Juan Diego Rodríguez – Page 6

Bottled Water in Cuba, Only Available in Private Shops and at Prohibitive Prices

A small bottled water can cost up to 150 pesos. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 8 August 2023 — Of all the basic products that are scarce in Cuba, the most dramatic in these days of extreme heat is water. It’s not only that you cannot get a free glass of water in any shop, state or private business, but that the bottled ones have disappeared from state businesses, which nevertheless do sell alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. Bottled water remains, as a last resort, in the private businesses, at impossible prices for most of the population.

Doris says that until recently in state shops, such as the El Mercurio cafeteria, located on the ground floor of the Lonja de Comercio in Old Havana, she could buy a bottle of water “at a reasonable price” before going for a walk to the port. “Last month they didn’t have any in El Mercurio, and I had to buy it at the Café de Oriente, also state-run, but at 70 pesos.”

This Monday, there wasn’t any water in either of the two places, and she had to walk almost ten blocks, to Obispo Street, sweating through every pore, before finding a store that sold it. “Of course, it was in a private shop and cost 150 pesos,” complained this 30-year-old woman of El Vedado. “That, a small bottle, which is a cup and a half of water. They never go below 100 pesos.” The one and a half liters usually costs 300. continue reading

Bottled water “is in the hands of private individuals at exorbitant prices, and of course no one gives you a glass of water, no one gives you anything.” (14ymedio)

“How is it possible that with this terrible sun that makes you faint the State doesn’t have water?” asked Doris, indignant, unable to understand how something nationally produced could be missing. It’s true that “everything is in the hands of the private stores at exorbitant prices, and of course no one gives you a glass of water, no one gives you anything. I can only assume that they divert it to the private businesses so that they can resell it.”

The woman is grateful for at least having money and being able to spend it on a bottle of water, “but a poor old woman who walks down the street, thirsty, begging for alms? What water does she drink?” Her questions remain unanswered.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Lack of Fuel Forces Cars To Be Pushed to Service Stations in Havana

Several drivers push their cars to be able to reach the service station at San Rafael and Infanta on August 5, 2023, in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 August 2023 — It’s noon in Havana and the sun sparkles on the hood of the cars waiting next to the service center of San Rafael and Infanta. The line is already as suffocating as the one last May, when the fuel crisis reached its zenith and the authorities invited drivers to “take advantage” of the wait to “make friends” or “play dominoes” until their turn came.

Now there is no room to even joke about about the situation. The lack of fuel is such that many drivers are forced to endure an ordeal through the streets of Havana: with the help of one or two buddies, they push their cars from their garages to the station.

“Everyone is ’dry’,” lamented a taxi driver who hoped to beat the line, which now crosses San Rafael, turns at Zanja and winds around the block. “We need rationing according to the municipality, which hasn’t been done,” he added, recalling the disastrous measure of the Government that, in the worst of the shortage, prevented fuel from being bought in any establishment in the city.

The endless wait for a turn and the impossible lines — of several hours and in full sun — seemed to have been relieved, but with the arrival of August the situation again reaches a stalemate.

A rickety Kia with broken lights, a Renault with cracked sheet metal and the usual Ladas wait next to cocotaxis and motorcycles. The line makes all vehicles equal and imposes its misery on Havana, a city that – like the cars – no one has the strength to push anymore.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Doubts and Confusion after Cuban Regime Announces New Bank Regulation

The line for an ATM at the Central Havana branch of Banco Metropolitano on Thursday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 3 August 2023 — It was 10:00 AM and people in line for the ATM at the Banco Metropolitano branch on Infanta and San José streets in Central Havana were growing impatient. Their concern was not over the measure announced on Wednesday that prohibits businesses from withdrawing money in this way but rather something much more mundane: The machine was not working because there was no electricity.

It was announced in a special edition of the Official Gazette that the number of pesos a business would be allowed to withdraw from a bank on any given day — at a teller window no less — would be limited to 5,000. The news generated a wave of reactions on social media.

“You cannot withdraw more than 5,000 pesos,” explained an employee of the bank, outside of which people were still waiting because, though the lights had come back on, the ATM still had to be brought up to speed. A few blocks away at the branch on Belascoaín and San Martín streets, the situation was completely different. “We don’t have change at the moment,” an employee explained to this reporter.

A little later, at the corner of Belascoaín and Zanja, there was yet another response. “The changes take effect thirty days after publication of the measure in the Gazette,” claimed an employee. Confusion is the overriding reaction among those responsible for putting the Central Bank of Cuba’s resolution into effect. According to language in the official bulletin, the measure takes effect “three days after its publication.” In other words, on August 5. continue reading

Upon reading the actual regulation, the situation becomes clearer. The resolution limits “economic actors” — this includes individuals engaged in commercial activities — to 5,000 pesos a day in cash transactions. Any exchange that exceeds that number must be executed through a bank, specifically by electronic transfer.

The current maximum amount is 2,500 pesos, a limit set in December 2021. Cuban economist Elías Amor states that this latest move is, in his opinion, a reflection of “the monetary expansion produced on the Island by the runaway inflation,” noting that the new figure is no more and no less than double the amount approved just two years ago.

There are, of course, exceptions. If you have a bank account — the goal of the measure is to encourage this — and you need more cash to pay salaries and other compensation to workers, subsidies, Social Security benefits, alimony or to make advance payments, you may submit a request.

However, the goal is clearly for companies to be able to guarantee “their customers access and use of electronic payment channels for the acquisition of goods and the rendering of services”, as well as to pay taxes through those same means. However, it is obvious that the long-awaited “bankification” that the regime wants to carry out like a forced march lacks the telecommunications infrastructure necessary to carry it out.

The more than 340 comments on the government-run news website Cubadebate are evidence that this is one of the public’s most pressing concerns, even among those who support government control over private companies’ bank accounts. “We are not prepared for this step towards modernity,” the author of one post states bluntly. Dozens of others complain about broken or non-working of point-of-sale terminals. “So far, I have not seen or heard of a QR code at any neighborhood store and nobody has reported anything,” laments a man from Las Tunas.

The regulation provides a 30-day period for companies, in agreement with banking entities, to establish a schedule not to exceed six months for “incorporation into the banking program.” There are persistent doubts, however, that this is technically possible. “I tried to make a digital payment at a neighborhood store (in my district) that has its QR code visible but not readily accessible and it was impossible. Not even the store employees know how it works. I was in another industrial products store and at no point was the POS available. They almost never have a connection with the notary’s office,” writes one user.

Another controversial aspect of the new measure is that it prohibits cash withdrawals from ATMs. This applies to all business entities but, since state companies do not make this kind of withdrawal anyway, the only economic actors it affects are those in the private sector. Henceforth, private businesspeople will be forced to compete with the public for a place in line at the teller window, a situation that is aggravated by the fact that there are deadlines to deal with.

Employers can withdraw money to pay salaries and Social Security benefits no more than three days before payment is to be made. If they have not paid their employees within seven days, they are obliged to return the money the next business day.

“What can we expect from this sudden jolt by the regime to the private sector? Well, many businesses, especially the smallest and those least able to meet these demands, can still opt for the informal approach,” warns Elías Amor in his analysis of the measure.

On Facebook, which serves as forum for the owners of small and medium-sized businesses in Cuba, there is a tense calm. Doubts remain and people are on edge as they await more information.

Once back at the 14ymedio newsroom, it was learned that the ATM at the Belascoaín and San José branch had suffered a breakdown. The bank now had a hose stuck in the middle of the front door and its director was asking people to leave. A tanker truck had stopped at the door and was operating a thick drainage pipe. One more day that customers were left without their pesos.

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Lack of Cash Makes Cubans Desperate: ‘I’ve Gone Out in the Street to Fight for Pesos’

ATM this Tuesday, August 1, in La Linea, Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, August 1, 2023 — The line at the Banco Metropolitano ATM on Marino y Conill street, in Nuevo Vedado, was abuzz this Tuesday. To the number of elderly people in the neighborhood, who were waiting to be able to extract their pension payment, were added neighbors who came from Calzada del Cerro and 26th Street because the ATMs in those areas did not have cash.

The situation was not exclusive to those parts of Havana. On Línea in El Vedado the appearance of the line at the ATM was more like a mob than an orderly line. The fight for cash reaches higher levels every day in a country where electronic transactions are still scarce, both due to the size of the underground economy and the lack of online connectivity, as well as to the population’s rejection of having their movements monitored.

“Cash is what you buy food with and buy everything you need. When you go to a small business to buy a bag of milk, if it’s worth 2,000 pesos you have to pay it in cash, because the seller doesn’t want you to do it with transfer,” laments a woman from Havana in line at the branch. “If you are going to eat in a restaurant, the same thing happens. If you are going to take a private taxi, because transportation is terrible and you have to resort to private ones, you have to pay in cash. Everything is like that.”

In Nuevo Vedado, the Marino y Conill ATM was also mobbed by people on August 1st. (14ymedio)

Among the tumult there are many who are back for a second time, because the day before they couldn’t get a penny, but Rachel can’t wait. This afternoon a vet is going to operate on her cat and only accepts payment in pesos. “I have gone out to fight in the street, after a woman I buy currency from changed my euros, and now see what I have to do to get it, what line to get into or how to resolve the bank or the ATM to be able to get it, because it’s a considerable amount that I need,” she says worried. continue reading

The currency exchange, she adds, had to be done through a bank, because the person who sold her the currency refused to exchange it in cash. Any operation that moves illegally is bound to be carried out in cash and that is where most of the island’s activities materialize. Banking operations are controlled by banks, all of them state-owned, and no one who provides services outside the law wants to be exposed to oversight of their actions.

The poor state of the ATMs, which often do not work, and the large number of areas on the Island that still do not have a 4G connection, prevents payment through electronic gateways which work from mobile applications, and ends up complicating the situation.

Although the State has done everything possible to run the economy through the banks, they have only managed to do so in the state sector where, many times, citizens do not find their needs satisfied or the quality is so low that they flee in terror to the informal market.

Customers must use electronic means of payment, chip cards, national and international magnetic strips “that operate in the country,” electronic pins through Transfermóvil, rechargeable chip cards or disposable prepaid cards. The latter, they detailed, “have undergone technological improvements,” such as the “possibility of carrying out partial and total transactions, unification at the time of the transaction of up to five cards in one, and the incorporation of the QR code both for downloading and for return, which is ensured by means of a scanner that speeds up commercial processes.”

To implement the new forms of payment, they say, Cimex “has designed an information program for its customers and training for contact personnel and sales assurance,” which shows the island’s shortcomings in this regard.

This Monday, in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, the program for the “banking-ization” of the country was approved, the details of which are still are unknown and will be expanded in the short term.

According to the official press, “work has been carried out on the subject in recent months and includes a set of measures to gradually encourage the use of electronic collection and payment channels in the national territory.” The note, published in Cubadebate, adds that more details will be given shortly “on this process of vital importance for the Cuban economy.”

But a good incentive will be needed to recover a sector that, contrary to what the authorities claim, is losing ground and is far from advancing. “As the ATMs have emptied, the sellers and merchants that until now were accepting transfers have begun to reject them, because they are afraid that their account is full of virtual money but they cannot extract it,” explains a neighbor who is racing to get his last 300 pesos while looking for an ATM to extract more.

The lack of paper money on the Island is not new. Throughout 2023, the shortage has worsened and has not been resolved and it is already notable that there are difficulties in paying salaries or extracting cash. In May, the Minister of the Economy, Alejandro Gil, admitted before the National Assembly that the galloping inflation in which the country has settled into since the Ordering Task* has led to this shortage of banknotes in bank branches. The economic situation is so precarious that it is not feasible to print new bills with higher denominations to solve the situation.

The big winners are currencies, specifically the dollar and also the euro (which exceed an exchange rate of 230 pesos in the informal market), because in the absence of pesos, many carry out their operations directly in another currency. “Many prices are already automatically changing to dollars,” adds another customer in line at the cashier. “I know of several different operations, from food purchases to hardware stores to other services, that already, in recent days, the person offers the good or service in foreign currency because it already assumes that the client will not have the cash.”

*Translator’ Note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

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High Prices, Breakdowns and Discontent, the Keynote of the New Jalisco Park in Havana

This Monday, Jalisco Park did not open at its scheduled time, nine in the morning, but more than an hour and a half later. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 31 July 2023 — “There’s nothing private about this.” Distrust of the new Jalisco Park in Havana, 48 hours after it was reopened under new management, is widespread. Not surprisingly, the reopening has been marked by discontent and setbacks. The most recent one happened this Monday, when the establishment did not open at its scheduled time, nine in the morning, but more than an hour and a half later.

“There was a voltage problem and the electricians are solving it,” a woman identified as the head explained to the various families who had been waiting impatiently at the gate since early morning. “If we can’t solve it, at 10:30 we open with what we have so that the children don’t continue to despair,” she reassured those present.

Shortly after the clock struck that time, and before opening, a worker asked the families if someone could lend him some tools “to adjust some devices that make a lot of noise.” A father who had come by car with his children agreed and passed them through the gate, before the astonished gaze of the people.

A worker asked the families if someone could lend him some tools “to adjust some devices that make a lot of noise.” (14ymedio)

Several electrical devices were damaged, although they did not specify if it was the result of a blackout, a bad installation or an overload. From outside, in fact, an employee was observed adjusting “El Toro Mecánico” [The Mechanical Bull], one of the most expensive attractions in the place, at 50 pesos a ride.

It is precisely the prices that have been one of the constant complaints from the public since the reopening of the establishment, located at the corner of 23rd and 18th in El Vedado, was announced, initially for July 26, although it was finally postponed, without explanations, until Saturday.

At first, many users complained about the requirement to pay for a ticket to enter the park (50 pesos for both children and adults), and then to pay again for each ride on the attractions (between 30 and 50 pesos). Thus, a few hours before the Jalisco Park reopened, it was reported that admission would be free for children. continue reading

From outside, in fact, an employee was observed adjusting El Toro Mecánico, one of the most expensive attractions in the place, at 50 pesos a trip. (14ymedio)

But what has really ignited the annoyance of the attendees is the cost of the food. The hors d’oeuvres range from 450 to 600 pesos, and the pastas, from 500 (Neapolitan spaghetti) to 750 pesos (carbonara). The cheapest thing on the menu was a bun with ham and cheese (220 pesos), a chicharrón al viento [fried pork skins] (250 pesos) and a scoop of ice cream, in a bowl or in a cone, for 280 pesos. A bag of chips could reach 380 pesos and one of cookies, 120.

All the foods have names related to Cuban television cartoons – “I have a banana truck” (peasant plantains, referring to the children’s song), “You lie, filthy rat” (spaghetti with vegetables, taken from the cartoon series The brave ones), “The plague, the plague, the last plague” (garlic spaghetti, from the cry of the evil mouse from Captain Plin) or “Fumiga, Paquito, Fumiga” (pork hamburger, from one of the sayings of Chuncha), supposedly funny.

This detail was not funny at all, however, judging by the faces of the very few customers in the food service area. “What kind of a joke is it, if these prices are so disrespectful,” lamented a mother who, together with her husband and her son, could only buy one scoop of ice cream.

A bag of chips could reach 380 pesos and one of cookies, 120. (14ymedio)

Another repeated complaint was the slowness with which everything works when, in other private companies, what stands out the most is the efficiency of management. This ineffectiveness was evident in the large lines, both to enter and to buy the little tokens necessary to enjoy the park’s offerings (green for a package of corn flakes, blue for inflatables and red for the most expensive attractions, the electrical). “This just like standing in line for chicken or the ATM,” quipped a young woman who was leading her daughter by the hand.

The number of employees was also striking. The security men, grumpy, and wearing black sweaters; the rest, with other types of uniforms, with more colors and with the name of the cartoon character Elpidio Valdés – a predominant presence in the new Jalisco Park – but equally reluctant. This is another difference with respect to private businesses that are usually seen in the capital.

All the foods have names related to Cuban television cartoons, supposedly funny. (14ymedio)

In any case, there will be very few families who can afford to spend the day in the place. Adding transportation, adult tickets, three or four attractions, food and drinks, the bill easily reaches between 3,000 and 4,000 pesos, the average monthly salary of a state worker.

The recreational complex is managed, according to the official press, by the Beijing non-agricultural cooperative “in the form of lease.” Clients are reluctant to believe that it is a private institution. Thus, a young man from Central Havana who came with his nephews and who asserted: “They may say that it is a cooperative, this and that, but what it seems is another state invention to extort the people.”

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An Immense Line Outside Jalisco Park Marks its Reopening Day in Havana

Jalisco Park, at the corner of 23 and 18 in El Vedado, reopened this Saturday with dozens of families trying to enter. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 29, 2023 — “We are going to spend hours here to get in,” grumbled a grandmother with two grandchildren who, before nine in the morning this Saturday, was in the long line to enter the Jalisco Park, in Havana’s El Vedado district.

Finally, the recreational center – which went from state to private management – opened its doors after months of repairs and after its planned reopening, scheduled for July 26, was frustrated.<

Entire families, parents with children and large groups swelled the line that far exceeded the number of people that could fit in the premises, located at the corner of 23rd and 18th streets. “We got in line at seven and that is why we are among the first but now a school bus arrived with a lot of kids. There are more people here than in line at the Plaza de Carlos III market,” a father with seven-year-old twins told 14ymedio .

A huge puddle of sewage covered part of the street around the corner and was the focus of parental warnings. “Dayron, be careful, don’t step foot in there, that water is filthy!” a mother yelled at a restless child who was jumping from the sidewalk trying to reach the area of asphalt that was dry. A mask ended up floating in the puddle a few minutes later.

The crying of several children, tired by the wait and the heat that was already beginning, was part of the soundtrack around Jalisco. On the other side of the fence that surrounds the park, the new inflatable attractions were ready early and a group of employees, all dressed completely in black, organized the last details before the first group of customers entered. continue reading

“I hope the power doesn’t go out because those devices need to have the air compressor turned on for them to work, if the power goes out everything is messed up,” feared a grandfather who was accompanying his granddaughter. “Shee hasn’t been able to go anywhere so far on vacation because everything is too far or too expensive, this is the first outing we’ve done since school ended,” he explained to this newspaper.

Admission to the park for adults costs 50 pesos per person, while children are free. (14ymedio)

After 9:05 am, the doors of Jalisco Park had not opened and people continued to arrive. Several shared taxis stopped near the park and practically all the passengers got out and went to the line. “If this doesn’t end in a fight today it will be a miracle,” predicted a young woman with a two-year-old child in her arms.

Sitting on the sidewalk curb some children sheltered from the sun that was already beginning to sting and waited to enter Jalisco. Most of these minors did not know the previous format of the recreation center with attractions such as a horse merry-go-round, a small roller coaster, some boats that circled in a tiny pond and a star or Ferris wheel.

Through the gate and the fence, now freshly painted in bright colors, several children kept looking at the new games decorated with motifs of the popular children’s character Elpidio Valdés. Around 9:20 in the morning the first group finally passed and an employee photographed the first girl who entered the gate. By that time the line was already made up of more than 200 people.

“Smoking is prohibited in the park so as not to affect the inflatable devices!” Another employee clarified to everyone who was entering. The first customers managed to get through in an orderly fashion, thanks to security staff organizing the front of the line, though towards the middle and end the line seemed more like a disorganized mound than a line.

A bus with children on board tried to enter the park, but due to overcrowding at the entrance, it ended up leaving. (14ymedio)

Wearing an orange pullover, one of the heads of the private cooperative that manages Jalisco Park went to the line and asked for discipline within the premises. The man detailed the mechanism to access the attractions. Upon entering, you must buy some plastic tokens. A green one allows you to get a package of popcorn, a blue one for the inflatables and the red one for the more complex attractions, such as an electric bull and some tiny carousels.

The school bus ended up leaving with all its passengers, frustrated by the wait and aware that “today there is no getting in,” according to the mother of one of the children who came in the vehicle from another Havana municipality.

By 10:00 in the morning, the line had grown so long outside Jalisco Park that it crossed the street and reached the wall of the Colón Cemetery. Sitting or leaning on the projections of the wall of the necropolis, several parents with their children waited to access the newly opened park, the only children’s recreation center for several kilometers around.

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Habana Libre Hotel Recovers its Sign, Battered and With an Incomplete Background

The structure that supports the recognizable letters, lowercase and blue, is not finished and is missing panels. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Four years after having barely six letters, the sign on the roof of the Habana Libre hotel, located on the vital corner of L and 23, in El Vedado, is once again complete.

The sign went from “bana Libre” to “na Libre” and from there to “a Libre” in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic.

The authorities have not announced its restoration, but neither have they given explanations in all this time in which Havanans have seen the emblematic sign crumble, like a metaphor for the Island.

The old Hilton, destined to be one of the most luxurious on the continent, opened its doors in 1958 and was the enclave from where Fidel Castro ruled the country during the first years of the Revolution. Nationalized two years after its inauguration, the building, with 27 floors and an initial investment of 28 million dollars, has gradually languished until it reached a debacle that touched its adjacent premises, both the cafeteria and the candy store.

The recent arrangement, moreover, has not been complete, since the structure that supports the recognizable letters, in lowercase and blue, is not finished and is missing panels. A passerby who this Wednesday noticed the change at the top of the establishment, managed to comment: “Tremendous bungle, as always in this country.”

Nationalized two years after its inauguration, the 27-story building has gradually languished until it reached its current debacle. (14ymedio)

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Reopening of Havana’s Jalisco Park Postponed Without Explanation

The entrance to Jalisco Park now looks freshly painted in bright colors. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Showing sadness in the children and anger in the parents, the faces of the Havanans who approached Jalisco Park this Wednesday, at the corner of 23 and 18 in El Vedado, spoke for themselves when they saw it closed. The authorities had been announcing days with hype and cymbals for the July 26 the reopening of the emblematic park, which will be privately managed from now on .

However, just on Tuesday night, Tribuna de La Habana reproduced an “informative note” saying that the reopening was postponed to Saturday the 29th at nine in the morning. The text did not offer any reason, despite including as a source Alexander Manent Espinosa, administrator of the Beijing non-agricultural cooperative that will manage the recreational complex “in the lease modality.”

With such short notice and in a little-read publication, dozens of families found out at the gates of the place this Wednesday, the second holiday of the week dedicated to commemorating the frustrated assault on the Moncada barracks.

There was only one child roaming the park, apparently the son of one of the employees or the owners. (14ymedio)

“Papi, it’s not open, what are we going to do, let’s go,” a father told his son patiently as he let himself be dragged by the hand. continue reading

In a worse situation was a young mother who arrived with her child from Guanabacoa, overcoming the serious shortage of transportation. “I’ve had a tremendous amount of work to get here and now I don’t know what I’m going to do with the little one, everything here is a lie,” lamented the woman, who tried to comfort her son, remorsefully. Another passerby suggested that she take him to the Coppelia ice cream parlor. “Yeah, man, the line when I passed there was endless,” she told him.

Both the gate and the fence of Jalisco Park now look freshly painted, in bright colors. From the outside, one could see the new games that the park will have, decorated with motifs of the popular children’s character Elpidio Valdés, but deflated, as were all the other stopped mechanical attractions. There was only one child roaming the place, apparently the son of one of the employees or the owners.

Several workers were setting up some tables in the back, where the food services area will be. (14ymedio)

Several workers were setting up some tables in the back, where the food services area will be. Here, the official press announced, there will be an ice cream parlor and a cafeteria, where “you can taste everything from light foods such as sandwiches and picadera (cheese balls, croquettes), to fried chicken, pizza and spaghetti.”

In its note, Tribuna de La Habana also reported that access to the park alone will cost 50 pesos per person, whether adult or child, and that at the same box office people will have to purchase tickets to ride the attractions, at 30 pesos each. except for those called the Bull, the Surfboard, and the Eurobungee, which will cost 50 pesos each.

In addition, there will be various shows on weekends, including “the presentation of the children’s theater company La Colmenita.”

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of work to get here,” lamented a woman who arrived with her son from Guanabacoa. (14ymedio)

None of that is yet reality. For now, the only happy person in the immediate vicinity was the owner of the ice cream parlor across the street, who, seeing the crowd, opened despite it being a mandatory rest day.

“We’ll see on Saturday, because everything is like that here, they announce an opening day and it’s never the day they announce,” a grandmother with her two granddaughters was complaining as they walked away from the park.

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A Dozen Residents of Central Havana Protest the Lack of Electricity and Water

This Monday, one of the State Security motorcycles remained in the area as a warning, as this newspaper was able to verify. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 24, 2023 — The presence of a State Security motorcycle was the only trace this Monday morning of the protest that took place on Sunday night in Belascoaín and San Lázaro, in Centro Habana .

A dozen people managed to interrupt traffic by sitting across the street until two policemen showed up in the area and talked with los plantados, a gesture that has circulated through the social networks of a multitude of Cuban activists after the rapper Eliexer Márquez El Funky broadcast a video in which the brief demand is filmed.

The musician shared the images on his Facebook profile and asked the residents of the area for confirmation of the facts. Some of them fact-checked but the reason for the protest remains unclear.

“They don’t let anyone through, they say they have been without power for more than three days,” said El Funky, while a resident in the area replied that the problem is even greater. “It’s been 10 days and nothing and no one solves the problem for us. The food is spoiling; the children barely sleep at night. The refrigerators don’t work. The Electric Company comes and, supposedly, fixes the problem. It only lasts 20 minutes that the electricity starts again. Enough, we are not sheep, just hard-working human beings and we need to live as people,” replied one user.

According to other comments, the lack of running water was the demand of those who protested last night. “I just passed by and there are a million police patrol cars from the dictatorship and patrol motorcycles, everything seems to indicate that they dissolved the small protest for water,” said another commentator. The controversy grew in the rapper’s publication among those who criticized the magnitude of the ’sit-in’. continue reading

“If everyone is dealing with this shit, why don’t they all come out? Why are there always 10 or 20? Shit, everyone come out!” lamented one of the many who called for Cubans to unite to face the painful circumstances caused by the Government’s ineptitude .

👉🏼Una docena de vecinos de Centro Habana protestaron por la falta de luz y de agua este domingo

👉🏼El único rastro hoy lunes en Belascoaín y San Lázaro era la presencia de vehículos de la Seguridad del Estado. Aquí la nota completa: https://t.co/PAIBdLIodz pic.twitter.com/OKrCpGUWw7

— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) July 24, 2023

This Monday, one of the State Security motorcycles remained in the area as a warning, as 14ymedio was able to verify. The neighbors, however, were reluctant to comment on what had happened, but they did affirm that light has not been lacking on that particular corner recently and this morning several of the houses located in the area had their light bulbs on.

The place of the protest, located in the neighborhood of San Leopoldo, is one of the most densely populated areas of the Cuban capital. Without the historical appeal of Old Havana or the glamor of El Vedado, the municipality of Centro Habana has been passed by in investments and improvements to its infrastructure.

In San Leopoldo, a strip adjacent to the Havana malecón, problems in the water supply have been dragging on for decades but have worsened over the years. Meanwhile, the problems multiply: the deterioration caused to the hydraulic network from the proximity to the sea; the continuous coastal flooding derived from the hurricanes; and the population growth of the neighborhood.

Last weekend, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, celebrated in one of the parliamentary sessions that the energy situation this summer is better than the previous one. The official stated that “the effects” in the first week of July 2022 amounted to 35,934 Mw/h, compared to 1,290 Mw/h in the same period this year, 96% less. “The second week of this month of July is also much better than the previous one,” he assured.

In addition, the minister took the opportunity to tell that two Turkish floating power plants have left the Island this year, when the contract expired. One of them, Irem Sultan, left Cuba in April, just a few weeks after arriving in Santiago de Cuba, where iy had allegedly been assigned to minimize the energy deficit that severely affected central and eastern Cuba in the first four months of the year.

Despite the improvement revealed by the authorities, the problems with electricity remain constant. Last week, Stephany Novo Castro, from Havana, denounced that a cable failure had lept her home, in Los Silos, Centro Habana, without power for at least six days.

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A Week-Long Holiday to Celebrate July 26th Outrages Cubans

The line at the ATMs at the Infanta Branch of Banco Metropolitan in Centro Habana closed on Tuesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 25, 2023 — Several concerns arose immediately among Cubans upon learning that July 26th holidays would be extended. The holiday commemorates the frustrated assault on the Moncada barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, by Fidel Castro in 1953. So the banks will not open? What will happen to the procedures in public offices? Taking a full week off amid the country’s disastrous production numbers?

The concerns were observed in the comments on the notes in the official media, last Saturday, reporting that for the seventieth anniversary of the event not only would July 25, 26 and 27 be holidays, but also “the convenience of declaring Friday the 28th as a non-working day was evaluated.”

“A non-working week! I hope that by 2024 we will overcome that, it is work and productivity time,” expressed the on-line commenter Cocuyo. Along the same lines, Ruffini opined: “Too many rest days affect the economy.”

More vehement was Ángel: “How do they do that, if what the country needs is for it to produce, uninterrupted. I don’t really know what they are thinking about.” And also Oslaida: “We all like to rest, but they just called for more production, how? With practically no work for a week? I don’t understand, with so many people who make a living from their business and illegalities.” continue reading

Leonardo made his anguish over the scarcity that the country is experiencing very clear: “Why more non-working days for more adverse situations, nothing comes to the butcher shops, to the bodegas and everything is closed. Before it was rest and parties, now there are worries”.

Others complained about the closed offices, already a bureaucratic hole of negligence and inefficiency. Thus Alice: “The one who has an appointment at the notary’s office set aside for an application, when are they going to get it?”

“To have ATMs you have to have them filled all the time, not let them run out of money right away,” lamented a woman at the Belascoaín and Zanja branch, the only one open today in the municipality of Centro Habana. (14ymedio)

However, the main concern had to do with the banks. “Will the bank guarantee the money in the ATMs for those days?” Victoria asked. “Is it possible to direct people that with the crisis we have to acquire cash for specific expenses, if the ATMs do not work?” suggested Francisco Martínez Rodríguez. “There is no money in the ATMs, nor is there anyone to refill them. A week of monetary fasting?” User Sachiel exclaimed.

The Banco Metropolitano issued a note this Tuesday to inform which branches will be open in the capital during these four days, starting with this Tuesday, and only part-time.

At the markets, open only until two in the afternoon, the mood was also tense. (14ymedio)

In the streets of Havana, the annoyance and restlessness in front of the ATMs is more than evident. The ATMs visited by this newspaper have lines of more than half a block, all of them with people complaining.

“To have ATMs you have to have them filled all the time, not let them run out of money right away,” lamented a woman at the Belascoaín and Zanja branch, the only one open this day in the municipality of Centro Habana, and then only until 12:30. She, like many in line, fears that when the bank closes, the money in the ATMs will run out. “And this one, for example, doesn’t open until Friday,” she stressed. Another man replied: “We already battle every day when all the banks are open, imagine now.”

Meanwhile, of the three Infanta ATMs only two were working.

In the outdoor food area of Plaza de Carlos III, the discontent was due to the limitations on allowing people to buy hamburgers (two per person and at 90 pesos).

The warning from the authorities, which additionally recommends “using electronic payment channels for the acquisition of goods and services,” has only further got people fired up. “They want to computerize the country and make payments electronic, but Transfermóvil and EnZona have failures all the time,” said a young man in the same line.

In the markets, open until two in the afternoon, the outlook was also tense. In the outdoor eating area of the Plaza de Carlos III, the discontent was due to the limitations on allowing people to buy hamburgers (two per person and at 90 pesos). In this regard, a woman protested: “Today they are working at their leisure, as they want, as if the country did not have the same hunger today, which is a holiday.”

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Crossing the Street at 23rd and L is a New and Lively Experience for Cubans on Foot

People cross on instinct: they wait for a brave soul to take the plunge and then everyone follows. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 19 July 2023 – The flow of traffic in a busy area like El Vedado in Havana is fast and constant. Anyone who tried to cross the street on Calle 23 this week, where the pedestrian traffic lights were all off, knew this only too well. The angry drivers’ car horns blare at those who, on the edge of the pavement, try to guess the right moment to cross.

Eight sets of pedestrian traffic signals out of action on Calles 23 and L has unleashed a traffic chaos. On Wednesday, an elderly lady in the crowd waiting to cross asked whether the lack of red/green signals was down to a power cut. “No, there is electricity señora. You can see how the traffic lights for the cars are working ok. But the pedestrian ones are all broken”, someone answered.

For months the people of Havana have witnessed the warning lights breaking down. First one goes, then another, then a few weeks later a stone hits the glass of a third one. And no one repairs the damage.

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Finally, this Wednesday, every single one of the lights that are supposed to regulate the pedestrian flow on 23rd and L went off. Now people cross by instinct. It’s common for people to wait until some brave soul takes the plunge and then everyone follows. At other times the cars slow a little and the pedestrians decide it’s the moment to lunge forward.

As yet, there has been no police officer assigned to regulate the traffic while they fix the lights. The younger people are in a hurry, they just run and lose their fear of the traffic after a few attempts to cross. But the older people and children are always left behind, waiting.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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The ‘Five Heroes’ That Are Missing in Cuba: Chicken, Picadillo, Sausages, Detergent and Oil

This Wednesday, in the middle of Vedado, a women waits to exchange handmade cheese for bars of soap. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, July 21, 2023 — The neighbors of the Luyanó neighborhood, in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre, are more than tired. This July, the only products of the ’combo’ they have been able to buy are oil and detergent. And not even in the same store.

In the shop on Melones Street — sadly famous for the death of an old man who uncovered a network of thieves last year and for its reputation of persistent corruption — promised sausages did not arrive, and there was only chicken for about 600 people. “I have the number 1,800, and I don’t even know when I’ll get the meat. We will have to wait until July 26 to eat chicken,” Rosa said ironically on Thursday, referring to the anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks, a notable date for the regime.

Cubans do not overlook the fact that the Government manages the calendar at will, to celebrate a propagandistically relevant day or to avoid “grievances.” Thus, Rosa’s daughter, Karla, points out how on July 11, the second anniversary of the historic protests in Cuba, and after weeks of transportation shortages, the buses multiplied on the streets of Havana, to the point that many of them were empty. “Now ten days have passed and there are no taxis. To get one is like the Way of the Cross,” complains the young woman. continue reading

The Government cannot hide the difficulties of supplying the population with the ’basic basket’. The president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, Esteban Lazo, referred to this last Tuesday, saying that the country “does not have the resources to continue the level of imports we have” and recognized that “practically 100% of the family basket is being imported.”

Since May, without going any further, in Guantánamo chicken is no longer available for those over 13 years old, and protests are frequent both on social networks and in private: “Neither the sausage nor the detergent has arrived in my store, the revolutionary model is increasingly broken,” Yusuan said as he left a warehouse in Centro Habana, where mortadella arrived: “half a pound per person.”

That they distribute the basket as promised by the authorities is nothing short of a miracle. “They said they were going to give a bottle of oil, 10 pounds of chicken, two packages of Mexican picadillo, a package of sausages and one of detergent,” explains Ernesto, a resident of Central Havana. “Sometimes they sell something else, like on one occasion two cans of condensed milk, but the ’combos’ are rarely complete.”

Although Ernesto’s situation is not good, like that of the vast majority of the population, he had to bring a few cans of beans that he got “on the left” for an old friend with two children who could only buy rice.

The habaneros take all this with humor and refer to the combos as the “modules of misery” or “the five heroes” for the number of products offered – chicken, picadillo, sausages, detergent and oil – a mockery of the five spies who were imprisoned in the U.S. until their release, a product of negotiations with then-President Barack Obama

The shortage leaves scenes on the street, such as barter operations, not seen since the 1990s, during the Special Period. This Wednesday, in the middle of Havana’s Vedado district, two women proclaimed: “Cheese for exchange, cheese for exchange!”

Coming from another province, they explained to customers that they exchanged handmade white cheese for bath soap, scarce where they live. It is a product that provokes many complaints in the population because of its coarse quality, but it can be found in the informal market at a price between 130 and 150 pesos per bar.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Bureaucracy of Death in Cuba, a Nightmare for Families of the Deceased

With its doors closed and an empty outdoor entrance, the funeral home remains abandoned and without hope of resuming its functions. (14ymedia)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 July 2023 — The residents of the Luyanó neighborhood in Havana have been without funeral services for two and a half years. Complaints have already begun to materialize in posts and comments on social media. However, with its doors closed and an empty outdoor entrance, the funeral home remains abandoned and without hope of resuming its functions.

“The deceased are sent to San Miguel del Padrón or La Víbora,” a neighbor — who witnesses how, and how often, someone comes by the premises to ask about the restart of services — tells this newspaper.

“Since the pandemic began, they announced that they would no longer be accepting deceased. But the pandemic is over and the funeral home is still completely closed,” she laments.

In funeral homes in other neighborhoods of the capital, the situation is very reminiscent of the times when health restrictions prevented more than two people from attending a burial. The explanation? The transportation crisis. “It is very difficult to go to a wake at a funeral home that is not the one in your neighborhood, if you have no transportation. People are very limited, especially older people. Now everyone has to settle for offering their condolences to the family, while the mourners are left practically alone in the room with the deceased.” continue reading

In funeral homes in other neighborhoods of the capital, the situation is very reminiscent of the times when sanitary restrictions prevented more than two people from attending a funeral

A Facebook post by a group of Luyanó residents questioned the measure of having the memorial services for the deceased held in other centers, if the neighborhood has its own funeral home. “They always have a different problem. When the bathrooms are backed up, leaks appear; they must be repaired, painted, or the cafeteria has no water. It’s all a lie,” commented an enraged user.

“It is our funeral home, where we have always watched over our relatives, friends and all our people from Luyanó, why can’t we have this funeral service available?” lamented another Internet user.

It is not the first time that the population has complained about the lack of funeral services on the Island. From corpses that must wait hours –sometimes days– for a hearse to transport them, to the shortage of coffins to bury them, the bureaucracy of death in Cuba becomes increasingly suffocating for those who must deal with it.

In the Sancti Spíritus province, the construction of a crematorium has been expected for at least two years. With an investment of just 5 million pesos, the project could ease the burden of the relatives who transport their deceased to Ciego de Ávila or Villa Clara to comply with the wishes of the deceased to be cremated.

However, so far, the project has seen two location changes, several complaints from architects and no facility has been built.

“This is about advanced technology that requires two gas burners: one at the bottom, which is where the first cremation of the deceased is carried out, and a second, located in the tower where the gases that can rise into the atmosphere can be burned, so that only vapor comes out,” Yoel Aquiles Martínez, director of the province’s Provincial Unit of Necrological Services, told the Escambray newspaper.

Now everyone has to settle for sending their condolences to the family, while the mourners are left practically alone in the wake room with the deceased

The crematorium would also provide incineration services for medical and biological waste derived from hospital care, such as surgical remains and chemical and biological products. The managers do not say, however, what has been the fate of this waste so far.

The facility, initially projected to be built in an area chosen by specialists and architects on the border with Jatibonico, is now planned to be built 300 meters from the La Rosita residential area, because this would reduce construction costs.

Although the director of Public Health in the province has already authorized the new location, it has been rejected by the Hygiene area, which alleges that the expulsion of toxic gases derived from the cremation processes could harm the health of the residents of the area.

While Sancti Spíritus remains one of the four Cuban provinces that lacks a crematorium, institutions extend the timing with their internal confrontations. However, official sources, once again, point to the embargo as the culprit.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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Customers’ Disenchantment With the ‘State Methods’ of a Privatized Bakery in Havana

Some customers from other parts of the Cuban capital wait in line at the bakery on Carlos III and Castillejo streets. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 15 July 2023 — With a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius, this Friday morning the neighbors in Key West, Havana and customers from other parts of the Cuban capital waited in line for the bakery on Carlos III and Castillejo streets to start dispatching the customers who crowded in earlier.

“Since 4:30 am we haven’t had electricity,” the seller justified to the line, which now was starting to get uncomfortable with the midday sun. Holding umbrellas or taking refuge in the brief shadow projected by a nearby facade, the buyers wondered what had happened with that place.

The bakery, recently repaired, passed from the hands of the state-owned Cuban Bread Chain to a private company, as this newspaper confirmed. “They removed all the state workers and brought their own staff,” said a neighbor who had recently heard about the change in ownership.

The news that the central bakery, which brought customers from several municipalities, had reopened in private hands raised expectations and sparked fantasies. Some neighbors said that the bread was going to be “like before” but didn’t specify what moment in the past they were referring to. True or not, between curious people and buyers, the line on the outskirts of the store was extended in a short time.

A chubby man who blocked the passage of the curious explained that for now only two products were being offered: five small round loaves for a price of 20 pesos and a baguette for 70 pesos. “Soon there will be other varieties,” he said. Meanwhile, in the line, another seller began to check identity cards, and customers expressed their surprise that in a private store the “revolutionary method of sale” in force in state stores was being applied. continue reading

Rationing the amount that can be purchased, asking for identification to access the counter and regulating how many times a customer can stand in line are widespread practices in state stores. If anything distinguishes, so far, the private ones, it is to have eliminated these mechanisms in their businesses.

“These places have a bad vibe. Although individuals come to work in them, they maintain the state methods,” said a young man in the line who seemed skeptical at the hope that private companies will work better than those of the government. “In the end, they are always the same ideas and the same schemes,” he said.

But every rule has its trick, and the Cuban customer has been training for decades to circumvent the restrictions.

Despite the warnings of the sellers, a lady kept the newly purchased bread in her bag and went back to the end of the line. “Surely now she is calling some relative to come with his card to buy more,” a young woman said with suspicion. “I came thinking that this was going to be different, but it’s the same line, the same five loaves per person and the same socialism,” she added, disappointed.

As soon as we mention the concept of “private enterprise,” most Cubans already imagine a better assortment of products, much higher prices than in official shops, better treatment of employees and the freedom to choose, combine and carry as much merchandise as you want and whatever you want. But that perception could be changing in the face of the reality that is being imposed.

Some passers-by came this Friday to inquire about “the bakery that is now private,” but few overcame the difficulty of having to wait so long to take home a baguette, the so called “good bread.” “I don’t have the patience for this,” said one. Five minutes later, the man who controlled the door announced: “That’s it for the bread. You’ll have to wait another half an hour.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Spanish Melia Opens a Luxury Hotel in the Building of the Extinct Petroleum Union in Havana

The hotel, one block from the Plaza de la Catedral, occupies number 113 of Empedrado Street, where the National Bank was located for more than 60 years. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 6 July 2023 — A room costs between 295 and 383 euros a night this month at the new INNSiDE Habana Catedral hotel, inaugurated last Saturday by the Spanish group Meliá in Old Havana. If the traveler prefers the “Townhouse Suite,” with 560 square feet, king size bed and view of the bay, the price goes up to the stratosphere: 1,825 euros per night.

The prices of the restaurant, according to 14ymedio, follow the same trend. The dishes range from the 700 pesos for a “vegan salad in the style of the chef” to the 2,600 for a beef fillet with potatoes and red wine sauce, through a ceviche at 1,300 pesos, a honeyed rice with seafood at 1,800 or a fish at 2,000 pesos. As for desserts, you can order a brownie or French toast for 450 pesos, or fruit salad for 400 pesos.

On the menu, which has the prices in Cuban pesos (CUP) and in foreign currency, they apply an exchange rate of 120 pesos for freely convertible currency (MLC).

This Thursday, the place was empty. “Four employees for a single customer,” said a young woman from Havana who told about the experience of having a coffee. “There is not even a fly there, and they look at you as if you were an extraterrestrial.”

She paid 264 pesos for the coffee. “A small amount of coffee, I kept it simple,” she says. It was not enough for a bottle of water, which costs, small, 264 pesos, and large, more than 300. “Fortunately they put a glass of water next to the coffee. It was the size for a three-year-old boy, but better than nothing.” continue reading

As happens in establishments of this type in the capital, the INNSiDE Habana Catedral does not accept cash, and customers must pay by card. To accept payments, there is have an electronic reader for CUP and another for MLC.

The hotel, one block from the Plaza de la Catedral, occupies number 113 of Empedrado Street, where an office building was located for more than 60 years.

The emblematic and modern building was erected in the early 1950s, not without controversy, as the chronicles of the time testify, on the site of an 18th-century colonial house that had to be demolished. “Instead, and completely out of place in that area, there will be a seven-story ultra Miami skyscraper,” reads the newspaper library of the Diario de la Marina. The property, intended for office use, ultimately had five floors, some of them belonging to the extinct Petroleum Union.

Before being reopened by Meliá, it had been under construction for almost seven years. On its website, the hotel says that it was “conceived to give the most curious travelers an impressive urban experience,” and they invite the foreigner who can afford it: “You will find infinite peace in our pool with unparalleled views of the lighthouse and the sea. Are you ready for the adventure?”

Although luxury hotels are still being opened on the Island, the tourism data do not justify it. The sector, the country’s third largest source of foreign exchange – behind the sale of medical services and remittances – has not managed to recover even half of the international visits recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the latest official figures, between January and August of this year, Cuba received 1,390,000 tourists, barely 44.5% of the total registered in the same period of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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