Juan Diego Rodríguez – Page 14

Trying to Stop Dengue Fever with an Inadequate Fumigation Campaign

The racket wasn’t coming from a machine in the sky but from an old fumigation truck of the Comunales company. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 11 August 2022 — Early Thursday morning, the inhabitants of Nuevo Vedado in Havana woke up startled by the roar of what seemed to be a small plane, flying over the streets of the city. However, when they went out to their balconies, they noticed that the noise didn’t come from a flying machine, but from an old fumigation truck of the Comunales* company.

The vehicle dispensed its smoke on the streets, sidewalks and ditches, so that the gas would reach the numerous mosquitos that nest after the summer downpours. It’s a random measure, but one urgently decreed by the Government, which has always lacked a systematic and coherent strategy against the aedes aegypti mosquito which transmits dengue fever.

Another Public Health measure has been the sending of medical personnel to inspect residential buildings in the area. But even when time and human resources are allocated for this, doctors must face multiple daily setbacks on the island.

A doctor on her way to inspect a building in the area entered the elevator to evaluate the upper floors and, between one level and another, was trapped by a power outage. Had one of the neighbors of the building, already accustomed to the “rescue” during blackouts, not come, the woman would have remained there, locked in the elevator until two in the afternoon, when the electricity was scheduled to return.

Other neighbors have filed complaints with Public Health, since health workers appear in homes during the most inappropriate hours, when people need to go to work or out to the street. Their presence must be validated; it’s “mandatory” and decreed by the Government.

As if that weren’t enough, the proliferation of dengue hemorrhagic fever and other mosquito-borne diseases are at their most critical point. The most recent report presented by the Minister of Public Health pointed out, as causes, “vacations” and the “period of rain and intense heat,” but concluded, with the usual rhetoric, that the only possible measure is “surveillance, timely admission, trained personnel, adequate treatment and closing ranks in the areas of greatest risk.”

In contrast to the official optimism, the minister offered concrete data on the transmission of dengue fever in 11 provinces, 23 municipalities and 33 health areas of the island. During the last week of July, the incidence rate of suspected dengue cases increased by 35.5% compared to the previous week, with an average of 68.3 cases recorded per day, mainly in Havana, Holguín, Isla de la Juventud, Guantánamo and Camagüey. continue reading

A report published in Tribuna de La Habana reported that “intensive fumigation” vehicles similar to those of Nuevo Vedado will circulate in the municipality of Playa. The proliferation of insect-borne viruses, which include dengue, Zika and chikungunya, especially affects the coastal area of Havana, where outbreaks abound.

According to Manuel Bravo Fleitas, Director of Health in this municipality in the west of the city, there is a map that records the most affected blocks and the nuclei of dengue transmission, which includes the local polyclinic.

The most frequent practice in this and other municipalities of the island has been home care and the sporadic follow-up of patients. The symptoms that indicate the condition, which neighbors must report to the health directors, are fever, muscle and eye pain, in addition to fatigue and exhaustion.

“Playa shows a similar behavior to the rest of the Havana territories in terms of the number of cases and the number of fevers, with an average of 100-120 per day,” the report says.

As the situation becomes increasingly alarming, the Community Services procedure continues to respond to a precarious pattern: workers irrigate puddles, tanks and swimming pools with little bottles of diluted insecticide. Fumigation devices, in addition to being old and very annoying, usually don’t have the necessary maintenance and fuel, and neighborhoods continue to suffer from unhealthy conditions and systematic deterioration.

Abandoned and collapsing buildings are ideal sources for mosquito nesting, in addition to numerous rubbish dumps and common areas that are barely cleaned of grass and garbage. The impossibility of ventilating houses properly, due to frequent blackouts, facilitates the scenario for night bites of mosquitoes.

Added to this panorama is the fact that Cuba is far from having satisfactory control of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hospitals have a more worrying lack, that of medical supplies, which are indispensable for treatment and recovery from these diseases.

*Translator’s note: Servicios Comunales is a public company in charge of services such as garbage collection, mosquito control, and others.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ten Dollars and Five Banks Later: a Cuban’s Dilemma in Selling His Foreign Currency

Like a monetary Eusebio Leal, I continued walking Havana up to Belascoaín and was received at the bank on the corner of Zanja by a distracted guard who didn’t even look up from his cell phone. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 4 August 2022 — I took to the streets of Havana with ten dollars in my pocket. A sweaty, fought-for bill, a miniature fortune in the country of bank surprises. I wasn’t forgetting the words of the Minister of Economy, serene as an executioner between the president of the Central Bank and the affirmative Randy Alonso [note: director of the State TV Roundtable program].

Wearing a tie and smartly dressed, Minister Alejandro Gil promised to exchange each of my dollars for 120 pesos, or something like that, because there would be a bite from the commission. I started walking towards Infanta wondering how many dollars Gil himself would sell, a man who claims to be always “in the concrete” and for whom “there are no magic recipes” when it comes to economics.

I arrived at the Cadeca currency exchange on Infanta, and I didn’t see any of the “talented young people” and the “professors of the academy” who enlightened the minister on managing this measure. I was greeted by a uniformed mulatto, older, who wore his uniform impeccably. “You saw the Roundtable yesterday, didn’t you?” he asked me kindly.

I answered yes and instantly the clerk appeared, nervous as a fire ant, and said to me: “Did you bring your identity card?” I couldn’t help but smile. So did Gil not only intend to open the banks as mousetraps to capture foreign currency, but also to learn who has dollars and how many they are willing to sell?

“I left it, compañera,” I said, and kept walking through Central Havana, willing to find out what other secret rules Alejandro Gil’s game would have in its first hours of operation. continue reading

I arrived at the Cadeca currency exchange on Infanta, and I didn’t see any of the “talented young people” and the “professors of the academy” who enlightened the minister on managing this measure. (14ymedio)

He who makes the law makes the trap, as the saying goes. However, here everything is slippery, dark and doesn’t obey logical rules, I thought, as I went up Infanta to another bank. It was deserted: a few workers, fugitives from their posts during working hours, so as not to subject themselves to longer lines in the afternoon.

“Who is last in line* to exchange?” I asked them. They looked up, overwhelmed by the heat and boredom, and pointed to the door of the establishment. “The system isn’t working yet,” they informed me inside.

Like a monetary Eusebio Leal, I continued walking Havana up to Belascoaín and was received at the bank on the corner of Zanja by a distracted guard who didn’t even look up from his cell phone. “There is no one to exchange,” the guy explained, “because there is no connection. The system is down, you understand?”

I looked at the line in front of the ATMs, which were working perfectly, and I found the excuse very strange. They depend on the same network. The Central Bank of Cuba hasn’t been able to guarantee a serious and effective structure for exchanging currency, even when they feign “despair” and “anger” in the face of the U.S. embargo, the usual apology for incompetence.

“Come in, come on, exchange!” one of the office workers from another bank in Belascoaín appealed to me. As a preliminary step to a financial wound, so much enthusiasm seemed dangerous. “Has anyone come to exchange yet?” I asked cautiously.

No,” the woman admitted, “but there is no problem. You know what these things are like at first. The system still doesn’t work well; we have to try it. So you will be the first brave man, come on!” “Wait a minute,” I said, and I saved myself by shooting out of there like a rocket.

Finally, at the bank on Galiano Street, I found several people lining up to exchange. The employee at the door, a portent of economic misinformation, assured us that the exact exchange rate for the euro was 121 pesos, when in reality it stays at 119 and a few cents after paying the commission.

In the line, the story was already famous about clueless customers who, when extracting Cuban pesos with their European Visa card at the ATM, received 24 Cuban pesos for every euro and not at the new rate. It was useless for them to complain. A foolish boy arrived asking how much he would have to pay for a dollar. “No, mi amor,” clarified the bank guard, “they are the only ones who can buy. And they will sell . . . when they tell us.”

It was deserted: a few workers, fugitives from their posts during working hours, so as not to subject themselves to longer lines in the afternoon. (14ymedio)

It’s almost noon, and Gil’s invention hasn’t convinced me, so I give up my place in Galiano’s line. Nor does it seem like a good deal for other Cubans. The minister has already imagined us in long lines to rid ourselves of foreign currency and destroy, with the same shot, the informal market.

I open my phone and consult the WhatsApp groups of buying and selling dollars, food, medicines and everything else. Contrary to Gil’s predictions, no one pays too much attention to the prodigious measure. Obviously, the exchange rate of the dollar is already exceeding that decreed by the government.

I note the contact for a boy who promises 150 pesos for every dollar. In the same group, someone says that they prefer to sell their dollars at 90 pesos rather than give them to the government. Since yesterday, both the euro and other freely convertible currency have been following the upward course of the U.S. currency, the favorite of the Council of Ministers.

I take my $10 bill out of my pocket and look at it almost fondly. What a job it will be for Alejandro Gil, the brilliant magician of the Cuban economy, to take dollars away from a Cuban.

*Translator’s note: When Cubans join a line they do so by asking “who’s last,” and in this way the line maintains its order without individuals having to stand exactly in place, in a line that might last hours.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Power Cuts ‘Blackout’ the Best Supplied Markets in Havana

The offers are poor and no one wants to be inside the establishment, in the middle of the power outage scheduled for Vedado from early in the morning. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 4 August 2022 — “People here are not used to these blackouts,” a woman said aloud when leaving the market on 19th and B on Wednesday. Known in the capital as the food boutique, this store stands out for always being well stocked, especially compared to others found all over the island, but the customer left the place with only two plantains in hand.

The arrival of the blackouts, however, has had a full impact on the market. The offers are poor and no one wants to be inside the establishment, in the middle of the power outage scheduled for Vedado from early in the morning.

“Buy from me, even if it’s half a melon, mi vida, I already want to leave,” a saleswoman, fan in hand, implored a customer who was passing by her stand. “I’m suffering from this heat, and my bursitis makes matters worse,” she lamented.

In the busy square yesterday you could barely find half a kilo of tomatoes for 200 pesos, Chinese plums at 60 and carrots or beets for 80 pesos a pound.

At noon, many stalls were already closed. The sellers preferred not to continue enduring the heat in the midst of the lack of electricity and left, but people kept arriving trying to get something, despite the high prices. The fear that when the electricity service was restored there would be nothing left overcame their little desire to be there. continue reading

The sellers of the informal market didn’t swarm around the place yesterday either. “I have milk, hot dogs, picadillo, even lobster.” The whispers that don’t stop normally weren’t heard this Wednesday.

A merchant announced sarcastically as he picked up his cassava and malangas: “Get your solidarity here, I’m leaving.”

“But compañero, don’t you think solidarity is necessary?” another asked him ironically. “Of course, of course, solidarity. But I am like this revolution, which has said enough and needs to go,” he replied, exploding like a bomb, while behind his back there was tremendous laughter.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: ‘A Gleaming Bodega with Hardly Any Food and a Lot of Revolutionary Will’

The bodega (ration store) looked renovated yesterday in salute to the official party on July 26. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 July 2022 — “Come neighbors, buy something. Sheets, towels, dessert plates, keep coming in.” The proclamation, which was heard this Tuesday where Hospital Street meets Jovellar, came from the woman who runs the bodega (ration store) located on that corner, which yesterday looked renovated, in salute to the official party on July 26th.

Everything had been arranged for the expected date: the painted walls, the polished counter and the neat and clean shelves, exhibiting two bottles of oil, a package of rice and another of sugar. At their side, contrasted other unusual items in the ration stores: sets of sheets at more than 2,000 pesos, towels over 800, plastic plates at 35 and even pens are offered in the local restaurant.

“Oh, but what a cool name they gave it, La Estrella [The Star],” a neighbor joked, pointing to the new sign for the ration store. “It would have been better if they had named it The Muddy Firefly. In the midst of so much land, holes and putrefied waters, didn’t they have another better investment to make?” A woman replied from the line to buy bread in the private cafeteria across the street.

The two establishments are separated by a huge fetid hole, full of sewage from the surrounding buildings that tarnishes the remodeling. (14ymedio)

The two establishments are separated by a huge fetid hole, full of sewage from the surrounding buildings that tarnishes the remodeling. The works began days ago and the street is open to start the repairs but, as often happens, there is no progress to be seen and there are neighbors who are without gas and waiting to see the area cleaned up. continue reading

“We have a gleaming bodega where there is hardly any food, but there is revolutionary will,” the forklift operator who sells agricultural products on that block comment sarcastically. “I would like to know when they are going to fix ours, which is just a block away, in San Lázaro, full of leaks and in danger of collapsing,” replied a customer while she bought an avocado. Sometimes, she tells the street vendor, the poor condition of the establishment prevents her from completing the errands in the ration book. “The ration store guy tells me, for example, that he can’t give me the sugar because it got wet, due to leaks,” she says annoyed.

Suddenly, conversations are interrupted and attention is drawn to a truck that has just become entangled in the debris on the street and has lost a piece of its bumper. The driver accelerates furiously after managing to free the vehicle, while someone yells at him: “Wow! The 26th is your party too!”

Attention is drawn to a truck that has just become entangled in the debris on the street and has lost a chunk of its bumper. (14ymedio)

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Green Avocados, Ginger and a Portrait of Fidel Castro: All That’s Left in a Havana Market

A market stall on 17th and K in El Vedado, Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 July 2022 — The scene this morning in the Havana market at 17th and K, in Vedado, could be attributed to the passage of a cyclone. The empty and skeletal platforms, waiting for products that never arrived; the plastic boxes upside down on the floor; the red earth, the rubbish that nobody sweeps and the absent vendors.

In one of the sales booths hung a solitary portrait of Fidel Castro, frowning, in olive green and stained with the residue of mud. When the market is full, Castro’s profile often works as a charm to scare away inspectors, to recognize the merchants who installed him in his place.

The trick is old and perhaps Soviet: the Czech writer and politician Václav Havel talks about a Slavic greengrocer who wrote slogans in his shop so that neither his colleagues nor the “people” of the Party would look at him badly, and thus he could sell his stuff peacefully.

A Cuban farmer, who has to market his products according to the rules of the Cuban State, repeats this ritual of camouflage against power. Although Castro is insufferable to him, he has learned to use him as the patron saint of thieves and bandits.

However, today it is not much use: since it is a holiday, not even the inspectors are prowling the alleys of the market. Only the patient buyer, willing not to be defeated by the decreed shortages that the heroic date — 26 July — brings with it, manages to glimpse an avocado stand in the distance. continue reading

For 15 pesos you can buy a pound of green avocados. The same amount buys some ginger, that Asian root to which Cubans are so little accustomed, and which could serve as a sedative infusion given the prices that are yet to be discovered, if they continue in search of food.

For 15 pesos you can buy a pound of green avocados at the 17th and K market. Ginger costs the same amount. (14ymedio)

“Solavaya!”* commented a customer in a picnic area near the market. “Avocados and ginger: that’s a deadly combination.” “And bad for your pocket,” an employee replied with a joke.

The buyer at 17th and K who, defeated, decides to go to the picnic area to warm his stomach, has to pay 70 pesos for a simple pizza. If he doesn’t want to choke on the dough, he should also order an instant soda, which won’t take long to hold his overheated kidneys accountable.

Once satisfied, so to speak, the buyer rethinks his strategy to get food this July 27th.

As he ponders the causes and effects of national hunger, he sees the grimy truck passing by that distributes egg cartons from rationing in his neighborhood. As a soul that carries the devil, he runs to his cellar, only to verify that the steel mass on wheels is stopped in front of the store’s gate.

Thanks, once again, to the glorious event, the employees have the day off and the trucker, who arrives an hour late, will not be able to unload the eggs. He panics and they look for someone who has the key, while the driver threatens the crowd: “Get up, I’m leaving!

The key appears, but a voice confirms to the buyer what he already knows: “Don’t get excited,” they tell him, “that no one will sell a single egg until tomorrow.”

He has to throw two mental insults at the portrait hanging on the remote dais of 17th and K. An older lady, head down, walks past him chewing on the words, for lack of anything else to chew on.

“Look for that,” he says, “the corpse of July 26th is still hot, and today we don’t even have a pumpkin for a sad broth. What did you celebrate so much yesterday?”

*Translator’s note: Solovaya — roughly and idiomatically: “Get me outta here!”

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Cuba’s Sidewalks and Colonnades Are a Market for Old Junk

An improvised merchant alternates proclamations about his merchandise with reading of a book. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 July 2022 — Cuban sidewalks are the scene of a good part of daily life on the Island. Taking the stool out of the house to get around the long blackouts, waiting for hours on the curb for our turn to come in a line, or setting up in that narrow strip , between the facades and the asphalt, a point of sale for anything, are just some of the uses of a space designed for the passage of pedestrians but converted into a scene of the informal market and daily survival.

This Thursday, the high temperatures and the intense sun made it necessary to walk under the shade of the colonnades in Havana. In addition to the danger that a cornice, a roof or a balcony could come off and end up on our heads, avoiding El Indio and the harshness of his rays turns out to be the priority. But the centimeters are limited and looking for the shade also has its problems. The poorest in the city use that piece of road to try to survive.

Used books, old plumbing pieces, empty containers that once held shampoo or laundry detergent, make up part of the inventory of what is exhibited on the sidewalks of streets such as Galiano, Monte or Reina in the Cuban capital.

Under the protection of a colonnade, illegal vendors multiply, but they compete with passers-by to use a strip of territory that belongs to ordinary Cubans, never better said.

With a row of books displayed outside the “Alfredo Gómez Gendra” nursing home, in Centro Habana, a makeshift merchant alternated proclamations about his merchandise with reading of a book. A few meters away, another vendor repeated the scene, which lasted for several blocks although the merchandise on display varied. continue reading

As the sidewalk narrowed, pedestrians dodged a copper pipe as well as some shoes rescued from a dumpster. Sellers and customers thus shared the same goal: to occupy that part of any street where cars do not pass and the sun does not punish so strongly.

Without the skills of the mantas* in Madrid, or the mutual protection that the merolicos** of Havana’s La Cuevita market give each other, trading on a sidewalk is a high-risk profession in Cuba. The same person who buys a scrubbing sponge from you later denounces you for getting in the way. The sun that you avoid under a doorway you pay for in bribes to the corrupt policemen or in scares every time the patrol approaches.

But the portals and the sidewalks are not an impregnable armor either. The policemen who patrol the city make a killing with the fines and arrests of those who do not have their own business premises or a license to offer their miserable products.

Sitting down to pass the time during a blackout or play dominoes with friends is one thing, but opening a venduta — a tiny enterprise — among the shop windows and the rattle of collective taxis is another.

The sidewalk is free territory until the uniformed men are disturbed.

Translator’s notes
*Mantas: Literally ’blankets’, a reference to the street sellers who commonly spread their wares on them.
**Merolicos: Street sellers who ’specialize’ in glib patter to promote their wares which may include “miracle cures,” “amazing bargains,” and the like.

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Large Deployment of Security Forces on the Eve of July 26 in Cuba

The people of the capital have noticed an unusual operation of the ‘black berets’ mainly in highly populated municipalities such as Central Havana and Old Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 25 July 2022 — On the eve of July 26, the date of the celebration of the Cuba regime, and with an atmosphere full of protests over the long blackouts in the country, the streets of Havana woke up this Monday guarded by the Special National Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior known as the black berets.

The people of the capital have noticed an unusual operation of this repressive force mainly in highly populated municipalities such as Central Havana and Old Havana, while the country experiences three holidays from today until the 27th for the celebrations of the Day of National Rebellion (July 26), on the 69th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

Among the most guarded areas are the vicinity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, on Carlos III, between Oquendo and Soledad. It’s a strategic installation in these times of blackouts throughout the country, scheduled by the Electrical Union, which depends on this ministry. One of the offices of this state company in the province of Mayabeque was partially set on fire by protesters, who filmed the event late at night.

Two ’black berets’ in Fraternity Park in Havana on July 25, 2022. (14ymedio)

On another corner of Carlos III, between Soledad and Castillejo, very close to the ministry itself, a truck of the Special Brigade was guarded by several agents. The vehicle, with the number 1532, serves to transport the military, as was recorded during the days after the protests of July 2021, when the regime deployed its repressive arsenal and mobilized caravans in several cities. continue reading

In this area there is also Plaza Carlos III, one of the largest shopping centers in Havana, popularly known as “the palace of consumption.” For several years it has been the commercial lung of Central Havana, especially in the neighborhoods of Pueblo Nuevo, Cayo Hueso and Los Sitios. Both in this establishment and in other state centers you can also see the operational guards of police, other special forces and State Security officers dressed in civilian clothes.

But the ones who have attracted the most attention in the last few hours are the black berets, with their black uniforms and their inquisitive looks, as they observe the atmosphere in central areas of the capital and even walk with dogs guarding streets and busy squares such as Fraternity Park. Some residents report to this newspaper that when they approach this brigade, they prefer not to be using their cell phone because even that action provokes suspicion among the military.

One of the trucks in which the ’black berets’ move is located on Carlos III, between Soledad and Castillejo, in Central Havana. (14ymedio)

Because of the violence unleashed by the regime during the arrest and imprisonment of the demonstrators on July 11, 2021, the black berets together with the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Álvaro López-Miera, are considered responsible for “serious human rights abuses.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba There is Not Even Enough Sugar Cane to Make Guarapo

Guarapera on Infanta and Carlos III, in Havana, completely closed this Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 July 2022 — The debacle of Cuba’s sugar sector, which recorded catastrophic harvests in the last two years, is affecting an entire cultural tradition in Cuba: the guaraperas, selling guarapo — sugar cane juice.

Instead of guarapo this Friday, they sold mango juice at the premises of Neptuno, between Belascoaín and Lucena, Central Havana. “There is not even a little piece of cane to grind,” the employee told a customer who went in to cool off in the middle of the hot morning in the capital. “The harvest hasn’t even given enough to tie a goat,” the man commented ironically, having to settle for mango juice and complained that it was acidic.

Not far from there, the guarapera located on Infanta and Carlos III, one of the ones that sells the most products in the capital, dispatching it even in bottles, is completely closed. An old woman who came to quench her thirst, turned around, disappointed: “This Revolution gives neither sugar, nor water, nor ice nor shame.”

Traditionally, guarapo has been a drink to quench thirst in the midst of high Cuban temperatures. Served with plenty of ice, it helps to cool one down, in addition to providing enough energy to continue on the road. However, it is also a fragile liquid, which quickly becomes acidic and must be consumed as soon as the cane is ground.

Guaraperas were very frequent in Havana, but in recent years they have disappeared and, currently, there are only a few scattered throughout the city. Given its rapid deterioration, the guarapo is not sold on an itinerant basis nor is it stored in cans or bottles. Although in other countries it has been preserved in containers, in Cuba it is still an ephemeral drink. continue reading

Therefore, going to a guarapera was, in addition to a necessity to relieve the heatwave, a cultural experience: the press crushing the cane, the liquid between yellow and milky coming out of the stalks, the fragments of ice served loudly in the glasses that were then filled with a sparkling and sweet drink. The first sip was like an energetic jolt that ran through the body.

The first blow to the guaraperas was a matter of hygiene, with the lack of detergent to wash the glasses. Then, the supply of ice and, later, the cane began to diminish. The blackouts have given the final blow to many of these places that need electricity for the cane presses. At the counters where a few years ago impatient customers waited while they watched the guarapo flow from the grinding mill, now there are only flies and silence left.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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My Hometown Cuban Vacation in Sancti Spiritus Turned Into an Ordeal

When I got to the bus station to return to Havana, the place was completely dark. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 July 2022 — I could not postpone my trip to the city of Sancti Spíritus any longer. After several months without visiting my family, I prepared everything to arrive in the second half of July and spend a few days with my relatives in the center of the island. I thought I could escape the daily problems that plague Havana, but there I ran into long blackouts , a food shortage more brutal than in the capital, and a population about to explode with indignation.

The first day everyone told me “they haven’t turned off the power yet, you got lucky” and I watched the light bulb in the kitchen to see when it went dark. The first night I was able to sleep with a fan, a privilege that the residents of Sancti Spiritus had already forgotten after so many early mornings fanning themselves or trying to capture some breeze at the front door of the house. But that “sweet welcome” soon turned into an ordeal.

During my second day the blackouts came and as soon as evening fell a cloud of mosquitoes came upon us. You couldn’t stay in the rooms because of the heat, but leaving the house was an absolute guarantee of facing the dawn full of welts all over your body. Among my relatives, several had their skin full of bites and at least one of them also had symptoms of being infected with dengue fever.

At night the neighborhoods remained dark for long hours, inside a few houses the glow of a rechargeable lamp could be seen that barely lasted a short while before leaving those families in the shadows as well. Taking advantage of the darkness, people shouted “Patria y Vida” [Homeland and Life] but nothing happened, because not even the police dared to enter those streets that looked like the mouth of a wolf. continue reading

Everyone I came across seemed to be on edge from not being able to sleep. Many families in the neighborhood where I was did not send their children to school after an early morning without electricity. Others remain silent and do not protest because they make a living from some illegal business and do not want to draw attention to themselves, but no one knows how long that mask will last in the conditions that the people of Sancti Spiritus are experiencing right now.

“Our bread dough spoiled,” an employee at a state bakery told me. “We have been adding cassava to it, because that is what they told us to do, but since we don’t have electricity to work with, it gets in a bad state due to the long hours of waiting.” After describing the situation and, when I thought that she was going to talk about the fact that they had had to discard the raw material, the woman added: “but the same dough will come out as today’s bread.”

Although I had some beautiful moments with my relatives, deep down I was also counting down the days to return to Havana. I never thought I would miss my neighborhood so much with its sewage, its long line in front of the pharmacy and its noisy nights. The two times I bought a small portion of pork I had to pay more than 2,000 pesos. In the end, I spent more than five times that amount on my visits to the farmer’s market and buying a few bags of bread from a private vendor. When leaving, I left a bottle of mosquito repellent that I had brought, because not even that can be obtained in a city that was once prosperous and with an intense commercial atmosphere.

This Tuesday, when I arrived at the bus station to return to Havana, the place was completely dark, there was not even a rechargeable lamp to ensure that passengers could move smoothly around the room. I grabbed only my luggage tightly and held it close until I got on the bus. Inside the vehicle, the air conditioning was at a minimum “because the situation is on fire,” the driver responded to customer complaints.

During the minutes that it took us to leave the city, only a few lights could be seen through the window, the rest was completely dark. Everyone on the bus was silent, trying to detect through the glass some indication that Sancti Spíritus was still an inhabited place, alive.

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Havana, a Dead City with ‘More Police Than People on the Street’ and Without Lines

El Faro, one of the state stores that was completely empty this Monday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 11 July 2022 — The harassment of independent activists and journalists since last week already foretold that this Monday, the one-year anniversary of the historic 11J demonstrations in Cuba, would be a day without disturbances. This is the case, at least in Havana, where numerous police officers, uniform and civilian, are deployed in the streets of the center. In their effort to maintain order, the authorities have even done what seemed impossible: they made the lines disappear.

“There’s nothing available in the neighborhood stores that always have lines in front, such as El Rápido, the Cupet de Infanta or Maisí. It seems that they’ve chosen to avoid the food lines today,” a neighbor of Central Havana tells this newspaper, surprised by the empty shops, the semi-deserted streets and the environment of surveillance.

In the Maisí store, located on Infanta Street, two other women commented that “there’s nothing for sale because, you know, today they don’t want people on the street.” Nor was there anything to buy at H. Upmann, on Zapata and Infanta, and Las Columnas, on Galiano.

At the doors, of course, there were individuals with an inquisitive attitude, who were clearly not there to buy, since nothing was offered. “Today there are more police than people on the street,” a boy murmured when he saw them. continue reading

The police operation was especially visible on Carlos III Street, which was full of officers. In the Plaza of the same name there was one business operating, with chicken and detergent for sale in pesos. On any other day, the line would have been massive; however, on Monday, there were only three people waiting.

Uniformed and civilian agents guarded the streets of Central Havana. (14ymedio)

“Here, here’s the line, they replied to an old man who asked, surprised by the low number. “And why are there so few people?” he asked. “They’ve only allowed the bodegas (ration stores) to be open today,” they explained.

On the door, a sign announced the distribution of the bodegas for the People’s Council of Pueblo Nuevo, the only one that has been open from June 22, without any modification to the rules of last May 20. Since then, purchases have been restricted by municipality and “cycles,” a controversial measure not only to distribute scarce products but also to avoid turmoil in the lines.

“It’s a shame there isn’t even one place open, not even one line, in all of Havana. It’s incredible,” exclaimed a boy also from Central Havana who, in vain, was looking for a place where he could shop paying in national currency.

The strategic points of that neighborhood, one of the emblematic scenarios of last year’s 11J demonstrations, were full of officers on Monday. A woman summarized the situation when passing a group of four Black Berets [Special Forces] walking along Boulevard San Rafael: “Not even one fly is flying here today.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havanatur Sells Tourist Packages to Cubans at Impossible Prices and Without Transportation

Cubatur offices on the ground floor of the Habana Libre hotel in the capital, this Friday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 8 July 2022 — In the past, on a day like this Friday, after Havanatur announced the tourist packages for the start of the high season on the Island in October, the line in front of the Cubatur offices would have been as considerable as in previous years. It wasn’t the case today. The prices published by the state operator, whose cheapest rates do not fall below 4,000 pesos per night, are prohibitive for nationals.

Thus, the three people who were waiting at their doors, under the Habana Libre hotel, in Havana’s Vedado, did not have to wait long to be attended to. At the counter they were not offered cheaper solutions for vacationing and, in addition, they were given another bucket of cold water: the packages did not include transportation.

“It is not known if there will be transportation by then or not,” explained an employee, without giving more details, simply nodding when one of the women who was being helped alluded to the lack of fuel. “No wonder there was no one today, who is going to stand in line with these prices and without transportation?” the lady lamented as she left the place empty-handed. continue reading

According to the Havanatur website, the Habana Libre Hotel is the one that offers the cheapest night for two people: from 3,780 pesos. It is followed by the Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad, in that city of Sancti Spíritus, from 5,472 pesos, and Iberostar Parque Central, in Havana, with one night from 7,000 pesos.

If those urban rates are coercive, those of hotels on the beaches are impossible for the average Cuban, whose salary is less than 4,000 pesos a month. In Varadero, a room at the Hotel Meliá Internacional, all inclusive, is available from 20,000 pesos; in Paradisus Princesa del Mar, from 15,500; at Meliá Varadero, from just over 12,000 pesos, and at the Hotel Sol, from 11,000.

As for Cayo Coco, the Meliá Las Dunas offers a night from 11,112 pesos and the Hotel Tryp starts at almost 8,000 pesos.

You practically have to carry the money in a bag to be able to afford an all-inclusive weekend in one of those spa accommodations. Now, when it is only 14 years since Cubans residing on the island were allowed to rent a room in national hotels, vacationing in one of these places is once again prohibitive, and this time the red line is marked by money.

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Fans Instead of Air Conditioning in Buses Donated to Cuba by Belgium

Belgian buses do not have windows that open to let the air flow through. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 5 July 2022 — “These buses are not for here, these buses are not for here.” The people of Havana fanned themselves desperately and crowded inside the new vehicles, buses donated by Belgium that arrived in the Cuban capital on June 24 and began operating this Monday.

With a temperature of 89 degrees that became over 100 due to the island’s high humidity, travelers were perplexed by the lack of windows on the buses.

“I stood under the vent to see if I felt any relief, the only way you can feel a breeze is there,” said one of the passengers on route P12 this morning. The transport, as usual, was collapsed and, although rumors circulated from early in the morning of how hot it was inside the new buses, many were forced to get on one of them.

“I already knew this was going to be like this,” said a woman trembling as she fanned herself; despite everything, she got into the vehicle because her trip was “only” two stops.

On the roof of the buses you can see a wide grille through which, apparently, the air should circulate, but the passengers assure that only the sound of what they identified as a turbine was heard there and all that came out of it was a small puff of air. continue reading

Luis Carlos Góngora, vice president of the Provincial Administration Council of Havana, and the Belgian ambassador, Jean-Jaques Bastien, welcomed the 29 vehicles two weeks ago and were photographed next to the flag of the European country.

“We received, at the port of Havana, the solidarity shipment from Brussels Capital of 29 buses that were donated to Havana by that Belgian city. A gesture of solidarity that brings us closer,” the Cuban official wrote on Twitter.

At that time, the authorities of the capital affirmed that the intention was to adapt the buses to the climatic conditions of the country, but everything that the travelers described today was something similar to a weak fan. “Perhaps they removed the air conditioning so as not to consume fuel,” said one, half jokingly, half seriously.

Between complaints and sweats, the passengers still had more in store. A car dragged an electric motorcycle carrying and man and a girl who was badly injured, with a visibly damaged foot. The young woman was transferred in a vehicle that passed through the place to the Calixto García hospital, leaving the passengers with a bad taste in their mouths.

Getting the buses in service, in any case, has taken less time than that of the Japanese buses that arrived on the island in January and took three weeks to join the capital’s bus fleet after many postponements and complaints from a population that no longer knows how to get around in their own city.

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Stores Leased to the Self-employed Are Without Electricity in Havana

Customers have to use the flashlights of their cell phones to be able to check the prices of merchandise. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 2 July 2022 — Private workers who rent state premises in the stores of Central Havana are experiencing martyrdom in these days of intense blackouts due to the imposition of working without electricity. “This is a lack of respect for the amount of money we generate,” one of the self-employed complained this Saturday morning, while fanning himself to relieve the heat.

Customers have to use the flashlights on their cell phones to be able to check the merchandise and see the prices. “It’s a lot of work to be able to pay. I had to use the flashlight on my cell phone to give the price to the owner of the business where I bought some shoes,” explains Xiomara.

“It’s like a cave in here, these poor people are working without a fan and so are we, the poor customers. Every time I enter one of these stores I go out dripping sweat,” adds the woman, who had to enter several places to be able to determine which shoes to buy.

“It’s to save electricity,” they say, “It’s the order from above,” “There’s no power because they turn off the switch,” are some of the answers that sellers repeat the most in the face of the anger or restlessness of customers. The affected shops are mainly located on Neptune, Galiano and Monte streets.

“I just entered a store and it’s a sauna,” said a young man who tried to buy some accessories for his cell phone but gave up in the face of the darkness and heat inside the rented space. continue reading

In contrast, the self-employed who work on private premises don’t suffer from this measure. “Everyone has their tables lit, with fans connected. Everything is well lit; the mess is in the state stores,” says a salesman who knows the area.

But it’s not just about heat and darkness. Health problems proliferate where people crowd into poorly ventilated spaces. In recent days, reports of respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses have also increased, and people fear staying for long in the overcrowded and unheated spaces.

Two customers try to look at some shoes in a store on Neptuno and Galiano. (14ymedio)

“They should give you hazardous duty pay,” a customer told sellers at a centrally located, privately managed store on the corner of Neptune and Galiano on Friday. “I was only there for a minute and I left with shortness of breath. I don’t know how they can spend hours inside, to be honest.”

Last April, the Government approved the lease of state premises that were in disuse to the self-employed and cooperatives. Among the measure’s objectives is to “increase participation in the economy, promote development, diversification of production, productive chains and economic and social well-being,” according to the resolution of the Ministry of Internal Trade. Then it became clear that it’s the state that manages these establishments.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Thousands of Cubans Sing Along with Pablo Milanes During His Concert in Havana

Pablo Milanés’ performance was marked by the emotion of an audience that had not heard him live for several years. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 June 2022 — Under a strong police operation, long lines and a thorough review of each person’s belongings before entering the premises, thus began the concert of the Cuban troubadour Pablo Milanés on Tuesday at the Coliseum of the Sports City of Havana. The performance was also marked by the emotion of an audience that had not listened live for several years to the author of songs like Yolanda.

From the stage, flanked by two large screens with his face, Milanés sang the song Marginal with which he began a concert that, from its opening minutes, kept the singer-songwriter in tune with the thousands of people gathered at the venue. Años, El pecado original, La soledad, Nostalgias y Días de gloria, were also among the most acclaimed songs during the night.

One of the most emotional reactions of the public occurred when the first chords of Éxodo [Exodus] sounded, which was repeated in chorus by the audience. “Where are the friends I had yesterday? / What happened to them? / What happened? / Where did they go? / How sad I am” was heard from thousands of voices in a country where, in recent months, one of the largest mass exoduses in more than half a century has occurred.

“I want to see them to know that I am human, that I live and feel for my brothers and they for me,” the audience completed the song. For most of the concert the also held their cell phones high while recording Milanés. Another moment of ecstasy occurred when the singer-songwriter sang “There is a people that waits silently / There is a body that I want to undress” from his song Hay [There is], which generated wide shouts of joy from the stands.

Outside the sports center, converted into a concert hall for the occasion, a large uniformed operation and several well-known State Security agents who frequently harass activists and independent journalists could be seen from the early hours of the afternoon. Among them is an officer who identifies himself as Jordan and who is often part of the police cordons to prevent reporters and opponents from leaving their homes.

“This is so full of segurosos (State security agents) that it seems like it’s Barack Obama who’s coming,” joked a young man who decided to walk to continue reading

the Coliseum in a city where transport difficulties were exacerbated this Tuesday by the thousands of people who sought to approach to the Ciudad Deportiva, a large complex of facilities where the legendary British rock band The Rolling Stones performed in 2016.

For most of the concert the audience held their cellphones high, recording Pablo Milanés. (14ymedio)

Shortly before the start of the performance, a note from the Ministry of Culture posted on Facebook was quick to assure that “everything continues to run normally at the Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum… There is no threat of explosives or incidents. The public enters from 6 pm and the invited press prepares to enter the box. Many spectators have arrived early to the gigantic indoor venue.”

However, several foreign press agencies based on the island reported that they were prevented from accessing the facility. “At the entrance, the security guards told us that we couldn’t film here and that they invited us to leave the place,” a Cuban-accredited reporter who preferred to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals explained to 14ymedio . “They didn’t give us any more explanations, they just told us that we had to withdraw.”

It was also not easy for concertgoers to post photos and videos from the Coliseum because the internet connection remained unstable and at times it was impossible to access the web from the venue. “It could be the number of people gathered that makes the signal drop, but it could also be that they don’t want us to broadcast live,” suggested Fabián, a 23-year-old who attended with a dozen friends.

“We left Central Havana at four in the afternoon and we walked here because we couldn’t even dream of catching a bus,” the young man tells this newspaper. “Along the way there were a lot of people trying to hail a taxi or get on anything with wheels to get here.” The interest in listening to Milanés comes not only from the years that the singer-songwriter had not performed in his native country. “It’s just that Pablito is Pablito,” Fabián insists.

Possessor of a wide repertoire and with a voice that stands out in the broad Cuban musical spectrum, the troubadour has also built a solid reputation for his criticism of the Cuban revolutionary process that he once enthusiastically supported. That position has cost him exclusions, institutional reproaches and a limited diffusion on the Island of his presentations abroad. His Días de luz [Days of Light] tour, which has taken him to stages in Europe and the United States, has barely been commented on in the official Cuban media.

“He sounds wonderful, he has a clear, crisp voice that doesn’t sound old at all. The instruments that accompany him are only two, a pianist and a woman on the cello, but it looks like a symphony,” admired a singer who managed to get a seat near the stage although too close, for her liking, to the speakers. “The best positions are reserved, but I’m not complaining, the important thing is to have been able to be here.”

“People are hypnotized and you can see who are those in the audience who came to control and not enjoy the concert, because they don’t sing,” said Massiel, a Havana native who attended with part of her family. “It was worth the number of hours we had to spend to get here and then stand in line to get in. This is pure vitamin for the soul.”

We must also reference the incident that fueled official anxiety, right in the Ciudad Deportiva during a concert by Carlos Varela on May 29th. At that concert the audience chanted the word “freedom” at various times. At the end of that performance, the singer-songwriter shouted “Viva Cuba libre” and thanked the organizers – with Eme Alfonso at the head – of the event, whom he praised for “having the ovaries” to invite him to sing in Cuba.

Milanés, who has lived in Spain for some time, spoke out with indignation after the repression of the demonstrations on July 11 last year. “I believe in young people, who with the help of all Cubans, must be and will be the engine of change.” The singer-songwriter described as “irresponsible and absurd” the use of repression by the Cuban government against the people, “who have sacrificed themselves and given everything for decades to support a regime, and in the end what it does is imprison them.”

After saying goodbye to the public this Tuesday night, Pablo Milanés returned to the stage acclaimed by the applause and the cries that asked for the concert to continue. “Love me as I am, take me without fear / Touch me with love, I’m going to lose my cool” sang the troubadour before an audience that was reluctant to end a night of reunion and good music.

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Once the Jewel of Cuban Department Stores, Fin de Siglo Has Become a Dump

To prevent curious onlookers from seeing the full magnitude of the historic building’s slow destruction, authorities have opted to hide it from public view.

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, June 20, 2022 — Surrounded by a metal fence and piles of rubble, work on Havana’s Fin de Siglo department store seems to be all about concealment rather than repair. To keep curious onlookers from witnessing the full magnitude of the historic building’s slow destruction, authorities have opted to hide it from public view.

“It’s been like this for years and now it’s become a dump,” laments a neighbor waiting in line on Saturday at a nearby pizzeria. “They came and put up these metal sheets one day. Af first we thought they were going to repair the building but that’s not at all the case. They’ve just let if fall apart, and with so many homeless families in this area.”

Fin de Siglo was no ordinary store. The famous emporium was opened in 1897 at the corner of San Rafael and Galiano streets in central Havana. Born of the efforts of four entrepreneurs from Galicia, it was considered the first of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world. A renovation in the mid-20th century added air conditioning throughout the building, wide escalators and large display windows at street level.

The facade of Fin de Siglo as seen from San Rafael Street. (14ymedio)

Those large expanses of glass and the stylized mannequins behind them are long gone. Area residents now dump bags of garbage into the space between the fence and the wall that once featured display windows. Parts of the concrete canopy are missing and the store’s cursive, vaguely calligraphic metal signage is barely distinguishable from the grimy, rusty walls.

With its sleek, modern facade and marble-clad ground floor, the building marked a milestone in design for the area. But neither the diligence of its architects nor the durability of its materials could ultimately save it once it was nationalized in 1960. From then on, merchandise began disappearing from its shelves. Goods were rationed and a new distribution system was imposed. Without investment, or new paint, the structure gradually deteriorated.

But Fin de Siglo’s greatest humiliation came during the crisis of the 1990s. During the Special Period it served as a retail outlet that catered to newlyweds, who could find goods there that were no longer available at other stores. Unlike in the 1980s, however, the merchandise was of low quality and questionable use. continue reading

Along Galiano Street, area residents now dump bags of garbage into the space between the metal fence and the wall that once featured display windows. (14ymedio)

“After we got married, my wife and I spent days waiting in line to get in and all we could find were plastic containers for gasoline and a funnel. But neither she nor I had a car,” says Ricardo. The retiree had been living for years with the woman who would become his wife when they decided to legalize their relationship. Being married would allow them to buy goods they could later resell on the black market. “What hit me when I went into Fin de Siglo was the darkness and dank smell, nothing at all like it was when I was a kid.”

Now Ricardo avoids even going near the metal fence. “The stench from inside the building combined with the garbage that isn’t picked up for weeks would depress anyone,” he explains. A hundred years ago, jewels shone inside its display cases, employees shuffled about, showing off new merchandise, and dozens of Galician eyes watched over the store, making sure it continued to make money and please its customers. But that was long ago. We are now in a different era and that store no longer exists.

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