Category: EFE

It is the second consecutive year that the separated priests of the Yoruba Cultural Association, more related to the ruling party, publish their own letter. This fact has raised criticism among some faithful who are upset with the religious division, although there are some adherents who believe that this or the other is the “true” letter.

For the Miguel Febles Padrón commission, the ruling divinity this year is Yemayá, and as a companion, Orishaoko, who in Santería syncretizes with San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of  farmers. Meanwhile, for the Yoruba Cultural Association, Obatalá governs, and its companion is Oshún.

Rancell Montero, vice president of the association, who disseminated his Letter of the Year the day before – on Sunday – emphasized the need for a “change of mentality” in the country’s authorities and in “the base” of society in the face of “new times” of the economy.

In addition, he insisted that change is necessary for the “development of new socio-economic perspectives” of the country. “We are not yet prepared, and there are not all the necessary conditions for that change. And that goes from the country’s own management to the base,” he added during the press conference this Monday in which the essential ideas of the document were developed.

“We are going to find new elements, and this requires thinking about the new times with another type of vision, and it requires preparing all the economic infrastructure of the country that is adapted to that need for development that we have in the current conditions,” Montero continued.

Despite the differences, the two Letters coincide in their omen of natural disasters, although the Yoruba Cultural Association extended the possible causes to hurricanes and warned of great “economic and human losses.”

The priests have also anticipated an increase in violent criminal activities and robberies, and they recommend taking precautions with property.

In addition, they warned of the worrying trend towards population aging and the mass exodus recorded in the last year, which also leads to a fall in the birth rate. Likewise, they predicted an increase in alcohol consumption in the population and asked for more information about the damage associated with it.

Traditionally, the Letter of the Year of the Yoruba Cultural Association has been considered more favorable to the Cuban regime, although this year many voices say that the letter of the independents has been even more related to the Government.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In addition, it has coincided with the largest exodus of Cubans to the northern country in recent history. In the last twelve months, 283,189 Island nationals have been arrested crossing the border between Mexico and the United States; on average, more than 775 per day.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has arrested more than 6,182 Cubans on the coast of Florida from October 1, 2021 until September 30, 2022, when the last fiscal year ended.

The U.S. government issued 23,966 visas to Cubans during that period. Washington complied for the first time since 2017 with the 1994 bilateral immigration agreement, which stipulates the delivery of a minimum of 20,000 visas per year to the citizens of the Island.

Before the resumption at the diplomatic headquarters in Havana, Cubans were forced to carry out immigration procedures in Guyana, which meant an extra economic burden that not many could afford, in addition to facing several irregularities.

At the same time, the U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services is increasing its staff in Havana to “effectively and efficiently” process cases and conduct interviews.

On September 1, the U.S. embassy in Cuba began processing pending applications for the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program, suspended since 2017.

The hiatus at the embassy originated after unexplained health problems of American personnel were detected in the legation.

President Trump accused the Cuban government of being responsible for “acoustic attacks” on diplomatic workers on the Island, which he used as a pretext to break the “thaw” that had been driven by his predecessor, Barack Obama (2009-2017) and former Cuban President, Raúl Castro.

Havana, for its part, denied any responsibility in the case and launched a commission of experts that did not find scientific or criminal evidence linking the symptoms with possible sonic attacks, microwaves or other deliberate action.

Over the months, more than 200 U.S. diplomats and officials stationed in half a dozen countries — from Cuba to China, through Austria, Germany and Colombia — reported similar symptoms. Some could not continue exercising their functions.

In January of last year, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency ruled out that the incidents described were the result of a campaign by an enemy country, as was speculated.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

At the beginning of December, government officials from the Department of National Security (DHS) told the Cuban government in a phone call that it would delay deportations to the Island due to the leak, indirectly confirming to Havana that potential Cuban deportees were fleeing persecution or torture.

The relatives of the Cubans, who in recent days had gathered outside the immigration detention center with posters calling for the release of their loved ones, received the first report about the release on Tuesday night, according to the Miami Herald.

In recent days, and after the leak, Florida Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar urged the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to stop the deportation of 46 Cubans who were asylum seekers.

“The safety and well-being of refugees fleeing the (Cuban) regime must be the guiding principle of our immigration policy on Cuba,” Salazar said in her letter.

Salazar described the leak as “dangerous for life, and unacceptable,” and urged Mayorkas to take “the necessary measures to protect these people and reconsider their asylum applications,” since the United States had no way to guarantee their safety if they were deported to the Island.

The serious situation in Cuba was addressed on Thursday by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in an assessment that the Island, Venezuela and Nicaragua close 2022 with almost 1,500 people imprisoned for political reasons.

The IACHR described the governments of these three countries as “authoritarian” in a statement and accused them of manipulating the judiciary to prosecute and imprison people for political reasons.

“The independence and autonomy of the judiciary is an essential element for the existence of the rule of law,” claimed the commission, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), based in Washington.

In total in all three countries, the commission reported 1,467 arrests for political reasons, including civilians and military. Cuba is the country with the most prisoners of this type, with 1,034 people detained as of November 2022.

This is followed by Venezuela, with 247 political prisoners in October of this year and Nicaragua, with a total of 195 detainees.

Persons deprived of liberty under these governments, in addition, are treated differently from the rest of the prison population, the IACHR stressed, “which has caused a serious deterioration in health” in several of them.

There is little official information about the situation of the detainees, since they are isolated and find it difficult to maintain regular contact with their families. In some cases they are subjected to torture and cruel treatment, the IACHR denounced.

The women arrested also face gender-based violence, as well as “bad treatment as a method of punishment, repression and humiliation,” the commission stressed.

At the beginning of December, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, reiterated his request to the Cuban government to release the “political prisoners” arrested after the July 2021 protests on the Island, who have received sentences of up to 30 years in prison.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“I had a fraternal telephone exchange with President Vladimir Putin. We reviewed the excellent results of our recent visit to Russia and ratified the common will to deepen political dialogue and economic, commercial, financial and cooperation ties,” Díaz-Canel said.

Both statesmen confirmed their willingness to implement the agreements reached during Díaz-Canel’s visit to the Russian capital in November.

During his trip to Moscow, seeking help to overcome the energy crisis in which the Island is submerged due to the continuous blackouts, the Cuban president stressed that political relations “are excellent.”

“Cuba is willing to respect and comply with its financial obligations to Russia as soon as the economic situation is somewhat alleviated and that is possible,” he promised, referring to the 2.3 billion dollars in credits that the Island received between 2006 and 2019.

He also said that there are “wide agreements” on the main issues of the international agenda and that the “full development” of economic-commercial ties between the two countries remains pending.

Putin, for his part, attacked the sanctions and embargoes imposed on his country and the Island by the “Yankee empire,” and paid tribute to the late Fidel Castro with a statue in the heart of Moscow.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The measures include perpetual hand washing and extreme vigilance in nursing homes, schools and other institutions that have a high concentration of people.

In addition, new booster doses of the anti-covid vaccines manufactured on the Island will be given to pregnant and lactating women, health and tourism workers, and to people over 70 years of age, as Portal explained during the government meeting. The minister pointed out that during this year, 207 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19, for a lethality rate of 0.14%, and he specified that in the last 18 consecutive weeks there have been no deaths due to COVID.

He also reported that although there is an increase in positive cases in the last two months, control of the disease is maintained in the country.

The daily report of the Ministry of Public Health confirmed on Tuesday 11 new cases of COVID-19 for a cumulative number of 1,111,898 positives since the first diagnoses were recorded in March 2020 in the country, and 8,530 deaths.

Cuba has developed its own anti-Covid immunogens — Abadala, Sovereign 02 and Sovereign Plus — with which it has vaccinated 10,003,526 of its 11.1 million inhabitants with the complete three-dose scheme. Also, more than 7 million Cubans have had booster doses, according to Health data. The coronavirus vaccination campaign also includes the pediatric population (from 2 to 18 years old). However, although the vaccines have been widely marketed in Europe, Africa and Latin America, none of the Cuban vaccines have been recognized by the World Health Organization.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“It is arbitrary and discriminatory that a permit from the United States Government is needed so that the organizers of a sporting event can guarantee the participation of a country like Cuba,” says the federation.

Remember that Cuba “is not only the founder of these competitions but also earned its inclusion by qualifying like the rest of the 19 teams that will participate in the Fifth Classic.”

“It is equally unfair that Cuban athletes, because those we are going to convene are Cubans trained in our country and who, despite all the pressures, want to represent their people, also depend on an authorization from the US Government to fulfill their dreams of playing with the country that gave birth to them,” Pérez Pardo said.

He also appreciates the work of the MLB and the World Baseball and Softball Confederation in their role as organizers of the Classic.

Regarding the communication from the organizers of the competition, he says that they will soon report on the details of the license granted to Cuba and, in that sense, the FCB said that it will then announce the pre-selection of the Cuban team.

In 2018, the Cuban authorities signed a historic agreement with the MLB that allowed Island players to sign professional contracts to play in the US Major Leagues without losing their residence on the Island or their link with the Federation.

That agreement was annulled in April 2019 by the administration of the then-US President, Donald Trump, claiming that the Baseball Federation belongs to the Cuban government and violates US trade law.

At the beginning of last November, Pérez Pardo warned that “pressure and harassment” were being exercised against players in foreign leagues so as not to play with Cuba in the Fifth Classic.

Baseball, declared a Cultural Heritage of Cuba, is not experiencing its best moment on the Island and suffers an unprecedented exodus of players.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“My father has made many advances, he is the person who has made the most progress, but he has still not been able to achieve what he wants, which is freedom,” said the son of the opponent, who added that from exile he will “try to study for a university career and continue to support the opposition in Cuba.”

“In Cuba, people have lately chosen more to leave the country than to continue fighting,” said the young man, who, according to América Tevé, by taking the path of exile is reuniting with his mother and two of his sisters.

Ferrer was arrested on October 1, 2019 and sentenced to prison in February 2020 after a closed-door trial for an alleged crime of injury to another man, a charge that his relatives and collaborators deny.

After six months in prison, and in the midst of strong international pressure, in April 2020 his sentence was commuted to a sentence of four and a half years of house arrest.

More than a year later, the dissident was imprisoned again for joining the 11 July 2021 (11J) protests.

In August last year, Cuban justice revoked the benefit of house arrest of the well-known dissident and sentenced him to remain in prison for the remaining years of his sentence for an alleged assault.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“Tapachula is the central point of asylum requests for people who transit through national territory with the intention of reaching the United States in search of a better quality of life for their families, who stayed in their countries of origin,” he told 14ymedio.

The influx of migrants on the southern border of Mexico grew by 40% in the last two weeks compared to the previous year, so the authorities doubled their attention, according to officials of the National Institute of Migration (INM) reported on Wednesday.

According to Migration records, 6,000 multiple immigration forms (FMM) have been granted in the last 15 days; that is, about 400 daily to natives from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and Africa. They have placed tents, tables and chairs in the temporary care module to serve about 1,200 migrants a day.

Migration and National Guard agents have avoided setting up camps for migrants to stay to sleep or stand in line from the night before. “We are not going to allow them to set up tents or stay here to sleep,” an official warned the migrants who were going to carry out procedures.

Among those who are waiting for regularization is the Venezuelan Jürgen Casanova, who travels with 15 people. “We are asking for help and sleeping on the streets to avoid spending money on rent for houses or hotels, since all this is hard,” he told EFE.

On a white poster, the South American wrote: “Hello, Mexico. We are a Venezuelan family that needs your help. May God bless you and multiply your support.” Casanova commented that the situation is difficult. “We were victims, we were robbed on the Guatemalan border with Honduras.”

A similar story is told by Ecuadorian Luis Taboada, who travels with his wife and two minors. On a poster, he asks for help to feed his family. “People who have not gone through this journey, who do not try, it is not an easy thing, especially if they go with children. At the beginning I thought that everything would be easy,” he warned.

Even so, he said that he will not give up his trip and will continue despite the shortages and lack of food, since the only option is to meet the final goal of reaching the United States.

The region is experiencing a record migratory flow to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection Office stopped an unprecedented number of more than 2.76 million undocumented people in fiscal year 2022, a figure that includes substantial increases in Cubans and Venezuelans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The analysis of Francisco, for example, says that 37.5% of his genes are of Amerindian origin, 35.5% European, 15.9% African and 11% Asian. In the country as a whole, by contrast, the Amerindian component on average is 8%, compared to 71% for the European component.

One more detail is that all the DNA tests in this study — 91 people, 74 with conclusive results — refer to female Amerindian ancestors. All male ancestors were European and, to a lesser extent, African.

Specifically, as Cuban geneticist Beatriz Marcheco, from the National Center for Medical Genetics, explains to EFE, from these DNA studies it can be estimated that all these people analyzed descended from “between 900 and 1,000 female” Amerindians who lived in the 16th century.

They survived, hidden in the remote areas that their descendants still inhabit, the “demographic debacle of unimaginable dimensions” that, Marcheco explains, followed the emergence of the Spaniards and Africans in Cuba. There is no trace of male Amerindians.

“It’s not unusual that our own books, even the most recent ones, have discussed for years the total extermination of the Amerindian component of our population. Indeed, we do not have closed communities, but we do have these people who have retained those physical characteristics, who have that footprint on their DNA,” says Marcheco.

DNA studies have been the finishing touch on the project, which emerged five years ago as an initiative to portray descendants of the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Island.

But as Spanish photographer Héctor Garrido, coordinator of the Cuba Indígena project, explains to EFE, the initiative was evolving towards a “more comprehensive” approach that ended up including historical documentation, portraits, ethnographic studies, anthropological research and, as a cornerstone, genetic analysis.

All these perspectives underline the thesis that the DNA tests confirm. Physical features show the Amerindian component on the faces portrayed, and ethnographic studies collect indigenous traditions such as making cassava (yuca bread cakes), using the “coa” (agricultural tool), growing cimarrón tobacco and celebrating their own religious rites.

The study, according to its authors, has repercussions in multiple areas, starting with the communities investigated — Francis’s tears are proof of this — and ending with Cuba as a whole.

It has also touched them personally, after an intense coexistence with the communities with “big personal implications,” the project director says.

Garrido emphasizes that these families were “fully aware of being descendants of indigenous people” and felt “proud of what they are.” However, he adds, they had mixed feelings when at school they were taught “that the indigenous people were extinct.”

The editor of the meticulous book on the project, the Cuban Julio Larramendi, is convinced that Cuba will welcome these conclusions as “beneficial” and that now is a “good time” to make them known.

“We have this living root, a root that must be fed, watered, given the opportunity to grow and reproduce, to show what traditions have survived, to show that they are part of our culture,” he says.

Marcheco digs deeper into this idea: “All this will allow us a reflection, a new look, a reunion with our roots, a reinterpretation of our origins. And that will have an influence, not only on Cuban thought, but also on the way in which we assume our culture, our diversity, to the extent that we seek a society that includes all of us.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“The monetary policy responses adopted worldwide, in a context of increased global inflation, have led to increases in financial volatility and risk aversion levels and, therefore, have induced lower capital flows to emerging economies,” the institution said.

In the Preliminary Balance of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 presented this Thursday, ECLAC points out, however, that “the expected reduction in global inflation by 2023 will tend to moderate the increases in the monetary policy rates of the main central banks.”

The report also highlights that the process of recovering labor markets “has not made it possible to eliminate the traditional gaps between men and women,” and that during 2022, ” an increase in unreliability as well as a drop in real wages have been observed.”

In addition, debt levels continue to be high, “so it can be expected that the fiscal space will continue to condition the trajectory of public spending.”

“The risk of rising interest rates, depreciation of currencies and increased sovereign risk would make it difficult to finance governments’ operations by 2023,” the agency added.

To avoid a new lost decade such as that observed during the period 2014-2023, ECLAC calls for “innovative public policies in the productive, financial, commercial, social and care economy.”

Venezuela (12%), Panama (8.4%) and Colombia (8%) will lead economic growth this year, followed by Uruguay (5.4%), the Dominican Republic (5.1%) and Argentina (4.9%), according to the report.

In the middle of the table are the Caribbean islands (4.5%, not counting Guyana, which is experiencing an oil boom), Costa Rica (4.4%), Honduras (4.2%), Guatemala (4%), Nicaragua (3.8%), Bolivia (3.5%), Mexico (2.9%) and Brazil (2.9%).

In the line are Ecuador (2.7%), Peru (2.7%), El Salvador (2.6%), Chile (2.3%), Cuba (2%), Paraguay (-0.3%), and Haiti (-2%), according to the balance sheet.

For 2023, Venezuela continues to lead the projections (5%), followed by the Dominican Republic (4.6%), Panama (4.2%), Paraguay (4%), the Caribbean Islands (3.3%), Guatemala (3.2%), Uruguay (2.9%), Bolivia (2.9%), Honduras (2.7%), Costa Rica (2.6%), Peru (2.2%), Nicaragua (2.1%) and Ecuador (2%).

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Last Thursday, 535 Cubans swam across the Rio Grande and surrendered to the Border Patrol in Eagle Pass, Texas. It was then the largest group that had suddenly entered the United States. The Cubans were gathered in an area near the Lehmann ranch along with 74 other migrants from Nicaragua, 49 from Colombia, three from Ecuador, three from Mexico and 12 unaccompanied children.

Speaking to the ABC channel, Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, of the Texas Department of Public Security, warned that “El Paso had never experienced anything like this massive migration. The numbers are historic. We must find a way to stop this, a policy needs to be implemented.”

NEW: In Brownsville, TX we once again witnessed Border Patrol mass releasing hundreds of migrants at a parking garage. A NGO across street then helps organize their travel around the US.
BP source tells me they release hundreds here almost daily, sometimes 10 busloads in a day. pic.twitter.com/mpgNTSkErU

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 13, 2022

Texas Congressman Henry Cuéllar, for his part, asked President Biden for greater security at the border and said that the problem is that criminals are taking the opportunity to do business by taking migrants across the border, because it is open.

On the border of Chihuahua (Mexico) there are several groups of migrants organizing their entry into the United States. In Matamoros, Tamaulipas, a Mexican border city on the other side of Brownsville, Texas, there are thousands of migrants waiting for December 21, the day Title 42 comes to an end.

Title 42 is a measure ordered by the Donald Trump Administration (2017-2021) under the excuse of the pandemic, which has allowed the expeditious expulsions of more than 2.7 million migrants.

Several media outlets have reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeks to obtain an additional 3 billion dollars from Congress to deal with the increase in the arrival of undocumented migrants once Title 42 is cancelled.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“2023 will be better than 2022,” said Gil, who who urged work to achieve  the forecasts, because “nothing is going to fall out of the sky.” “Without triumphalism, but with optimism,” he added.

At constant prices, the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 can reach – according to the ministerial plan — 53,931 million Cuban pesos (2,248.4 million dollars), compared to the 52,360 million pesos (2,182.9 million dollars) for 2022, the 51,334 million pesos for 2021 (2,140.1 million dollars), the  50,698 million pesos (2,113.6 million dollars) for 2020, and the 56,932 million pesos (2,373.5 million dollars) for 2019.

“The trend towards growth experienced during 2021 and 2022 is maintained, although the activity levels of 2019 are not yet achieved,” read the minister’s presentation.

Gil appreciated certain “conditions” that favor the economic recovery, such as the control of covid-19, the improvement that is expected for the tourism sector and the “results” of the international tour recently made by President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Díaz-Canel visited Algeria, Turkey, Russia and China in November with the restructuring of public debt and energy supply as the main points of his agenda.

Cuba suffers a serious economic crisis due to the combination of the effects of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and errors in economic policy.

This situation translates into a deep shortage of basic products (food, medicines, fuel), high inflation, partial dollarization of the economy and frequent and prolonged blackouts.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.