Mercedes García – Page 2 – Translating Cuba

Despair in Cuba’s Gas Lines After Five Months Without Supply

In Guanabacoa, propane had not been sold for five months / 14ymedio

14ymedio, José Lassa and Mercedes García, Havana / Sancti Spíritus, 2 June 2025 — The arrival of liquefied gas (propane) in the Cuban capital has brought anything but tranquility. It had been three months since many customers could get it, but they were not even concerned: the sale was for those who had been unable to buy since December; that is, for five months.

“There are huge lines, people are almost beating each other up, it’s hell,” said a resident from Boyeros on Sunday. “I got February 14; who knows when it’s my turn, because they are now selling it for December. I have a neighbor who had to leave the line because she says it was infernal. A real fight must have happened.”

In Guanabacoa, the despair was total. The managers were trying to organize a line in front of a population that was desperate for the 199 tanks they had to sell, making it clear that most would leave empty-handed. There, at the point of sale of Fuente and Obispo, chaos was the word that defined the situation.

The organizers read the names of the people who could come and buy and tried to coordinate so that no one would sneak in. The day was marked by discomfort, arguments, screams and an overwhelming heat from which some protected themselves with umbrellas while others tried to shelter from the sun by gluing themselves to nearby buildings.

The Cuban Petroleum Union (Cupet) had announced the start of the sale of propane in the western provinces for this Saturday, through all channels on social networks and the official press. Cupet stated that the process would begin on May 31 and would be carried out daily in an organized manner, delivering a single cylinder per customer to those who couldn’t buy in February.

But organization has been impossible in Havana, although almost half the population (more than 280,000 households) receive gas service through pipelines. These customers are supplied by natural gas coming from the continue reading

plants in Puerto Escondido, Varadero and Boca de Jaruco, all part of Energas, a joint venture managed by Canada’s Sherritt International and Cuba’s state-owned Cupet.

It was unfortunate that on the very same day that the chaotic sale of propane began, the plant at Boca de Jaruco went out of service due to a breakdown in one of the Energas outlet lines, disrupting the flow of the other two. This affected generation and “increased the impact,” according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines in a message on social networks calling for calm and assuring that four turbines had already been recovered.

Protests over the disorganization have multiplied in all the municipalities of the capital. Those who paid 10 pesos on Ticket to secure a digital place in line complain that it isn’t applied. They demand that priority be given to those who have not bought since 2024, something that is not always true, or they claim that corruption among organizers is taking place.

“I call on the managers to organize lines at the points of sale and not leave it in the hands of corrupt coleros* [people paid by others to wait in line for them] and delegates. I hope the police and the army will support me,” shouted one customer.

The sale is limited, for the moment, to one tank of propane / 14ymedio

The situation contrasts with the tranquility in Sancti Spíritus, where calm reigns thanks to a good functioning of the Ticket application. “There have been no lines or fighting, because it is organized by Facebook and other networks,” says a resident of the capital city, where the sale also began on December 31 for the physically disabled, vulnerable and those who had not received it since December. On Sunday, it was reserved for those who paid 10 pesos for the virtual line. “Here everyone knows when it’s their turn. I should get it next week because I have number 33 on Ticket.”

Of the 150 days in the year that they had the propane, on 117 there was none on the island, according to the minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, last Thursday on Miguel Díaz-Canel’s podcast “From the Presidency.” They both admitted that it happened when the ship carrying the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that is being sold now has arrived but had not been unloaded, because there was no money to pay for it. They stated that the conditions for doing so in advance and the banking problems arising from the US embargo also complicate the operation.

These same problems, they said, are being repeated with a second ship that was “hired and paid,” which makes it foreseeable that the gas shortage will be repeated, with repercussions for the population.

In addition, as Díaz-Canel and De la O Levy notes, the lack of LPG influences the electricity demand, which increases by 200 or 250 megawatts the daily power required. But this is not the only problem. Many people are likely to buy the gas ‘on the left’ (the informal market), either from outsiders or by underestimating the serious consequences that can occur; or they are forced to cook with fire, even having to sacrifice their furniture if they cannot afford the high price of coal.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Yayabo River in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba is Dying from Drought and Garbage

Water hyacinths thrive in contaminated spaces and in water where garbage is frequently dumped / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, May 22, 2025 — The Yayabo River, which suffers from 35 degrees of heat and a drought, has been reduced to a mere stream for weeks and is barely flowing. The undergrowth and garbage have blocked its course; the steam of summer in the tropics makes it impassable, and given the color of the water -a sickly yellow-, no one who wants to stay healthy would dare to bathe there or take his animals.

It doesn’t matter if you look at the Yayabo from the pedestrian bridge or from outside the city, the impression will be the same. Its poor vigor and the poor quality of its water affect the supply of a municipality that has always made its living -since colonial times- by making use of the river.

To clean the water, a powerful bulldozer would be needed to remove the heavy stalks

Now, a thick layer of water hyacinths (malangueta), an invasive and ecosystem-destroying species, covers the riverbed. Malangueta thrives in contaminated spaces and in waters frequently littered with garbage and waste of all kinds. In a country where little attention is paid to landfills, it is unlikely that the Yayabo will have the equipment to rid it of the persistent plague. To clean the water, a powerful bulldozer would be needed to remove the heavy stalks.

The water has not reached Sancti Spíritus for several weeks. The problem is common throughout the country and has to do not only with the drought but also with the blackouts. The lack of electricity prevents the pumping of continue reading

water from its various sources, including the river, and plunges entire neighborhoods into despair for not having the most basic resources or alternatives to obtain them.

El Tuinucú está también seco y con poco cauce. / 14ymedio

The Yayabo River feeds the aqueduct that sends water to the southern part of the city. The people in the north of the municipality have an easier time getting their water from the Tuinucú river, even when it is not at its best, while their neighbors depend on the condition of the Yayabo.

The power cuts and falling water levels prevent the residents from filling their tanks properly, and the authorities have warned that there are technical problems which have led to reduced pumping cycles in certain areas of the province, in particular the municipality of Cabaiguán.

Taking advantage of their proximity to the city’s water pipe, some neighbors get up at seven in the morning. If there is power, they extract some water for their tanks. It is a real privilege, governed by the chance of whether or not they live near the pipeline.

Many in Sancti Spíritus fear that the Yayabo will follow the same path as the Zaza reservoir

Many in Sancti Spíritus fear that the Yayabo will follow the same path as the Zaza reservoir, the largest in the country. It is affected not only by drought but also by frenetic fishing, invasive species and agricultural overexploitation of some areas that suck up the water and upset the balance of the reservoir.

But the flow of water or its availability is only one aspect of the problem. When it arrives at homes, it comes with a fishy smell and is very cloudy. It is the unmistakable aspect of stagnant water, and they have to think twice before collecting it and boil it many times before consumption.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Soviet Machinery of Cuba’s Sancti Spíritus Asphalt Plant Surrendered

The low quality of the product has been the cause of friction between the plant and other related industries / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Havana, March 22, 2025 — The asphalt plant of Sancti Spíritus has been closed for at least 15 days, as confirmed by a worker of the entity to this newspaper. From the outside, you can see that the enclosure is completely empty and that its machinery – pipes, cranes, towers and tank systems – is inactive.

Another source in the construction sector explained to 14ymedio that the problem has to do with the “lack of additives and raw material to prepare the substance that then becomes an asphalt mixture.”

The low quality of the product has been the cause of friction between the plant and other related industries, such as the Sergio Soto refinery, located in the neighboring municipality of Cabaiguán, which sometimes exported the asphalt produced in Sancti Spíritus and – according to the source of this newspaper – “has had to return the merchandise because, instead of asphalt, what they have sent has been full of bitumen,” of lower quality, whose application requires high temperatures.

A note published in Escambray this month gives an account of how unstable the situation of asphalt factories in the province is, for which the Government has set a plan of 25,862 tons of hot asphalt mixture throughout the year, plus 5,000 of cold asphalt. The managers claim that they “aren’t giving up” on that goal, but they see it as more and more distant.

The main municipality is not the only asphalt plant in Sancti Spíritus. There are also those of Trinidad and El Yigre, in Yaguajay. However, the factory that is closed today assumes the greatest production load. “When it produces at full capacity, the construction process is streamlined since its location in the center of the territory allows less fuel consumption,” adds Escambray.

The Sancti Spíritus factory assumes the highest production load / 14ymedio

The factory managers added two factors that prevent production: the lack of fuel and the blackouts. Three days after the newspaper published this complaint, the country plunged into its fourth total blackout in less than six months.

On the table of the provincial authorities is an asphalt plan that will require 19,000 tons of hot concrete. The extensive network of roads that need repair includes the two interprovincial connectors par excellence – the National Highway and the Central Highway – but also that of the South and North circuits, the La Sierpe road, and other roads affected by potholes and lack of maintenance.

The Yaguajay plant, for its part, was stopped for some time “for repair.” In mid-March, Granma announced that production was resuming “progressively” and promised a future “with quality.”

However, a specialist interviewed by the Communist Party newspaper reported that keeping the technology of these plants active “would be quite the feat.” With old equipment subjected to overexploitation, “structures such as those of Sancti Spíritus are among the oldest in the archipelago,” he said. Without “a certain level of investments,” the specialist added, they are doomed to failure.

Last December 24, the asphalt plant of Sancti Spíritus was also in the news, but for very different reasons. Alexey Díaz Salas, 48 years old and one of its workers, was the victim of a fire that left 60% of his body covered in burns. He was taken in serious condition to the hospital in the neighboring province, Cienfuegos, to be treated.

He suffered head trauma and injuries after the explosion of a highly volatile fuel tank, which he inspected without adequate protective equipment. Díaz Salas died shortly after.

The fire unleashed after the explosion, which was heard everywhere in the city, was described by eyewitnesses as “of great magnitude,” according to Escambray. The plant’s tanks stored a fast-curing liquid, a mixture of asphalt cement and a very volatile petroleum distillate, which must be preserved at high temperature to be applied on the road before pouring the asphalt.

The asphalt factory of Sancti Spíritus, founded in 1948 – the oldest in Cuba – is equipped with an old machine, model DK-117, of Ukrainian manufacture, which arrived on the Island during the years of the Soviet subsidy. Over the years, the deterioration and scarcity of parts have taken their toll on the installation.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘In Cuba, if the Police Catch You With a Backpack of Coffee, Even a Small One, They’ll Take It Away From You’

A coffee grower from Sancti Spíritus lost everything by selling the beans on his own, without going through the State agency Acopio

In Sancti Spíritus, the price of unroasted Criollo coffee is between 200 and 240 pesos. / Escambray

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 20 March 2025 — The story of Isidro, a guajiro — as he will be known to protect his identity—is spreading in Sancti Spíritus, after authorities confiscated 465 sacks of coffee he was saving to sell. In his eyes, he has done nothing wrong, but in Cuba, what he did is illegal.

The farmer decided one day to invest in his business and expand it beyond the coffee plantations he cultivated himself. So, he sold his motorcycle to use the money to buy beans from other producers. “This is now a small business that’s making money, because of the price of coffee,” a resident who also requested anonymity told 14ymedio. In the province, the price of the native product is between 200 and 240 pesos, unroasted (250-gram bags, already roasted and ground, cost between 1,350 and 1,500 pesos).

“The man was crazy. They had to bring him to Sancti Spíritus because he said he wanted to kill himself. He lost his money, his motorcycle, everything.”

The police, who accused him of “hoarding” and prohibited him from selling the coffee to any buyer other than the State agency Acopio, gave the confiscated product to the Cabaiguán roasting plant.

He usually goes to the fields to buy coffee from the producers, but now he has stopped this activity, “until the dust settles.”

The line for breaking the law is thin, the resident continues. He usually goes to the fields to buy coffee directly from the producers, to resell it in the city, but he’s stopped doing so now, “until the dust settles.” He adds: “If the police catch you with a backpack of coffee, even a small one, they’ll take it away.” continue reading

At the beginning of last September, the government issued a new resolution on the marketing of agricultural, forestry, and tobacco production that, de facto, penalized private farmers with more controls—reserving the monopoly on purchasing from these farmers, the campesinos, and setting prices for products destined for export, including coffee, despite their far more successful production than the state sector.

For example, private farmers produce more than 80% of fruit trees, almost 80% of beans, and three-quarters of vegetables, root vegetables, and corn, according to official data presented by economist Pedro Monreal, who harshly criticized the new regulation. As he posted on social media at the time, he believes the resolution “expresses the arrogant notion that centralized planning is more effective than the market in ensuring ‘economic calculation’ (rational distribution of resources).” Furthermore, he observed, it represented a “variant of ‘forced’ contracting,” like the one imposed on the guajiro Isidro.

The harshness of the raids has not increased the presence of coffee in the island’s bodegas (ration stores). Just a week ago, the official press argued that the disappearance of the product and the collapse of its production was due, above all, to the lack of workers to harvest the fruit.

In that unusual note, published by the official newspaper Granma, they didn’t hide the sector’s collapse. “In 2023, the situation with the coffee was tense, and resources for harvesting and transport were insufficient,” Felipe Martínez Suárez, director of the Agroforestry Experimental Station in the municipality of Tercer Frente, in Santiago de Cuba, told the Communist Party newspaper. He nevertheless emphasized that the company was able to develop “more resilient” plants thanks to aid from Vietnam.

According to the National Statistics and Information Office, production in the sector fell by 51% in the last five years.

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Ecotaxis, Cocotaxis and Ecomobiles Only Solve Transportation When They Can Get Fuel

Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus develop new lines of electric vehicles, despite blackouts

Electric tricycles in Las Tunas. / Periódico 26

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus 10 March 2025 — The transportation disaster is a glaring reality for any Cuban and even the official press does not bother to hide it with euphemisms. A note published in Periódico26 this Monday reports it from the first paragraph : “A total of 11 routes must move through the main municipality of Las Tunas, but this reality is far from the truth because due to the high fuel deficit only three to four of them can be covered, a number that does not satisfy the transportation needs of the population.”

Although the brief text reports the availability of electric tricycles (or eco-taxis) and coco-taxis, it does not hide the fact that this solution is only palliative. The provincial delegate for Transport, Reynaldo Reyes Silva, told the official newspaper that there are about 22,000 people who have to move around Las Tunas every day and that the vehicles available for this, including the “alternative means” that he praises in the interview, are insufficient.

“These vehicles transport around 3,000 people throughout the city,” explains the official, who then details the “biggest limitation” related to “the allocation of fuel for internal combustion vehicles (cocotaxis), which reduces the number of journeys.” continue reading

“Even the design has been improved, because at first it was a bit rough”

The hope centers on “the 20 electric tricycles that are in operation and can move 1,800 to 2,000 inhabitants,” that is, less than a tenth of the population of Las Tunas.

And so, he says, they will combine the eco-taxis and coco-taxis routes in a new four-vehicle bus station that will leave from the Mártires de Las Tunas pediatric hospital and, although it will serve the entire population, “its priority will be to transport medical discharges from the health center.”

The perpetual fuel shortage is one of the reasons why the island has opted in recent years for the creation of electric transport, but wherever it has been implemented, at least for now, it is insufficient. Last January, in Sancti Spíritus they boasted of having launched new electric vehicles, manufactured in the same province, which “reported revenues of more than one million pesos and transported more than 70,000 passengers within the main city.”

However, of the 50 planned “ecomobiles” only 21 were finished, and of these, only 5 were working, precisely because of the lack of energy, since they depend on the electrical grid to recharge their batteries. For several months, the province has been among those with the most hours of blackouts.

The people of Sancti Spiritus celebrate the efficiency and price of these electric cars, which have been in service in the province for more than a year. “They have even improved the design, because at first it was a bit rough,” Miguel, a resident of the city, tells this newspaper. He knows from a reliable source that they are using Chinese parts “imported by the military at a very cheap price.”

Hope is centered on “the 20 electric tricycles that are in operation and can move 1,800 to 2,000 residents”

Miguel insists that, as the authorities say, “the service is working well: it only costs 10 pesos and you never have to wait at the stop for more than 15 minutes.”

Another expert explains his “but”: “The problem is the batteries and the method of charging the vans. Where they are being stored there are not enough charging ports.” And he predicts: “The 10 pesos that it costs are not enough to maintain the cost of the service. All of that comes from China and China has to be paid.”

It is not surprising, however, that officialdom is promoting new routes for this type of transport and it is rare to see the vehicles. In Havana, for example, on routes such as Playa, tricycles are “almost ghosts.”

The first Ecotaxis route was inaugurated in the capital in 2020, as a project funded primarily by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to “promote the empowerment of women,” which is why all the drivers hired for it then were women.

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Forced Landing of El Avión, Another Cuban Restaurant Closed Due to Lack of Food

Part of the old and useless fleet of the state-owned Cubana de Aviación, the ‘ship’ was equipped to serve 24 diners

It was inaugurated as a gastronomic restaurant at the beginning of 2013 / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 4 March 2025 — Two years after completing the interior of the Russian-operated Antonov (An-24), all that remains are a deserted esplanade and a custodian, which indicates that it is closed, without any reopening date set.

Inaugurated as a gastronomic restaurant in early 2013, El Avión began its journey by causing a real stir. Its arrival on the Central Highway to its final location caused great fright among the people of Sancti Spíritus, who believed that it had crashed. That beginning was an omen of the random path that it would take later.

Part of the old and useless fleet of the state-owned Cubana de Aviación, the small plane was renovated to serve 24 diners. To reinforce the idea of a flight, customers were received in a replica of an air terminal, a cubicle where the “captain” took their orders before they entered the “plane.” While waiting to board, they could have a cocktail and feel that they were future travelers in a waiting room.

Once inside the An-24, “passengers” could sample the main dishes and imagine that the plane, designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union, had taken off and was now lost among the clouds heading to a remote destination. For many of the customers who arrived it was the first time they had been on an aircraft, although it was still anchored to the ground. After dining, the continue reading

service staff announced that it was time to deplane to make way for the next customers.

“Like everything in this country, it started more or less well, but when it had been opened a few months, I came for my birthday and the food was already terrible,” said a man born in the province who, after visiting the nearby agricultural fair, decided to go see “the little plane,” as many called it. “I ordered a dish with shrimp, because they specialized in fish and seafood, but it was inedible. The tomato sauce they added didn’t taste good; it was full of chunks.”

However, the man recalls that “it was a different place and the children loved to come.” For many “it was a way to fulfill their dream of being on a plane. Here there are many people who have not even left this province, let alone flown from one place to another.” Nor do the nearby facilities that served to support the restaurant, such as the bathroom and the supposed terminal, provide service. A Cuban flag painted on the side of the Antonov has been fading with the rain, the sun and the passage of time, that same accumulation of years and neglect that once prevented it from leaving the ground and that now make it impossible to survive as a restaurant.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Faced with a Flour Shortage, Privately Run Bakeries Are Rationing Bread

Lines of customers outside a privately owned bakery on Cespedes Street in Sancti Spiritus. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spirítus, 11 February 2025 — The line of people extends along both sides of the street. It grows longer on one side of the street, with more people joining as the morning progresses. The scene is almost identical on the other side. Residents from different parts of the city crowd outside a privately run bakery on Céspedes street in downtown Sancti Spíritus. “Right now, they’re only selling bread,” says an elderly man who has traveled here from the city’s Kilo 12 neighborhood.

The flour shortage and rolling blackouts have impacted many private businesses who need it to produce cookies, breads, desserts and pizzas. Some have found it necessary to restrict how much any one person can buy. On Tuesday, the bakery was limiting each customer to five items. Some of those who knew of the restriction beforehand brought along several family members in order to fill their shopping bags.

Some of those who knew of the restriction beforehand brought along several family members in order to help fill their shopping bags

“I have never seen this. I thought this only happened in state-owned bakeries,” said one woman. “Resellers show up with their brothers, sisters, children and even grandchildren to stock up.” Despite the discomfort and the sun that was beginning to sting her skin, she remained in line. She complained that the state-run bakery in her neighborhood had put up a sign saying “tthere is no bread because there is no flour.” Not even the “low-quality government bread,” which she uses to feed her chickens. continue reading

While the state charges just 75 centavos for a small loaf of bread, a bag with four better quality rolls goes for 200 pesos at private businesses. Meanwhile, a medium-sized loaf with a hard crust at a small or medium-sized business (MSME) in Sancti Spíritus can be had for between 100 and 130 pesos, while a bag of breadsticks can go for as much as 250. Current prices reflect an increase of between 15% and 25% compared to December 2024, according to data compiled by 14ymedio.

A 25-kilogram sack of imported Turkish flour costs from 9,000 to 10,000 pesos on the open market but suppliers are only willing to sell it in bulk. Small bakeries are struggling and would rather not buy large quantities of a product without knowing if it will produce a nice, crusty loaf.

“I live in Olivos and for a while bakers would hawk their wares in the neighborhood. You you would buy directly from them, almost fresh out of the oven,” explains José Pascual, a retiree who also had to go to the privately owned bakery downtown on Tuesday due to a bread shortage in his area. “They say it’s very difficult to get flour but the power outages also impact them. The bread often spoils once it’s in the oven because the electricity goes out.”

Most of the province’s privately owned bakeries use electric ovens due to a shortage of liquified natural gas, which would be more reliable and easier to use than wood or coal. “In my neighborhood there’s an individual who, until recently, baked bread using an oven on the roof of his house. For 85 pesos you could get a decent-quality medium-sized loaf,” adds José Pascual.

The bakery has been closed for several weeks. “The bread was getting sour because of the blackouts.” The aroma of freshly baked bread no longer wafts through the retiree’s neighborhood. Instead, some local residents can be seen heading out early towards the city center to get in line in front of the bakery on Céspedes Street.

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The Coffee that Makes Coffee Pots Explode Is Back in Cuban Stores

The stress test for the these appliances is the coffee sold at ration stores / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 24 January 2025 — Like a fisherman in a rushing river, Suanny thrives in an environment that is frightening to others. He specializes in repairing Italian-style coffee makers — both electric or stovetop — that have exploded or become clogged.

“These days I’m constantly busy because the coffee sold at local stores is dangerous,” says the 32-year-old from Sancti Spiritus resident. “I clean them, change their filters, replace the tops and even add new wiring and bases.”

When he first opened his shop in the city’s Kilo 12 neighborhood, Suanny was repairing rice and pressure cookers. He later worked on rechargeable lamps, the kind used to provide some light during the country’s frequent power outages. Now he focuses on coffee makers.”I always have work to do because, for better or worse, a little bit of the stuff sneaks into every house in the city every day.” Some customers show up with models that are “more than 50 years old,” notes the repairman, who is skilled at figuring out when something can be fixed and when it is time to get rid of it altogether.

“I replace the handles, the knob on the lid and the rubber seals. I’ll even polish the outside if the owner wants that”

“I replace the handles, the knob on the lid and the rubber seals. I’ll even polish the outside if the owner wants that,” he says. “A lot of people who come in have heated the coffee maker over wood or charcoal, which melts the handle and turns the whole thing black.” continue reading

In recent years, however, electronic models have become popular. “They are very convenient. You don’t have to worry about whether the coffee has finished brewing or not because, when it’s is ready, the machine automatically shuts off. They also keep the coffee hot and are safer.”

The real test, however, is the coffee sold in ration stores. “They were out of it for months. Then it suddenly reappeared in January, in a white plastic envelope that doesn’t let you see what’s inside,” he says. Apparently, the mixture has a more compact texture, which expands as it’s heated and clogs the coffee maker’s filter. “Explosions happen all the time,” says Suanny. “It’s rare that I don’t get one or two coffee makers with this problem every day.”

Just this Wednesday, the handyman found himself helping a distraught customer. “I poured some coffee out of the package, but not very much because I had already been warned that it would clog the machine,” says the woman. “My son told me to leave the kitchen while he brewed it. We were in the living room when we heard the explosion. It was all over the kitchen. The ceiling was stained and the top of the coffee maker broke in half,” she explains. The machine — an electric model with a top made of heat-resistant plastic — did not survive the explosion, which occurred when the dark powder came into contact with the boiling water.

“What can I do? I have to drink it because be good coffee is 1,400 pesos for a tiny package”

“What can I do? I have to drink it because good coffee is 1,400 pesos for a tiny package,” the woman complains. Suanny explains to her the risks of these crudely made packages and their unpredictable contents. “Normally, they mix it with peas but now it seems that they have increased the proportion of grain. I have even seen pieces of toasted wheat inside,” he adds. “My advice is, if you are going to drink this, you have to make it using a strainer or a sock like the ones our grandparents used. Italian coffee makers are not designed to handle this stuff. Nobody really knows what’s in it.”

In a show of dexterity, Suanny quickly changes out the rubber gasket, swaps the top of the coffee maker for another one he has in his tiny workshop, replaces the cable damaged in the explosion and cleans the base of the device, which was covered in a sticky liquid that smelled like burnt peas. The final bill for the repairs comes to more than 3,000 Cuban pesos. In the choppy waters of Cuban coffee, there are always those who manage to make a catch.

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Bedbugs, the Plague That Takes Sleep Away From the People of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

“I knew this was happening, I had heard many stories, but it’s another thing to experience it,” Yeandris explains to ’14ymedio’

The bed bug or chinch bug has become an unwelcome visitor in many Cuban homes. / Maine Department of Agriculture and Forest Conservation (USA)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 18 January 2025 — The home of 29-year-old Yeandris has suffered tremendous losses, amounting to a quarter of a million pesos. The bed bugs rapidly infesting the city of Sancti Spíritus have not only drained his resources but also stolen countless hours of his time and sleep. “Just yesterday, I had to throw away three mattresses that were still in good condition. There was simply no way to control those bugs,” he confides to 14ymedio.

The ordeal of Yeandris and his family began in early December in the Jesús María neighborhood. “We started to notice something itching our legs while we watched television on the sofa in the living room,” recalls the man from Sancti Spiritus. “At first, we thought it was mosquitoes, but it happened most frequently when we sat there. When we examined the folds, wadding, and cushions, they were full of bedbugs.”

The bed bug, or chinch bug, an insect that feeds on the blood of humans and other animals, has become an unwelcome visitor in many Cuban homes. Overcrowding, lack of cleaning products, and poverty have significantly increased its presence in recent years. Outbreaks in provinces such as Santiago de Cuba and Havana have frequently made headlines in the island’s independent media.

“I knew that this was happening, I had heard many stories about, but experiencing it is a whole different thing.” explains Yeandris. Shortly after discovering that the insects were in the sofa, the family realized thad the bugs were invading the beds too. “My mother’s mattress, my baby’s crib mattress, and the one my wife and I share were all infested,” he laments. A computer engineer by profession, the man thought that, as with computer viruses, all that was needed was to find an antidote and apply it to the infected furniture. continue reading

“My mother’s mattress, my baby’s crib mattress, and the one my wife and I share were all infested”

“A neighbor who had gone through the same thing recommended that I go to the community health center in my area to ask for help, from there they sent me to the provincial Public Health office and I spent weeks bouncing back and forth,” he recalls. “During all that time, at my home nobody could even sleep. My son had an allergy outbreak due to the bedbug bites and some of them even got infected and caused sores on his skin.”

The last Christmas at Yeandris’s home was not for celebration. “That morning I couldn’t stand it any longer and I took apart the three beds.” A week earlier, a fumigator recommended by Public Health and paid out of the pocket of the insomniac espirituano, sprayed the entire house, especially the bedrooms. “We thought that was going to solve the problem, but those bugs just multiplied more.”

On December 24th Yeandris took the three mattresses out to the backyard, the family went on a thorough cleaning spree, and exhausted, they crashed that night on the floor with just some blankets. “I never thought it would come to this, but nothing was killing those bedbugs, and after almost a month of terrible sleep, all you want is for the nightmare to end.”

A few days later, with the help of another neighbor, he threw the three mattresses into a nearby dumpster. There, he encountered a scavenger who, despite the warnings, decided to pick up what Yeandris had discarded. ’I take them apart, put the stuffing in bags, and soak them in the river for days,’ the man explained his method to the astonished Sancti Spiritus resident, who advised him not to take such a bedbug-infested nest. ’Then I dry the stuffing in the sun and can rebuild the mattresses,’ he added resourcefully.

“Altogether, with the loss of the nearly new mattresses, the two visits from the exterminator, the sofa I had to throw away, and all the useless remedies I bought, it all costed me nearly 250,000 pesos,” calculates the affected person. “After going through this, I’ve become really paranoid. I don’t want to sit down anywhere anymore.”

“After going through this, I’ve become really paranoid. I don’t want to sit down anywhere anymore.”

Yeandris’s obsession isn’t a sign that he’s lost his mind. In Sancti Spíritus, residents warn each other about places infested by the plague. “You can’t go to the provincial library; the armchairs are full,” warns an internet user in a Facebook group for city residents. “In my neighborhood, a neighbor put her mattress out in the sun to get rid of the bedbugs, and now she’s spread them to all of us. The whole block is infested.”

In May 2023, a similar warning reached local media. Osvaldo Gómez Hernández, deputy director of surveillance and anti-vector control at the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, acknowledged the extent of the problem in the province. “It’s hard to eliminate bedbugs, but it’s not impossible. This allows us to offer some home treatments without having to resort to chemical treatments,” the specialist stated in response to citizens’ calls for official intervention to fumigate the neighborhoods.

“I’ve been to the health center three times to get help with fumigation, even if I have to pay a hefty fee, but they never come,” complains another affected resident in the Sancti Spiritus Facebook group. “I had to burn two mattresses and an armchair. I’ve been battling an infestation at my mom’s house for a month, and nothing works because the problem is everywhere. You kill 100 bedbugs in the morning, and by night, 200 more come from the house next door.”

Translated by Gustavo Loredo

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Without Water, the Main Hospital in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Is ‘A High-Risk Place for the Sick’

The center is sinking into filth and services are closed while an unbearable stench spreads throughout the building

The hospital was recently the target of criticism for the lack of medical personnel at night. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 19 January 2025 — “There is no water,” warns a sign in the cafeteria of the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial Hospital in Sancti Spíritus. The sign, which hangs at an angle from a blackboard, adds that only “products to take away” are being sold, and its presence is just a small sample of what is happening inside the medical center. Several operating rooms remain closed, specialist consultations are limited and the bathrooms are covered in excrement.

“We can’t even clean the floor because the water hasn’t come on for days,” an employee who works in the emergency room told 14ymedio. “This has affected everything, from the emergency services to the laboratory where the tests are done and the hemodialysis room, which is one of the rooms that has the most problems right now because there are patients in a very delicate state.” The worker believes that in these conditions “the hospital becomes a high-risk place for the sick.”

In the cafeteria a sign warns that there is no water in the center and products are only sold for take-away. / 14ymedio

In the Emergency Room, the smells coming from the bathrooms fill the waiting room. The doctors and nurses seem to have gotten used to the stench after days of it being present, but the patients who have just arrived feel it like a punch in the face. “I came with my husband who is having an asthma attack and as soon as we entered we were stunned. How can a health center be like this?” After waiting for half an hour, the couple decided to return home. “We’ll see how we resolve it, but this is unbearable.”

The hospital, which was recently the target of criticism for the lack of medical personnel at night, has been defended in the official press as a place that “despite the energy contingency” works 24 hours a day and provides excellent service. Last October, a photo report published in the local Escambray newspaper showed surgeons in an impeccable room performing a complex operation, maintenance technicians analyzing samples and a nephrology specialist calibrating modern dialysis equipment. If these images were repeated now, they would not be able to capture the main protagonist of these rooms and consultations: the stench that the lack of water has spread everywhere.

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In Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Private Sector Proposals To Restore a 19th Century Hotel Are Rejected

The Colonial Hotel is on the verge of collapse due to local authorities

Neighbors are concerned about the poor condition of the hostel. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 28 December 2024 — With a board advertising scarce products and a table with wonky legs to sell food, the El Colonial hotel in Sancti Spíritus has more of the air of a wine cellar than a hostel. The old house, built in the 19th century, is barely standing and, although they no longer let passersby in to look at the architecture of the time, the neighbors know well what happens inside the walls: “at any moment it will collapse.”

According to Yasmany, a resident of the Parque popular council, where the building is located, the building has a long history. It went from being a residence to a secondary school, then a law firm and even a mechanic’s workshop that included a gas station. Converted into a hotel, it received thousands of clients until the 1970s, when, with the construction of the Zaza dam, the authorities decided that it would be the shelter for the workers on the construction site. It was not until the project was finished, years later, that El Colonial reopened to the public.

“Since then, the building has not recovered, either as a property of historical value or as a hostel,” explains Yasmany. Having lived near the house for thirty years, the man from Sancti Spiritus remembers the numerous times that attempts were made to give it a new lease of life. “I myself went to several gatherings that were organized, but the investment and the scope were never large enough to revive the clientele.”

“You only have to walk around the block to see the peeling back walls of the hotel.” / 14ymedio

In recent years, local authorities have lost interest in the building despite its incalculable heritage value, criticize the neighbor. “The last thing Deivy Pérez Martín, the provincial secretary of the Communist Party, did was to continue reading

order the façade to be painted when Sancti Spíritus won the venue for the 26th of July events this year,” he says.

Only a few months have passed and the building, a garish yet faded blue, looks as if it hasn’t been touched up for years. “The façade isn’t that bad, but you only have to walk around the block to see the back walls of the hotel, peeling and about to fall down. The neighbors are nervous because they know that one of these days there will be a collapse,” he says.

Yasmany laments the local government’s lack of will to preserve the building and, he claims, they will end up losing the roof and the classic structure of a house in the colony, which are very valuable. “I know at least two businessmen who have presented projects to the government to take over the house and to restore it. One of them, a friend of mine, even told me that he could take charge of all the repairs to turn it into a bar-restaurant if the State assured him that it would not be taken away from him afterwards,” he says.

The businessman even handed over the plan to the authorities, “but everything was left up in the air,” Yasmany explains. “It seems that they do not have the means to repair El Colonial, but they nor are they interested in giving it to someone who can save it.”

The establishment has been relegated to selling melted cheese and rum by the ounce. / 14ymedio

In mid-2023, the establishment received an investment to rescue the restaurant and bar areas, two of the most iconic areas of the building, but “that never bore fruit.”

As he lived in the city itself, the man from Sancti Spiritus never stayed at the hotel, but that doesn’t stop him from saying that the clientele has decreased in recent years. “Before, around this time, when the Lunas de Invierno street art and theatre festival starts, people came from other municipalities and stayed at El Colonial. It wasn’t the best in the world, but it was an affordable and comfortable hotel,” Yasmany adds. Now, as things are, almost no one rents rooms at the place.

The establishment has been relegated to selling melted cheese and rum by the ounce. “They sell other products too, depending on what they have, on a table they put at one of the gates.” Of the old El Colonial hotel, only a few doors eaten away by termites, some peeling walls and a crooked sign remain.

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Cuban President Díaz-Canel’s Visit to Sancti Leaves Behind a Popular Fair With No Supplies

In the Kilo 12 neighborhood, this Saturday sales points for food, fruit and other basic products were improvised. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 30 November 2024 — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s trips to Sancti Spíritus have their preamble and their coda. Before the Cuban leader arrives, it is easy to detect that the presidential motorcade is approaching: the collection of garbage, the hurried painting of the facades and the operation around the Communist Party’s guest house where he is staying give him away. But also, when he leaves, he leaves a trail, some touch-ups to convey the message that his presence has been worthwhile. This week the hustle and bustle has culminated in a food fair.

In the Kilo 12 neighborhood, this Saturday, sales points for food, fruit and other basic products were improvised. A table with sweet cookies here, a stand with pumpkins and some stunted yuccas there, next to trucks that, without even unloading the merchandise, hurried customers to buy 2.5 kilogram packages of frozen chicken at 1,580 pesos each. A starving horse pulled a cart that carried plantains and some tiny malangas. “There is almost nothing,” grumbled an old woman who warned: “those sweet potatoes have so much dirt stuck to them that you don’t even know what they are.”

At around noon, the number of people dropped because word spread in nearby neighborhoods that “the fair is bad.” / 14ymedio

A long line suggested some cheap merchandise, but the reality was white sugar at 380 pesos, a slightly lower price than the 400 that the product cost this week in the city’s MSMEs. In the long line, a woman detailed the difficulties she encountered when, on Friday, she wanted to approach Díaz-Canel to tell him about the housing problems she suffers in a home with part of the roof collapsed and her two elderly parents bedridden. When the woman tried to get to one of the points visited by the party leader, a barrier of State Security agents stopped her. “They told me that there was already a list of people who could speak with him and that I was not included.”

There was no shortage of fights and pushing at the fair. A girl of about ten years old walked near those waiting to buy and asked, in a barely audible voice, for 50 pesos to “eat something.” Around noon, an elderly man continue reading

collapsed and suffered an epileptic attack. “The poor man hasn’t been able to take his pills for weeks because there aren’t any in the pharmacy,” explained a young woman who was with him. None of the stalls were accepting electronic payments, so customers had to pay out huge wads of bills to take the products home.

At about noon, the number of visitors had decreased because word had spread in the nearby neighborhoods that “the fair is bad.” The merchants began to collect the boxes and bags with everything they could not sell. The show was over. The visitor for whom the fair was staged was already hundreds of kilometers away.

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Many Private Merchants Close Their Premises in the Face of the State Offensive Against Illegalities

Inspectors confiscate the merchandise or fine sellers who do not put price labels on their products

Many individuals have stopped selling for fear of fines / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 5 December 2024 — With December came a new wave of persecutions of self-employed sellers throughout Cuba. The so-called “national exercise against crime and illegalities,” which the official press defends as “necessary” and “timely,” has not only put in check the self-employed, who have had to close their shops or pay fines, but also the families of the Island, who at the end of the year have run out of places to buy food.

“This week I went out to buy some items to repair my burner and some oil-based paint, but I had to go around the city a lot because all the private shops for these items were closed,” Roberto, a resident of Sancti Spíritus, tells 14ymedio. “The few vendors I was able to talk to told me that there’s a state offensive going on against the private sector. Apparently, there are many inspectors visiting the private businesses one by one.”

According to Roberto, the witch hunt has already fined several owners, many of them for “nonsense.” “They gave a saleswoman a 5,000-peso fine because the wind had blown off a price tag, and it was on the ground. Another, whose product did not show the price anywhere, was fined 80,000 pesos,” he says.

After giving up buying the tools he needed, Roberto decided to go to the place where he usually buys paint

After giving up buying the tools he needed, Roberto decided to go to the place where he usually buys oil-based paint. “I arrived, and the saleswoman, who knows me, opened her eyes wide and pointed to three inspectors who were in the store. One was looking at the list to see if the prices were right and two others were verifying that the QR codes to pay were functional. She made signs that she had paint but couldn’t sell it,” he explains. continue reading

He wasn’t doing well in the search for food either. “I went to the Kilo 12 market and the stalls were also closed. Some people there told me that a cart had stopped with bags of coal at 1,100 pesos, and the authorities had confiscated all the merchandise,” says Roberto, who adds: “All the other stalls closed out of fear.”

Stories like these continue to circulate on the streets of the city, Roberto admits. “They also told me that a man who was selling a pot of chili for 70 pesos was fined 7,000 pesos because it is not the agreed price for that product. There are even some inspectors from Havana who have been brought in for this control exercise.”

Frustrated with the impossibility of finding what he was looking for, Roberto decided to try his luck for the last time before returning home empty-handed. “I finally found some cucumbers in a place that, at first glance, seemed to be closed. All the people were scattered throughout the street and when someone arrived he would discreetly ask who was the last in line. They kept going in one by one,” he said.

Roberto recognizes that prices are high, but doubts that a “wave of fines left and right” is the solution

Roberto recognizes that food prices are high, but doubts that a “wave of fines left and right” is the solution. On the contrary, he reflects, the authorities are pushing sellers into smuggling when they also depend on the prices demanded by their suppliers. “As a result, almost everyone has closed because they are afraid of being fined. They say that until the wave of inspectors passes, they will not reopen.”

The case of Sancti Spíritus has been repeated throughout the country since the control began last Monday. According to images released on social networks, in a market in Santiago de Cuba, inspectors confiscated the products of some sellers, which provoked complaints from other self-employed and customers. “They are struggling and have small children,” someone is heard screaming in the recording while some police officers and others in civilian clothes grapple with the sellers who try to prevent them from confiscating a wheelbarrow.

The government of Havana has also left on its social networks the traces of the inspection of forklift drivers and small vendors. “In the tour of the Palatine Council, the marketing of agricultural products with no visible price is detected,” warns the publication, which announces a fine of 5,000 pesos for the infraction and another 2,000 for “not presenting commercial authorization.”

In November, 3,402 inspections were carried out that resulted in 2,783 fines totalling more than 8 million pesos

In Camagüey, an article published this Thursday by the official press says that this December the control is carried out with greater emphasis because “confronting abusive prices” is a State priority. According to the data published by Adelante, in November 3,402 inspections were carried out that resulted in 2,783 fines totalling more than 8 million pesos. “These coordinated actions were implemented last July with an amount that exceeds 39 million, including November,” the newspaper concludes.

Despite the obvious discontent of the self-employed and the customers, who have suddenly seen the shops where they usually buy closed, the Government has defended the measure, which will last until Saturday, December 7. “It is a comprehensive exercise, with participation and popular control, which strengthens the unity of our people and is oriented above all to confront manifestations of corruption,” Miguel Díaz-Canel said last Monday, when he gave the starting point to the army of inspectors.

However, the president acknowledged that the problems identified by the “exercise” cannot be “confronted in one day, in two, in a week, in a certain time,” something evident if we take into account that the Regime has launched similar offensives in past months – the last of them this summer – without result

This December, Cubans will once again desist from the holidays, the roasted piglet and the traditional family reunion at the end of the year. Instead, they will have the concern of looking for what to eat if, due to state “control,” “the platforms are stripped.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Sancti Spíritus the Public Lighting Died Long Before the Total Blackout

Phosphorescent vests, rechargeable headlamps, flashlights or even traditional oil lamps are used to move around the city

At night and seen from above, the city is an expanse of darkness / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 26 October 2024 — A couple crosses paths with a friend on one of the main streets of the Kilo 12 neighborhood in the city of Sancti Spíritus. They can barely see each other, because the lack of public lighting has forced the young man, who runs into them head-on, to wear “a miner’s headlamp.” When the man greets them they are dazzled by the light that, in the midst of absolute darkness, leaves them, for a few seconds, disoriented and stumbling over the holes and cracks on the sidewalk.

“People have already given up on the street lighting,” the woman admits. “If we get used to having electricity inside our homes only a few hours a day, then what happens when we have to go outside at night?” she asks this reporter. “What most people do is stay home, but we go to eat at my mom’s house two or three times a week, and we have to walk back because there is no transportation at that time.”

Phosphorescent vests, rechargeable headlamps, flashlights or even traditional oil lamps are used to move from one point to another in the city, to avoid stumbling into a pothole or breaking a leg after falling into an uncovered sewer. Some are guided by the light coming from houses that are are lucky enough to have electricity at that time, and others take advantage of the headlights of vehicles that pass to detect the nooks and crannies of the road in front of them. continue reading

Some are guided by the light coming from houses that are lucky enough to have electricity

“My brother sent me this miner’s headlamp, and it helps a lot,” Susy, a 42-year-old resident near the historic center of Espírito, told 14ymedio. “I use it if I have to go out at night, but also in the house to scrub my floor during the blackout, make food or wash my daughter’s uniform for the next day of school.” When the light is placed, clinging with elastic bands to her head, Susy acquires a strange appearance and knows it: “I’m like a firefly; I carry my own light.”

Without public lighting, residents in the city of Sancti Spíritus have come to the conclusion that everyone must provide his own light when going out at night. A long time ago, like the rest of Cubans, they gave up depending on the ration system’s basic family basket for food; they stopped waiting for the Electric Union to supply them with constant energy in their homes; they said goodbye to a Public Health system that guaranteed them everything from medical sutures to painkillers, and converted their kitchens to the use of coal or wood, tired of waiting for stability in the sale of propane.

On the list of orders that Susy has sent to her brother in Jacksonville, Florida, she has added two new miner’s headlamps: “one that can be adjusted for a smaller head, like my daughter’s, and another for my husband who leaves at dawn for work and really needs it.” At night and seen from above, the city is an expanse of darkness where tiny little lights move around. Each one is a person who is going somewhere.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With Programmed ‘Alumbrones’ (Moments of Light) in Cuba, and Lines for Gas, Sancti Spíritus Returns to ‘Normalcy’

Most of the Cubans who crowd in front of the points of sale are elderly / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 24 October 2024 — Nothing in the streets of Sancti Spíritus suggests that, as the state press states, life has returned to normal. The reconnection of the National Electric System (SEN) did not take the city out of the blackouts but merely returned it to the system of “rationed” cuts that it has been suffering for months. With the beginning of the school year scheduled for this coming Monday and the few services that have reopened, the streets remain almost empty. Only one place gives signs of life: the gas lines where Cubans gather daily to try to buy “a little something.”

“For days there has been the same crowd of people at the points of sale. The tickets for the application to buy are still suspended, and that forces people to go every day to check that they are on the list and look at what number they can get for a turn in line,” says Luis, a resident who, in recent days, has had to get up at the crack of dawn on several occasions to try to buy propane. “Yesterday I even fell asleep in line; that’s how tired I was.”

“The SEN was fixed, but here they continue to turn off the electricity in blocks as before. Therefore, those who do not have propane risk being left without cooking or heating water,” he explains. The places where charcoal is sold are also scarce, “although a bag has gone up to 2,000 pesos.”

The only option to eat when you don’t have electricity or propane, says Luis, are the places that sell broth. “Yesterday I went to the agricultural square and came across some broth being made on top of stones with a lot of sticks serving as firewood. One little glass was 32 pesos.”

In the Plaza de los Agros, broth was sold at 32 pesos / 14ymedio

Luis, therefore, has become one more of the hundreds of Cubans, mostly elderly, who crowd in front of points of sale for propane to try to get their name on the list of buyers. Carrying cylinders in wheelbarrows, on bicycles or in tow, Cubans settle on sidewalks or on the tanks themselves to wait long hours. The pose and age change, but the expression of helplessness on their faces is the same.

“I now managed to sign up, but I have about 1,000 people in front of me, and when the list reaches 1,500 it restarts. The lucky ones were the first to be able to add their names on Wednesday, because in the morning 100 cylinders came in, 15 of them authorized for state entities and five for the physically disabled. The remaining 80 were for the population,” Luis said, aware that the amount is insufficient.

“According to my calculations, from how the line has progressed so far, I should get the propane in about 20 days. I’m praying that it doesn’t end and they don’t stop bringing it,” says Luis, who knows that “the regime is limping along on its last legs.”

Just a few weeks ago, in early October, the Government managed to pay for the liquefied gas that is now being distributed on the Island. Before its arrival, the shortage kept many Cubans awake, and after the ship was able to dock, the distribution became “complex” due to bad weather caused by a cold front that arrived from the western provinces. “Cured of fright,” Luis knows that those situations, far from being exceptional, are quite frequent on the Island.

The provincial bus terminal this Wednesday afternoon was completely dark / 14ymedio

Like Sancti Spíritus, in other provinces there have also been long lines to buy the product. This is the case of Holguín, reported by this newspaper, where residents went to the points of sale in search of a means to cook during Hurricane Oscar’s passage. Many did not get to buy then, and the lines are still as long as at the beginning.

In the middle of the week, and with the alleged return to normalcy that the regime announced in its official media, no students or passers-by circulate in Sancti Spíritus. Only some employees that the Government described as “essential” continue to go to work.

The provincial bus terminal on Wednesday afternoon was completely dark with no service, and with the lack of fuel, hardly any vehicles circulated on the main roads. In his round-trip walks to the point of sale, Luis has found himself in a desolate city, “as if the hurricane had passed through here and not through the east.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

Translator’s note: ‘Alumbrón‘ is a coined Cuban word referring to the time when the light (electricity) is ON, that is the opposite of ‘apagones’ – blackouts. It comes from the verb ‘alumbrar’ which means to be bright or give off light.

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