Several Opposition Leaders Detained On Their Return To Cuba

Eliecer Avila detained at the airport on his return to Cuba (Somos+)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 April 2017 — Cuban opposition leaders were detained at Havana’s international airport on Thursday, when they arrived from Colombia, according to sources in the political movement Somos+ (We Are More) speaking with 14ymedio.

Eliécer Ávila, president of that movement remains “in open protest” at the capital’s airport after the authorities’ attempt to confiscate his electronic devices. continue reading

“Immigration has not allowed us to pass, it seems there are signs on the computers that say: interested in confrontation,” Avila explained in a message addressed to his movement. Later they were allowed to enter the national territory but in the face of the attempt to confiscate their belongings, the opponents rebelled.

Carlos Oliva, a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), is being held at the police station in Santiago de las Vegas. Eliecer Avila has said that he refuses to leave the airport without his laptop. The opponent has been there for more than seven hours.

Customs Officer in the process of confiscating the belongings of Eliecer Avila. (Somos+)

The order to seize his computer was issued by Carlos Pons, Chief of Confrontation at the airport.

In the case of Marthadela Tamayo and Zuleidy Pérez, they were subjected to a “rigorous search” and their personal computers siezed.

Cuban Hosts Complain About Airbnb’s Payment System

By the end of 2016, at least 34,000 self-employed people were engaged in renting homes to serve the growing numbers of tourists. (Airbnb)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 6 April 2017 — Airbnb hosts in Cuba, who were so enthusiastic at the beginning, have been complaining recently about the delays in receiving the payments made by the tourists who have stayed in their homes. The discontent is clear from the complaints published on the platform of the American company and the interviews conducted by 14ymedio.

On the Airbnb site a couple claims to have experienced repeated delays in payments. “Between January and part of February 2016 we had a serious delay in receiving the payments through the agency VaCuba,” complained Ileana and Rolando, who have had problems again in early 2017. “We are already behind in the dates scheduled by Airbnb; we haven’t received the payments and right now we’re waiting on three more payments,” they explain. continue reading

The Miami-based courier company VaCuba, with headquarters in Miami, is in charge of bringing the payments to the hosts who rent out their homes, rooms and spaces through Airbnb. In any other country, these payments are made in the ordinary way through internet transfers, but the banking system in Cuba has hired this agency to send the cash to get the money to the Airbnb hosts.

The growth of Airbnb in Cuba during the last year has been remarkable, making it the country where the platform has grown the most thanks to the extension of licenses of that allows Cuban hosts to attract clients from all over the world, not only from the United States, like at the beginning.

Jorge Ignacio, an economics student who rents out a house in the town of Soroa, in Artemisa, told 14ymedio that in February of this year, “there’s nothing from Airbnb.” Now he says he’s “looking for alternatives” to collect for the stays of his guests because VaCuba, the only money distribution mechanism offered by Airbnb has collapsed, “because there are so many customers” and it can’t continue “counting the ‘kilos’,” he comments. “I get the full amount of the payment but always with a big delay,” said Jorge Ignacio, explaining that it’s not an isolated case “because the whole world is in the same situation.”

Rebeca Monzó, a Cuban artisan and blogger who has a room to rent in Nuevo Vedado, has a different complaint but adds to the discomfort generated in recent months. “The payment delay is almost a month, I never receive the full amount, they bring me 19 CUC when they actually owe me 500.” Monzó says that a messenger from VaCuba explained that “the Cuban bank is behind with the transfers” and that “it cannot get the full amount at once” and that is why they prefer to “make partial payments.”

“I wrote an email to Airbnb to comment on the delay of the payments and not only did they not answer me but they returned the message”

As a retiree, Monzó says the situation is not easy because she doesn’t see the result of her efforts and she only receives a fraction of what she spends on daily supplies that allow her to “maintain a functioning business.” The payments are not the only thing she needs to stay afloat. Monzó does her best to earn the good comments that clients place on her profile. Each morning she prepares the breakfast for her clients with great care and when they arrive at her house, she receives them with a welcome card she makes herself.

“I wrote an email to Airbnb to comment on the delay of the payments and not only did they not answer me but they returned the message. I have also asked other hosts who have been in this for a longer time and they have told me that it is not possible to receive the money by any means other than VaCuba.”

She says that Airbnb always makes the payment “in less than two days” and that the company notifies her by email. Monzó confesses that she does not want to leave the platform because “it is very safe” and sends “the type of clients that you ask for.”

“I refuse to take in the tourists just off the street because I do not want to take risks, I want it to always be through a company that guarantees me the seriousness of the customer,” says Monzó.

Other users of the platform say they have found a solution to the problem by using AIS cards to send and receive transfers, which can be found in any branch of the state-owned company Financiera Cimex.

“You can ask VaCuba to start sending the money to the AIS card,” explains an Airbnb host.

By the end of 2016, at least 34,000 self-employed people were engaged in renting homes to serve a growing number of tourists (4 million last year). To do so legally, they have to get a license and pay taxes, which are levied even when their rooms are not rented.

Connectify Will Be Free in Cuba to Share Internet Access

The app converts an internet-connected computer into a virtual repeater and is widely used on the island to share web access from the wifi zones. (Connectify)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 6 April 2017 – The managers of the Connectify application have announced additional benefits for Cuban users who will now be able to access the tool’s premium features free of charge. The app converts a computer connected to the internet into a virtual repeater and is widely used on the island to share access to the web from wifi zones.

A statement on the company’s official website says that it will continue “to fully support Cuban citizens with free Connectify Hotspot MAX 2017 licenses.” The statement also announced the release of a Spanish version of its program. continue reading

Along with the features available in the free version, such as creating a Wi-Fi hotspot, using the ad blocker and customizing the hotspot name, residents of the island will also have access to the premium functions of Connectify Hotspot, among them the repeater mode.

Connectify for PC has gained users in Cuba in recent years in the country with the opening of wifi zones and is used by many to share the bandwidth of their connection

Connectify for PC has gained users in Cuba in recent years with the opening of public wifi zones and is used by many to share the bandwidth of their connection. It has also generated a lucrative business of reselling access to the web at a price below the 1.50 CUC for each hour charged by the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).

This is not the first time that the company offers an advantage to Cuban clients. In the middle of 2015 the company launched a special promotion for the island that allowed the free download of the professional version of the software for three months. Until now, most of the versions that were used were hacked copies.

Invasive Marabou Weed Arrives at the Plaza of the Revolution

Marabou in the Plaza of the Revolution. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, NYC, 6 April 2017 — Resistant and thorny, the invasive marabou weed has inundated Cuban fields and threatened to displace the national shield’s royal palm. The shrub has become a plague spreading across the country, covering previously arable land, and worming its way into a topic for the speeches of senior officials. But the tenacious invader is not exclusive to rural areas and has also reached that symbol of power that is the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana.

On one side of the José Martí National Library, among the ruins of a building that would have been used to house patients for Operation Miracle – an eye care program – but that was never finished, grows a spontaneous garden with tiny yellow flowers and powerful pods loaded with seeds. The marabou raises its defiant branches there as if it were pointing to the huge tower popularly called “La Raspadura” – The Scratch. continue reading

Without adequate machinery or chemical defoliants to help stop the plague, across the island many country dwellers use old machetes and makeshift axes to cut the trunks. However, on both sides of the highways and in any vacant lot, the marabou continues to display its excellent health.

In 2007, during his speech on the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks, Raúl Castro joked about the panorama he had found on his trip to the city of Camagüey: “What was most beautiful, what stood out to my eyes, was how lovely the marabou was along the whole road.”

Now, the implacable enemy is approaching the presidential office in the Palace of the Revolution. Stealthy and steady, the marabou has won the battle.

‘Albertico’, Projectionist for ‘Strawberry And Chocolate’

Screenshot from the Cuban film ‘Strawberry and Chocolate’. (CC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 2 April 2017 — Not even the most unconditional followers of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, known as ‘Titón’, have seen the movie Strawberry and Chocolate as many times as Alberto Maceo. This Cuban with the mischievous smile worked as a projectionist at Havana’s Acapulco cinema when the film was on the marquee for a year. The movie left in indelible mark on his memory, which he still hasn’t been able, nor does he want to, get out of his mind.

From Germany, where he currently lives, Maceo, ‘Albertico’ to his friends, learned last week that the only Cuban film that managed to sneak into the Oscar competition is going to be restored. The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) announced that it was a “very complex process,” despite the fact that the film is less than a quarter of a century old. continue reading

The news of the restoration unleashed a wave of nostalgia in the émigré. In 1993, when the story of Diego and David was released, Albertico was a teenager who no longer fit in his high school desk. Not only had he reached a physical height that made him stand out above his clasmates, but his restlessness pushed him into the theater. He played his first role in Pinocchio, while the movies allowed him to make a living.

It started as a lucky break to work as a projectionist in a difficult time when Cuban film production had plummeted and the projection rooms smelled of mold and sweat. In the midst of the Special Period, the young man began in a profession about which he recalls, “if you learn it well and focus on the details” you become aware that “what you have in your hands is a work of art.”

But enthusiasm wasn’t enough. Those were hard times, times when hunger and lack of sleep were not good allies in the projection booth. Albertico developed tricks so as not to fall asleep, from listening to music to reading a book, but few of them worked. He discovered that just talking with the other projectionists helped him manage to keep his eyes open while on the screen Titon’s movie played for the umpteenth time.

Alberto Maceo, Albertico to his friends, worked as a projectionist for the Acapulco film Strawberry and Chocolate was playing for a year. (Facebook)

There were no lack of failures. One day when he was alone, sleep overcame him, and despite the cries of “done!” and “cut!” he only woke up when scrolling in front of the viewers’ eyes were “all those letters and numbers and marks at the end of the roll” that no one is ever supposed to see “in a good projection.”

“The only thing that really made our lives happy was the Film Festival every December,” he says now. It meant an oasis in the monotony of repetitive programming. “The bad thing was when the festival ended and the program was once again Strawberry and Chocolate ” he quips.

He came to know the film so well that a student asked him for a transcript of all the speeches of the characters and Albertico just needed to take a little breath to start repeating them one by one.

One day the young projectionist was transferred to the Riviera cinema, on 23rd street. He thought in this way he might save himself from watching the same movie every day, but his happiness was short lived. The National Film Distributor decided to schedule Strawberry and Chocolate at his new workplace as well. Albertico again had Titón’s famous work in his hands “like that brick Diego doesn’t know what to do with,” he jokes.

Among his most persistent memories is the music composed by José María Vitier for the film, although he remembers it in a rather peculiar way. “The material was pecked and scratched” so there were some notes of the credits that were missing. He got used to listening to it like that. Now, when he hears it in perfect quality his mind “always omits those notes.”

In those interminable replays trapped in an endless loop, from which he could not escape, he analyzed the movements of the actors, learned to know when they blinked, each one of their breaths and their pauses.” “Every frame” was recorded in his head.

In the projection booth. (Noboot)

Albertico began to detect those details which nobody noticed. “What does that actor do, out of focus there in the background? What happens to the strawberry in Diego’s spoon in the first scene in Coppelia?” He also began to notice those “microphones or cables that are accidentally seen in some scenes.”

“They are details that no one sees because Strawberry and Chocolate is a work of art that takes you along the paths of the forest,” he reflects.

“The funny thing is that in a year of screening, the film never failed to have an audience,” he recalls. “Those who had nothing else to do, who hadn’t seen it before, who came to smoke a joint, or the couple who would sit in the last row of the theater to eat each other alive,” and also those who “with Marilyn Solaya naked or a few seconds of sex on the screen, came to masturbate.”

He also recalls how the filmstrip fell apart in his hands because the material was in “very bad shape” and the projectionist comments that “in some cases you could see the gaps on the screen.”

Some time ago, Albertico bought a copy of Strawberry and Chocolate on DVD in a German market. Whenever he watches it on his TV he imagines the sounds of the roll in the projector. Although on the screen of his television the scenes shine, his eyes are enchanted to see the scars of that picture he had in his hands so many times.

Nuevo Laredo Mayor to Regularize the Situation of Cubans Stranded in the City

According to the mayor of Nuevo Laredo, Enrique Rivas, Cubans will be able to request political asylum to regularize their situation. (@Gob_NuevoLaredo)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2017 — Cubans living in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, who were stranded after the United States ended the Wet foot/Dry Foot policy that allowed Cubans who set foot on US soil to stay, may now apply for political asylum to regularize their situation in the country, according to the city’s mayor, Enrique Rivas Cueller, who spoke on Nuevo Laredo TV.

“We had a meeting where we had people from immigration, people from the state … all the actors from the federal government, to be able to give them a procedure. They are going to submit a request for political asylum and achieve their legal stay in the country,” explained Rivas Cuellar. continue reading

The municipal authorities estimate that there are currently between 500 and 1,000 Cuban migrants who could not continue their trip to the United States after the end of the previous US immigration policy.

The long stay in Nuevo Laredo to which migrants have been subjected has been a natural step for their integration into the city.

The municipal government will conduct a census of the Cubans in the city and, according to declarations of Rivas Cuellar in the newspaper Milenio, “many of them are participating in the economic activity, some have already developed some commerce,” which is why regulation is necessary.

“Even if they want to go to another city in the country where they intend to work or live, it will support them,” said the mayor, who said that many Cubans “are already regularizing themselves.”

The measure that the authorities of Nuevo Laredo intend to carry out is unprecedented in Mexican migration policy, as of 12 January of this year when they stopped issuing transit permits for Cuban migrants to transit through the country for 20 days as a legal way to reach the United States.

In its place, the Mexican Government has since passed the Immigration Law and, as of 18 February, 680 Cuban migrants found to be in different parts of Cuba illegally were repatriated to Cuba.

Cuba’s Phone Company Lowers Home Internet Prices After Customer Complaints

Users are looking for information about the rates of “Nauta Home” service at the phone company office on Obispo Street in Havana (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2017 – After complaints from customers, the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA) lowered internet browsing prices for its “Nauta Home” service. A few weeks after the pilot test, only 358 users have signed up for the service, 41% of whom who participated in the pilot project.

The pilot offered the service for free, bringing the internet to 858 homes in two People’s Councils areas of Old Havana, between 19 December 2016 and 28 February of this year. Initially the pilot was designed to include some 2,000 families. continue reading

At first, ETECSA marketed 30-hour internet packages for a price of between 15 and 105 Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) (roughly the same value in US dollars), at speeds ranging from 128 kilobytes to 2 Mb. However, as of 30 March, the minimum package has doubled the speed to 256 Kbps at the same price.

The 512 Kbps package now costs 30 CUC — more than the average monthly wage in Cuba — and the 1,024 Kbps costs 50 CUC, with 2,048 Kbps going for 70 CUC, a reduction of 40 percent; but the prices remain prohibitive for most Cubans.

The 512 Kbps package now costs 30 CUC — more than the average monthly wage in Cuba

The engineer Amarelys Rodríguez Sánchez, head of the Nauta Home Project, told the official press that during the test, issues such as contracting and service assistance were evaluated, as well as “the quality of the speeds.”

“The study has raised demand for wireless modems,” said the engineer, who added that customers also demanded that “rates be more affordable” and that there be a tool that allows them to “measure the speed at which they are surfing.”

The initial cost of a contract will now be 29 CUC: 19 for the purchase of the ADSL modem, and 10 CUC for the activation of user access.

Customers wishing to use more connection time will pay an additional 1.50 CUC for each extra hour.

Until now, web browsing from the homes had only been allowed for a select group of professionals

Until now, web browsing from home was only allowed for a select group of professionals such as doctors, journalists, intellectuals or academics, who needed government authorization to have the service.

Rodríguez justified the high rates because of “all the investments that must be deployed” by the company. “Fiber optic infrastructure solutions are very expensive, as is implementing a project that requires multiservice equipment.”

To continue expanding the service ETECSA needs to “make specific investments on fixed and mobile networks,” she said.

By the end of 2017, the company plans to have installed at least 38,000 internet connections in the island’s homes.

“State Security Doctors Constantly Mistreated Us”

Anairis Miranda Leyva and her sister, Adairis, have just been released on parole after three weeks on a hunger strike. Adairis holds a report about Oswaldo Paya, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement (MLC) and Harold Cepero an activist in the movement, both of whom were killed in a suspicious car accident. (MLC)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2017 — Maydolys Leyva can breath easy for the first time since last March 7. Her three children have abandoned their hunger strike after being released on parole. This Monday, their mother prepared a meal of mild creamed vegetables, root vegetables and meat for her daughter Anairis and son Fidel Batista, as they began to resume eating. Her other daughter, Adairis Miranda, is still in intermediate care.

From her bed at Vladimir Ilich Lenin Teaching Hospital in Holguín, where she is recovering, Anairis Miranda spoke via telephone with 14ymedio.

14ymedio. What led you to undertake the hunger strike?

Anairis. We spent 27 days without food and continued to demand the immediate release of our family because we never accepted the unjust sentence of a year of deprivation of liberty imposed on us. continue reading

We are also demanding the release of the political prisoners of the Cuban Reflection Movement to which we belong with pride and whose national leader is Librado Linares. We also demand the immediate release of the national leader of the Christian Liberation Movement, Eduardo Cardet. In response to these demands we obtained parole for health reasons.

14ymedio. Are you still under surveillance?

Anairis. Right now, here in the hospital, there is no presence of State Security. As of Sunday, when they delivered the parole documents to us, they took their repressors and left.

14ymedio. What were the most difficult moments during the strike?

Anairis. We suffered a lot of repression by State Security. They made threats against our mother’s life. The official in charge of confrontation in the province of Holguin, Fredy Agüero, threatened to take custody of my sister’s two children, who were being looked after by our mom. He said they would arrest her and kill her in prison.

“The official in charge of confrontation in the province of Holguin, Fredy Agüero, threatened to take custody of my sister’s two children, who were being looked after by our mom”

14ymedio. How is your sister right now?

Anairis. Adairis is now in intermediate therapy in the surgical clinic, she has a monitor and an IV. We all have very low blood pressure. We weigh 66 pounds and are continuing to lose weight. My brother has very unstable blood pressure, it goes up and down. My brother and I are suffering from ischemic heart disease as a sequel to the strike. I have some vaginal bleeding and diarrhea. I am still very ill, just like my siblings.

14ymedio. How has the treatment from the doctors been from a humane point of view?

Anairis. Some doctors have treated us well, those who are not from the Ministry of the Interior. The doctors of the State Security, who constantly mistreated us, have already left. They tried to misrepresent everything about our health and to overshadow everything. Now, since they left, we have noticed the change in the treatment of the hospital doctors and the people who have come to see us. Before they didn’t let anyone approach us.

14ymedio. How many days do the doctors expect you to remain  hospitalized?

Anairis. They tell us that we have to stay in the hospital about ten more days because we could suffer a heart attack or different complications can occur, although in the case of my sister it could be longer depending on the improvement in her immune system.

14ymedio. How did you receive evidence of solidarity?

Anairis. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the international public for their solidarity and to all the brother and sister activists of both the diaspora and the country. Of course, also the journalists who reported what happened.

Pro and Anti Castro Graffiti Face Off in the Canary Islands

Photo caption: Red text: “Fidel Lives. The Struggle Continues.” Black Text: “Don’t be Retarded.”

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 5 April 2017 — A little more than four months after Fidel Castro’s death, the former Cuban leader continues to stir up controversy outside his country. In the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, graffiti in support of the former president, spray painted using templates, has shown up on several walls.

However, one instance of the graffiti pained on the wall of abandoned tenement in the center of the island’s capital, gave rise to a duel among graffiti artists.

The portrait of Fidel Castro appears with two crosses over his eyes (which symbolize his death) and horns over his head, referring to the diabolical character of the former president. The phrase “Fidel lives. The Struggle Continues,” is completely crossed out by the second graffiti artist, who then paints “Don’t be retarded,” in reference to whomever stenciled the pro-Castro sign.

Within a short distance of this graffiti is the Cuban Consulate in the Canary Islands, where demonstrations for and against Havana’s government have taken place for years, with the participation of the Spanish Young Communists Union (UJCE).

On Tuesday, the other Young Communists Union (UJC) – the one in Cuba – celebrated its 55th anniversary, in the midst of a process of decline and a constant loss of membership.

Cuba Controls Electronic Eavesdropping Center in Venezuela, Says Former Chavez Official

Raúl Castro and Nicolás Maduro on the 22nd anniversary of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America. (@PrensaPresidencial)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 5 April 2017 — Cuba controls everything that happens in Venezuela through an electronic eavesdropping center, according to statements made to the Spanish newspaper ABC by Gyoris Guzmán, who between 2013 and 2015 was the director general of Venezuela’s Office Against Organized Crime and Terrorism Financing.

Information obtained by Venezuela’s Center for Security and Protection of the Homeland (CESPPA) continues to be controlled by Cuban intelligence services according to this information. continue reading

The Venezuelan center was created by Nicolás Maduro in 2013 to unify confidential information previously dispersed between the Military Intelligence Directorate (DIM), the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the police forces.

CESSPA employs a group of hackers and electronic experts that controls electronic eavesdropping in addition to the usual information mechanisms of the security bodies.

“All this information ends up in the hands of the Cuban intelligence services, the G2,” says the former Chavista official, who has asked for asylum in Spain

“All this information ends up in the hands of the Cuban intelligence services, the G2,” says the former Chavista official, who has applied for asylum in Spain, and was invited to give a lecture on CESPPA.

According to the Spanish newspaper, Guzman was surprised that it was not the head of SEBIN, Gustavo González López, who was in charge, “but rather a Cuban commander known as Colonel Camilo, who happens to be the representative of the G2 in Venezuela.”

Guzman also referred to the favorable treatment received by Cuban commanders in Venezuela and told ABC that, as head of the Office Against Organized Crime, he administered property seized from criminals and his superiors made him turn over a waterfront beach apartment in Tucacas to Colonel Camilo, who was also provided a truck that had been seized.

At 55, Cuba’s Young Communist Union Loses Relevance But Does Not Want To Retire

Cuba’s Union of Young Communists logo has the faces of Julio Antonio Mella, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, all of whom died young. The slogan on the logo is “Study, Work, Rifle” (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, 4 April 2017 — There was a time when its red card was a source of pride and most teenagers dreamed of entering its ranks. But those days have been left behind for the Young Communists Union (UJC), an organization that turns 55 this Tuesday, with an aging image and a noticeable decrease in its membership.

Founded in 1962, the UJC was a copycat of the Soviet Komsomols, creating a youth front that served as a quarry for the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). In the midst of the enthusiasm of those years there were massive “processes of growth,” with the signing up of numerous members, but today many evade or reject this opportunity. continue reading

“I never questioned whether or not to enter the UJC, it was what all my classmates did and I joined,” recalls Gladys Marrero, a retired nurse who worked with the organization for more than a decade. “In those years everything was different, people believed much more what was said in the meetings,” she says.

Marrero was sanctioned in her local committee in 1980 for not participating in acts of repudiation against those who emigrated during the Mariel Boatlift

Marrero was sanctioned in her local committee in 1980 for not participating in acts of repudiation* against those who emigrated during the Mariel Boatlift. “In the polyclinic where I worked a lab technician asked to step down to be able to leave [the country] and the UJC prepared a rally to ‘say goodbye’ to her,” she remembers. She didn’t want to participate in “those antics” and turned in her card.

Of the nearly three million young people living in Cuba, according to the most recent Population and Housing Census of 2012, only 300,752 are affiliated with the UJC, which operates through 33,000 base committees across the island. The figure is much lower than almost 600,000 members who were on the rolls in 2007, when the country was in the midst of the effervescence of the Battle of Ideas.

Yosvani, 25 years old and resident of Aguada de Pasajeros in Cienfuegos, was one of the young people who enrolled in the UJC during those years. “Several municipal leaders came to our high school and said they were going to undertake massive growth throughout the country, with more than 10,000 new militants,” he tells this newspaper.

Over time, the young man lost interest because “there were too many meetings” and “they summoned us for anything.” One day he pretended that he had a serious health problem and asked for his discharge. In his local committee alone “more than half of the militants left,” he says. Some alleged family complications, but Yosvani believes they actually did it out of “lack of interest.”

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, several young people waiting to enter the United States also once had the organization’s red membership card in their pockets. Richard, a fictitious name to avoid retaliation, has been stranded for two months at the US border after the cancellation of the wet foot/dry foot policy that allowed Cubans who stepped foot on American soil to stay. Although he calls himself a “revolutionary” he does not plan to mention his affiliation to US immigration officials should they “reverse Obama’s decision and let the Cubans in.”

The migrant served as general secretary of his local committee and believes that “the UJC helped many young people not to fall into delinquency and to direct their lives”

The migrant, who spoke with 14ymedio through videoconferencing, served as general secretary of his local committee and believes that “the UJC helped many young people not to fall into delinquency and to direct their lives.” However, he believes that the organization “fell into a rut” although “it still has a large presence in schools and workplaces, so it could take advantage of that structure.”

In the middle of last year a young Cuban migrant was declared “inadmissible” by the US authorities because she confessed to having belonged to the Young Communists Union between 2010 and 2013.

The absence of leadership has also hampered the activity of these komsomols. Of the UJC’s dozen first secretaries since its creation, more than half ended up being ousted while they leading the UJC or in later positions. The most famous cases were Luis Orlando Domínguez (1972-1982), Carlos Lage (1982-1986) and Roberto Robaina (1986-1993). The fear of ending up like them slows down many who would like to present themselves as more active and creative. Charisma is paid for dearly in these types of responsibilities.

“People do not want to take positions inside the UJC to avoid getting into trouble,” says Yosvani. “That’s a tremendous burning,” he quips. The young man criticizes the “lack of power of the militants who go along with many things in the meetings but they do not have ability to influence decision making.”

In 2015 and during meetings of the organization before the 10th Congress, the militants expressed their concern about the UJC’s stagnation

In 2015 and during meetings of the organization before the 10th Congress, the militants expressed their concern about the UJC’s stagnation. “It needs to be a living organism that has diversity, is truly transformed and represents young people,” said Han García, a student at the Victoria de Giron [Bay of Pigs Victory] Faculty of Medical Sciences.

In an attempt to revitalize the organization and during an extraordinary meeting of the UJC in the middle of last year, the psychologist Susely Morfa González was named first secretary of the organization, replacing Yuniasky Crespo Baquero. Shortly afterwards, her meteoric rise continued when she was chosen as a deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power and made a member of the Council of State.

The young woman had turned in a combative performance at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in April 2015, starring in several acts of repudiation in which she labeled activists and exiles who participated in a parallel event with civil society as “lackeys, mercenaries, self-financed, underpaid by imperialism.”

On Tuesday, in an interview with the official press, Morfa stated as a purpose of the UJC “to add to it so that it is an organization for everyone, so that each young person feels ever closer to it.” The secretary general estimates that among young Cubans “the vast majority is revolutionary,” although she acknowledged that “some people are questioning whether the new generations are aware of their social role.”

The UJC has set out to capture young entrepreneurs at any cost but does not seem to have found much enthusiasm

But the functional paralysis and the diminution of its ranks are not the only concerns for the leaders of the UJC. The growth of the private sector has widened the phenomenon of young people who are outside the organization’s control and who work in a system governed by the laws of supply and demand.

Of the more than half a million self-employed workers on the island, 159,563 are young. The UJC has set out to capture young entrepreneurs at any cost but does not seem to have found much enthusiasm.

“What I like about my work is that there are no meetings, no union, and I do not have to donate part of my salary to the Territorial Troop Militias, much less go to UJC meetings,” says Roland, a worker in a restaurant in Chinatown, in Havana.

“Provincial and national leaders have come to talk to the young people here to raise awareness and make them militants, but people just aren’t up for that,” he reflects. “Now life is harder than when my parents were in the UJC, you have to earn money with a lot of effort and there is no time for so many meetings,” he finishes.

*Translator’s note: This video – “Gusano” (Worm) – is about a current day repudiation rally and the opening scenes show video from the Mariel Boatlift repudiation rallies.

Cuban Evangelicals Denounce Complacent Article By Associated Press

Religious Cubans are often repressed by the state.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ricardo Fernandez, Pinar del Rio, 31 March 2017 – A report published by the Associated Press published last Monday, under the title “Far From the Dark Past, Evangelicals Growing in Cuba,” upset evangelical pastors with its open defense of the Cuban regime to the detriment of religious freedom.

The author, Andrea Rodríguez, cites one of the many examples of pastors imprisoned for their faith in the first decades of the Revolutionary Process, to compare it to the current situation and to refute the report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The London-based organization reported 2,380 violations of religious freedom in Cuba in 2016, among which were declaring 2,000 churches of the Assembly of God illegal, with 1,400 confiscations of properties. The report also denounced the persecution and imprisonment of parishioners, as well as the destruction of churches. continue reading

The reaction to the article, which has been circulating by e-mail between pastors and parishioners, lies in the fact that sources cited by the Associated Press journalist are close to the Cuban Government, so they have retained a number of “privileges” that should be inalienable rights for all Cubans.

Pastor Bernardo de Quesada of the Apostolic Movement believes that the report is “counterproductive” and “very loose with regards to the reality of religion in Cuba.”

The religious leader says, “Many of those who were interviewed did not speak truthfully and the journalist wrote it with marked apologies to the communist system.” He also claims that Rodríguez only included “a part” of his statements.

For Dagoberto Valdés, director of the Coexistence Study Center and a well-known Catholic layman, “it is common” to confuse freedom of belief, freedom of worship and religious freedom but “they are not the same”

“When I was interviewed, I didn’t express the ideas that were written,” he adds.

For Dagoberto Valdés, director of the Coexistence Study Center and a well-known lay Catholic, “it is common” to confuse freedom of belief, freedom of worship and religious freedom, but clarifies “they are not the same.”

“In the first decades of the Revolution we were persecuted for the simple fact of believing, professing a religion was a crime. Today we have gained that space, but we were not given it by the goodwill of government leaders,” says Valdés.

He acknowledges that a majority of people can regularly attend their religious ceremonies without being persecuted, but asserts that religious freedom is much more than that. “When Lieutenant Colonel Osvaldo (head of State Security’s Technical Department of Investigations in the province of Pinar del Río) threatened me in his office, he said that I was crossing the line between Christianity and the counterrevolution with the Coexistence Study Center.”

Kiri Kankhwende, a spokesman for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, accused the churches of not wanting to speak out because of government pressure.

The Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party is in charge of monitoring the religious. The organization holds periodic meetings with the main spiritual representatives of each municipality with the aim of avoiding possible disagreements.

“Once a dissident was attending my congregation and shortly afterwards a State Security agent came to threaten me with blocking my travel from the country if I was a member of the Church,” says a Pinar del Rio pastor on condition of anonymity.

“For those who do not travel, they pressure them with the illegality of their structures, because not even the legal churches have permission to build temples and we have to say that we are building houses even if inside we turn it into a hall to bring the church together,” he added.

Raúl Risco is a dissident lawyer who is not allowed to go to church to celebrate his faith

Raúl Risco is a dissident lawyer who is not allowed to go to church to celebrate his faith. “Many times I have been mistreated or expelled by pastors too fearful of losing government concessions,” in Pinar del Rio, where he resides, he says. Now, to avoid reprisals against him or the community, he practices his faith without attending the meetings of his congregation.

For Pastor Bernardo de Quesada the demolitions of Protestant temples have nothing to do with the supposed “illegality of the constructions” but with the impossibility of obtaining permits to build them. “Who will be more illegal, the church that is not legalized or the state that does not allow it?” asks the religious leader from Camagüey.

“We have experienced all kinds of repression, from threats to parishioners to their expulsion from their schools or jobs for attending our churches, to massive arrests and physical violence against those who were there on the day of the demolition of our temple,” says Dignora Marrero, who belongs to the same congregation. “That is our reality and not the one that the Government tries to present.”

A Fakir “Without Money But Without Rival”

Juan Antonio Vargas Lefebre works in Enramadas Street, in Santiago de Cuba, and exhibits his circus skills in exchange for tips. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, Santiago de Cuba, 3 April 2017 — Juan Antonio Vargas Lefebre inspires exclamations of surprise among Santiago de Cuba’s inhabitants and visitors. At 72 and living in the Chicharrones neighborhood, the well-known fakir sets up in the first hours of the day in Enramadas Street and exhibits his circus talents so that people will leave him some tips and many compliments.

Nails, bicycle spokes, pens and pencils, are some of the objects that Vargas puts in his right nostril. “The factory defect is on that side,” he says jokingly to those who inquire about his unusual physical ability. continue reading

“It rains, there’s thunder or lightening, every day comes with something new,” says a clerk at La California store, who given her proximity is a frequent spectator of the exploits of this well-known local fakir. “Sometimes he makes me nervous because the nails he puts in his nose are quite long,” she says.

Vargas Lefebre is undaunted and boasts that he has traveled “all over Cuba” and every year presents his street performance at the Rancho Boyero Fair in Havana

However, Vargas Lefebre is undaunted and boasts that he has traveled “all over Cuba” and every year presents his street performance at the Rancho Boyeros Fair in Havana. “I live on the tips they give me, but my dream is for someone to look at this old man and help me become a real circus performer,” he concludes.

Jose Antonio Vargas says he has “an iron constitution,” does not drink or smoke and says his best artistic numbers are “with sharp sabers,” but he can’t perform them on the street as the police expressly forbid it. “They are considered weapons, but I look for an out of the way place where I can do it,” he confesses.

He is considered the only “famous” fakir in all of Cuba and acknowledges that he is “without money, but without rival.” He also dances, sings and hums musical notes while pounding with a hammer on his nose as if it were a piece of wood. The passing tourists leave him with some coins, which are his main sustenance.

“Don’t try this at home,” he advises a child watching him while putting the handle of a mirror through his infinite nostril.

Three Siblings On Hunger Strike Released On Parole

Adairis Miranda, Maidolis Leyva Portelles, Anairis Miranda and Fidel Batista Leyva. (Courtesy)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2017 — The three Holguin siblings who had been on hunger strike since last March 7 were released on Sunday on parole, according to what their mother, Maydolys Leyva, told this newspaper.

The activists Anairis Miranda, Adairis Miranda and Fidel Batista were sentenced were sentenced to one year in prison for the alleged crimes of “defamation of heroes and martyrs” and “public disorder” during the days of national mourning after the death of former President Fidel Castro last 25 November. continue reading

This Sunday, Leyva visited two of her children who had been admitted to the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the provincial capital city of Holguin, where she learned the news of their release. Shortly afterwards, she went to Clínica Quirúrgico Lucía Iñiguez hospital to visit her other daughter, Adairis Miranda, who had also been given parole papers, according to her mother.

At the moment Adairis and Fidel are receiving a treatment with sera as part of their recovery therapy after more than three weeks without eating. A doctor explained to Leyva that the treatment will last “between three and four days” before they can return home.

Anairis, who has a heart disease, is in “a more serious state of health, at risk for his life,” her mother explains to ’14ymedio’

Anairis, however, is in “a more serious state of health with her life at risk,” her mother explains to 14ymedio, so the doctors believe the recovery process will take longer. The young woman, her mother says, “has heart disease.”

Leyva conveyed words or thanks to other activists, the independent press, and the international community, “who have been aware of the lives of my children… and have not let them die.”

Parole is a condition frequently used by the government to release its political opponents. The former prisoners of the Black Spring who still live in Cuba are under that legal condition, so they can be returned to prison whenever the authorities decide. Also, they cannot travel outside the country.

Last Friday Amnesty International urged the Cuban government to provide medical care with guarantees to the siblings and cataloged them as “prisoners of conscience.”

Cuban Opponents Who Bet On The Ballot Box

A woman looks at the biographies of the candidates before voting in the municipal elections of 2015. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 3 April 2017 – In any part of the world, the first option a politician has to participate in power is usually through elections, but in Cuba this path seems the most Utopian.

However, on the eve of the start of the electoral process that will culminate with the formation of the ninth legislature of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power and Raul Castro’s departure as president of the country, different opposition groups are taking the opportunity to submit themselves to the verdict of the ballot boxes. continue reading

The hope of competing before the electorate as an alternative found encouragement after the February 2015 announcement that there would be a new electoral law. The idea that the new legislation would necessarily be more flexible stimulated that part of Cuba’s opposition sector whose plans do not include “overthrow the dictatorship.”

Candidates for Change: “We have been monitoring the Accountability Assemblies of the district delegates where violations occur”

In October 2008 a small group of opponents from the town of Punta Brava grouped under the name of the Liberal Party of the Republic of Cuba launched the initiative to “accept the challenge of participating in the elections for district delegates.” The political scientist Julio Aleaga participated in this project as an adviser and, offering himself as an example, stood for office in the capital neighborhood of Vedado. On that occasion he obtained a single vote, his own.

Now Aleaga is leading the Candidates for Change project. In conversation with 14ymedio he explains that since 2014, as part of a maturation process, they have created an executive secretariat that organizes all work.

“We have been monitoring the Accountability Assemblies of the district delegates where violations occur, such as not respecting the requirements for a quorum, or declaring that the Assembly has been held when in fact it has not and, at a higher level, the reports on the number of Accountability Assemblies held in the country that do not correspond to reality.”

In addition to that work, he states that wherever there is a representative of Candidates for Change, they have presented the problems of the community in the Assemblies with proposals to help solve them.

This project also promotes the idea of ​​encouraging Afro-descendants to engage  inpolitical processes as decision-makers, to become active in politics and jointly promotes women’s participation in political life.

However the absence of the announced new Electoral Law has reduced the expectations of those hoping to see a rift in the single-party political life of Cuba. With regards to this, Aleago says, “Apparently the government ‘has dropped the ball’ and we have decided to work with the tools we have to build change instead of waiting for that change to take place in order to have better tools.”

Cuesta Morúa says that Otro 18 has “unwavering requirement that they not receive money for the process of putting themselves forwards”

Another initiative that focuses on the electoral issue is Otro18 (Another 2018). Their work is made up of three parts: one is the search for and preparation of candidates for the upcoming elections; another is the constitution of what have been called Citizen Observers of Electoral Processes (OPE); and, finally, the paving the way for the citizenry to receive the message of this platform.

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, an experienced opponent from the social-democratic persepctive, explains that for the task of finding and preparing candidates they have a road map and attitude guide to establish like-minded approaches. “In this sense,” he emphasizes, “we focus on an unwavering requirement that they not receive money for the process of putting themselves forward.”

With regards to the observers, it is a network that watches over the process at every stage. “We demand as a requirement for being a Citizen Observer that the person not be a candidate and maintain absolute neutrality.”

As a founding member of the Democratic Action Roundtable (MUAD), Cuesta has invited the organizations that meet as a part of that collection of organizations to include in each of their activities an “Otro18 agenda,” so that, regardless of the fact that each organization has its own platforms and programs, they also engage in this initiative. “In the coming months,” Cuesta says, “the entities involved in MUAD will begin to provide candidates, observers for the network and, of course, activists to mobilize the electorate.”

“We would love to have about 300 people occupying the seat of the public service, but reality tells us that this is a dream too far.”

On the subject of the promised new Electoral Law, Manuel Cuesta takes for granted that it will no longer be the one that governs the upcoming electoral process. “A clear signal is that they have created an application for mobile phones where the electoral process is explained through Law 72, which should have been repealed to make way for a more flexible one.”

Perhaps the most obvious question you can ask a politician who believes in electoral processes is what are their hopes of winning votes. Julio Aleaga affirms that they have now counted a hundred people ready to present themselves as candidates in all of Cuba, with potential candidates concentrated in Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Sancti Spíritus and Cienfuegos.

“We would love to have about 300 people occupying the seat of the public service, but reality tells us that this is a dream too far. We are betting on the electoral exercise, the breakdown of social neglect with respect to elections. The real result won’t be measured in the number of candidates chosen, but in raising public awareness that elections can be an engine for change,” he says.

Manuel Cuesta, for his part, takes a look at his agenda and explains: “As of the beginning of April, we have 83 people who have shown their willingness to stand as candidates, mainly distributed in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Pinar del Río.”

Cuesta recognizes that it is difficult to speak of numbers in the question of predicting presumed victories, but one can venture how the proportions might turn out.

It is taken for granted that these elections will be neither free, nor plural, nor fair, but at least they will try to make them competitive

“The first step is to overcome the difficulty of the area assemblies, where the vote is by a show of hands. Of all those who can show up, be it 70 or 700, only 15% would have the opportunity to pass this test and get to the ballot. Then the Electoral Commissions of the municipality will prepare a biography* for each of them, with somber tones, as they did in the previous process with two candidates, whom they clearly defined as counterrevolutionary elements. At the polls, maybe 4% would be elected as a delegate, and with that we would be more than satisfied.”

For any of these projects, the main thing seems to be to open the game of competitive elections at the municipal level. It is taken for granted that these elections will be neither free, nor plural, nor fair, but at least they will try to make them competitive. In fact, so far the Government has refused to compete, even among themselves.

Among those who support overthrowing the regime, there are those who accuse these initiatives of “playing the game of dictatorship.” The truth is, those in command in Cuba do not show any enthusiasm for anyone to play any kind of game and they are repressing with great intensity all those involved in Candidates for Change, Otro18 and other projects along the same line.

Before the end of this year we will know if the effort undertaken made any sense.

*Translator’s note: Under Cuba’s current electoral law, candidates are forbidden to campaign. The only presentation of their candidacy is a one-page (or less) ‘biography’ with their photo and a statement about who they are — strongly focused on a list of the mass organizations they belong to — with no information about political opinions. This biography is not prepared by the candidate, but by the Electoral Commission. As noted in the article, two opposition candidates who made it to small-area local ballots in the last elections, were described in their biographies as “counterrevolutionary” with a brief detailing of the ‘bad’ things they have done, for example being “funded by foreign groups.” Neither won.