Darío Hernández – Page 3 – Translating Cuba

A Heavy Police Presence and Closed Businesses Surround the Courthouse Where Alejandro Gil Is Being Tried

The regime is deploying surveillance not only in Marianao, where the hearing is taking place, but also at the main headquarters of the Supreme People’s Court in Old Havana.

International press gathered outside the trial of Alejandro Gil this Tuesday in Marianao. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández/Yaiza Santos, Havana/Madrid, November 11, 2025 — The area surrounding the People’s Civil and Family Court of Marianao, in Havana, was heavily guarded this Tuesday morning, but with a visible presence of the international press. The trial of Alejandro Gil Fernández, the highest-ranking official prosecuted by the Cuban justice system in recent decades, is taking place there, starting at 9:30 a.m. Gil Fernández is a former Minister of Economy, former Deputy Prime Minister, and for years the right-hand man of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

The only relative of the former official allowed entry, according to a source close to the case who requested anonymity, is his son, Alejandro Gil González. The hearing will continue tomorrow.

“I saw a lot of photographers and a pile of cars when I took my son to school early this morning,” Susana, a resident of the area, located at 100th Street and 33rd Avenue, told 14ymedio. At that time, traffic was not yet blocked, unlike during the court hearing. Shops and businesses of all kinds were also closed, and dozens of State Security agents in civilian clothes could be seen scattered around the street corners, as 14ymedio confirmed.

The People’s Civil and Family Court of Marianao, in Havana, where the trial of former minister Alejandro Gil is taking place this Tuesday. / 14ymedio

The same thing was happening in the streets adjacent to the Supreme People’s Court in Old Havana, the body that issued the statement on Monday announcing today’s trial time. On every corner near Aguiar Street, between Obrapía and Obispo, State Security agents, “disguised” in civilian clothes and working in pairs, were stationed, intently watching everyone who walked by, even for just a few seconds. “I don’t know why they’re wasting so many resources, if the trial is happening somewhere else,” a witness to the operation said ironically. continue reading

This Monday, without prior notification to Gil’s family, the midday news broadcast the TPS statement announcing that the oral hearing against the former minister would take place less than 24 hours later. The hearing, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. this Tuesday, would be conducted by the State Security Crimes Chamber, although neither the court that would try him, nor the address, nor the charges to be addressed were provided.

The accused’s sister, María Victoria Gil Fernández, told 14ymedio that the process would take place in two separate trials, and that today would be the one that includes the espionage charge, for which the Prosecutor’s Office is asking for 30 years in prison.

Police operation outside the courthouse where Alejandro Gil is being tried. / 14ymedio

According to the Supreme Court’s statement, the trial would be held behind closed doors for “national security reasons,” citing Articles 153 of the Constitution and 477.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law. Only “the parties and persons authorized by the court” would have access, the statement continued, the news anchor read almost without looking up from the page. This decision confirmed the opacity with which the government has handled the case since the minister’s dismissal in February 2024, and effectively canceled the request made on social media by Gil’s daughter, Laura María, for a fair, public, and transparent trial with media presence.

The court’s decision overturns the young woman’s demand, made on social media , for a transparent and public trial, so that the public could directly learn the arguments, evidence, and details about her father’s alleged crimes. “If they are so sure of their case, why hide it?” Laura María Gil questioned, demanding a process that goes beyond official statements and controlled leaks.

Surveillance operation on Aguiar Street in Old Havana this Tuesday. / 14ymedio

According to a source familiar with the case, who requested anonymity for security reasons, the case against the former Minister of Economy and Finance involves some twenty other defendants, including “a member of the National Assembly of People’s Power and a secretary of the Communist Party.” “The request for him is 30 years, while all the others face minimum sentences of 15 years,” the same source told 14ymedio, while specifying Gil’s whereabouts, which had not been made public since his arrest in March 2024: the maximum-security prison of Guanajay, Artemisa, “under a regime against state security.”

The defendants, he continued, number 15, “plus another five or six who were released on bail.” He asserted that “the names of some of them are not being released; they are under strict secrecy, which implies that they could be military personnel or high-ranking officials.”

Alejandro Gil Fernández is being defended by the lawyer Abel Solá López , who has extensive experience in trials related to state security. One such case was the 2017 trial that sentenced Alina López Miyares and her husband, Félix Martín Milanés Fajardo, to 13 and 17 years in prison, respectively, for espionage. That trial, held on October 2nd in the Marianao Military Court’s Justice Room, was also closed to the public and “without access for the defendants’ families.”

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“The Dollar Has Been Falling for a Week and Nobody Wants To Buy Any From Me” a Cuban Business Owner Complains

Private businesses lost money by buying things from private wholesale companies when the currency rose from 450 pesos to 490 pesos, before falling to 410 pesos.

“The speed of the fall was alarming and unusual. It’s not good for business right now.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, 6 November 2025 — The sudden fall of the dollar on the Cuban black market has put several private businesses and resellers in a tight spot, forcing them to readjust prices and purchasing strategies. Until a few days ago, the US currency was hovering around 500 pesos, but 6 November saw it at 410, a collapse that few had expected.

Alain, 37, owner of a small market in Guanabacoa, Havana, says that in recent days “people have been coming to sell dollars non-stop”. “I do sell in that currency, because that’s how I pay wholesalers who only accept foreign currency. This week I bought a sack of powdered milk and several bales of rice that way, no problem. They sell and buy in dollars, they don’t care,” he explains.

Everyone knows it’s illegal to sell in dollars, and things are not priced in that currency, but in pesos. In small businesses in Guanabacoa, most transactions are made in CUP (Cuban pesos), but many customers also use the small businesses as Cadeca (exchange bureaux) for small amounts, usually 10-dollar bills.

The currency’s rapid fall has left small businesses in a very difficult position: “The speed of the fall is alarming and unusual. There is no business right now,” explains Alain.

In small businesses in Guanabacoa, most transactions are made in CUP, but many customers also use them as Cadeca. / 14ymedio

Yudith, who works for a foreign company, usually uses part of her salary in dollars to buy food in her neighbourhood. But this week, she says, it has been almost impossible to spend those dollar bills. “When the dollar drops a little, the buyers wait a few days for it to stabilise. But it’s been falling for a week and no one wants to buy them. If they accept them, it’s 15 or 20 pesos below what El Toque* publishes,” she complains. continue reading

Alain says that WhatsApp groups for suppliers and traders are full of messages against the independent media outlet that publishes daily currency exchange rates. “An image appeared with red letters saying ‘No to El Toque’, with the message: ‘share this, or we’ll all go bankrupt’. That was shared every day while the dollar rose to 490 pesos,” he says.

The shopkeeper recalls the anguish of that time: “I couldn’t buy oil, hot dogs, pasta or detergent because wholesalers were selling to me above the price cap. How was I supposed to resell that?”

It’s the same or worse with transfers: many suppliers simply don’t accept them. / 14ymedio

In a country where education has demonised market dynamics and the law of supply and demand for more than six decades, many people fall for the regime’s propaganda accusing El Toque of manipulating the exchange rate with its daily publications on the informal currency market. Several of those interviewed are calling for this type of information to stop being published, so that “the market can regulate itself and people can buy and sell without a reference point, so perhaps the dollar wouldn’t rise so much”.

Pedro, an independent trader with a shop near the traffic lights in Guanabacoa, is afraid he will lose thousands of pesos this week. “I buy on Mondays, just once. Everything I have, I bought when the dollar was at 450. I bought crates of beer at 200 pesos, and today the same suppliers have it at 180. Until I sell what I have, I can’t lower my prices. But customers don’t understand. It’s very difficult to run a business here. Every day something new happens and you have to run,” he complains.

To cut back his losses, Pedro decided to stop accepting payments in dollars, at least for now. “I don’t even want to see them this week,” he says with a sigh.

Meanwhile, MSMEs** operating as wholesalers continue to stick with the dollar. “The people who sell you products in boxes and containers only work with foreign currency,” says Alain. “It’s the self-employed workers and retail shops who are no longer accepting dollars, because it no longer makes any business sense for them to pay in dollars for things that wholesalers sell in local currency. The same, or worse, happens with transfers: many suppliers simply do not accept them, and you are left stuck with your money, and you don’t know what to do.”

Translator’s notes:

*El Toque is anindependent Cuban online news outlet, that publishes real market exchange rates

**Literally, “Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise.” The expectation is that it is also privately managed, but in Cuba this may include owners/managers who are connected to the government.

Translated by GH

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The ‘Virus That Is Going Around’ and Wreaking Havoc in Cuba Has No Name

The government speaks of a “controlled outbreak” while a doctor from Villa Clara explains that she is “very worried about this chikungunya situation”

14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, November 3, 2025 — In recent weeks, hospitals and clinics across Cuba have been filled with patients suffering from high fever, rashes, joint pain, and extreme fatigue. The lack of reagents in laboratories and the high number of patients who don’t even go to the hospital make it difficult to determine whether they have dengue, oropouche, chikungunya, Zika, or another arbovirus, all transmitted by mosquitoes.

Juan Carlos, a 38-year-old Havana resident, is still recovering from what he calls “the virus,” without knowing whether it is the dreaded chikungunya. “This week I went to a friend’s café several times. People were arriving looking like zombies, with red, swollen eyes. Several businesses in the area are closed because the workers got infected too. In Regla, it’s normal for an entire block to be infested,” he tells 14ymedio.

His account, filled with details about the aftereffects and daily challenges, reveals the rigors of convalescence. “First, I had mild muscle aches. That night I had a very high fever and chills. At dawn, my whole body was covered in a rash. By eleven in the morning, I couldn’t move from the bed. I developed sores in my mouth and my face peeled,” he says. “Moving caused me pain. Luckily, I had my girlfriend, who made me soup and gave me paracetamol. I thought about the people who have no one, because moving from one room to another was a feat.” continue reading

The official bulletins on the health situation are vague and very general.

“The saddest thing,” he adds, “is that nobody knows for sure what they have. Since there are no reagents for the tests in the hospitals, you assume you have one of the variants and simply call it ‘the virus.’ That’s how we live: diagnosing by guesswork.”

Official bulletins on the health situation are vague and very general. Press conferences at the Ministry of Public Health mention a resurgence of these illnesses, but updated figures and statistics are lacking. So far, only one number has been published: three deaths from dengue fever this year. But social media tells a different story: names, photos, and farewells from neighbors, doctors, and family members who have succumbed to what people call, with resignation and fear, “the virus that’s going around.”

Dr. Perla María Trujillo Pedroza, a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine at the Manuel Piti Fajardo Polyclinic in Santo Domingo (Villa Clara) with years of experience in provincial hospitals, decided to break her silence on her Facebook page . “I am very worried about this chikungunya situation,” she wrote, “I don’t know if it’s because I’m experiencing it firsthand or because this researcher’s insatiable spirit makes me see beyond what we can currently perceive.” Her post, shared hundreds of times, is a professional cry of alarm amidst a health crisis that the government prefers to call a “controlled outbreak.”

“If the first cases date back to July 2025, how is it possible that there still isn’t a clinical guideline for managing this disease?” the specialist asks. “Wake up. Cuban doctors are improvising as we go in treating chikungunya, especially in its subacute phase.” In her own hospital shift, she recounts, she treated 47 patients with symptoms consistent with the virus. “Of those, 34 had been sick for more than 15 days, and 28 were in the subacute stage. That’s 82%, well above what the literature reports.”

Her calculations—and the frankness with which she shares them—stand in stark contrast to the opacity and institutional triumphalism. Meanwhile, in the neighborhoods, testimonies are multiplying of people bedridden, unable to walk due to joint pain, or with peeling skin after several days of fever. “Why isn’t anyone talking about the implications of this developing into a chronic condition?” Trujillo insists. “This causes a severe, debilitating form of polyarthritis. What will become of this country’s already fragile economy when medical certificates or sick leave requests from workers who must care for their nearly incapacitated elderly relatives flood in?”

In the emergency room of the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, the scene is the same as Dr. Trujillo describes. Nieves, an oncology patient, went there last Friday seeking relief from unbearable joint pain. “They had nothing to soothe the pain, and the place was full of people with similar symptoms to mine, especially many elderly people,” she recounts. “After an hour in line and hearing everyone being told to ‘rest and drink plenty of fluids,’ I decided to go home.”

“Nobody gives you a clear answer, they don’t even know if this could complicate the treatment. They just tell you to rest.”

Nieves fears she won’t be able to attend her chemotherapy session this week. “I’m very weak. No one gives you a clear answer, they don’t even know if this could complicate the treatment. They just tell you to rest.” In several Havana hospitals—according to medical sources consulted by this newspaper—the same scene is repeated: overcrowded wards, doctors without specific medications, and reports of cases with prolonged aftereffects.

“I’ve had the symptoms for a month now, and I’m using my body as a guinea pig,” confessed Dr. Trujillo. “I can’t just let myself die from the pain; many people depend on me. If I get positive results, I’ll let you know.” In another era, such a voice would have been attacked by the official medical establishment. Today, her colleagues respond with encouraging emojis and expressions of gratitude in the comments.

Partial data obtained by specialists within the health system itself indicate that the incidence of arboviruses in Havana and Santiago de Cuba has doubled since July. In the capital alone, the Calixto García, Freyre de Andrade (Emergency) hospitals and the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) account for the majority of admissions, but confirmatory tests are rarely performed.

Chikungunya, a name that in the Makonde language of Africa means “to become contorted with pain” (referring to the severe joint pain caused by the disease), arrived in Cuba in 2014. It is transmitted by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue and Zika, which thrives in untreated yards, uncovered water tanks, and flooded neighborhoods. The rains from Hurricane Melissa and the lack of sanitation could further increase the insect’s presence, especially in the eastern part of the island.

On the news, the advice to boil water and use mosquito nets is repeated, but there’s no mention of the overcrowded hospitals, the sick leave, or the patients who haven’t been able to walk for weeks. Meanwhile, in the halls of the Calixto Hospital, on the streets of Regla, or on Facebook walls, the entire country continues coughing, trembling, and asking itself, without an answer: what is the real name of the disease that has us like this?

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The Butterfly Returns: Promises, Ruins and Nostalgia in Havana’s Lenin Park

After years of neglect, the recreation center is trying to attract visitors with ranch-style huts, horses, and soft drinks.

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, 27 July 2025 (delayed translation) — After several years of abandonment, Mariposa Park, one of the most emblematic areas of Lenin Park in Havana, seems to want to take flight again. Although the official reopening has not been announced, there is already a mixture of work, improvisation and distant memories on the ground.

“What they are doing for now is fixing the open-air eateries and other things like that to inaugurate the park again,” says a worker at the site, while pointing to a couple of freshly painted wooden structures. “Inside they are fixing the equipment for the holidays. They have already made enough progress,” he adds.

The image offered today by Mariposa Park is far from the hive of children’s laughter and endless queues of yesteryear. Apparatus covered by bushes, children’s figures corroded by the weather and roller coasters frozen in time draw a scene that is more reminiscent of a ghost town than a recreational center. Every now and then you remember a device that was set up in your childhood and you get a little nostalgic.

The image offered today by Mariposa Park is a far cry from the hive of children’s laughter and endless queues of yesteryear. / 14ymedio

At the side entrance – through which it is possible to sneak without great effort due to the absence of fences – you are greeted by a lackluster version of Captain Plin and Elpidio Valdés. Behind, the immense metallic star that once rotated luminous now remains motionless, rusty, without seats, a symbol of deterioration. continue reading

One of the few elements in the park that shows some life is the modest kiosk that offers jams, beers and soft drinks. “They treat you quite well,” admits a regular visitor. Even so, some employees consulted are skeptical about the alleged arrangement of the rides. “There is nothing new here. Go to Expocuba if you want to see something, there at least they are setting up playthings for the children,” said a clerk between resignation and incredulity.

In the surroundings of the park, other spaces reveal the same pattern of abandonment. Behind the area known as “the head-and-headless riders,” an ancient Chinese restaurant called El Dragon [The Dragon] survives without offering Asian food, but beer and the occasional quick meal. Later, La Parrillada and other eateries that once functioned as restaurants and cafes, are now ruins covered in rubble.

In the park’s surroundings, other areas reveal the same pattern of neglect. / 14ymedio

The bamboo forest, which used to be a magical place to hide or simply stroll, has been partially cleared out, leaving behind a picture of toppled logs and bare clearings. Silence prevails, barely interrupted by the birds or the constant buzzing of cicadas.

In the midst of this desolate landscape, the attempt to revive the space manifests itself in small details. A few children’s playthings have been installed on the outskirts of the Mariposa and eateries are being rehabilitated where families can sit down to eat. “Every weekend that passes a few more people come,” says an optimistic worker.

The horseback riding business, which has also suffered the consequences of the tourist decline, is trying to stay afloat. “We are doing well, but it has to comply with regulations. We have a contract with the head of the park, because the police require papers,” explains one of the drivers.

The Butterfly Returns: Promises, Ruins and Nostalgia in Havana’s Lenin Park

Only a few horses are available and those who rent them out must compete with their memories of a tourism that was once much more dynamic. “Now there are hardly any tourists and it is difficult to find someone out there,” laments one of the people who give rides.

Among those who offer the rides are minors, some as young as 10 or 12 years old. “There are few of us because we are the only legal ones,” clarifies the caretaker of one of the animals, while trying to convince a family to dare to ride.

The attempt to reactivate Mariposa Park parallels the state of the faded memory of the rest of Lenin Park. Its green areas continue to attract families who improvise picnics, fly kites or play soccer among the palms. In the Palace of the Pioneers, the open bars and the absence of guards turn the place into another symbol of institutional abandonment.

The horseback riding business, which has also suffered the consequences of the tourist decline, is trying to stay afloat. / 14ymedio

The new director of the Mariposa park has guaranteed certain improvements, say workers at the site. “This has been allowed to decay here because of several previous administrations. But this director has done a lot. This was abandoned, with stagnant water that rusted the devices,” recalls an employee.

“When this was working, it was good,” says one custodian wistfully. Meanwhile, two of his colleagues interrupt the conversation to ask a group of visitors to leave the area of the devices, with such moderate firmness that it suggests that they are exercising a learned routine rather than authority.

Translated by: Hombre de Paz

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“For Spanish Nationality, If You Don’t Do It Today, It All Ends” Announces the Embassy in Havana

On the last day to apply for the Democratic Memory Law, an official counseled the unsuspecting in front of the Embassy in Havana

Lines at the Spanish Embassy in Havana, this Wednesday October 22. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, October 22, 2025 — In front of a frantic crowd divided into several lines, the custodian at the Spanish Embassy in Havana kept repeating this Wednesday that it was the last day to apply for Spanish citizenship through the Democratic Memory Law (LMD). “For Spanish nationality, if you don’t do it today, it all ends,” he warned, waving his hands decisively.

The man patiently explained to the clueless that they should consult, on the Embassy’s website, the section corresponding to the rule for making the request. “Forget about your brother, this or that other person,” he urged them. Just follow the instructions, “or you won’t be able to do it.” The questions showed how, almost three years after the law came into force and hours before the deadline for accepting applications, there are still doubts among Cubans.

One of the concerns raised by those inquiring was related to the waiting time before being called upon to review documents and continue with the process once the request has been made and the file number has been received by e-mail. As this newspaper was reminded by sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, processing all of them “could take years.”

As this newspaper was reminded by sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, processing all of them “could take years”

Published in October 2022, the LMD offered, in principle, the possibility of obtaining Spanish nationality for descendants of Spaniards exiled by the civil war and Francoism, to those born of Spaniards who had lost their nationality by marrying foreigners continue reading

before the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution, and for the adult children of those who had acquired it under the previous grandchild law – the Historical Memory Act of 2007 – but who had remained excluded because they were over 18 years old.

However, the instructions for applying, published a few days later in order to remove “any questions that may be raised by the Officers of the Spanish Civil Registry Offices as to the scope and interpretation of this eighth additional provision,” were interpreted to mean that not only the descendants of exiles from the civil war could be eligible but also all those “born outside Spain to originally Spanish parents or grandparents.” This led to a huge volume of applications, especially from Cuba, the second largest number of requests after Argentina.

Spanish Foreign Ministry sources told 14ymedio that up to the beginning of October, there were about 400,000 requests for the LMD in Havana, and every day they estimated they were receiving between 5,000 and 6,000 more, so they expected to reach 500,000 requests or even exceed this number.

One of the lines in front of the Embassy was exclusively for questions. / 14ymedio

For all countries, by the end of July, 876,321 people had made the request; 414,652 have now been approved, and 237,145 have obtained passports.

“We are not interested in your problems; what interests us is that you enter the system before the deadline expires,” said the custodian to those who were waiting in a line that was exclusively for questions.

In another line, people were coming and going, running, trying to resolve a needed copy or some forgotten document.

Many Cubans have criticized the “chaos” they found at the Spanish diplomatic headquarters for the LMD procedures. Asked about it during an official visit to Chile and Argentina, the Spanish minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, revealed that in Havana there had been difficulties in speeding up the process. “We have tried to set up mobile offices but it’s complicated,” said Torres, referring specifically to Cuba and Venezuela.

In line this Wednesday, a man from Havana who hoped to enter to legalize and deliver documents for several relatives, was denied: “This is the only well-organized line in all of Cuba”

The Spanish Embassy in Havana, on the last day to apply for citizenship with the LMD / 14ymedio

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Mural Against Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Was Painted on a Wall in Guanabacoa

“It’s very tense here with the blackouts. I’m sure they painted it in the dark because we haven’t slept for two nights due to the power outage,” explains a neighbor.

The slogan was written on colorful drawings curated by the Corral Falso Gallery, located at 259 Corral Falso Street. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, 4 October 2025 — A graffiti with marine motifs became the improvised canvas on which a poster against the Cuban leader appeared this Saturday. In Guanabacoa, Havana, someone painted “Díaz-Canel singao” [motherfucker], one of the phrases most frequently used to express Cuban discontent. The slogan was written on colorful drawings curated by the Corral Falso Gallery, located at 259 Corral Falso Street. Among fish, octopuses, and reefs, the insult to the Cuban president stood out in the eyes of passersby..

“That childish painting hadn’t even been on that wall, which was once ugly and faded,” a neighbor told 14ymedio. “As soon as we noticed, a man and a woman arrived and started making calls to someone to come and cover up the sign.” The two people inspected the area and stayed on the sidewalk waiting for the brigade, which traditionally paints over anti-government signs. Police experts will probably also arrive to try to take fingerprints at the scene.

“It’s very tense here with the blackouts. I’m sure they painted it in the dark because we haven’t slept for two nights due to the power outage,” explains a nearby resident. In Guanabacoa, a municipality with a low-income population, protests against the lack of electricity and water have multiplied in recent years. With pot-banging and street closures, residents have expressed their weariness with a crisis that worsens every day. “They’re going to have to put a guard on every wall,” summarizes a vendor who approached the Corral Falso graffiti, where, between a whale and a shark, three words challenged the regime this Saturday.

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The Havana Night Is Filled With ‘Cacerolazos’ Because of the Blackouts

The energy crisis that afflicts the Island comes to the surrounding areas of the Casino Deportivo, where villas with gardens are plentiful

The areas surroundings the Casino Deportivo, in the municipality of Cerro, Havana, this Monday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Darío Hernández, September 30, 2025 — The areas surrounding the Casino Deportivo, in the municipality of Cerro, were pitch black on Monday night. Dark, but not at all silent. In streets like Primelles and Santa Catalina the cacerolazos (street demonstrations with people banging on pots) were forceful. “The schedule isn’t working; people can’t sleep,” a neighbor reports to this newspaper, saying that in recent days they have had 12 hours of blackout daily.

Yesterday, the Havana Electric Company reported that a break in two circuits lefts some substations in operable: Melones and Tallapiedra, in addition to the only Turkish patana (floating power plant) that remains in Havana, in Regla. Old Havana, Centro Habana and part of San Miguel del Padrón and Diez de Octubre were left without light. On Tuesday morning, the State-owned company announced that six blocks in the capital were “affected” and “the schedule could not be met.”

According to today’s report from the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE), an allocation of 1,798 megawatts (MW) was reached on Monday at peak demand time. On Tuesday it is expected to be even worse. For peak time, the estimated demand is 3,550 MW and and the estimated availability is 1,780 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,770 MW. The actual impact, however, is estimated at 1,840 MW.

“Now everyone is banging on a pot, something that was unthinkable a year ago”

Although what Havana experiences is far from the power cuts of the provinces, where blackouts have lasted 26 hours in recent weeks, its residents are becoming fed up. “Now everyone is banging on a pot, something that was unthinkable a year ago,” says a resident of the Casino Deportivo neighborhood. continue reading

The neighborhood, with an image of a well-to-do area in Havana where families with better economic status live, used to appear in the classified ads for homes as an area where “the lights stay on.” However, the energy crisis that afflicts the Island has also knocked on the door of the villas with gardens and spacious salons that abound in its perimeter.

Arbitrary prison sentences for some of those who have gone out to protest the energy crisis by beating on pots are an effective deterrent, but the mood is getting angrier. This Monday, despair, mainly due to the lack of water but also of light, led a group of mothers to close Monte street with their children in their arms, hoisting empty buckets.

Police officers tried to break up the protest by shoving and cursing, although moments later a water truck appeared on the scene, guarded by a patrol car, to appease the crowd.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban Police Close La Cuevita, Vendors and Customers Reopen It

At this mecca of popular commerce in Havana, you can find everything, including the buying and selling of dollars.

The vendors relocated to nearby streets and in the doorways of neighboring houses. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, 26 September 2025 — “Water!” was heard with unusual frequency this Wednesday at La Cuevita, among a crowd of self-employed workers, clandestine vendors, and desperate customers. It wasn’t a shout announcing drinks or a storm warning, but rather the code word used all over Cuba to let people know that the police are on the move. Authorities, who usually turn a blind eye to irregularities in these spaces, decided this time to close the place for a month. The official reason: “to carry out repairs,” some residents told this newspaper.

La Cuevita is the mecca of popular commerce in San Miguel del Padrón, Havana. There, you can find everything from food, hygiene products, clothing, and household appliances to toys, medicines, and currency exchange. Merchandise arrives via a variety of channels, including mules, middlemen, or diversions from state channels, generating income for both self-employed workers and those operating without a license.

So, despite the closure order, few people were willing to leave. Vendors relocated to nearby streets and in the doorways of neighboring houses.

So, despite the closure order, few people were willing to leave. The vendors relocated to nearby streets and the doorways of neighboring houses. “We need to eat,” exclaimed an undocumented vendor as she hurriedly gathered her wares as the uniformed officers passed by. Minutes later, she set up her stall again in the same place.

The history of La Cuevita dates back to the Special Period and has been strengthened by the economic reforms of recent years. It emerged as a response to chronic shortages and the need to obtain goods in foreign currency, and so became a crucial supply point for Havana residents and buyers from other provinces.

This Wednesday, however, the place looked more chaotic than ever. Stalls crowded in front of homes, food vendors stood right next to stinking garbage dumps, open sacks of rice mingled with the mud, and a chorus of shouts from anxiousv endors
continue reading

This Wednesday, La Cuevita looked more chaotic than ever. / 14ymedio

The closure coincides with the 4th National Crime Prevention and Response Exercise, which includes patrols, “prophylactic” meetings with so-called “potential offenders,” and social control measures. In addition to the police, students, workers, and Party activists are participating. Previous exercises have not restored order to the streets, but they have swelled the state coffers with money from fines and confiscations.

“There aren’t enough police to get so many people out,” said a vender selling stockings and underwear, who ran for cover upon hearing the alarm. Minutes later, seeing the officer riding away on his motorcycle, he returned to his stall and added: “This is what the town lives on; they can’t close it down.”

Some call these informal markets that exist throughout the island “candonga,” a term that came from Angola with the Cubans who went to war in the 1970s and 1980s. But today’s battle is different: putting food on the table, shoes on children’s feet, and earning enough money to survive for a month, something no state salary guarantees.

The police close La Cuevita, but vendors and customers reopen it.

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Powerful Generators Guarantee Silvio Rodríguez’s Concert has Electricity

In the midst of blackouts affecting the entire country, the artist will have his island of light tonight at the University of Havana

Cuba expects a deficit of 1,760 megawatts today. / 14ymedio

Havana, Darío Hernández, September 19, 2025 — Two red mastodons stand out in front of the University of Havana this Friday. Although the stage for the concert that Silvio Rodríguez will offer tonight is visually more striking, passers-by only have eyes for the generators that will prevent the show from being interrupted due to the lack of electricity. With a greedy look, some with gestures of bewilderment, others with resignation, and the great majority, those who approach, cannot help but say something about the robust power plants.

“This is so you can see the blue color of the unicorn,” said a woman with a bag of groceries who crossed the street just to read the signs on the devices. “Geysel, 30 years of putting energy in your hands,” stands out in a poster on the generators, which are remarkably well-kept compared to the rust-eaten and often broken devices that you see outside some polyclinics and public offices. “It seems that these are the ones they have for political events,” pointed out a woman who joined the visual inspection.

The singer-songwriter claims he chose the place because he recently saw “very positive attitudes” among the students. / 14ymedio

In a city that since last week has suffered the longest blackouts, when the national energy system collapsed and left the entire nation in darkness, a generator sets off a frenzy of desire. “With one of those I could sleep several full nights without having to scare off the mosquitoes,” speculated a young man who, laughing, agreed to meet up with his friends later to try to get continue reading

into the performance. A few meters away, most of the lights, scaffolding and sound equipment were now placed at the foot of the wide staircase of La Colina.

Rodriguez started to sing amidst the glow of lamps that are a strong symbolic charge in a country where even baseball games must be suspended for lack of power. Cuba expects a deficit of 1,760 megawatts today, so it is unlikely that El Vedado and the surroundings of the concert will not be affected. “If the light goes off I’ll come here,” said an elderly woman who was waiting for the bus a few meters away.

The singer-songwriter says he chose the place because he recently saw “very positive attitudes” among students of the Federación Estudiantil Universitaria in their protest against the increase in State telecommunications company Etecsa’s massive rate increased, known as the tarifazo. But his intention to approach the younger generations, consumers of other musical styles away from the New Trova, could include a very contradictory message. Used to doing their homework by the light of a candle while fanning themselves in the heat, these boys will see before them a display of lights and generators that only the powerful can enjoy in Cuba. The composer of Ojalá will create an island of electricity within the Island of shadows.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Guanabacoa, Land of Rivers and Hills, Is Running Out of Water

In Centro Habana, neighbors use buckets to block Reina Street in protest at the lack of supply.

La Loma de Corrales, Corrales Hill, which gives its name to the street, is an insurmountable obstacle for the old water pipes that have little pressure. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, August 20, 2025 — Guanabacoa evokes the orishas, Catholic processions and water, a lot of water, as reflected by the Taína word that gave it its name: land of rivers and hills. Although its springs remain part of the collective and religious imagination, dry water pipes are changing the way many residents perceive one of the most dilapidated municipalities in the Cuban capital.

“Here in my house we are lucky because the water sometimes arrives, but it’s been months since that block has had it,” says Carmita, a neighbor who lives a few meters from Calle Corrales, epicenter of the most serious supply problems in the area. “People have to come here to fill their buckets,” she says, adding “not that much comes in, you have to have a pump to get it out.”

La Loma de Corrales — Corrals Hill — which gives name to the street, is an insurmountable obstacle for the old water pipes that have little pressure. To the law of gravity are added problems with the electricity supply, the poor state of the pumping equipment in the aqueducts and, especially, the chaotic handling of the valves that allow water to reach the neighborhood.

“This problem has been going on for over 20 years, but it got more complicated when they did some work in 2022,” adds Carmita.

“This problem has been going on for more than 20 years, but it got more complicated when they did some work in 2022,” adds Carmita. She is referring to works that enabled a new continue reading

route for supply to other areas of Guanabacoa. However, the so-called bypass, directed by Rosaura Socarrás Ordaz, deputy director of operations of the Havana Water Company, brought relief to some and an ordeal to others.

“Since then, water has stopped coming in frequently,” says a neighbor. The lack of pressure that the whole area suffers forces residents, like Carmita, to have a ‘water thief ‘ able to suck the pipes to extract every last drop. But in the houses on Calle Corrales, not even the most powerful pump can get anything out most of the time.

“Right now we have gone 20 days without having any water,” says a young man who has just returned this Monday from the municipal office of People’s Power where complaints and claims about the water supply are coming more often. “”When they send a water truck, it is barely enough for three houses, and that is every 20 days or more. No one can live like this,” he emphasizes.

This Tuesday, in Centro Habana, a group of people protested by blocking Reina Street with buckets after going seven days without water. Their complaints even reached the international press, while Guanabacoa, with very few investments in infrastructure in recent decades, is still considered by many to be the most forgotten municipality of Havana. Its historic center has suffered numerous building collapses; its rivers are visibly polluted; many streets lost
their asphalt years ago; and demands on the hydraulic system, installed in the first half of the twentieth century, have grown along with the emergence of slums. The urgency of a renovation project is obvious, but the Havana Water Company does not have the resources to tackle it.

This Tuesday, in Centro Habana, a group of people with buckets protested the lack of water and blocked Reina Street. / OCDH/X

“They blow us off, tell us that the country lacks currency to buy what’s needed abroad; it’s the same speech as always,” complains a resident from inside her doorway, where she takes shelter from the strong August sun. “The water trucks they send are small, and the water, when it arrives, has a strange color, like it’s dirty.”

The protest calls out other affected people who end up improvising an assembly on a corner near Corrales. “The answer they give is that they write you down on paper and do nothing, nothing. They throw the papers in a drawer. They said that by today they would see if they could send us a water truck,” the young man complains. “They keep us guessing, because when the water comes they cut off the electricity, and we can’t fill anything. Since the 15th of last month, we haven’t had any water.”

Several residents point to a mishandling of the valves located in the area known as El Mikito as the main cause for the low pressure that prevents the inhabitants of Corrales street from having water in their pipes. They have been able to continue bathing and cooking thanks to the solidarity of those who live in areas where supplies do arrive and allow them to fill their buckets.

Several residents report poor valve management in the area known as El Mikito as the main cause of the low pressure.

“In my house we carry it from the neighborhood of Santa Maria, in buckets and small tanks. All this past year I have had to put some bottles in the same cart as the propane tank, and I go up and down that hill several times a day,” points out another resident who joins the improvised meeting where emotions run high and reports of the laziness of the institutions are repeated.

“The Havana Water Company is doing a bad job, because when they open the tap in El Mikito the water has a little more pressure. They will have to change the employee who takes care of it here. Change him or kick him out,” speculates an old woman with a face full of despair. “What they are doing is filling swimming pools and making money,” she says.

The discussion dissolves when the imperative of going out to fetch water imposes itself. One with a wheelbarrow, another with a shopping cart and a third with a backpack, they leave in different directions. They will not return until they have filled the bottles and buckets they carry. In La Loma de Corrales, whole families are waiting to start cooking, bathing and washing clothes.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cojímar, a Field of Illustrious Ruins in Cuba

Little remains of the luxury and comfort that attracted such prominent figures as José Martí’s widow and son at the Campoamor Hotel.

The former Campoamor Hotel has signs everywhere warning of the “danger of collapse.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Cojímar (Havana), 19 July 2025 — “Do not enter. PNR.” The ‘People’s Revolutionary Police’ prohibition, written in large black letters on the back of an abandoned truck, is almost unnecessary when you look up at the building. Resembling a haunted mansion, the ruins of the former Campoamor Hotel, which housed a reformatory and had many other uses in Cojímar, make it clear to the passerby what awaits them if they cross the threshold.

Similar warnings hang on pieces of zinc from the fence that protects the building, which is “in danger of collapse,” and which has been reinforced with poles and barbed wire to keep out curious onlookers. Inside, in the old garden, rest a wheelless truck and a rusty bus whose frame bears the marks of scrap metal dealers, who have left only the shell of the vehicle.

“First it was a reformatory, then it was a separate school [for students with learning disabilities], and now it’s abandoned,” Pedro, 77, “born and raised in Cojímar,” explains to this newspaper. However, the fisherman only describes the chronology he knows, which is limited to the time the building was in the hands of the Revolution.

When it was built in 1907, its owners and architects wanted it to be the jewel of the capital’s seaside resort, where wealthy Creoles traveled and where the island’s great fortunes spent their summers. The story is even recorded by Ecured, the official Wikipedia , which awards the property to Pilar Samoano, a hotel entrepreneur who owns, among other buildings, the El Telégrafo hotel in Havana, which in 2022 became the first Cuban LGBTI+ friendly accommodation thanks to the Spanish chain Axel. continue reading

When it was built in 1907, its owners and architects wanted it to be the jewel of the capital’s resort. / 14ymedio

Purchased by the government of the Republic, a few years after its opening it became a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients until Fidel Castro came to power. Today, not even the Cuban on-line encyclopedia Ecured hides its dereliction: “After 1959, this building had various uses until, unfortunately, the lack of care and maintenance led it to a completely disastrous state, from which it will probably never recover.”

“It’s a shame,” Pedro agrees. “The government is letting it fall into disrepair. It needs to be repaired, and how many families couldn’t fit there? People who are living with their in-laws or don’t have anywhere to live,” the fisherman emphasizes, pointing to the gigantic structure that still has a faint pinkish hue.

With abandonment, the building has become a kind of greenhouse. Creepers eat away at the walls, attracted by the damp, ferns hang from the cracks in the balconies, and the green branches of several trees sprout from the top-floor windows, strong from years of peace. Their roots have destroyed the floor and erased the boundary between one level of the old hotel and the next.

A rusty bus whose structure shows the marks of scrap metal dealers, who have left only the shell of the vehicle / 14ymedio

Little remains of Campoamor’s luxury and comfort, which, in its day, attracted such prominent figures as José Martí’s widow and son, the Liberation Army captain José Francisco Martí Zayas-Bazán, heir to several lines of illustrious surnames on the island. “A few years ago, there were rumors that the Historian’s Office wanted to repair the building, but they said the foundations and structure couldn’t withstand complete repairs, and the plan was to demolish it. It seems they still haven’t decided what to do,” laments Pedro.

Meanwhile, garbage piles up against the wall of the building that faces Calle Real, Cojímar’s main street. The street has become a promenade of small dumpsters that appear on every corner and potholes that cars try their best to avoid.

The same fate befell other elegant buildings and mansions in Cojímar, which during the Republic belonged to businessmen and families of Havana’s upper class. This is the case with Quinta Pedralbes, which belonged to the Catalan businessman Joaquín Boada and was built by Mario Rotllan, a prominent exponent of Art Nouveau who had several workshops on the island.

With its walls peeling and its gardens overtaken by wild plants, the mansion barely survives as a refuge for several families. Palm trees and banana trees now sprout from the former gardens, where exotic plant species brought from all over the world once coexisted.

The same fate befell other elegant mansions in the Republic that belonged to businessmen and families of Havana’s upper class. / 14ymedio

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Punta Brava, Where Maceo Died, Is Now the ‘Raggediest Little Town’ in Cuba

Once there was a cinema, shops, a boulevard; today, nothing remains.

Private cars to La Lisa cost 150 pesos. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Punta Brava (Artemisa), 20 July 2025 — In Punta Brava, there’s nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing that works. This small town in Artemisa, nestled right on the border with Havana, has the feel of a set for a movie Western. Dust, trash rolling in the streets, and the skeletons of unused buildings. Everything feels frozen in time.

“It’s a disaster. I think this is the raggediest little town in the entire country,” two guajiros busily husking corn on the cob under a bush told 14ymedio. Their opinion is echoed by every resident interviewed by this newspaper, without exception: Before there were “things”— a movie theater, shops, a boulevard — now there’s nothing.

The cinema, three elderly people sitting on a balcony where they avoid the day’s heat, explain, “was gutted and everything was taken, even the tiles and the roof. No one knows who, but they stole everything.” Now, hollow inside and half-ruined, it’s Punta Brava’s public restroom. “They cleaned it up a bit, but it’s still the town’s latrine.”

History repeats itself with all the facilities and public spaces. “I was born here and I’m 82 years old, but when I was a kid, the park was in good condition. The only thing they left was the gazebo, and it’s in disrepair. The new generations have destroyed all that,” notes another elderly resident, speaking from the balcony that overlooks the park, where a bust of Maceo is located.

It was in this town that the Bronze Titan fell, they recall, and they assert, “without political fanaticism,” that the disaster it has become leaves even history in a very bad light.

The decadence of Punta Brava is easily traced: “That used to be the boulevard, now it’s not even the cemetery.” “The Cochino* River runs through there, living up to its name, and the buildings are old and neglected.” When the list ends, the retirees realize that all that remains standing in the town is the churches. “The Nazarene, the Methodist, the Evangelical, the Jehovah’s Witnesses—all the churches here are continue reading

functioning,” they emphasize.

Completely destroyed, the old cinema is now the town’s latrine. / 14ymedio

For retirees, life in the village consists of sitting in doorways amid the unbearable stench of the garbage dumps; “no one can stand it, they even throw dead animals in there,” one complains. For the younger ones, the goal is to climb on the first bus that passes along the avenue to get to Havana, where many work. But not even buses pass through Punta Brava, forgotten on the border with the capital.

“It’s very difficult to get in and out of Punta Brava. Bus 436 comes by at 8:30 am, so hold on,” the man describes, searching his pocket for his wallet. “I was a bus driver, look at my pass. What good is it if there are no buses?”

Route 180, which goes to Santa Fe, also sometimes passes through in the mornings, but other than those buses, almost nothing happens on the highway. There are private cars, but a fare to La Lisa, the nearest municipality in Havana, costs 150 pesos, so many prefer to stand on the side of the road, raise their arms, and wait for a driver who will take them as far as they can.

In front of the park, neighbors point out, there is an aqueduct and an elevated tank crowned by a sundial and bearing the sign: Pure water at all hours. / 14ymedio

The other means of transport is the train, which departs from Tulipán and passes through several stations such as Cien y Boyeros, El Cano, Punta Brava, Bauta, Caimito, and others until it reaches Mariel. It has about five cars and all the residents of the towns it passes through use it to travel to Havana, so it’s always full. However, to the dismay of many, “it’s been stopped for three days, and no one reports anything. It’s the only way I can get to Cerro,” says one of the Punta Brava residents.

The rest of the public services are in equally deplorable conditions. The blackouts are as annoying as in the rest of the island, and the water supply is very poor. In front of the park, neighbors point out, there is an aqueduct and an elevated tank topped by a sundial and bearing the sign: Pure water at all hours. “Before, there was water all day, but now the water comes from the fire department. It comes here every other day, but it doesn’t come to my house. I have to put the pump on the stairs to get it to the house,” he says.

The rest of the town is a picture of the same disaster. The post office is closed in broad daylight, and there are no children in the park despite it being vacation time. “Look at the state of the streets, compadre. We should put a cross in the middle of the street that says: Rest in peace,” sighs the old man.

The stench of the garbage reaches the houses and bothers residents. / 14ymedio

*Translation: pig, slob, dirty, filthy

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Performances Interrupted in Cinemas and Theaters by Blackouts, Another Frustration for Cubans

The screenings end abruptly and the spectators, resigned, leave the theaters.

Seeking emotional refuge in the cinema or theatre has become, for many, an additional source of frustration. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, July 13, 2025– On a Sunday that appeared to be a cultural normality, the Teatro Trianón in Havana had a day that crudely reflects the energy crisis that has become embedded in the daily life of Cubans. An adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles was again a victim of the blackouts. Saturday had already been canceled, and on Sunday, a video captured the dismay of the attendees: “Again?” they complained from the seats.

At the Trianon, actors rehearse in stifling heat. Hundreds of spectators brave the congested transport system, cross half the city, and sacrifice an entire afternoon to finally face the uncertainty of the electricity grid. Fortunately, the performance was able to resume that Sunday afternoon, albeit more than half an hour late.

In the provinces, the situation is often even more critical. Just a few weeks ago, in Santiago de Cuba, the Hermanos Saíz Association website bluntly announced: “The Teatro El Portazo performance at the Santiago Theater Council has been canceled tonight due to a power outage. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

In Camagüey, the Teatro del Viento [Theater of the Wind] has also suffered prolonged power outages that have paralyzed its performances. Its director, continue reading

Freddys Núñez Estenoz, denounced on social media that they had been “living in hell for weeks with blackouts ranging from 17 to 23 hours a day.” On July 3, he wrote: “We still can’t offer dates or times for performances. We can’t even guarantee that we’ll have performances. We’re waiting for something as simple as finding out the blackout schedule for the circuit where the theater is located. And we’re not the only ones. The Camagüey Ballet is also waiting for the premiere ofDracula.”

A screening of an adaptation of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” was once again affected by the power outages. / 14ymedio

Under such conditions, theatrical creation becomes an act of resistance. Rehearsals are interrupted, premieres are postponed, performances are canceled. This is what happened with the play Fibra [Fiber], which the Camagüey-based collective planned to premiere on its 26th anniversary but it was postponed due to the impossibility of lighting the stage and setting up the installation.

The situation is no different in movie theaters. Last Sunday, in theaters 23 and 12, they were showing a series of favorite films by the late president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, Alfredo Guevara. But Jacques Becker’s Cascos de Oro was only halfway through when the theater went completely dark, and the screening ended abruptly. Resigned, viewers left the theater with no clear destination, adding yet another disappointment to the national routine. Seeking emotional refuge in the movies or theater has become, for many, an additional source of frustration.

The blackouts plaguing the country are not just incidental. With outages of up to 22 hours a day in several regions, even events planned months in advance are not spared. During the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, multiple screenings were canceled due to the power outages.

In theaters 23 and 12, the film was only halfway through when the theater went completely dark, and the resigned viewers left the theater. / 14ymedio

A Cuban filmmaker described that edition as an “organizational disgrace”: dark theaters, absent signage, and makeshift restrooms on 23rd Avenue in Vedado, with an unbearable stench. The reduced capacity, last-minute cancellations, and endless lines have become an inseparable part of the country’s cultural landscape.

The only show free of blackouts, it seems, was the premiere of La Colmenita, which was attended by Raúl Castro, Díaz-Canel, and almost the entire staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Propaganda never lacks power.

In a Cuba where even art is forced to wait for the lights to come back on, theater director Freddys Núñez summed up the general feeling with a lapidary phrase: “What’s the point of continuing to play the game that something is working, when in reality everything is screwed up…? Nothing works. Nothing.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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When the Train Arrived at Expocuba, the Passengers Discovered a Field of Ruins

The summer offer of leisure time for Havanans is a trip to nowhere

The train has three railway wagons that can accommodate about 200 passengers / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, July 5, 2025 — “Hurry up, the trains waits for no one,” screams a woman on the Central Station passenger platform. This Friday, barely 20 people boarded the train bound for Expocuba, reactivated on July 2 after being paralyzed for a decade. With great fanfare, the authorities celebrated the availability of the route this summer for leisure offers to Havanans.

In the intense midday heat, the yellow and green locomotive starts; children jump from one seat to another as the blue railway wagons rattle.

“This route has been closed for more than ten years. They put it back now because of the huge deficit of buses. It is guaranteed for all the holidays and will continue for the whole year,” one of the engineers, cigarette in hand, tells 14ymedio. With three used railway wagons and a price of 20 pesos, the train was enabled to transport 204 people and makes stops in Luyanó, Dolores, La Víbora, Naranjito, Miraflores, Los Pinos, Alcázar, Arroyo Naranjo, Galapagos, Calabazar and La Piscina.

he stations through which the train now passes were closed for a long time due to deterioration and accumulation of garbage /14ymedio

The stations, he continues to explain, were closed for a long time and began to deteriorate and accumulate garbage. The section that the train covers today had to be cleaned before starting the route, and on the side of the tracks you can still see traces of waste, but “they will continue cleaning it up until Bejucal,” he adds. “They even took down several power and telephone wires that were on the tracks. On one of the trips, the neighbors had to raise a cable with a stick so that the train could pass.”

Bushes, abandoned warehouses, houses and hovels in the middle of nowhere, and a river from which some boys wave to the train is all the journey has to offer. At each stop the train loses passengers, and by the time it reaches Expocuba at 3:30 pm, there are only a grandmother with two grandchildren left. They came to spend some time at the fairgrounds and are going to be disappointed.

The park is closed because the bus carrying the workers broke down, and most of them could not get there. Inflatable toys, confesses an employee, is continue reading

the only children’s attraction available.

“Today we have hardly had any visitors,” she explains to the newspaper. “I was sitting with only two people until now,” she says. Asked about how Expocuba works when employees can arrive, the woman admits that “normally we have almost all the pavilions closed.”

With a glance at the park’s condition the reason is obvious. The deterioration of the buildings, the wear and tear of the attractions – faded by the sun and with missing pieces – and the almost zero gastronomic offers are eloquent. “There is no longer even the agricultural pavilion where they kept the exhibition animals that everyone was told to go see. They were removed because people started stealing them,” she explains.

“Yes, we do have the inflatable toys park, and all the bars function: La Solera, El Mirador, El Ranchón. The Casa del Queso has a variety of cheeses that aren’t very abundant because we have, as does the country, a shortage of many things,” she says.

Keeping the park running is no easy task. “We workers have no transport. We have a bus that leaves us off on the Calabazar bridge, and none of us lives in Arroyo Naranjo or nearby. When we get off on the bridge we have to figure out how to get home,” she complains. “What happens? The bus also broke down. So, today the famous train has arrived, and the workers are going to go on it to see how it is working”.

The condition of the buildings, the attractions with missing pieces and the almost zero gastronomic offers are eloquent / 14ymedio

On the return, the journey does not differ much from the one-way trip. The sun continues punishing the tin roof of the wagons, which are half bent, and the boys who were in the river have already left.

Expocuba is no longer an option for many in Havana, who are looking for other ways to enjoy, even briefly, the summer days. The state doesn’t offer much either: this Saturday the train to Playas del Este that takes more than an hour and a half on each trip was enabled. Transtur offers trips from Havana to the same destination, with departures every hour from 9:00 am, for 10 dollars or 1,200 pesos.

For those who can pay these prices, a day awaits in which they will have to guarantee, with their own means, everything from the food they consume to the drinking water.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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