The lightpost did not have a rigid support at its base and the screws that held it in place were bent, so it was almost at the point of falling onto the public street. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 1 March 2022 — The dangerous public lightpost on Carlos III street in Havana, which 14ymedio warned about last August, was finally removed this Monday by workers from the capital’s Electric Company, although an incident had to occur for this to happen.
A vehicle hit the post, which is located in front of the Veterinary Clinic, between Ayestarán and Requena, leaving it dangerously tilted, although it had long represented a great danger for cars and pedestrians circulating in the area. The post did not have a rigid support at its base and the screws that held it in place were bent, so it was almost at the point of falling into the public street.
The most recent repair of lights in the streets of the capital was limited to a part of the Malecón from Maceo Park to Paseo del Prado. Although, according to the Office of the Historian of Havana, it was also to have included the Martí Park and those located at the entrance of the Bahía Tunnel were to be included.
Meanwhile, there are completely forgotten areas of the city, such as the Plaza municipality.
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The line to buy cigarettes was at the Cupet store on Calle Infanta in Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 25 February 2022 — “Every time they put out cigarettes here it’s our own Ukraine war on the block.” With sarcasm, a resident of Centro Habana commented on the great scandal that occurred at noon this Friday at the corner of San Francisco and San Rafael, in the middle of a line to buy cigarettes at the Cupet store on Infanta street.
An argument between several who were waiting escalated until it reached bad words, shoves and blows. To disperse the tumult, several police cars and a police van arrived.
“I don’t know if it’s business or it’s the desire to smoke that drives people crazy, but the most advisable thing is to stay away from this flammable mob,” lamented another resident in the area, who does not understand why the lines of smokers get so violent.
The price of a box of cigarettes in the informal market in Havana exceeds 160 pesos depending on the brand, and often the sale of the product in pesos in state establishments must be monitored by police and military.
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The fire occurred very close to the bus stop at 3rd and 70th in the municipality of Playa. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 February 2022 — A fire in the exterior area of a building next to the 3rd and 70th bus stop in the Havana municipality of Playa occurred on Monday afternoon without causing major damage. he fire occurred very close to the 3rd and 70th bus stop in the municipality of Playa. (14ymedio)
Three police patrols arrived at the scene within minutes of the fire spreading through the brush, but the agents could do little after the wind fueled the fire and interfered with nearby people’s ability to breathe due to the intense smoke that was released from the flames.
“But why so many police? Why don’t the firefighters come?” wondered a woman trying unsuccessfully to hail a taxi in the intense heat and smoke.
continue reading
“It’s because they’re nervous because this morning it got hotter than that fire,” replied a young man who was waiting for the bus on route P1, clearly alluding to the protest that took place hours before, and a few meters from there, in front of the Costa Rican Embassy where hundreds of Cubans requested an expeditious transit visa to the Central American country.
After about 20 minutes the firefighters arrived, almost when the fire was going out. They vacated the bus stop and began pumping water over the still smoldering coals, while people at the stop joked about the fuss they made by coming to the site.
“They arrive when it’s all over,” said a slush vendor sarcastically.
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Those gathered in the vicinity of the Costa Rican consulate demanded that transit visas be granted expeditiously or that they be allowed to fly without one. (Capture)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 February 2022 — Hundreds of people gathered this Monday outside the Costa Rican Embassy in Miramar, Havana, demanding a “response” to their request for a transit permit through San José to Managua. The police broke up the protest and the area is currently under strict surveillance.
Those gathered in the vicinity of the consulate, located on Fifth Avenue, between 66th and 68th, in Miramar, demanded that the permits be granted expeditiously or that they be allowed to fly without one. Some spent the night there since the early hours, sitting on cardboard on the sidewalk and in other nearby areas.
The police operation around the diplomatic headquarters was reinforced throughout the morning with uniformed officers and police cars. This newspaper was able to verify, in the afternoon, the presence of a large number of police officers, buses to transport the protesters and a lot of surveillance to avoid anyone taking photos or videos in the surroundings.
The command post with police forces and special troops of Black Berets is located in the National Aquarium, a few meters from the Costa Rican consulate. A public transport driver confirmed to 14ymedio that the transfer of the protesters in buses congested traffic on Third Street.
“What we want is that they respect the people who purchased tickets before the new law was applied,” one of those protesting this morning lamented through a video recording. On the perimeter fence of the consulate, a poster explained how to request the new permit through a letter addressed to the consul. continue reading
Last Thursday, the Costa Rican Migration Directorate announced that starting this Monday they would require a transit visa from Cuban travelers who made a stopover at Costa Rican airports en route to a third country.
The command post with police forces and special troops of Black Berets is located in the National Aquarium, a few meters from the Costa Rican consulate. (14ymedio)
The command post with police forces and special troops of Black Berets is located in the National Aquarium, a few meters from the Costa Rican consulate. (14ymedio)
The agency explained that the objective of this measure is “to ensure that the different airlines bound for Europe and the United States can transport these foreigners safely.” The resolution not only affects Cubans, but also Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
“Changes in migration policy worldwide have caused differences in the dynamics of mobility of these nationalities, through the different air, land and sea borders” and, therefore, “other countries have adopted the visa application,” argued the Costa Rican immigration authorities.
On Monday, Costa Rican media featured the case of a Cuban couple stranded for 15 days in the transit area of the San José airport. They remain there, in “inhuman conditions,” Yulmis Acosta, sister of the affected woman, told TeleDiario, waiting to be granted refuge.
According to this relative, the responsibility for the migrants is transferred between Migration and the airline. “It is not known who is taking care of them,” declares Acosta, who details that they are guarded by six police officers who insist that they are private, and do not work for the company or to the State.
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The Cuban state store La Borla put diapers on sale this Friday. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 February 2022 — There was considerable tumult this Friday at the gates of La Borla, in Galiano between Salud and Reina, in Centro Habana. The state store, which takes payment in pesos, put diapers on sale, an item that has disappeared in national currency; but not everyone who went to the store could buy them.
Only those with a ’minor’s card’ and one which proved with the curnames, that the baby who was to be the recipient was the buyer’s child, or that the mother was pregnant, was it possible to buy second-stage diapers (for babies from from 11 to 16 pounds ) and at a price of 265 pesos each package.
This caused a dispute between the fifty people waiting at the entrance and the store administrators.
Some of the customers in line argued that they live in the interior, were not carrying the minor’s identification with them. Given this, one of the women who guarded the door replied that “everyone says the same thing” and, later they “resell” the package for 500 pesos.
And the employee was inflexible, declaring loudly: “I don’t care if he’s from the countryside or from Matanzas, if he doesn’t bring the minor’s card, it won’t happen. They said it on television: disposable diapers with the minor’s card, I’m not going to argue with anyone.” continue reading
This newspaper discovered that in front of La Borla, in the El Curita park, there was a man dealing in packages of newly purchased diapers. “I’m not saying it won’t happen, compañera,” protested another customer, who tried to explain that he is from Pinar del Río, that he works in construction in Havana, that he did not carry his son’s card and that he needed to buy diapers. “What do I do now?” he implored.
“And even if you didn’t have a child or it was someone else’s,” another buyer told her. “Why can’t we buy the diapers we want?”
Diapers for children and adults have been for years a product that fluctuates in the Cuban market. That is why families resort to solutions such as washing and later reusing already used disposable diapers, buying padding to make their own versions of these necessary protectors or converting large sizes into small ones and vice versa, with the help of the use of duct tape and other tricks.
The first cellulose and polymer diapers that were sold in Cuba arrived with the economic opening of the 1990s and the dollarization of the economy. Until that moment, in the homes of the Island only cloth ones were known, which had to be washed after each use. With the commercialization of disposable diapers, many Cuban women were able to spend less time in front of washing machines and tubs.
However, at first, the sale of these accessories was only in dollars or convertible pesos, which made them a status symbol that only families that received remittances or had economic income in foreign currency could afford.
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Police officers and State Security agents take control of the area around the graffiti written the street. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 12 February 2022 — A large police deployment prevent passage through the corner of Gervasio and Enrique Barnet (Estrella) streets, in Central Havana, after the discovery this Saturday morning of a huge sign painted on the asphalt with the phrase “Patria y Vida” [Homeland and Life]. The surrounding area has now been occupied by police officers and State Security agents.
“When the day dawned, the graffiti was already there, so it seems that they painted it in the night,” a resident of the neighborhood, who laments the police operation in the area, tells 14ymedio. “They don’t let anyone pass, I could see it because I said I was going to the agro-market that is a few meters from there and I even had to buy some tomatoes as an excuse.”
“They’ve been crazy since they arrived, but it’s going to be hard for them to erase that because it’s done with a red paint that looks like oil and the letters are quite big,” details the nearby resident. “People climb on the roofs to see it because there is no one passing by on the street.”
Around the corner, in addition to the police patrols, there is also a Crime Lab vehicle, several individuals dressed in civilian clothes with all the signs of being from State Security and also a deployment of the so-called “factors”: militants of the Communist Party and members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution in the area. continue reading
“This neighborhood is going through a very bad time, so the strange thing is that they don’t paint something like this every day,” details a neighbor. “Here people are living with many needs and food is very expensive. Young people can’t take it anymore.”
Some dirt taken from the rubble of a nearby hydraulic repair had also been spread over the area. (14ymedio)
Shortly after noon the sign had been removed and some dirt taken from the rubble of a nearby hydraulic repair had also been spread over the area. The uniformed police had withdrawn, but in the surroundings there were some individuals dressed in civilian clothes that the neighbors pointed out as being from the political police.
“Surely they have stayed in case the one who painted the sign returns to the place,” said a young man from the neighborhood. “We will have to be attentive to social networks to see the photos that are going to come out because many people took out their mobiles from the balconies and it is very likely that whoever wrote it also took a photo and published it.”
The appearance of the phrase occurs just in the days when the song Patria y Vida is celebrating one year of its release. In these twelve months, the musical theme has become a hymn of desire for democratic change on the Island and has been harshly lambasted by the ruling party.
Postings with phrases against the government, and especially against Miguel Díaz-Canel, are becoming more and more frequent on Cuban streets. Not a day goes by without the Cuban ruler being the target of a meme, a mockery, a joke or a graffiti.
A report from the Cuban Conflict Observatory detailed that last January Cubans demonstrated above all in “individual or small group actions,” such as painting graffiti and posters, holding masses or transmitting videos and photos on social networks. This strategy has the objective, adds the organization, of continuing to have “visibility and impact,” but limiting “the risk of its executors in the face of repression.”
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The amount of flowers and messages around Malcolm’s photos show the appreciation that the residents of the neighborhood had for him. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 11 February 2022 — A wall with photos, messages, flowers and candles draws attention this Friday on San Lázaro street, between Marina and Soledad, in the Havana neighborhood of Cayo Hueso. The improvised altar is dedicated to the young Malcolm Álvarez Espinosa, alias Markito, stabbed to death at the very door of his house last Wednesday night.
According to the residents of that area of Central Havana, the homicide was a “settling of scores.” “There was a previous discussion and then he was stabbed,” says a resident of the street who prefers anonymity. The victim’s friends lament his death on social networks and do not hesitate to post the nicknames of the two alleged murderers, who, according to a source close to the victim, were arrested by the police a few hours later.
Malcolm’s violent death has surprised his numerous friends, whose messages seem to indicate his belonging to the durakos or duräkitos, a peaceful urban tribe that meets in teams (groups), dresses in a peculiar way, dances to the rhythm of reggaeton and has a lot of presence on social networks. They consume more gigabytes than drugs.
“I will miss you,” “I will always keep you in mind,” “sorry for my selfishness, but knowing that you are with God, I prefer that you be with us,” were some of the words painted around various images of Malcolm, taken at different ages. The young man was 24 years old.
The press has not reported this murder, but the messages have multiplied on social networks. continue reading
The warmth of all of them show that he was a boy appreciated in the neighborhood. His mother, Catalina Espinosa, is a worker at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Surgical Clinical Hospital, and on her Facebook wall dozens of friends left numerous condolences for the young man’s death.
“We feel a lot of consternation,” another neighbor who stopped at the wall to leave his tribute told this newspaper.
“A mother suffering, friends wondering what happened, how it happened, who caused it, but that’s worth nothing, my soul brother,” writes user Torito Jalapeño on Facebook , who addresses “the causes”: “Karma exists and they will be able to run but not hide. They are going to die with a guilt inside that is not going to let them live,” because, he argues, “they killed a young boy who did not mess with anyone and did not owe anything to anyone.”
Despite the fact that the Government recently declared that the wave of violent events reported in networks and independent media are “fake news”, the violence is growing. Aggressions between young people, many of them belonging to gangs, have also grown in Havana in recent years.
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About thirty people gathered this Wednesday at the doors of the Deauville hotel in Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 9 February 2022– About thirty people are crowding at the doors of the Deauville hotel in Havana this Wednesday, and they are not tourists nor do they carry suitcases. Loaded with boxes and crates full of empty beer bottles, they line up to buy food and drink combos for 5,000 pesos each.
Two packages of sweet cookies, two bottles of wine, a kilogram of cheese, one of ham, a package of coffee, a tub of ice cream and a case of beer are part of the lots put up for sale by the establishment, closed since the covid-19 pandemic reached the Island in March 2020.
“They cannot be bought separately, but must be bought together,” warned one of the clerks, who indicated that if the customers did not bring empty bottles for the beers, they would not sell them the combo either. They did sell some bottles of Havana Club rum separately.
“People have such a need to resell and they are so eager to buy anything, that they mark their places in line like crazy and then go out terrified to look for empty bottles,” a neighbor tells this newspaper, stunned by the crowd and the haste. continue reading
A passer-by approaches and hesitates to stay in line, because the transaction is not clear. “This lends itself to a deception, because the prices are not separated. Who tells me what they are charging for in those 5,000 pesos?” he complains.
The Deauville, a few meters from the Malecón wall, is located in the municipality of Centro Habana and in one of the poorest neighborhoods in that area. Outside the tourist perimeter of the historic center and also distant from El Vedado, the hotel stands out in an environment of deteriorated houses, faded facades and buildings on the verge of collapse.
“They cannot be purchased separately, but must be bought together,” warned one of the shop assistants. (14ymedio)
The surrounding area was the site of several of the most intense images of protests during the Maleconazo of August 5, 1994, a popular revolt that gave rise to the so-called “rafter crisis.”
But the establishment has also been a source of income for the neighborhood’s residents, who, when the hotel is at its busiest, provide private taxi services, tour guides, informal tobacco sales and even prostitutes to guests.
Like the entire sector, this state-owned hotel is not going through its best period. Tourism in Cuba has collapsed in the two years of the pandemic, going from 4.2 million travelers in 2019 to just half a million in 2021. The figures are dramatic when compared to those of other countries is the Caribbean, which is the high season at the moment. While the Dominican Republic recovered the 73% of visitors it had before the pandemic, Cuba only had a small fraction of the travelers in 2019.
This Wednesday’s sale is one of the “advantages” of living a few meters from the premises, since for months merchandise of this type has barely appeared in stores that will accept payment in Cuban pesos.
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On most of Alma Mater’s shelves the “educational texts” multiply, with the words “Che” or “Fidel” on their spines (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 7 February 2022 — The best-selling book in the Alma Mater bookstore, recently reopened in Havana, is not Capital or some title by Marta Harnecker, but Homer’s Iliad.
Located in a small corner of the premises, where most of the customers gathered on Monday, the Greek classic appeared with other greats of literature, such as Pere Goriot, by Honoré de Balzac, or La casa de Bernarda Alba, by Federico Garcia Lorca.
“Oh, but how has this book sold!” said the shop assistant to one of the young men who was carrying a copy of the Iliad under his arm. “Outside of that, there is very little of interest,” confessed the customer.
The price of these international titles, between 10 and 15 pesos, also favored their purchase, despite the fact that their edition is of very poor quality. “The other propaganda books have a more elaborate cover, and even then nobody buys them,” joked another buyer, in his 50s.
In the rest of the shelves, “educational texts” multiply, with the words “Che” or “Fidel” on their spines. “Don’t you have The Golden Age?” another young woman in her twenties asked about a title by José Martí. “We don’t have it yet but we are going to have it, at the end of the month or the beginning of March,” assured the shop assistant. continue reading
The bookstore, located on the corner of Infanta and San Lázaro, was reopened this Sunday, after being closed for more than a year and under construction. A chronic clogging problem, linked to the flow of sewage from the upper floors of the building, had flooded the basement and affected the structure.
Alma Mater, which owes its name to its proximity to La Colina university, has in recent years also been a navigation room for the national intranet and a hall for official events. However, for taxi drivers and those over 70, this business with the glass windows that serve as a reference to so many are still referred in the old way: Lámparas Quesada, the private business located on the site before 1959.
On the afternoon of January 27, shortly before a crowd passed by as part of the official March of the Torches, the residents of the area murmured that the opening was imminent and was destined to please the eyes of Miguel Díaz- Canel and Raúl Castro, both in the front row of the parade.
However it couldn’t even be made ready for the occasion. There was barely time to create a set of furniture and lights. “What they did was put some furniture in the middle of the salon, to make it appear that there was something, because there was nothing else,” says a local resident sarcastically. “In case el designado [the hand-picked president] arrived or looked through the glass when he passed by.”
During the reopening event, this Sunday, with the presence of several Communist Party officials and academic authorities, it was announced that 186 titles, 36 issues of academic journals and 300,000 copies of more than 22 Cuban publishers are for sale at the store.
Amanda García Roche, director of Academic Publications and of the University of Havana Publishing, which manages the bookstore, praised the “reunion with a space that we all profess much love for and missed” and assured that it “reopens completely restored,” although the haste to meet a date raises fears that this may not be the case.
The act, full of solemnity, included several speeches, dozens of chairs placed in the nearby Martyrs’ Park and a security operation that left the residents of the neighborhood without the chance of buying “not even a button” in the informal market until that the enchanted visitors left. The cutting of a white ribbon sealed the umpteenth reopening of the premises.
“Here they have given a few coats of paint, fixed the lights and started selling, but we have doubts about how long it will last until the shit comes out from under the door again,” questions a neighbor who lives above the nearby Cuban Post Office of and who passes every day in front of the bookstore.
The furniture that has been placed in the spacious living room seems to be a prop. “They are like the ones used in some television programs,” a young man who came to review the titles for sale sneered this Monday. The metal shelves, attached to the walls, and some in the center were few relative to the large room, whose floors had been polished so much that more than one person slipped.
From this February 6, the collective exhibition of posters of The Wild Swan, inspired by the verses of Luis Rogelio Nogueras Wichy, and carried out by Visual Communication students of the Higher Institute of Design, will also be exhibited in the bookstore .
Among the most repeated titles is the magazine Economy and Development, published every semester by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Havana, but it does not seem to arouse much interest in these times of crisis, inflation and the loss of purchasing power of thousands of Cuban families.
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The pears being sold are of the Anjou variety, grown in Oregon and Washington and distributed by CMI Orchards (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, January 31, 2022 — Plump, clean, green pears were for sale on Monday at Galerias Paseo de El Vedado, a hard currency store in Havana, for $0.90. One surprised customer’s face said it all when saw the sticker indicating the fruit’s origin. “American pears in Havana?” she asked the store clerk as she pondered the product. “Yes, yes,” he said. “They’re very good. Nice and sweet.”
The woman, a fifty-year-old who has lived with the U.S. embargo her entire life, asked incredulously, “Can these be imported under the blockade?”
The pears were of the Anjou variety, grown in Oregon and Washington and distributed by CMI Orchards, one of the latter state’s largest producers.
In spite of their high price, the customer could not resist and decided to buy five. “I hope they’re worth it considering how expensive they are,” she sighed as she wandered off with a full shopping bag.
The government as well as official media outlets routinely blame the U.S. “blockade” for all the island’s economic woes without ever mentioning that the country can import American food as well as medicines as long as it pays for them in cash. In fact, the United States is Cuba’s largest supplier of chickens.
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The animators of the activity invited children and young people to repeat slogans and sing political songs, although without much success, since most of them were focused on reaching for something to put in their mouths. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 28 January 2022 — “What a way to have bread here!” said a resident of Infanta Street in Central Havana, speaking sarcastically this Friday while waiting to shop at one of the improvised kiosks in Martyrs’ Park where, for the 169th anniversary of the birth of José Martí, the government held a political act accompanied by a food sale.
“I hope they continue to do these fairs, but in the neighborhood bakeries they have a hard time,” added the woman standing on a corner located a short distance from where the teenage Martí was sentenced by the Spanish colony to forced labor in the quarries of Saint Lazarus.
Very early in the morning, the park was decorated with July 26th flags, which had nothing to do with the birth of the national hero, while elementary and high school students were brought to the place to create a supposed crowd that commemorated the date. The animators of the activity invited children and young people to repeat slogans and sing political songs, although without much success, since most of them were focused on reaching for something to put in their mouths. continue reading
The main attraction of the celebration was concentrated in two tents where they offered snacks and bags of bread, an increasingly scarce product on the Island where the lack of flour and other ingredients hits production hard. Nor was it enough to be there. Those who wanted to buy had to form a huge line and as soon as the products were sold out, the rest of the crowd left the place.
“The bread is done, the activity is done,” said one of the last attendees to leave Martyrs’ Park, having barely managed to buy two loaves of bread with their corresponding croquettes.
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A sign on the corner of Humboldt Street indicating construction at the site of the old Moscow restaurant. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, January 21, 2022 — A red and yellow sign on 23rd Street in Havana’s Vedado district alerts passersby to one of the city’s latest building projects. “P Street closed. Detour through O Street,” it reads in capital letters, turning an onlooker’s gaze towards the site of the old Moscow restaurant, where workers were setting up a construction fence on Friday.
The building’s neighbors, who for decades have been complaining about the ruin, a breeding ground for mosquitoes and rats, look on in wonder at what would seem to be repairs were it not for the sign at the corner of Humboldt Street that clearly states the purpose of the work: “Hotel under Construction.”
Faced with years-long complaints and public discontent, authorities announced their intention to demolish the building, arguing that the extensive damaged caused by the 1989 fire, combined with years of abandonment, made it impossible to save the structure.
They later unveiled a plan on television to demolish the main structure while preserving the existing underground parking garage in order to construct a new hotel on the site.
Over the course of its history the site has had several uses: a dairy farm, then Havana’s first greyhound race course in the 1940s, followed by the luxurious Café Montmartre in the 1940s. With two bars and a casino, it wasopen every evening and featured live music. continue reading
The most famous stars of the era paraded through the French-style nightclub: Mexican composer Agustín Lara, Spanish singer and dancer Lola Flores and, of course, Cuba’s own Benny Moré, Olga Guillot and Rita Montaner. It was reported that, in 1947, Frank Sinatra cut into a giant cake amid its lavish interiors in celebration of his recent wedding to Ava Gardner.
When Fidel Castro came to power, the business was appropriated and converted to a workers’ canteen. In the 1960s it was turned into the Moscow restaurant, coinciding with the country becoming a Soviet satellite, with a menu featuring Russian specialties. One of its signature dishes was solyanka, a soup made with an abundance of sliced meats.
“An uncle of mine was a captain in one of the Moscow’s dining rooms,” recalls Sandra, a 45-year-old Havana native who remembers stories he used to tell her. “My brother and I were fascinated by a book, printed in Russia, that told you all there was to know about the restaurant. That’s how we learned the difference between a meat knife and a butter knife.”
One weekend in 1989, when the building was undergoing repairs, a fire broke out in the restaurant’s lower floor that ultimately destroyed the whole place. It seems to have been an omen. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union collapsed.
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From very early in the afternoon, uniformed men guarded the entrances to the University of Havana. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 January 2022 — Cordons of uniformed men and plainclothes agents guarded all the streets through which the official delegation that participated in the March of the Torches on the eve of José Martí’s birthday passed this Thursday night in Havana. But the strong security operation began two days ago in El Vedado and Centro Habana, neighborhoods where the University of Havana is located, site of the act that began at around 8:30 pm with the presence of Raúl Castro and Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel.
“And what is happening here today, is someone big coming?” asked a woman on Thursday as she was waiting to buy refreshments in a snack bar on Hospital Street in Cayo Hueso, Central Havana. “It seems so, someone big and with a big belly is coming,” answered another woman who was in the same line and everyone present burst out laughing.
Neighbors wondered what all the fuss was about as they watched rehearsals for the march of the Torches, one of the largest that Central Havana residents remember before the July 11 social uprising.
The March of the Torches is a military and political act that takes place every January 27 on the eve of the celebration of the birth of Jose Martí. The pilgrimage, which is a symbolic act for the Cuban regime, rather than a tribute to Martí, is always presided over by the highest leaders of the Communist Party, the University Student Federation and representatives of other political organizations. continue reading
Historically, the Government summons, under pressure, university students to attend, although many young people make an appearance for only a few minutes and then end up escaping through the alleys as the caravan passes by.
Caption 2: Starting at noon on January 25, hundreds of soldiers took practically by storm part of El Vedado and Central Havana. (14ymedio)
Starting at noon on January 25, hundreds of soldiers took practically by storm part of El Vedado, where the university steps are located and the march begins, as well as a large part of the Cayo Hueso neighborhood, mainly the surroundings of La Fragua Martiana where the march ends.
A few meters away, another large group of soldiers from the Directorate of Immigration and Aliens climbed the stairs of another building and rehearsed how to act this Thursday night. Some lamented because they had gone long hours without food, because they had come from a rally where details about the operation were explained to them.
“I can’t take it anymore because I’m hungry,” one of the agents complained, to which others of his companions replied in a mocking tone: “Drink plenty of water, so you can fool your stomach.”
On Hospital Street, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of the Interior reviewed the instructions he had given to State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes. “The two of them are going to join you here,” ordered one of the chiefs who, previously, had placed the uniformed men in the houses that border San Lázaro street so that they can watch the development of the official act from the balconies. A few minutes later, the young people were seen leaning out of balconies and windows that overlook the streets through which Miguel Díaz-Canel and his entourage will pass tonight.
The coffee shops in the area were also not spared the avalanche of green uniforms. In the A tu tiempo cafeteria, which is located on the corner of Hospital and Jovellar streets, dozens of cadets from the Ministry of the Interior bought all the cookies and sticks on Tuesday afternoon before the astonished gaze of the customers waiting in line . Then they quickly retreated to the Parque de los Mártires where they were concentrated for several hours.
In the last two years, several tragedies have mourned the country in the days leading up to this same celebration. A tornado caused great destruction in areas of the capital in 2018, leaving in its wake eight dead, 200 injured and more than a thousand homes destroyed. In 2020, the collapse of a balcony caused the death of three girls in Old Havana, but the protests of civil society did not prevent the Government from maintaining the official act.
The first March of the Torches was organized on January 27, 1953 as a tribute to José Martí on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Although the Government of Fulgencio Batista did not grant permission to carry it out, the students marched without the police intervening.
Ironically, this year’s march takes place when hundreds of citizens are being sentenced to long prison terms for marching on July 11 in a peaceful act of social protest through the streets of the entire country calling for political changes and freedoms.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
In the busy streets of Central Havana, it is increasingly common to see homeless people selling objects collected in the garbage. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 26 January 2022 — With threadbare and dirty clothes, grubby and smelly, a woman was rummaging through the garbage this Wednesday in a dumpster on Neptuno street at the corner of Infanta, in Central Havana. She is not the only destitute person in the place, where by day and by night, slow figures prowl, dragging their feet, in search of alms or crumbs.
Some of them sleep in a doorway in front of the Carlos III veterinary clinic, others outside the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen. “No one does anything for them, they should pick them up and take them to a home or health institution where they can be seen to,” says the person in charge of cleaning the portal of the church, who says that the beggars relieve themselves right there. “Every day in the morning, what I have to clean up is a lot of urine and excrement,” he laments.
At the same time, the man feels sorry, especially these days, when meteorologists announce a marked drop in the temperatures starting on January 29: “What are they going to cover themselves with?”
It is increasingly common to see beggars sleeping on a sidewalk or on a park bench, selling objects collected in the garbage on the busy streets of Central Havana, or cleaning windshields at traffic lights and begging for alms.
For more than 60 years, the Cuban regime has boasted that “the Revolution leaves no one defenseless.” These citizens, cut off from society due to alcoholism, mental illness or extreme poverty, are victims of the indifference of the authorities.
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Security patrols guarding the Colombian Embassy in Havana, in the municipality of Playa. (14ymedio)
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 19 January 2022 — The desperation of Cubans to leave the island is becoming more and more evident. Some thirty people staged an altercation this Wednesday at the gates of the Colombian consulate in Havana when they were informed that their transit visas, necessary for the trip they intend to to Nicaragua via Bogotá, were not ready.
Some of them travel this Thursday, but the officer — a Cuban, not a Colombian — who guards the consular headquarters no longer let them pass. “I’m going to say it once, I’m going to hand over 44 passports. When I finish with this list, everyone can go, because we’re not going to serve anyone else,” he said harshly.
The discomfort grew when a security agent joined the official, who tried to dispatch them in a bad way. “Outside the man’s list, everyone who is not included there, please have to leave the area, you cannot loiter around here and the embassy’s decision is irrevocable,” he told the crowd, making it worse. “Everybody sleep and rest, I’m very sorry but nothing is going to be done,” he insisted.
Faced with the agent’s attempt to get them off the street as well, one of the men who were waiting rebelled: “If in the end they won’t attend to me, I’m going to stay because I haven’t bothered anyone and they can’t prevent me.”
The agent looked surprised at the man, who repeated firmly: “You are violating our rights; we can’t be inside the embassy, but we can be outside here, no one can tell me that I can’t be here. I’m leaving today, but the day before my trip I am going to stand here.” continue reading
The discussion repeated the scene from the day before, when, a witness told 14ymedio, the police evacuated the place after a nervous breakdown by a lady who is traveling soon.
What happened in front of the Colombian embassy is not the only sign that, now more than ever, the exodus is unstoppable. The main destination is, of course, the United States, and the springboard is Nicaragua, which last November established a “free visa” for Cubans.
The stories multiply throughout the country. In the capital, Rosa María has already sold her house and other properties and only kept a few clothes. While waiting for her flight to Managua, scheduled for next month, she is staying at a sister’s house. Her plan is, together with her children, to reunite with her husband, who is already in the United States.
In Sancti Spíritus, on an entire street in the San Luis residential area, almost all the young people have sold their motorcycles and their belongings to leave the Island.
“Never before have I known so many people leaving, not even during the Rafter Crisis,” said a resident of El Vedado when, on Tuesday, she saw the line with hundreds of people waiting to enter the Immigration and Aliens offices on Calle 17, between J and K, which issues passports.
“I’m tired of living here, I need to leave because there is no future in this country, and in order to have something you have to live with a rope around your neck all the time,” Alejandro, a 40-year-old Cuban who is waiting to get a passport for the first time, told this newspaper.
In his case, his journey north will be a little more convoluted. According to him, he wants to use his savings to travel to Russia to buy articles to bring back and sell in Cuba. If everything goes well, and with the money he collects, he plans to leave for good. “What I want is to go to the United States, via Nicaragua, but I need more money to achieve it,” Alejandro asserts.
Tickets to Managua have been selling for prices ranging from $1,500 to more than $3,000.
José, who is also waiting in line for his passport, lives in Sancti Spíritus, and reports that he has sold his house and a car to leave with his family, including children. “This decision has not been easy to take, but it has been necessary,” he argues. “Here I go out with 2,000 pesos to the street and return with practically nothing for my children.” He does it for them, he says, because “the years go by and nothing changes, we are getting worse and worse.”
Others, like Kenia, instead of going to the US, will head for Europe. A Spanish citizen and with a brother living in France, this will be her final destination. Until now, she has had to pay for two extensions of her passport for a value of 500 pesos each.
“We gave my uncle a power of attorney to take care of my husband’s house for at least two years, in case something goes wrong and we decide to return,” she explains, crossing her fingers. “In Paris we have the possibility of working thanks to friends of my brother. He will pay for the tickets and then we will repay the loan.” And she confides: “I hope we can get ahead there, because there is no one who can stand this.”
A block further from that place, on the corner of 17th and J Street, there is a similar tumult among the crowd in front of the La Rampa University Polyclinic, where PCR tests are carried out for Cubans who intend to travel abroad, to prove that they are not infected with covid-19.
Without mentioning the long lines at the doors of the polyclinics, the Havana authorities determined that as of this Wednesday the PCR tests and the antigen tests for “people who will temporarily or permanently leave the country” will be carried out in the municipality of residence of the interested party. To do this, Tribuna de La Habana reports, they will need to present their identity card, travel ticket and passport.
Between 8:00 am and 1:00 pm they will take the samples, and will deliver the results between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm.
Cubans who do not live in Havana but are in the capital waiting for their departure through the José Martí airport, says the official note, will be tested “according to the municipality where they are residing before their departure abroad.”
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 1 March 2022 — The dangerous public lightpost on Carlos III street in Havana, which 14ymedio warned about last August, was finally removed this Monday by workers from the capital’s Electric Company, although an incident had to occur for this to happen.
