Miguel García – Translating Cuba

“At Least Until Wednesday, There Will Be No Electricty in Sancti Spíritus”

In Holguín, hospitals are in the dark, and anguish is growing before the arrival of Hurricane Oscar
There are mile-long lines to buy propane to cook food before it rots in the refrigerators

The situation has escaped the hands of the authorities / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García/Miguel García, Sancti Spíritus/Holguín, 20 October 2024 — When Olimpia saw last Friday that her entire neighborhood in Sancti Spíritus was in a blackout, she thought that the episode was just one more of the many they have been having for weeks, when the daily deficit of the Electric Union did not fall below 1,000 megawatts. It was not until a neighbor uttered the words “total disconnection” that her concern skyrocketed. In the last two days, her block only recovered service once, this Sunday morning, only to lose it again soon after.

“The whole night all of Sancti Spíritus was in the dark,” explains the woman, who has seen the city transform into a ghost town in a few hours. “People only go out to buy food, but there is not even that. Many have lost all the food they had because without a refrigerator it begins to rot. The bread that is mainly supplied by private bakeries also suddenly disappeared,” she says.

Olimpia explains that the bread from the bodega (ration store) continues to arrive, but – she highlights – those places have not been spared from the consequences of the general blackout. “Since there is no current, they are selling all the rationed chicken that came in for the ration quota until it runs out in all the bodegas. It’s one small piece of chicken thigh, but people buy it even if they have to cook it right away so it doesn’t spoil.”

Olimpia, like other Cubans, saw her parents and grandparents “resolve” with what they could to overcome any situation. The inventiveness she received by inheritance, however, did not prepare her for a situation like the present one, she says. “People are going crazy watching what they eat, how they cook. Gas lines have become impossible. They suspended the tickets in the on-line application because, since there is no connection, there is no way to know if it was your turn. Only the physical line works. I signed up and have a number close to 700,” she says. continue reading

The bodegas have started selling the rationed chicken to prevent it from spoiling / 14ymedio

The alternatives in these days of uncertainty, she says, are few: “In several places they sold some broth for eight pesos.” In practice, Cubans have had to manage as they can. “This morning I was able to charge my generator and am using it only for the fridge, so that my meat doesn’t spoil. Otherwise, I stay in the dark,” she states.

Olimpia has been able to communicate very little with her family, which she finds – as she explains – as uninformed as she is. “The radio works occasionally. This morning I was able to listen to it for three or four hours, but the news gave little information, and the only useful thing they said is that in this area, at least until Wednesday, there will be no electricty.” The internet connection, she continues, has also been “terrible” these days. “The cell phone continues to show 3G or 4G, but in reality you can’t send messages or make calls. The information that people have is what they hear from the neighbor, who in turn heard it from someone else.”

The movement of the authorities also does not give any indication that there will be changes soon. “There is an orientation for workplaces that they cannot turn on the generators, and those who turn them on out of necessity cannot turn on air conditioners or computers. Only the essentials. The transport is not working either. There is only one bus going around in the mornings, but there are almost no people on the streets.”

One thing, however, has caught Olympia’s attention these last few days: “The military is running around like crazy ants.” “There are policemen and agents everywhere, especially those in green uniforms that say Operational Guard. I don’t know what they are doing, but they are mobilized,” explains the woman, who saw an army vehicle pick up two neighbors from her block. “The wife of one of them told me that she has not yet heard from him,” she adds.

In Holguín, Manuel has seen the same symptoms of the crisis. Refrigerators full of spoiled meals, the stench of garbage accumulated for days, the scarcity of water that begins to hit families and, to top it off, the arrival of Hurricane Oscar this Sunday that keeps the people distressed by the scarce resources they have and the little information they receive.

Many people have spent up to 12 hours in line to buy something / 14ymedio

“I had to go out to a field on the outskirts of the city to be able to contact my family. I got as close as I could to an antenna, and although the connection was bad, I was able to call. However, all the numbers I dialed were off or out of the coverage area,” Manuel explains .

The situation in the provincial capital, he summarizes, is “as everywhere”: dark. “I talked to my 70-year-old grandmother, who lives in the San Rafael neighborhood, and she told me that she had to cook with wood,” says Manuel, who explains that in recent hours the residents in the city have bought out the propane tanks to stock up before the effects of Oscar are felt in the province. “The lines are miles-long, with hundreds of customers waiting to buy. There are people who got in line at two or three in the morning, and after 12 hours they are still there,” he says.

A visit with his sick mother in the Lucía Iñiguez Surgical Clinical Hospital allowed him to see a side of the crisis that he would never have imagined. “Everywhere they say that electricity has been prioritized to hospitals, but when I entered all the doctors were giving consultations in the dark,” he recalls.

The tension, he explains, could be felt in the corridors, where even the doctors and nurses openly expressed their discontent. “I passed by a consultation and listened to a doctor, very frustrated because there is no staff even to perform operations. At the moment they are only attending to emergencies, but the situation worsens as the cases accumulate,” says Manuel, who heard the health worker complain about the lack of resources. “He said that he recently had to give a patient a list of everything he had to get to have an operation, from syringes and catheters to antibiotics and topical anesthesia,” he adds.

I also heard two nurses complain that Public Health does not give them time off because many people have left. There is a lack of staff in the internal pharmacy, in the operating rooms, in the specialist consultations,” he lists, saying that, at first glance, you can see that “the hospital is almost empty.”

The situation has escaped the hands of the authorities, who do not even efficiently reach the population to explain the collapse of the SEN or the arrival of Hurricane Oscar. And the confluence of the two worries Cubans. “Since they reported this disaster at the national level, people are very upset,” reflects Olimpia, who soon abandons the theme and returns to reality: “What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Fifteen Years Waiting For A Food Store In Cayo de Mayabe

This July 26th the residents of the ceramicists’ community of Holguín didn’t have their dream fulfilled

Weeds and scrub have begun to grow around the structure / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 27 July 2024 – The residents of Cayo de Mayabe, a village in the district of Holguín, have spent more than 20 years asking for the construction of a food store that would allow them to get their groceries locally without having to traipse to the main town four kilometres away. This year, with the characteristic slowness of all state projects, the first bricks were finally laid, but at this point the residents are already expecting that the whole thing will be of no use to them at all.

“We’ve been begging for a long time for a food shop and when they do finally get round to it there’s no food to sell”, complains one woman from the village. With the walls now built and temporary zinc roofing in place, the structure, however, seems to be taking one step forward and two steps back. “They had put in some aluminium doors and doorframes but after a short while they got stolen. They haven’t been back to start the joinery”, she says.

According to the residents of Cayo de Mayabe, they had expected that the building would include not only space for the market but also for a pharmacy. The project would be a big help for the hundreds of locals who have to travel frequently to the Pueblo Nuevo district of Holguín where they are registered for food rations. continue reading

They had expected that the building would include not only space for the market but also for a pharmacy

However, the slow pace of construction of the mixed premises is driving the neighbours to despair, having seen five months pass without anything more than the foundations and the walls being built.

The skeleton of the building has now even become filled with weeds, shrub and cacti, which wouldn’t survive if the cement or lime work were carried out at a proper, constant pace.

The residents of Cayo Mayabe – a community made up principally of ceramicists, who make bricks and tiles – were hoping that by this 26th of July (the date when the regime insists on renovating towns to simulate a festive atmosphere) the shop would already be selling vegetables and other foodstuffs.

However, the construction continues to be stalled, running the risk that, if the authorities keep letting time pass, the building will become weakened or will collapse and will need to be restarted from scratch. Many have even given up hope of having a functional food store: “If they didn’t open it 15 years ago when things were going better, then I don’t believe they’ll finish it now, when there’s nothing to build it with nor anything with which to stock it”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Tourist Packages for Travelers with Autism Are An Insult for Cuban Patients

In the event of any health incident that a child with autism may suffer, “our work teams are professionals with extensive training and great empathy” / Medical Services Marketing Company

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 27 June 2024 — During Pedrín’s most recent visit to the dentist, three people were needed to hold him down, in addition to the stomatologist. With an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), any medical treatment that the 15-year-old teenager, who lives in the city of Holguín, needs becomes an ordeal for his parents due to the lack of protocols and resources for these cases in Cuban hospitals.

“We spent days waiting to get an appointment with the only dentist in the entire province who treats children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders,” Gabriel, age 44 and the father of the child, told 14ymedio. “The consulting room is in a very narrow space in the Pediatric Hospital and from the moment my son entered he became very upset, because he doesn’t like closed spaces,” he explains.

“I almost had to lie down on top of my child to immobilize him. My wife held his arms and my brother-in-law held his legs. There was no mechanism in place to keep him from getting up from the chair and Pedrín is strong because he weighs about 130 pounds.” Gabriel laments that “the place does not seem at all prepared to treat this type of case. More space and better conditions are needed.” continue reading

“There are practically no clinics in any speciality that are prepared to care for autistic children in this area”

“There is no amalgam for fillings in Holguín, so they had to put in a resin that is not very long-lasting.” The ephemeral nature of the material forces the family to go through the same ordeal again or accept the doctor’s advice: “Next time we’ll take him up to the room and give him general anesthesia,” a difficult decision for his parents to make, who fear that the sedative will aggravate the teenager’s health problems.

“There are practically no clinics in any speciality that are prepared to care for autistic children in this area when they have a health problem. I have to go and speak to the doctors beforehand and explain to them that he cannot be in a cramped space, that he cannot sit and wait for hours in a corridor for the doctor to call him. There is a great lack of understanding on the part of the staff at these centers.”

As Gabriel sees it, the island’s health system “is not prepared to manage the health situations that autistic children and their families face.” Most of the time, doctors “who have training in this type of patient are very scarce and in Holguín they are only in the provincial capital, so you have to travel long distances sometimes to do simple things like a dental check-up or to treat a small wound.”

Since my daughter began to show the first signs of autism, my husband and I have not been able to go on vacation anywhere

The testimony of Pedrín’s father contrasts with the recent announcement made by the Cuban Medical Services Marketing Company (CSMC) that it will offer foreign visitors arriving on the island a program for the care of children with autism spectrum disorders in the hotels of the northern keys in Ciego de Ávila.

Dr. Agnerys Cruz, director of the CSMC in that province, told Prensa Latina that the project will focus on the tourist destination Jardines del Rey. There, clients will be able to opt for “animal therapies in the dolphinariums of Cayos Coco and Cayos Guillermo,” in addition to specialized medical care to improve the well-being and quality of life of these children.

The initiative is the result of a collaboration between CSMC and the Canadian hotel chain Blue Diamond Resorts and also includes health tourism packages aimed at adults with social problems. “Interaction with aquatic mammals will be directed by specialized medical personnel and highly qualified trainers,” reads the announcement, which has not left a good impression on many Cuban families.

“It shows a lack of respect, because that’s what we, the parents of autistic children here in Holguín, have been asking for for years, that there be recreational options for our families who live with a lot of burden on their shoulders every day,” says Gabriel after learning the details of the new offerings for travelers. “I find it insulting that they offer those who don’t live here what they don’t offer us.” His discomfort is shared by other parents in a similar situation.

“Since my daughter began to show the first signs of autism, my husband and I have not been able to go on vacation anywhere,” laments Yaquelín, 32, mother of Rosslyn, 12. “When we have wanted to stay in one of those summer packages they sell to Cubans and we ask if the accommodation has some kind of protocol and comfort for children with this type of condition, they only give us evasive answers.”

“I can’t go and spend a couple of nights in a place where they don’t even offer the minimum for these cases”

“I can’t go and spend a couple of nights in a place where they don’t even offer the minimum for these cases: bathrooms for people with reduced mobility, as is the case with Rosslyn, who is in a wheelchair, or safety equipment around the pool. Some of these hotels don’t even have a first aid kit.”

For Yaquelín, a burning issue is food. “My daughter has become fixated on certain foods and doesn’t want to eat anything else. I have to give her fruit compote, beans or chicken every day, but she doesn’t accept eggs or rice, for example. She also refuses milk and some fruits.” Complying with this narrow eating pattern is a headache for the entire family with little income, given that the mother does not have a job and the father works in a department of the Ministry of Agriculture with a salary of around 5,000 pesos.

“In August of last year, the allocation of chicken for autistic children in the province of Holguín, which is three kilograms per month, was interrupted and was not reestablished until this May.” Achieving the return of the subsidized sale of the longed-for protein was not an easy task either: “Parents of autistic children had to complain to all the authorities, write on Facebook, send messages to [President] Miguel Díaz-Canel and to the National Assembly.”

Although the prices for the tourist package for families with autistic children have not yet been published on the Cuban Medical Services Marketing Agency’s website, an employee responded via social media with some details about the offer. “We want families to feel safe, comfortable and to enjoy themselves with their children without worries. Our staff is highly qualified and the facilities are comfortable and safe.”

“We want families to feel safe, comfortable and to enjoy themselves with their children without worries.”

In the event of any health incident that a child may suffer, “our work teams are professionals with extensive training and great empathy,” concluded the employee, who invited families to “come to Cuba to regain their smile, their peace of mind and to leave the care of the most precious thing in life, children, in the hands of first-class personnel.” Along with the luxury of the accommodations, the program promises to help these children develop skills and alleviate their isolation “caused by communication difficulties.”

Just over 300 kilometers from the northern keys of Ciego de Ávila, Pedrín’s family is preparing for the next visit to the dentist and is considering whether, on this occasion, they will have to rely on more arms to immobilize the teenager in the dental chair or, instead, accept the application of general anesthesia with the risks that it entails.

In Gabriel’s daydreams, he defines himself as “a lion” when it comes to fighting for his son’s quality of life, when that day comes he hopes to find a bright and spacious room, decorated with children’s motifs, a dentist, several smiling assistants and a professional and respectful protocol with the patient. In those dreams, there is all the necessary amalgam to close the gap in his little boy’s tooth, without having to buy a tourist package or pretend to be a foreigner.

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‘Acute Fever Syndrome’ Is What Dengue Is Now Called In Cuba So As Not To Raise Alarm

Two medical sources confirm to 14ymedio that they have received this instruction for their diagnoses

In hospitals, doctors do not have the reagents to diagnose dengue / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 2 August 2024 — After two weeks of barely being able to get out of bed and an early morning receiving hydration serum in the Vladimir Ilich Lenin General University Hospital in Holguín, Isabel, 64, seems to have gotten rid of dengue, though all her medical papers indicate that she had “acute fever syndrome,” the euphemism imposed by Public Health to avoid leaving a record of the current incidence of the virus on the Island.

“My son-in-law is a doctor, and when he saw that I had bruising in the abdominal area, a high fever and an inflamed liver, he diagnosed me at home,” Isabel explains to 14ymedio. With the clinical diagnosis from a direct relative, she also followed the clinic’s recommendations: rest, a lot of liquid and stay under a mosquito net to avoid bites that would infect others.

“I didn’t go to the hospital the first few days because they were going to tell me the same thing my son-in-law had already told me. Everyone knows how deteriorated the hospitals are, and there are many people filling up the emergency rooms with symptoms like mine.” But, when she was already on her seventh day with a high fever, “I began to feel very weak and had a very swollen abdomen, so I decided to go.” continue reading

Isabel went to the Lenin hospital and found the entire emergency room “full of people with the same symptoms”

Isabel went to the Lenin hospital and found the entire emergency room “full of people with the same symptoms.” She waited for her turn despite the discomfort that prevented her from sitting or lying down. “My liver and spleen were so inflamed that I could only stand, because if I sat down it hurt a lot, but standing made me quite tired; these were very difficult hours.”

“The first thing they told me was that there were no reagents to test for dengue, so I was never going to know exactly what I had,” she recalls. “The situation was very distressing, because if something happened to me, I wanted my family to at least know why. But every time I said the word ’dengue’ the doctors and nurses spoke to me quietly and changed the conversation. It gave me the feeling that they are forbidden to say the name of that virus.”

The waiting time was lengthened because “there were few medical staff; the stretchers were all occupied, and they had to pass one of the patients over the others in line because he fainted,” she says. “The scene reminded me of what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Finally, Isabel managed to be treated by a foreign student who was doing his internship in the hospital. “He was very kind but had nothing to give me. He just told me that I was dehydrated and my situation was delicate, although not as serious as other patients he had seen. He recommended that I get a saline serum as soon as possible.”

Isabel’s family found the serum themselves and were able to hook up a drip for her through a catheter. “Between one thing and another, my daughter spent more than 5,000 Cuban pesos that night.” Before the early hours of the morning, Isabel was lying down with the serum passing through a vein in her left arm. “That saved my life.”

Next door to Isabel’s family’s house in Reparto Peralta, an 86-year-old man died after presenting very similar symptoms

In the medical certificate she had to present at work for her days of absence, and in the treatment that the doctor wrote detailing her symptoms, a phrase caught Isabel’s attention. Instead of dengue, the condition was described as “acute fever syndrome.” She asked the doctor about that and showed him the bruises on the skin of her abdomen, legs and arms. But the answer was more bureaucratic than scientific: “That’s what they have told us to put down; we can’t write ’dengue’ anywhere.”

Next door to Isabel’s family in the Reparto Peralta, an 86-year-old man died after presenting symptoms very similar to those of the 64-year-old woman. “The death certificate given to the family says that it was a cardiac arrest after an acute fever syndrome.” The inaccuracy of the diagnosis has left his family in suspense. “It could also be the Oropouche virus but they don’t tell us anything.”

A doctor who works at the Holguín Pediatric Hospital confirms the avalanche of patients with fever and symptoms associated with dengue and Oropouche. “We can’t tell parents what we think the child has. We are directed to put ’acute fever syndrome’ in all cases,” she tells this newspaper under the condition of anonymity.

The doctor believes that the order is due to two reasons: “to prevent the number of dengue cases in Cuba that are reported to international organizations from skyrocketing because that affects tourism. In addition, they [the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health] don’t want people thinking that we are in an epidemic. We can’t cause more alarm because ‘the country doesn’t want to create more anxiety in the people’ was what they told us at a meeting.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Capped Prices in the Private Shops in Holguín, Anarchy in Havana

Many stores do not have any of the six items for sale with established prices.

Pelican, a private business in Holguín, this Tuesday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García/Juan Diego Rodríguez, Holguín/Havana, 9 July 2024 — Curiosity and need come together in the private shops of Holguin, which this Tuesday have had a greater influx of customers than on other days. At the entrance to the premises, a board showed the new prices, which have been capped for basic products since July 8.

In one of the many points of sale visited by 14ymedio, the employees had just learned about the new regulation and changed, in view of the buyers, the numbers written next to each item . Although the oil and pasta were below the new amounts, the powdered milk went above the 1,675 pesos per kilo established by the Official Gazette.

In the kiosk managed by the MSME Bodegón Holguín, the line filling the sidewalk in front of the premises did not respond, however, to any of the six products that have been exempted from taxes on imports and which have capped prices. The crowd, in fact, was waiting to acquire the newly discounted instant soft drink packages, which are mainly intended for the school snack.

The capped price “is not going down because if that’s what’s legally allowed why sell it cheaper?”

This Monday, vegetable oil at 990 pesos per liter was now in line with the new regulation. But the price, instead of satisfying consumers, raised criticism among those who believe that once set at that limit, “it will not go down because if that is what is legally allowed, why sell it cheaper?” asked an elderly woman who arrived at the Bodegón. continue reading

With a pension of 1,420 pesos per month, she can’t benefit from the new prices. “There is a lot of disorganization with this measure. At the Chinese Fair there were several kiosks that have not even heard about it and still have cooking oil at more than 1,000 pesos per liter,” the woman complained. “I found chopped chicken at 370 and 380 pesos per pound in several places; it seems that they have not realized that it’s at 340.

In Havana, the panorama has not been very different. Some central businesses have opted for caution, while several places in El Vedado and the neighborhood of Cayo Hueso did not even have for sale what popular humor has already baptized as “the magnificent six.” Others displayed the new prices on their boards.

The EJT market shelves of 17 and K, in El Vedado, returned to their usual appearance / 14ymedio

On Reina Street, in the municipality of Centro Habana, on Monday the line was extended in front of a private business that announced a pound of chicken at 310 pesos. What was saved in money was lost in time, because the line could take up to two hours between getting a number and accessing the counter. The main cause of the delay, according to an employee, was that “we have to wait for them to bring more supplies.” They were exhausted due to the multiplied demand.

In Havana, the shelves of the Youth Labor Army [EJT] market at 17 and K, which last week appeared surprisingly empty in the face of the confusion due to the entry into force of the capped prices, returned to their usual appearance. However, they didn’t sell chicken. “The chicken is still kidnapped,” an old woman said with a sneer.

The prices in the informal market, through home delivery applications on social media groups that market everything from spaghetti to beef, were the same as a few days ago, unrelated to the new official guidelines.

“The big chicken thighs: I’m not lying. If you want quality, this is your option at 380 pesos per pound and we charge home delivery separately,” said an ad in a WhatsApp thread dedicated to food and cleaning products. In the photo that accompanied the ad you could see a package with the colors of the American flag and three letters: USA.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Snacks at Some Cuban Childcare Centers Have Been Reduced to a Piece of Boiled Sweet Potato and Water

The Food Monitor Program points to low food reserves in government warehouses.

Children spend about eight hours a day at the center and should be getting a balanced lunch and an afternoon snack / Little Volodya Childcare Center

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 8 June 2024 — The current economic crisis is having a serious impact on childcare centers in the city of Holguín. Children’s lunches have not included any source of protein for more than two weeks, only rice and dried peas. Afternoon snacks now only amount to a glass of water and a piece of bread, several parents told 14ymedio.

“We thought this was something would only last a day or two but the staff tells us there’s no indication things will get better, that their food supplies have basically run out,” says Daymara, whose daughter attends the Little Volodya Childcare Center. “Every day we have to send her off with a a sausage, a boiled egg or something else to round out her lunch.”

The children, who spend about eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, at the center, are supposed to receive a well-balanced lunch and an afternoon snack during that time. However, Cuba’s current economic crisis has been limiting the variety and quality of food they receive. “The rice is very low quality, the peas don’t taste like anything because they have almost no seasoning, and the afternoon bread is inedible because it’s so hard,” she adds.

A recent investigation by the Food Monitor Program, an independent observatory that researches food sovereignty and security, has been warning of the problem. After interviewing students and family members in four of the island’s provinces between January and March of 2023, the organization reported, “Low food reserves in government warehouses led to a shortage of protein in rations that were served at lunch while salads and fruits were completely absent.” continue reading

“I don’t know what I am going to do because I don’t have the money for a private daycare center”

“The other day my daughter told me that all they had given her was a piece of boiled sweet potato and some water,” explained Daymara. “I don’t know what I am going to do because I don’t have the money for a private daycare center and I can’t afford to keep sending her off with a hot dog or an egg every day. The last carton of eggs cost me almost 3,000 pesos. That’s 100 pesos apiece.”

In response to the meager rations, some families in Holguín have decided not to send their children to daycare centers for the time being. For many, however, that is not an option. “I live alone with my three-year-old grandson because my daughter left for Mexico to see if she could make it to the United States. I am physically impaired and it took a lot of effort on my part to get him into this daycare center,” says 72-year-old Raquel.

For the last few years, there has been a growing social divide in Cuba between those who can afford to put their children in private daycare centers, which have better sanitary conditions and fewer children, and those who depend on state-run facilities, which are marked by deteriorating infrastructure, the exodus of qualified staff and problems with food shortages.

When the boy goes to daycare, that’s when I do all my housework and go shopping for food,” explains the retiree. “But then he comes home very hungry. He tells me he didn’t want to eat lunch because it smelled bad, because it wasn’t good.” Raquel describes the moment when her grandson gets home: “He’s like a caged lion that is let loose. He runs to the refrigerator to see what he can find.”

“These days they’re very lethargic, like they’ve been anesthetized. Well, if they’re hungry, of course they’re not going to feel like playing or laughing much.”

The grandmother explains what it is like to pick up the boy from childcare every afternoon. “When you’re outside, you don’t hear the all the commotion like before. It used to be that, when you looked through the windows, they would be running and jumping. These days they’re very lethargic, like they’ve been anesthetized. Well, if they’re hungry, of course they’re not going to feel like playing or laughing much.”

The situation families in Holguín are experiencing is not an isolated case. Recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) included Cuba in its report on severe childhood poverty for the first time. It reported that 9% of the island’s children suffer from serious poverty and do not receive only two of the eight foods considered essential for good nutrition.

The UNICEF report, on which the official Cuban press has not yet commented, adds that 33% of minors (anyone aged five or younger) are living in moderate poverty. This means they have access to three and four of these foods. One does not need data from an international organization like UNICEF, however, to understand the scope of the problem. Just walking through the island’s streets is enough to notice that many children are suffering from significant weight loss and malnutrition.

Daymara does not believe the solution is for every family to send their children off with some sort of protein to round out their lunch. “There are households that can’t afford to do that,” she says. “One child might pull out a sausage but another child wouldn’t have any.” She believes it is a question of investment priorities. There is no doubt in her mind what should be at the top of any list. “Taking care of the children, giving them a good, balanced diet, because they are the future.”

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54,000 Laying Hens Are Slaughtered in Holguín, Cuba, Due to the Lack of Animal Feed

Egg production in Cuba has decreased from five million units a day in 2020 to 2.2 million in 2023

They slaughter them because, according to Avihol’s management, there is no food in Holguín,” a source linked to the company tells this newspaper/ Now/Archive

14ymedio, Miguel García, Havana, 10 June 2024 — At least 54,000 laying hens are being slaughtered in Holguín, a process that has begun due to the impossibility of keeping them due to the lack of animal feed. According to 14ymedio, the process started several weeks ago but had to be suspended when the production line of the slaughterhouse, located in San Rafael Adentro at kilometer 5 and a half on the road to Mayarí, broke down. However, the damaged parts have already been replaced and the plan has been resumed.

“They slaughter them because, according to the management of the Poultry Company of the province (Avihol), there is no food in Holguín,” said a source linked to the company who fears the situation will go further. “And if this is the case here, it may be the same in the rest of the country,” he speculates. The most serious thing, according to the same source, “is that there is no replacement, that is, they are slaughtering them without having spare hens.”

In just three years, Avihol has gotten into a catastrophic situation. The company not only surpassed egg production and supplied the province, but also served Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas, earning the praise of former First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura in February 2020. At the end of that same year, a report in the pro-government newspaper Ahora recalled that this was the second largest in the country, being part of the National Program for producing five kilograms of protein per capita, including poultry. At that time, it produced about 426,000 eggs a day and 152.6 million eggs in a year. continue reading

In just three years, Avihol has gotten into a catastrophic situation.

However, everything changed after the pandemic. In May 2023, Jorge Romero Marrero, director of the company, had to admit that the emergency required urgent measures. “The current financial situation does not allow us to acquire resources for the maintenance of the conditions that the sections require, and many units have deteriorated, which negatively impacts this line of production,” he said.

The manager said that the reduction in the feed had reduced the poultry population and decimated the hens, which in turn reduced the production of eggs. The price became completely unsustainable, which affected the workers’ wages. In fact, according to the source of this newspaper, the company was immersed in what the government jargon calls “availability process,” a euphemism to avoid the word “layoff,” only happening in its basic units, not in the headquarters.

Romero Marrero said that, despite the threat that was looming at that time on the company’s economy due to the low prices of eggs in the non-rationed market, there was a commitment to guarantee the rationed seven eggs per person and raise the price to the non-rationed commercialization carried out on weekends. In this case, the egg would be sold at 15 pesos, leaving the company’s profit at only 80 cents, but which would allow it, they believed, to sustain production.

Currently, the egg allowance on the ration book in the province has been reduced to five eggs per person per month.

The reality has been different and, currently, the number of eggs on the ration book in the province has been reduced to five eggs per person per month.

Chicken egg production, like so many other food sources, has plummeted in the country, which must resort to imports to meet demand. Just three days ago, the government press announced that Colombia would send about 40 million eggs to the island before the end of the year. As of today, 33 million units are still to come to comply with the agreement, since the first seven million arrived in Cuba in March. In May, the authorization was also granted for three companies from the Dominican Republic to export eggs to the island, in addition to other poultry products including meat and meat-based products.

Information about the pitiful state of the birds has multiplied in recent years and the causes are not only the price of animal feed. The lack of water and the blackouts, which interrupt the normal operation of the facilities thus harming the health of the hens, are also part of the problem. In November 2023, the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez Brito, reported that the production of eggs in Cuba has decreased from five million a day in 2020 to 2.2 million in 2023.

Translated by LAR

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Holguín, Cuba, Increases Tax Pressure on ‘MSMEs’ and Threatens Other Measures

The Municipal Assembly proposes forcing companies to lower their prices for their “essential” imported products

An ’MSME’ from Holguín dedicated to the sale of toiletries and food / Facebook / Dimensions

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, May 22, 2024 –Bleeding MSMEs [Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises], the only entities on the Island that remain afloat in the unstable Cuban economy, seems to be the new plan of the city of Holguín to raise money. Raising taxes on companies and forcing them to sell “essential products” at the official exchange rate of one dollar for 120 pesos are among the measures that the authorities threatened to implement last week during a meeting of the municipal Assembly with a group of businesspeople, as confirmed by local sources to 14ymedio.

The possible increase in taxes, just a few months after the announcement of the end of the 10% exemption in taxes for one year for newly created private companies and for six months for converted ones, coincides with the desperation of the State to raise everything possible on the Island to oxygenate its budget. The measure puts the noose around the necks of private owners, but another threat, even worse, suggests the obligation to apply the official exchange rate of one dollar for 120 pesos for the sale of products that have been purchased at the much higher rate that holds in the informal market (between 350 and 400 to 1), the only market where they can get foreign currency to import goods.

In an interview with this newspaper, one of the MSMEs owners who attended the meeting with the authorities, and who prefers not to reveal his name, assures that the businesspeople did not sit idly by in the face of the Assembly’s proposal. “The fact that they want to raise taxes would force us to increase the price of the products, because it is something that works like a chain: the more expensive the procedures, the higher we must charge. But now they tell us to open our doors so that they can audit our prices and that we must lower them,” he explains. continue reading

The possible measures were proposed by the Holguín authorities who, like each local government, have jurisdiction over these issues in their territory

The possible measures were proposed by the Holguín authorities who, like each local government, have jurisdiction over these issues in their territory. At the moment, it is not known if similar actions have been proposed in other provinces. In this sense, the businessman regrets that state policies towards private businesses are, in his opinion, misguided. “They pressure us more and more and what we sell we have to pay taxes on, imports, salaries of employees and also generate profits. If not, the company is going to collapse because it does not have a state budget to maintain it,” he claims.

Osmany, the owner of another Holguín MSME that sells food, who also attended the meeting, told 14ymedio that, while waiting for “the happy audit,” he has had to stop all deliveries from his suppliers. “I don’t know when this process is going to start, but they are going to review all the cost sheets and tell us the prices at which we will have to sell our products,” he laments.

“I already have some debts with my suppliers and if they force me to sell at the official rate, I will be bankrupt. It makes no sense for us to buy the dollar at almost 400 pesos in the informal market because the State itself does not have enough liquidity to sell it and then we must sell at the official exchange rate,” he explains.

According to Osmany, he was not the only one who was uncomfortable with the authorities’ announcement. “Other businesspeople also said they did not agree. One even clarified that they could supervise whatever they wanted in their business, but that as soon as they finished they were going to close it, because the accounting didn’t work,” he says.

As the Holguín resident explains, neither the authorities nor the press have not offered an official version of these measures, but rumors of the closure of MSMEs are already heard in the streets of Holguín. For Jesús, a tricycle driver from the main city, “that is the worst thing that could happen in this crisis situation.” “It is true that MSMEs are expensive, but they are the only place where you can get food. They are necessary,” he says.

“Private stores are the only places where you can buy a bottle of oil or flour or sugar. With the blackouts, which are in all their glory, if they also take away our food, I have no doubt that people will take to the streets to protest,” he points out.

“Private stores are the only places where you can buy a bottle of oil or flour or sugar”

The owners of private MSMEs in Holguín have been the focus of attention for weeks. On May 10, this newspaper published an article about the agreement of at least 14 businessmen to try to lower the price of the dollar.

“At the Foremp (Business Forum) the topic that was talked about the most was precisely the price of the dollar, which is practically becoming priceless,” according to the owner of a private business who participated between April 30 and May 2 in the second edition of this event, which took place at the Brisas Guardalavaca hotel in Holguín. Among the more than 180 participants, the biggest concern was the depreciation of the Cuban peso, which, they complain, forces them to need more and more national currency to acquire dollars, essential for the import of products and raw materials.

During the meeting, the 14 entrepreneurs from Holguín agreed to publish on their social media accounts and other anonymous profiles alleged sales or purchases of foreign currency at a price lower than the El Toque rate and not to pay more than 350 pesos, convinced of achieving a fall, even if minimal, of the currency.

The dollar did suffer a “temporary” decline this week, although the cause, according to El Toque, is far from being related to Holguín businessmen. In fact, the media expects that, as the causes of the depreciation of the peso do not disappear – fiscal deficit, inflation, the issuance of currency without backing, among others – the trend will remain the same.

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The Traffickers, Prostitutes and ‘Yarinis’ of Holguín, Cuba, Have Their Base of Operations in La Marqueta

In the so-called “market alley” there are, from Mártires to Gómez, Rhino’s Bar, Benjuly, Gato Negro and Destellos Café, all private

Drinking something in the bars of La Marqueta is a kind of rite of passage or “password” to close the deal / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, May 18, 2024 — Mártires Street and three avenues named after heroes – Martí, Máximo Gómez and Luz y Caballero – frame the brand new red light district of Holguín, Cuba: Plaza de la Marqueta. In the old colonial market, restored several years ago, coming together are the prostitutes, their clients, local millionaires, scammers of various kinds and several yarinis* — named in honor of the mythical Havana pimp — who do not lose sight of their employees.

A decade ago, the tenants of the square – the center of Holguín life in Republican times – were very different. “Beggars who urinated and defecated,” recalls Heriberto, an employee in one of the bars that Marqueta enjoys today, taking advantage of the abandonment and ruin. The change from a homeless shelter to a brothel does not seem to have been too radical, he believes.

In the past there were shops, inns, butcher shops and fishmongers in La Marqueta. Now, however, the cartography of the square is made up almost exclusively of “upscale” bars and restaurants, at whose tables no one sits without knowing what’s happening. “They,” says Heriberto, referring to the prostitutes – who “are always groomed and well dressed” – “make their clients sit in a bar and consume.”

The cartography of the square is made up almost exclusively of “upscale” bars and restaurants

The price, depending on the services requested by the client, ranges between 3,000 and 5,000 pesos. Having a drink at the bar, explains Heriberto, is a kind of rite of passage or “password” to close the deal. “I don’t know if the owners of the establishments have any business with the yarinis, but that’s always the case,” he adds. continue reading

The Police know it, of course. From the red light districts of Havana – the same ones that made Alberto Yarini famous — his wars with rival pimps cost him his life in 1912 – to those of Santiago or Camagüey, passing through the nooks and crannies of El Condado Santa Clara, the Police always know and don’t get involved. “It’s a complicated territory,” says Heriberto, and not only because everything happens in bright sunlight and in a busy place, but because prostitution is just the tip of the crime iceberg.

Marijuana growers and their traffickers also visit La Marqueta, each with their own well-defined signs and rates; the cardholders, who know the techniques to steal currency from the MLC (freely convertible currency) cards of absent-minded or drunk clients; businessmen who prefer to discuss their sales with a beer in hand; and, from time to time, a train of tourists, who approach the chairs and bars without the slightest suspicion of what is taking place there.

Everything happens in bright sunlight and in a crowded place. Prostitution is just the tip of the crime iceberg / 14ymedio

Drinks and a Cuban version of tapas, that is the food available at the “little tables” of La Marqueta. In the so-called “market alley” – the backbone of the square – from Mártires to Gómez, there are Rhino’s Bar, Benjuly, Gato Negro and Destellos Café. They are all, says Heriberto, managed by private parties.

Each one has a group of burly guards, who take turns guarding the area around the square. Security is essential, as several businesses in Havana have demonstrated, exposed not only to problematic customers but also to “ninja” children, who steal to survive. Sometimes business gets out of control and a fight breaks out. “There haven’t been many fights, but what there was was loud and the ’boys’ had to intervene,” says Heriberto. Bosses do not like to be caught off guard by conflict and that is why they have constant surveillance. “Some have up to five guards working,” he says.

About the owner of Benjuly, Julio César Paredes – a “young and enterprising owner,” according to his website – there is a rumor: his alleged friendship with Lis Cuesta, wife of Miguel Díaz-Canel, who is attributed to being a “godmother,” or owner of the bar. This protection is what keeps its operation free of obstacles, assumes Heriberto, who assures that the same protection as above exists at the Bodegón Holguín, a business located on the Central Highway.

What started here has already spread to other areas, such as Pueblo Nuevo, and cases of drug sales have been detected

What started here has already spread to other areas, such as Pueblo Nuevo, and cases of drug sales and “strange” businesses have been detected in two high schools: Alberto Sosa and José Miró Argenter. But the center of the hurricane remains the square.

When the sun goes down and the city streets are not so hot, the young people of Holguín also go to Marqueta. Dressed up and careful not to invade other people’s territory, the prostitutes take their seats. The yarini sip their drinks and the card holders go into action. Cornered and trying to be discreet, the addicts begin to light their cigarettes. “The only thing missing is for El Químico** — the chemical — to arrive,” laments Heriberto, alluding to the fashionable drug in Havana. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Translator’s notes:
*Yarini: Alberto Yarini, Cuba’s most famous pimp, was murdered in 1910, and has featured in novels, films and song.
**El Químico: A very cheap drug, marijuana- or synthetic marijuana-based and laced with other substances. See here.
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The Calixto García Stadium in Holguín Closes Part of Its Stands Due to the Danger of Collapse

The walls and a part of the roof of the Calixto García stadium “are peeling off” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 15 May 2024 — The lack of maintenance and deterioration are the last blow for the Calixto García stadium, home of the Holguín baseball team. According to a source in the city, its walls “are peeling off ” and the authorities have prevented the fans from sitting near the areas where the collapse is imminent.

“The scaffolding of the towers on the left side has been declared in a state of collapse,” the official journalist Ernesto A Jomarron Cardoza denounced on Tuesday on the Facebook account ’Somos los Cachorros de Holguín’.

The communicator noticed the problem because the traditional third-base stands were empty during the match between Holguín and Artemisa. “The doors on the left side were kept closed and they are going to stay that way.”He lamented the lack of maintenance of the stadium’s towers, founded in 1979 and considered by Fidel Castro as an “architectural jewel”. continue reading

One of the Calixto García stadium’s entrances exhibits a lack of maintenance / 14ymedio

“As something never seen before, the team will play without an audience above its dugout (the area where players wait for their turn during the game),” said Cardoza.

What is even more outrageous is that last March, days before the voice of “play ball” was heard to start the National Series, the National Baseball Commission (CNB -Spanish acronym) detected “serious problems” in some fields.

During a tour of the provinces, the officials identified that in several stadiums maintenance was required on the “mound, lawn, benches, changing rooms and bathrooms”. They also mentioned that “clay was needed to work the field; they also needed to raise the pitching mound, center the home plate, water the lawn more to make it growth and finish the mowing”.

One of the stadiums was Calixto García. The national baseball commissioner, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, supervised the building and detected the “need for conditioning the bases and the home plate,” the pro-government newspaper ’¡Ahora!’ published at the time.

At that time they did not notice any damage or cracks in the roof, which have forced the closure of the towers on the left side.

The traditional Calixto García stadium third-base stands side was empty during the match between Holguín and Artemisa / Facebook/’Arriba los Cachorros de Holguín’

The sports authorities’ neglect of the stadiums has also occurred in the buildings for the practice of soccer. Last January, 14ymedio denounced the state of oblivion which the Pedro Marrero stadium has fallen into. The colossus located in Havana’s municipality of Playa has turned into “grazing land,” a track and field coach lamented. The deterioration is visible: the grass is worn out and the track is full of potholes.

This stadium has not received any of the eight million dollars the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) gave to Cuba between 2016 and 2022 to improve its sports facilities. However, the property did receive money for its renovation, stressed Ariel Maceo Téllez. Unfortunately, it is still just as bad.

Another abandoned colossus is the Pan American Stadium in Havana. The sports complex built by Fidel Castro in 1991 is in decline. The lack of maintenance together with the poor quality of the construction materials that were used for its construction and its proximity to the coast has caused the salt residue from the seawater to wear down its structure.

Translated by LAR

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The Blackouts in Holguin, Cuba, Predict a Dark Future for the New Electric Tricycles

Holguín residents complain that the vehicles cover an unpopular route, instead of serving more central stops

Electric tricycles parked in a staging area in front of the Vocational school, in the city of Holguín / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 4 May 2024 — Shining under the May sun, the 20 new electric tricycles that travel the streets of Holguín will began to provide service this Thursday. However, poor planning has already hindered the beginning of their journey in a city where public transport barely satisfies a tiny part of the demand for mobility.

With a capacity of six people and a price of ten pesos per customers, the vehicles right now only serve the route between Las Baleares terminal and the Vocational School. At the staging area, Edmundo, a Holguín resident of 62, climbed aboard one of the tricycles on May 2nd in front of the Vocational School, on its inaugural trip.

“They say they are still testing but they have chosen the route with the least problems, they should have started with the most congested routes,” the passenger told 14ymedio after concluding his journey. “People haven’t found out yet, that’s why I was able to feel comfortable without so much pressure because it wasn’t crowded.”

“They should have put these tricycles on the route between the three hospitals, the Surgical Clinic, the Pediatric Hospital and the Lenin Hospital,” says Edmundo. “Those are the sections where people need to move more and where right now the transportation situation is more complicated and the prices for horse-drawn carriages are higher. continue reading

“They should have put these tricycles on the route between the three hospitals, the Surgical Clinic, the Pediatric Hospital and the Lenin Hospital”

One of the drivers dressed in a yellow sweater with the Taxis Holguín logo responded to other passengers with similar questions. “Don’t worry, these are the first 20, another 30 will arrive in the next few days,” said the employee of Agency No. 2 belonging to that state company.

“These tricycles have a 60-volt, 200-ampere battery,” explained the driver to an audience more interested in knowing if the service will be maintained over time and if will increase its fleet of vehicles, than in the technical details. “That means it can travel up to 200 kilometers,” the man continued to explain.

Another Taxis Holguín worker explained to this newspaper that after completing their journey, of about 15 daily trips, the tricycles are stored in Agency No. 2 located on Peralta Street between 20 de Mayo and Independencia, in the Santiesteban District. “There they are also charged connected to the electrical grid,” he points out.

The electric tricycles that have arrived in the city of Holguín are not yet using solar energy to recharge their batteries. “With the blackouts that we are suffering in this city, we will see just two or three tricycles in the parking area because the others will not have been able to charge the batteries,” predicted another rider who made the trip to the Balearic Islands.

Electric tricycle traveling the Las Baleares-Vocacional route, in Holguín / 14ymedio

However, the director of the agency, Julio César Coré Garcel, assured the official press that the new means of transportation are part of a program of the Ministry of Transportation to move “progressively toward changing the energy matrix.”

“They can’t cope because they are small and for the volume of passengers that moves in this city they look like toys,” adds a woman. “I pay up to 100 pesos for a horse-drawn carriage when I have an emergency, but most of the time I don’t move in this part of the city.”

According to the woman, the driver of her vehicle assured her that they were only measuring demand and that possibly the vehicles that will arrive in the coming months will cover the so-called route of the three hospitals. But, distrustful, the people of Holguín prefer a bird in hand rather than the promise of several dozen in flight.

“We need 200 or 300 of these tricycles for this city to move again and for getting around to not be as agonizing as it is now,” the customer calculates. “But we also need large buses that transport more passengers at once because this, one little sip at a time, isn’t going to fix it,” the woman considers.

The same night, this Thursday, Holguín residents suffered a long blackout that lasted until dawn in numerous neighborhoods. Surely, as soon as the power supply was cut off, some of the first customers of the tricycles thought about the vehicles, connected, at the taxi agency, to a power outlet without power.

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State Premises at Night, Small Private ‘MIPYMEs’ the Next Morning

In Holguín, as in the majority of the Island, private businesses are rapidly replacing dilapidated State warehouses

In another warehouse, which once was for the Holguín Beverage and Soft Drinks Company, the products of the Rey de Reyes mipyme* [MSME in English] are now exhibited. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 8 April 2024 — They go from being buildings with peeling facades to looking freshly painted, with bars on the windows and air conditioning inside. The process of leasing shops, offices and state warehouses to the mipymes* (MSMEs, or medium, small and micro-sized enterprises) in Holguín extends, as in Havana and other cities in Cuba, before the eyes of the residents of the city, who face the gradual privatization with expectations and doubts.

In front of the old vehicle workshop of the Comar Base Economic Unit, belonging to the Holguín Fisheries Company, this Friday morning a line of customers was waiting to enter. In the wide warehouse on Aricochea Street, between Maceo and Mártires, you can no longer hear the rattling of the faucets or perceive the smell of fat and fuel that characterized the place.

Now, after a capital remodeling, the Obra Real mipyme is there, with a wide assortment of food, toiletries and household items. In the line, some who arrive for the first time in front of the restored building are astonished. “I almost didn’t recognize it. I passed by here often, and it was covered in grease; it’s totally changed,” a man who was waiting to buy detergent told 14ymedio. continue reading

The warehouses of the Copextel company on the Central Highway, Holguín, have been leased to a mipyme / 14ymedio

Obra Real has four locations in the city of Holguin, and its catalog includes everything from packages of La Estrella brown sugar, imported from Panama, to fans that are recharged with small solar panels. “The prices are high, but right now I have to come here to buy flour because there is no bread in my bakery,” the man adds.

The bidding process for these private companies to rent a state premises continues to lack dissemination and transparency. “They told me that they are renting the space of the Copextel warehouse on the Carretera Central Calle Martí, in front of the Electric Company, but when I went to ask, they had already ’granted’ it to the owner of several motorcycle workshops,” an entrepreneur interested in the place who asked for anonymity tells this newspaper.

“In this city, when night falls, a space belongs to the State, and when you wake up the next day it’s now under the management of a mipyme but no one knows very well how,” he says. “The rumor is that donations must be made to hospitals and gifts to officials so that they put you on the list of beneficiaries.”

Another warehouse on Libertadores Avenue, where until a few years ago oxygen tanks were stored for patients who needed them, went from the hands of Public Health to the small private company DaSens, dedicated to the fabrication of cleaning and personal hygiene products. Now, with a blue awning at the entrance, it’s a rare day that there are not a dozen people waiting to enter.

Children’s colognes, hair dyes, household cleaners and dishwashers are part of the mipyme’s offers, most of them imported in bulk and packaged on the Island. At the entrance, the store has a sign of a smiling woman carrying a bag of newly purchased products. In the line of those waiting to enter, however, the faces do not seem as happy.

The place that belonged to the old bus terminal Santiago-Habana is now under private management / 14ymedio

“Before, these places were closed and not used. It’s good to give them to individuals so they can at least fix them up and sell something,” Lázara, a resident of Reparto Peralta, explains to this newspaper. “I’m here for a cologne for my grandson, but I don’t know whether I’m going to find it today because all the prices have gone up, and the mipymes take advantage of the fact that the state has almost nothing to sell.”

In another warehouse, which once belonged to the Company of Drinks and Soft Drinks of Holguín on the Central Highway at San Pablo Street, the products of the Rey de Reyes mipyme are now displayed. On one of its outside walls, a newly painted crown in red accompanies the name of the place. The detail does not go unnoticed by the buyers who arrive.

“We kings are going to have to be early to be able to buy anything, because you can come one day, you turn around, and the price has already increased by 50 or 100 pesos,” said a woman who carefully read the sign with the products and prices that is exhibited outside. “Of course, an employee of a mipyme might be rude, but they usually treat you better than the ones in the state stores.”

Among the “improvements” over the state shops, the woman says that “they have good refrigeration, and when you buy a chicken it’s hard as stone, not half thawed.” She adds that “the stores have air conditioning and refrigerators on display, and some have made large investments in signs and glass counters so you can really see the merchandise.”

However, the woman believes that they have also “copied some of the worst things from the state stores. They never give a discount even if the merchandise is about to expire. They use the formula of ’combos’ a lot to force you to buy products that do not interest you, because if you’re looking for a bottle of oil, then you have to include some instant drinks or a package of coffee.”

The building where oxygen tanks were stored for patients went from the hands of Public Health to the small private company DaSens / 14ymedio

The list goes on. The warehouse of the once-powerful Copextel, managed by the military and dedicated to computer products, has also been rented to a mipyme. Although on the facade it still says “integral solutions,” the inside points to more mundane merchandise. Boxes of chicken, packages of detergent and bags of rice now occupy the space that was once intended for computers, monitors and printers.

Despite the fact that its walls have not yet been painted, it’s just a matter of time before the current managers remodel the property and hang colorful posters outside. Once restored, people who pass by on the Central Highway will have no doubt. “Look, there’s another mypyme,” they will say, as is heard more and more in the neighborhoods of Holguín.

*Translator’s note: MIPYME = MIcro, PEequeña (small) Y (and) MEdium Enterprise

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Pharmacy in Holguín Is Stoned in Protest Against 15-Hour Blackouts

TRD Latin America in the Alex Urquiola distribution in Holguín / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Holguín, Miguel García, 14 March 2024 — Popular discontent with the long blackouts is at the origin of several protests in the city of Holguín, where this Tuesday a pharmacy located at the intersection of Martí and Fomento streets was stoned. The event was confirmed to this newspaper by local sources, who also pointed out that last Thursday morning, the old Latin America foreign currency store in the La Colorá neighborhood had its windows broken.

This type of event, in addition to the cacerolazos — demonstrations where people beat on pots and pans — and an increase in police surveillance, are increasingly frequent in areas that experience the worst of the energy crisis, as reported by 14ymedio previously. Holguín is one of the provinces where long blackouts occur, which can last up to 15 hours in a single day.

A resident of the Alcides Pino popular council told this newspaper that since the power outages began, “incidents expressing discontent occur almost daily. They haven’t spilled into the streets, but there’s no shortage of cacerolazos when there’s no power. The discontent is widespread.”

As for the stores with broken windows, he says that the authorities have not stood idly by. “They are sending police and red berets (special security) at night to guard the foreign currency stores to prevent people from breaking windows. It’s not the first time that’s happened in Holguín,” he adds. continue reading

“There are also many patrols making rounds in the city and on Carralero Street”

“There are also many patrols making rounds in the city, on Carralero Street and in the Dagoberto Sanfield neighborhood, where one of the senior police commanders lives. In addition here are other military personnel, and there is always a patrol keeping watch as soon as night falls,” says the holguinero.

A woman in Holguín interviewed by 14ymedio asserts that, in addition, the long blackouts prevent the normal operation of any work center and are an obstacle to procedures of any kind. “My husband has been standing in line at the offices of the Ministry of the Interior for four days to change the official route for our pedicab, and he has not been able to, because when it’s his turn, the current goes off and service is interrupted,” she says.

“Life becomes difficult in many ways when the current goes off. There are parents who are not sending their children to school because, between the coming and going, the power goes out two or three times in the early hours of the morning, and neither they nor their children can sleep (without an electric fan). Not to mention the food. I know people who have chosen to cook with wood in the face of blackouts of more than 15 hours,” she says.

The other aggravating thing is that, “despite having so many hours of blackout, the cost of electricity continues to rise. It’s inconceivable!” she emphasizes. Last year, the official newspaper Ahora! published the results of a survey based on the complaints of many people in Holguin about the increase in their bills during July and August, despite power outages of 12 hours or more.

Latin America foreign currency store in the Alex Urquiola neighborhood in Holguín / 14ymedio

The response of the Electric Company at that time was that after the restoration of the current, when equipment is connected – mainly refrigeration – the consumption increases.

The holguinera also says that in some state centers there are on-call workers, as well as heads of the National Police Sector and State Security agents, “ready to take to the streets and repress.” The “order,” she explains, is to put down any demonstrations that expresses dissatisfaction with the regime.

On March 9, the cacerolazos began in Holguín after several days of power outages. The Manuel Angulo dental clinic in Pueblo Nuevo in the main municipality was stoned, and hours later it was under guard by State Security.

At the same time, another demonstration in the municipality of Florida, in Camagüey, managed to get the authorities to restore service, but not before assuring that everything remained “calm” in the neighborhood.

* Errata: Initially, the information reached 14ymedio’s Editorial Office and the testimonies on the ground spoke of stoning of the exterior windows of the Martí y Fomento Pharmacy, but on another visit to the place and thanks to the warning from our readers, we confirmed that, in that case, it had been an accident in which a car hit the windows.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Long Blackouts in Cuba Provoke Popular Protests in Holguin and Camaguey

This Saturday night there were protests in Holguín and the municipality of Florida, in Camagüey, after the long blackouts of recent days on the Island / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 10 March 2024 — Cacerolazos* in several neighborhoods of the country and throwing stones at a State institution marked the protests that took place this Saturday night in cities such as Holguín and the municipality of Florida, in Camagüey, after the long blackouts that have occurred in recent years, lasting for days throughout the Island.

“The Manuel Angulo Dental Clinic in Pueblo Nuevo was hit with stones in the middle of the blackout, and in the 26 de Julio and Alcides Pino neighborhoods they ‘played cazuelas’* last night,” a Holguin resident described to 14ymedio.

“Last night all the police sector chiefs of the Popular Council of Pueblo Nuevo were on guard and ready to repress,” warns another neighbor, who also confirmed that the dental clinic that was stoned remains under State Security surveillance this Sunday.

A few videos that have come to light on social networks record some of the cacerolazos that took place on Saturday in Holguín. Currently, much of the city remains without electricity, so the mobile signal is weak or non-existent and users cannot publish images of the protests because they do not have an internet signal. continue reading

“The Manuel Angulo Dental Clinic in Pueblo Nuevo was hit with stones in the middle of the blackout and in the 26 de Julio and Alcides Pino deliveries they ‘played cazuelas’ last night

Other testimonies that reached the 14ymedio editorial office confirm that in the capital of Holguín the repressive forces of the regime continue to be “on guard” against the possibility of new protests emerging in the streets.

For his part, journalist Luis Tan Estrada confirmed on his Facebook page with several sources that, this Saturday night, several residents of the Camagüey municipality of Florida “took to the streets to protest in the midst of the blackouts.”

“Although the authorities of that territory tried to prove the opposite through posts on Facebook, the reality was different,” the reporter insisted when referring to a publication by the Party secretary of that municipality on the social network, in which she illustrated with some photos that the people were “enjoying the tranquility of my Cuba, free and sovereign.”

But in reality, Tan Estrada describes, his sources informed him that the atmosphere in Florida “got hot” and that shortly after the protest “they turned on the electricity.” Other reports also confirmed demonstrations in Batabanó, in the province of Mayabeque.

The blackouts will continue all day Sunday. The Electrical Union predicts for this day a deficit of 1,045 megawatts (MW) and an impact of 1,115 MW during peak hours. Last Friday, an impact of 1,566 megawatts was recorded at the time of maximum demand, an unprecedented number since the energy crisis worsened two years ago.

*Translator’s note: ‘Cacerola’ and ‘cazuela’ both translate as ‘pot’ and a ‘cacerolazo’ or ‘tocan cazuela’ where people bang on pots and pans is a common form of protest across Latin America.
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A Single Meal a Day for the 76,175 Vulnerable Cubans Cared for by the State

Dining room of the Family Care System (SAF), La Guantanamera, on Miró Street between Agramonte and Morales Lemus in the city of Holguín

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 25 February 2024– This Friday, Tomás, 81 years old, felt lucky. “Today they did offer a strong course, a boiled egg, and there was pea soup that I brought home. With this cold weather, the body is asking for something like that,” he lists the food he bought at the dining room of the Family Care System (SAF) from the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood in the city of Holguín. A subsidized trade network especially hit by the economic crisis that Cuba is going through.

“Normally, at the end of the month, there is always a shortage of protein and it is a miracle that there are still eggs”, explains Tomás to 14ymedio. For the price of 2.60 pesos per egg, the old man bought a boiled egg and also added a portion of white rice for 2.65 pesos, a portion of boiled cassava for 14.00 and a thin pea soup for 1.65. To accompany the menu, he added a soft drink, made with syrup, for 5.00 pesos.

“I don’t like to eat there, I prefer to bring food home and decide at what time to eat what,” he explains. In his humble kitchen, Tomás places the pots with the food he has bought at the SAF and decides what will be served for lunch and what he will save for dinner. He knows that he won’t have anything else to put in his mouth during the day, so he tries to organize himself.

Portion of food from a SAF canteen in Holguín this Friday: boiled egg, pea stew, boiled cassava and soft drink / 14ymedio

“Sometimes there is no protein, although in my dining room the workers are quite combative and they fight with the people of the municipality to send them supplies, but one can see that it is becoming more and more difficult for them to achieve this each time”. This month, Tomás has eaten an egg and a sausage similar to blood sausage as a main course. Fruits or vegetables haven’t arrived “for years”, he says. continue reading

“The workers make an effort, they buy the spices, many times out of their own pockets, so that it has some flavor”, adds Tomás, who has been eating at the SAF since 1996, when they began to operate. A physical disability, added to aging, has made him dependent for almost three decades on a mechanism that he prides himself on being the “founder” of, and being familiar with every detail of it: its best moments and its current deterioration.

In the entire province of Holguín there are more than 6,400 people who, like Tomás, receive a food ration through the SAF canteens, according to data published by the official press at the end of 2021, but the number may have grown significantly to the same extent that inflation and shortages increase. In Holguín’s capital, the number currently exceeds 3,500 registered people, distributed through 13 dining rooms.

“A few years ago, they gave us breakfast, lunch and dinner”, recalls the retiree, who has a pension of 1,543 pesos per month (a little more than five dollars at the informal exchange rate) and spends an average of between 20 and 25 pesos a day at the SAF. “They even used to sell snacks in that place, but all that changed when Raúl Castro took power in 2008. They began to slash what was deemed as ‘unnecessary expenses’ and we lost snacks and breakfast, leaving us with only one meal a day”.

Inés, 79 years old, does not remember those first moments of abundance in the SAF, because she only became a user of those canteens about four years ago, with the arrival of the pandemic. “My husband died and my pension is not enough for my meals. Just to get the rice, the oil and the seasonings, all the money would disappear and I would have nothing left for protein”, she says.

A social worker from Holguín noticed Inés’s vulnerability after several reports from neighbors. “They came and filled out a form that is in my file. The form reached the Municipal Administration Council, where they approved me, but it took time. It took almost three months. They enrolled me in the Villanueva dining room, which is where I still am now”.

Inés had to prove that she did not have culinary implements to cook. Only then did she manage to benefit from the SAF canteens. / 14ymedio

The 76,175 people registered in the SAF who attend 445 soup kitchens of this type in Cuba have had to go through this process, with greater or lesser speed. A service that is frequently criticized for the poor quality of its food preparation, which often lacks spices, oil or fats. The deterioration of the dishes is not only due to official shortages, but also to the looting of products carried out by the employees themselves, as this newspaper has echoed in previous reports.

“Everyone has to live, so, amid deliveries of ever-diminishing supplies and the need for employees to have some income, what reaches the plates is less and less,” Inés acknowledges. “I eat it because I don’t have anything else, but the food is not good, I don’t want to eat it, sometimes I even hold my breath while I chew it to avoid tasting it”.

“One requisite to be accepted in the SAF is not having cooking utensils: stove, pots, pans or anything like that. No gas stove or electric stove, you have to show that you cannot prepare the food you are going to consume”, explains the old woman. “You have to prove that you are a critical case, that you cannot work, nor do you have a family to take care of you.”

“Since I started eating there, I have lost almost 30 pounds, because what they sell is very little for each person and, of course, you can only buy one serving. It’s not that I can say ‘give me two eggs’ and I take them home, I get one and that’s what it is”, she points out. “The prices are still cheap, and the fear that other old people and I have is that they are about to raise everything”.

This week, fear has spread among people like Inés and Tomás, because the deepening of the economic crisis and the lack of foreign currency to purchase food abroad are pushing the SAF to the limit. “There was a meeting with an official from the provincial Gastronomy Company to talk about the future of the SAF,” says the woman.

“Since I started eating there, I have lost almost 30 pounds, because what they sell is very little for each person”

The manager warned the canteen employees that the import situation is critical, and the producers’ commitment to deliver food to serve vulnerable people is not being fulfilled. “We are studying other ways through the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) to collect food for the elderly in the area”, she said.

The allusion to involve the CDR’s in the collection of food, grains and other products to guarantee food in the SAF has generated deep concern. “At the moment they are working poorly, but at least they are there, I can’t imagine waking up without being guaranteed at least some watery peas and a little rice”, Inés fears.

“What they sell us now is not even enough for a cat, imagine for a person, but it’s something”, she concludes.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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