Juan Diego Rodríguez – Translating Cuba

San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, Where Humor Has Given Way to Pain

Without electricity and Internet access, this is how its inhabitants spend a good part of their days

Calle Vivanco, in San Antonio de los Baños, this Wednesday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, San Antonio de los Baños, 24 April 2024 — “It hurts to see this town like this,” is the laconic phrase released by a woman sitting in a park in San Antonio de los Baños when a newcomer asks her for an address and tells her how deteriorated he has found the so-called City of Humor. Destroyed sidewalks, facades that don’t conceal the brickwork and the taciturn faces of the people complete the sickly picture of this small town in the province of Artemisa.

A central hub between the agricultural towns of the area and Havana, the land of the Ariguanabo River copes very poorly with the economic crisis and the mass exodus that also affect the rest of the Island. “Blackout!” a neighbor was heard screaming today from inside his house to warn his wife who, sitting at the door, was trying to sell cigarettes one at a time. Seconds later, after the telecommunications towers that provide the web browsing service in the area stopped working, internet access on mobile phones was cut off.

Without electricity and without internet access, this is how the people of San Antonio de los Baños spend a good part of their days. All life is paralyzed when “the power goes out and this town becomes dead,” another local neighbor confirms to 14ymedio who remembers the times when “you had to look before crossing the street because so many cars were circulating.” Now, with the local economy having hit rock bottom, San Antonio de los Baños is not much different from any other place in deep Cuba, where the days are spent standing in line and flies buzz around everywhere.

All life is paralyzed when “the power goes out and this becomes a dead town”

In the streets and houses, drought and problems with the supply of drinking water have added a reddish patina to everything, and the clayey earth of the area is turned into fine dust that gets into every crack. Rosa María, another resident, wipes her face with a small towel. Her sweat adds a spot of brown to all the previous ones. She is waiting for some transport to take her away from the small town.

“I’ve been here for more than an hour but imagine that to go to Santiago de las Vegas they want to charge you 150 pesos. Quivicán is just as much; they have lost respect for money,” she says. A few meters away stands the intensely colored facade of the Los 3 Grandes bar and cafeteria, of the Palmares chain, which offers national cocktails, appetizers and musical shows on weekends, one of the few places for nightlife that is maintained.

“I came to visit my family, and I see that they are all thinner and sadder,” says the man from Havana who was asking for directions. “My brother-in-law who used to repair cars now survives by fishing, because he can no longer maintain the business, and his family depends on what he manages to catch.” His little niece has it worse. “For children there is no place, nowhere to have fun. They go from school to home and from home to school; there is nothing else.”

The Coppelia ice cream parlor is now in the hands of a small private company that sells each scoop of ice cream at 120 pesos and a bowl at 400 pesos. Of course, unlike the times when it was managed by the State, its menu overflows with flavors: chocolate, strawberry and dulce de leche were some of those offered this Wednesday, but the interior was practically empty. The new prices have driven away the previous clientele, frightened by inflation.

The new prices have driven away the previous clientele, frightened by inflation

“To satisfy your stomach, you need a pizza,” said a sign of another private business nearby, also with many ornaments and few customers. For 140 pesos each, the buyer can take home a piece of baked dough, with tomato sauce and cheese. In another, called Colorama, a more chic place for more well-off people, a slice costs 900 pesos but includes ham, chorizo and olives.

The rise in the cost of living makes it more difficult to spend, and in the community that once lived from agriculture, the nearby International Film School and the tourists who came to visit the Museum of Humor in the land of jokes and sarcasm, the depression is quite noticeable.

Along with the decrease in the flow of potatoes and bananas due to the drop in production, the school no longer has as many resources as before, when it resold thousands of cans of beer and packages of coffee at a better price than in the State stores. The exhibition with portraits and works of illustrious humorists does not attract as many visitors or as much laughter either. The river that runs through the town contains a green and stagnant water that many avoid approaching.

“A crippled house, like the whole town,” says a resident on the same block

In a corner of Vivanco Street, the neighbors have knocked down part of the facade of a house about to collapse. “A crippled house, like the whole town,” says a resident on the same block. “This is like a punishment; since we threw ourselves here into the street, the punishments have not stopped,” says the man about that Sunday of 11 July 2021 when San Antonio de los Baños was the place where the massive popular protests that shook the entire Island began.

Carrying a suitcase, a young man advances at noon this Wednesday to the point where the private trucks leave for Havana. “There goes another one who isn’t coming back,” says a neighbor. The wheels of the luggage cart kick up the reddish dust that remains in the air and sticks to everything. In the town where people once laughed until their stomachs hurt, now the days seem more like a wake than a party.

[From TranslatingCuba.com: Note to ‘anonymous translator’ – Our most sincere apologies, we will definitely follow up. Please feel free to email us directly about this at: TranslatingCuba < at > Gmail (dot) com]

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Havana’s Cafe Baco, a Glamorous Interior and a Culinary Insult

Some tourists are seduced by the presence of lobster on the menu / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 April 2024 — “We are state-run and our prices are low,” says an employee in an impeccable white shirt on Friday. He is standing outside the building that houses the collection of Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts. The young waiter is trying to lure customers into the building where Café Baco, a rarely visited restaurant, is located.

A European tourist and his Cuban girlfriend scrutinize the menu that the man has handed them outside the imposing building, once known as the Asturian Center. “Nowhere in Havana are you going to find lobster at that price,” insists the employee, directing his gaze at a group of travelers who have just gotten off a Transtur bus.

“Nowhere in Havana are you going to find lobster at that price”

“Come in. You won’t regret it,” Dayana hears him say. The 45-year-old Havana resident, who was standing nearby, falls for the sales pitch and decides to give Café Baco a try. “I didn’t even know this existed because there’s no sign on the street or anything. I’ve brought my children to this museum several times but I didn’t know it had a restaurant, much less that it sold shellfish. So I’m going to try it and we’ll see how it goes.” continue reading

Unlike tourists, who are dazzled just by the sight of lobster on the menu, Cubans are focused on other details when choosing where to spend their money at a time of high inflation. “I normally don’t eat in state-owned restaurants because I know they’re inferior,” Dayana says as she climbs the imposing staircase with marble railings, elaborate balustrades and carved parapets.

The ambience causes the Havana native to salivate. It seems like the prelude to a lavish banquet. “The food must be at the same level as this staircase,” she says sarcastically, imagining that the decor is one thing but that what’s on the plate is another. No one else climbs the steps; no other customers come in. It is around 12:30 and the place seems deserted. The echo of Dayana’s footsteps is all that can be heard inside.

The only sound in the deserted restaurant is the echo of Dayana’s footsteps / 14ymedio

Wearing a crown of grape leaves and nude to the waist, Bacchus — the Greek god of wine and food — reigns over the dining room from a wall to one side. The walls themselves are covered in dark green tiles. Elaborate arches, supported by columns with flowery capitals, give the space the air of a Spanish tavern, a place where you could sink your teeth into a nice cod, pierce an olive with your fork and enjoy a good red wine.

The baronial Spanish touch, however, is limited to the tiles and a reproduction of Diego Velázquez’ painting “The Triumph of Bacchus.” Otherwise, it is cross between a place that serves bad food and a state-run workplace marked by apathy and supply shortages. “The menu is full of items they don’t have,” Dayana says in a phone call to her sister from inside the restaurant. “I was going to tell you to come here but changed my mind because it’s so bad.”

Without bothering to lower her voice so as not to be heard by the employees, she continues telling her sister about her experience. “Just imagine, I order a fruit juice and they bring me a glass that’s half ice and half instant soda,” she says, appalled. A few yards away, a tourist who has just entered the room is is taking photos of the Velázquez mural, more commonly known as “The Drunkards.”

“The view is nice but I sat on a balcony where it’s cool because it doesn’t smell good inside”

“Of course, the view is nice but I sat on a balcony where it’s cool because it doesn’t smell good inside. You know, it smells like burnt grease, like they haven’t cleaned in a long time.” Dayana continues as though she were dictating a review for a restaurant guide. “I came in because I was tired of walking and wanted to check the place out but I already know what to expect. They don’t have most of the things on the menu.”

A waitress approaches the table with a plate of rice, a pork cutlet, some cabbage, and a few slices of cucumber. For a moment the customer thinks she has scored a great deal. Only 900 pesos compared to the more than 1,500 pesos that such a meal would cost in a privately owned restaurant in a less historic and less sumptuous location. But the feeling passes as soon as she brings the spoon to her mouth.

The soupy rice is made up of grains from different sources, the cabbage is limp, the cutlet is under-seasoned and — to top it all off — the empty vinegar cruet is sticky to the touch. “Based on how quickly they brought everything out, and the temperature of the rice and the pork, you can tell it was already was prepared,” she reflects, her cell phone pressed to her ear. Over by the wall, an inebriated woman next to Bacchus stares at the Dayana with a scornful smile.

Soupy rice, limp cabbage, under-seasoned pork cutlet, and and an empty vinegar cruet that is sticky to the touch

Though the meal was as she predicted, Dayana nevertheless feels a pang of frustration. “I’m going to order a coffee to get over it,” she says. Minutes later, the waitress brings a cup that is missing its saucer. Mixed with milk and generously sprinkled with cinnamon, the imitation cappuccino seems like an opportunity to put the bland menu out of her mind.

“No surprise, the coffee is bad. It’s mixed with a lot of other things but at least it perked me up a bit so I get up and walk home,” she says during the umpteenth phone call to her sister to tell her about Café Baco. The experience has cost her 1,195 Cuban pesos, less than four dollars at the current exchange rate on the informal market.

After the last sip, a dark, sandy-textured sediment remains in the cup. Dayana leaves 1,250 pesos on the table, takes her wallet and exits. As she is walking out, two of the drunks in the Velazquez painting, their noses red and looking directly at her, seem to be laughing harder, mocking Dayana.

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The Rich Are Also Fleeing Cuba, Selling Their Properties at a Discount

Even some of the gigantic mansions in Siboney confiscated by the Revolution are for sale.

The island’s residential real estate market is saturated due to a mass exodus that is bleeding the country dry / Houses and Apartments for Sale in Havana

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 3 April 2024 — Juan Carlos divides his time between Milan and Havana. The 52-year-old’s children, wife and parents all live in Italy but, for more than two years, he has been trying to sell an old mansion in Havana’s Vedado district which has caused him “more headaches than happiness.” Located a few yards from Línea Street, the house was a project that fulfilled a life-long dream that, as he puts it, “blossomed then failed.”

In the late 1990s, Juan Carlos received a scholarship to study art at an Italian university. When he left José Martí International Airport, he knew there was no going back and that he had to make a life for himself outside the island. “I had always lived with my parents and my sisters in a small apartment, so from a very young age my dream was to have my own home, one that was spacious, bright and had an area I could use as my studio.”

Ultimately, Juan Carlos married an Italian woman and, in 2014, began the process of repatriating to Cuba. He had lost his residency status after not visiting his country for several years. “There was a lot of excitement and several of my artist and designer friends were part of a wave of people getting Cuban identity cards again.”

One of the benefits of having Cuban residency is the ability to buy a house. “At the time, my wife and I were making good money. Her father had also died and left her a sizable inheritance so we decided to buy the place in Vedado. It was my life-long dream and I was finally able to make it come true.” continue reading

One of the benefits of having Cuban residency is the ability to buy a house. “It was my life-long dream and I was finally able to make it come true.”

One of the benefits of having Cuban residence is the ability to buy a house. “At the time, my wife and I were making good money. Her father had also died and left her a sizable inheritance so we decided to buy the place in Vedado. It was my life-long dream and I was finally able to make it come true.”

Juan Carlos reports that it cost almost as much to repair the house as it did to buy it. Other problems cropped up once constrution was underway: rusted beams, dampness in the walls, issues with the concrete. They even had to redo some of the column capitals. “They started coming apart as we were painting them.”

The process was long and costly. “I had to go to Cuba five times a year so, in addition to construction expenses, there was the cost of airline tickets. It seemed like the house was eating money. Every month we spent thousands of dollars to restore and maintain it. We had to hire two custodians to make sure our building materials weren’t stolen.”

Finally, in April 2022, six years after buying the house, the work was done.

Apartments are also for sale in Havana’s legendary Focsa Building, one of the city’s most stylish when it was completed in 1956 / 14ymedio

Juan Carlos describes it as “a dream come true.” But, by then, he no longer wanted to own property in Cuba. “I had spent long periods in Havana and everything was deteriorating a lot. I thought about how to make some money out of it, maybe by renting it to a diplomat, or to an entrepreneur who wanted to open a restaurant. But I realized that doing that would have meant spending all my time keeping an eye on the place because [as the old saying goes] ’it’s the owner’s eye makes the horse fat.’”

In May of that same year, he decided to put the newly furnished home up for sale. The problem now, however, is that no one wants to buy it. “I have to list it with several real estate agencies and I’ve also dropped the price several times. I am currently asking $150,000 for everything but it’s been two years and, so far, there are no takers.” The island’s residential real estate market is saturated due to the mass exodus that is bleeding the country.

A quick look at local real estate listings says it all. A colonial-style house in Vibora Park that has been outfitted to operate as a nightclub, described as “a golden opportunity,” is on the market for $60,000, with 80% its contents included (“from wines to coffee makers,” the listing states). A 120-square-meter apartment in Vedado with seaside views is for sale at $80,000. A “recreation estate” with a four-bedroom house and a 1,450-square-meter extension is available for $50,000.

Though many of the listings do not indicate prices, there are lots of photos suggesting a high degree of luxury

Other listings suggest there has been some haggling going on. The asking price for penthouse in Vedado, covered in marble and with the ocean below — its elderly owner is also visible in the photos — has gone from $270,000 to $190,000.

Though many of the listings do not indicate prices, there are lots of photos suggesting a high degree of luxury, most of them taken after obviously expensive remodelings. One of them is a 1950s property in Nuevo Vedado with seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, a patio, terrace and jacuzzi. Then there is one of the spacious apartments in the Geralt Sisters Building, completed in 1958 with all the latest amenities of its era. Its exterior is now falling to pieces after years of neglect.

One of the problems when selling these houses is that anyone who dares set foot in the neighborhoods where they are located is scared away. This is the case with an apartment in San Lázaro. Advertised as a “luxury penthouse with ocean views in the heart of the city” in Central Havana, it is surrounded by ruined buildings and piles of garbage on every street corner.

Another quirk of the saturated real estate market is that now even the enormous mansions in Siboney, which were confiscated after Cuban Revolution by the regime’s leaders, are up for sale. The problem here is that, because they were nationalized after their original owners were exiled, they could be subject to future lawsuits.

Rita, a Cuban who works as a private residential real estate agent, explains the situation: “Before, these types of properties were handled with some discretion by an agency. Now, the owners are so desperate to sell that they post the listings themselves on Facebook for all to see.”

“I’m not going back to Cuba, which means I will lose my residency status once I have been out of the country for twenty-four months, but I don’t care anymore”

What owners like Juan Carlos want is to move their money out of Cuba. “It’s a large amount and I will have a lot of problems when the time comes. But everyone is in the same boat. They want hard currency and they want it to take overseas,” he says.

His plan is to wait a few months, then reduce the price. He does not plan on going back to Cuba once the property is sold. “I will lose my residency status once I have been out of the country for twenty-four months but I don’t care anymore,” he says.

“I thought my sons would grow up in this house, that Cuba would grow and move forward, but I was wrong. Between one thing and another, this venture has cost me and my wife more than a quarter million dollars,” says Juan Carlos, who has some mixed feelings about his house. “It’s very pretty. In Milan a house like this would have cost me a fortune but now no one wants to live in Cuba now.”

With its stained glass windows, long marble staircase, imported black granite in the kitchen, stately bathtubs and enormous mirrors in the living room, the mansion — like so many other Cuban properties whose owners once dreamed of living and growing old on the island — is still on the market, waiting for a buyer.

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‘In Cuba, We Don’t Even Get a Good Eclipse’

Only one man watched the event, looking up and shading his eyes with a roll of paper

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 8 April 2024, Havana — The total solar eclipse that took place this Monday in North America and that was observed as partial in Cuba did not arouse much interest on the Island. In the peak hour of the phenomenon, shortly before three in the afternoon, the light dimmed, as in an old TV movie, and it came on again, but no one seemed to be aware of the sky.

The Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy (IGA) had warned of the security measures to watch the eclipse, which took place in the country between 1:40 and 4:05 pm. The coverage of the sun by the shadow of the Moon reached 43.9% in the area of the territory where it was observed with greater intensity, the Cape of San Antonio, in Pinar del Río, at 2:46 p.m.

The lines for buses and the tired looks were the same as always / 14ymedio

“If you have a small telescope or even a simple piece of cardboard with a tiny hole, you can project the image of the sun onto a white screen and observe the sun indirectly,” advised the IGA. Other recommendations were to protect your eyesight to avoid “serious and irreversible burns on the retina,” use appropriate “optical filters” (avoiding homemade gadgets, such as smoked glass, black nylon or x-rays) and not look directly at the sun.

Hardly anyone listened because they weren’t following the astronomical event. The lines for buses and the tired looks were the same as always. Only one man watched the event, looking up and shading his eyes with a roll of paper. Asked about the phenomenon, which she claimed to barely perceive, a woman said, resignedly: “It’s nothing; in Cuba we don’t even get a good eclipse.” Upon hearing this, another passer-by replied with a sneer: “It’s the fault of the [American] blockade.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Approval of the Kremlin, an Arsenal of Russian Films Reaches Havana Cinemas

The Russian Embassy in the capital and the state film company Roskino have spared no resources so that Cuba can enjoy the “best and most modern proposals” of its filmmakers / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 4 April 2024 — The launch of a Russian spaceship echoed this Wednesday on the screen of the Yara cinema before the impassive faces of the spectators. The Cuban public, overshadowed by the foreign audience – guests, filmmakers and diplomats – barely survived the almost three hours of The Challenge, the first film shot in space, which served as the starting shot for the Russian Film Festival in Havana. Faced with such a panorama, quite a few took advantage of the darkness to sneak behind the windows and return to planet

The Russian Embassy in the capital, the state film company Roskino and other Moscow companies have spared no resources so that the “Island of Freedom” – as Cuba is known in the remote Russian imagination – enjoys the “best and most modern proposals” of its filmmakers.

Neither the free admission nor the movie titles managed, however, to tempt Cubans. Very few stopped at the Yara for the premiere of The Challenge, which was attended not only by the cultural attaché of the Russian Embassy and other diplomats, but also by the film’s director, Klim Shipenko, along with several members of his team.

Indifferently, a Yara employee gave viewers a program, a pen with the festival’s colors, and a satisfaction “questionnaire” about Russian cinema. “Did you like the event? How do you value the organization? What movie did you see? How did you find out? How likely are you to attend again next year?” Overwhelmed by the interrogation, some folded the sheet of paper and looked for their seats. continue reading

The premiere of ’The Challenge’ was attended by the cultural attaché of the Russian Embassy and other diplomats, and the director of the film himself, Klim Shipenko / 14ymedio

Groups of students, several elderly people, and many Russians made up the audience for The Challenge. From the central seats, reserved for the diplomatic corps, the cultural attaché emerged and went on stage alongside Shipenko and a group of filmmakers. While they spoke – at length – about the film, the audience suffered numerous walkouts. “It’s nice to see so many people in the cinema,” said the director.

When the film finally began, the mismatch of the soundtrack – excessively loud – drove more Cubans from the Yara. The movie took care of the rest. The dialogues in Russian, often shouted, and the bloody plot of the film impressed the public. A surgeon, the program explains, goes to the International Space Station to perform an operation in the difficult conditions of the station.

Nor did the triumphant and exalted tone of Russian exploits go unnoticed. With some exceptions, such as the children’s Cheburashka cartoons – which have a Soviet version well known to Cubans – the films that Russia brings to Havana have a strong ideological component and contain a propaganda message in support of the Kremlin.

Although these values – usually defended by Vladimir Putin in his speeches – are marked in The Challenge, which highlights the “technological superiority” of Russia, inherited from the Soviet Union’s space race, the most politicized film that Cubans will be able to see during the festival is The Champion of the World, by Alexey Sidorov

It deals with the well-known rivalry between two of the most controversial chess players of all time: the Russian dissident Victor Korchnoi and his eternal rival, the world champion Anatoly Karpov, a Soviet icon during the Cold War and member of the Communist Party. The story is Manichaean: although both are considered geniuses in the science game, the film presents Korchnoi as a drunk and Karpov as a brilliant young man, respectful of the country and a defender of Russia against the “deserter.”

The mismatch of the excessively loud soundtrack drove several Cubans from the Yara / 14ymedio

Curiously, and despite his loyalty to the Kremlin, Karpov – today a member of Putin’s party – was admitted to a Moscow hospital in 2022 in serious condition and under suspicious circumstances. Although his family and the Russian media denied it, one rumor indicated that it was “a warning” from Putin for his criticism of the invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the propaganda and special effects of The World Champion and The Challenge, the precariousness of the Yara facilities – supposedly recently repaired – bring the Cuban viewer back to real life. Those who, fleeing from the scenes of a cosmonaut’s open-chested operation, tried to go to the bathroom in the cinema know this well.

“They disconnected everything because the water was being wasted,” explains a guard stationed near the toilets. Frustrated, spectators left the Yara convinced that – with or without Russia – the real challenge is not operating in space, but living in Cuba.

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‘Barbarossa’ Is Resurrected at the Yara Cinema With a Performance for the Military

The Yara cinema, minutes after the military left the premises / 14ymedio

Two days had passed since this newspaper called attention to the suspicious cloak of silence with which the regime covered the feared Barbarossa – of whom the Chilean writer Jorge Edwards even said he had “limited and influenced” the movements of Fidel Castro – during Cuba State Security’s anniversary.

It is assumed that the Armed Forces contingent had planned, well in advance, to go to the movies. Also drawing attention, in the midst of the current fuel crisis, was the deployment of four large vehicles to attend a recreational function. At the end of the event, the soldiers dispersed to the nearby food stands and, around 3:30 pm, returned to the buses.

Navy recruits, return to the buses after the screening of the documentary / 14ymedio

This Thursday morning, Prensa Latina announced the screening of Soy Barbarroja at the Yara and noted that Piñeiro had been “one of the founders” of the Cuban counterintelligence, who owed his nickname “to the color of his beard from the time he came down from the Sierra Maestra with the rank of commander.” It also alluded to his role as promoter – from a distance – of several guerrillas in Latin America. continue reading

The agency offered few details about the movie, which recycled fragments of a 1997 CNN interview with Piñeiro, in addition to recordings of his first wife, the American dancer Lorna Burdsall; his widow, the Chilean Marxist Martha Harnecker; and his daughter, economics professor Camila Piñeiro. The documentary has only been screened once, on Cuban Television, at the beginning of the year, but it was not published by the Educational Channel on YouTube, as usually happens with this type of content.

Barbarossa ’s name also did not appear in the summary of President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s speech, during a gala honoring counterintelligence in which Raúl Castro participated and where he described the history of State Security as “the most fascinating, inspiring and patriotic” of Cuban memory. For his part, the nonagenarian soldier did not get up from his seat and his speech – actually a small letter – was read by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Álvarez Casas.

Army officers and recruits, walking along 23rd Avenue towards the buses / 14ymedio

Piñeiro, son of wealthy Galicians and in the shadow of Castro since the times of Sierra Maestra, died in 1998 under suspicious circumstances. The official version states that “he crashed into a tree” while he was driving his car, which was foreign to his habit. Despite his absolute loyalty to the regime that he helped form, his biography is little known to most Cubans, and he has been largely absent from the festivities for the 65th anniversary of State Security.

However, legendary enmities are attributed to him and he is the protagonist of numerous conspiracy theories. One of them, in particular, points to the strange circumstances of his death after distancing himself from politics while supposedly preparing his autobiography.

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A Way of the Cross Marked by Emigration and Tensions with the Communist Party of Cuba

The image of the Nazarene runs through Aguiar, under the poster of the municipal committee of the Communist Party / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez / Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 30 March 2024 — The most significant station of the Way of the Cross held in Old Havana this Friday, when dozens of Catholics took to the streets under the tense gaze of the Police, occurred on the block of the municipal committee of the Communist Party. The image of the Nazarene went through Aguiar Street and passed under the red and black sign of the same institution that restricted Holy Week with prohibitions in several provinces of the Island.

It was a procession with few faithful and a lot of vigilance. Presided over by Cardinal Juan García, there were more members of the clergy – Franciscan friars, seminarians and missionaries of the Charity of Teresa of Calcutta – and of the security forces than there were the believers who participated in it. However, the religious figures were able to leave at 6:00 pm from the parish of the Christ of the Good Journey to Cathedral Square.

Believers and officers were asked to “give space” to the figures and those who led the procession. “Why do they have so much security if people keep cutting through it,” one of the clerics said sarcastically. Before starting the procession, the priests thanked the “photographers, cameramen and the press” for their presence. “What a pleasure that you are here, because it is a pleasure to see the faith of the people,” they added.

Closely watched by the Police, the Way of the Cross procession leaves from the Buenviaje Church of Christ / 14ymedio

El Cristo and La Dolorosa, on the shoulders of the well-dressed parishioners, traveled around the damaged streets of Old Havana. Behind the figures, a bus with a bullhorn amplified the prayers of the cardinal and the faithful, who asked for “forgiveness” for the Cuban people. The reflections on the Passion of Christ – usual in the celebration – put the emphasis on comparing, although subtly, the suffering of Cubans with that of the first Christians. continue reading

It attributed to the soldiers who crucified Christ an abuse of their “right to coercion”; it alluded to the “spectacle of suffering” that becomes customary. Believers were asked to “approach the persecuted” and hear “the subtle voice of conscience” about the imprisoned. “The Way of the Cross of bitterness is not a civil act but a religious act,” the priests said aloud, and among them were voices critical of the regime such as Jorge Luis Pérez Soto and Kenny Fernández.

Priest Kenny Fernández in the foreground along with other members of the clergy in Cathedral Square / 14ymedio

More people joined when night fell and the symbolic body of Christ reached the Church of the Angel to be buried. Decorated with garlands and lights strung on balconies, the streets that lead to the Plaza del Ángel – in addition to the concert band that accompanied the parishioners – animated the procession.

Decimated by the emigration of a large part of the young Catholics of Havana and by the population in general, this Friday’s Way of the Cross was less emotional than that of previous years. The tensions between the Communist Party and several parish priests, such as the Dominican Lester Zayas, prevented the local Via Crucisis, smaller than the one held in Old Havana, from being carried out.

The procession marches, now at night, towards the Church of the Angel, where the Holy Burial is celebrated / 14ymedio

Interviewed by EFE about the limitations imposed on the parish of the Sacred Heart in El Vedado, which he attends, Zayas again said that his sermons on the Cuban crisis made the authorities uncomfortable and are the cause of the prohibition. “People say that priests can’t be involved in politics. And it’s true, if by politics we mean partisan politics, but if we understand politics as something social, then it is possible to talk about the Gospel. A priest can’t stand at the pulpit and talk about the Heaven that is going to arrive if we can’t transform what happens on Earth, where we have children who go to school without breakfast because they don’t have milk,” he said.

He added that what happened this week in several parishes throughout Cuba – especially in the dioceses of Santa Clara, Havana and Bayamo-Manzanillo – is an “attack on religious freedom.” However, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced that 111 celebrations, including Good Friday and Easter Sunday, were authorized by the Communist Party.

Holy Week has stirred up the unease of Cuban Catholics with the Government. While several priests, such as Fernández and Zayas in Havana, and Castor Álvarez and Alberto Reyes in Camagüey defend their right to criticize – as citizens and clerics – the situation on the Island, the Bishops’ Conference has remained in a certain lethargy and has not issued pastoral letters that, at another time, were their instrument to urge the rulers to change.

The frustrated negotiations for the release of political prisoners, the Vatican’s approaches to Miguel Díaz-Canel and the cordiality of the ecclesiastical leadership with the authorities of the Government and the Party make a critical turn of the bishops unlikely. Despite this, some isolated voices of the Conference, such as that of the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García, have spoken out about the poverty, shortages and blackouts that led to the March 17 protests, with a focus on his archdiocese.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Sea Returns Havana’s Garbage and More to the Malecon

When the sea withdraws, a whole layer of filth covers the nearest streets / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 March 2024 — “What comes from the sea, returns to the sea,” is a maxim that the residents of San Leopoldo, a Havana neighborhood bordering the Malecón, know very well. It’s a low zone in this area of the Cuban capital where there are frequent coastal floods. The sewers, in addition to draining the water, bring into homes the odor of saltwater mixed with trash, and the wastewater carries crabs that are skinny and pale, a result of a contaminated coastline that has few natural nutrients.

Almost a hundred years ago, after the construction of the wall where so many habaneros go to refresh themselves at night, the rocks were covered and the waves diverted. Areas that were filled in until the end of the 19th century were pure coastline. A good part of those areas snatched from the sea are once again under its control when storms and hurricanes hit the Cuban capital. The water rises in a few hours, floods Maceo Park and rushes through the streets of Lealtad, Escobar, Perseverancia and Reina into Belascoaín. Nothing can stop it.

With the penetrations of the sea comes the floating garbage that used to rest on the asphalt. It navigates the pieces of wood, circumvents the plastic bottles and sends the plastic bags with remnants of food and dirt sailing from the corners. The garbage containers are converted into ships, dirty and cracked gondolas that go where the waters carry them. But the waste that people have been throwing off the other side of the wall also returns.

The water rises in a few hours, flooding Maceo Park and rushes through the streets of Lealtad, Escobar, Perseverancia covering Belascoaín street

When the sea withdraws, a whole layer of filth covers the nearest streets. Most of the rubbish is concentrated In front of the Malecón wall, in the area from Gervasio to Galiano. Algae that is drying, all kinds of plastic, beer cans where the brands are no longer distinguishable, children’s flip-flops that the waves had taken away, and some inflated and pestilent bags that no one dares to even look at for fear of what they have inside. continue reading

Since last weekend’s storm, the sea brought back everything under the sun to the residents of San Leopoldo, along with the garbage that it removed from the street, which had been accumulating for weeks without the Communals Company coming to pick it up. It is as if nature were returning the offal to them and, by the way, clarifying to them that a city’s trash always returns to its streets, no matter how much the wall protects them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Spanish Agency Announces a Competition to Rehabilitate Havana’s Galiano Street

View of buildings along Havana’s Galiano Street, whose facades would be restored as part of an urban renewal project / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 22 March 2024 — Plans to restore iconic Galiano Street in Central Havana seem serious this time around, at least for the impoverished block between Virtudes and Conde Cañongo. On Thursday, the local government publicly solicited proposals for the “recovery, maintenance and restoration of the facades” of the buildings in this area.

It is a highly unusual but understandable move given that the area is part of the so-called Galiano Street Comprehensive International Revitalization Cooperation Project, financed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

The buildings whose facades would be restored are numbers 201 to 211 on the east side of the street and 202 to 212 on the west. Not included is number 210, which the official press release describes as being in very bad condition. continue reading

In a visit to the site on Friday, 14ymedio learned that the building, whose address should be 210 since it is on the even side of the street but which is mistakenly numbered 211, is in ruins though it is still inhabited on the ground floor.

The building, whose address should be 210 since it is on the even side of the street but which is mistakenly numbered 211, is in ruins though it is still inhabited on the ground floor

The area is known for its nightlife — bars such as Cumbaking, 212 and V&S are located there — and as a hotbed of fistfights, drug dealing and prostitution.

The stretch includes precarious apartment buildings such as those at numbers 201, 204 and 205, which has a state-owned store, La Cancha, on the ground floor, that has been rented out to small private vendors, popularly known as merolicos.

Another building, number 208, retains its original Sevillian tiles, remnants of a more glorious past. Built in the 1930s, it once belonged to José Alvarez Ruiz, a businessman whose initials can still be seen on the facade of the building. Housing took up the upper floor; a loan and jewelry business occupied the lower floor. In the 1940s, the building housed the Cuban branch of Remington Rand, an American company that manufactured sewing machines and typewriters, and imported a wide range of office supplies.

Nationalized by the state after the Cuban revolution, the striking building had had several uses — these included the headquarters of the Comittees for the Defense of the Revolution and a library — until the roof collapsed in 1999.

The area is known for its nightlife — bars such as Cumbaking, 212 and V&S are located here — and as a hotbed of fistfights, drug dealing and prostitution / 14ymedio

The announcement posted jointly by the municipal government and AECID on the official website indicates that proposals must include a separate budget, in Cuban pesos, for each of the building facades on both sides of the street.

Similarly, they point out that restoration of facades must include “all required actions such as carpentry, lighting, ironwork and any others needed to restore the facades to their original state.”

The construction period for each facade may not excede four months “from the delivery of the client’s letter of authorization letter to the bidder.”

According to a AECID document signed on June 30, 2021, the agency foresees a total of seven such projects on the Island at a cost of of 3.5 million euros

The Galiano Street restoration project, sponsored by AECID, is nothing new. State media announced it with great fanfare back in late 2022, even reviving the thoroughfare’s old name: Avenida de Italia. The goal, as reported at the time, was to convert the area into “an innovative urban district and a reference for the principles of the circular economy, digital culture and creativity and the enhancement of products from supply chains.”

On Thursday, the same day the competition was announced, the street was also referred to by its old name on the website of the Information Technology Fair, which is taking place in Havana. State media reported a plan to install “broadband telecommunications infrastructure using fiber optic cables along three kilometers of Galiano Street — from Reina Street to the Malecón — for the benefit of 109 properties, with an average of twelve customers per property.”

According to a AECID document signed on June 30, 2021, the agency foresees a total of seven such projects on the Island at a cost of of 3.5 million euros.

AECID’s budget for what was billed as a “comprehensive revitalization of Galiano Street, preserving its urban and architectural values and enhancing its commercial, recreational and cultural character” was originally 312,000 euros, with a May 2023 completion date. Neither the Spanish agency nor its Cuban partner has provided an explanation for the delay in plans.

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A Strong Smell of Gas Alarms the Residents of Central Havana and the Authorities Do Not Respond

This Friday, those who passed by Galiano and Zanja couldn’t comment on anything else

14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 15 March 2024 — A penetrating odor of gas has been alarming the neighbors of Galiano and Zanja, in Central Havana, for more than 24 hours. Early this Friday, those who passed by couldn’t comment on anything else. The situation, the residents say, is unsustainable.

In a phone call, the Gas Company confirmed to 14ymedio that several residents had already reported what appears to be a leak. “My car is now in the area,” the employee said, referring to a state service vehicle. “It looks like it’s on the street.”

In a second inspection by this newspaper, however, no official car was observed on the street

To the question of what he advised the neighbors to do while determining if there was a way out and where to go, he answered: “Listen, I can’t give you an answer because I don’t know what’s going on.” continue reading

In a second inspection by this newspaper, however, no official car was observed on the street.

In the meantime, there’s a lot of fear. People still remember the terrible images of the Saratoga Hotel, which flew through the air on May 6, 2022, due to improper handling of liquefied gas from a tanker truck, which claimed the lives of 47 people.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Women Live at the Margins of a Regime Led by Men

It is women who mostly stand in Cuba’s endless lines to get food / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Olea Gallardo, Havana, 8 March 2024 — The eleventh congress of theFederation of Cuban Women (FMC) was formally closed this Friday by the six men who govern the destiny of the country. The female quota in the presidium made up of Raúl Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Esteban Lazo, Manuel Marrero, Roberto Morales de Ojeda and José Ramón Machado Ventura is covered by one woman: Teté Puebla, member of Las Marianas in the Sierra Maestra and first (and only) Brigadier general woman on the Island.

“The Feminist Path is Not Exclusive to Women,” the State newspaper Granma headlines its note on the occasion of March 8, in case things were not clear.

At the same time, the ruling FMC assures that “the development of scientific research is urgently needed to study the implementation of public policies with a gender perspective to move towards full equality.” And we must “overcome the meeting schedule.” And “update communication codes.”

Far from so many words, the streets show that the face of Cuba, increasingly empty, increasingly poor, is that of a woman / 14ymedio

Far from so many words, the streets show that the face of Cuba, increasingly empty, increasingly poor, is that of a woman. It is women who continue reading

mostly stand in endless lines to get food. The oldest ones have to bring their own stool to endure the hours and the heat.

If you have to put a color on those faces, it is fundamentally dark. The color of those who cannot emigrate due to lack of resources.

The oldest ones have to bring their own stool to endure the hours and the heat / 14ymedio

State workers, informal saleswomen or retirees – the luckiest ones, with emigrated families – all have poverty and boredom in common. Neither the FMC nor the men who protect it have solved their problems one bit in 65 years.

State workers, informal saleswomen or retirees – the luckiest ones, with emigrated families – all have poverty and boredom in common / 14ymedio

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Lobster and Bread Are ‘Affected,’ the Formula To Tell Tourists in Cuba ‘We Don’t Have Any’

Although it is targeted at tourists, La Imprenta suffers from the same shortcomings as other state-managed establishments / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, February 22, 2024, Juan Diego Rodríguez — Old newspaper presses, paper cutters, cast iron poles and typographical motifs on the walls in the La Imprenta (The Printing Press) restaurant located at Mercaderes 208 in Old Havana, show the stamp of the late Eusebio Leal. The Historian of the City did not spare any expense to turn a demolished 19th century workshop into a place that, at the height of his career, strived to emulate the Floridita and the Bodeguita del Medio.

The waitresses still have the same delicacy with foreign clients that Leal demanded, and they now use a resounding euphemism: lobster and bread are not lacking but are “affected”. Although aimed at tourism, La Imprenta suffers from the same shortcomings as other state-managed premises, and diners soon realize it.

The smartest take a quick look at the menu by the door, and, before it’s too late, make a decision. “Are you going?” one of the employees asks an Italian tourist who disappeared up Mercaderes.

In a hurry to leave, those who eat lunch almost never pay attention to the machines at La Imprenta / 14ymedio

Those who stayed for lunch this Wednesday can order a glass of juice stuffed with ice, a tuna tower with vegetables and some dishes that the habaneros have started calling “gourmet,” not because of their quality but because of their small size. The chairs of La Imprenta have different type faces on the back and the names – such as Bodoni or Garamond – of their inventors. continue reading

The tablecloths have patches,” noted a Cuban diner, avoiding resting his elbows on the stains of the fabric. A group of Canadians occupied a table near the window and asked for some starters. The waitress brought flakes of discolored ham and cheese, but they were denied the bread. “It’s ‘affected’,” she said.

Other dishes began to parade around the table. Potato puree with sweet potato flavor, yellow rice with a kind of ham and very little salt, a minimum portion of ropa vieja*, fish. “Any wine?” the Canadians ask. With pedagogy and some English, the waitress explains: “In Cuba there are no wines; the ones we have are Spanish.”

Artifacts from the early 20th century, from the Oswego and Brehmen brands, the restored presses pay tribute to a trade that already belongs to another era / 14ymedio

At the end of the meal, they wait for the dessert, fried ice cream. “The ice cream is delayed,” the employee warns once again, “and the fryer does not want to fry. It’s done working.” Canadians, of course, look at each other without understanding. “The bill, mi amor?” says the waitress, concluding the banquet.

The total is more than 5,000 pesos and brings a new dilemma. As soon as one of the diners draws a colorful Canadian bill from his wallet, the waitress grimaces and calls her boss. “Only euros or green [U.S. dollars]; we can’t accept Canadian dollars,” he explains. Resigned, the customers pay in Cuban pesos.

In a hurry to leave, those who eat lunch almost never notice La Imprenta’s machines. Artifacts from the beginning of the twentieth century, the restored presses of the Oswego and Brehmen brands pay tribute to a craft that now belongs to another era, and whose mythology Leal hoped to translate into foreign currency.

In 2010, the Historian’s Office mobilized a team of architects, joiners, blacksmiths and artists to remodel the old printing establishment, La Habanera, active from the 19th century until the triumph of Fidel Castro in 1959. The painter Juan Carlos Botello and his assistant Yailín Pérez Zamora were in charge of creating an immense mural on the main wall of the restaurant, and two lieutenants from Leal’s investment department – Loreta Alemañy and Yaumara Fernández – gave the go-ahead to the project.

Professional cooks and baristas were also hired to create a “thematic and emblematic” cocktail, in the style of the mojito or the daiquiri, that would characterize La Imprenta and make it internationally famous. To this day, the restaurant with the “affected” products has not found its brand or a particular flavor, and the Historian who created it no longer roams the streets of Havana.

*Translator’s note: Ropa vieja means “old clothes” but the dish is shredded beef.

Translated by Regina Ananvy
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At the Havana Book Fair, There Are Few Books, and You Can Look but Not Touch or Buy

The Russian books at the fair were not for sale. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 19 February 2024 — The Havana International Book Fair invited two countries this year: an official one, Brazil, and an “unofficial” one, Russia, whose booth, although small, is located at the same entrance of La Cabaña. This Sunday, however, neither of the two managed to satisfy the readers, who ended the day annoyed not only because of the bad weather, but because the few books they found – in Portuguese and Russian – were “only for display.”

Among the visitors, who were taking refuge from the downpour in the entrance, the irritation was evident: “They should have announced that this was going to be suspended today. Now we are here and can see that the tents are closed.” When the rain abated and the wet mass of people finally began to move towards the Russian pavilion – among others – the disappointment was even worse. “I thought I was going to find many more books. But what they sell is mostly stationery and office supplies,” complained a visitor.

Books from the Spanish publisher Everest, with stories adapted from Disney movies such as Pocahontas and The Ice Age, or from the DC Comics franchise – on several occasions described as “imperialist” and “subversive” on Cuban Television – accompanied the exhibition of Russian titles, guarded by three men who, when asked by some customers, debated whether they should sell the texts. “We should sell the books if no one is going to notice,” the manager told two women who accompanied him, although he did not clarify whose “permission” he needed. continue reading

Books from the Spanish publisher Everest, with stories adapted from Disney or from the DC Comics franchise – qualified as “imperialist” by Cuban Television – accompanied the exhibition of Russian titles

Further on, school notebooks, coloring books, children’s notebooks, crayons, felt-tip pens and pencils occupied several tables, where the majority of visitors crowded around. The reading material, with low-cost books and “gazette” paper, barely showed some classic foreign titles such as The Diary of Anne Frank, The Plague, by Albert Camus and 1984, by George Orwell, ignored by the clientele for their high prices. “The cheapest I’ve seen,” a reader said, “was one about Sherlock Holmes at 1,000 pesos.”

In the case of 1984, whose author was censored on the Island for several decades for his novels, which criticize totalitarian forms of government, there are only a few copies of a Cuban edition, published by the Colombian publisher, Globals Ediciones.

Further on, in the immense pavilion dedicated to Brazil, a presentation of a book in Portuguese barely attracted the attention of those who, more interested in taking refuge from the rain than in listening to the author, occupied the chairs. The exhibition of titles, here also, was one of “you can look but don’t touch,” according to two women.

The reading section, with low-cost books and “gazette” paper, barely showed some classic foreign titles such as The Diary of Anne Frank, The Plague and 1984. (14ymedio)

The main tent, which sold books from Cuban publishers with numerous titles dedicated to Fidel Castro and the defense of the regime, was closed. The same thing happened at the information checkpoints, whose custodians were frightened by the rain and left, or in the places where several presentations and events were scheduled for this Sunday.

“I came to fine inexpensive books (at state prices), but I have not been able to get anything I was looking for,” complained a young man who, angered by the rain and without books, was preparing to undertake the journey home.

The tents for Cuban books and publishers were closed. (14ymedio)

At a fair whose programming announced numerous events, presentations and a wide range of titles, this Sunday’s icing on the cake was a black backpack with the event logo, hung from the roof of one of the booths, which was selling for 7,000 pesos.

From a cafeteria, an employee was talking on the phone to one of his colleagues: “Don’t even hurry, this place is a disaster today. We haven’t sold anything, and anyone who happens to come by is running to avoid the rain. Don’t kill yourself to get here.” The food service on offer consisted only of a variety of corn dishes: boiled or fried ears and tamales.

Discouraged, visitors left the old fortress of La Cabaña as soon as they noticed the pitiful offers. “This year it seems that there is less transport, or maybe fewer people are coming,” reflected a woman with two children, carrying a bag of wet books. “It would have been better not to come.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At Dusk, Criminals Take Over Havana’s Botanical Garden

To go to the Japanese Garden you have to board a vehicle that won’t leave until it’s full. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 17 February 2024 — The Havana Botanical Garden has been hurt by its distant location. In a city where going from one neighborhood to another is already a headache due to the lack of fuel and the poor state of transport, getting from the center to the periphery of the Arroyo Naranjo municipality is an impossible mission if you don’t have your own car, a good amount of money for the trip, or you are able to book a tour with the bus included.

Once the threshold is crossed by paying 30 pesos to the guard, there are other problems: insecurity and crime. The primary victims are the workers, especially those who are involved in the food service. “The vegetarian restaurant El Bambú exists, but it is no longer making that type of food; it has a Creole menu,” says a bored employee sitting under a tree. “It’s not open at the moment because it was robbed.”

The lootings have taken over the Garden at night. “We leave every afternoon just as the thieves are arriving,” says a guard. He complains that the security workers don’t have what they need to prevent the thefts.

“We have weapons but few bullets, and they arrive with machetes, in groups,” he describes. “The other day in El Bambú, which was the last place they assaulted, one of those gangs took a boss, who is very strong, by the way. They beat him, tied him up and put him under a table with several chairs piled on top of him.” continue reading

“There were seven with knives and machetes,” he says. The reason for the robberies is “to steal food from the restaurants.” In another restaurant, La Majagua, “they entered days ago and found no food. There was no meat, no rice, no preserves, so they stole the bathroom door.” El Yarey and El Ranchón have also been robbed in the early hours of the morning.

Entrance to one of the pavilions. (14ymedio)

“They emptied the creamery and took everything,” he says. Every attempt by workers to protect the goods has ended in physical aggression or threats. “If you don’t make things easy, we’ll kill you,” was the clear warning that the security guard of El Yarey received when, from the roof of the premises where he watched the area, he spotted the approaching criminals. “They broke the door, and there was no one to stop them.”

“They told him not to dare to use the phone because he wasn’t going to get out of there alive.” However, the worker recognizes that the outlaws don’t only arrive from outside. “Here there are bosses who do not want the guards to be in the places that have the most merchandise, so they can steal and blame the night gangs. Everyone steals, those from here and those who are not from here.”

In 1989, Fidel Castro inaugurated the icing on the Botanical cake: the Japanese Garden. It was part of an ambitious green belt with recreational options, areas to hold fairs and children’s playgrounds. “There will be six institutions, including Expocuba; four of them will be the Botanical Garden, Lenin Park, the Zoo and the Metropolitan, with many trees,” the ruler said, full of enthusiasm, before an audience that applauded with frenzy.

“I want to end by promising that this Botanical Garden will be more and more beautiful,” Castro wrongly predicted in that speech.

Crowded by tourists in another time, this Saturday only two foreigners wandered through the garden. (14ymedio)

Now, to go to the Japanese Garden, you have to board a vehicle towed by a tractor with a capacity of 15 people. “If there are not 15, I won’t leave,” the driver warns four customers and says he will return at two in the afternoon “to see if there are people,” unless, he clarifies, “you want to pay for the full transport.”

In El Ranchón, one of the several Creole restaurants in the garden, only beer and appetizers of sausage and ham were available this Saturday. “The kitchen is closed,” says an employee who approaches the tables with jugs of beer at the cost of 610 pesos. If someone wants to eat, they have to wait for them to prepare the food in a neighboring establishment.

This Friday, Cubadebate described it as “the largest botanical garden in the world” and spared no praise for its facilities. “This is how Fidel dreamed of it,” concludes the report, which presents the 1,180 acres of vegetation – with 3,000 species of plants – as a kind of earthly paradise.

But drought, little irrigation and lack of attention have also made a dent in the important collection of plants from several continents. Dry shrubs, areas where only weeds grow and the exposures of greenhouses with numerous notable casualties attest to the urgent need to replace certain species and take care of those that remain more carefully.

Poster alluding to a moment of “rest” for Fidel Castro in the garden he “dreamed about.” (14ymedio)

The garden is attached to the University of Havana, and Cubadebate defines it as the quintessence of botanical studies in the region, alleging that more than 300,000 people visit it every year. Its workforce: 350 workers. The budget allocated to it by the State: 118 million pesos in 2023. “How is all that financed?” asks the regime’s media: thanks to the “generosity” of the Ministry of Higher Education, which manages the money destined for the Botanical Garden.

The digital newspaper admits that “the low technical availability of public transport and fuel,” in addition to the remoteness of the park, has caused a significant drop in visitors, 80% of what it received last year. For the Government, Cubadebate assures, improving this figure and using the garden to attract tourism is a matter of political and sentimental importance for Raúl Castro. For the nonagenarian general, the Botanical Garden is a “jewel of the nation.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Crumbling like the Rest of Cuba, Havana’s Chinatown Reluctantly Ushers in the Year of the Dragon

These days there is little of anything Chinese in what used to be one of the world’s most important Asian enclaves. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 10 February 2024 — The Confucius statue in Havana’s Chinatown did not start off the Year of the Dragon on the right foot. Sitting this Saturday morning on benches in a park dedicated to the wise man were a beggar, a woman trying to get past the glitches in the phone company’s wifi network in order to connect to the “great beyond,” and a drunken man who – perhaps out of a certain sense of respect – peed on a random wall rather than than at the philosopher’s pedestal.

Once a place of legend and mystery, little of anything Chinese remains in what used to be one of the world’s most important Asian enclaves. In a neighborhood that used to be known as one of the best places to eat in Havana, everything now appears to be on the verge of collapse, marked for years — like the entire city — by faded walls and urban decay.

The restaurants are now empty. Their employees reluctantly try to lure in potential customers with little success. The general rule is an empty establishment with a buzzing fly and little to offer.

Confucius Park, which sits in the heart of the neighborhood, attracts some “undesirable” guests. (14ymedio)

Havana’s Chinatown was the focus of some attention on the part of the city’s Office of the Historian,* which never managed to return it to its former glory. There are vestiges of often haphazard projects and restorations such as a peeling yin-yang emblem painted on a wall and traditional red lanterns hanging from some eaves.

Amid the ever-present reggaeton and foul smells, the voice of one salesman stands out: “We have to reinvent ourselves!” The Chinatown vendors agree. Instead of spring rolls and lacquered duck, there are dried vegetables, birdseed, and a place that doesn’t have what its neon sign advertises: “Delicious chicken!”

With Havana’s Chinatown showing few signs of life, much less of festivity, those hoping to find Year of the Dragon celebrations in Cuba will have to look elsewhere. At an event hosted this week by Cuban diplomats in China, the island’s big tobacco company, Habanos S.A., debuted its very expensive Montecristo Brillantes cigars. Packaged in a luxurious red case designed to appeal to Chinese millionaires, the cigar of the moment will not be smoked in Havana’s humble Chinatown.

*Translator’s note: A government agency headed by the late Eusebio Leal, whose most prominent project was the restoration of Central Havana, the city’s historic city center.

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