Category: EFE

Russia Defeats Cuba (8–0) in a Friendly Soccer Match in the Former Stalingrad Stadium

Calvo and Pinyaev fight for a ball during the match, played this Monday in Volgograd. (Ivan Rybalko)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Moscow, 21 November 2023 — The Russian national team overwhelmed Cuba (8-0) this Monday in an unprecedented friendly match played in the city of Volgograd.

The locals scored three goals in the first 45 minutes through Obliakov, Golovin and Antón Miranchuk. The weak Cuban team conceded another five goals in the second half, the work of Silianov, Sobolev, Prutsev, Krivtsov and Mostovói.

The Russian Piniaev missed a penalty in the 85th minute, a shot that was stopped by the Cuban goalkeeper.

The match, which was attended by more than 40,000 spectators, was played in the Volgograd arena, the stadium located on the banks of the Volga River, in ancient Stalingrad, the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

The match, which was attended by more than 40,000 spectators, was played in the Volgograd arena, the stadium located on the banks of the Volga River

It was the biggest victory of the team led by Valeri Karpin since it was excluded from international competitions due to the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

The Cuban coach, Yunielys Castillo, started with the following eleven: Arozarena; Pérez, Díaz, Sánchez, Calvo; Torres, Morrejón, Espino, Gloor, Paradela and Delgado.

Russia had never faced the Cuban national team before. The only precedent was the match played between the Soviet Union and the Cuban national team at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, with the same result (8-0).

During the last two years, the Russians have had to face teams such as Cameroon, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Iran and Iraq due to the refusal of top-level teams to compete against the vilified Slavic team.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At Least Twelve Ladies in White Were Arrested in Cuba This Sunday, Denounces Berta Soler

In January 2022, when the Ladies in White marched again after a pause due to the pandemic, Berta Soler herself was arrested. (Capture)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 21, 2023 — The leader of the Cuban women’s opposition movement Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White], Berta Soler, denounced on Monday the arrest of at least 12 members of her group, a day before and in different parts of the country, to prevent their attendance at the religious service in Catholic temples.

Soler warned from her social networks that several of her colleagues were temporarily detained in police stations in the towns of Colón, Unión de Reues and Cárdenas, all in the province of Matanzas, and another n the Havana neighborhood of Calabazar, who was held for two hours inside a patrol car.

This was the 67th Sunday since, in 2022, the Ladies in White began to report acts of repression against them when they leave their homes with the intention of going to church.

Members of the organization have been arrested almost every Sunday since – in January 2022 – they decided to march again, after a pause due to the pandemic, to demand the release of those arrested in the protests of 11 July 2021 and other political prisoners. continue reading

The Ladies in White movement emerged in 2003 on the initiative of a group of women relatives of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists who were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences during the Black Spring.

In 2005, the Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience from the European Parliament.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Filmmakers Say Change in Leadership at Film Institute is Not Enough

The ACC was formed in June following a controversial action by cultural officials. (Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers/Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio) Havana, 1 November 2023 — The independent Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers (ACC) claimed on Sunday that the problem with the country’s official film institute “is not its president” — a reference to a recent change in leadership at the organization – but with its industrial, financial and artistic underpinnings, which ACC says “have collapsed.”

“What matters is not who the public face of the organization is but what that person represents and projects,” wrote the ACC in response to the recent announcement by the Ministry of Culture that journalist Alexis Triana had been appointed president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).

In its statement the ACC described Triana as an official who “has actively and consciously contributed to the direction that we as filmmakers have questioned.” It added, however, that this is about “much more than one person; it is an issue about methodology.” continue reading

ACC described the new head of the country’s official film institute as an official who “has played an active and conscious part in a direction that we, as filmmakers, have questioned.” 

“ICAIC — an organization at the center of a system controlled for decades by the Ministry of Culture – has, to a large extent, been destroyed by the same [government] leaders who appoint and remove its presidents without realizing that they are not the real problem.”

ACC emphasized, “What matters is not who the public face of the organization is but rather what that person represents and projects.” In its opinion, the issue is not who is president but rather the institute’s “complete subordination to a cultural bureaucracy that paralizes and nullifies it.”

“All the structural components that make up the Cuban cinema system are weakened or broken,” the ACC maintains.

“Without autonomy, with few creators on its payroll, without movie theaters, without resources, without a true international profile,” it argues, “there is little that can be done to protect filmmakers from this systematic exercise of intimidation and control, which is embedded in the very DNA of Cuban cultural and public policy.”

The ACC was formed in June in response to a controversial action by cultural officials. “A solution to the crisis of Cuban cinema cannot come from the same hands that created it,” the group states. “Therefore, whoever happens to preside over the ICAIC is nothing more than a side note.”

It also added, “If this pattern of command and control does not change, if relationships of respect, a desire for understanding and dialogue are not established, our differences as filmmakers and as Cubans will continue to worsen,” it adds.

“If this pattern of command and control does not change, if relationships of respect, a desire for understanding and dialogue are not established, our differences as filmmakers and as Cubans will continue to worsen”

The ACC emphasizes that its existence does not depend on “those who refuse to face our real problems.” It advocates continuing to work towards “the complex, diverse, inclusive, controversial and pluralistic cinema in which we believe.”

The ACC was formed after officials censored the documentary Fito’s Havana by director Juan Pin Vilar and later broadcast an unauthorized version of the film on state television.

The group objected to these actions in an open letter signed by more than 600 film professionals, among them the director Fernando Pérez as well as the actors Jorge Perugorría and Luis Alberto García.

Since then, more than fifty union representatives have met with officials from the Ministry of Culture, ICAIC, the government and the Cuban communist party to discuss these and other issues, including a new law on cinema.

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Cuba Holds a Meeting With Emigrants as the Largest Exodus in Decades Continues

Among the main novelties of the event is the emphasis on promoting Cuban migrants to invest in the country. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 18 November 2023 — The Nation and Emigration conference, where the Cuban Government will meet in Havana with several hundred invited emigrants, starts this Saturday while the economic crisis fuels the largest national exodus in decades.

Among the main novelties of the event is its emphasis on promoting Cuban migrants to invest in the country, especially in the incipient private sector that is forming small, newly created companies. The focus is especially on Cuban-Americans.

In an interview with Temas magazine, the general director of Consular Affairs and Cubans Living Abroad in Cuba, Ernesto Soberón, explained that one of the objectives is “to create ways so that Cubans who want and desire can contribute to the economic development of the country”.

In general terms, the conference is understood by the Cuban Government as a mechanism to conduct dialogue with Cubans abroad and as a symbol of the “continuity” of this exchange. continue reading

“It will be an opportunity to update our compatriots, first-hand, about the Cuban reality and their participation in the development of the Homeland,” Soberón wrote on social networks; EFE has requested an interview with him but so far received no answer.

The event, which continues until Sunday, will begin with a speech by Miguel Díaz-Canel. Some 300 Cuban emigrants of different generations and residents of 50 countries will participate in the meeting. The Cuban Government sent invitations to some of them; others requested to attend and were admitted, the organizers explained.

In this meeting the country will open its “arms to its children residing abroad,” but with a nuance. “Those who respect and defend the soil where they were born will always be welcome.”

Díaz-Canel wrote on social networks that for this meeting the country will open its “arms to its children residing abroad,” but with a nuance. “Those who respect and defend the soil where they were born will always be welcome,” he added.

The majority of participants whose identities have been revealed are people linked to solidarity groups with Cuba abroad. The first edition of this conference took place in 1978 and the last one was held 19 years ago. It represents a change in Havana’s treatment of the Cuban community abroad, marked by political differences and exile since the triumph of the Revolution in 1959.

The debates, which will not be public, have been grouped into four thematic panels, among which the one on socioeconomic development and investment stands out, which aims to promote the entry of foreign capital into the country.

The commitment complements other measures taken by the Government of Cuba in the same direction in recent months, such as the pavilion for Cuban emigrants at the Havana International Fair, the largest business event in the country.

The other three thematic panels of the conference are perspectives on the country’s relationship with its emigrants, their communications with the country, and culture as identity, the organization explained.

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, stressed that the Government’s “will” is to “build a respectful and civilized relationship” with the United States. The Cuban Foreign Minister criticized that Washington “lacks the political will to move in that direction.”

The Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, stressed that the “will” of the Government is to “build a respectful and civilized relationship” with the United States

“During 2015, 2016 and 2017 we demonstrated that willingness and it was also confirmed that would be something possible and mutually beneficial,” he indicated. Furthermore, he said that the conference “is a fortunate and unequivocal example of the irreversible strengthening of the ties between Cuba and its nationals abroad.”

Cuba is mired in a serious economic crisis with no signs of recovery in the short or medium term due to the combination of the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and decisions on national economic and monetary policy.

The shortage of basic products (food, medicine and fuel), rampant inflation, partial dollarization of the economy and frequent blackouts have led many to consider leaving the country in the face of uncertainty and lack of prospects.

So far this year, more than 57,000 Cubans have received parole to legally enter the United States, out of the hundreds of thousands who have requested it in the 11 months that this immigration mechanism has been in force.

In addition, some 110,000 Cubans were intercepted entering the United States irregularly between January and September of this year, according to official statistics.

In 2022, more than 313,000 Cubans arrived by land in the US and several thousand arrived by sea (and were mostly returned). An additional tens of thousands of Cubans went primarily to Spain, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

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Independent Platforms Confirm Two New Femicides in Cuba, For a Total of 75 in 2023

The femicide of Maylin Fernández Sánchez occurred on the outskirts of Güines, Mayabeque, between November 4 and 5. (DC)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, 13 November 2023 — The Cuban independent feminist platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo (YSTC) verified this Monday two new sexist murders in Cuba, bringing the number of femicides in the country so far in 2023 to 75, according to the list maintained by 14ymedio.

The organizations reported the murder of Maylin Fernández Sánchez, aged about 43, which occurred between November 4 and 5 in Güines, Mayabeque, and that of Ana María Laria, aged 62, which occurred in Playa de Guanabo, Havana, on November 22. September.

“Elements that allow defining the type of femicide have not yet been verified, but gender bias has been corroborated by the extreme violence exerted, allegedly at the hands of an ex-partner or acquaintance,” the platforms said about the first case.

The alleged perpetrator of the second feminicide is the victim’s husband. “These facts were published by the press, citizens and activists, and verified by joint efforts,” stressed the two platforms, which have contact numbers for victims of sexist violence. continue reading

The femicides recorded to date by these independent groups – in the absence of official statistics – represent more than double the total of those quantified in 2022, a total of 36.

The femicides recorded to date by these independent groups – in the absence of official statistics – represent more than double the total of those quantified in 2022 (36)

On October 31, they confirmed the sexist murders of Aracelis Cala Pérez, 32 years old, in Pinar del Río; Yesica García Duany, 28 years old, in Santiago de Cuba, and Yubisleydis Gamboa Ricardo, 34 years old, in Granma.

The work of these feminist groups and their dissemination in the independent media has contributed to highlighting the cases of sexist murders and disappearances of Cuban women in recent years.

The activists insist that a “state of emergency due to gender violence” must be declared, and regret that the Government has not taken measures in this regard.

In addition, they advocate for a comprehensive law against gender violence (sexist murder is not classified in the Penal Code) and the implementation of protocols to prevent these events, as well as the creation of shelters and rescue systems for women and their children in danger.

Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, this year, called for “zero tolerance” of sexist violence and assured that in Cuba any criminal act is “exaggerated” and, in particular, those of gender violence, in his opinion for a “manifesto imperial effort to create a climate of insecurity and mistrust” on the Island.

In June, the official Federation of Cuban Women presented the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality, which includes statistics of “women who have been victims of intentional homicide as a consequence of gender violence in the last 12 months.”

This registry counted 18 cases in 2022, the same figure provided by the Supreme Court when referring to the number of convictions for femicides, all with penalties – for the crime of murder – above 25 years in prison.

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A Dozen Women Block a Street in Old Havana After Several Days Without Water

This type of protest is increasingly common in Cuba where the lack of a water supply affects 450,000 people throughout the country. (EFE/Felipe Borrego)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana,12  November 2023 — With buckets, tanks and other containers, a dozen women with their children blocked the way for vehicles on Monte Street on the corner of Agramonte Street in Old Havana. After several days without any water supply, residents in the area decided to cut off traffic this Saturday in protest of the situation they are suffering.

“We are not doing anything illegal, we are demanding our right,” said one of the neighbors through a video broadcast by the CubaNet news portal. “When the water truck comes we’ll leave,” said another.

The women sat along the street and remained in place for about half an hour until the police arrived. The agents took the names of several of the protesters and asked some people who were recording the scene for identification. continue reading

According to CubaNet, a short time later three tanker trucks with water arrived in the neighborhood.

The agents took the names of several of the protesters and asked some people who were recording the scene for identification

This type of protest is increasingly common in Cuba where the lack of a water supply affects 450,000 people throughout the country, of which more than 156,000 lack adequate access due to the poor state of hydraulic infrastructure and other problems.

Last September, the residents of Dragones Street, between Rayo and San Nicolás, in Central Havana, built an improvised barricade that forced the authorities to transport a tanker truck to the neighborhood suffering from lack of water. The improvised wall, made of buckets, plastic tanks and other household items, prevented the passage of vehicles and police patrols for hours.

The constant breakdowns of pumping equipment, the poor state of the pipe network and the drought have combined to aggravate the water supply situation in the Cuban capital.

The Havana Water Company has recognized the poor situation of supply services throughout the capital, more serious in areas such as Cerro, Plaza de la Revolución, Diez de Octubre, Centro Habana and Habana Vieja.

In the last twelve months, 88% of the average historical rainfall has been recorded, which has caused a reduction in stored water and groundwater.

A report from the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) indicated that the drought affected 27% of Cuba during May, June and July due to the deficit in accumulated rainfall of more than 60%.

The report from the specialized organization, corresponding to the end of the summer, specifies that the most affected provinces were Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque and Matanzas (all in the west of the country).

Insmet added that continued low rainfall, known as “meteorological drought,” predominated in that region.

About 59% of the country’s 168 municipalities presented a “moderate to extreme” drought in the period, according to the report presented on the Insmet website.

In the last 12 months, 88% of the average historical value of rainfall has been recorded, which has caused a reduction in stored and groundwater. Cuban experts predict more “recurrent and intense” droughts due to the effects of climate change.

“Around 2,070,000 people receive [water] service every 3 days or more, and there are 478 population settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants that do not have – totally or partially – aqueduct networks,” indicated the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources ( INRH), Antonio Rodríguez cited in the official newspaper Granma.

The INRH director mentioned that last June alone, more than 260 breakdowns were reported that affected more than 380,000 people.

A group of neighbors demand water at Monte and Agramonte, Havana. Mario J. Pentón 

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Freedom of the Press Continues To Deteriorate in Cuba Due to High Level of Repression

Independent journalist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, being repressed by State Security agents, in a 2020 image. (Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, November 10, 2023 — Freedoms of press and expression “continued to deteriorate” in Cuba, where in recent months multiple independent journalists have been arrested, harassed and assaulted, denounces the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).

According to a preliminary report scheduled to be approved this Sunday by the Press Freedom Commission of this organization in its biannual assembly, the ecosystem of the island’s unofficial media continues to suffer a “high level of repression.”

This materializes, the text details, through “arbitrary detentions,” “house arrests,” “surveillance” and “harassment through subpoenas,” pointing out these as “the most common forms of repression against independent journalism.”

The document highlights the situation of Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca and Jorge Bello, independent journalists who have been imprisoned for two years.

Valle Roca was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime of continued enemy propaganda, and his health problems are not being properly addressed. Bello is serving 15 years in prison for contempt, after continue reading

participating in the anti-government protests of 11 July 2021.

The organization also includes four cases of Cubans in prison “for recording or broadcasting live protests” and four house arrests or detentions

The organization also includes four cases of Cubans in prison “for recording or broadcasting live protests” and four house arrests or detentions, including those of Camila Acosta – from Cubanet – and Henry Constantín, director of the independent media La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the IAPA.

The text also records the “detentions for hours or days” of 22 people – including journalists (Yoani Sánchez*, Reinaldo Escobar*), writers (Jorge Fernández Era) and intellectuals (Alina Bárbara López) – and the “physical and psychological assaults” on five individuals, including those suffered by YouTuber Yoandi Montiel, known as El Gato de Cuba.

The report also highlights that Internet cuts to independent journalists continue to be used with “profusion” by State Security and cites more than thirty affected professionals.

The report also documents a dozen Cuban journalists who are prohibited from leaving the country “for exclusively political reasons,” including Acosta, Escobar and Constantín.

The IAPA mentions in its file on Cuba the serious crisis in which the country has been immersed for more than two years: “In this period the precarious living conditions were accentuated.”

It specifically quoted “increasing inflation,” which “continues to pulverize the value of state wages and pensions,” the “chaos” in public health, the increase in public transport prices due to the lack of fuel, frequent blackouts and the lack of running water in some municipalities.

In Venezuela, “for many years,” the “constant and systematic regime of censorship” that “generates self-censorship among the media” is maintained

Similarly, the IAPA affirmed that in Venezuela, “for many years,” the “constant and systematic regime of censorship” that “generates self-censorship among the independent media” is maintained.

According to a preliminary report, in Venezuela, “at least two stations go off the air every month” by order of the State regulatory body, the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), to whose “discretionary opinion” television and radio media are subject.

It points out that “Conatel also continued to censor and close spaces of the independent print media that were forced to migrate to web platforms,” where blocks are also recorded.

“Journalists are besieged by the regime and are harassed and threatened when they try to cover social protests or report irregularities and corruption,” the IAPA said.

The document mentions some violations of press freedom that have taken place so far in 2023 and cites a report from the Institute of Press and Society (IPYS) of Venezuela, which revealed that between May and August of this year there were 117 violations of freedom of expression that affected 68 press workers.

As a positive aspect, the IAPA highlighted the release of journalist Roland Carreño, arrested since October 2020 and released on October 18, as part of a new negotiation between the Government and the opposition.

However, it said that the journalist “was a victim of forced disappearance, and on six occasions humanitarian measures were requested for health problems.” In addition, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Human Rights Council declared his detention arbitrary and “warned that incarceration is a systematic practice in the country.”

The report exposes at least 22 specific cases of press persecution, including the closure of stations and news spaces within them, the intimidation of journalists and media by public officials and the blocking of digital portals.

The IAPA, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas, is made up of more than 1,300 publications in the Western Hemisphere.

*Translator’s note: Yoani Sánchez and Reinaldo Escobar are the creators and publishers of 14ymedio.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Motorcycles, Mopeds and Pedestrians Have Been Involved in 55 Percent of Accidents in Cuba During 2023

The human factor determines 90% of traffic accidents in Cuba, according to the Police. (Granma)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 11 November 2023 —  Motorcycles, mopeds and pedestrians have been involved in 55% of the accidents recorded in Cuba between January and October 2023, the Island’s traffic authorities said this Friday.

The head of the specialized transit agency of the Police, Colonel Roberto Rodríguez, said in statements to national television that these three actors have accounted for 59% of the deaths and 50% of those injured in the accidents that occurred in that period.

In the first ten months of this year, 6,965 traffic accidents have been recorded in the country, which left 562 dead and 5,643 injured, according to official data. continue reading

Traffic authorities indicated that accidents decreased by more than 1,000 on Cuban roads and highways compared to the same period of 2022, when 8,187 were reported.

Among the main causes of accidents were violations of the right of way, speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol

But they stressed their concern about the increase in the danger of the accidents that have involved mopeds, whose circulation has grown to about 400,000 on the Island.

Among the main causes of accidents were violations of the right of way, speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol, a situation in which 1,327 people were detected.

To this are added the distractions caused by listening to music with high volume, using a mobile phone or eating food, the technical imperfections of the vehicles and the poor condition of the roads.

In the case of pedestrian collisions, the head of traffic said that there was a “discreet decrease” although the number of deaths increased – 30 more in 2023 (159) – than the 129 reported the previous year.

He stressed that the human factor is determining 90% of traffic accidents in the country and considered that the main factor is the discipline of drivers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Castro’s ‘Ten Million Ton Harvest’ Comes to Miami Theater by the Hand of Nilo Cruz

Photograph by Arca Images of a scene from the play Un parque en mi casa (A Park in my Home) by Nilo Cruz. (EFE/Arca Images)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Jorge I. Pérez, Miami, November 9, 2023 — The so-called 10 Million Ton Harvest of 1970, one of Fidel Castro’s first megaprojects, served as a historical backdrop for the Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz to write and direct Un parque en mi casa (A Park in my Home), whose Spanish premiere will be this Thursday in Miami with a “very simple and symbolic scenery”: a prop house.

Cruz, the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for theater with Anna in the Tropics (2002), says in an interview with EFE that “writing about 1970, a year that changed my life, was a way to rescue a moment that I didn’t fully understand at the time.”

In Un parque en mi casa, according to the promotional notes for the new play, five relatives of an improvised Cuban family are waiting for the arrival of a Russian who will live with them as part of an international exchange program.

Each character, he adds, must fight with a life “full of changes and uncertainties, a divided country and an uncertain future, while working to continue reading

meet the objectives of the ten million ton sugar harvest,” a production goal set by Castro in 1970 that ultimately was not achieved.

About the cast, the playwright points out that he has two veteran actors that he admires very much, Carlos Acosta Milián and Gretel Trujillo

Castro’s ambitious project, which mobilized almost the entire country, was not achieved but marked a spirit of possibility that Cruz has used from the point of view domestic intimacy.

“My father, a former political prisoner in several prisons in Cuba, including the Castle of San Severino and the Isle of Pines Prison, Puerto Boniato, was one of those victims forced to cut cane for the 10 Million Ton Harvest,” Cruz explains.

“In my house,” he explains, “we saw how he arrived despondent after doing his work in the cane fields. I remember that because of the brutal and extensive work he developed a chronic pain in his back.”

With four performances starting this Thursday in the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, Un parque en mi casa presents these characters “through a background of sadness and loss.”

They “carry in themselves a remarkable source of humor, healing and strength,” says the program notes of Arca Images, the company in charge of the editing and, according to its website, one of the main producers of bilingual Hispanic theater in South Florida.

I remember that due to the brutal and extensive work he developed a chronic pain in his back

About the cast, the playwright points out that he has two veteran actors that he admires very much, Carlos Acosta Milián and Gretel Trujillo.

Four actors who are working with him for the first time are also part of this production: Claudia Tomás, Daniel Romero, Guillermo Cabré and Ricky Saavedra.

Cruz, who in addition to the Pulitzer has received numerous awards, including those from the Kennedy Center Fund, the American Theatre Critics and the Humana Festival for New American Plays, wrote Un parque en mi casa, his original title, on a commission in 1995 by the McCarter Theater company, of Princeton, New Jersey.

“They invited me to participate in a festival of short plays based on the theme of the home. After having lived for many years in the United States, the subject made me travel through memory and write about my childhood in Cuba,” explains the playwright, who arrived in this country at the age of nine.

According to Cruz, the Russian who appears in the play “is a fictional character who functions as a detonator and at the same time a catalyst, who demystifies the revolutionary socialist romance of that time.” “He makes them all see a very different reality from what they imagined about the system,” he points out.

At the Miami showing, the public will see “a very simple scenery” that serves “to suggest an old house, underpinned by its poor condition. These wooden struts not only work to hold walls, but also as a symbol of sustaining the structure of a revolution that is crumbling.”

After having lived for many years in the United States, the subject made me travel through memory and write about my childhood in Cuba

According to Lillian Guerra’s Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971, the 10 Million Ton Harvest between 1969 and 1970 was “the government’s attempt to revive popular euphoria through massive mobilizations to cut sugar cane and produce a record harvest to defeat underdevelopment.”

But the massive 1970 harvest did not reach ten million tons and damaged the island’s global economy, which was neglected.

“I think many will possibly identify with the loves, dreams and disenchantments of these characters, and the double life they undergo to survive,” Cruz predicts shortly before the premiere.

“The disillusionment, the disappointment continues to be repeated in all parts of the world, but we continue to attach ourselves to the arrogance of hope. The only thing we can’t lose is faith in the good and exercise that power within us and in all our actions,” he said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Marrero Proposes Direct Flights Between Cuba and China To Facilitate Bilateral Trade

Chinese tourists spend a lot of money, and although  they are still scarce in Cuba, the authorities seek to attract them. (Capture/Xinhua)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Beijing, 8 November 2023 — The Prime Minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, expressed his interest in establishing direct flights between Beijing and Havana, a measure aimed at facilitating trade and business between both nations. “I wish we could launch a direct flight tomorrow. But unfortunately we still don’t have a clear schedule. But I think it could start next year,” Marrero said in statements made on Tuesday during a business forum in Beijing.

This proposal arises as economic and commercial cooperation between China and Cuba intensifies, generating a growing demand for direct flights, said Marrero, according to the official newspaper Global Times.

The Cuban leader also emphasized the importance of attracting foreign investment and improving autonomy in food production

The Cuban leader also emphasized the importance of attracting foreign investment and improving autonomy in food production. In addition, he stated that Cuba is working on the transformation of its energy system, including wind and solar energy projects, and on the digitization of Cuban television in collaboration with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Regarding his meeting on Monday with the president of China, Xi Jinping, Marrero stressed the “special relationship of unbreakable friendship” between the Island and the Asian giant and the progressive growth of these ties. continue reading

In turn, the Cuban prime minister expressed his gratitude for China’s continued support and reiterated his opposition to the United States embargo.

“I can guarantee, and I can say with confidence, that without a blockade, Cuba would be a country that would have achieved a lot in economic development,” Marrero said. This is Marrero’s first visit to China since he was appointed prime minister in 2019.

The Cuban leader began his official trip to China in the megalopolis of Shanghai (east), where he attended the VI International Import Exhibition of China this weekend and met with his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang.

After his stay in China, Marrero is expected to travel to Belarus, where he will remain until November 12, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry

The Prime Minister’s visit follows that made by the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in November last year, in which Xi told his Cuban counterpart that China “will do everything possible to provide support” to Cubans in the face of the “great challenges” they face.

Cuba has been in one of its worst crises for several years due to, among other factors, the inefficiency of its centralized economic system, translated into shortages of fuel, food, medicines and other basic products.

Cuba and China, with diplomatic ties since 1960, maintain close political, economic and commercial relations, and the China stands out as one of the main allies of the communist Island.

After his stay in China, Marrero is expected to travel to Belarus, where he will remain until November 12, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

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.

Mexico Gets Entangled in Its Explanations About Shipments of Oil to Cuba

Vilma, an oil tanker with the Cuban flag, has made several trips between Mexico and Cuba since July. (Vesselfinder)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 8 November 2023 — The Government of Mexico “has no commercial relationship” in the energy sector with Cuba, despite oil shipments from Mexico to the Island, the Mexican Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Alejandro Encinas Nájera, said on Tuesday in Havana.

Speaking to EFE during the National Day of Mexico at the International Fair of Havana, Encinas argued that, consequently, “there would be no reason” for companies such as the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to be sanctioned by the United States for negotiating with Cuba. “Mexico is a sovereign country that has to diversify its trade relations,” the undersecretary said.

On October 16, Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied that there were adverse reactions from the United States and lenders over the sale of Pemex crude to Cuba. Similarly, the C.E.O. of Pemex, Octavio Romero Oropeza, denied that the oil company, the most indebted in the world, had donated crude oil to Cuba. continue reading

So far it is unknown why Mexico agreed to send oil to the Island, which depends on imports from countries such as Russia and Venezuela to jumpstart its flimsy electrical system.

Furthermore, the United States Export and Import Bank (Exim) denied in October that it had canceled financing to Pemex for sending oil to Cuba, as reported in some media.

According to data from the University of Texas Energy Institute, to which EFE had access, Mexico sent about 750,000 barrels to the Island in October.

According to data from the University of Texas Energy Institute, to which EFE had access, Mexico sent about 750,000 barrels to the Island in October

From March to September, Mexico sent 2.8 million barrels to Cuba, valued at about 200 million dollars, according to the figures collected by the university. Last month, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, said that her country is evaluating “options” to charge Cuba for the fuel it sends.

“In every way we can, we will help the people of Cuba. We will do it so that they no longer have any doubts, including about oil, because they are a people that is suffering an inhuman, unjust blockade, and we cannot turn our backs on the people of Cuba,” López Obrador said in mid-October.

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.

Mexico Deports 105 Irregular Migrants to Cuba

Around 100 Cubans are in the caravan that left Tapachula. (Facebook/Irineo Mujica)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 November 2023 — A group of 105 Cubans arrived this Saturday in Havana on a flight from Mexico as part of an agreement between the two nations to return irregular migrants to their country of origin, the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) reported. The Cubans (70 men and 35 women) “legally left Cuba and later became involved in irregular routes to try to reach Mexico’s border with the United States,” it added.

The Cuban authorities said that this is the ninth operation from that country in 2023, with 677 people in total.

It is estimated that in 2022, around 4% of the Cuban population left the country, and this year’s figures could be similar according to those accumulated to date

“In general, with this flight there have been 119 returns made this year, with 4,884 people returned from different nations in the region,” the Minint reported. continue reading

The migratory wave, unprecedented in the volume of migrants, is due to the serious economic crisis that the Island suffers, with a great shortage of basic products (food, medicines and fuel), galloping inflation, frequent blackouts and a partial dollarization of the economy.

It is estimated that in 2022, around 4% of the Cuban population left the country and this year’s figures could be similar according to those accumulated to date.

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.

Stampede of Cuban Athletes at the Pan American Games in Chile: Seven Escape in the Last Few Days

Six hockey players left the Cuban team after losing the fifth place game against Uruguay. (Facebook/Francys Romero)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 5 November 2023 —  The escapes this Saturday in Chile of the Cuban field hockey players Yunia Milanés, Jennifer Martínez, Yakira Guillén, Lismary González, Helec Carta and Geidy Morales, and the bronze medalist in the 400 meters hurdles, Yoao Illas, defeated the enthusiasm of the regime who proclaimed the achievement of 30 gold medals, one more than the sports authorities of the Island dared to predict in the Pan American Games.

Milanés, Martínez, Guillén, González, Carta and Morales, according to journalist Francys Romero, “left the group at noon on Saturday, after completing the game for fifth place that they lost against Uruguay (3-0)” in the Pan American Games, that end this Sunday.

Francys Romero also detailed that, with the escape of the six hockey players, 61 Cuban athletes have abandoned contracts or delegations during 2023.

Hockey is one of the disciplines hardest hit by the exodus on the Island due to the precarious conditions in which the athletes train, according to Daylin Suárez, Yadira Miclín Galban and Marianela López, who left the team last May because the Institute National Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) had them “starving and cooking with firewood.” They indicated that the salary was “a pittance,” in addition to the fact that they were “hungrier than a caged lion.” continue reading

The three athletes who escaped in Spain requested political asylum, but the immigration interview will not take place until February 2024. “The situation at the Antonio Maceo Field Hockey School in Havana is very sad. There is a lot of hunger” Daylin Suárez reiterated to 14ymedio. “We train in terrible conditions, without sports equipment, because the country says it does not have the resources to care for athletes.”

In that same month, Lázaro Tolón, Yuri Brown and Yordanqui Méndez left “a training camp in Chile.” The first of the hockey players escaped on the second day of their stay where the Pan American Games are held.

The day after the Toulon escape, Yuri Brown was reported missing. The Havana athlete did not appear at the roll call held by those responsible for the delegation. Meanwhile Yordanqui Méndez took the opportunity to leave the Cuban team after the euphoria due to the beating that Cuba gave, 11-0 goals, to the Manquehue club team.

Las velocistas Laura Moreira, Enis Pérez, Yarima García y Yunisleidy de la Caridad García conquistaron el oro en el relevo 4x100 metros. (Jit)
The sprinters Laura Moreira, Enis Pérez, Yarima García and Yunisleidy de la Caridad García won gold in the 4×100 meter relay. (Jit)

In another escape, the bronze medalist in the 400 meters hurdles, Yoao Illas, separated from the group after clocking 49.74 seconds and reaching the podium in Chile.

“The lack of attention from the authorities and the deep crisis that the country is going through, accompanied by the possibilities that open up in other latitudes, are the main causes of the abandonment of athletes,” summarized Swing Completo about Yoao Illas, who this year was champion in the Alba Games in Venezuela and the Cuba Cup in Havana.

The 382 Cubans who arrived in Santiago de Chile, with the burden of escapes in recent months, showed new faces. The authorities only dared to predict between 18 and 22 gold medals, 12 silver and more than 35 bronze medals.

This Sunday, the medal table shows that the Island has accumulated 30 gold medals, 21 silver and 17 bronze for a total of 68, which keeps them in fifth place, surpassed by Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States.

Judo gave the Island five individual medals and one for the team. The successes of experienced judokas, such as Idalis Ortiz (+78 kg), were combined with the revelations of rookies such as Idelannis Gómez, just 21 years old, who won gold by beating the Puerto Rican María Pérez in the 70 kg division. The president of the Cuban Judo Federation, Rafael Manso, attributed the winning of the medals to the “positive mind, work, and a lot of faith in victory.”

Athletics that had been suffering from abandonments, in the Pan American Games found an historic performance with the conquest of the gold medal in the 4×100 meter relay in the sprinters Laura Moreira, Enis Pérez, Yarima García and Yunisleidy de la Caridad García. The runners, belonging to a new generation of athletes, stopped the clocks at 43.72 seconds.

The surprise was even greater in the women’s 100 meter dash where Yunisleidy de la Caridad García rose to the top of the podium with surprising strength despite not being in the majority’s pools for the metals. The 24-year-old athlete achieved a medal for Cuba that had eluded the island for 32 years with a time of 11.36 seconds. “It wasn’t my best mark, but I gave it my all from the heart on that track. After running the semifinal I knew I could win,” she assured the official media outlet Jit.

Cuba sumó este sábado también cuatro medallas de oro en lucha grecorromana. (Jit)
This Saturday, Cuba also added four gold medals in Greco-Roman wrestling. (Jit)

This Saturday, Cuba also added four gold medals in Greco-Roman wrestling, finishing with eight gold medals at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, the most by country in this sport in these events. The winners were Daniel Gregorich (87 kilos), Gabriel Rosillo (97 kilos), Luis Orta (67 kilos) and Oscar Pino (130 kilos) in a competition held at the Olympic Training Center in the Chilean capital.

Gregorich beat Venezuelan Luis Avendaño 5-1, Rosillo beat Venezuelan Luillys Pérez 9-1, Luis Orta beat Colombian Julián Horta 10-1, and Pino beat American Cohlton Schultz 6-0.

In comparison, Cuba won 100 metals at the Pan American Games in Lima (2019) and 97 in Toronto (2015), where it achieved its worst results in more than two decades, after reaching 265 in Havana (1991) and the 238 in Mar de Plata (1995).

This decline is linked to the deep crisis in which the Island is immersed, which complicates the training of athletes. Furthermore, many athletes are leaving Cuba under these circumstances to try their luck as professionals in other countries.

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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.

Three Cuban Officials Are Fired After Controversy Over Award for a Nazi Costume

The organization affirms that the decision has been made “given the seriousness of the event and the evidence of the cultural institution’s failure to foresee it.” (El Necio)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 4 November 2023 — Three officials from the state-run Cuban Rock Agency have been fired due to the controversy surrounding the award given in one of its premises to a young man dressed as a Nazi officer at a Halloween party.

The decision, announced this Friday in a statement from the Cuban Institute of Music, closes the controversy caused by these events, mainly among officialdom, both due to the ideology behind the costume and the celebration of a party considered by the regime as alien to local traditions.

After the analysis of the facts, the institution of the Ministry of Culture reported, the deputy director of the Cuban Rock Agency was “removed from his position” and the two specialists who coordinated the event were “separated from the institution.”

In addition, the director of the Cuban Rock Agency and three directors of the Cuban Institute of Music, in charge of “the approval, evaluation and control of cultural programming” have suffered “other disciplinary measures” not specified in the statement. continue reading

  We emphasize the responsibility of the institutions with cultural promotion

“We emphasize the responsibility of the institutions with cultural promotion, always from inclusive and decolonizing budgets, consistent with the spirit of absolute respect for diversity and freedom that characterize the cultural policy of the Revolution,” wrote the Cuban Institute of Music.

The state center where this Halloween party took place, Maxim Rock, is a venue dedicated to the musical genre of the same name. It is scheduled to reopen this Saturday, after having been temporarily closed last Sunday, one day after the competition.

The images of the young man dressed as a Nazi officer quickly went viral on social networks. Several official media outlets criticized Maxim Rock and the Cuban Institute of Music for celebrating Halloween and rewarding a Nazi costume, speaking of “the dangers of cultural colonization.”

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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.

‘Libres X Derecho’ Arrives in Miami, a Documentary for Young People About Cuba’s ’11J’ Mass Protests

Hundreds of Cubans in San Antonio de los Baños went out to protest against the government on 11 July 2021. (Collage)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, November 3, 2023 — The documentary Libres X Derecho [Free by Right], which includes “a brief account” of what has happened since the popular outbreak in Cuba on 11 July 2021 (’11J’), told from the perspective of 14 relatives of the detainees, is presented this Saturday in Miami before its tour through international festivals, according to its screenwriter, journalist and writer María Matienzo speaking to EFE.

Created by the organization Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana (MDJC) [Cuban Youth Roundtable], which emerged in 2014 “with young people and for young people” to “transform today’s reality on the Island,” the documentary narrates in 27 minutes “how the events happened, how they were imprisoned, what they experienced in the prisons, who they were before 11J and, finally, the convictions,” explains Matienzo.

Libres X Derecho is the work of a team led by MDJC psychologist and coordinator Kirenia Yalit Núñez, who, according to the program, will be present at the screening in Miami.

Under the title #Exprésate: Libres por Derecho [Express Yourself: Free by Right], the event will take place at the Ruka Winewood, in the artistic neighborhood of Wynwood, and, in addition to the documentary, will exhibit 19 collages of urban artists who live in Cuba and have been inspired by the film. continue reading

Matienzo describes the script work as “hard.”

“It was hard to see the testimonies of these parents, because both Kirenia and I were founders of Justicia 11J, an organization that has been dedicated since 11J to locating relatives of the detainees, following up with them and providing them with help.”

Having to relive what we lived that year and seeing that those people continue to suffer has been a doubly heartbreaking process, reliving the months when I thought they were going to kick in my door

“Having to relive what we lived that year and seeing that those those people continue to suffer has been a doubly heartbreaking process, reliving the months in which I thought they were going to kick in my door, as they did to many people in those days and to many who gave their testimony,” adds the screenwriter.

The documentary contains images of the 11J demonstrations taken with mobile phones and interviews with relatives of detainees, including those in San Antonio de los Baños, where the protest began.

“Behind so much suffering and pain, joy has to come, it’s our right,” one of the interviewees says in the promotion trailer.

“All this is accompanied by the process of creating graffiti that are scattered throughout the cities of Havana and Villa Clara that try to translate the testimonies,” says the screenwriter.

The documentary was premiered in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 30 in the framework of the sessions of the Universal Periodic Review

The documentary was premiered in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 30 in the framework of the sessions of the Universal Periodic Review, to which Cuba will be submitted on November 15 by the UN.

In addition to the MDJC, the Miami event has been organized by Civil Rights Defenders and Freedom House.

According to the latest count of Prisoners Defenders, at the end of September there were 1,052 political prisoners in Cuba, mostly people convicted as a result of their participation in the protests of 11 July 2021, the largest in the country in decades.

Since that date, Justice 11J has registered 1,862 people detained for political reasons, of which 911 have been tried and, for the most part, convicted.

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.