14ymedio – Page 579 – Translating Cuba

Rain Causes 17 Building Collapses in the “Wonder City” / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

The facade of No. 418, where you can see the stairway filled with rubble. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 8 June 2016 – The residents of 418 Villegas Street, in Old Havana, were unhurt after a building collapse at nine o’clock Wednesday morning. The collapse of the roof of the house on the first floor was one of the 17 partial and total building collapses that occurred in the Cuban capital, four of them in the historical district, as a result of the heavy rains of recent days.

With very few belongings salvaged from the rubble, residents of the place waited Wednesday afternoon for the authorities to address their situation. “We’ll sleep outside here, even though it’s raining, so that no one steals anything,” said a young resident of the property, who maintained the illusion that “some police officers to guard things” would arrive. continue reading

Leticia Ramirez, seven months pregnant and also a resident of the collapsed building, said that if something had happened “at six o’clock, when everyone was in the house, it would have ended in a tragedy.” She explained that the collapse “could have been avoided” because the three families affected by the collapse of part of the building had started “years ago” the process to obtain a bank loan to undertake repairs.

However, Ramirez says that the bureaucratic process to obtain permits to undertake the work in the Havana historical center took too long. “And in the end look what happened.” The woman enumerated all the problems, pointing to a pile of rubble that on Wednesday blocked the passage of cars and pedestrians.

The plight of the residents of the Villegas Street began long before the June rains. Banking authorities took three years to approve a subsidy request to allow them to purchase materials for the reconstruction of the building. Money was only allocated last December.

From that moment there began a series of impediments from the inspectors and specialists from the Office of the City Historian, in particular with regards to the authorization to place scaffolding around the façade of the building to undertake the repairs. The signature of Eusebio Leal Spengler’s office didn’t arrive in time.

Ramirez’s mother went back and forth for months, “from one office to another,” says the young woman, but “without resolving anything.” The pregnant woman stresses that she will not accept shelter near the well-known Casa del Pedagogo “with a mattress thrown on the floor,” a place that frequently shelters neighbors who have lost their homes in building collapses.

We are owners and nobody here wants to go into the shelter,” insists the woman, who noted sarcastically that a few hours before the building collapse Havana had been declared a “Wonder City.”

Some onlookers come for a first hand look.

Older residents were clearly desperate over the loss of their roof and a good part of their furniture and personal possessions. Adelaida said that they had been awarded a subsidy but that there were so many obstacles to “purchasing materials” that the work hadn’t begun.

As night fell, they still remained at the site waiting for the fire department to finish evacuating the contents of the building. As of noon on Thursday, none of the affected residents had received a visit from any representative of the People’s Power.

Some 1.7 million households, representing 39% of the housing stock in Cuba, is in fair or poor condition or worse, according to a report from the Housing authorities. During 2015, only 23,003 new houses were built throughout the country, of which 10,417 were built by people’s own efforts, a good part of them financed by loans awarded by state banks.

Between 2012, when the granting of credits to “natural persons” began, to the end of 2015, they had awarded 5.1 billion pesos (212 million dollars), of which 60% was earmarked for home repairs, according to the official press.

“You Have To Have Eyes To See The Wonder” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

Plaque commemorating of Havana’s declaration as one of the New 7wonder Cities of the modern world. (14ymedio) — Plaque commemorating of Havana’s declaration as one of the New7Wonder Cities of the modern world. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 8 June 2016 — As if it were a Michelin star, tour operators, hotel managers and those who rent private rooms will exhibit, starting Tuesday, Havana’s status as one of the “New7Wonder Cities” of the modern world. Although the rain intruded on the unveiling of the plaque a few yards from the Malecon that confirms the new title, popular humor has not ignored the designation.

This week, there has been an increase in jokes making the rounds about the “wonder” of traveling in deteriorating urban buses, the marvel of buying food in a city in the grip of a dual currency system, or the miracle of the many buildings that remain standing despite their advanced stage of deterioration. Regardless of their disbelief, however, Havanans try to make the best of the new categorization, as symbolic as it is promising. continue reading

The Cuban capital figures on the list of 1,200 aspirants from 220 countries that competed for the grandiloquent epithet. Online voting put the city among the 77 finalists, which were reduced to 28 official candidates by a commission of experts.

Successive selections ended to the pleasure of a cabal of seven cities, like musical notes, the principal colors, the seas and the sins. Along with Havana the cities are Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), La Paz (Bolivia) and Vigan (Philippines).

The big winners are the tour guides who, from air-conditioned buses, tell foreign visitors the history of the taking of Havana by the English and describe to them in epic tones El Morro lighthouse guarded by the fortress of La Cabana. In these stories, Havana’s “wonder” status blocks the view of everyday problems and improves the tips that end up in their pockets.

These chroniclers of a city that lives only in the pages of Lonely Planet consider it an impertinence to note that on the day the designation was made official rainfall occasioned a building collapse in Central Havana while in the ration stores in the Cerro and Marianao neighborhoods people were buying 11 ounces of “chicken for fish*” and there was an extended power failure in Vedado.

None of the guides will tie the unexpected award to the celebration this year of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party, nor to the presence of the country’s president on the list of the seven oldest presidents in the world.

José María, a young hustler who knows a few phrases in several languages and specializes in dating tourists, was on the Malecón on Tuesday at the time appointed to unveil the plaque. He hoped to engage in some “business” with foreigners passing along the esplanade, but only found a small group of officials headed by Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler.

Under a piece of cardboard in lieu of an umbrella, José María heard the phrase of the city historian: “You have to have eyes to see the wonder.” Then the committee left in official cars and the young man “captured” a couple of tourists to whom he described the wonderful cigars, for a wonderful price, which he kept at home “very near here,” so that they could smoke them in this wonderful city the official guides don’t talk about.

Cienfuegos People’s Power Vice President Assaulted By a Citizen / 14ymedio

Cienfuegos’ flag flutters in the headquarters of the Provincial People's Power (Courtesy) — Cienfuegos’ flag flutters in the headquarters of the Provincial People’s Power (Courtesy)

14ymedio, Havana, 11 June 2016 — Last Monday Asneida Muñoz Villa, vice president of the People’s Power in the city of Cienfuegos, was assaulted physically and verbally after asking for explanations from several citizens who broke a sidewalk while repairing the water system, according to the local newspaper 5 de Septiembre.

The official told the local media that he had asked to see the permit issued by the municipal government to carry out the work. However, one of the citizens who was engaged in the repair reacted angrily. continue reading

Muñoz Villa tried to call the police, but the man grabbed his cellphone and threw it to the ground. He then continued mouthing obscenities, according to the official, who was pushed and the attacker even tried to hit him with a shovel.

During the attack, the man shouted that the repair that was being done meant “food” for his children and didn’t accept the official’s reasons for admonishing him. The People’s Power vice president lamented that dozens of people were present at the time, but none came to his aid.

Following Muñoz’s complaint to the police, the man was arrested and charged with assault on authority. According to Article 142 of the Cuban Penal Code, “Whoever employs violence or intimidation against an authority, a public official, or his agents or assistants, to keep them from performing an act of their duties, or to demand that they do it, shall be punished by one to three years of imprisonment.”

Violence against officials of the People’s Power and the Communist Party have occurred in the past in the province, but usually the official press is silent about these incidents.

Rain, A Justification for So Many Things / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 10 June 2016 –“Why did you bring the girl if it is raining?” my friend’s daughter’s second grade teacher asked when she brought her child to school on Wednesday. Although the school year should continue, many elementary school teachers took advantage of the precipitation this week to hasten its end. The bureaucrats used the excuse of the bad weather to delay paperwork, while countless medical clinics opened late due to the weather. continue reading

Many state employees behave as if they are sugar cubes, or watercolors about to dissolve, or allergic to water when the rain comes. This reaction is laughable given that we live in a tropical country, but there is also a lot of drama involved in the serious damage the rains cause to millions of people. Over and over again, public services behave as if each rainy season was the island’s first.

The banking system, dysfunctional throughout the year, collapses almost entirely when two drops of rain fall from the sky. The Nauta email service – operated by the state phone company – is thrown into crisis, and urban transport outdoes itself in terms of problems. A drizzle and schools suspend classes, retail markets barely open, and even the emergency rooms in public health centers work at half speed.

All this without a hurricane, or 60-mile-an-hour-plus winds, or one of those heavy snows that keep nations further north on edge. The paralyzation of life here caused by the rains is more than a justification, it is an alibi, one that allows many, during these days, to do what they most desire: Nothing.

Elena Burke, A Voice That Resonates In Our Memory / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 9 June 2016 — The woman had something. In addition to her deep voice and the passion she poured into the microphone, she had an attitude that fascinated us. When she appeared on the television screen my childish self-absorption was put on hold and I stopped running around and paid attention to her. There she was, “Lady Feeling,” the teenager who had debuted on CMQ radio, the girl who was born in the same year that the cieba tree was planted in Fraternity Park in Havana. I shut up and listened to her.

Temperament, emotion and an interpretation that went beyond good diction or memory were her hallmark. She lived each song. She was ready to fight over an infidelity, cry over a heartbreak, relish to the point of madness, or say goodbye like a woman waving her hand from threshold of any door. In the Cuban musical scene of the seventies and eighties, filled with fear and duplicity, Elena Burke was authentic, seeking neither to please nor to humor.

Others reaped the glories of the international media when that imposing and sincere lady was no longer with us, when the lady of filin had gone. But no Cuban singer has managed to improve on her interpretations of songs composed by José Antonio Méndez, Marta Valdés or César Portillo de la Luz, among the many other songwriters she gave voice to. Because with a microphone in hand and her physical volume she filled the entire screen; she was simply herself, unadorned, uncompromising, forthright.

Cuban Opposition Deplores Secrecy of Cuba-EU Negotiations / 14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart

Conference on European Union-Cuba relations held this Tuesday at the European Parliament in Brussels (ALDE)

14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Brussels, 1 June 2016 – Cuban representatives who participated in the conference in the European Parliament held last Tuesday in Brussels about relations between the European Union and Cuba were skeptical about the cooperation agreement that will be signed by both sides at the end of the year, or at the latest, at the beginning of 2017.

The Island’s delegation – Rosa Maria Paya, promotor of the Cuba Decides campaign; Pedro Fuentes Cid, spokesman for the Historical Center of Political Prisoners; and the author of these lines, a Baptist pastor and manager of the Cuban National Conference – lamented that civil Cuban society has not been taken into account in the negotiations for the agreement that will substitute for the European Union Common Position which, since 1996, has delineated relations of the twenty-eight EU countries with the Island. continue reading

Also present at the meeting, organized by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), were Ben Nupnau, official from the European Foreign Service Division for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and Pavel Telicka, vice-president of ALDE.

Nupnau expressed Europe’s good intentions for the positive effects that the cooperation agreement could have on democratization and respect for human rights in the Cuba. Nevertheless, the Cubans present argued that the Island’s government had not given the EU any expectation of guarantees about human rights and democratic freedoms, given the persistent signs of verifiable repression in 54 Sundays of harassment of the Ladies in White and the monthly statistics of arbitrary detentions produced by Cuba’s Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission.

The Island’s delegation pointed out the secret character that so far tarnishes the agreement and questioned the fact that neither European nor Cuban citizens had been able to express opinions about its contents.

The delegation also encouraged the EU, if it is in competition with the United States with respect to Cuba, to also compete in support of civil society. The panelists emphasized that, in spite of pressure by Cuban negotiators, the US had not given up doing so, while the EU only supports civil society as conceived of or endorsed by the government in Havana, the very one that has tried to muzzle it.

The EU, according to participants in the meeting, must be aware of the close relations that the Cuban government has with enemies of Europe and of democracy such as North Korea, Russia and Belarus.

The Cuban ambassador in Brussels, Norma Goicochea Estenoz, declined the invitation to participate in the meeting and sent an email to explain that she could not meet in the same place as “mercenaries.” The diplomat acted consistently with the intransigent position of the Cuban government, capable of sitting down to negotiate with the biggest powers, even when, as in the case of the United States, it has to do with its historical enemy, but refusing to engage in dialog with its own people, whom it thus insults and denigrates.

On Wednesday, the official presented a complaint to the European Foreign Service about the ALDE conference. Some supposed that it was going to make clear that its embassy had nothing to do with certain attendees who took advantage of public intervention time in order to question the legitimacy of the panelists, matching the views given in her email. It is supposed that those who suspect that may be right, given that the reason for her urgent visit to the European chancery was to again lash out against the panelists and, in turn, also against Telicka and ALDE.

Translated by Mary Lou Keel

Rafael Alcides Close Up / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 6 June 2016 — Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula participated in the New Media Film Festival of Los Angeles with the seventh chapter of his series Rafael Alcides. The short film was part of a more than two-hour interview with with the well-known poet and writer, addressing topics such as art, beauty and Cuba past and present.

Filmed in Havana, with a minimalist presentation, in this seventh installment the actress Lynn Cruz recites the poem The Stranger, which gives its title to the chapter, in a moving and unadorned interpretation that salvages the lyrical work of an author now silenced in Cuba’s official catalogs and anthologies. continue reading

In the previous installments of the series, Alcides reflects on the relationship between intellectuals and power, the figure of Fidel Castro and the role played by the Cuban people in several events of the last 150 years.

The Stranger is competing in the Web Series category, along with submissions from 37 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, Russia and Vietnam. The festival will take place June 7-9 at Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles and the short, just over two minutes long, is being presented as a world premiere.

The showing in Los Angeles will constitute the premiere of an official exhibition of the series directed, edited and designed by Miguel Coyula, who is also in charge of photography. However, the film has been available for weeks on the filmmaker’s Youtube channel.

During the last Young Filmmakers Exhibition, Coyula was invited to participate in the panel Routes and Routes, Cuban Cinema of the Diaspora in the 21^st Century, organized by the researched Zaira Zarza. This panel debated the peculiarities of the diaspora and the formulas to keep alive contacts between “those who leave” and their audience on the island.

In his presentation, Coyula formally introduced the sixth chapter of the series dedicated to Alcides, under the title Capitalism. The filmmaker maintains in these recent creations his particular style of independent and artisanal production, relaying on clean and simple visual effects that build to a striking finale, with his pinpoint accuracy in mixing music, voice and image.

Coyula’s debut in feature films was Red Cockroaches and among his most outstanding productions is Memories of Overdevelopment, which was chosen in 2010 as the Best Cuban Film of that year by the International Film Guide. After several years living in the United States, the filmmaker has returned to live in Havana, where he is filming his third feature film: Blue Heart.

Oscar Biscet Fights For “The Disintegration of the Dictatorship of the Castros” / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

Dr. Oscar Biscet Cuba after his press conference (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 4 June 2016 — On his first trip to the United States, former political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet has shown once again that he doesn’t mince words: he has criticized President Barack Obama’s visit to Cuba, he has spoken in favor of repealing the Cuban Adjustment Act, and he has raised the possibility of a military coup on the island.

A doctor by profession, Biscet is backed by the Lawton Foundation, the National Democratic Party and the New Union for a Free Cuba Foundation. He presented the Emilia Project at a press conference this Saturday; the project is named in honor of Emilia Teurbe Toulon, who in the mid 19^th-century first sewed the first Cuban flag. According to Biscet his initiative is a “project of freedom” that seeks “the disintegration of the dictatorship of the Castros.” continue reading

Biscet was sentenced to 25 years in prison for presenting research that denounced the abortion practices of the Cuban health system, but was released in 2011 and decided to stay on the island. Recently, the Cuban government allowed him to travel abroad “only once,” and the regime opponent is in the midst of a tour that has taken him to Spain and the United States. He has expressed fears for his life on his return to Cuba.

“The Emilia project declares that the Communist Constitution and the organs of state power are unconstitutional,” said the Biscet, arguing that the 1940 Constitution had been violated by Fidel Castro in 1959 with the arbitrary application of capital punishment. “In the first month they shot 900 people, 400 of whom were people who had nothing to do with the previous regime, simply because they dared to dissent,” he said.

The Emilia project has been signed by more than 3,000 Cubans with their names and identity card numbers. In it he demands that “the legal system of our country has as its base the democratic principles that prevail in other nations of the civilized world.”

Biscet argues that his movement is based on the 1940 Constitution which, since its amendment in 1976, has been an “eyesore” imposed by the Cuban government against the will of its own people.

Dr. Oscar Biscet from Cuba presented The Emilia Project in Miami

With regards to relations between the US and Cuba, Biscet believes that the steps taken by the current administration, including President Barack Obama’s visit to the island, “complicate the fight against the dictatorship.”

“It is a mistake to support a dictatorship that is falling. Free governments should demand freedom for Cuba,” said Biscet. “Emilia activists want to strengthen the people in their idea of achieving freedom, strengthening non-governmental organizations, seeking a multitude willing to end the dictatorship and execute a strategic plan to end this.”

According to the leader of the Emilia Project, there are several possible scenarios: that a group of “worthy” soldiers would put an end the regime (he would support this option), or that the son of Raul Castro, Alejandro Castro Espin, succeeds his father, or that there is a evolution towards a “softer dictatorship” in the style of the former Yugoslavia of Milosevic.

“Our purpose is to make a change from the base to the superstructure, a national insurrection,” said Biscet, who pointed out however the peaceful nature of his movement said. “There are many people who have hatred but we want justice to prevail.”

According to Biscet, the Cuban government has always lived on foreign aid, first from the Soviets and now Venezuela. “The Venezuelan people are starving like the Cuban people, not only materially starving but hungering for freedom,” he added. “Socialism has caused chaos and failure wherever it has been implemented, we knew that Venezuela would end like this.”

On the current immigration crisis the former political prisoner believes that “it is a human right to emigrate,” but regrets that the Cuban Adjustment Act allows people to continue leaving the island and then return in a year and a day “to speculate.” He said, “I agree with what Marco Rubio and Congressman Curbelo are doing; asylum must be for those who deserve it, the rest should stay in Cuba to fight.”

For Biscet “you can not enjoy a foreign freedom, with the resources of another country.”

Environmental Activist Detained And Interrogated In Najasa, Camagüey / 14ymedio

Environmental activist Inalkis Rodríguez (Courtesy)

14ymedio, 5 June 2016 — Environmental activist Inalkis Rodriguez was detained and interrogated on Friday after posting on her Facebook account criticisms of the delay in the construction of a polyclinic in Najasa, Camagüey. Rodriguez, a 14ymedio collaborator, reported that the police erased all the photos from her digital camera and threatened her to not to continue with her work.

Rodriguez posted on social networks a text accompanied by several photographs in which she reported that after 15 years of beginning the project, the local polyclinic still was not open and working. Following the publication of her criticism, the president of the government in Najasa, Kenia Marrero, said that the project would be inaugurated within a short period of time, a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. continue reading

At the time of arrest, Rodriguez was taking new pictures on the unfinished work and was intercepted by the official Miguel Fal, who took her to the Najasa police station. Once she was detained, the officers erased all the photos on her camera’s memory.

Before releasing her, the police insisted that Rodriguez sign warning notice that the activist refused to initial. They also questioned her about doing the work of a journalist without having a degree in journalism, an observation Rodriguez responded to by saying that her profession was “veterinarian” but reaffirming her right to criticize because she considers herself a “free” person.

Rodriguez has reported in recent years on the environmental damage suffered in the Camagüey area, particularly deforestation in the Sierra de Cubitas. Many of her texts, published on the Origins blog of this newspaper, denounce the involvement of forest wardens and government officials in the plunder of forest resources and wildlife in the region.

Tiananmen Square, Shared Silence / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez

Tiananmen Square in China was the scene of protests calling for more openness in 1989

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 4 June 2016 – Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution shows its loyalty to its friends in many ways. One of them is complicit silence. When the Tlateloico Massacre happened in 1968, Fidel Castro did not condemn it because his ally, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, ruled Mexico at the time. Something similar happened with the events in Tiananmen Square in China, still absent to this day in Cuba’s official press and discourse.

It has been 27 years since thousands of students demonstrating peacefully in Beijing to demand democratic reforms were forcibly evicted from the square. The turning point of these protests was on June 4, when the army cracked down violently to those gathered at the square, leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured. This coming October, the last known prisoner of those who were arrested during those riots, Miao Deshun, is expected to be released. continue reading

Along with the more than one thousand detainees who were sentenced to harsh penalties for showing their desire for change, China sent many other protesters to forced labor camps to be re-educated. Since then, significant resources and millions of hours of propaganda have been dumped on society, to suppress the idea of rebellion and stifle memories.

Recently, several activists who were trying to evoke the date have been detained by the government or prevented from leaving their homes to pay tribute to the victims. The gag-rule extends to virtual space, where China’s internet police have skillfully managed to erase many of the references to the events of Tiananmen Square.

However, despite the fact that in June 1989 the foreign press had been expelled from the area and the government restricted coverage of events, an iconic image was imprinted on the retina of humanity. A defenseless man with a bag, standing in front of a military tank, showed the absolute fragility of citizens under a totalitarian power.

That picture has never been reproduced in any Cuban media managed by the Communist Party. Thus the island’s authorities have joined in the attempt to erase history, vigorously led by their Chinese comrades. They are complicit in the attempt to create a hole in the past.

Today, along with China’s booming economy and environmental problems, there is a country where it is not permitted to speak publicly about its history. A nation that has been offered an unequal economic well-being in exchange for its conscience, but where, also, many have not accepted the deal. They are the ones who remeber that young man who was going to the market when his luck changed forever.

In the case of Cuba, the effort to force amnesia does not begin and end with the tragedy that took place in that vast and distant square. Cuba’s official media once hid from us the fall of the Berlin Wall, denied the Chernobyl accident for weeks, and “made itself scarce” in the face of Nicolae Ceausescu’s crimes.

The loyalty of the Plaza of the Revolution toward its ideological comrades includes the ignoble task of accompanying them in altering the figures, hiding the news, and burying the dead in silence.

Raul Castro, Continent’s Oldest Ruler, Turns 85 / 14ymedio

Raul Castro, president of Cuba and first secretary of the Communist Party, was born in 1931. (EFE)

14ymedio, 3 June 2016 — Raul Castro will celebrate his 85th birthday on Friday without anyone overshadowing him as the oldest president across the entire continent. Jose Mujica, who left the presidency of Uruguay shortly before turning 80, has been the only one able to come close to the Cuban president and various Peruvian media have highlighted recently the possibility of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s election as president in Sunday’s elections; at 77 he would become the oldest-ever president of that country. Unlike Cuba’s general-president, these other two were elected in democratic and multiparty systems. continue reading

Raul Castro would not be a rara avis in Africa or Asia, continents where the preponderance of absolute monarchies and dictatorships allows heads of state to reach surprising ages. This is the case of Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe who, at 92, remains in office. This patriarch of the international leaders came to power in 1987, when he was considered an anti-colonial hero who made an essential contribution to the independence of his country (in 1980) and was elevated first as prime minister and then as president. Over the years, accusations of clinging to power through electoral fraud and repression against his opponents (he is accused of genocide) have undermined the credibility of this old man who is the sole ruler in the world over 90.

He is followed at a short distance by a group of leaders who are tied at 88-years-old Among these is Kim Yong-Nam, chief of state for North Korea since 1998, with the job of president of the Supreme People’s Assembly, although in his case the leadership is relative, considering the Supreme Leader, Kim Yong-un. Also in this group are two kings of Asian countries with very different paths. Bhumibol Adulyadej has been the king of Thailand since 1946. His reign, which has lasted 69 years, is the longest in all of history and the world. However Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, king of Malaysia only since 2011, acceded to office at a staggering 84 years of age and is now 88.

Only one head of state in the Western Hemisphere is older than Raul Castro, Queen Elizabeth II who turned 90 in April. The Queen of England is a figure with notable constitutional and religious powers (she is head of the Anglican Church), and also serves as a symbol of cohesion of the United Kingdom and is an international ambassador for her country. However, national and international politics are governed by Parliament and the elected Government, leaving, in practice, symbolic functions for the Crown.

Except for the striking case of Mugabe, being in the 90s puts an end, one way or another, to the desire for leadership. Simon Peres, twice prime minister and president of the State of Israel from 2007 to 2014, left office when he was a month short of 91. Something similar happened with Giorgio Napolitano, president of Italy who left the post in 2015 just short of 90, after nine years as head of state and for health reasons. Other long mandates that came to an end only by the relentlessness of biology were that of President of Ethiopia, Girma Wolde-Giorgis, who died in office at age 91, and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died at 90, in January 2015.

Leaders of Cubans in Colombia Deported / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

Nelson-Maidelin-Hernandez-Colombia-Ecuador_CYMIMA20160531_0028_16 — Nelson March and his wife, Maidelin Hernandez, who documented the situation of Cubans in Turbo (Colombia) were deported to Ecuador on Tuesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 31 May 2016 – Colombian immigration officials arrested Maidelin Hernandez and her husband, Nelson March on Monday night; the couple documented the daily situation of hundreds of Cubans who are stranded in a shelter in the Colombian city of Turbo.

The couple was reportedly deported to Ecuador, according to William Gonzalez de la Hoz, Ombudsman, despite the fact that Hernandez has cancer and wants to reach the United States so that his family can pay for treatment.

“This is a sign. Slowly they continue to deport small groups so as not to cause a scandal,” said a Colombian official who requested anonymity. continue reading

Turbo’s mayor, Alejandro Abuchar, confirmed that the Cubans had been arrested, but the mayor says he has no tied to the Colombian immigration authorities. “We continue making every effort for migrants, trying to ensure that their rights as human beings are respected,” said the mayor.

The deportation of this couple happens after last Sunday’s repatriation to to Cuba of an undocumented immigrant couple, who were arrested near Medellin.

“That was very unjust, we are all in the shelter or homes, according to what each person is able to pay, but we thought they would make a collective decision. Now we see that is not the case,” said Aylin Gari Cruz, an activist in the Republican Party Cuba currently in Turbo.

The process of detention occurred when the couple left the hostel where more than a hundred Cubans are sleeping in this Caribbean city. According to statements by the Hernandez himself, he was brought down by an official of Colombia Migration while trying to find medication to alleviate the pain of his illness. After a quick scuffle, they were arrested and forbidden to communicate with family and friends, and one of their cell phones was confiscated.

Hernandez managed to hide his cellphone in his underwear and from the immigration office sent brief messages to the press on the situation they found themselves in.

In documents shared with this newspaper by Turbo’s Municipal Ombudsman Office, the migrants refused to give their names and, on being considered “undocumented,” the deportation process began.

When Will the Government of Cuba Have Normal Relations With the Cuban People? / 14ymedio, Henry Constantin

14ymedio, Henry Constantin, New York, 31 May 2016 — This video is mute. Like Josefina Vidal, an official from Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Relations (MINREX), and José Ramón Cabañas, Cuba’s ambassador to the United States, when I asked them questions that they did not expect, after their lecture on “normalization” at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) held in New York a few days ago:

Most Cubans believe that the real blockade is what “those up above” in Cuba maintain against the initiatives of the rest of us.
The normalization between Cuba and the United States is well advanced: Cubans receive with joy both the United States president as well as the simple tourist from the north. And they have privileged status when they arrive on the northern soil.
We Cubans want not only tourism or entertainment from the United States, but also to be its counterpart in politics, business, media, academics…
The biggest obstacle to normalization is that put in place by the Cuban government.
This occurs because the Cuban government does not have normal relations with its own people, neither asks nor listens to them, on this or any other subject.
And, finally: When will Government of Cuba have normal relations with the Cuban people?

They did not respond. They don’t know how. The “abnormal” is in effect.

At the end of the video I am standing against the conference room wall but content, because it is they who will be against the wall of the future, the day that more Cubans are encouraged to question them. And demand from them.

Villa Clara Sugar Harvest Will Be Much Less Than In 2015 / 14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenechea

The sugar harvest in Villa Clara will not reach 2016 levels (CC)

14ymedio, Jose Gabriel Barrenchea, Santa Clara, 29 May 2016 — With the shutdown of seven of its nine active sites, the 2016 sugar harvest is nearly complete in Villa Clara. It has emerged that the province that currently produces the most sugar in the country has fallen far short of the 250,000 metric tons programmed: as of last Thursday only 180,000 metric tons have been produced, well below the previous harvest.

Only two centers are still milling, Hector Rodriguez of Sagua la Grande, and Panchito of Quemado de Guines. With expected quantities of 36,200 and 39,700 metric tons, respectively, only these plants now have a chance, however remote, of meeting their planned targets. It is very unlikely that the province will reach the 190,000 metric tons proposed by the first secretary of the Communist Party in the region and, in any case, that result would only represent a fulfillment of 76% of its sugar plan. continue reading

Among the causes of this marked decline are the late delivery of the assurances needed to start up the plants, but especially the very low agricultural yields and scant maturity of the reeds. This latter, by the way, is a result of last season’s cutting ahead of time much of the cane that would have reached its full development only this year, as a result of last year’s government stubbornness to meet that year’s plans, whatever it took.

The cane cutters are saying that this year they have cut fields that are yielding less than 30,000 arrobas (a measure of weight that varies by country; in Cuba it is 25 pounds) per caballeria (about 33 acres). In addition, the small size of many fields and their less than optimal location prevents a rational distribution of the cutters and resources needed to transport the cane to the mills, which is also taking a toll on the season.

The provincial authorities have insisted, however, that this disastrous season is the fault of the rains, a statement completely at odds with their frequent pronouncements that the province is experiencing a drought. But in Villa Clara, it seems, it is a question of drought when they are talking about aqueducts, and of rains when they are talking about sugar harvests.

Colombia Repatriates Undocumented Cuban Couple Who Arrived From Ecuador / 14ymedio, Mario Penton

Two migrants were repatriated to Cuba on Sunday from Colombia (courtesy)

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 29 May 2016 – A Cuban couple who arrived from Ecuador, were repatriated to the island by the Colombian authorities this Sunday, after being detained in the center of the country without proper documentation.

Leira Valle Piedra and Yoandy Boza Canal, ages 19 and 23 respectively, entered Colombia through its border with Ecuador with the intention of joining the Cubans who are in the town of Turbo, in Antioquia Department, but they were discovered two hours from Medellin and transferred to Pereira, where they were informed they would be returned to Cuba. continue reading

“They told us it will be the same for all Cubans who are in Colombia without a visa,” Leira Valle told 14ymedio. She said that they decided to cross into Colombia with the aim of continuing the journey to the United States, where they have family. “They refused to renew my husband’s visa in Ecuador so we had to leave there,” she said.

The deportation to Cuba happened after Colombia Migration issued a statement on 25 May in which it expressed that the new measures that the country was taking in the face of human trafficking are beginning to show good results.

The new actions consist of an increase in checkpoints both along highways and at border points. The authorities referred to the new irregular migration routes they detected in the departments of Nariño, Huila and Amazonas.

The communiqué also said that more than 150 migrants were deported in recent days to their countries of origin or to the location where they had entered Colombia.

With regards to hundreds of Cubans who are being housed in a warehouse in Turbo the text was categorical: “Colombia Migration and the National Government will not facilitate any aircraft to transport them to a different place that is not the border where they entered Colombia or their place of origin. To do otherwise would be contributing to the criminal bands of human traffickers.

In 2016 alone, the town of Turbo has discovered more then 3,700 irregular migrants. Most of them obtained a safe conduct giving them 10 days to pass through the country but, after the closing of the border with Panama to the avalanche of Cubans and migrants from other continents, the Colombian government has decided to deport the undocumented to their countries in origin.

In response to the request for information on the case, the communications office of Migration Colombia told this newspaper that, due to the internal policies that manage the institution, they can not address the issue only from the Cuban problem, “every time, for the Colombian state these people are victims of migrant trafficking networks and we would be ‘revictimizing’ them.”

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