14ymedio – Page 431 – Translating Cuba

Photographer and Activist Claudio Fuentes Released 24 Hours After His Arrest

The Cuban opponent Claudio Fuentes. (María Matienzo)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 June 2018 — More than 24 hours after he was arrested, opposition photographer Claudio Fuentes was released in Havana, opposition sources confirmed to this newspaper. The dissident was subjected to an intense interrogation filled with threats toward his rebellious work. Activists of the Patriotic Union of Cuba confirmed to 14ymedio the release of Zaqueo Báez, who was also arrested on Friday when he was trying to visit a political prisoner in Holguin.

“Since yesterday morning we had been trying to call him by phone and we could not establish contact with him,” said former political prisoner Ángel Moya. “As the day progressed, we learned that he was being detained,” he adds. continue reading

An officer on duty at the San Miguel del Padrón police station informed the family via telephone that the activist was being held at that station, but “when they got there, they were told he was not there.”

On several occasions, he has also been the victim of arbitrary arrests and other repressive actions, such as confiscation of his means of work.

Among his most famous works are the filming of several interviews with Cuban activists for the documentary Patria o muerte (2016), directed by filmmaker Olatz López Garmendia and premiered by the American production company HBO.

In an interview he criticized those artists of the Island who “spend their time, like peacocks, on their own work and generally that work has its back to a reality that has already collapsed.” A behavior that has led him to feel “shame” for that guild and that pushed him to “go another way.”

Fuentes also collaborated in the edition of the debate program Razones Ciudadanas (Citizens’ Reasons), which for two years issued several episodes in which activists and dissidents discussed hot topics of the Cuban reality such as the press, internet access and racism.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) verified 128 arbitrary short-term detentions for political reasons last May.

During these arrests, “the peaceful dissidents were interned, as always, under inhuman and degrading conditions, in the police barracks designed for such ends,” denounced the independent organization.

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he 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of 14ymedio. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.

"The Meat Hasn’t Arrived and Less is Expected"

The private restaurants, known in Cuba as ’paladares’, are among the most affected by the rationing in the quantities of products that are given to each customer in the Villa Clara shops. (Lime)

14ymedio, Santa Clara, 11 June 2018 — The markets of Villa Clara started the day this Monday under new measures of control over the sale of food. Local authorities imposed price caps on agricultural markets and rationed products previously sold outside the ration market throughout the province as a result of the damages caused by the subtropical storm Alberto.

The measure, agreed on June 7, has been met with conflicting opinions among the residents of the region. Some receive it as a short-term solution to the shortage of food, but others fear it will continue over time and boost the black market.

The Villa Clara Provincial Administration Council (CAP) justified the new controls as a way to “avoid hoarding and speculation,” according to information published in the local press. Although the duration of the measures has not been specified, it is known that they will be in effect for at least three months, as the authorities have announced that they will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. continue reading

The price reductions are mandatory, ranging from 20% to 80% of the prices of some products before the heavy rains, and include the state agricultural markets, and those managed as cooperatives and privately, along with the so-called ’points of sale’ (smaller) and the cart vendors.

Among the regulated goods are rice and beans, as well as root crops, vegetables and pork. One pound of the latter can not be sold for more than 16 Cuban pesos, a price that is almost 40% less than before the passage of the storm Alberto.

Of the products derived from pigs, among which is also lard, only 10 pounds can be sold to each consumer.

The independent swine sector does not welcome the establishment of these maximum prices. “What many breeders are going to do is sell the animals as soon as they are weaned, rather than care for them until they are ready to be slaughtered,” Amancio, a resident of Santa Clara’s periphery, explains to 14ymedio.

“For weeks I’ve only been selling piglets for people to raise themselves because we have problems with the feed and because many families want to guarantee having the animal in their yard,” says the producer. “A price of 16 pesos a pound doesn’t make sense as a business for anyone, neither the person who breeds it nor for the one that sells it,” he affirms.

However, among pensioners and people with lower incomes, the CAP decision has been well received. “The abuse is over,” reiterated a pensioner outside La Feria market on Sunday morning, one of the most popular in Santa Clara. “They were taking advantage of the rains to raise prices and this puts an end to it,” says the woman.

With very little available on the stands, at La Feria only a few pieces of pork were sold this weekend. “The meat isn’t coming and less is expected,” Maikel, an employee, told this newspaper. “The guajiros prefer to sell it directly to paladares (private restaurants), coffee shops and fixed customers,” he says.

Outside the market, a man who was offering two lemons for 1 Cuban peso (CUP) — a higher price than the 2.50 CUP per pound required by the new regulations — disappeared with his merchandise when he saw a policeman arrive in the area.

Groups of inspectors patrol the markets to avoid violating the prices established by the CAP. The Ministry of the Interior has been involved in these reviews in which “the pertinent measures will be taken in the face of violations or breaches of the agreement.”

The new regulations also address sales in the so-called hard currency stores, the “shopping.” In the case of the stores of the state chains CARIBE, CIMEX and Palmares, the sale of food, cleaning products and beverages has been regulated up to certain amounts per client.

Some of the limits in the network of state retail stores are ten cans of soda, four liters of water and a kilogram of cheese . Villa Clara residents can only buy five soaps per person and two floor-cleaning clothes.

The sale of frozen chicken by the box has also been suspended, a measure that self-employed workers who work in the food sector do not not look on kindly.

“It is an emergency situation but they haven’t informed us how long this measure will continue, which reduces many chances to buy merchandise to maintain our businesses,” laments Enrique Proenza, an employee of a restaurant who was trying without success, this Sunday, to buy several kilos of chicken.

“The fear people have is that this measure will be in force for a long time and ends up ruining the cafes and paladares in the area,” he laments. “Anyway, some are already planning to go to Matanzas or Havana to buy the products needed to keep their businesses open.”

Last November, in the neighboring province of Cienfuegos, food prices were decreed as a result of the damage to agriculture from Hurricane Irma.

Regulations

1. Rationing of the sale of products [previously] unrationed in parallel markets, food bodegas, is as related below:

• Rice: 10 pounds per customer.
• Beans: 5 pounds per customer.
• Fine salt: 2 kilograms per customer.
• Refined and raw sugar: 10 pounds of each type per customer.
• Peas: 5 pounds per customer.
• Crackers or cookies: 2 packages of any weight per customer.
• Soft drinks: 10 units (bags, cans, small bottles) per customer.
• Soft drinks in boxes of 1500 ml: 2 per customer.
• Jams (Africanitas, sorbetos and others): 5 packages per customer.
• Soda cookies: 1 – 80 CUP bag per customer.
• Dulce de leche and chocolate: 2 units per customer.
• Cheese: 1 kg per customer.
• Frozen chicken: 5 kg per customer.

2. The sale of boxes of frozen chicken is suspended. The [chicken] will be sold fractionally according to the per capita limits established above.

3. Maintain, in the case of eggs, the regulated sale of the family basket at a rate of 5 units per consumer, and the same per capita as that sold at 1.10 CUP. At the conclusion of the sales cycles, they will be sold unrationed and in equal proportions to the consumers [registered at each outlet], writing it down in the supply book to avoid hoarding.

4. In the case of the Cleaning and Hygiene products that are sold in the network of Non-Food Products Sales Stores, the following is regulated:

• Lis and Daily Soap: 5 units of each assortment per client.
• Liquid detergent in 1 liter or similar containers: 2 bottles per customer.
• Floor cloths: 2 units per customer.
• Toothpaste: 2 tubes per client.
• Chlorine (packed or bulk): 2 liters per customer.

TRD Caribe-CIMEX:

1. Ration the sale, in all our Commercial Units, Points of Sale and Kiosks, of the following products:

• Fine iodized salt: 2 packages per customer.

• Crackers or cookies: 5 packages of any weight per customer.

• Jams: 5 packets per customer.

• Soft drinks: 10 units (cans, 330 ml bottles, instant) per customer.

• Soft drinks over 1500 ml: 2 bottles per customer.

• Malts and juices: 10 units per customer.

• 500 ml water: 10 units per client.

• Water 4 liters: 2 units per customer.

• Cheese: 1 kg per customer.

• Sausages: 1 kg per customer.

• Processed chicken: 2 packages per customer.

• Sausages: 5 packages per customer.

• Toilet soaps: 5 units per client.

• Detergent powder up to 250 gr: 5 packages per customer.

• Detergent powder up to 1000 gr: 2 packages per customer.

• Floor cloths: 2 units per customer.

• Toothpaste: 2 units per client.

2. The outlets that sell the chicken for the bulk mode will only sell the amount of 5 kg.

3. The sale of frozen chicken by boxes is suspended.

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The 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of 14ymedio. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.

Instar Launches First Independent Fund For Audiovisual Creation In Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 11 June 2018 – The Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (Instar) has launched the first independent fund for the creation of audiovisuals in Cuba. The call for project proposals has been posted on the project’s online site, created by the artist Tania Bruguera, and is open from June 8 to September 8, 2018.

Instar invites “filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers” from all over the country to participate in the first edition of PM: INSTAR fund for audiovisuals in Cuba, the site announces. Those interested can submit unpublished projects that should be the first short film by the director.

Applications are open in fiction, documentary and new media categories, while the projects must not exceed 30 minutes. The projects selected in each category will receive a cash amount of 5,000 CUC. continue reading

The Fund seeks to “promote the diversity of voices in the independent Cuban audiovisual sector, promote directors, producers and script writers from under-represented communities and their stories.”

Although “the topic is free and uncensored,” the organizers will give “priority to projects about pressing social issues in Cuba today and in the future” and “innovative methods of audiovisual production will be evaluated and, in the case of the documentary, the rigor of the investigation,” will be considered.

Similarly, the evaluation will consider “projects that assume in their budgets fair pay to the work teams and decent filming conditions.” A frequent complaint in the guild of filmmakers in Cuba is the low salaries and the appalling conditions of the state sector.

Those interested in participating should send their projects by email in PDF format to the electronic address: INSTARaudiovisuales@artivismo.org. The subject line must include the name of the project and a pseudonym.

Instar, based in Havana, is a “space for civic literacy on the Island that emerged as a result of the public action #YoTambienExijo,” which Bruguera carried out in 2014.

Initial reactions to the call from Cuban filmmakers on social networks have been positive. “Excited,” wrote producer Marta María Ramírez on her Facebook profile.

One of the petitions launched by the group El Cardumen in its recent statement “Words from Cardumen, declaration of young Cuban filmmakers,” included among its demands that national institutions create a promotion fund for the production of national cinema. However, Bárbara Betancourt Martínez, Director of Cultural Programs at the Ministry of Culture, described the young people’s statement as “anarchic demagoguery” and stated that they were motivated only by the intention to “raise a hubbub.”

The request for the creation of the fund is a common denominator in the minds of Cuban filmmakers and was one of the demands from the assemblies of filmmakers who made up the G-20.

PM was a documentary by Saba Cabrera Infante and Orlando Jiménez, censored in 1961, because for just a few minutes it showed Cubans dancing and drinking in bars.

The image annoyed the government and the censorship of the film gave rise to a sequence of events eventually became “the PM case.” It was in this context that Fidel Castro condemned intellectuals at the beginning of his mandate, and in a major speech declared: “Within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing,” which established the rules that define the cultural policy of the Government still today.

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Cuba’s Real Estate Market Is Going Through Tough Times

On the Paseo del Prado in Havana, an open-air classifiedad site, for every ten sellers there are two buyers. (EFE)

14ymeido, Zunilda Mata, Havana, 10 June 2018 — On the web site Revolico, with more than 40,000 classified ads for houses for sale, thousands of ads are maintained for months without finding a buyer. The lack of money, the slowdown of the diplomatic thaw between Cuba and the United States together with the freeze on the delivery of licenses to the private sector have shrunken the Island’s real estate market.

At the end of 2011, when Raul Castro’s government authorized the sale of houses after decades of prohibition, a frenzy overtook many Cubans ready to acquire or get rid of a house. The measure was a starting point in a country with 3,700,000 dwellings, some 85% of them the property of individuals. continue reading

Fewer than two years after the ban was lifted, the emerging real estate market reached some 80,000 transactions, according to information offered then by Aniuska Puente Fontanella, specialist from the Directorate of the Commercial Property Registry and of Assets of the Ministry of Justice.

Now the scene is different. Although there are no new official figures about the behavior of the sector, sellers complain of less demand and buyers complain of high prices. Real estate agents point to a deceleration of the sector.

On Paseo del Prado in Havana, an outdoor site for classified ads, for every ten sellers there are two buyers. “There’s a lot on offer and little demand,” Luis Oscar Gomez, a permutero (broker) who ended up in real estate management. “Five years ago it was different because there were many more people buying,” he recalls.

“Many people who were buying did it because they believed that the country was going to fill up with Americans, but that hasn’t happened.”

“Others bought in order to do business, like starting a restaurant or a guesthouse for foreigners but right now they are not giving out licenses for that, which discourages investment in houses,” adds Gomez. The end of the US wet foot/dry foot policy also is, in his judgment, a factor that negatively influences the market.

“May people sold houses at lower prices in order to pay for leaving the country, but now that has diminished with the closing of the path to the United States and the road to emigrate is longer because the fees have increased,” he adds. “A house that three years ago went for 50,000 dollars, now that same family wants 75,000.”

Nevertheless, Gomez recognizes that “many sellers also have had to repeatedly lower their prices because there is no money for buying.” In his judgment, the lack of liquidity, due to the fall in tourism and “the country’s situation which does not improve and the possibility of saving money for a house is very difficult in this situation.”

A few meters from the Paseo del Prado, a wide colonial mansion with columns and arches has a “For Sale” sign hanging on the balcony. “We have spent a year waiting, but this is the kind of house that is bought for business because it is located in Old Havana and has very big rooms, perfect for a restaurant or tourist rental,” explains Rosa, the owner.

“I had a buyer who was enchanted but last August when they stopped giving licenses for self-employed work the man changed his mind,” she recalls. “Spending 80,000 CUC on a house like this and not being able to make money is crazy.”

The boom in private real estate firms arising from the liberalization of the section has also experienced a slump.

Many of those private offices, which operate under a manager’s license for the sale and exchange of homes, have been closed. Some because they were left behind by the intense competition, others prosecuted in the courts when it was proven that they charged the client a commission for the transaction, something prohibited by the law.

In practice, these managers pocket between 10% and 25% of the total figure that the buyer pays, but legally they can only charge for connecting and informing people interested in carrying out these kinds of deals.

“The whole real estate market is fed also buy the construction sector,” points out Loraine Garcia, an employee of one of the real estate firms closed by the police. “The new houses that go on sale greatly influence the dynamism of that market in any part of the world but in Cuba that is an element that suffers a lot of stagnation.”

Cuba registered a deficit of more than 880,000 houses at the end of 2016, and last year only 21,827 new houses were finished, according to data from the National Statistics Office.

“The market is tainted because hardly any new houses come on, and the offerings that have not met with success are mostly houses that are too much above the buyers’ means,” adds Garcia.

“Houses that are under 30,000 CUC did not move much at first,” but with the passage of time “those houses changed hands and those that were higher than that were left for sale and have less demand,” she points out.

Garcia thinks that the changes in the tax rates for these operations also have burdened the market.

Initially the authorities set a 4% tax on the exchange of goods and estates to those buying and on personal income of those who sold. In practice, however, a good number of transactions were made with amounts much higher than the figure declared in order to avoid the taxes.

In 2017 the Ministry of Finance and Prices tried to correct the problem and modified the payment of taxes on the sale and donation of dwelling between individuals. Now the value of the encumbrance is established by its characteristics, location and size and not the amount reflected as the value of the property.

“Many camouflaged a sale as if it were a gift in order to pay lower taxes, but right now that is almost impossible because the law establishes the family ties that are needed to do something like that,” explains the former real estate agent.

In spite of those setbacks, Garcia believes that the housing market “is going to raise its head.” Her hopes are based on the fact that “these types of swings are normal, and a real estate boom cannot be maintained permanently,” but “if the country opens investment and permits small or medium businesses, sales will take off again.”

Translated by Mary Lou Keel

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Havana’s Sickness

Havana looks sick. Dirty, stinking, clogged with waste. It seems like a lie to call it a marvelous city. (BDLG)

14ymedio, Laidi Fernandez de Juan, Havana, 7 June 2018 — Havana looks sick. Dirty, stinking, clogged with waste. It seems like a lie to call it a marvelous city. When I walk around the city, an immense grief replaces the contemplation of its most sacred buildings, those that we used to show to others as an example of our architectural eclecticism.

Instead of pointing out: “Look at the beauty of art deco,” “Look at those nineteenth-century gates,” “Those decorative lances that point to the sky are called guardavecinos (neighbor guards),” “There are no portals in the world comparable to these,” we make our way around hills of trash, we avoid walking under balconies whose miraculous static is an imminent threat, and, worst of all, we must cover our noses and mouths, because flies swarm, and an unbearable stench greets us in many blocks. continue reading

As a sign of indolence bordering on impudence, I come across signs that say “Do not throw garbage. PNR (People’s Revolutionary Police)” which are barely visible because they have been buried by empty cans, the remains of toilets, broken flower pots, wet cartons, mattresses that have lost their springs, and other debris. The trash bins, their original covers missing and overflowing, adorn the corners or the middle of the street: macabre decorations.

The neighborhood of El Vedado, so noble, wooded and magnificent, is a part of the mess. Its sidewalks, cracked and with holes big enough to swallow Moby Dick, aggravate the walker and offer nothing but danger. Aside from the displeasure it is all proof of how little we care about anyone. Or, to be more exact, how little we care for ourselves, how weak is our self-love.

Canine droppings force us to constantly avoid nasty mounds, which, if you count the potholes, roots, garbage, and cracks in the street, instead of going for a walk to ward off daily tensions, we are burdened with new discomforts. Far from motivating us, it makes us depressed to tour the neighborhood. It is not the recommended endorphins that flood us, but rather unpleasant odors, pitfalls and sounds. We can’t ignore the frightful noise that assails us, in sync with the stink of dead animals and the vision of a city that appears to have been bombed.

In Havana there is no shoe that can resist the attacks of the pavement, no skeleton that can stand up to the zigzags required to walk, no olfactory cells that do not ache, no ears that can withstand the decibels of reggaeton, no retinas that can block the pain of the images that assail the pupils.

In the end, the heart shrinks. Because we do not love each other. Because nobody seems pained by so much injustice, and because we always believe it is not our fault. And while it is true that there is nothing we can do in construction, concrete, sand, cement and bricks, it is also true that we are responsible for the repugnance, the dirt, the open filth, and “what someone else did” that we try to shield ourselves from.

And no matter how much it hurts to admit it, the only thing that seems cared for is that space where some private business has planted their sign. Some in doubtful taste, others laudable, perhaps overloaded with lights or soberly adorned, the stretch of a block that leads to the creation of a private business, the work of someone self-employed, is clean and sown with flowers. Like a city oasis those few square yards remind us that we are in a city and not on a battlefield.

And that is when we ask ourselves, is this the only way to rescue our magnificence of yesteryear. Is this how we will protect the legacy of a marvelous city? Or will we succumb to grief, reluctance and apathy?

Today, Havana is almost a nightmare from which we have a civic duty to awaken once and for all. Because this is our cradle, our house, our foundation. We must wake up to love Havana, before it reaches its five hundred years so sick, so absorbed in this unforgivable oblivion.

This text was initially published in the Boletín del Centro Pablo.

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Candelario Martinez, A Cuban Doctor Working in Venezuela, is Murdered

The whole community was alarmed when they heard cries of help from Candelario Martínez’s roommate. (upatadigital)

14ymedio, Miami, 7 June 2018 — Venezuelan police are investigating the murder of the Cuban doctor Candelario Martinez, 54, who served as director of a Comprehensive Diagnostic Center. The crime occurred in the Salto Angel residential estate, located in Unare, an area of eastern Venezuela known for high rates of violence.

According to local media reports, neighbors were alarmed when they heard the cries for help from Martínez’s roommate, who found the body with a bullet in the head and a cut on the face. continue reading

Bolivar State Police are not ruling out that the motive for the crime was robbery. Among the victim’s belongings that have not been found are his car, a Ford Fiesta Power, and several household items. According to local reports, the locks of the house were not forced.

The body was taken to the Pathological Anatomy Unit to perform the forensic autopsy. So far, the Cuban Medical Mission in Venezuela has not issued a statement on the matter.

Cuba maintains a large group of professionals in Venezuela, working in the so-called “missions” that are part of a collaboration agreement between both countries and that Caracas pays for with the oil that it sends to the Island. The export of professional services is the main source of income in the Cuban economy. According to official figures, Cuba’s national treasury takes in about 10 billion dollars annually for the services of Cuban medical personnel, who are sent to many different countries.

Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. In 2017 there were almost 27,000 murders, of which more than 5,000 were attributed to the security forces. That same year 20% of the population was a victim of crime, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence.

Although the contract terms of the Cuban medical collaboration are not public, in other cases of murders in Venezuela it has been discovered that the relatives of the Cuban victims do not receive compensation.

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Kenyan Judge Blocks Cuban Doctors From Starting Work

Cuba exports medical services to more than 60 countries. (USAID)

14ymedio, 7 June 2018 — Fifty Cuban doctors arrived in Kenya on Tuesday, but will not be able to work, at least for now, because of a ruling on Wednesday by Judge Onesmus Makau of the Court on Employment and Labor Relations.

The controversial hiring by the Kenyan government of one hundred medical personnel from Cuba is again confronting the demand by local doctors who say that there is no need in Kenya for foreign doctors, what is needed is to improve working conditions for local doctors. An additional 50 Cuban specialists will arrive this Thursday. continue reading

So far Cuba has not commented on the issue.

Three local doctors who are unemployed filed a lawsuit because they believe that nationals should have priority in hiring, under the Constitution. The fate of Cuban doctors in the African country will be decided on June 19.

“The laws of Kenya prohibit the issuance of work permits for non-Kenyans until the statutory mandatory provisions are met, with the central objective of protecting Kenyan citizens in relation to job opportunities,” Anangwe Maloba, attorney for the plaintiffs, told local media.

He also accused the government of discriminating against local doctors by paying more to their Cuban colleagues. According to Kenya’s Minister of Health, Sicily Kariuki, the agreement with Cuba establishes a payment of 390,270 shillings (about 3,800 dollars) for the lowest wages while the highest salary will be 450,660 shillings (4,460 dollars). A Kenyan receives an average of 150,000 shillings (about 1,500 dollars) for the same work.

The export of medical services is the primary source of foreign exchange for the Cuban Government, which has deployed health professionals in more than 60 countries. According to official sources, Cuba receives annually at least ten billion dollars for the professionals it has working in countries such as Venezuela, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

Most of the money paid by countries or international institutions for Cuban medical services go directly to the coffers of the Cuban government, which gives doctors about a third of the amount in the contracts. Various international organizations have denounced this as a violation of human rights and a form of modern-day slavery.

Furthermore, the Cuban government punishes doctors who escape from these missions by prohibiting their return to Cuba for eight years. In addition, a portion of the money paid to them is set aside in accounts in Cuba and not paid to them until they return home at the end of their assignments. When they break the contract, they lose the right to the money they have accumulated.

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Cuban Coalition in Miami Announces Media Campaign Against Cruise Trips to the Island

The cruise ship ‘Adonia’ has already provoked protests in Miami by anti-Castro groups. (14ymedio)

EFE, via 14ymedio, Miami, 7 June 2018 — The Cuban Resistance Assembly kicked off in Miami a new media campaign, No Colabores [“Do Not Collaborate”] against cruise-ship trips to Cuba and insisted on no support of tourism to the Island because it “directly finances the repression” of the opposition.

Orlando Gutiérrez, director of the Assembly composed of organizations within and outside the Island, explained during a press conference that this activity additionally contributes to the “exploitation” of Cuban workers and makes use of confiscated properties, e.g. the piers where the ships dock. continue reading

“Cruise ships cannot function without the exploitation of the Cuban people, who, besides, have always been harmed by Cuba’s dual currency,” Gutiérrez asserted.

The campaign includes TV spots and two billboards installed near busy avenues and streets adjacent to the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana. It calls those who travel to Cuba by cruise ship “accomplices” to the stampedes that occur on the Island towards cruise-ship travelers.

During the press conference, Sylvia Iriondo, president of Mothers and Women Against Repression (MAR), claimed that there is a direct connection between the revenue that the Cuban government receives from tourism, and the ill-treatment to which opposition members such as the Ladies in White are subjected.

“Tourism increases the repression; it is one of the major sources of income for the military,” and it is difficult to separate it from the hostilities inflicted on dissidents, Iriondo said.

She assured besides that this money, estimated at $3-billion annually, never goes to the people of the Island. “It does not better the lives of Cubans–it increases the resources for the regime to carry out repression,” Iriondo added.

Javier Garcés, who spoke on behalf of Cubans whose properties were confiscated 60 years ago “in violation of national and international laws,” said that they cannot remain “silenced” while in Cuba “they use our properties.”

Meanwhile, the Mexican judge René Bolio, who presides over the Justicia Cuba (JC) commission, stated that the functionaries who manage tourism on the Island are “directly” linked to the human rights violators under investigation by this international group of activists, with the objective of bringing them to justice.

During the press conference, Bolio mentioned Alejandro Martínez, manager of the Hotel Nacional de La Habana, as an example of individuals being investigated by JC.

On the other hand, the director of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance announced that next Saturday they will collect signatures supporting a request to US President Donald Trump for legislative changes that would permit JC to try those responsible for repression in Cuba.

Along those lines, Iriondo pointed out that the Cuban ex-president, Raúl Castro, should be tried for the deaths of four pilots with Hermanos al Rescate [Brothers to the Rescue] who were shot down by Cuban fighter-bombers in 1996.

Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison

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Photographer and Activist Claudio Fuentes Detained in Havana

14ymedio, Havana, 8 June 2018 — The photographer and activist Claudio Fuentes, a member of the Foro por los Derechos y Libertades (Forum for Rights and Freedoms), was arrested on Thursday in Havana and is in “whereabouts unknown” according to information from former political prisoner Ángel Moya speaking to 14ymedio.

“We have tried to call him starting yesterday morning and we have not been able to establish contact with him,” explained Moya. “As the day progressed we learned that he was being detained and so far we do not know the reason for that arrest,” he adds.

Moya believes that Fuentes “is ‘disappeared’ since family members and associates have not been able to see him and do not know where he is.” An officer on duty at the San Miguel del Padrón police station informed the family via telephone that the activist was being held at that station, but “when they got there, they were told he was not there.” continue reading

On several occasions Fuentes, who also edits videos and films, has been a victim of arbitrary arrests and other repressive actions, such as confiscation of the tools of his work.

Among his most famous works are the filming of several interviews with Cuban activists for the documentary Patria o muerte (2016) (Fatherland or Death), which was directed by filmmaker Olatz López Garmendia and premiered by the American production company HBO.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) verified 128 arbitrary short-term detentions for political reasons last May.

Moya also denounced the arrest of the opponent Zaqueo Baez, member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, who traveled to Holguín to visit the family of a political prisoner and “was arrested by police forces and beaten.”

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Pollution Without Punishment

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, Havana, 7 June 2018 — The activists arrive in the woodlands to sink their hands in the oil spilled over the forest, thousands of miles from a hot air balloon displaying a banner denouncing CO2 emissions near a crude oil extraction platform where a group is protesting. Actions of this kind are barely seen in Cuba and it is not because the environment is respected.

Last week the people of Cienfuegos woke to the news of an oil spill in their bay. The heavy rains from subtropical storm Albert caused the pools of the nearby refinery waste treatment plant to overflow, spilling more than 3 million gallons of water mixed with crude oil into the bay. The official news programs made haste to minimize the damage and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma) kept a complicit silence. continue reading

No environmental group showed up with posters to stand outside the refinery, not a single chemical engineer raised their voice in the national media to warn of the danger to human health, nor were the voices of marine biologists heard detailing the negative effects on local wildlife. The official version prevailed and on television we saw a group of smiling workers cleaning the stains off the tourist boats.

The mistakes made by the authorities at the Cienfuegos refinery were not analyzed and no official journalist questioned the entity about the bad management practices over their waste that led to an ecological disaster. As in many known cases, the lack of independence of the judiciary, the press and social organizations allowed impunity to surround an event that deserved huge headlines, fines and a public commitment that such things will not happen again.

With the same state approval and “protection,” hydrocarbons are poured into the sewers from vehicle repair shops, the polyclinics throw medical waste into neighborhood dumpsters, and several companies continue to drain their dangerous miasmas into the rivers, just like the sad case of the Almendares River in Havana.

The State does not punish itself for these excesses and the lack of freedom prevents civil society from expressing itself in a clear and public manner. Despite small environmental groups that collect litter along the coastline and digital sites that promote a culture of respect for nature, Cuba lacks an environmental movement that can bring pressure, there is no seat in parliament from which to raise a complaint, nor is there the ability to demonstrate in the streets to defend our natural heritage.

In the absence of these voices, the island’s ecosystem is at the mercy of negligence, outrages and silence.

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Arsenic, Oil and Plastics Invade Cienfuegos Bay

Punta Cotica, in the vicinity of the thermoelectric plant, is one of the most polluted neighborhoods in Cienfuegos. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Justo Mora/Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos/Miami, 5 June 2018 — A crab covered with remnants of oil lifts a claw in a threatening gesture while sidling slowly through one of the mangroves on the banks of Cienfuegos Bay. It is rare to see seagulls crossing the bay in search of fish while some pelicans spotted in their flight over the water are stained with black.

“Since the oil refinery spilled into the bay we can no longer fish,” Eddy Alberto, a young man who lives in the Reina district just outside Cienfuegos, tells 14ymedio. On the morning of May 28, the Damují River overflowed near the refinery (recently abandoned by Venezuela), and flooded the sewage treatment pools, sending more than 12,000 cubic meters of liquids mixed with oil into the bay. continue reading

The rains from subtropical storm Alberto increased the flow in the province’s rivers, which empty into the bay, making the marine currents stronger than normal and sending the oil slick across more than 70% of the inlet. Cuba Petroleo specialists estimate that the recovery costs are on the order of a million dollars. Local fishermen fear that there will be no financial compensation for them.

“It’s not the first time they’ve polluted the bay, we live off fishing and no one will compensate us for this,” says Eddy Alberto, 30, his skin tanned by the tropical sun. The young fisherman complains that in order to support his family he now has to cut grass to sell to the drivers of the horsecarts — the main means of transportation in the city — to feed their horses. For each bag he receives 15 Cuban pesos (roughly 60 cents US).

This is not the first environmental tragedy experienced in the bay. The previous catastrophe dates back to 1986 when an oil spill seriously contaminated the inlet. The cleanup work lasted five months. In 2001, an arsenic spill caused alarm among Cienfuegans. Although the authorities never revealed how much of the poison was poured into the bay, fishing was prohibited.

At the end of 2013, Reinaldo Acosta Milán, director of the Supervision Unit of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) explained on Radio Ciudad del Mar that the waters of the bay were free of arsenic and that, with the passage time, the spill had been incorporated into the sediments. Acosta Milán recognized that of the species studied by CITMA, shrimp and some shellfish in the area had high levels of arsenic, so their consumption in a sustained manner could be harmful to human health. But many fishermen continued with the under the counter sale of seafood.

Eddy Alberto is not the only fisherman in his neighborhood. In the area known as the 100 Casitas, a settlement built by the Government to house the victims of Hurricane Lili, many are engaged in illegal fishing and they sell their products in the city.

“We do not hurt anyone with what we take from the sea, we are living day-to-day,” says a colleague who sells minutas (breaded fish fillets) and oysters. This man, who did not want to be identified, explains that some years ago he caught shrimp, but that it is more and more rare to find shellfish in the northern part of the bay, where he fishes.

A report by the United Nations Environment Program claims that the large-scale industrialization fostered in the years of Soviet influence on the island is mainly responsible for the compromised environmental condition of the bay. The scientists believe that the sediments of the bay are the second most polluted in the country, after those of the port of Havana.

In the 1980s, “the Nitrogenated Fertilizer Company alone contributed 9.7 tons per day of nitrogen,” notes the report. In those years, an average of 694 vessels passed through the waters of Cienfuegos annually, dumping 93.5 tons of garbage and more than 5,657 tons of oily water into the bay, according to the investigation.

The natural recycling of the bay’s waters is slow, which makes it easier for pollutants to remain longer. According to experts, the waters take between 39 and 59 days to clear the 34 square mile harbor.

The use of polluting fertilizers and biochemicals in the watersheds that flow into the port also contributed to the environmental imbalance. The sugar mills near the Damují and Caunao rivers, the Damují paper plant, and the industries built in the breeding zone are the main culprits of the environmental deterioration in the inlet.

Researchers detected the disappearance of the white shrimp in the northwestern zone, a species that was a symbol of the city and which, along with pink shrimp, was the main fishing resource of the bay.

“In general, in the last decades there are signs of ecological deterioration with a reduction in biodiversity, loss of benthic zone communities [starfish, oysters, clams, sea cucumbers, ophiuroids and sea anemones], a reduction in size and of the catch levels of commercial species, and the erosion and landscape deterioration of the coastline,” conclude the scientists.

Alejandro Sánchez, 23, lives in the historical center of Cienfuegos. In the evenings he takes advantage of the breeze from the west to go with his girlfriend to the Royal Pier to contemplate the sunset. Although the bay has exchanged its shades of blue-green for more of a yellow hue due to the recent weeks’ rains, he believes that “there is no place in the world more beautiful.”

“The only thing I regret is the pollution,” he says, using a green straw to sip a pina colada, prepared in a place a few yards from the dock. “This place was designed for tourism but they didn’t take into account the stench,” he laments.

Both the Muelle Real and other areas of the historic center of Cienfuegos have been recently restored after the proclamation in 2005 of areas of the city as a World Heritage Site. The influx of tourism has grown in recent years and Cienfuegos has become an obligatory stopover on the road to neighboring Trinidad.

The bad smell that Sanchez refers to emanates from a sewage water evacuation channel that flows very close to the wharf. The sewage network of Cienfuegos, built more than a century ago in the days of the Republic, throws the waste directly into El Inglés stream and into the bay without any type of processing.

“The environs of the city have the highest concentrations of fecal coliform in the bay,” according to several environmental experts, although fecal counts are currently below the established norms in the bathing areas.

Sanchez says he has heard about the danger of water pollution, but that local people “are not sensitive to the issue.”

“You can see plastics, garbage, dead animals and rubble everywhere you look, and in the absence of landfills, people throw it directly into the sea, which is very sad,” he says.

Arianna García Chamero, of the Cienfuegos Center for Environmental Studies, raised the alarm on behalf of local researchers when they discovered the presence of microplastics in the bay.

It is estimated that this type of waste represents 85% of pollution in the oceans and seas. Many bags, wrappings and similar waste end up in the sea and are ingested by animals and pass into the human food chain.

García Chamero told the local press earlier this year that the intake of microplastics and the heavy metals that often accompany them can be harmful to human health, causing cancer, among other diseases.

“The highest concentrations in the three matrices evaluated — water, sediments and organisms — are at the [environmental quality assessment] stations of the city of Cienfuegos, which leads us to assume that the city is one of the major polluters of the environment,” says the expert, who expressed her alarm adding, “I was shocked that the levels [of microplastics] are sometimes similar to, or even higher than, the ranges found in studies in ecosystems of highly industrialized sites on the planet.”

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"One Day We Wake Up and ’Boom’, We’re Internauts"

A good share of the applications for phones for Android or iOS phones that have been developed on the island in recent years are designed for users who are offline. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 6 June 2018 — An old truck passes through Havana’s Calzada del Cerro leaving a trail of smoke. From a balcony a neighbor films the vehicle and will upload the images to social networks. This is no longer science fiction.

The Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa) has insisted in the last weeks that, before the end of the year, Cubans will be able to enjoy connecting to the web from their cell phones. The service, for which neither the cost nor the conditions have been detailed, sparks the interest of many customers who want to have the internet in their pockets.

“It’s going to be like turning on the light,” says Lucio, 18, a young man who, along with his sister, runs a home-delivery service that operates by text messages and emails through Etecsa’s Nauta service, which was inaugurated four years ago by the state telecommunications monopoly. continue reading

“Right now, our customers can just send us a message with the menu item they want and the address where we need to deliver it, but when they have internet on their mobile it will be better, because it will shorten the time and they will be able to choose the dishes online, with photos and details of the ingredients,” says Lucio.

A good share of the applications for phones for Android or iOS phones that have been developed on the island in recent years are designed for users disconnected from the great world web, so the apps need all the features to work offline. With the arrival of internet service to mobiles that may change.

“We will go from zero to infinity,” jokes Rigoberto Valdés, a computer scientist who works in a small workshop that performs mobile repairs and installs apps. “Often we have to update a customer’s cell phone or download an app he has ordered and then one of us has to go to a WiFi hotspot to do it,” he explains.

According to Etecsa statistics, almost 700 wireless internet access points operate in the country. Although the installation of these WiFi areas has made a big difference in Cuba compared to the beginning of the century, when it was a privilege reserved for foreigners and officials, many Internet users are still dissatisfied.

“The price of 1 CUC for one hour of navigation is still very high and trying to carry out a professional assignment in one of those outdoor places is complicated,” says Valdés. “I participate in several programmers’ forums and it is not the same to have to wait several days to get connected as it is to have the thread of all the discussions on your mobile.”

Etecsa begun to expand the 3G mobile coverage a couple of years ago, through which the Nauta mail now works, and which will also be the path for the internet. “The signal is still bad in many places, the data cuts out as if the lines are congested and the company has to fix that before expanding the connectivity because to navigate you need good bandwidth and stability.”

The presence of Cubans on social networks will also increase. “Now there are many people who have opened accounts on Facebook or Twitter but use them very little, when notifications arrive or messages from a friend go directly to a cell phone they will spend more time on the network,” adds Valdés.

According to Etecsa statistics, more than 700 wireless internet access points are operating in Cuba. (14ymedio)

Last week the blog Tu Android reported that pages from the domain ‘cu.’ are accessible from several phones. “They seem to be tests for the deployment of the long-awaited Internet by mobile data,” said the administrator of the blog, who qualified the news by saying that it could also be “a simple error” from Etecsa.

However, a few days later, the midday edition of the state television news program confirmed that a “pilot test” for mobile web browsing among selected clients in the province of Villa Clara was underway. The announcement has triggered speculation and increased expectations about projects linked to the world wide web.

The recent meeting between Eric Schmidt, former president of the Google company and current technical advisor to the technology giant, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel has also fueled hopes that, finally, massive access to the web will be a part of daily life on the island.

“A few months ago I downloaded an application that claims to work as a Cuban Uber, but in reality all contact with the driver is through Nauta mail, which is sometimes very slow and unstable,” explains Niurka Fuentes, a tourist guide who specializes in French speaking clients. “Since I have to move around the city and also the province a lot, it is vital for me to have quick contact with the driver.”

“If the internet comes to mobile phones, then we will have something more efficient so everyone wins. I win because I can transport my clients and the taxi driver wins because he can check who I am and my record as a client,” she says. Cuba expects to have 5 million active mobile lines by the end of this year and “almost half of the population may be connected,” Fuentes said.

For activists on the island, the delay in installing the service is not a coincidence. Iliana Hernández, director of the Lente Cubano (Cuban Lens) program, believes that “the more people have access to the internet, the more diverse information they will have within their grasp, including everything the government insists on hiding and censuring.”

Hernandez thinks that being able to surf the web from cell phones “will be very beneficial for activism which, despite the current restrictions, has managed to bring to light a lot of information that otherwise would never have been known,” she says.

Despite the expectations and the customers who, in recent weeks, have pressured Etecsa through virtual forums and calls to find out when the mobile phone internet service will start, the company persists in its traditional secrecy. “One day we wake up and ’boom’ and we are Internauts,” a teenager connected in a Wi-Fi zone predicted this Thursday.

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Cuban Customs Threatens to Seize Goods Brought by ‘Mules’ from the U.S.

An official of the General Customs of the Republic checks the belongings of the passengers at the airport in Havana. (Customs)

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 6 June 2018 — The General Customs of the Republic of Cuba threatened on Wednesday to confiscate packages sent from the United States through ‘mules’ (people who travel specifically to the island to carry merchandise) who serve shipping agencies based in the U.S..

The practice of sending goods through agencies, which Havana considers “illegal,” has grown rapidly in South Florida as a result of the flexibilization in relations with Cuba initiated by former President Barack Obama.

José Luis Muñoz Toca, director of Technical Customs, said at a press conference that more than three tons of various products that were being brought into the country through the shipping networks were seized. So far there are four complaints of contraband associated with this phenomenon, Muñoz said, although the nationality of those involved has not been determined. So far this year the authorities have detected “113 cases of trafficked merchandise.” continue reading

Muñoz Toca said that 29 agencies based in the United States have been identified that operate “in an unauthorized manner” to send goods to Cuba “through travelers who agree to bring them in exchange for payment or compensation.”

For his part, the Deputy Chief of Customs, Wiliam Pérez González, justified the proscription against shipments because such agencies “have no official contract with the Cuban companies authorized to carry out these operations.”

Pérez González acknowledged the existence of corruption on the island with regards to packages carried by travelers. He also emphasized the warnings the agency gives to the travelers who carry the goods; even when they do not know the contents of the shipments, they take them to the island. “They may be engaged in drug trafficking or bringing other illicit materials,” he said.

Among the South Florida agencies that General Customs mentioned as a priority for their punitive actions are XAEL Habana, Va Cuba, Cubamax Travel, Viajes Coppelia, Habana Air, Blue Cuba Travels and Central America Cargo. Recently Customs updated the list of agencies it allows to send parcels to the Island.

When dealing with items sent to third parties through agencies, “their import becomes commercial,” the authorities explained, so the contents of the suitcases may be “subject to the administrative sanction of confiscation, if there is no more serious crime.”

The Cuban Diaspora uses the service of parcel delivery agencies to the Island to alleviate the shortages their relatives in Cuba experience.

According to Emilio Morales, director of the The Havana Consulting Group, based in Miami, about 90% of the shipments that arrive on the island come from the United States. The value of the goods sent to Cuba last year was in the order of three billion dollars, Morales told 14ymedio.

The measure is seen as a turn of the screw to regulate the growing black market. In Cuba, where most of the stores belong to the State and the economy is still regulated by the powers-that-be, shortages are endemic. Basic items such as toothpaste, sanitary pads or multivitamins disappear from the markets for weeks, forcing many people to buy them on the black market.

The incipient private sector on the Island also demands supplies that can not be purchased in wholesale stores and resorts to shipments as a way to ensure provisions to maintain paladares (private restaurants), tourist accommodations and small coffee shops scattered throughout the country.

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Cuban Passport Still Required for All Cubans Who Want to Enter the Country

Cuban passport being stamped with Colombian visa. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miami, June 5, 2018 – All Cubans, even those with dual citizenship, will still be required to present a Cuban passport when entering the country. The requirement will remain in effect after ratification of a constitutional amendment by the National Assembly according to the Cuban ambassador to the United States, José Ramón Cabañas.

As reported by El Nuevo Herald, Cabañas made the comments on Tuesday during an event highlighting joint environmental and historic preservation projects between the United States and Cuba.

“For us the guiding principle is that every Cuban — whether he or she holds a second or third citizenship — when that person returns to Cuba, is on the island, is within our borders, is [considered to be] Cuban,” said the ambassador. continue reading

The creation of a commission to reform and update the law had raised hopes within the exile community, which numbers more than one million Cubans. To travel to their country of birth, Cubans with dual citizenship must apply for a Cuban passport, which involves a fee of 450 dollars as well as a costly two-year extension of 180 dollars.

Although the nation’s constitution does not specifically bar Cubans from entering the country using a foreign passport, article 32 does prohibit dual nationality, which can lead to loss of Cuban citizenship. The law addresses this prohibition by requiring the possession of a Cuban passport to enter the country as evidence that a visitor has not renounced his or her citizenship.

More than 130,000 Cubans have acquired Spanish citizenship yet still reside on the island. Additionally, there is a large number of returnees who retain citizenship from the countries where they had been living, mainly the United States. Some activists have accused the state of profiting from immigration procedures while looking the other way when this constitutional article is violated.

Last Saturday the National Assembly unanimously appointed a commission to be headed by the former president and first secretary of the Communist Party, Raul Castro, which will study the constitutional changes. At this session the deputies made it clear that any changes will preserve the irrevocability of the socialist system imposed by Fidel Castro as well as article 4, which gives primacy to the Communist Party rather than the state.

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Cubana de Aviación Suspends Ticket Refunds Due to Lack of Cash

Outside the Cubana de Aviación agency this Tuesday in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 5 June 2018 – Times are tense for the state airline Cubana de Aviación since the plane crash that killed 112 people on a flight between Havana and Holguin on May 18. The company has no money to continue to reimburse passengers for thousands of canceled tickets, 14ymedio was able to confirm this Tuesday.

Since last week hundreds of people have passed through the Cubana de Aviación office on Infanta Street in Havana to be repaid for the value of their tickets. The flood of returns has been such that “there is no money to continue repaying,” an employee told the frustrated passengers on Tuesday.

“You must keep in touch by phone or come after Thursday to see if the problem has been resolved and we have cash again,” he insisted over and over to all the customers who showed up. Some persist with their demands, to which the employee replies: “We went to the bank but there is no money.” continue reading

Those who inquired about possible additional compensation for the complications resulting from the flight cancellations were informed clearly that the services for the airline’s national customers are “subsidized” and they can only be guaranteed a refund for the value of the ticket. “Not one cent more.”

Cubana de Aviación is going through “an unprecedented situation in the number of returns and there is no liquidity to face these expenses,” explains an official consulted by this newspaper and who preferred anonymity. “We have no money coming in because our domestic flights are canceled and most of the international ones are too.”

The planes of the state airline that regularly fly to destinations such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic or Venezuela are not covering those routes, a situation that has forced the company to relocate customers or host them in hotels while looking for seats to travel on other airlines.

As of last Friday, the company also ruled out the possibility of transporting its customers by bus as a way to compensate them for the cancellation of flights and now offers only the reimbursement of the value of the air ticket.

A posted notice with the phone numbers that can be called is the response many customers receive to their claims at the Cubana de Aviación agency in Havana. (14ymedio)

“I came yesterday at ten o’clock and it was full of very upset people,” Enrique, a young college student, tells 14ymedio; he was among the first group of customers this morning at the agency on Infanta Street.

“Yesterday I had to leave because there were a lot of people in line and they have only been able to return the money to the first ones in line, almost at dawn,” he says. “That’s why I came early today but the situation is worse and today nobody has been able to collect even a peso.”

For Eloísa, a woman from Santiago de Cuba who has been stranded in Havana due to the cancellations, the delay in recovering her money is a source of trouble. “Without that money I can not buy a bus ticket, so I have no choice but to keep coming to see when Cubana can pay again.”

National customers must buy their plane ticket three months in advance at the Cubana de Aviación offices. For this reason most of those now seeking refunds purchased a ticket to travel during school holidays, coming up in July and August.

Cubana de Aviación domestic flights were suspended after the accident on May 18 and will not resume “until at least September” an employee of the state airline told 14ymedio last Friday.

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