Juan Diego Rodríguez – Translating Cuba

Two Injured in Building Collapse on Diez De Octubre Avenue in Havana

A woman and a 15-year-old girl were taken to the hospital known as La Benéfica, neighbors told ’14ymedio’.

This Sunday, the neighbors on the street were gathered around a woman who was talking to them with a list in her hand. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 16 March 2025 — At least two people were injured Saturday night when an apartment building collapsed, at number 552 on Diez de Octubre Avenue, near the corner of Santa Irene Street, in Havana. During a visit to the site Sunday morning, several neighbors told 14ymedio that the injured were an adult woman and a 15-year-old girl.

According to testimony from some of the neighborhood’s residents, the victims were taken to Dr. Miguel Enríquez Hospital, known as La Benéfica. Some also told this newspaper that they were one of the families who had occupied the building, which was abandoned due to its deterioration, although 14ymedio was unable to corroborate this information.

Several images of the incident, which occurred inside the building during a national blackout, were shared on social media. The videos show the presence of a fire truck, an ambulance, police officers, and several paramedics transporting one of the injured women on a stretcher.

This morning, the street’s residents were gathered around a woman who was chatting with them, holding a list. A plainclothes political police officer on a motorcycle watched closely, registering the victims and their losses and promising some assistance or temporary shelter.

At the improvised dump site in front of the building, a ’diver’ was searching for trash buried beneath the rubble. / 14ymedio

The presence of authorities didn’t stop the criticism from those who lived in the neighborhood and observed the scene from afar. “You can’t even go out [to the street to protest] because there’s so much repression. They put in place that law that says you can’t even criticize this on social media. And continue reading

that collapse, the roof falling on you in the middle of the blackout…” lamented another neighbor.

In addition to the building’s situation, residents are focusing on obtaining ice to preserve food and water to consume while the power outage lasts.

In a video shared on social media by residents of the building, several people are seen gathered around the fire truck, which, along with the vehicles passing by on the street, provided the only light in the area.

At the improvised dump in front of the building, a ’diver’ was searching for trash buried beneath the debris that had fallen from the building.

Building collapses in Havana are a reality Cubans have had to get used to. Especially in older neighborhoods, the fear of a roof collapsing or a facade beginning to peel off is heightened if there’s a storm or a hurricane is approaching.

The collapses in Havana are a reality that Cubans have had to get used to.

In mid-February, a building located on San Bernardino Street, between Durege and General Serrano, in the Santos Suárez neighborhood of Diez de Octubre, collapsed, leaving a dozen families homeless.

Residents piled the few belongings they had managed to extract from the fragments of the wall on the side of the street while several state employees used a crane to demolish the three-story tenement. The building had been declared uninhabitable, according to residents, but with nowhere else to go, many families continued to live there.

At the end of June 2024, when Havana experienced several days of storms, at least 19 buildings suffered partial or total collapses, according to this newspaper’s information.

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In the Midst of Cuba’s Crusade Against Drugs, the ‘Chemical’ Comes to the Streets of Havana

“They don’t eat breakfast, they don’t eat lunch, they don’t eat anything, they just stuff themselves with that, it doesn’t lead to anything good.”

With some effort, a young man is picked up in Fraternity Park in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 19 March 2025 — A prisoner to his convulsions, a young man tosses on the ground, amid guttural screams, while he hits himself with fury. He has a scratched face and sores on his hands. “Watch him, that’s the químico [chemical],” the witnesses exclaim, recognizing a scene that is no longer exceptional in Cuba. So much so that it does not happen only in marginal territories, but also in the heart of cities. In this case, in Havana’s Fraternity Park, a step away from the Capitol, in the middle of this Wednesday morning.

“I know that boy, he’s twenty-years-old. He spends the day there sitting on a bench with a small group, asking people for money,” the worker of a nearby place tells this newspaper. “They don’t have breakfast, they don’t eat, they don’t feed themselves, they just get into that, which doesn’t lead to anything good.”

Another neighbor aware of the situation corroborates that the young man is a regular consumer of synthetic cannabinoids, known on the Island as “el quimico” – the chemical. “He takes it up to nine times a day,” he says, but they had never seen him like that. “It does give him fits, but not as strong. And it’s scary, because you can see that he could do anything under the effects.” continue reading

The police try to dissuade him from approaching the boy and threaten to put those who take out their cell phones to take photos into the patrol car

Faced with a crowd of people, the police try to dissuade people from approaching the boy and threaten to put those who take out their cell phones to take photos into a patrol car. Minutes later, not without effort, between an agent, a guard and two other men, they manage to carry the still trembling body to a private red Lada to take him to a hospital, whose name they don’t give.

The event coincides with the most recent crusade of the Cuban Government against narcotics, the “Third Exercise of Prevention and Confrontation of Illicit Drugs,” which began on Sunday the 16th and will end on Saturday the 22nd. The objective, the official press said, is “to reach the neighborhood with preventive and confrontational actions, to work on community factors, to raise the perception of risk and the rejection of drugs, and to achieve greater participation of the family in the education and protection of their children.”

Among the actions that the authorities say they will develop are establishing controls on the roads, making “prophylactic preventive interventions in 57 educational centers,” carrying out “checks on the production and storage systems of medicines and other substances,” holding debates and talks, but also, according to the official State newspaper Granma, executing show trials.

This same Wednesday, Canal Caribe reported that such a trial took place in Havana for “alleged crimes associated with illicit drugs,” although it does not specify when or how many were prosecuted. In the same report, Xiang Fong Zamora, president of the First Criminal Chamber of the Provincial Court, recalled that in 2024, “more than 92%” of defendants tried for acts related to drug trafficking were sentenced to prison.

The media reports that a trial took place in Havana for “alleged crimes associated with illicit drugs,” although it does not specify when or the number of defendants

The figure was given by the Ministry of the Interior itself: more than 1,100 people went to jail last year for that reason. Likewise, in 2024, 1,051 kilos of drugs were seized in Cuba, mostly cocaine, in addition to marijuana, methamphetamine and cannabinoids. Most were detected on the sea. There alone, the police seized 844.13 kilos (619.72 of cocaine, 222 of marijuana and 2.3 of hashish) in 133 actions. There were also nine stings in which 37.5 kilos of drugs were seized.

In Holguín, the “Exercise” seems to focus more on prevention. As Iris Cosella Torres, a provincial Mental Health official, said this Tuesday to the newspaper Ahora!, “they will arrive in the neighborhoods, fundamentally, to promote protection factors and in this way contribute to achieving greater participation of the family in the education and guarding of their children against drugs.”

In her speech, the official recalled, without referring to him by name or surname, that “the Historical Leader of the Revolution prioritized the fight against drugs, for which he instituted almost at the end of 1958 Provision No. 6 of the Civil Administration of the free territory, which provided for the total elimination of the consumption of any substance that was against the well-being of the people.”

This is one of the many fallacies spread by Fidel Castro, especially lacerating given the involvement of high authorities of the regime in the international trafficking of narcotics, and the outcome of Case 1/89, which ended in the execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa and three other high military officials, on July 13, 1989.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Dangerous Art of Avoiding the Lumps of Stone which Fall Off the Bazar A&M Building in Havana

Four days after the incident happened, the heavy pieces of stone remained in the middle of the street. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 14 March 2025 – Finding heavy bits of building spread about at the foot of 909 Calle Infanta, on the corner with Carlos III, in Havana’s centre, doesn’t surprise anybody. The building – especially the top floors which are still inhabited – has been in a ruined state for years. The only surprise is that there hasn’t been a more serious accident: in the ground floor of the building the new branch of Bazar A&M attracts hundreds of people every day.

This Friday, four days after the incident happened, caused by the recent cold weather front, the heavy pieces of stone remained in the middle of the street, hardly even cordoned off properly by a police tape. The shop not only remained open, it was heaving with people.

Customers were indeed in two minds about entering. “Oof, how terrible it looks!” was what the majority said when they looked up and saw the big hole in the top storey and the eaves destroyed, and with the wall ready to continue collapsing. “That’s very precarious, something disastrous is going to happen here at any moment”, said one woman who decided not to take the risk of entering the shop.

The Las Avenidas building, has been in a ruined state for years, especially the top storeys, which are still inhabited. / 14ymedio

Since it first opened its doors last November where the state-run cafe Las Avenidas used to be, which lent its name to the building, the store has become one of the busiest in the area. “Yes, it’s quite expensive but it’s well stocked and has all the right departments: ironmongery, food, sweet shop, continue reading

toiletries, everything”, one customer explained. “Nothing like other shops like La Época, where you go in and it’s like a deserted graveyard”.

The store is Bazar A&M’s third branch. The firm already had two stores in the same district of Havana, one on Neptuno/Lealdad and the other – a market – on Neptuno/Gervasio. A WhatsApp group run by someone calling themselves Valentina Vale announces its latest offers and prices.

The actual owners continue to be a mystery. Unlike other small/medium sized private businesses, Bazar A&M doesn’t have a website, and, although they sell a whole range of produce, they are registered at the Ministery of Planning and Economy with “Paper and Cardboard production” listed as being their main activity.

Bazar A&M not only remained open, it was heaving with people. / 14ymedio

All three of the firm’s stores used to be state-run outlets, and, as has been seen repeatedly in recent years, they all opened without public tender or prior notice. For example, the “mixed” bazar Neptuno, which opened in 2023, occupies a space which used to be a clothing store that was falling into ruin.

Whoever the owners are, they don’t appear to be concerned about the condition of the building on Infanta/Carlos III. An elderly gentleman summed it up like this: “When you look up and see that part of the building is about to fall off, you say, ’Dear God, is there no one with the common sense to realize that a shop with such a large number of people shouldn’t be situated here!’ You can see that there are other bits of the wall that are going to fall off at any time. Certainly when the next rain comes. Hopefully they won’t fall on top of anyone”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Cubans’ Obsession With Potatoes Takes Over Luyanó Amid Blackout

In Havana it is a major event, while in the countryside “they have it at hand”

The truck that transports them stands between the people in line and the potatoes. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 March 2025 — Potatoes have just arrived at the rationed markets in Havana and Cubans do not need a town crier to alert them. With bags on their shoulders or carts in hand, the members of the line closed ranks this Thursday in front of the Arango and Lugo grocery store, in the Luyanó neighborhood.

“They will give three pounds a head,” predicts a woman. The comment fuels the excitement of those present, who already see the coveted tuber prepared in all possible ways: fried, but there is no oil; with sauce, but there is no tomato; with meat, but the cows have disappeared; with minced meat, but the Cuban pig is just as elusive.

The eternal dilemma of not having the right ingredients is a realist’s challenge that those waiting in line in Luyanó are not willing to accept – at least for now. “The important thing is to get there,” repeats a gray-haired Havana resident. The line, he explains, distracts him from the blackout that has fallen on Luyanó since morning and the lack of internet, the umpteenth “collateral damage” of the energy crisis.

“There has always been an obsession with potatoes here,” says a housewife, impassive but without leaving her place in the line. “This doesn’t happen in the countryside: of course, they don’t ’swing’ it so much because they have it at hand, but we…” She is not wrong. This week, several provincial newspapers announced the distribution of potatoes in their markets.

In some provinces, the arrival of the potato – right at the beginning of Lent – took on messianic overtones: The State company Acopio distributed 5,000 tons of the tuber in Ciego de Ávila coinciding with the visit of Gerardo Hernández, the former spy for the regime in the US who ended up becoming president of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a synchronicity that Invasor celebrated .

The truck that transports the potatos stands between the line and the object of their desire. Unloading is slow and the message has not yet reached all homes, says one of the customers, for whom the line – which moves from one side of the street to the other, fleeing the sun and dodging cars – is still not very long.

The unloading is slow and the notification has not yet reached all homes. / 14ymedio

For several months now, there has been “potatoes on the street,” a phrase that describes the availability of the product in the informal market. At 350 pesos per pound, a cart driver or street vendor can provide families in Havana with the coveted tuber. “It’s not much, maybe three medium-sized potatoes, or nine small potatoes, but from what you can see on the truck, they’re not very big,” says another woman, already hopeless.

“Potato! The news of the day!” exclaims one of the bodega’s neighbors from the doorway of his house. As if it were the Vatican, until the last sack is shipped, there will be no talk in his neighborhood of anything other than potatoes.

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With Blackouts and No Teachers in the Schools, Cuban Education Has Become ‘Optional’

Severalschools have reduced their hours and only offer classes in the mornings or from Monday to Thursday.

Elementary school children arriving at school /14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, March 2, 2025 — Dayma has not sent her daughter to school on Fridays in the municipality of Placetas, Villa Clara, where she is in third grade. According to 14ymedio, it is not because the girl is sick or because there is a new “complication,” but because the primary school itself has established that school days are only from Monday to Thursday.

She doesn’t know if the order came “from above,” but since the announcement, her life has turned upside down. “Every week I have to juggle to see who stays with her because if I stop working, we don’t eat. And at ten years old, I can’t leave her alone,” says the mother.

Hiring someone to pick her up from school and take care of her until she gets home from work is not an option either. The service is not cheap, and, with her daughter’s frequent outings at noon – when classes are suspended – it becomes more expensive.

On top of this, she argues, she works in the provincial capital, Santa Clara, which makes it difficult for her to take care of her daughter during working hours. Although she has tried to look for a job in Placetas, for now she cannot leave her only source of income.

Dayma confesses to this newspaper that she is “distraught” with the operation of the school: “I don’t know of any other programs, but my daughter barely has classes.” continue reading

According to the mother, the girl has not had a steady teacher since the school year began

According to the mother, the girl has not had a steady teacher since the school year began, and, due to the lack of staff, many subjects “have been left hanging.” “The other day I took her a little late because I had a medical shift, and when I got to the classroom there were only two children, of the 20 in the group. The parents had not sent the rest of them,” she says worriedly

In addition, the primary school has not had a director for at least two years. The teacher who held the position got sick and gives orders from her home, but she is never at the school “nor does she have the authority to demand anything if she herself does not go.” On several occasions, attempts have been made to “cover the gap,” says Dayma, but no other worker will step forward: “No one wants to get into that mess.”

“I know that things are difficult with the blackouts, lack of food and the situation of the teachers, who have their own problems. Sometimes I don’t want to send my daughter to school, because I feel it’s a waste of time and they only go hungry without doing any work. If things continue like this, they won’t learn anything,” she admits, and adds that even in Santa Clara many of her co-workers have complained about the same thing.

Carmen, a resident of the Luyanó neighborhood, in Havana, has a similar experience. Mother of a seventh-grade teenager, she has had to manage so that her son, at home, learns what they don’t teach him in school.

At the rate they’re going, the woman believes that only the most intelligent and those “with parents who force them to study” will be able to graduate

“At the beginning of the course they said that they would teach all day, but my son only goes in the mornings and often returns at ten or eleven saying that the teacher wasn’t there or that a shift was suspended,” she says. Other times, she points out, “they go in the morning and the teachers don’t come, so they leave them there for three hours, fulfilling a schedule, but without giving classes,” she complains.

Following the death of Jonathan Oliva, the 12-year-old boy who drowned during the floods last Monday in the capital, the schools of the municipality have tightened the measures, says Carmen. “Now they require the boys to also go in the afternoon, but they are not doing anything. In the end, without teachers and resources, they will not be able to maintain that system,” she predicts.

At the rate they’re going, the woman believes that only the most intelligent and “those with parents who force them to study” will be able to graduate. The most backward, she says, have no chance: “If they pass the year it’s because the school approved them so as not to have a bad record.”

Alarmed by the situation in the schools, both mothers agree that education on the island is far from demanding and controlled. “At any time you can meet a group of pre-university boys, or of any classroom , on the street. And it’s not that they ran away, but because they were released when classes were suspended,” Dayma criticizes.

If before these situations were only seen on days when the energy crisis forced the closure of schools and certain workplaces – as the Government did two weeks ago – now, the mother says, “it seems that education in Cuba is optional.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Police, Left Without Staff, Try To Recruit Their Retirees

Crime surge blamed in part on shortage of officers

Many ask for leave and go to work in State stores and private businesses / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 February 2025 — Rolando retired from the police a decade ago. All his life he was an office worker and patrolman in Havana, and after retiring, he looked for small jobs, finding gas and standing in line for the neighbors who hire him. He hadn’t felt linked to the Ministry of the Interior for some time, and, therefore, the call he recently received from a unit of the municipality of Diez de Octubre, asking him to return to work, left him perplexed.

“They asked me if I was working and if I wanted to do something with them again because they lack staff,” the retiree, whose name was changed for this article, tells 14ymedio. Rolando thought for a moment about his answer, not because he wasn’t clear about it but because it’s always better to choose your words carefully with the authorities: “I’m old now, and I don’t have what it takes for that kind of work.”

While it is true that his 75 years have not passed in vain, his age is not the only reason why he declined the offer, although it was the only one he gave out loud. “I will work for anyone but the State. The costs of transportation and living are too high for me to work in a police unit. What does the State offer that is worth that sacrifice?” he asks.

On the other side of the phone they insisted that he come back. “They told me that they could pay me 6,000 and up to 7,000 pesos. They asked me what I was doing for work and even offered me a position as a duty officer. It’s a pretty simple job, because you spend the day sitting, although you’re continue reading

usually on call 24 hours and then off for 48. But no, I don’t want to do anything with the State,” he says.

On the other side of the phone they insisted that he come back. “They told me that they could pay me 6,000 and up to 7,000 pesos”

It is not the first time that they tried to recruit Rolando to be a police officer again. “In 2023, Transportation called to offer me a position issuing fines. When I turned it down, they even said that they would help me, I’m not sure if that meant with resources or with the work, but I refused again,” he recalls.

As he explains, the lack of personnel in the police units is critical. “Recently they had a meeting in that same unit of Diez de Octubre looking for sector heads, officers on duty and even file clerks and receptionists, he says. And he adds: “the units are bare.”

Although without specific data, the Ministry of the Interior has acknowledged on several occasions that it lacks staff. In interviews on Cuban Television and with the official media, some managers have attributed the increase in crime in part to the shortage of police. For Rolando, that is another weighty reason to categorically refuse the offer from the Ministry.

“Because of that shortage of officers, the streets are very dangerous. I can’t go back to the police at my age. I wouldn’t be able to defend myself. I could kick someone, but that’s about it,” argues the habanero, who knows that in terms of danger, younger people also think like him. “People ask for leave and go to work in stores, where they are paid between 5,000 and 6,000 pesos, or to MSMEs, where they can earn even more depending on the work,” he says.

“Because of that shortage of officers, the streets are very dangerous. I can’t go back to the police at my age. I’m old and can’t defend myself”

At this point, the police are desperate to hire people, explains Rolando. In the middle of last year, the Ministry of the Interior offered several courses that were shared by local governments and the State press, for anyone who wanted to join their ranks in Pinar del Río.

From enrolling in a Law Degree to being a patrolman, the offers for those who accepted a one-year course were broad and the requirements minimal: “Must be between 17 and 40 years old, with 12-years’ education and a degree completed, and in good physical and mental condition.”

A 75-year-old retired officer “is now working with them,” says Rolando. “But what the hell! Don’t let them count on me!”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mysterious A&M Bazaar Opens its Third Shop in a Ruined Building in Havana

The supermarket is located where the state cafeteria Las Avenidas used to be, on Infanta and Carlos III

Since the supermarket was opened on 11 November there have been crowds thronging through its doors hoping to buy. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, 8 January 2024 — Number 909 Calle Infanta / Carlos III, central Havana, appears to be bipolar. The upper storeys, where the majority of apartments continue to be inhabited, are falling apart, whilst the ground floor, which used to house the state operated cafeteria Las Avenidas – which gave its name to the building among the locals – with its prosperous, recently opened private store, is all bright and shiny new.

Since the supermarket was opened on 11 November there have been crowds thronging through its doors hoping to buy. Beneath its newly painted arches there are ornamental plants and powerful air conditioning units, and there’s no sign of the ruined state of the rest of the building, which has been denounced by its residents on numerous occasions. On the contrary, it feels like another place entirely.

Number 909 Calle Infanta / Carlos III, central Havana, appears to be bipolar. / 14ymedio

Items of ironmongery, decor, articles for the home and white goods, along with other objects such as oriental smoking pipes, all mingle with foodstuffs, themselves also wide ranging, such as tinned foods, sauces and jams and even fresh produce, including dairy and meat. Everything is priced in pesos, and, as is usually the case with private shops, it’s all well stocked but at prices beyond the reach of most people’s pockets, and of poor quality.

A ’kitchen’-based toy, 1,000 pesos; a plastic container with two scouring pads, 450; two packets of incense, 900; a small pack of nuggets, more than 1,000; a tin of beans, 900; a small carton of juice, 700, and straws for 200 pesos – these are some of the products that you can find from day to day. The activity of loading and unloading is feverish. continue reading

Everything is priced in pesos, and, as is usually the case with private shops, it’s all well stocked but at prices beyond the reach of most people’s pockets, and of poor quality. / 14ymedio

The business doesn’t display any name plate outside, but pink letters on the employees’ black sweaters reveal that it belongs to Bazar A&M. The company, which already has two other stores in the same Havana district – on Neptuno/Lealdad and on Neptuno/Gervasio – has made the most of this third branch’s launch by opening a WhatsApp group where it announces new products and prices.

The products advertised on Sunday, the eve of the Epiphany / Three Kings day, are all toys, made in China. A toy truck fitted with beach-rakes at 2,500 pesos, a Jenga puzzle at 1,100 and a game with hoops for babies at 1,950. The company doesn’t allow public comments to be made, and someone who goes by the name of Valentina Vale is in charge; she is also the person who promotes the shops on Facebook.

The business doesn’t display any name plate outside, but pink letters on the employees’ black sweaters reveal its name: it belongs to Bazar A&M. / 14ymedio

Its owners are, beyond this detail, mysterious. In contrast to other micro, small or medium sized businesses (’mipymes’ or ’MSMEs’ in English), they don’t have a website, and, although they sell just about anything, they are registered with the Ministry of Economy and Planning as “producers of paper and cardboard goods” as their principal activity.

“I don’t know who they are, but not just anyone gets to use this logo”, one customer told this journal as she was waiting to get into the store, pointing to the message printed on the door: “Havana lives in me” – a logo created by the authorities for the 505th anniversary of the capital and distributed to government institutions. “What you can see, is that they’ve spent quite a lot of money here…”, the woman observed.

“I don’t know who they are, but not just anyone gets to use this logo”, one customer told this journal. / 14ymedio

Vigilance inside the store is also very noticeable. The staff don’t just visually monitor those who have made purchases, but they check the goods at the exit. “Carefully check your purchase before you leave, as we don’t do refunds”, says a notice.

Elsewhere, the buildings in which the company has established its other branches all used to be state owned, and, as has been repeated in recent years, they have been reopened without public tender and without advanced notice. The “mixed” bazaar Neptune was established in 2023 in a former clothing shop which had fallen into disrepair.

“Me and my sister used to love it, because you’d enter through a door at one side, go round the interior in a ’U’ direction and come out through another door, where there was also the stairway up to the residents’ flats on the upper floors”, María, a resident of the Cayo Hueso quarter, remembers of the old building.

Bazar A&M is, in any case, one of those establishments which have proliferated in Cuba in recent times, and, joining the list of these new “dollarized” businesses, it all in effect goes to demonstrate the end of the old convertible currency shops.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Cuban Government Opens a High-End Supermarket that Only Accepts Dollars in Cash or Card

The move is a sign that “dollarization” of the economy — something Prime Minister Manuel Marrero has spoken about— is going ahead along with the end of the MLC

The new Supermercado 3ra y 70 (3rd and 70th Supermarket) is owned by Tiendas Caribe, a branch of the Cimex corporation. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 3 January 2024 — The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket, which opened on Tuesday on the ground floor of the luxurious Gran Muthu Habana hotel in Miramar, does not accept MLC (a form of digital convertible currency) much less Cuban pesos. The store is owned by Tiendas Caribe, one of the numerous offshoots of the Cuban Armed Forces all-powerful Business Administration Group (GAESA). The store accepts three forms of payment: dollars in the form of cash, foreign cards and the so-called Clásica (Classic) debit card, which is denominated dollars.

The supermarket was bustling on Thursday, two days after opening, overwhelming its visitors. The store is part of a newly built shopping center that includes numerous privately owned shops — among them a branch of the Chocolatera confectionery —most of which have yet to open.

Outside the entrance to the complex was a line of cars, similar to lines outside the city’s gas stations, whose owners were eager to park and shop. Unlike at other state-owned stores, the shelves inside the huge, clean, well-lit space were fully stocked with a variety of products.

“Inside it’s all shiny and new, with automatic checkouts, with carts, with baskets, with all the products the MLC stores used to have but no longer do,” said Lucía, a first-time customer. / 14ymedio

“Inside it’s all shiny and new, with automatic checkout counters, with carts, with baskets, with all the products the MLC stores used to have but no longer do,” said Lucía, a first-time customer. “All the beans here are canned and natural. The meats, the cheeses, the olive oil, the regular oils, tomato sauces, pickles, canned fruit, nougat, rice, coffee, yogurt, milk, ice cream, and even whole wheat bread! It’s got everything, everything,” said Lucía, who spent 6,000-pesos taxi on a taxi ride from Old Havana to get here. And she was amazed. “The checkout counters move. I have never seen that in Cuba before, not even in the Cuatro Caminos market!”

The supermarket carries Cuban-made products which are no longer available at state-owned stores. Until now, they could only be found at privately owned small and medium sized stores (MSMEs). These include items such as Cubita coffee and Estancia fruit juices; private label brands such as Clamanta and Gustó. They new store also carries “foreign” brands routinely found at Cimex stores. They include Spain’s Vima, Mexico’s Richmeat and Chile’s Sur Continente, companies that have long been established on the island. Vima, which imports apples, has been operating in Cuba since the 1990s . Small appliances such as fans (for $45) and Italian coffee makers were also among the most popular items at the store.

“I imagine that, since this is in dollars, it will last but, with this kind of operation, you never know,” said an elderly woman who was accompanied by her daughter. “The MLC stores started out like this but but now they’re empty.”

A total of twelve cash registers served a diverse clientele with one thing in common: money to spend. / 14ymedio

A total of twelve cash registers served a diverse clientele with one thing in common: money to spend. Customers include high-ranking officials, foreigners and embassy personnel as well as a picturesque group of nuns. Two of them were in the checkout line, waiting to buy fans. Two others scurried back and forth to their car, carrying a wide variety of products and foodstuffs.

“You have to take advantage of this because, before too long, it will all be gone. Just look at the MLC stores. They haven’t been stocked in a very long time,” observes a retiree carrying a basketful of chicken.

A sign at the cash register explains how customers can pay for their items. “Payment here is made using USD cards,” it reads, with logos of which cards the store accepts. At the top — above even the Mastercard and Visa logos — is Russia’s Mir card, which a woman in the checkout line was waiting to use. “It belongs to my husband,” she said, surprised to learn the store will also accept cash. Most customers, however, were paying in dollars.

The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket also carries Vima-brand apples. / 14ymedio

The cash registers did not, however, provide change. Instead, employees hand out small sweets, though they were not given to customers if the amount was less than five cents.

Another novel form of payment is the Classic card, which has been available to customers at this shopping center since December 7. Though senior government officials have said nothing about it, requiring consumers to pay in dollars and incentivizing them to use this card can be seen as another step towards dollarization of Cuba’s retail economy, which Prime Minister Manuel Marrero spoke about last month in the National Assembly. Effectively, it also means the end of the MLC. continue reading

In a post on social media, Cimex describes Classic as “a financial product denominated in U.S. dollars, designed to facilitate your transactions within the country.” It can be used at the network of gas stations that take payment in dollars and at retail outlets with point-of-sale (POS) terminals. It can also be used to buy goods and services, and to import products from overseas. The card costs $5.00, or its equivalent at the “current exchange rate” in “accepted foreign currencies,” the corporation states. One dollar of the purchase price is automatically added to the buyer’s account balance. There is no “pre-set amount” or required minimum balance. Customers receive a 5% discount on each purchase but are charged a $1.00 service fee each time money is added to their accounts.

The supermarket is part of a new shopping center that includes numerous privately owned businesses. / 14ymedio

Cimex also announced that it will soon be available at CADECA foreign exchange offices and other retail outlets, including those in the Gran Muthu Hotel complex. One of the few shops now open there is a perfumery.

The supermarket is still accepting MLC for the time being , an employee tells a customer who asked about some cologne. “You can go to the perfumery if you have MLC but you’d better hurry because that’s about to change,” says the employee.

“When will that be?” asked the customer.

“I don’t think it will be long but they haven’t told us yet,” he replied.

The new 3rd and 70th stands in contrast to an old supermarket of the same name, which opened prior to 1990. Its merchandise was priced in dollars at a time when it was illegal for Cubans to have them. Initially, only diplomats and resident foreigners were allowed to shop there but, by 1993, it was open to all. Like many state-owned stores, it went into a steep decline after it became an MLC store in 202o.

Attracted by the crowed and dressed in their uniforms, some of the employees of the old store came over to check out the new one. Their irritation was all too obvious. “This is a disgrace. Everything they used to sell in the old store when it first opened is now here. There’s nothing over there and this place has everything,” one employee complained loudly.

The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket stands in contrast to the old pre-1990 market of the same name. / 14ymedio

“There are no empty shelves here,” said one of the employees. “All the empty shelves are over at the other store, which is falling to pieces,” responded one of her co-workers. Ironically, in late December, Cimex announced on social media that it was celebrating the anniversary of the old “diplomat’s store”

A visit on Thursday to the old store confirmed everything its employees described: poor lighting, visibly dirty shelves, scant merchandise, and the stench of rotting meat throughout. The site now mainly serves as a parking lot for customers of the new 3rd and 70th Supermarket,

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Cuban Military from Gaesa Partner with the Spanish Vima in Another Dollarized Store

Customers can pay with MLC, but employees suggest that they are going to remove this option

Faced with the delay in the line to check out and the subsequent protests from customers, this Sunday, the employee argued: “And what do you want me to do, if I’m the only one?” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 6 January 2025 –Although it has not attracted as much attention as the Supermarket on 3rd and 70th, which opened a day later, the store on Infanta and Santa Marta in Havana is another of the new “dollarized” Caribe stores that the military conglomerate Gaesa (Business Administration Group) opened in recent days through its Cimex corporation. In this case, the establishment is presented as “a collaboration project with the supplier Vima.”

In fact, its shelves, which are impeccable and full, carry a few Chinese products but are mainly dominated the Vima brand, founded by the Spaniard Víctor Moro Suárez and much reviled by the inhabitants of the Island for its low quality.

Unlike 3rd and 70th, cash dollars are not accepted at Infanta and Santa Marta, but, as at the brand new Miramar establishment, you can pay with the Classic card, which is recharged with US currency.

“It is nice and has many things, but as always, not everyone can afford this.” / 14ymedio

Another difference is that you can still pay with freely convertible currency (MLC), although employees suggested that this will not be the case for long. “You can pay with MLC, but I recommend that you get the Clásica card, because the lines to get it afterwards are going to be violent,” said a cashier at Infanta and Santa Marta to a customer who was entering for the first time. “Are they going to remove the MLC?” he asked, to which the woman replied: “That’s what they say.”

Posters distributed by the store and other employees, as well as Cimex’s own posts on its social networks, also encourage users to buy the Clásica card, which costs 5 dollars (one of which remains as a balance). Operative in hotels, state stores and gas stations in dollars, its use applies a 5% discount in stores and 10% in hotels, but with each refill one dollar is “discounted.” continue reading

Although the country’s top authorities have not said anything about it, the obligation to pay in dollars and the incentive to use the Classic card – created at the beginning of last year – can be considered as another step towards the dollarization of transactions in Cuba, which Prime Minister Manuel Marrero spoke about last month before the National Assembly and, with it, the effective end of the use of MLC.

Facade of the Cimex and Vima store on Infanta and Santa Marta, Centro Habana. / 14ymedio

The first thing that catches your attention at Infanta and Santa Marta, however, is the number of security guards multiplying in the corridors. Above all, in contrast to the only worker who performs the function of checking the bags on the way out. This Sunday, faced with the delay in the line to leave and the consequent protests from the customers, the employee argued: “And what do you want me to do, if I am the only one?” To which a man snapped: “But look how there are people here doing nothing, they should put someone there to help you.”

“It’s nice and has a lot of things, but as always, not everyone can afford this,” lamented a pensioner outside the shop who only bought a 3-kilogram package of powdered detergent (for $8.95). “And well, a lot of green,” she said, highlighting the color of Vima. “I didn’t buy any food, because I can’t even look at that brand, which isn’t exactly cheap.”

Highly criticized by Cubans for its poor quality, Vima has been present on the island, with privileges that most companies do not have, since 1994, although it was registered in the National Registry of Foreign Commercial Representations only in October of last year.

Some of Vima’s prices at the new Infanta and Santa Marta stores. / 14ymedio

The partnership with Gaesa is not new for Vima, which has its headquarters in Havana in the Berroa area, owned by the Armed Forces business consortium. Its founder, Víctor Moro Suárez, has lived in Cuba for more than 25 years and was president of the Association of Spanish Businessmen in Cuba.

Before this rebirth, the store on Infanta and Santa Marta had gone through different stages. With the dollarization of the economy in the 1990s, it became one of the best-stocked markets in the Cuban capital – like the old “diplotienda” on 3rd and 70th, opposite the new Supermarket – where one could pay directly with the US currency and later with convertible pesos.

Posters distributed by the store and other workers, as well as Cimex’s own posts on its social networks, also encourage users to buy the plastic card, which costs $5. The lower sign says: “This unit sells products that can be paid for only by magnetic card backed with freely convertible currency.” / 14ymedio

Located in a border area between Centro Habana and Cerro, the store is surrounded by very poor neighborhoods, such as the El Platanito settlement. Its wealthiest neighbors were, until recently, the residents of the nearby Fama y Aplauso building, whose apartments were distributed among Cuban cultural figures, spokespeople for the regime, and journalists prominent in the so-called Battle of Ideas, an ideological turnaround promoted at the beginning of this century. However, the most powerful figures have ended up moving out of the building and into neighborhoods to the west of the city. The new market thus has to deal with the impoverishment of a neighborhood where the dollar does not circulate, and even less so the Clásica card.

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Beggars Proliferate on the Streets of Cuba, Living Replicas of San Lázaro

Many are accompanied by a small statuette of the saint and a cardboard box to deposit the quilos.

The glances, always on the ground or lost somewhere in the street, say it all. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 17 December 2024 — In Cuba, every corner has its Saint Lazarus. Bent over, propped up by crutches or moving in a wheelchair, dressed in the jute that characterizes the saint or in the rags of Babalú Ayé. You don’t have to go to the famous Havana sanctuary to find yourself face to face with an old man, a sick person or a beggar.

People are not sure whether this December 17th is celebrated by the Catholic saint who got up and walked, St Lazurus — the beggar with dogs — or the Yoruba orisha. The only thing that is clear is that Lázaro – a name that Cuban mothers often give to their children if the pregnancy was difficult – is synonymous with suffering, and that is never lacking.

Since colonial times, when African slaves mixed their tradition with that imposed on them by their masters, Saint Lazarus was the saint closest to the terrestrial and, therefore, the most venerated; sometimes even above the Virgin of Charity (Ochún) or Saint Barbara (Changó). The drums of his “wake,”as in the song by Bola de Nieve, can be heard from the night of December 16th in any part of the country and the church collection boxes are filled with coins collected throughout the year in homes.

Silent and in the company of these symbols, Cuban beggars rarely really ask for anything. / 14ymedio

The average Cuban cares little about the theological boundaries between the orisha and the biblical figure. There is no beggar on the island who does not carry a small statuette of the saint and a cardboard box to deposit the
quilos, pesetas and pesos, and sometimes a few bills.

Silent and in the company of these symbols, Cuban beggars rarely really ask for anything. You see them – like the one that on Tuesday was near the Parque de la Fraternidad – hunched over, with nylon bags around him, a bottle with a little soda and some violet piece, the color of Babalú.

Reduced to pure bones, a beggar washes his feet in a ditch on Reina Street. / 14ymedio

The glances, always on the ground or lost somewhere in the street, say it all, like that of the old woman who – cart in hand, jute robe, and a little box with Saint Lazarus on it – was selling oil sitting near a line.

On Rodríguez Street, a “diver” explores a gigantic landfill with his crutch. Reduced to pure bones, another beggar washed his feet in a ditch on Reina Street. It is enough to continue walking through Havana for the list to continue.

On Rodriguez Street, a diver uses his crutch to explore a giant landfill. / 14ymedio

In the land of the Lazaruses, the gigantic advertisement on the scaffolding surrounding the old Payret cinema, opposite the Capitol, is shocking. The photographic exhibition Grandmothers and Grandfathers on loan, by Monik Molinet, is the exact opposite of reality. Rosy-cheeked, peaceful, in houses made of slabs and with happy faces, the “borrowed” elderly have little to do with the mistreated Babalú Ayé or with so many Cubans who resemble him.

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Coppelia, the ‘Cathedral’ of Ice Cream and of the Cuban Regime, Has Died

Not even the ice cream shop employees know when it will reopen its doors.

Inside, only a few foreigners, loaded with cameras and lenses, stroll around and take pictures / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 26 December 2024 — Nobody knows when Coppelia will reopen. Cuba’s most famous ice cream parlor, located on the emblematic corner of 23rd and L, in El Vedado, has been closed for months. “The cathedral of ice cream is dead,” was the verdict of a Havana resident when, on Thursday morning, she saw only two employees reluctantly selling cookies.

To 14ymedio’s questions, the workers answered, holding their treats and seated at one of the many entrances of the centrally located establishment: “There is no ice cream and we don’t know when there will be any.”

As the passers-by who walk around the ice cream parlor remind themselves, “Nothing has been sold there since Hurricane Rafael struck,” last November 6.

The crooked sign at the entrance, and the fallen tree trunks and poles, augur that Coppelia’s bad season continues until further notice. / Juan Diego Rodríguez

A month later, at the beginning of December, the Coppelia ice cream factory on Rancho Boyeros Avenue gave the final blow to production after running out of ammonia to refrigerate the product.

The chains that, placed from one fence to another at the entrance, have been blocking the entrance to Coppelia for weeks, are not the only ones that draw the attention of Havana residents. “They also removed the huge continue reading

awnings where the tables were placed for customers to sit and there are many fallen trees.” Even the craftsmen who used to sell their items in front of the establishment have disappeared. “They dismantled all that and we don’t know if the vendors will return, ” another Havana woman admits.

Inside the utopian revolutionary ice cream parlor – created with the idea of giving Cubans a taste of the most exclusive flavors – only a few foreigners, loaded with cameras and lenses, walk around and take pictures after getting the workers’ approval. The crooked sign at the entrance, evoking the legs of a ballerina, and the fallen poles in its gardens, seem to announce the inevitable: after several crises and temporary closures in recent years, Coppelia has finally hit rock bottom.

Translated by LAR

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The Garbage-Bin-Wheel Thieves Act in Plain Sight in Havana

The shabbily dressed old man leaned the container over the sidewalk and used a long wrench as lever.

An older man in shabby clothes laid the blue plastic container on the sidewalk and inserted a long key between the metal support and the base, like a lever / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 December 2024 – What possible domestic use can a wheel from a garbage bin have? The enigma is difficult to solve in a country overwhelmed by multiple needs, but the answer, judging by the wave of robberies that has crippled more than a few garbage containers in Havana, must exist. Local authorities have denounced the situation. To no avail. The dismantler – or the gang, as some speculate – is still at large.

The operation, however, is not carried out clandestinely or at dawn. Anyone who walks through the streets of Havana can, in broad daylight, witness how a bin is stripped of its four wheels. A reporter from 14ymedio witnessed how an older man, shabbily dressed, laid the blue plastic container on the sidewalk and inserted a long key between the metal support and the base, as a lever.

It only takes a little muscle – although, to be honest, the old man is pure skin and bones – for the wheel to come loose and fall into a bucket. Passersby hear the dull thud of it falling, but no one bats an eye. When someone else “makes the decision,” the law of the street dictates that they keep quiet and keep walking. No one knows how much that wheel is worth when the old man sells it to a customer to build a wheelbarrow that will be used to carry water or other products, but everyone understands that his “beans” depend on it. continue reading

It should not be forgotten that when a wheeled container overflows onto the street, it reveals that it is not only humans who are interested in waste.

The Cuban crisis has generated a whole catalogue of “garbage people”: divers who fish for recyclable junk and often food; scavengers who go hunting for historic plaques, park benches and any piece of metal within reach; businesspeople who know what use to give to the most unusual pieces – like the wheels of the container – and to whom it is best to sell them; and beggars whose world is garbage, because they depend on it daily to eat, dress and breathe.

For them, Havana’s garbage has layers, geography, chronological order, flora and fauna. It should not be forgotten that when a container without wheels overflows onto the street, it reveals that it is not only humans who are interested in waste. Dogs, cats, rats and even birds stop by to look for what they need.

In daily contact with this world, the workers of the Communal Services also suffer from the “hobbling” of the trash bins. This Saturday, three employees were trying to move an empty container. The maneuver could not have been more laborious. As if glued to the asphalt, the hulk filled with waste remained motionless.

No one in Havana remembers the old cha-cha-chá that best describes it, sung in Cuba long ago – ironically – by the Mexican duo Hermanos Castro: “Hide, because here comes the garbage! Hide, gentleman, because they’re taking what’s good for nothing.”

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With the Supply Suspended, a State Truck Distributes Two Bottles of Water per Person in Luyanó, Cuba

A vehicle from Aguas de La Habana supplies residents in Luyanó / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 November 2024 — It’s been ten days since Hurricane Rafael passed through Cuba leaving a lot of water on the streets but little in family cisterns. In Havana alone, more than 200,000 people are still without water service. Despite its “limited resources,” the Government has begun to send sporadic trucks to supply the people of Havana.

In the neighborhood of Luyanó, residents have been waiting for days for the arrival of “the blessed vehicle” that, unlike the classic “pipas” – which are loaded with a large metal tank -has four or five plastic tanks on its trailer, which goes from one side of the city to the other. Some water spills out, an almost inevitable waste – especially in the current shortage – because of the number of potholes in the streets.

“For more than ten days, since before the hurricane, we couldn’t get water in this neighborhood. The explanation they gave is that this is an elevated area and the pumping is deficient. I have very little left in the tanks in my yard,” Marta told this newspaper. This Saturday she finally saw the vehicle arrive at her door. Relieved, she began to gather pots, buckets, pails and even washbasins, but the indications “from above” do not allow the truck to distribute more than “two buckets per head.”

Marta joined the disappointed line of neighbors who, with containers in hand, waited to fill theirs with a dirty hose. “In the end we got four buckets, two for my husband and two for me. If they don’t pass by every day, what am I supposed to do with so little water?” she asks the woman, who predicts that the small amount of water will go for cooking and drinking. continue reading

In Nuevo Vedado the situation is not so critical, but for Alina, the acquisition of water is not going well. “I live on the top floor of a building and, although they bring the water every two or three days, little comes in and benefits the neighbors below first. The upper floors barely have a few brief minutes with the supply when it comes,” she explains.

“To top it off, we have a tank connected to the pipes, but the pipe broke in the hurricane, and until we fix it, we have to depend on what arrives in the building,” says Alina. But she adds: “We are not the worst off. The building on the corner of Boyeros and Conill has 26 floors, and those people don’t even have a terrace where they can place tanks, hang clothes or calm themselves down with this mess,” she says.

Complaints have also been posted on social networks, especially at the bottom of the Aguas de La Habana page. “We don’t need explanations, we need water, and not just a truck with a hose, because we are over 60 years old and can’t carry water to the fourth floor,” claimed a user. Others, with more sense of humor or more resigned, are convinced that the Government is forcing them to “pass a course in going thirsty.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Lights Come Back On in Havana but Some Blocks Still Don’t Have Power

The recovery process in the east is much slower and residents fear how Hurricane Oscar might affect that.

Luego de cuatro días sin luz, la cola ante los cajeros de la calle Toyo estaba más nutrida que nunca. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 October 2024 — “They all wear sweaters under their uniforms in case they’re ordered to out onto the street. This way they can take off their shirts, blend into the crowd and disappear.” Antonio has forbidden his son, who is doing his mandatory military service in Havana, to “beat people up” if his detachment is called upon to suppress street protests. He claims that many parents of other boys in his son’s unit have indicated they have done the same.

The man says that the the 19-year-old’s unit is located is “quiet” for now. “There are a lot of wealthy people living in grand houses in the area where they are deployed, all with electric generators and all the comforts,” he says, feeling powerless after another sleepless night.

His wife is more irritated by the general attitude she encounters on the streets. “You go out and everything is normal, as if nothing has happened. Everyone is partying! They’re happy because they’re going to get paid for not working, at least for as long as that this insanity lasts!” she says. “Nobody is bothered. Everyone is playing dominoes and having cookouts, laughing and drinking beer. The ones with the courage to protest don’t get support from their neighbors, who call them shit-eaters.”

Among the scattered slogans that people could be heard shouting, one stood out: “Down with the dictatorship”

However, around 9:00 PM Sunday night, residents in Central Habana banged pots and pans in protest. Among the scattered slogans that people continue reading

could be heard shouting, one in particular stood out: “Down with the dictatorship!” Despite the sporadic nature of the demonstrations, tensions in Cuba are rising. It is Monday and the country has now been without power for four consecutive days due to a nationwide blackout. Meanwhile, the regime is struggling to restore the power grid by creating electrical “islands.”

The human rights group Justicia 11J reported that there were at least twenty-eight protests on the island between Friday and Sunday night, twenty-one of them in Havana. Other provinces where demonstrations were reported were Holguín, Mayabeque, Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spíritus, Artemisa and Villa Clara.

Strikingly, one of the protests took place in Manicaragua, a town in Villa Clara which was subjected to the so-called the Escambray cleanup operation. After the revolution, its insurgent population was forced to relocate to Pinar del Río and confined to captive villages, to be replaced by supporters of the regime. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who had been “integrated” confronted police officers on Sunday in front of local government headquarters.

Justicia 11J issued a statement claiming it had received reports of authorities suppressing peaceful protests. It indicated, however, that it has no knowledge of people being detained or forcibly “disappeared” in relation to the events of the last three days. Nevertheless, they added that they cannot rule out the possibility due to an information blackout resulting from “the lack of electricity and internet connectivity.”

Map showing areas of the island where power was restored as of Monday morning. / Cubadebate

Meanwhile, Cubadebate continues to provide updates on the situation in a “breaking news” format that is unusual for state-run media. According to information released a few minutes before 3:00 PM, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, whose unexpected shutdown was one of the reasons for Friday’s massive blackout, had “synchronized the microsystem.”

“A large number of units will start coming back online at 3:00 PM because we will be restarting Guitaras, which we will do slowly so as to avoid suddenly overloading the system,” said the minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, in statements on national television. He did not specify whether the process would take hours or days.

With the power restored for who knows how long, Havana residents took to the streets on Monday hoping to buy food and run errands, which they have not been able to do since Friday. The Boulevard Café, located on the corner of San Rafael and Galiano streets in downtown Havana, was selling fried chicken legs for 50 pesos apiece, though the line to buy them was almost insurmountable.

Similarly, there was a comparable line in front of the ATMs on Toyo Street after four days without power. “There are blocks that have electricity and others that don’t,” said one customer waiting in line. She had just come from the bank on Galiano Street, which was closed because it did not have electricity.

The smell of meat that has gone unrefrigerated for hours is being carried by the wind to places far from its point of sale. Such is the case with the ground meat being sold at the Havana Literary Cultural Center for no less than 500 pesos a kilo.

According to the electric company, more than 88% of Havana’s electricity has been restored. However, a cursory tour of the capital belies that number. The little grocery store on San Rafael Street in Central Havana was open despite having no electricity, with merchandise for sale at astronomical prices. Service on nearby Infanta was not fully restored either. In some other areas, and on Neptuno Street, power did seem to be back on but these were exceptions.

“No electricity, no water and drowning in garbage,” complained an elderly woman as she walked past a a pile of trash on the corner of Neptuno and Campanario streets. On the other hand, the lights in the Luyanó district came back on for about twelve hours. But just as the Guiteras facility was coming back online, they went out again at 3:00 PM.

“All the Energás facilities are ready, all synchronized except one, which allowed us to reboot Havana and the floating power stations in the bay,” said the minister

They were able, he said, “to keep going through the Havana substations all the way to Mariel” and start up a thermoelectric plant there.” This, in turn, “provided start-up power to facilities and floating power stations” so that “the Mariel site and the floating stations could go back online.” There are two floating power stations being leased from Turkey — one in Havana and one in Mariel — as well as another in Santiago de Cuba.

In the east, bringing Unit 5 at the thermoelectric plant in Nevitas back online will help restore power to that region. “Granma [province] is in a better situation because a small generating facility that serves more than 40% of its customers kept running,” he said.

However, he also warned that Hurricane Oscar — even if it does not pass directly over these provinces — could still bring with it winds that impact transmission lines. “The last thing we want is for the system to go down due to a line failure. We are restoring the system much more slowly; customers will not suddenly be brought back online,” he reiterated.

Without offering further details, the foreign minister indicated that Cuba “is in talks to finalize the receipt of this aid”

Though Oscar brought violent rain storms to Baracoa, it caused no significant damage” according to the assessment made by officials and confirmed by Eleazar Moreno Ricardo, networks director at the Cuban Electric Union (UNE). “Conditions are being created to revive the hospital back,” he added. There were, however, minor “impacts” in Maisí and Moa.

As for the rest of the communities in Guantánamo province, they have not been able to carry out damage assessments because it is still raining. To support the recovery of the electrical infrastructure after the storm, five contingents of linemen from Villa Clara, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Granma and Santiago de Cuba are on their way to the eastern province.

What the authorities are not talking about is whether they are expecting fuel shipments. The tanker ship Prairie Tulip is expected to arrive in Moa on Wednesday. It could be transporting fuel from the refinery in Curacao, where Venezuela sends its oil to be processed. In Matanzas, they are still waiting for the oil tanker Ocean Mariner and the coastal vessels Ocean Integrity and María Cristina.

In a Sunday tweet, foreign minister Bruno Rodríguez expressed gratitude for “the efforts and immediate support offered by the governments of Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Russia and Barbados to deal with the current situation.” Without offering further details, he indicated that Cuba “is in talks to finalizer receipt of this aid.”

Officials announced there would be a new edition of the TV interview show “Roundtable” on Monday night. It will deal with the recovery process of the country’s electrical grid and the effects caused by Hurricane Oscar in eastern Cuba. The program was last broadcast just four days ago, on Thursday night, and featured an interview with prime minister Manuel Marrero. In that episode he stated, “[I can say] with all objectivity and transparency, we are not yet in a bottomless pit.” He was right. The next day, the entire island went dark.

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The Sacred Heart Meat Market Miraculously Gets a Shipment of Chicken

Residents know that the meager pound of protein doesn’t go far, but the temptation to make a soup or fry some thighs is greater than their disappointment at the small amount.

Local residents lined up early to buy meat from the neighborhood butcher shop. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 15 October 2024 — “You take some skin, some bones and a little ice and suddenly you’ve got a pound.” That is the exact amount of chicken that the ration book, which governs food distribution on the island with an iron fist, says each Cuban is supposed to get. Families in Havana’s Luyanó district have not received the allotted amount for months. Even so, government officials claim that the hindquarters that were delivered Monday night to the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus) butcher shop under a persistent drizzle were October’s supply.

“For a long time, you could only buy chicken for children or the elderly. Now, finally, pregnant women and everyone else can get it. But they say it’s only for October. It’s best not to count on getting the last two months’ quota,” says Rosario, a resigned local resident. Nevertheless, she and twenty or so neighbors lined up early to buy what they could.

The news that thighs and drumsticks had arrived spread quickly through Luyanó. “Even the local representative mentioned it on the WhatsApp group where she posts information. And every now and then you could hear someone shout, ‘The chicken has arrived,’” says Rosario.

The news that thighs and drumsticks had arrived spread quickly through Luyanó

Everyone here knows the meager protein ration does not go very far but the temptation to make a soup out of it or fry up some thighs is stronger than the disappointment at the small amount. “Besides the fact that it is almost never available, the rationed chicken is not enough for anything. I myself continue reading

always have to buy it on the black market because it’s the easiest and cheapest meat to get. I never rely on the butcher shop to have it. But if it does, I’ll buy it because it only costs 20 pesos,” adds Rosario.

Sagrado Corazón — it is still known by its original name rather than La Esquina (The Corner), the one given it after the revolution — opened unusually early on Monday. As soon as the chicken arrived at its doorstep at around six in the morning, the meat market began serving the first customers who showed up looking for their pound of poultry.

The shop with the two-word name also serves a dual purpose. After an employee at a nearby store fell from grace and the roof collapsed at Sagrado Corazón’s original location, the business ended up taking on two roles. “Government officials wanted to make it a combination grocery store and butcher shop. And since that suited the grocery store manager, who would have more products to sell, he didn’t complain. Also, the manager of one of the stores was a drunkard and people were lining up at the other to look at the sky through the hole in the roof,” says Rosario.

The shop with the two-word name also serves a dual purpose

“It was the manager of Sagrado Corazón himself who renovated the store, painted it and, I think, even pays the security guards who work outside. From time to time, products that you can’t buy with the ration book show up on the sales counter and no one knows where they came from. The guy with the know-how always finds a way to do business,” Rosario says.

On Tuesday, a street vendor has set up a stall outside El Sagrado Corazón to take shelter from the rain. “I’m going to buy a handful of his plantains, make a “fufu”* with them and have it with the chicken,” says Rosario in a rapacious tone. By noon, neighborhood residents were still to gathering at the entrance, ignoring the store’s posted closing time. “We have to take advantage of this opportunity while we can. After this batch, there might not be any more chicken till next year.”

*Translator’s note: A dish of boiled, mashed plantains

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