EFE – Page 21 – Translating Cuba

Cuban Experts Say the Pollution Levels of the Matanzas Fire are ‘Low’

Remains of the fire at the Supertanker Base of the port of Matanzas (Cuba). (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, August 22, 2022 — The serious fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base threw out “low” levels of pollutants, the Cuban authorities told the official press on Sunday.

Oscar García Martínez, delegate of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment in Matanzas, said that the main effects are “air quality, as in any fire” and that the measured levels “do not compromise human health.”

The accident, which began on August 5 and lasted almost a week, claimed the lives of 16 people, some of them young people who were undergoing compulsory military service, and injured 146, 17 of whom are still hospitalized.

“Everything indicates that what happened in the fire doesn’t seem to have compromised any aspect for the future,” García Martínez said without showing exact figures. The Government expects to have an environmental impact assessment by September. Scientific research, the official said, continues. “If we know anything new, we will inform you,” he told the newspaper Girón. “If any indicator is altered, we will analyze it and follow up on it.”

The specialist said that the samples taken in Matanzas Bay, near the industrial area where the disaster occurred, “corroborate visually that there is no damage right now.” continue reading

He pointed out that “we had never experienced a spill (of crude oil) associated with a fire,” and research on its effects covers aspects related to soil, agricultural production and traces in livestock milk — a series of elements to ascertain the real magnitude of the impact of the fire, the largest recorded on the island.

This analysis stage, planned for two months, could be extended up to two more years with other parameters, “to reassess soil, vegetation and food chains,” he added.

Although he considers that “the danger has already passed,” because the focus that caused the increase of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, among other substances, in the atmosphere “disappeared,” he estimates that the emanations are in the usual range in Matanzas.

Four of the eight tanks of the storage base, the largest facility of its kind in Cuba for receiving and storing crude oil, burned completely, causing explosions, flares of hundreds of feet and a curtain of smoke that reached neighboring provinces such as Mayabeque and Havana, located more than 60 miles to the west.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Nicaragua Sends a Ship with Food to Cuba

Archive image of the Nicaraguan ship AC Sandino, sent this Thursday to Cuba. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Managua, 19 August 2022 — The Government of Nicaragua announced on Thursday that it sent a ship with food to Cuba, as an act of solidarity “with Cuban families.”

The ship Augustus C. Sandino, with a Nicaraguan flag, weighed anchor in the early hours of Thursday from the river port Arlen Siu, in the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean (RACS), and headed to the Island, said the Executive Branch in a press release. Nicaraguan authorities expect the Sandino to arrive next Monday at the port of Mariel (Artemisa), about 30 miles from Havana.

This is the second shipment of aid granted by Nicaragua to Cuba so far in 2022, and the fifth since the street demonstrations of July last year on the island due to the lack of food and medicine, which has reached unprecedented levels. continue reading

The Government of Nicaragua didn’t give details about the type or quantity of food sent to Cuba this Thursday. In previous shipments, Nicaragua gave Cuba rice, beans, oil, coffee and other goods.

The governments of Nicaragua and Cuba have had close relations during the times when former Sandinista guerrilla Daniel Ortega ruled the country, first from 1985 to 1990, and then from 2007 up to the present.

Nicaragua and Cuba are part of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of America (ALBA), led by the Island regime and chavista Venezuela.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Composers of “Patria y Vida” — Homeland and Life — Will Receive the Medal of Freedom

The duo Gente de Zona flanking Yotuel Romero, in a scene from Patria y Vida. (Yotuel/YouTube/Captura)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, August 16, 2022 — The composers of the song Patria y Vida will be recognized with the Medal of Freedom that will be awarded to them by the Latino Composers Hall of Fame (LCHOF) at the welcome gala for its new members, which will be held on October 13 in south Florida.

This new award created by the LCHOF will end up in the hands of Yotuel Romero, Beatriz Luengo, Descemer Bueno, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Osorbo, Alexander Delgado, Randy Malcom Martínez and DJ El Funky, the composers of the song, which became an anthem for the opposition inside and outside Cuba.

The song, which was the soundtrack for the popular protests of July 11, 2021, has received, among others, the Latin Grammy Award for Best Song of the Year.

The Medal of Freedom will be one of the La Musa awards that will be presented at the LCHOF ceremony, which will take place at the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, south Florida, and they will also celebrate their tenth anniversary, as announced on Monday by Billboard magazine.

The LCHOF, based in Miami Beach, will welcome its new members, including the Dominican, Johnny Ventura, who died in July of last year and who, posthumously, will join this room that brings together and pays tribute to the great figures of Latin music. continue reading

The other distinguished people in this year’s event will be the producers, Desmond Child and Rudy Pérez, both founders of the LCHOF, as well as the composer, Tony Renis.

The ceremony will also recognize the Mexican, Emmanuel, who will receive an award for his artistic legacy, and the Puerto Rican, José Feliciano, who will receive the Song of All Time award for his immortal theme Feliz Navidad.

Manuel Alejandro, from Spain, and the Venezuelan, Elena Rose, will be among the musicians awarded at the gala, as well as the executives of the music and entertainment industry, Gustavo Menéndez, Walter Kolm and Eddy Cue.

According to Billboard, the gala will be hosted by the Peruvian-American actress and singer, Isabela Merced, and artists such as Emilio and Gloria Estefan, José Feliciano, Draco Rosa, Erika Ender, La India, Luis Figueroa, Yotuel and Gente De Zona, among others, will perform.

As in previous years, the composers selected this year to be part of the Latino Composers Hall of Fame have been chosen from a group of nominees by a committee of figures and leaders of the music industry.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Participates in a Russian Military Sniper Competition in Venezuela

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López in a file photograph. (EFE/Rayner Peña R)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Caracas, 16 August 2022 — The Minister of Defense of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino, inaugurated on Monday the “Border Sniper” competition, which is part of the international military games organized by Russia, using the Caribbean country, for the first time, as one of its venues.

“We embrace all nations, their delegations, their representatives, who have come to Venezuela to compete in a good fight, within the framework of these international games,” said the military leader during the opening ceremony of the tournament in the state of Lara (west).

He said that, in addition to Venezuela, representatives of Russia, Burma, Belarus, Abkhazia, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, China, India, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Cuba will participate in the competition, countries where “imperialist aggression against the people is condemned daily.”

The minister explained that this is the seventh edition of these games, in which Venezuela has participated since 2015.

The Defense portfolio said that the competition, which will last until August 27, “gathers together the best snipers in the world,” and “only expert soldiers in the art and precision of shooting participate.” continue reading

The so-called “Army Games” in Venezuela will include, in addition to the sniper competition, spaces that can be visited by those interested, among which are shooting ranges, obstacle courses and exhibitions of weapons and exercises typical of military life.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered on Monday, at the opening of the “Armia-2022” forum on the outskirts of Moscow, to arm with modern equipment his allies in Latin America, Asia and Africa, countries that don’t submit to the dictates of the West.

Putin greeted the foreign delegations attending the largest military fair in Russia, including the Venezuelan one, headed by General Ricardo Ramos, Deputy Minister of Defense Education, who met with Alexandr Fomin, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense, who praised the “relations among allies” with Caracas.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Rescuers Find More Human Remains at the Site of the Matanzas Supertanker Base Fire

The Cuban government has not revealed the costs of the Matanzas fire, considered the worst in history. (José Ángel Portal Miranda)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 16 August 2022 — Specialized teams found more bone remains at the site of the large industrial fire recorded in Matanzas, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal, reported on Monday.

“The tireless search for bone fragments and objects that could have to do with any of the missing people thought to be at the scene of the accident at the time of the explosion continues,” Portal said on Twitter.

The fragments were found on Sunday in “several places in the area” of the fire and have already been sent to “the laboratories for identification.”

Last Friday, the Cuban Government reported that it had located at the site of the fire — which began after the alleged impact of lightning in one of eight fuel tanks with 50,000 cubic meters of capacity — the skeletal remains of four people, presumably firefighters.

Officially, 14 people are listed as missing, mainly firefighters who were working on extinguishing the flames when a large explosion occurred.

Forensic doctor Jorge González Pérez, who directs the work of the investigation of the remains of Matanzas, said on Monday that they haven’t located the place where the 14 victims disappeared, and calculated that this could take “two more days.” He added that he considers it “unlikely” that “there is some laboratory test, for example DNA” that can be performed in this case.

So far, the Government has not disclosed their identities, despite the demand of independent activists and NGOs, who have claimed that some were young people doing military service. continue reading

So far, the relatives of the missing are the ones who have gone on social networks to say that they have no information about them, and some who have been given as dead, such as the young Leo Alejandro Doval del Prado, 19.

The fire was officially declared extinguished on Friday.

The flames affected four fuel tanks in the industrial park, strategic for the country, causing serious explosions, with flares of over 30 feet, and a column of toxic black smoke that reached Havana, 60 miles away.

The Cuban Government has also not disseminated estimates of the economic cost of this event, which is already described as the largest industrial disaster in the country, nor the exact levels of contamination from the accident.

The total, to date, after the incident is two deaths, 132 people injured and 19 hospitalized, according to the daily report of the Ministry of Public Health.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Coordinates with the US For Help to Put Out the Fire in Matanzas

At the moment, firefighters and workers from the Cupet Territorial Division are working to put out the flames. (14ymedio)

EFE/14ymedio, Matanzas/Havana, 6 August 2022 — The Cuban authorities are coordinating with the United States with regards to the aid offered by this country to put out the great fire that is still active in two of eight crude oil tanks at the Supertanker Base in the industrial zone of the Cuban city of Matanzas). So far, 17 firefighters have disappeared and at least 67 people have been injured.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío wrote on Twitter that the US government “offered technical advice, already placed in the hands of specialists for proper coordination.”

“We deeply appreciate the condolences and expressions of help from various organizations and people from the United States on the occasion of the incident in Matanzas,” added the Vice Chancellor.

The United States Embassy in Cuba also reported on Twitter that it was “in contact with Cuba about the incident in Matanzas.” Adding, “In the meantime, we want to make it clear that United States law authorizes United States entities and organizations to provide aid and response to disasters in Cuba.”

This Saturday afternoon it was also learned that “by presidential order, specialized personnel from Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) are getting ready to travel to Cuba to help extinguish the fire,” according to the newspaper El Universal .

“High-level sources from the [Mexican] federal government assured that it was President Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself who gave the instruction,” the press outlet said.

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Cuban Opponent Guillermo Farinas Returns Home After a Short Arrest

Guillermo Fariñas, leader of the United Anti-Totalitarian Front, is one of the best-known Cuban opponents at the international level. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 6 August 2022 — Cuban opponent Guillermo Fariñas remained under arrest this Friday for several hours, according information from his family speaking to EFE.

Fariñas’s mother, Alicia Hernández, confirmed by phone that her son was released, after he was stopped by the police who were waiting for him nearby when he left his house. “They handcuffed him and took him away in a patrol car,” she explained.

Hernández attributed the arrest to the anniversary of the 1994 protest known as the Maleconazo.

That day, hundreds of dissatisfied people took to the streets of Havana to protest and then President Fidel Castro, now deceased, appeared to speak with some of them in front of the well-known Deauville hotel.

These were the largest protests that the country had experienced in decades, and since then were only surpassed by the protests Cuba registered on July 11, 2021.

Fariñas, 60, who has suffered multiple short duration arrests in recent continue reading

decades — was awarded the 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.

The leader of the United Anti-Totalitarian Front, Fariñas is one of the best-known Cuban opponents at the international level, particularly for his numerous hunger strikes against the Cuban system, since the first one he carried out in 1995.

The longest strike dates back to 2003, when he fasted for 14 months, and the 25th took place in 2016 and lasted 54 days to ask the government to end the repression against dissidents.

The Government of Cuba considers dissidents “counterrevolutionaries” and “mercenaries” at the service of the interests of the United States and denies that it has political prisoners in its jails.

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Cubans Are Allowed to Bring in Preserved Meats and Pasteurized Milk from Thirteen Countries

The regulation also establishes a list of prohibited products. (Customs)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, August 3, 2022 — Cubans will be allowed to bring home canned meats and ultrapasteurized milk from as many as thirteen countries according to regulations made public on Tuesday by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The news was reported by government media outlets, which cited a memo by the ministry announcing a “relaxation” of “sanitary regulations.”

Though no mention was made regarding when the regulations are to take effect, the memo stated that “recognized retail brands” of beef, pork and poultry from Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay will be allowed into the country.

The regulations also apply to the importation of cured meats. In the case of ultrapasteurized, and evaporated milk, as well as lacto-based desserts, there are no restrictions regarding the country of origin.

The same applies to canned seafood, powdered milk and aged, pasteurized cheese.

The regulations also specify what items may not be brought into the country. These include all products derived from skeletal animals; unpasteurized milk and products derived from it; fresh, frozen and dehydrated meats; salads, with or without eggs; viscera; and prepared or partially cooked food products.

The regulations have been greeted with skepticism by consumers. Some complain that the new rules are long overdue while others argue that the practice has been going on for a long time. “Is it for commercial purposes? Then that would be a change,” quips a Cubadebate reader. continue reading

The measures were announced shortly after the publication of a resolution establishing “rules for non-commercial imports by individual persons.”

Individuals will be allowed to bring in up to five mobile phones (the previous limit was two), two electrical generators and two electrical motorcycles, or a third such motorcycle if it arrives as a cargo shipment.

Import duties will also be reduced from 100% to 30% while weight limits will be increased from ten to twenty kilograms. Additionally, the tariff on imported goods will be reduced from twenty dollars per kilo to ten per kilo.

In a recent speech to parliament, economics minister Alejandro Gil emphasized that these measures apply only to goods intended for “personal use, not of a commercial nature.” In other words, the new regulations do not allow businesses to resell those products to the public.

Motivated by the island’s food crisis as well as last year’s anti-government protests, the government has temporarily lifted tariffs on food and medicine. This measure has not escaped criticism, however, because the change will only benefit those Cubans who have relatives overseas or who have the resources to travel abroad.

Prior to 2021, many Cubans turned to so-called mules, whom they paid to bring back consumer goods from overseas packed in their luggage.

The rules were relaxed after the July 11, 2021 (’11J’) protests. The first extension was approved in December. The most recent measures took effect in May and will remain in force until December 2022.

The current rules on what an individual can bring into the country are a complex system of points and peso limits which imposes tariffs on excess items packed in an individual’s suitcase. In the case of medications, for example, a traveller is allowed to bring in up to ten kilograms duty-free.

With the goal of reducing the country’s dependence on food from overseas — Cuba imports roughly 80% of what it consumes – in May the government adopted a food sovereignty law intended to increase agricultural production. Experts doubt, however, that the new law rule will be enough to make a difference.

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As August is About to Begin, the Electricity Supply is Still Ailing in Cuba

Despite the blackouts, the official press doesn’t hesitate to affirm that the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant is “one of the most stable in the country.” (Cubadebate)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 28 July 2022 — The Electric Union of Cuba announced on Thursday a deficit of up to 20% in the energy supply, after three days of relative stability during the official holidays on July 26.

The deficit this Thursday will be 17.9% in prime time, with an availability of 2,502 megawatts (MW) and a maximum demand of 2,950 MW, the state company reported in its usual statement.

On Wednesday, the deficient electricity supply began to affect users from 10:42 and was restored at 22:30. The company also reported that eight units out of a total of five thermoelectric power plants in the country are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance.

On July 22 in a speech to Parliament, Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged the discomfort among the population over the cuts, which have been intensifying in recent months. He added that those who blame the Government for its handling of the prolonged blackouts “are responding to what the counterrevolution wants.”

The Government affirms that the cuts in supply have been caused by breakages in the plants, the shortage of fuel for generation and scheduled maintenance. Despite the state rhetoric, which affirms that everything possible is being done to avoid blackouts, and the deals with foreign companies to repair thermoelectric plants, the crisis of the Cuban energy system doesn’t seem to have an immediate solution. continue reading

A report published today in Cubadebate collects the testimony of workers of the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant. Affected by rust and marine microorganisms, the machinery repeats the pattern of other plants in the country: lack of spare parts and lack of adequate maintenance.

In a thermoelectric plant “we work many early morning hours, many Saturdays, Sundays, many carnivals; maintenance is twenty-four hours,” says a 72-year-old technician.

“The units aren’t given the maintenance they need, so each operation becomes more complicated,” another operator admits to the official press. “There’s a lot of instability in parameters; we are working with parameters that aren’t in accordance with the plant system. You have to keep your eyes wide open. One mistake from us and the plant is gone.”

“I left work one morning and arrived home without electricity. I can’t sleep. I’m also suffering,” adds another.

However, Cubadebate has no qualms about stating that the Cienfuegos thermoelectric plant is “one of the most stable in the country.”

At the beginning of July, the Felton thermoelectric plant, in the Holguin municipality of Mayarí, suffered considerable damage due to a large fire. This accident meant an even greater deterioration of the national electricity system, unable to implement the necessary actions to achieve energy stability in the short term.

The blackouts were, along with other serious economic and political problems, the cause of the massive protests of July 11, 2021. They have also been the triggers for recent demonstrations against the Government, such as those that took place in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río), or smaller ones in other municipalities of the country.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Detects More Cases of of Dengue Fever in One Week Than in the Entire First Semester of the Year

Some 66.1% of the mosquito breeding sites in Cuba are concentrated in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Pinar del Río, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey and Holguín. (14ymedio)

EFE/14medio, Havana, 30 July 2022 — The Cuban Ministry of Public Health detected 4,776 reactive cases of dengue fever in the third week of July (17-23), more than the 3,036 registered in the entire first semester, the Presidency reported in a statement this Friday by official media.

Reactive cases are understood as tests in which the presence of the pathogen is detected, either because the patient recently had the disease or because it is still active in the body.

In this sense, the Presidency pointed out that of the 10,590 tests carried out in that week there was a positivity rate of 45.1%.

In addition, Public Health noted that 23,758 cases with “non-specific” fever were identified, almost 6,000 more than in the previous week. It is one of the symptoms of the disease, transmitted by the aedes aegypti mosquito.

The Presidency’s statement warns that the mosquito breeding sites increased by 115% during the third week of July compared to the same week in 2021.

Some 66.1% of the points are concentrated in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Pinar del Río, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey and Holguín. continue reading

Public Health reported in early July that, for the second year, Cuba broke the 15 year record for dengue mosquito breeding points and described the epidemiological scenario as “complex.”

In a press conference on July 14, Portal clarified that the country is not “in the worst moment” and estimated that in the coming months the number of infected could increase due to the heat and the rains.

The independent press has reported in recent weeks several cases of minors who have died with a high fever, although it has not been officially confirmed that they were due to dengue.

The health workers insist that the population must do everything possible to protect themselves because there are no insecticides such as Abate or diesel to spray every six days, as established by the protocols. These limitations, together with the summer heat and the long hours of blackouts, are leading to the proliferation of a disease that had remained in the background during covid.

In addition, it is estimated that dengue underreporting is still high. On the one hand, many patients refuse to go to the doctor to avoid hospitalization due to the state of many centers throughout the Island. On the other hand, there is a visible lack of means for a correct diagnosis and some patients affirm that they do not undergo the tests required because the reagents are rationed for the most severe cases.

“We are alarmed,” an internist at a Havana hospital told this newspaper, stating that this year there are more serious cases than usual. “In previous epidemics, maybe 10% or so of cases had warning signs (the ones that alert you that the patient is not doing well), but now it’s more than 30%.”

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Pastor Alain Toledano Insists that Cuba is ‘In Collapse’

The pastor and his family arrived this week in the United States, where he is in exile. (Facebook)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 30 July 2022 — Cuban evangelical pastor Alain Toledano Valiente, leader of the Movement Paths of Justice and exiled in Miami since this week, stated in an interview published this Friday that “Cuba is a country in collapse.”

Toledano, his wife, Marilin, and their daughters Berenice, 18, and Elisama, 17, left Cuba thanks to the intervention of Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA), an international organization that defends the rights of religious communities .

The US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussein, also interceded in the case.

According to Toledano’s statement upon arrival in Miami, Cuban authorities warned him: “Leave the country within 30 days or you and your family will face the consequences.”

In the first interview from exile, Toledano, who in recent years repeatedly denounced “harassment” against his temple in Santiago de Cuba for demanding rights and freedom, told the US public radio station Radio Martí, which broadcasts from Florida to Cuba, that the rights and living conditions of Cubans are “precarious.”

“When you look at the living conditions of men (on an international level), you realize that the Cuban does not have any living conditions. Rights, none. It stopped being really a nation, it stopped really being a country where as a citizen you can live with everything you need,” he said.

The pastor called on Cubans to recover their freedom by confronting “the people who have been empowered by evil and violence” in Cuba. continue reading

“The slaver is never going to give you freedom,” said the religious leader.

In the latest report on International Religious Freedom published by the US State Department, it was included in the Cuba section that Cuban State Security agents arrested Pastor Toledano in 2021 for “spreading an epidemic.”

The arrest was due to the fact that he had reopened the doors of his temple after confinement due to covid-19, but, as he denounced, the accusation was unfounded, since since the first week of June 2021 the Government had authorized churches to restart their activities normally and moderately.

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Cuban Parliament Approves the Final Version of the New Family Code

March against homophobia and transphobia in Cuba (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, July 22, 2022 — The National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP, unicameral parliament) of Cuba unanimously approved this Friday the definitive version of the so-called Family Code, which will be submitted to a popular referendum on September 25.

The deputies supported version 25 of this legislative package to regulate interpersonal relationships, which includes equal marriage, adoption by homosexual couples and surrogacy (“solidarity” in this text).

The regulations went through an extensive popular consultation between February and April, in which 6.4 million people participated, said the Cuban Minister of Justice, Oscar Silvera, before the plenary of the ANPP, among whom were the president of the country, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and his predecessor, Raúl Castro.

Silvera explained that as a result of this popular consultation, “47.93% of the general text and 49.15% of its articles were modified.”

If approved in September, the Family Code will replace the regulations in force since 1975.

The Family Code is the only regulation submitted to a referendum among the 70 updated after the new Constitution of 2019, including sensitive laws like the new Criminal Code. continue reading

During the consultation, 336,595 votes were recorded, and 434,000 proposals were collected. Silvera indicated that 61.9% of citizens pronounced themselves in favor of the code.

The Government has deployed an important media campaign that is flooding television screens and newspapers, and there are even special programs dedicated to explaining every detail of the 471 articles of the Code, in order to get majority support.

The new Family Code has generated controversy among those who don’t accept gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, such as some religious groups.

It is also rejected by some feminist groups that demand a specific law on gender-based violence and the criminalization of femicide. The Government says that there are already laws that punish these crimes.

Some opponents and activists have also taken a stand against this regulation because it comes from the Government.

No surveys on the degree of support for the Family Code have been disseminated among the Cuban population.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Brenda Diaz, Cuban Trans Protestor of July 11th (11J), is Imprisoned Among Men

Ana María shows the photo of her trans daughter Brenda Diaz, on 18 July 2022, in Havana. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Carlos Espinosa, Havana, 20 July 2022 — The face of the Cuban Ana María suddenly changes from total seriousness to a smile from ear to ear when the cell phone rings and she sees that Brenda is on the other end.

It is her trans daughter – an option that Cuban legislation does not contemplate – who is imprisoned in the men’s section of a prison for participating in the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.

“Hello, my life!” shouts the mother at a bus stop in Havana, dressed in a white T-shirt with the image of the 28-year-old girl emblazoned with the word “freedom.”

Brenda Díaz is serving a 14-year sentence in the prison of the Güines municipality (Mayabeque). It is a special penitentiary center — with a section for men and another for women — for people with the HIV virus, like her.

Although in prison she has never lacked her retrovirals –essential in the treatment of HIV-positive people. Ana María must bring her medications for other illnesses she suffers from, such as chronic gastritis and kidney stones, and which are not available in prison, according to what her mother said in an interview with Efe.

“Before I used to see her every 15 days, but now the (prison) directive has changed and I won’t be able to visit her until the end of the month,” Ana María complains bitterly. The last time she saw her was on July 5.

A municipal court sentenced Brenda last March for the crimes of public disorder and sabotage, according to her sentence, to which EFE had access. continue reading

Díaz was arrested along with her 16-year-old brother, Luis Manuel, who tried to prevent the arrest. The minor was released 17 days later, with a fine of 1,000 Cuban pesos.

The sentence claims that Brenda threw stones at one of the controversial foreign currency stores in her Güira de Melena municipality, entered the establishment with a group of protesters and stole a “wall fan, a pressure cooker and a box of jams.”

According to the prosecution’s indictment, Brenda – who was tried as a man and under her legal name, Freddy Luis – had the flowered dress she was wearing at the time of participating in the march confiscated.

Once in prison, she was shaved and placed in the men’s section. Her hair, which she cared for with devotion, vanished in a matter of minutes and that caused her to fall into a strong state of depression, according to her mother.

Ana María reviews the details of the case with a stoicism that is interrupted when she begins to relate that her daughter has already suffered a sexual assault in prison.

Her voice cracks with a tone that mixes anger with sadness: “Sometimes I can’t even talk about it… she’s my life. Because of her illnesses, because of everything. I still can’t get over her being locked up.”

Her daughter’s sentence is not final and on June 17 the appeals trial was held, with which Ana María hopes that the sentence can be reduced or that Brenda can serve her sentence in freedom. So far, the family has not received any notice from the court.

Until June 22, the Cuban Public Ministry had reported firm sentences against 488 11J protesters, with maximum sentences of 25 years for crimes such as sedition, public disorder, attack and contempt.

In the accusation against Brenda, the Prosecutor’s Office collects data that, for the journalist and trans activist Mel Herrera, is “re-victimizing” and “stigmatizing.” For example, in the brief it is highlighted that Díaz wore a dress, that she is HIV-positive and her gender identity is confused with a “sexual orientation.”

“The clothing had nothing to do with what was being judged. It was not a weapon, it was not conclusive evidence. That dress, by pointing it out, is simply revealing a prejudice because the State is wanting to say that that person is in disguise,” complains Herrera in a telephone interview.

In addition, in a paragraph the court highlights that before the 11J protests she was rejected by her neighbors for “engaging in disturbances of the public order,” without specifying what is meant by that.

Herrera recalls that in Cuba it is possible to change the legal name of a trans person on their identity card and also the photo, but not the gender registered at birth.

This legal vacuum allows other arrested trans people like Brenda to end up in prisons that do not correspond to their gender identity. The 2019 Cuban Constitution recognizes the principle of “non-discrimination based on gender orientation and identity.”

In addition, the country will submit the Family Code to a referendum in September, a legislative package that seeks to legalize same-sex marriage, among other issues. However, this will not include changes in legislation to facilitate gender change.

The case of Brenda “shows that although there is political will and an openness from the government, it is very difficult for this to be reflected in practice,” concludes Herrera.

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Cuba Exceeds One Hundred Daily Cases of Covid for the First Time in Two Months

Health authorities warned ten days ago about a slight increase in Covid cases due to the subvariant BA.5. (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 23 July 2022 — Cuba exceeded one hundred daily cases of Covid-19 on Saturday for the first time in more than two months, confirming 114 new infections.

The last time the Ministry of Public Health registered more than 100 new positives in one day was on May 14, when it reported 103 infected.

Then, the number of people newly infected with SARS-Cov-2 began to fall for several consecutive days, and deaths were not reported.

The total number of PCR tests has also decreased, accounting for about 2,509 daily, according to official statistics.

“As of the end of yesterday, July 22, a total of 714 patients were admitted, 290 suspected cases and 424 active confirmed,” the Ministry of Health said on Saturday in its daily report on Covid.

Health authorities warned ten days ago about a slight increase in cases due to the circulation in the country of the subvariant BA.5 of the Omicron variant of the virus.

They assure that they maintain “control” of the disease, due to the high rates of vaccination with their own anti-Covid 19 formulas that reach almost 98% of the population considered “vaccinable.”

Havana and Matanzas lead the regions of the country with the most reported cases, although they don’t reach one hundred or the levels of last summer, when they exceeded a thousand.

On the other hand, this Saturday the World Health Organization declared an international emergency, due to the current outbreak of monkeypox, after some 16,000 cases have already been reported in 75 countries, many of them in Europe, where the disease was not endemic. Of the total, only five people with the disease have died. continue reading

The decision was announced at a press conference by the Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, two days after an emergency committee with experts in this disease met to discuss the possible declaration, which will oblige national health networks to increase their preventive measures.

The committee had chosen not to declare the emergency at a first meeting held in June (when cases were at 3,000), and on this occasion, according to Tedros, there was also no total consensus among the experts, but the director general decided to declare the emergency in view of the high and growing number of cases in various regions around the world. At the moment, Cuba has not registered any cases of monkeypox.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Honduras and Cuba Sign a Memorandum to Strengthen Their Bilateral Relationship

The Honduran diplomat pointed out that the memorandum of understanding will serve for the peoples of Honduras and Cuba to persevere in strengthening ties of closeness and solidarity. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Tegucigalpa, 19 July 2022 — The Governments of Honduras and Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations, an official source reported on Monday in Tegucigalpa.

The memorandum was signed on Sunday by the Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eduardo Enrique Reina, and the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Strategic Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca, along with the Cuban ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Juan Roberto Loforte, the Presidential House said in a statement.

“This memorandum opens up to us the possibility of going through new paths of collaboration in science and technology, literacy programs and scholarship exchange, among others,” Reina said.

“Cuba has a lot to teach in the field of health and public education, because it has obtained universally recognized achievements in these fields, and I hope that this valuable acquisition will be a fundamental ingredient in this new stage that begins,” he added.

The Honduran diplomat pointed out that the memorandum of understanding will serve for the peoples of Honduras and Cuba to persevere in strengthening ties of closeness and solidarity, as well as mutual understanding, the statement adds.

Reina also expressed the solidarity of the Honduran Government, chaired by Xiomara Castro, in the face of the economic blockade “of which the island has been a victim,” in addition to “continuing to raise its voice to condemn interference and intervention in the self-determination of the Cuban people and in the internal affairs of Havana.” continue reading

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Strategic Investment indicated that the signing of the memorandum “represents the rebirth and strengthening of the bonds of brotherhood, solidarity and cooperation between Honduras and Cuba.”

Malmierca recalled that his country has supported the people of Honduras in areas such as health and education through medical brigades and literacy campaigns.

“Nothing says more about solidarity and friendship between our peoples than the presence of our Cuban doctors in Honduras,” he said.

The senior Cuban official said that the program of cooperation in health matters between the two countries was “truncated by the coup d’état” of June 28, 2009 against the then-president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, who is now an advisor to Xiomara Castro, his wife.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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