true earnings of the State in that sector).

Even more worrying for the Government is the fact of the occupancy rate in hotels, which fell 6.8% and is at 43.6% total capacity. This means that almost six rooms out of every ten have remained empty during the first half of the year.

The Cuban economist Pedro Monreal, who follows the situation closely via his blog and his Twitter account, predicts that the occupancy rate will continue falling in the second half of the year, and calls into question the official policy that bets on the construction of new hotels for international tourism.

“There is a contradiction between the depressed hotel occupancy rate and the increase in hotel capacity, which should grow with more than 4,000 new rooms in 2019. Unless it is explained in a conclusive manner, the enormous investment that implies doesn’t seem justified,” he points out in an analysis of the latest figures from ONEI.

These results do not come at the best time for the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, who faces a severe crisis caused by the poor management of the economy, the increase in sanctions from the United States, and, above all, the collapse of his Venezuelan ally and benefactor.

This week Díaz-Canel has called on Cubans to be prepared for more sacrifices and hardships. To get out of this “temporary situation,” the leader has promised that tourism will have an important role. ONEI’s figures do not seem to indicate that the economic recovery will take that route.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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E-Commerce in Cuba with Nothing to Buy

Few Cubans trust the island’s banking system. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, September 11, 2019 — Amazing. We had to wait until the now distant point in time — April 2016, when Guideline #108 of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution was approved — before Cubans could start engaging in e-commerce transactions in accordance with the country’s computerization process. It is curious how one political party’s “guidelines” can still impact Cubans’ living conditions.

It should be noted, however, that e-commerce is an activity that is widespread throughout the world, even in countries whose levels of development are lower than Cuba’s. Nevertheless, Granma believes this activity now merits an article extolling and promoting its virtues on the island.

Given these circumstances, the question that comes to mind is “Electronic commerce. What for?” as Fidel Castro, with full revolutionary fervor, said of elections. E-commerce is widespread where there is something to sell, where people can take advantage of its benefits and the ways it can improve their quality of life. Can anyone explain to me how Cubans, who can seldom find what they want in old, dilapidated bodegas, are now going to do their shopping electronically? With all the obstacles that currently exist and when things are rationed when least expected, how are they going to access this platform? Who is Granma trying to kid? continue reading

The reality is that Cubans have a poor, inefficient, disorganized and antiquated retail system plagued by chronic supply shortages. As a result it is very difficult to exercise the right to free choice for desired goods and services. Commerce, logistics, distribution and “middle-men” were early victims of communist repression. Businesses and companies were violently and unjustly confiscated by militias, condemning many former owners of these once prosperous entities to either a miserable existence on the island or escape into exile to save their lives.

Decisions like this — fervently promoted by Che Guevara, with the approval of Fidel Castro — are at the root of Cuba’s economic failures. And what is even worse are the limited possibilities for overcoming the backwardness and the widespread poverty in which Cubans find themselves.

Granma’s article makes you want to laugh and, along with it, at e-commerce too. This ought to be the guideline’s slogan. But I fear this is a mistake. It is possible that some Cubans might be interested in this formula. But I cannot see how someone could earn thirty dollars a month through e-commerce, especially under current conditions.

And it is not for a lack of experience or interest. Any Cuban who moves abroad, no matter to which country, embraces these technologies and views them positively. The problem is how to do it in the desert that is the Castro economy.

Setting aside the absence of products for sale and the lack of freedom of choice, any Cuban who wants to make an electronic purchase will first need a bank account in which to deposit either his meager monthly salary, which won’t buy much, or remittances sent by a family member overseas, which have to first be first be processed by a bank.

I also do not see many self-employed businesspeople putting their hard earned money into state-owned Cuban banks. They know that, if they do, that information will be immediately passed along to State Security, which will use it to control their operations. Without opportunities for investment, the best place for hard currency earnings is under the mattress or buried underground, as in colonial times.

Cubans’ confidence in banks is minimal. There are no statistics on the level of banking and financial development in Cuban society but its banking system is one of the most backward and inefficient in the world, owing to the fact that is it wholly owned by the state.

Without a bank account, it will be difficult to make an electronic purchase using a magnetic card at a store’s terminal, as Granma’s communists are encouraging.

But there is another much more complicated problem: How many retail establishments — the old bodegas, for example — have electronic checkout terminals at their points of sale? None. According to Granma’s statistics, there are only 21,462 such terminals, or one for every 950 inhabitants, in the entire country, one of the lowest rates in the world. Most are also concentrated in urban areas, making access limited and complicated for many people.

There may be terminals in hard-currency stores but everyone knows that these establishments represent only a small fraction of overall retail activity in the country. And they are only within reach of those with real money to spend.

In any case, economic inequality, which the Castro regime has so often criticized, is particularly virulent in this area, where the growth of computerization is limited. Many foreign tourists complain about it and about the difficulty of paying by card, something Cubans will not say.

The communist newspaper extolls electronic commerce and defines it “as a method of buying and selling characterized by the distribution, marketing and exchange of products and services in which monetary payments and receipt of funds are made quickly and securely using machines and digital networks, without the need for cash, based on available balances of magnetic cards in both currencies used in Cuba.” A good definition, no doubt, but not applicable in Cuba.

Because few Cubans can afford to engage in e-commerce due to their very limited purchasing power, they do not trust the way it is conducted on the island. Nor, it is clear, should they.

It is surprising that, in spite of offering 8% discounts on purchases made by card, the Cuban Central Bank — one of the tools the state relies on to control its citizens’ financial lives — has had little success convincing people to make purchases using its system. And with good reason. It is telling that the same discount is not needed in Miami or Madrid. On the contrary, banks there charge for this service. The Central Bank’s communist bureaucrats should take note.

The same applies to Transfermóvil, an Android app that supports ETECSA’s infrastructure and network services. This is the same company which many Cubans criticize for the high price of its services.

Though mobile banking is clearly widespread throughout the world, in Cuba it is very underdeveloped. Few Cubans use it to pay their utility and phone bills or to check their account balances. The reasons? The same as before.

To access mobile banking, a customer must have an account linked to a magnetic card issued by a Cuban bank (Popular Savings, Credit and Commerce, Metropolitan) and a Telebanca card. Mistrust in state banks is fully justified.

On the other hand, I do not believe that EnZona, Compra-DTodo or Superfácil platforms are widely used as channels for financial and digital business operations by individuals or and organizations. The fact that they are accessible by internet search engines or through Android apps on Etecsa’s platform does encourage widespread use in private sector businesses, especially given the company’s high prices.

Virtual stores, such as the one in the Commercial Center of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, offer a home delivery service that allows customers to reserve products and pick them up at their convenience, like any Zara store. But they fail to take off for the reasons mentioned before. In fact, information suggests that store’s products are in short supply and there is little to buy on the shelves.

It is no wonder that Cubans who have spent the last sixty years waiting in line to do anything do not understand the benefits of these virtual stores. The exceptions are young people with financial resources, which highlights once again to the issue of inequality. Transactions must be conducted in hard currency; the local currency is not accepted.

The e-commerce landscape in the era of Diaz-Canel is an example of the absurdity of robbing Peter to pay Paul. It makes no sense to introduce information-based technological solutions when the economic system remains stagnant. The problem boils down to the Cuban people’s limited purchasing power, their low incomes, their mistrust of banks owned by a repressive state and the lack of consumer choice.

Everything else is just beating around the bush. And worst of all, it turns e-commerce into one more arena for increasing social inequalities in communist Cuba. Fidel Castro’s greatest legacy. Without a doubt.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the blog Cubadebate and is reproduced here with the permission of the author.

Cuban Company Clandestina Accuses Spanish Company Zara of Plaigarism

Clandestina’s T-shirt on the left and Zara’s “copy” on the right.

14ymedio, Havana, 19 August 2019 — The Clandestina brand team has reported on social networks that the Spanish chain Zara plagiarized part of its designs in a clothing line that has just been launched in the market. Idania del Río called the action “shameless” and regretted that such a large company “has to copy much smaller people in every way.”

Among Clandestina’s most popular designs were T-shirts with the phrase Actually, I am in Havana that now reappears in Zara as Mentally, I am in Havana. The initial motto arose when Cuba and the United States was experiencing a diplomatic thaw and saw American celebrities strolling the streets of the Island’s capital.

In 2014, Del Río and Spain’s Leire Fernández began working in the shop-workshop located on Villegas Street, between Teniente Rey and Muralla, in Old Havana. “If you want to have a real design, you have to come to Havana and you can’t buy it at Zara because that’s plagiarism,” Fernandez said. continue reading

Another similarity of Zara’s collection with Clandestina’s designs occured last year when they launched last year some shirts with the phrase Delete the drama, which could be described as the English translation of the phrase used in the Cuban brand’s the collection of April 2017, Se acabó el drama.

Clandestina’s video to denounce this situation concludes with the workers of the Havana store telling Zara that “it has to stop,” to which Del Río adds: “It is not the first time.”

Last June Clandestina opened its first temporary store in the United States and for several days, Idania del Río was in charge of a point of sale in Brooklyn. The firm, which has operated worldwide since 2017 through its online store, presented its Country under Construction collection last November at the National Museum of Fine Arts, in collaboration with Google Cuba.

The Cuban brand is distinguished by the originality of its designs. Clandestina T-whirts, bags and other garments are advertised as “99% Cuban design,” something that has defined them. Initially it was Del Rio T-shirts and posters that turned a lot of eyes towards their store from other countries. Then they added hats, toys, glasses, and pillowcases to their collection, as well as custom work.

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"They Want to Eliminate the Only Two Humor Programs on Cuban TV"

14ymedio, Havana, 17 August 2019 — A text published in the Granma newspaper has provoked a flood of responses and statements on the issues addressed by Cuban humor. Artists such as Ulises Toirac, Kike Quiñones, Iván Camejo and Eduardo del Llano have questioned an article in this official government press that laments that there are too many jokes against public officials. Marcos García, The Son of Teresa, has also jumped into the arena of controversy.

14ymedio: Do you think that the humor that is published in the national media is complacent, moderately critical or excessively disrespectful of public officials?

Marcos García: Yes but no. The humor that is visible in the Cuban media is complacent and it is moderately critical, but many concepts should be discussed to see if it is — or is not — excessively disrespectful of public officials.

As required on elementary school tests, I justify my answer. It is complacent because the media is directed by the State and there is the figure of the “advisor,” who does not advise, but censors. There is also the figure of “content director,” who is a person who has no damn idea of the means of communication for which he receives a salary, but is reliable in the eyes of the power structure. That official has the power to decide to which smokescreen the resources will be allocated, especially in matters of humor. Therefore, any joke that is made — at least in the state media — responds to an editorial policy that is known to or handled by only those who lead. continue reading

The aforementioned has obvious results, and one is that the humor that appears on television, radio, written press and even on the state websites responds to what — sometimes reluctantly — their own leaders have approved for release. That is why it is complacent and also, because of that, it is moderately critical.

To say if the humor in the Cuban media is “excessively disrespectful” or not, we should define what is meant by “excessive” and what we mean by “respect” when talking about public officials. In the media that is defined by the content directors and I doubt that they or their minions are interested in clarifying it.

14ymedio: Are there different levels of permissiveness with television humor, print newspapers, authorized digital media, theaters, cabarets and more or less private shows?

Marcos García: Yes, of course there are differences. In our country, the written press and the permitted digital media have their own “editorial policies” and I think they are quite outdated with regards to publishing humor.

I think that permissiveness in the matter of humor is not a concept that could be associated with those who lead. At least not in Cuban media. I am convinced that they are not and cannot be accused of permissiveness because, to begin with, the majority have no idea what it is and how communication works in humor. Add to that, that they are officials who watch over what is established from above, and in turn they themselves are monitored from above, from below and from all sides.

A high position that defends its share of power based only on political reliability cannot make good use of the critical elemental thinking that is needed to understand humor and its mechanisms. And let’s not talk about administrative capacity, because that’s “another eggplant.”

On the other hand, the theaters, cabarets, nightclubs and so on, function practically as fiefdoms in which the person in charge is not always the person who directs and in very few cases do those who do this have training.

Those places, like more or less private nightclubs, have to raise funds. Their needs are different from those that move to censorship on television. There they need money. That does not mean that they are “permissive,” but that they mostly turn a blind eye, which is something else.

Let us not forget that in almost every state nightclub in Cuba, the last word belongs to a soldier in civilian clothes who has passed a management course. If “permissiveness” with humor were one of their qualities, they would not be directing.

14ymedio: Sometimes comedians are subtle and appeal to second readings or double meaning. Do you think that censorship contributes to sharpen those resources and that, if the known limitations did not exist, humor would be more direct or coarser?

Marcos García: This question has no absolute answer. “Second readings” or “double meaning” are only communication resources. All the resources of humor are used more or less grossly or ingeniously depending on the intelligence, culture and economic needs of those who stand on stage. The public only looks for what interests them. If there are comedians who do gross humor, it is because there is an audience that pays to see them. If there are comedians who make more elaborate humor, it is because there is an audience that follows them. If the pooch exists or if there is social criticism, it is because there is an audience that is willing to pay the entrance fee to laugh at them. And vice versa.

On the other hand, censorship has something of Descartes. If you think about it, it exists. It would be ideal if we didn’t think about it, but …

The awareness of censorship might help refine resources to expose an idea by dodging prohibitions with grace and ingenuity.

But generally who stands or is appointed censor has no awareness of humor and does not master it nor has bothered to invest their time in understanding the mechanisms of laughter. They might have learned how a script is made, but they have not understood how it makes you laugh.

I am not going to tell you what they are doing wrong so as not to give them the chance to apply that knowledge, because if they knew how easy it is, then censorship would be effective and if censorship were effective… I don’t know… I can’t take it in.

14ymedio: Could you tell us about any personal experience (or the experience of someone else that you have direct knowledge of) in which some humorous manifestation has been prohibited?

Marcos García: All the comedians of my generation could see the television humor of Detrás de la Fachada and San Nicolás del Peladero, which are both considered referents of good humor. But almost all of us were very young and we laughed at what we often did not understand.

At least in my case — and I am sure it is the case of many more comedians — the one who really taught us to understand humor for the first time was the one person simply showed us every Sunday the humor of the first and great masters of comedy in the cinema: Armando Calderón.

Being a professional, I had the honor of meeting him and conversing with him several times.

One day I asked him what every Cuban would have wanted to know: is it true that he was sanctioned for having said that mythical phrase? No. He never said it.

A government leader — a military officer to be precise — had commented at a meeting that Cuban children should not be watching “that old codger talking nonsense” on television. At that meeting was a man who was president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT): Nivaldo Herrera, an official appointed to his position by the State Council. Right there it was decided that Silent Comedy was over. When children asked why they never saw “friend Luzbrillante” or “friend Charles” or “Balloon Face and Blowtorch,” someone was in charge of putting out the rumor that Armando Calderón being drunk had said something that never in his life would he have allowed himself.

14ymedio: From a historical perspective, what does the controversy after the publication of the article in Granma suggest ?

Marcos García: Years ago there was a commander of infamous memory, Jorge Papito Serguera, who expelled many Cuban television artists starting a witch hunt in condemnation with other gentlemen who also enjoyed political reliability and who began the bitter “Five Grey Years” that did so much damage to Cuban culture. The policies of those gentlemen who came to hold high shares of power and were appointed by the Party still have followers in the halls of the ICRT.

Then came the unpleasant initial years of the Special Period, when a “leader” of as much weight as Carlos Aldana demanded in a speech on the Day of the Cuban press that censorship much exist and we should accept it as an ideological weapon. “Censorship yes! Censorship and good!” he read to the journalists gathered at the base of the Marti monument in the Revolution Square. His speech was broadcast on the television news and, therefore, he spoke to all Cubans. The following years were difficult for everyone, and following the policies of that subject exalted by the Party, Cuban television removed without prior notice the only humor programs: Los domingos no están contados (Sundays are Not Counted) and En Confianza (In Confidence).

Now, with reference to Granma newspaper and the innocent article we are talking about, I am very sorry for the flight this issue has taken. The opinion article that has provoked this debate has been published in the Official Organ of the Communist Party of Cuba. That is, it is understood that, more than a personal opinion, it is a partisan direction. That is very ugly, it is worrisome. Opening the door to intolerance once again. I can assure you that they have long been looking for ways to eliminate the only two programs that are now on Cuban TV. I know ink very well and this “comment” published in Granma seems like a warning.

14ymedio: Do you remember any personal anecdote that fits into the current controversy?

Marcos García: In 1989, a “fellow advisor” who then held a position at Radio Rebelde made me an offer that, if I presented him with a project for Radio Taino, he would give me the program. They gve me a contract, they gave me the courses of whatever it was so that I could enter the Cuban radio system and in Radio Taíno no less(!), which then started strongly… but with a condition, (what were you thinking, that it was offered to me for my pretty face?). I would have to use only the jokes and cartoons that appeared in Bohemia magazine, preferably the issues from before the Revolution … And why? I asked. Answer: Because with those jokes we aren’t courting problems.

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Frosty Electoral Environment in Cuba

On the ballot there are not different options to choose among, only names to approve, one for each position. (EFE)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 13 August 2019 — It is less than 60 days before the National Assembly of Popular Power elects the president and vice president of the Republic. In the same act, the three highest positions of the Parliament — president, vice president and secretary — and the other members of the State Council will also be elected.

This is the method to fulfill the second transitory provision of the current Constitution, which specified a period of three months from the approval of the Electoral Law, so that the Parliament could choose these positions from among its deputies.

“And what do the polls say?” asks the jokester. continue reading

This is the question asked by political scientists in most countries since electoral processes begin to be profiled. For example, in mid-August Argentina and Guatemala held elections; Argentines published surveys starting in October of last year and Guatemalans did so as of March of this year, when it was not yet known that there would be a second round.

That does not happen in Cuba, because preparing the nominations for the aforementioned positions is formally the job of the National Candidacy Commission, composed of members of the main “mass organizations” of the country and in these lists there are not different candidates to choose among, only names to approve. One name for each position.

Right now, the first breach of the provisions of the new Electoral Law could be taking place, which, in its sixth transitory provision, gave a period of 30 days for the directors of the mass organizations to designate their representatives in the National Candidacy Commission.

If we read the first special provision of the law itself, it is understood that for the calculation of the positions and terms “the days are understood as calendar days, unless otherwise expressly provided by the competent authority.”

As of today, August 13, 31 days have passed since that July 13 in which the Electoral Law was passed and the press has not said a word about these appointments. On Parliament’s digital site there is no mention that mass organizations have submitted their proposals for members of the National Nominations Commission.

Although it is no secret to anyone that Miguel Díaz-Canel will be appointed president of the Republic, the other positions are not so clearly defined. What a curious thing: in the official press nobody speculates, nobody asks, nobody makes proposals. In this matter, as in many others, the mystery syndrome prevails.

The date of October 10 is probably adopted for the inauguration of the new president. It is notorious that the civil offices of the Republic take possession on dates marked by military deeds: October 10 marks the beginning of the first war of independence; February 24 marks the beginning of the second; and April 19 the “Victory of Playa Girón,” known to the north as the Bay of Pigs.

In response to the limitation of two five-year terms for senior political and government officials, there was a question of how the time since April 19 would be considered, during which the certain candidate for President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel took possession of his current position as president of the Councils of State and Ministers. Will it be counted as a prior preliminary stage or will it be recorded as time served in the new position?

The answer is offered by the third transitory provision of the new Electoral Law that specifies that the current election will be “on this occasion, for the remainder of this mandate” that is, until April 2024. If those who wrote this provision did not know beforehand that the “next” president is going to be the same person who holds the position today, with another denomination, they would not have introduced this clause, because if it were someone else, they would be subtracting six months from that person’s five-year term.

As for the changes in Parliament, we will have to wait for the same date, which is clear from the first special provision of the Constitution that states that the deputies of the IX legislature “remain in their positions until their term ends.”

Miguel Díaz-Canel exhibits an impeccable conduct in his intention to give continuity to the legacy of the historical generation. Furthermore, he will probably not have taken one unearned peso from public funds, nor will he engage in any nepotistic behaviors to benefit his relations. But he will not have been chosen by the people.

Not even the most-committed gamblers will place bets on the result of this appointment. There will be no one going out to the balconies of their homes to shout cheers, or joy inside homes in front of the television screen when the monotonous voice of the president of the Electoral Commission pronounces the name of the new head of state. Not even among his supporters.

That’s how tedious and boring these processes are in this country. With less than 60 days to know the result of these inappropriately named elections, there are no campaigns or debates, much less scandals. Not only are the surveys missing, the great absentee is popular enthusiasm.

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Parade of Ministers on Cuba’s Roundtable TV Show Call for Tranquility

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Raúl García Barreiro, accompanied Miguel Díaz-Canel in the second broadcast of the Roundtable TV show to assess the lack of fuel and propose savings measures.

14ymedio, Havana, 13 September 2019 — The second appearance of President Miguel Díaz-Canel and several of his ministers on the Roundtable TV show was an exercise in contortionism of the powers-that-be committed to explaining to Cubans that everything is under control and nothing will be affected but all sectors must adjust downwards. Of course, because the United States prevents the arrival of fuel to the Island.

“Here the truth is told and only the truth, what is not said is not to give in to the difficulties. The enemy wants to close all possible doors,” said the president before passing the word to his team, which was analyzing the optimization of resources that will be carried out in two phases. The first should end this weekend, and the second “begins with the arrival of the fuel vessel to the country, although it is not enough. That is why we must stretch it to ensure the vitality of the country until the end of the month,” said Alejandro Gil, Economy Minister.

Among the most affected industries will be heavy materials and construction. Gil said steel and cement will lower production for at least fifteen or twenty days to prioritize food and “products in the retail sphere,” bureaucratic terms that apply to detergents and soaps, among other items. The great beneficiary, for whom no modification has been announced, is the usual one, tourism. “Cuba is in a position to offer a quality service to visitors arriving on the Island.” continue reading

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Raúl García Barreiro, tried to call for calm in the face of Cuban fears of blackouts. Although he acknowledged that in recent days there have been brief power outages in Havana and other regions, it occurs “as in any other country,” and he linked them to specific problems in substations, in addition to ruling out that electricity generation is insufficient.

“Measures are taken in the state sector to reduce spending, and it is very favorable for the people to be involved, consumers of 60% of the energy. At peak times that amount is greater, so everything we can do in homes to shift the demand in this moment is favorable,” García Barreiro asked citizens.

The minister also admitted the problems with liquefied gas, which almost two million Cubans depend on, but promised that it was about to be solved. “The gas supply is guaranteed and we have contracts signed until December. On the weekend the service must be stabilized in the eastern provinces, on Tuesday in the center of the country and on Thursday in the west. We are not only talking about regulated gas, but also of the sale unrationed gas with its usual cycle,” he said.

Among the services affected in his area is the supply of gasoline in the service centers, which according to his commitment, will be resolved at the end of the month, and so he asked that current stocks be ‘stretched’.

The direct consequence of this is the damage to another sector, transport, which keeps Cubans paralyzed. Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, minister of the branch, also appeared on the TV show to give explanations.

Of the 1.1 million people who are normally transported daily, today only 600,000 do so and bus trips have dropped from 7,000 to 4,000. “That is why we must ask for greater collaboration from bus companies,” Rodríguez Dávila asked.

The minister also asked the drivers for help and warned that inspectors and police are deployed in case collaboration is not voluntary.

In a new attempt to say one thing and the opposite, Rodríguez Dávila indicated that the trains would not “be affected,” but as of this Sunday, and although a new schedule for service to the east of the country begins, there will be restructuring of schedules. In addition, he ordered those who had already bought a ticket to get a refund if there has been any modification in their departure which no longer works for them.

Medications, on the other hand, will not suffer from transport problems. Although, for that, they will have to exist. The Minister of Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, another of the appearing parties, explained that this is in the best moment of drug production in the last four years, but that there is still much to improve, especially because of the ‘blockade’, and so he has returned to lend a hand shortly after his colleague, the Minister of Economy said: “Our task is to find solutions to each problem, not justifications.”

The Minister of Health said that fuel is guaranteed for the boilers in hospitals and for ambulances, but referrals to other doctors are encouraged to reduce displacements. He also noted that energy will be allocated to the war against arboviruses (for example dengue and zika).

There was no representative on the show from Education, but Gil said he will not stop teaching “although there may be schedule shifts.” Some commentators warned that classes have been suspended at the Central University Marta Abreu (UCLV) and the Technological University of Havana José Antonio Echeverría, (Cujae).

Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera, First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, was also there to talk about something new: telecommuting. In the absence of fuel and transportation problems, the Government has found the benefits of maintaining productivity without commuting, which will also avoid “absenteeism, late arrivals and early departures,” he said.

One could not miss, in such circumstances, a little epic. That’s why Díaz-Canel turned to the classics: Fidel Castro, the five heroes, and the Vietnamese friend. “Cuba does not have a day without history,” he said.

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Official Twitter Accounts Return, But Not Raul Castro’s

Raúl Castro’s Twitter account remains locked this morning. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 13 September 2019 — Twitter started unlocking some of the official accounts closed last Wednesday. At the moment, the profiles of Granma, Mesa Redonda, Radio Rebelde, Dominio Cuba , the journalist Leticia Martínez Hernández and the deputy and director of the National Sex Education Center, Cenesex, Mariela Castro, have recovered their activity.

Among those who still have their accounts closed are Cubadebate , Cubaperiodistas, Canal Caribe, Angélica Paredes, from the Díaz-Canel press team, Rosa Miriam Elizalde, first vice president of the Union of Cuban Journalists and Enrique Moreno Gimeranez, journalist from Granma. Also on this list is the last and most relevant of the blockades, Raúl Castro, former president and current secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Around ten o’clock on Thursday night, Granma, the country’s first official newspaper and the Communist Party’s propaganda organ, announced the unlocking of its profile. “The Granma newspaper account , suspended by Twitter since the afternoon of Wednesday without any cause, was restored on Thursday afternoon with only 18 thousand followers. Twitter has been raising the figure, which we hope will return to the original 166 thousand.” continue reading

Hours later, the account has regained all its followers. Other profiles in networks, such as Dominio Cuba, returned to working status before Granma’s and denounced re-starting with zero subscribers, although gradually they were also being restored.

Dominio Cuba also complained that the US company has not apologized for the interruption of its activities.

For its part, the Mesa Redonda account, once again accessible, showed the messages that its administrators had issued during the moments when they had not yet realized their invisibility.

It remains to be seen if going forward the accounts that remain blocked will return to normal in the wake of the previous ones, although some followers regret that the suspension occurred coinciding with the first television speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel to announce the country’s emergency measures for the energy crisis.

Twitter’s Director of Global Communications, Ian Plunkett, told OnCuba that the company considered that the suspended official accounts violated the company’s manipulation policy that is defined as “the artificial amplification of the information through several accounts at the same time.”

The Union of Cuban Journalists, Upec, denounced yesterday the action of Twitter, which attributed to a policy of the Department of State directed to reactivate the opposition’s online militancy .

“The new thing is the massive nature of this act of cyberwar, obviously planned, which seeks to limit the freedom of expression of Cuban institutions and citizens, and silence the leaders of the Revolution,” said the organization.

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Diaz-Canel Defines the Current Energy Crisis as a "Temporary Situation"

To dispel fears of a food shortage, like the one that occurred at the beginning of this year, Díaz-Canel said that “the issue is essentially energy.” (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, September 11, 2019 — President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke this Wednesday about the problems with the arrival of fuel to Cuba that are affecting the day to day life of the Island, although he ruled out that it is a second Special Period, similar to the crisis of the 90s that left a traumatic memory among Cubans.

In a television appearance transmitted by several channels, the leader alluded to the complex energy situation the country is experiencing, although he avoided using the word “crisis” and assured that after the arrival of a ship with petroleum, on September 14, the tension will be relieved, but he pointed out that he wasn’t going to say “where it comes from.”

For several days complaints and reports about an abrupt fall in the number of buses circulating through the country reached social media. Images of people waiting for hours at bus stops, and popular rumors of a possible economic collapse similar to the one a quarter century ago, multiplied. continue reading

“It’s a temporary situation and we want the population to have all the elements,” clarified Díaz-Canel, who attributed the problem to the worsening of pressures by the American administration on the Island. “’They want to ’cut off our light and air,’ as we say in good Cuban,” he added.

After the arrival of the oil ship on the 14th, new shipments will not reach the Island until the end of September, so “adjustment and savings measures” must be taken so that the fuel that comes this week “lasts until” more arrives at the end of the month. “We are going to work with the fuel that has already entered the economy,” insisted Díaz-Canel.

To dispel fears of a lack of food like the one that occurred at the beginning of this year, Díaz-Canel said that “the issue is essentially energy, with some related to fuel, and for that reason we are going to explain the impacts. It’s not a shortage, we have food at the ports.”

“This scenario obligates us to take measures to get out of this temporary situation, to minimize the impact on prioritized services and optimize the use of fuel,” he detailed.

In recent days some companies have been forced to cut transport services for their employees in face of the low availability of fuel. In his appearance the leader called on drivers of state cars* to stand in solidarity. “All state cars must stop at the stops,” and pick up people waiting for a bus, especially at rush hour.

“We have to take satisfactory experiences applied in the Special Period when it comes to solutions for transportation,” warned Díaz-Canel, who recalled the changes in working hours that were imposed in those years and called for a “leveling” of electric spikes to avoid excess demand at the times of greatest usages of energy in the residential sector.

The formula most repeated by the leader to get out of the crisis was appealing to savings, sensitivity, and popular vigilance. Díaz-Canel called on the population to be alert so that no one speculates, hoards, or raises prices.

Díaz-Canel tried to calm the popular mood and reminded that Cuba produces 40% of its needs in petroleum, and ruled out possible “blackouts” ahead of the new fuel shipment next Sunday. The minister of Economy and Finance, Alejandro Gil Hernández, also assured that the supply of liquified and natural gas is guaranteed until the end of the year.

The Economy minister called for a paralyzation of certain services that are not at the moment a priority in order to guarantee others that are essential. The official assured that they were going to guarantee activities that directly affect the wellbeing of the population, like the distribution of food and passenger transportation.

However, the minister of transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, announced that there will be adjustments in the train schedules and that “not everyone will be able to travel the day they want.” “We are going to readjust the departures of domestic trains, without canceling departures but we are going to space them out in time,” he asserted.

*Translator’s note: This kind of informal “ride sharing” is long-standing in Cuba, in the face of decades of limitations in passenger transport of all kinds.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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Mogherini’s Visit Coincides With Dozens of Arrests

The European Community, represented by Mogherini, has reiterated its support at the Plaza of the Revolution on this trip.

14ymedio, Havana, September 11, 2019 — Dozens of activists arrested this weekend during the framework of Federica Mogerini’s visit to Cuba continue to be detained in bad conditions, their families report. This Monday night, Katerine Mojena, wife of the Carlos Amel Oliva, the youth director of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu) , reported that he as well as the leader of the opposition organization, José Daniel Ferrer, were in the cells of the first police unit of Santiago de Cuba.

“No washing and in the same clothes from two days ago. With very little and disgusting water and food. They’ll be there for 5 days until it’s decided if they’ll go to prison or not,” reported Mojena on social media. Mojena, also an activist, who has seen the authorities arrest her husband twice in four days, has rejected the position of the European Union in its relations with Cuba, even more so as the arrests made coincided with the visit of its chief of diplomacy. Several of the detainees have already been released with fines from 500 to 1,500 CUP.

“Outrageous that the EU negotiates with a dictatorship that mobilizes its soldiers to stop its citizens from marching with a sunflower in hand,” lamented the opposition figure on Twitter. continue reading

In a video filmed by the Unpacu leader, José Daniel Ferrer, Oliva is seen walking on a street with a sunflower in his hand and a military vehicle abruptly arrives with several people in uniform. The live social media transmission was cut off after that.

According to what Mojena told this newspaper, Ferrer, Amel, Jorge Cervantes, and Carlos Oliva Rivery have all been in detention for 48 hours by now. In the case of Ovidio Martín it’s 72 hours, because he was arrested in a raid carried out on his home on the 7th. There are currently 23 activists who have not been released and it is unknown in which unit the majority is being kept. Additionally, the operation continues, more reinforced in the three homes that make up the headquarters of Unpacu in Altamira.

Ernesto Oliva explained to 14ymedio the circumstances of his arrest and that of his colleagues. “On the 8th, when we were leaving the José María Heredia cell of Unpacu to demonstrate, around six activists. About 10 officials from State Security were near the door and, when we went out, they made a circle to prevent us from reaching the street. There we started to demonstrate and they called for reinforcements.”

According to the activist, who was released within a few hours, some thirty minutes later about twenty more officials arrived, all in plain clothes, in a State truck. “There wasn’t a single one in uniform, neither police nor military, the method was out of the ordinary. The agents in civilian clothes put us in the truck. Some residents said that among them there were even police from the PNR (National Revolutionary Police) in plain clothes. They took us to the old school, Frank País teacher training, which is now a school for cadets, and there they split us up, sat us down at desks, and denied us food and water,” he reviews.

The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), headquartered in Spain, which in recent days has reiterated its petition to the EU to put an end to the Agreement of Political Dialogue and Cooperation with Havana, has called on Mogherini to condemn the arrests.

“You cannot remain silent. While a discussion on human rights is being staged, José Daniel Ferrer, Jorge Cervantes, Zaqueo Báez Guerrero, Ovidio Martín, Carlos Amel Oliva, and Carlos Oliva Rivery remain detained, all coordinators of the Patriotic Union of Cuba,” it expressed in a statement.

Also against the Agreement is the leftwing activist and ex-diplomat Pedro Campos, who believes that Mogherini “seeks the opening of Castroism to foreign capital and eliminating the internal blockade, to hide the true depths of the EU-Castro agreement,” which, he believes, is “to help the dictatorship economically and to burnish its international image of violators of the human rights of the Cuban people.”

Since the arrival last weekend of the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the threats, arrests, and suspension of cellphone service have multiplied against activists to prevent a peaceful protest planned for Sunday.

Mogherini has made an official visit with an agenda filled with meetings and in which the absence of meetings with the opposition has bothered that sector. If someone was waiting for a shift in the European policy, nothing is further from reality, given that the community block has reiterated its support at the Plaza of the Revolution.

“We are available to the authorities and to the Cuban people to share our experiences and offer financial support,” declared Mogherini this Monday in Havana.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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Police Assault National Unpacu Headquarters in Santiago de Cuba

Police during a previous assault on the headquarters of Unpacu. (Unpacu file)

14ymedio, Havana, 7 September 2019 — The headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu) in Santiago de Cuba was assaulted by police at dawn on Saturday, according to Martha Beatriz Ferrer, daughter of opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, who reported it on her Facebook account. “They arrested 24 people. My father was forcibly prevented from leaving the house,” she added.

“Special troops kept Ferrer in custody as he shouted against the tyranny. The Unpacu Headquarters is still completely under siege and all mobile phones without service,” said the young woman, who lives in the United States.

The police operation occurred at six o’clock in the morning this Saturday, after a Friday in which several Unpacu activists denounced threats and operations around their homes. The headquarters of the opposition organization was besieged by police officers and at least one of the group members was arrested.

Carlos Amel Oliva, youth leader of Unpacu, was arrested Friday morning, after having accompanied his children to school, according to his wife, Katherine Mojena. The activist was Taken to the second station of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) where he was fined 1,000 Cuban pesos (CUP).

“According to them, I violated their security apparatus but my house is not a dungeon,” denounced Oliva on his Facebook account shortly after being released in the afternoon. “As part of the operation we have been able to verify so far that Etecsa cut the service to some thirty mobile phones of coordinators and activists,” he added.

Oliva’s brother, also an activist, Ernesto Oliva Torres, denounced threats against several Unpacu members in the Santiago town of El Cristo. State Security troops threatened José Antonio López and Abel Peña with being arrested if they left their homes in the next few hours.

Stgo #Cuba, #UNPACU cell of José M. Heredia under siege by the Political Police and Black Berets.

These troops are located a few meters from the door, to prevent the activist from entering. @jdanielferrer @FelixLlerenaCUB @Luz_Cuba pic.twitter.com/qPyNbh5V2l

– Ernesto Oliva Torres (@ ernestounpacu1) September 6, 2019

For his part, the leader of Unpacu, José Daniel Ferrer warned about the siege around the headquarters and said on the social network Twitter that “the assault troops are hidden in the corners.” In several published images plainclothes troops are stationed nearby.

Such threats occured shortly after Unpacu and Cuba Decides called for a demonstration on Sunday, September 8, at 10 am in response “to the increase in repression against peaceful opposition and citizenship.”

This citizen action is scheduled to take place on the day dedicated to the Patroness of Cuba, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, which coincides with the eve of the celebration in Havana of the Joint Council of the Cuban Government and the European Union, which will be attended by the high representative of foreign policy, Federica Mogherini.

The convening organizations have also expressed their solidarity with the Ladies in White movement, independent journalists and artists; defenders of religious freedoms and LGTBI activists and all peaceful people and organizations.

The organizers of the initiative have called for an end to police abuses, to prison sentences for political reasons, to violations of the right to enter or leave the country, the ill-treatment and torture in prisons, police raids on the houses of dissidents and violent detentions, in addition to harassment of activists.

Castroism is so confident that the #UE – #Cuba Agreement is going to be consummated, that a few days after the arrival of @ FedericaMog, they assault, steal and arbitrarily detain.

These are the NAMES of the detained activists, during the assault on the National Headquarters d #UNPACU , in Stgo #Cuba . pic.twitter.com/dgRzKWrHqx

– Ernesto Oliva Torres (@ ernestounpacu1) September 7, 2019

On the other hand, in Havana, activist Pedro Acosta was arrested at two in the afternoon on Friday at his home at the Casino Deportivo and released four hours later. An officer, accompanied by two State Security agents, took him in a patrol car to the San Miguel del Padrón station where he was subjected to an interrogation for more than an hour and a half, he told this newspaper.

“They told me that they would not allow me or the activist Iliana Hernández to do any public action,” said the activist, who also maintains an informative space on Cuban reality through social networks.

Prior to the arrival of Federica Mogherini on the Island, several organizations have called for suspending the Agreement on Political Dialogue and Cooperation with the Government of Cuba, due to the worsening of the repressive situation on the Island, according to a statement published on Monday.

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The Official Cuban Press Discovers “Freedom of Expression” Thanks to Twitter

Government linked Cuban journalists union backs the people and institutions that have seen their accounts blocked on the social network. (Letra Nueva)

14ymedio, Havana, 12 September 2019 — The Union of Journalists of Cuba (Upec) called on Wednesday against “the limits to the freedom of expression of Cuban institutions and citizens.” The complaint responded to Twitter’s blocking of several official media and other institutional accounts which is limiting those who, in Upec’s opinion, and trying to “silence the leaders of the Revolution.”

The Director of Global Communications of Twitter, Ian Plunkett, detailed to OnCuba through an email what “the actions” are that the company considers violations within the official accounts of several Cuban media as well as some journalists and officials, accounts which have been suspended.

One of the policies Twitter believes was not respected is its policy regarding manipulation, which was violated by “the artificial amplification of information through several accounts at the same time.” continue reading

Miguel Diaz-Canel’s speech had just begun this Wednesday in which he was announcing the exceptional measures that will be taken in response to the lack of fuel on the Island, when several of the government accounts learned that they had been blocked by Twitter. At first, those affected could access their timeline, but not the message options.

The accounts suspended “for violating the rules of Twitter” are those of Cubadebate (300,000 followers) and Granma (167,000), in addition to those of Mesa Redonda, Radio Rebelde, Dominio Cuba, Cubaperiodistas and Canal Caribe, by Leticia Martínez and Angélica Paredes, from the Díaz-Canel press team; Rosa Miriam Elizalde, first vice president of the Upec; and Enrique Moreno Gimeranez, a journalist from Granma.

The Twitter account of ‘Cubadebate’ early this Thursday.

The accounts of the Ministry of Communications and those of government officials were also closed, such as that of Yaira Jiménez Roig, Director of Communication and Images for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and that of the deputy and director of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex), Mariela Castro Espín, Raul Castro’s daughter.

“It seems a concerted operation of false allegations of abusive use and violation of platform policies. Surprising political bias, selectivity of affected users and opportunity (opportunism): when President Diaz Canel speaks,” wrote Elizalde.

Twitter reserves the right to suspend accounts that violate company rules, at the request of users who report them. Frequent reasons for suspension, as indicated by the company itself, include abusive messages or those that go against the rules, involve spam, security (prevention against possible hacking ). It is possible, and frequent, for a Twitter user to recover their account following the procedure indicated on the company’s website.

Although this type of event is not out of the ordinary in the use of the social network, the Upec considers that “what is new here is the massiveness of this act of cyber warfare, obviously planned, which seeks to limit the freedom of expression of Cuban institutions and citizens, and silence the leaders of the Revolution.”

“The Union of Cuban Journalists strongly denounces the disappearance of these spaces for the expression of ideas, in an act of mass censorship of journalists, editors and the media. We demand that the blocked accounts be restored immediately, which in no case have violated Twitter’s policies, while the platform flagrantly tramples on the rights of communicators, prevents them from engaging in their work and tries to muzzle a first-rate informational event in our country.”

The Upec one again demonstrates its militancy by defending the freedom of expression and the rights of communicators only when it comes to those linked to the ruling party. None of the independent Cuban media enjoys government recognition and, since the approval of the new computerization law, last July, this media is penalized for “disseminating, through public data transmission networks, information contrary to the social interest, the morale, good manners and the integrity of the people,” which, de facto, outlaws the digital media that, with the previous analog regulations, managed to overcome some of the restrictions.

The ‘Granma’ Twitter account early this Thursday.

The Upec has not raised its voice for the media blocked by the Cuban Government, including this newspaper, or by independent journalists detained in the exercise of their profession, a job that they cannot even perform since it is prohibited to do so outside the formal Institutions

The organization’s note also accuses the State Department of being involved in this situation. Last June, the Internet Working Group for Cuba, a group from the US proposed to provide more funds to open digital sites, generate “attractive content” on the network and provide scholarships. According to the Upec, these efforts are intended to “finance a cyber-militancy trained in harassment, lies and political assassination, which is not usually affected by these types of Twitter actions.”

The first references to social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, in the official Cuban press, date from 2007 when these spaces were branded as “tools manufactured by the CIA.” At that time, a few independent activists and journalists made use of these networks and it took several years until the official voices began to engage on them.

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Police Take the Journalist Roberto Quinones to Prison

Roberto de Jesús Quiñones was taken to prison on September 11, 2019. (Cubanet)

14ymedio, Havana, September 11, 2019 — The journalist Roberto Quiñones was arrested this Wednesday and driven to jail by the police, after he didn’t report on September 5 to the provincial prison of Guantanamo to complete a one-year sentence.

Three National Revolutionary Police (PNR) agents arrived at Quiñones’s house after four in the afternoon and arrested him, as his wife Ana Rosa Castro detailed to the information website Cubanet.

“Roberto was prepared. He had his things gathered, so they wouldn’t delay in taking him. They told him that he had the right to a phone call, that way he would give me the details of his exact location. Later they informed me that they took him to the provincial prison,” added Ana Rosa. continue reading

Recently, Quiñones had announced that he would not report voluntarily to the prison. “The president of the court that sanctioned me and the judges of the provincial court that did the other setup of a staging of a supposed act of justice, insisted that I am a dangerous citizen, I have thought that in that case the best thing is to wait for them to come arrest me in my own house,” he argued.

The independent journalist and contributer to Cubanet was sanctioned on August 7 for the crime of resistance and disobedience. He received a sentence of a year in prison substituted for correctional work with internment, during a trial held in the Municipal Court of the city of Guantanamo.

The journalist’s arrest occurred on April 22 while he was waiting to cover the trial against the pastors Ramón Rigal and Ayda Expósito, who refused to send their children to school and opted for the method of teaching known as homeschooling. According to their testimony they were beaten by officials during the arrest.

This month, the US government condemned the prosecution of the reporter. “We urge the Cuban regime to immediately release Mr. Quiñones and cease the abuse and mistreatment against him,” said the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in statement.

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) also critized the Cuban Government and demanded that it suspend the punishment and “not continue trampling human rights.”

At the end of August Quiñones was awarded the Patmos Prize for Religious Liberty, which the Patmos Institute gives out. The organization recognized the Catholic layman because “in a very critical period for Cuban civil society in general, including for churches, where the majority prefer to remain silent (…), he decided to be the exception and live against the current.”

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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