“There are always cars belonging to civil servants who come here every day for meetings; they don’t achieve anything, but they never stop having meetings.”
On the way to the hospital, a series of potholes, puddles reflecting tired-looking buildings, crumbling kerbs. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, December 16 2025 –In the morning progressing along Valle road with an unforgiving rattle. Every pothole forces us to slow down, every puddle – thick, greenish – reminds us that last night’s rain found no drainage and no official concern. Electric tricycles, motorcycles, bicycles and private cars arrive here with the same destination: the Lucía Iñiguez Landín Surgical Hospital. People arrive with fevers, joint pains, and the exhaustion of those who have been waiting for days for their bodies to give way.
“This feels like a test before we even get to the doctor,” says a woman holding her sweaty son as she dodges the accumulated water. Arboviruses have once again put this road at the centre of daily life in Holguín: patients from Velasco, Gibara, Calixto García, Cacocum and the city itself cross this stretch of road, ravaged by neglect and lack of investment, in search of diagnosis and relief.
A few kilometres away, the scene changes in colour and texture. At the end of Frexes Street, opposite the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power, the asphalt looks almost perfect. There are no puddles, the cracks have been sealed, and the kerb has been freshly swept. “There are always cars here with officials who come to meetings every day; they don’t achieve anything, but they never stop having meetings,” complains the driver of an electric tricycle as he compares, without raising continue reading
his voice, the smooth pavement he has just left behind. The illusion hardly lasts 200 metres, from Bim Bom to a sugar-cane juice stall: just the stretch visible from the windows of the official building and the busy part for those entering and leaving the offices of power. Beyond that, the city returns to normal.
The photos show what is seen as normal: opposite the government building, a continuous, clean road surface with smooth traffic flow. / 14ymedio
The contrast is not only aesthetic; it is functional and symbolic. On the road to the hospital, puddles become traps for tyres and ankles; dust rises when the sun beats down and the rain stays away, and when the downpour falls, mud spreads. A cyclist slams on the brakes to avoid falling into a makeshift ditch; the driver of an old Lada calculates where to drive without losing half his suspension in the attempt. “No one comes here to inspect,” sums up a neighbour who sells coffee on the corner and sees the procession of sick people pass by every day. “If they did, this would already be fixed.”
The photos show what is seen as normal: in front of the government building, a smooth, clean road with flowing traffic; but on the way to the hospital, a series of potholes, puddles reflecting tired building façades, crumbling kerbs. On peak days for dengue or chikungunya, the road becomes a funnel for emergencies. The noise of engines mixes with coughing, the rubbing of wet sandals, and the hurried complaining of those who are late for an appointment or for the emergency room.
In Holguín, as in so many parts of the island, the roadway also votes. Where there is power, there is paint and tar; where there is pain, there is waiting and damage. The Valle highway does not ask for speeches or ribbon-cutting ceremonies: it asks for drainage, asphalt, maintenance. Meanwhile, the journey to hospital will continue to be an uncomfortable prelude to illness, and the government’s front line will remain a polished postcard for those looking down from above.
Translated by GH
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There is no saline solution in hospitals and surgeries have been suspended because staff have been infected with the virus.
Operating theatre at Lenin University Hospital in Holguín, in a file photo. / Facebook
14ymedio, Miguel García, 14 November 2025 — The health situation in Holguín is critical and shows no signs of improving. Neighbourhood by neighbourhood, arbovirus infections are multiplying, without people being clear whether they are suffering from chikungunya or dengue, the two main diseases that have spread across the island. Only some of the symptoms help you identify them: if the joints hurt, it will be the former; if there is severe vomiting, the latter.
“Almost everyone in my block has been sick already. Just yesterday, they took my cousin to the Clinical Surgical Hospital,” says Sandra, a resident of Holguín. “He’s big and strong, but he fainted from dehydration, and when he got to the hospital, they didn’t even have any IV fluids.” The same thing is happening at the city’s paediatric hospital and at Lenin Hospital. Each bag of saline solution has become a luxury item: it can be found on the informal market on Calle 13 for 3,000 pesos.
Another resident of Holguín says the same thing: “People are becoming dehydrated and nothing is being done about it. Many people go to the doctor and they are sent away, only getting advice to boil cherry leaves. At the hospital, unless they are seriously ill, they are not treated.” Talking about this, he tells us about an acquaintance who, 12 days after contracting “the virus,” experienced worsening symptoms and was becoming dehydrated. “She had to send her son to buy her IV fluids and find a nurse in the neighbourhood to administer them at home. People aren’t going to the hospital because they know there is nothing there.”
“No special favours, there’s no way we can operate under these conditions!”
We are also seeing the beginning a shortage of doctors. At Lenin Hospital, according to a nurse employed there, “they are not performing surgeries because most of the specialists are ill with arbovirosis.” Workers saw the director of the centre, Dr Amalia Pupo Zúñiga, standing at the door of a room and warning: “No favours, there is no way we can do that!” Favours, in Cuban medical slang, are the favours that health workers do on the side: for friendship, family relationships or in exchange for a gift. continue reading
Several Holguin residents also claim to know of people dying, an issue that the government keeps quiet about, despite the fact that funeral homes and cemeteries in the country are clearly busier than usual. The Holguín authorities have admitted, however, that the epidemiological situation, especially after Hurricane Melissa, has worsened in the territory. “Many people are currently suffering from joint pain, feverish symptoms, loss of appetite, restricted mobility and general malaise,” according to a note published on Friday in Ahora!
Each bag of saline solution has become, in fact, a luxury item: it can be found on the informal market on Calle 13 for 3,000 pesos. / 14ymedio
Geanela Cruz Ávila, director of the Provincial Centre for Hygiene and Epidemiology, told the government newspaper that tests confirm the circulation of dengue serotype four and chikungunya in Holguín.
The official didn’t say much about the measures taken by Public Health to control the situation. She merely stated that last week the Provincial Defence Council approved a “strategy” to combat arboviruses following the passage of Melissa, which includes investigations in communities and home medical care, as well as the destruction of “breeding sites that appear in homes and other premises in order to stop the appearance of mosquitoes, mainly in their larval stage”.
The poisons that are normally used, malathion and permethrin, have a very strong and distinctive smell.
The note says nothing about fumigation, but some residents claim that it is “sporadic and isolated”. For example, Sandra says: “They know about the positive cases in the neighbourhood and they haven’t come to fumigate, as they did before with dengue. According to them, it’s because they don’t have any fuel”.
The lady also does not know whether these occasional fumigations are effective. “The poisons that are normally used, malathion and permethrin, have a very strong, characteristic smell, and when you walk past one of these brigades, you don’t smell any of that,” she explains. “I don’t know what they’re actually spraying, or whether it works.”
On Wednesday, the national director of epidemiology, Francisco Durán García, in a special programme on the country’s health situation, stated that at least 30% of the population has been infected at some point with one of the arboviruses that have spread across the island, dengue or chikungunya.
Although the former carries a higher risk of death, people are currently more fearful of chikungunya, as it is a relatively new virus in Cuba, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same vector that transmits dengue and Zika. María Guadalupe Guzmán Tirado, director of the Research, Diagnosis and Reference Centre at the Pedro Kourí Institute, gave detailed explanations about this disease that is keeping the island in check, as its symptoms can take up to three months to disappear and the joint pains are very severe.
Translated by GH
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It remains a dangerous category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it heads for the Island
“We know that there will be a lot of damage caused by this hurricane,” warns President Miguel Díaz-Canel
Cubans walk olong the sea this Tuesday in Santiago de Cuba, while Melissa advances toward the Island. / EFE
14ymedio / Havana/ Holguín, Miguel García, October 28, 2025 — “I have spent the day nailing doors and windows,” a resident of Holguín told 14ymedio. He adds that they are preparing the best they can to survive Hurricane Melissa, although they have not had time to follow the details of its trajectory due to a poor internet connection and blackouts. His house has brick walls, but he doesn’t want anything to surprise him and endanger his family.
Melissa made landfall this Tuesday near New Hope, Jamaica, with sustained maximum winds of 185 mph. A probe was able to capture a burst of 252 mph inside the hurricane. Its central pressure dropped to 892 hectoPascal, so it remains a dangerous category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it heads east towards Cuba.
At least 7 people have died so far: 3 in Jamaica, 3 in Haiti and 1 in the Dominican Republic. Authorities fear that the number of casualties may increase as more damage reports come in.
From Jamaica, a Cuban doctor wrote on her social networks: “I tell the people in eastern Cuba: this is too much for Cuba. It is too much for you, my dear people.”
In the municipality of Palma Soriano, province of Santiago de Cuba, Katia, 51 years old, says that no one has slept at home: “We removed the mattresses from the beds and sent them to some neighbors who have a house that is stronger than ours, the same with the refrigerator,” she reports by phone to 14ymedio. The family has set two clear priorities: keeping the children safe and preserving their most valuable assets. continue reading
“We are not going to evacuate because here when people leave their homes, the danger of being robbed is high,” she says. “These walls are strong, our problem is the roof: one part is board and the other has a light cover. We’ve blocked the blinds with boards and tried to keep the water tank above the bathroom full, so it doesn’t blow away in the wind. We’re avoiding wasting the rechargeable batteries for our flashlights and mobile phones.
“Yesterday people stocked up on everything they could. There were lines in front of the MSMEs* that sell food, and trucks and tricycles were carrying boxes and large packages.”/ 14ymedio
Niurka can listen to local FM radio stations with a headphone attached to her cell phone as an antenna. “This has given us luck because we have had many blackouts in recent days and being informed has been difficult. At least we now know that the creature is coming here and has an impressive size,” she says about Melissa.
In the city of Holguín it’s hard to find something to buy this Tuesday. “Yesterday people stocked up on everything they could. There were lines in front of the MSMEs that sell food, and trucks and tricycles were carrying boxes and large packages,” says Rodolfo, driver of an electric vehicle that transports passengers and goods. He decided not to go to work today, preferring to be employed in reinforcing his home’s security.
“Luckily my little house is attached to others and that protects us,” he explains. ” I spent my life complaining about the neighbors who play their music too loud and sometimes even wake up the kid with their screaming, but today that is the greatest security I have to confront the wind.” In the event that the electricity is cut off for several days and food becomes more scarce, neighborhood solidarity will also be important.
“In previous hurricanes we improvised a pot of soup on the block and that saved us,” he recalls. This kind of support will be more important on this occasion. “There are many old people who are alone in this neighborhood. Some have been evacuated to other houses, but others have no one who can help, so we will take turns looking after them.”
Rodolfo’s sister, a newly graduated doctor, is being evacuated to the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General University Hospital along with other health workers. “She took a couple of changes of clothes because this can last for a long time.” The tricycle with which he earns his living now occupies most of the space in the room. “Usually I keep it in an open carport outside, but this time I cannot risk it. If a tree falls on top, my way to earn a living is lost.”
“Luckily my little house is attached to others and that protects us.” / 14ymedio
His decision coincides with the advice offered on Facebook by an architect in Guatánamo with experience in natural disasters. The expert warns that winds from 155 to 186 mph are strong enough to destroy even houses made of reinforced concrete, so nobody should underestimate their power. He also explains that wood or brick dwellings with thin ceilings are extremely vulnerable, as the wind can tear off roofs and knock down structures, especially in rural areas or isolated buildings. In these cases, the recommendation is to evacuate immediately to someplace safe and not assume that thick or concrete walls will provide protection.
Only concrete dwellings with heavy roofs and in good structural condition could provide some safety if they are away from the shore. In coastal areas or where the sea is at least 656 feet high, even solid houses should be evacuated, as the waves can cause more damage than the wind, says the specialist.
On Tuesday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who chairs the National Defense Council, released a statement calling on Cubans to avoid deaths and serious damage in the face of the next powerful impact of hurricane Melissa on the east of the island.
We know that there will be a lot of damage caused by this storm, but we will have the capacity to recover in food production, housing, and also in the the economy,” said the president in a message broadcast on state television.
“No one should venture to swim in the swollen rivers; no one should return home from the places of evacuation when the indications for returning or going to the recovery phase have not yet been given in each of the territories,” advised the first secretary of the Communist Party, who described the preparatory work at all levels as “intensive and responsible.”
Neighborhood residents in Santiago called the Communal Services, but “they responded that the truck can’t come. There is no fuel and the ones that work are going to Guamá. / Facebook / Yaya Panoramix
For his part, José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and recently exiled in Miami, shared a video from Santiago de Cuba where you can hear “the hammering of people trying to secure their homes in order to cope with Hurricane Melissa.” Some 168,900 people have been evacuated in this province to 101 centers set up for that purpose.
Actress Dayana Figueroa, known on social networks as Yaya Panoramix, complained on Facebook that the garbage threatens to cause obstructions in the sewage system of her neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba, “a few blocks from Céspedes Park.” She says that the neighbors called the local authorities, but “they replied that the truck can’t come. There is no fuel and those that work are going to Guamá.” Aware that her neighborhood is often flooded, she concluded, “My family is in danger.”
From Yateras, in Guantánamo, official profiles defend the use of caves in the mountains to house vulnerable people. Meanwhile, Melissa is moving north-northeast and has slightly increased its travel speed by 9 mph. It is expected to lose some strength as it crosses Jamaica and arrive with a lesser category on Cuban soil between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Over the next 24 hours, Melissa should tilt its trajectory further to the northeast, gradually increasing its speed. The external bands of this hurricane are already affecting the eastern region of Cuba, generating showers and rain, which will increase in the afternoon from Camagüey to Guantánamo. Rainfall will be strong and intense, mainly in mountainous areas, with accumulations between 7.5 and 17.7 inches over the next 24 hours.
*Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises [mipyme in Spanish], generally privately operated
The market will be occupied mainly by self-employed workers who had to leave the nearby Feria de los Chinos
The polluted Jigüe River passes near the area where the market is built. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Holguín, Miguel García, October 12, 2025 — “A pigsty” is how the neighbors describe the new market for the sale of food and other products that is built a few meters from a polluted stream and surrounded by a huge garbage dump on Cuba street, between Carbó and Mendieta, in Holguín. In recent days, the walls of the kiosks have been rising to the same extent as popular discontent grows for the short distance between beans and sewer water, bread and waste of all kinds.
The city is filling up with this type of candonga [practical joke] complains Heriberto, a resident in the neighborhood of the market that will house, basically, the self-employed workers who had to move from the nearby Feria de los Chinos. “They had tents there, and when the official press complained about the hygienic conditions, they were told that they had to dismantle them and have ended up here, where the filth is even worse.”
The Jigüe River, with its sewage from industrial and residential discharges, spreads its stench throughout the area, near the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General University Hospital. When the kiosks are finished, they will offer both imported and domestic food. Sacks of rice, sugar in bulk and boxes of frozen chicken quarters will be sold within a short distance from the bags of garbage, the piles of construction waste and the miasmas carried by the swollen stream.
What’s worse is that this is authorized by the local authorities,” warns a neighbor. / 14ymedio
“What’s worse is that this is authorized by the local authorities,” says a neighbor. The women thinks that economic precariousness has given rise to this kind of improvised sale with a poor infrastructure. “It eventually ends with the customer taking home a product that has been in contact with flies and germs in that environment,” she summarizes. To her surprise, some of her acquaintances do not see the contradiction in offering food in such a dirty place. “We are used to living surrounded by crap, that’s what happens.”
In a few weeks, the kiosks will be ready to sell pork loin, wheat flour and malangas. Customers will have to overcome the mud and grime to take that food home.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Belkis Bauzá was caught posing as medical staff, while mothers face extreme shortages on the island.
Photo of the General University Hospital Vladimir Ilyich Lenin / Facebook
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, August 10, 2025 — In a country where medical resources are scarce and health centers deal with shortages on a daily basis, the case of a woman who pretended to be a nurse at the Lenin Hospital in Holguín has set off alarms. According to the complaint published on the official profile Cazador Cazado, Belkis Bauzá was surprised while pretending to perform medical work without having a diploma, course or official accreditation.
The report says that, in addition to the deception, the fake professional set up her own “business” within the delivery area, combining the use of hospital beds with an improvised sale of health supplies. “It’s more than a hustle; she is playing with peoples’ health,” warns the post on Facebook, which called for sanctions “without anesthesia” for those who “profit from the needs of others.”
“She had been pretending for a while, but everything exploded when she offered a bed, paid of course, to the companion of a patient, who reported her thinking that she was a real nurse,” according to a source in the hospital. ” This case got on the internet and caused a scandal because someone reported it to the management, but that happens every day here: workers have to do their deals to survive.” continue reading
Holguín’s Vladimir Ilyich Lenin University General Hospital does not escape the problems of the network of gynecology and obstetrics centers throughout the Island.
With its dark corridors, dirty bathrooms and fewer staff to care for pregnant women due to the occupational and migratory exodus, the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General University Hospital in Holguín is no exception to the problems of the network of gynecology and obstetrics centers throughout the country. “There are people who try to do their job with dignity, but that is increasingly difficult,” acknowledges the same source.
“We lack security staff, stretcher-bearers, anesthetists and even pantry staff,” she says. ” So it is a miracle that we continue to bring children into the world here because it is increasingly difficult.”
The episode with Bauzá comes at a time when the crisis of Cuban mothers is becoming increasingly visible. At the Provincial Gynecological Teaching Hospital José Ramón López Tabranes, in Matanzas, pregnant women must also overcome the lack of basic supplies, as this newspaper recently reported. There, Yamila, 22 years old, had prepared her bag for giving birth a few days ago, not only with the baby’s clothes but also with syringes, sutures, gloves, a fan, cutlery and even a washbasin to bathe.
The deterioration of the facilities is evident: cockroaches on the walls, nurses smoking by the windows and consultations that prioritize those who arrive with “gifts.”
The deterioration of the facilities is evident: cockroaches on the walls, nurses smoking by the windows and consultations that prioritize those who arrive with “gifts” for staff. Even pregnant women at risk, such as Leticia -diabetic and bleeding- report waiting hours for lack of priority attention.
The province of Matanzas has gone from registering almost 8,000 births per year to just over 4,000 in 2024, with a birth rate of 6.6 per 1,000 women, one of the worst in the country. The emigration of young women, homelessness, high prices and low wages complete the picture of a crisis affecting both demography and public health.
In this context, cases such as that of Belkis Bauzá reflect not only the vulnerability of the health system but also the loss of confidence in a population that, between fear and resignation, knows that giving birth in Cuba is today an obstacle course. On the list of concerns, the presence of fake personnel is just another risk that adds to a picture already marked by scarcity and deterioration.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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A young man was caught trying to steal an electric motorbike and held by the community until the arrival of the police.
Some wanted to beat him, but an older man stood in his way, asking for restraint / Screen capture
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 7 August 2025 — In Holguín, a city increasingly hit by violence, a group of residents decided that this Thursday they had had enough. The scene occurred in broad daylight, around 10:00 am, in the Vista Alegre neighborhood, when a young man was caught trying to steal an electric motorbike and detained by the community until the arrival of the police.
The victim, a 56-year-old man who works transporting passengers on a motorbike, picked up the young man, who signaled him from a corner and asked him to bring him near the area of Alcides Pino. The journey proceeded normally until, when arriving at Calle Colón, the passenger asked him to stop in an alley with an unconvincing excuse. The driver, already alerted by the young man’s behavior, decided to remove the key from the vehicle as a precaution.
The young man, seeing himself surrounded, changed tactics: he began to shout that he was the victim.
The assailant came back and pretended to get back on the bike but then jumped on the man and punched him in the mouth. The driver reacted, trying to defend himself and holding on to the handlebars. The noise attracted several residents who, upon witnessing the scene, were quick to intervene. The young man, seeing himself surrounded, changed his tactics: he began to shout that he was the victim. But it was too late. No one believed him. continue reading
The real victim was bleeding from the mouth, and his appearance made it clear that he was the driver of the motorbike. In a matter of minutes, the street was filled with curious people and mobile phones. Some were filming while others were indignantly recalling recent robberies. There was talk of a chain of assaults, all with the same modus operandi: a young man who approached bikers in broad daylight and then attacked them to flee with the vehicle.
“Tie him up, so he can’t get away,” can be heard on one of the videos.
One of those present brought a rope. “Tie him up, so he can’t get away,” can be heard in one of the videos. The young man, already cornered against a wall, was insulted and threatened. Some wanted to beat him, but an older man stood in the way, asking for restraint. “Wait for the patrol,” said one lady as she watched the scene from the sidewalk.
Later, when the police finally arrived, the young man was taken to the Third Unit behind the Lenin Hospital, but what looked like an isolated incident turned into a more complex case as other people began to arrive. Four more victims showed up at the station and identified him without hesitation.
One of them, assaulted on July 25, was “an elderly man, about 60 years old, very skinny,” a neighbor told this newspaper. Upon seeing the young man arrested, the victim knew immediately that it was the same one who had attacked him and beat him until he broke his jaw. The pattern was repeated: the thief acted alone, without visible weapons, and took advantage of surprise to hit his victims, almost always older men, and to flee with their motorbikes.
The victim knew immediately that it was the same one who had attacked him, beating him until he broke his jaw.
In recent months, like other cities on the island, Holguín has been the scene of a worrying increase in urban violence. Robberies with violence, holdups on public roads, assaults on businesses and street fights have been reported frequently. Residents in neighborhoods such as Vista Alegre, Alcides Pino and Pueblo Nuevo often tell similar stories. Although there are no official figures published, fear is growing at the rate that informal reports and home videos circulate on social networks.
The lack of resources and or an effective police presence plus growing poverty have been identified as some of the causes of this deterioration. There is also a widespread perception of impunity. Many offenders are not prosecuted or re-offend shortly after release. This distrust of the institutions leads to scenes like what happened this Thursday: citizens who decide to intervene on their own in the absence of security in the streets.
The community acted quickly, but also within limits. There was no lynching, but a warning. Holguín is on the edge, and its inhabitants are willing to do what the law does not seem to guarantee them.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The graffiti appeared in a busy area where thousands of people pass by every day.
The sign is located between the La Barra Dalama guarapera [sugar cane drink stand] and the old service station known as La Curva. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 4 August 2025 — Residents in the Alex Urquiola neighborhood of Holguín woke up this weekend to find a word painted on a deep blue wall: “Freedom.” The graffiti, written in uneven and hasty letters, appeared on the stretch between the La Barra Dalama guarapera [sugar cane drink stand] and the old gas station known as La Curva, a busy area where thousands of people pass through every day.
The sign draws attention not only for its direct message, but also for the way it was written, with a final “t” that betrays a spelling error but, for many residents, reflects the urgency and spontaneity with which it was created. “Whoever wrote it must have written it exactly as it sounded in their mind,” commented a neighbor who stopped in front of the improvised mural. “You can’t spell a word that’s never used correctly,” added another local woman with a wry smile that summed up the widespread frustration with the situation on the island.
“You can’t spell a word well if you never use it.”
The graffiti is the latest in a string of public expressions of discontent that have become more frequent in Holguín—and throughout Cuba—in recent years. And that have increased in recent months.
In mid-June, authorities in Holguín were busy early in the morning erasing some 20 anti-government graffiti on the wall of the Mayabe cemetery, even scraping with machetes, while Interior Ministry agents, supported by continue reading
several cars and motorcycles, controlled the area and watched for anyone who approached. A tricycle driver recounted how he couldn’t even take out his phone for fear of being arrested, while a tanker truck loaded with lime waited to paint the extensive wall and cover the remnants of the messages as quickly as possible.
In mid-June, 20 anti-government graffiti appeared on the wall of the Mayabe cemetery.
In the Lenin neighborhood, also in Holguín, graffiti bearing the phrase “Down with communism” appeared on one of the buildings in May. Authorities reacted quickly, attempting to cover it with reddish paint, but the faded color left the message visible, creating a palpable irony. The act of censorship ended up reinforcing the phrase.
In May, the phrase “Down with communism” was painted on one of the buildings in the Lenin neighborhood.
The head of the U.S. mission to Cuba, Mike Hammer, who was visiting the city, even posed for a photo in front of the sign, emphasizing that Cubans should be able to express themselves without fear of reprisals.
In the case of this new graffiti on Alex Urquiola, however, the word “Freedom” remained visible all weekend, becoming a topic of conversation for pedestrians and drivers passing by. Some even speculate that the authorities’ failure to remove the message could be due to the fact that the experts have run out of resources to analyze the frequent protest graffiti. One much more suspicious Holguín resident sarcastically commented: “Maybe there’s not even any paint left.”
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A Holguín family shares their desperation over the shortage of products to fight the invasion.
Bedbug outbreaks have become frequent news in the island’s independent media. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 23 July 2025 — “He who blinks loses,” repeats Joel, as he explains his discomfort at having bought only one tube of permethrin, just before the bedbug infestation ravaging the city of Holguín caused the medication to disappear from the black market. “That same night I felt the first bites, and since then I haven’t slept a full night.”
“It was my wife who warned me they were bedbugs,” the 49-year-old Holguín resident told 14ymedio. “I thought they were mosquitoes, but she turned on the light and showed me the mattress seam, which was full of bugs.” It was a matter of days, or even hours, before the insects reached Joel and his family’s home. “We had heard the neighbors say their houses were infested, and we even saw some people throwing away their mattresses.”
“We take extreme hygiene measures because our child is autistic and also suffers from several severe allergies.”
Despite the stories they heard, Joel and his wife thought they wouldn’t be affected by the epidemic. “We take extreme hygiene measures because our son is autistic and also suffers from several severe allergies,” he tells this newspaper. “That’s why we’re constantly cleaning, washing, boiling bed linens, and dusting furniture.” However, the plague bypassed all those “safety rings,” he admits.
The bedbug, an insect that feeds on the blood of humans and other animals, has become an unwelcome visitor in many Cuban homes, where overcrowding, a lack of cleaning products, and poverty have multiplied its appearances in recent years. Outbreaks in provinces such as Santiago de Cuba, Sancti Spíritus , and Havana have become frequent news in the continue reading
island’s independent media.
“There’s nothing in any state pharmacy to treat this; you have to go to the black market or a private sales stand.”
One of the main problems faced by those affected by the arrival of these pesky insects is the lack of products to repel the infestation. “No state pharmacy has anything to treat this; you have to go to the black market or a private sales stand that, although not authorized to sell medicines, may have these types of products.”
Although the bed bug is a common insect in tropical areas, its spread into Cuban homes has coincided with the economic crisis, the loss of purchasing power of many families who can no longer maintain the hygiene they once had, and the collapse of the public health system, which is influencing the decline in the supply of pharmaceutical products.
Now, even at the city’s main private sales fairs and informal sales networks, permethrin “has disappeared,” Joel says of the insecticide, acaricide, and insect and lice repellent. “I went back to buy more and they told me they were out of stock and that customers kept coming in asking for the same thing.”
They took the mattress out onto the patio “so it gets sun all morning to see if the bugs go away.”
To avoid sitting idly by waiting for the medication to reappear, Joel and his wife moved the mattress out onto the patio “to get some sun all morning to see if the bugs go away.” But the experience of some nearby neighbors doesn’t offer much hope. “In this neighborhood, some people have had to burn their sofas, throw their mattresses into the river, and throw away their pillows; nothing is safe.”
Desperation is also dangerous. Last March, a burning mattress ended up causing a fire that affected residents of the Villanueva and La Aduana neighborhoods. The flames spread from a garbage dump to the riverbank and into the waters of the Miradero River, contaminated by fuel oil spilled by a nearby factory. Shortly afterward, it was discovered that the mattress had been infested with bedbugs.
“He who blinks loses”
The luckiest Holguín residents can appeal to their relatives abroad to buy them a tube of cream, similar to the one Joel bought for about 600 pesos, for about $15 on one of the many commercial websites that offer food and medicine delivery on the island.
“He who blinks loses,” the man repeats, and after blaming himself for his shortsightedness, having bought only one tube of the cream. He ends up mixing the syllables into a litany that torments him as he checks the mattress under the July sun. “He who blinks loses ,” he concludes.
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Students from the two neighboring schools “get high in broad daylight”
Instead of prioritizing prevention, authorities mount exemplary trials with sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
Alberto Sosa González Secondary School, in Holguín / Facebook
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 26 June 2025 — Holguín’s Marijuana Alley earned its name years ago for the ease of finding someone to sell some “marijuana cigarettes.” But with the appearance of the ’químico’ – chemical – and its cheap and potent papers, cannabis is in retreat. The new king of drugs now passes from hand to hand, from high school students to younger boys, from the unemployed to housewives, while it continues to gain ground in the city.
A few meters from the alley there are two schools, says Susana, who used to attend both centers as a social worker. The secondary school is called Alberto Sosa González and has about 1,000 students. In an annex, “almost wall to wall,” she explains, there is also a pre-university. “With 150 or 200 pesos in hand, any of those boys can get a dose of chemical,” she says.
She has seen them herself, she confesses. “In the morning, before they go to school, you find them there, smoking cigarettes and something else. Then in the afternoon, when they leave class, they go back to the alley,” she says. A few years ago students were hiding while sharing marijuana cigarettes, but now they are completely uninhibited. “Even outside of school, while waiting for their girlfriends, many get high as if it were nothing, in broad daylight.” continue reading
Susana is no longer a social worker, but that hasn’t stopped her from noticing that drug use in Holguín is “rampant”
Susana is no longer a social worker, but that has not prevented her from noticing that the consumption of drugs in Holguín, especially in schools, is “rampant.” “Although they have not been made public, there have been several cases of boys being found with little bits of chemical in their rucksacks or uniforms. They have also been caught eating it,” she warns.
Parks, corners, specific streets or entire neighborhoods. The cannabinoid is present throughout the city, not only in schools. “A few months ago I myself witnessed a purchase,” says the Holguinera, who places the events in the so-called Chivos park, another enclave where drug “transactions” have become frequent.
“A man arrived on a bicycle and stopped in front of three young boys without getting off. The boys paid him, and he took out a sealed pack of cigarettes, gave each one a little piece of paper and left,” says Susana, who up until that point was not sure what she had witnessed.
“I immediately noticed when the boys started taking the tobacco out of the end of the cigarette to make room for the chemical. They lit up right there and started smoking.”
Susana has also heard of other methods of consumption. “To amplify the high of the chemical, they buy rum and instant soft drinks. After consuming the drug, they prepare a concentrate of the alcohol and powder that makes them feel good,” she explains.
In addition to Marijuana Alley, Susana relates the areas of greater presence of the chemical with the most marginal neighborhoods. “There is a place known as the Loma del Tanque where there is also a lot of drugs, especially among young people aged 15 to 25. There are very poor people who live there; they have come from other municipalities and the countryside trying to get close to the city,” she points out.
The 26 de Julio neighborhood, she adds, is another “red zone.” If she had to point out the “capital” of the consumption of chemical and marijuana, says Susana, it would be Chivos park.
Susana has learned of many trials and operations to combat the presence of narcotics in the city
Susana has learned of many trials and operations to combat the presence of narcotics in the city. “A few days ago they raided two places on 13th Street and seized químico,” she says. But the areas that are commonly known to be epicenters of narcotics sales continue to spread, and among consumers, although mostly still young people, there are also adults and the elderly, both men and women.
Far from focusing on prevention and rehabilitation, the Cuban Government has chosen to wage war against those involved in crimes of drug use and possession. It is a rare day when the official press or news does not speak of an exemplary trial against sellers and consumers. This same Wednesday, the official newspaper Granma reported the sanction of up to 20 years in prison for a resident in Ciego de Ávila for growing marijuana. Another person was sentenced to three years for knowing and not reporting the crime.
On the same day, the Prosecutor’s Office of Santiago de Cuba disclosed the case — without specifying the sentence — of a 64-year-old Venezuelan citizen, tried for “crime related to illicit drugs and substances with similar effects.”
Both trials were broadcast one day before the celebration on Thursday of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, a day that the Government has used to underline its “zero tolerance” towards narcotics.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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To make matters worse, the affront occurred in the Lenin neighborhood and the paint used to cover the graffiti was of poor quality.
Despite its visual harshness, the Lenin neighborhood seems like an urban oasis compared to the slums surrounding it. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Miguel Garcia, Holguín, 19 May 2025 — The phrase “Down with Communism” could recently be seen scrawled on a wall of a dilapidated Soviet-style building in Holguín’s Lenin neighborhood. As usual, local officials reflexively attempted to cover it with a layer of faded reddish paint, as thin as the argument for the system they defend. As a result, the message remains plainly visible. Ironically visible. As though the wall, tired of silence, did not want to remain completely silent.
This neighborhood, built in the 1970s as part of an urban development scheme inspired by Eastern European model, is composed of functionalist reinforced concrete buildings with the aesthetic charm of a wet shoebox. Rather than a sign of neglect, their uniform ugliness is one of the hallmarks of an ideology that for decades distrusted beauty and was suspicious of any sign of individuality. Besides housing workers and their families, these complexes were designed to be a living testament to the “New Man,” who was expected to sleep in a beehive, eat from a ration book, and applaud standing up.
Despite its visual harshness, the Lenin district looks like an urban oasis compared to the surrounding slums. Just to the north, El Nuevo Llano stretches out like a warning, characterized by dirt roads, makeshift roofs, recycled pipes, and ditches that act as drainage canals. In contrast, the Soviet buildings appear almost poetic, albeit in dull-gray.
When graffiti like this appears, authorities launch an operation worthy of a tropical CSI spinoff
When graffiti like this appears, authorities launch an operation worthy of a tropical CSI spinoff. Calligraphy experts, State Security agents, and surveillance committees show up. They study the slant of a letter, the strength of a stroke, the depth of the spray. Section 5 of the Cuban Penal Code classifies crimes like these as “enemy propaganda,” with penalties of up to fifteen years in prison. Additionally, articles 263 to 266 treat continue reading
them as crimes of public disorder, as though a wall could disrupt order more than hunger or power outages.
The official response often goes beyond the superficial. In other instances, acts of revolutionary reaffirmation have been staged in front of walls that dared to think differently. In Havana’s Santos Suárez neighborhood, for example, children in headscarves marched, officials gave impromptu speeches and people chanted well-rehearsed slogans.
The name of the neighborhood was, of course, no conicidence. It’s called Lenin. And it was not done out of some municipal whim but out of doctrinal loyalty. Though it was Stalin’s cult of personality that got most of the bad press, it is worth noting that it was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a.k.a. Lenin, who established the repressive machinery of the Soviet state. He dissolved the Constituent Assembly, suppressed all non-Bolshevik press, legalized terror as an instrument of governance and created the Cheka, the seed of all future political police forces in the Communist bloc. He was also a pioneer in the art of turning utopia into dogma and dogma into prison.
What is written in anger is rarely erased with a brush. / 14ymedio
These days, when Cuba is holding congresses for peasants, replete with speeches and admonitions, it is also worth remembering the so-called “war-time communism” implemented by Lenin in the Soviet Union, a policy of forced requisitions of food from peasants. The result was hunger, revolts like the one in Tambov, and brutal repression that became a model for future generations of enlightened authoritarianism.
Though there is no proof that Lenin himself gave the order to kill Tsar Nicholas II and his family, he unapologetically took responsibility for the clandestine execution as head of the Bolshevik government. It was not justice that was important; it was the consolidation of power. Hence his famous quote, “Everything is an illusion except power.”
So it is an act of poetic justice — or at least irony— that a sign has appeared in Holguín’s Lenin neighborhood that bluntly reads, “Down with Communism.” A simple phrase, painted quickly, like someone leaving a mark on history from a forgotten corner. The regime attempted to erase it with its usual palette of opacity and repression. But as is often the case with walls, what is written in rage is rarely erased with a brush.
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Rafael, a volunteer with dozens of donations in his history, has seen people come to the Provincial Blood Bank practically begging for a donation / Facebook / FEU de Holguín
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguin, 16 April 2025 — On the shoulders of the Cuban patient lies not only the responsibility to get syringes and drugs before surgery. Now, more and more often, carrying a blood donation is a prerequisite for undergoing an operation. In Holguín, those who do not have someone who, for friendship or money, gives them their blood are forced to postpone the surgery.
“Please, an AB+ blood donor is urgently needed at the provincial hospital in Camagüey. If anyone could help, thank you,” reads a Facebook group where residents of Holguín meet and sell imported clothes that are reported stolen. These appeals alternate with other publications that say the self-sacrificing donor will be rewarded with a payment of between 5,000 and 7,000 pesos.
Rafael, a volunteer with dozens of donations in his history, has seen people come to the Provincial Blood Bank practically begging for a donation, just hours before a family member must have surgery. This Monday, the scene was repeated before his eyes when he decided to help a young neighbor who last weekend had a motorcycle accident. continue reading
It is now a custom in Holguín that when a person is going to have an operation, he has to bring a blood donation
“The treatment by the staff was friendly, excellent, with explanations and educational chats,” says Rafael, who immediately adds the other side of the coin. “But it is now customary in Holguín that when someone goes in for surgery, he has to bring a blood donation. There was a case of a man who had to be operated on the next day, and if he wasn’t bringing a donor, they wouldn’t operate.”
Although it is not officially stipulated that the patient is responsible for managing the donation, the fact is that the practice of imposing this responsibility on the person concerned has spread throughout the country. The requirement to have a document certifying the donation has fueled the informal donation market to the detriment of altruism. ” There are people who have no one to give them blood but also don’t have the money to pay for it,” says Rafael.
For years, the national blood bank system achieved high levels of self-sufficiency thanks to a combination of health education, social pressure from the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution as well as labor and student centers. But that stability began to deteriorate after the Special Period and has worsened further over the last decade.
The Pan American Health Organization measures efficiency in this sector at one donation per 20 inhabitants]]
A recent article in the Spanish media Rebelión, connected to the Cuban regime, addressed the issue in the tone of a harangue. The author reviewed the dramatic drop in the volume of voluntary donations, comparing the 585,000 registered in 2003 to 415,000 in 2014. But according to data from 2023, the situation was worse, reaching only 254,845 donations. The Pan American Health Organization measures efficiency in this sector at a rate of one donation per 20 inhabitants, so that Cuba (0.44) does not reach half the target. The article called for “less apologetics” and “more knocking on doors, even to guarantee something as elementary as a good snack afterwards to those who donate.”
The conditions of the blood banks, hit by the crisis, also do not help much. A few years ago, the “strengthening snacks” that were given after extraction to help revive the donor were legendary. Little remains of those sandwiches with ham and cheese, sometimes accompanied by a milkshake or flavored milk .
This Monday, after filling a bag with 450 milliliters of blood, Rafael was given a small, poor-quality ration of food. ” They gave me a strange bread, with a kind of raw sausage, a glass of watered-down soda and a small glass of milk with a stale cookie,” he says. When he left, still a little weak from the effort, the man who was desperately looking for a donation was still there, waiting to find someone to help him.
During the time that Rafael spent at the blood bank, “few people arrived.” Most were “people who were donating directly to patients.” Some, of course, did it as a business because they barely knew the name of the patient that was supposed to be on the donation form. In Cuba, the need for blood is no longer solved with harangues.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Caribbean Electric Vehicles opens an assembly plant in Holguín
In the Vedca tricycles, “the front tire serves the rear ones, requiring only one spare tire” / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 24 March 2025 — The Héroes del 26 de Julio Mechanical Company, a state firm of Holguín dedicated to the manufacture of agricultural equipment and implements, has a new line of business”: the assembly of electric tricycles. It is a project that has been carried out since the beginning of the year with the Chinese-Cuban joint venture Vehículos Eléctricos del Caribe (Vedca), which has been prominent in the precarious market of the Island for several years.
As explained by the official media, the parts of the cargo tricycles, model C400, come from China, and the vehicles are sold in dollars through the Islagrande platform, based in Canada.
Anyone interested in buying any of them, “pays online, and we and the buyer receive the confirmation at the time of the purchase,” explained a commercial in a report broadcast on national television last week. “Once you are notified, you can come in and pick up your product.”
The prices on the page, says Esteban, a recent buyer of one of these tricycles, are between 3,500 and 3,700 dollars
The prices on the page, Esteban, a recent buyer of one of these tricycles, tells 14ymedio are between 3,500 and 3,700 dollars. However, he has also seen them sold under the table. “Some private individuals who can buy online, because they have a family or account abroad, buy them and resell them more expensively for dollars in cash.” continue reading
In the same way, he criticizes, even if they are assembled locally, they are not sold in Cuban pesos, “as was said at the beginning.”
He does praise their efficiency, at least for the moment. “They have quality, in the sense that they are new,” he says, based on the experience of his own tricycle, with which he moves goods and passengers. With the advantage, he adds, that unlike other brands, “the front tire serves the rear ones, requiring only one spare tire, which is a savings.”
According to information from Canal Caribe, the factory is currently preparing 48 teams, and they are waiting for “an upcoming shipment,” without specifying the figure. “This process is important in our production system, since it allows us to continue with this business and open us up to other companies and producers that want to use our knowledge,” Ramón Piferrer, director of domestic trade of the Héroes del 26 de Julio, told Cuban Television.
Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey and Havana also participate in this type of agreement, says the news. The assembly plant in the capital, paid for by Tianjin Dongxing, was built on 9,000 square meters ceded by the Cuban Government and has 60 workers.
Vedca, the first joint project signed by China and Cuba in the automotive field, has been operating at least since 2019, but it was in 2022 that Havana signed the agreement between the Chinese Tianjin Dongxing and the Cuban Minerva to collaborate on the “renewal of the car fleet” on the Island.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Imported from Mexico, Spain, the United States and even faraway Ukraine, the product is disappearing in Holguín.
Vegetable oil sets the price of a meal in Cuba, hence the concern over the rise in product prices in recent weeks. / Escambray
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 12 March 2025 — Cooking oil is a dominating presence in the nation’s culinary scene. If there is a lot left in the home cook’s bottle, all is good. But if it’s only a smidgen, things get tense. Vegetable oil is the key determinant of the cost of a meal in Cuba, hence the concern over the rising price in recent weeks despite the government’s attempts to control the it.
Given the heavy emphasis on meat and fried foods in Cuban cuisine, cooking oil represents a significant expense for Cuban families. Prices for the most common cooking oils— soy, sunflower and canola — at privately owned small and medium sized businesses (MSMEs) have risen nearly 20% since the beginning of the year. This dramatic price increase is being felt, with slight variations, throughout the country.
From January till today, the price of a liter of oil has risen from 820 pesos to 980 pesos at privately owned shops in the city of Holguín. Meanwhile, cooking oil is notably absent at government-run ration stores.
Outside the privately owned Dos Hermanos (Two Brothers) store here in Holguín, the hot topic on Tuesday was the rising price for a food item imported largely from Mexico, Spain, the United States and even faraway Ukraine.
In my house we have to buy at least three bottles every month, so I end up spending all my pension just on that”
“At this rate, it’ll cost 1,000 pesos by Spring break [in April],” predicted one customer, who fears that the vacation period will lead to a higher continue reading
consumption of fried foods by school children and teens. “In my house we have to buy at least three bottles every month, so I end up spending all my pension just on that.” Pork fat could be an alternative but it is not an option for her. A pound of unprocessed pork lard costs about 500 pesos in the provincial capital.
Looking for ways to reduce consumption, some people mill around outside the MSME, exchanging recipes that require less cooking oil. “My daughter bought me an air fryer that makes food crispy while using almost no oil but the problem is the blackouts,” said one elderly man. “I got some nice potatoes yesterday but they’re the kind that are very absorbent and soak up a lot of oil.”
In July the government lifted import tariffs on six basic products — chicken, powdered milk, cooking oil, sausages, pasta, and powdered detergent — while also imposing price caps on them. The price of a liter of oil was capped at 990 pesos. (Olive oil was exempted.) Subsequently, the price began to fall until December, when it reached 750 pesos at Holguín’s privately owned markets.
From January till today, the price of a liter of oil has risen from 820 pesos to 980 pesos at privately owned shops in the city of Holguín. Meanwhile, cooking oil is notably absent at government-run ration stores. / 14ymedio
No sooner had the year started, however, than the price of oil began to rise. The reasons for this are hard to pinpoint in a country where the economic crisis has impacted every aspect of daily life, especially food costs. “We used to buy it wholesale from a private distributor which imported it by the container-load, says a Holguín vendor who has a stall in the city’s downtown. The man, who prefers to remain anonymous, claims that, since government measures to “reorganize” the private sector took effect in August, the variety and quantity of merchandise his suppliers provide has declined.
The regulations include restrictions on private wholesale transactions, the phase-out of tax exemptions and higher taxes. “Two MSMEs that used to sell us oil have stopped importing it because they now have to go through government channels. They say it’s not profitable, not only because of the price but because it now takes longer to get it from the ports to them. By then, it’s too late,” he explaims.
I can’t risk losing my license because a lot of my family’s money is invested in this little store”
“Right now our profit margin on cooking oil is very low. Customers complain that the price has gone up but it has gotten more expensive for us too. What we do now is suggest vegetable shortening as an alternative but it’s not as popular because it’s not suitable for every kind of food. Plus, it’s expensive and doesn’t last as long.” He predicts that, given how close its price is to the government’s 990-peso per liter limit, “it [too] will become less available.”
The owner of another store attributes the rise in cooking oil prices to the current dollar exchange rate on the informal market. Trading at 345 Cuban pesos as of Wednesday, the US currency is essential for purchasing products on the international market. “Right now, a liter of oil — once it is delivered to Cuba — is costing us $2.50 a bottle based on the small quantities we buy. That is more than 860 pesos at the current exchange rate, ” she explains. “On top of that, there are transportation costs and other expenses to get it here.”
Rather than violate the 990-peso price cap, the owner of a small shop opts not to sell it at all. “I can’t risk losing my license because I have a lot of my family’s money invested in this little store,” she explains. If the supply of vegetable oil decreases, Cuban kitchens will be turning out a lot fewer French fries, malanga fritters, and “tostones” than they once did.
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“Everyone knows that the Castros were born in this province and whoever controls Holguín controls Cuba”
With the incorporation of Joel Queipo Ruíz in the position, many in Holguín held their breath / Radio Angulo
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 8 February 2025 — If there is a name that these days is pronounced in Holguín with a grimace and biting your lip, it is that of Joel Queipo Ruíz, first secretary of the Communist Party (PCC) in the province. Since the official took office last April, he has unleashed a witch hunt against entrepreneurs and farmers that has resulted in fines, confiscations of products and numerous closed shops.
The Chinese Fair, one of the most important points of sale in the Holguin capital, is among the main objectives of the Queipo crusade. “This, since the end of last year, has become a constant battle, and now they want to evict us,” José Alberto, owner of one of the stalls at the popular market, tells 14ymedio. Although the merchant has his papers in order, he has already begun to liquidate his products in order to leave.
The authorities have warned the merchants that the municipal ceremony of the next event on July 26 will be held on site, and that there should be no vestiges of the market. In the streets, it is rumored that “Queipo wants to make Raúl Castro happy in his birthplace.” The General spends more and more time in the nearby Cayo Saetía, where he has a retreat from which he frequently leaves for official events and meetings. continue reading
“When Queipo made his debut in office, more inspectors arrived, and the raids multiplied”
“They’ve been harassing us for months. When Queipo made his debut in office, more inspectors arrived, and the raids on the fair’s kiosks multiplied. People started closing their awnings thinking it was temporary, that it would pass, but we’ve been feeling this tension for almost a year,” he explains. “First they said they were going after the illegal stalls, some tables and pallets that didn’t have a license, near the road, but they have also made life impossible for those of us who have papers.”
José Alberto points out that the offensive reached a limit this February. “We have just been warned that we have to sell all the merchandise because they are going to close the Chinese Fair to prepare this entire area for the event of the 26th. Those who do not comply with that guideline before February 16 will receive a fine of 30,000 pesos,” he says. The announcement has raised a controversy that even reaches the official media.
“You have to find a solution to the problem, not remove it,” emphasizes a journalist from the program “In the Foreground” of the Telecentro Telecristal that alludes to the popular metaphor of “throwing away the sofa” in the face of any problem,* eliminating its visible expression but not its causes. Evidently upset with the order to remove the merchants from the fair, the reporter recognizes that “there are illegal sellers but also legal ones who are authorized.”
“Those children were ordered to be killed because the correct thing to do is to evacuate immediately” in the face of the risk of explosion
A still from a documentary for Russian television about the underground facilities of the Armed Forces. / Screenshot/Zvezda
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguin, 25 January 2025 — Of the Cuban Army arsenal that exploded in Melones, Holguin, on January 7, only a few structures remain standing. The shock wave and the fire consumed everything, from the barracks to the war material whose detonation caused the death of 13 soldiers, nine of them young recruits. The conclusion is clear: “Protocols were violated there.”
Speaking is a retired captain of the Armed Forces, interviewed on condition of anonymity by 14ymedio. His assessment of the case, as a former officer and in charge of weaponry in an Eastern Army unit, is that Melones is one of the most costly recent episodes of negligence for the Cuban people.
“The officers who lost their lives there knew the risk they were running; the soldiers did not,” the military man assures, categorically. “They knew what kind of military equipment was in there and how highly explosive it was.”
When the captain refers to “in there,” he refers to the labyrinth of underground tunnels that the arsenal consisted of. Cubans, accustomed to suspecting that “the mountains are hollow” due to the work and grace of the Army, cannot imagine the attention and resources that have been devoted to the construction of those warehouses, always adjacent to military units, which this newspaper’s source now describes in great detail. continue reading
The door of the Melones tunnels, and those of all the magazines in Cuba, are huge
“The door of the Melones tunnels, and those of all the magazines in Cuba, are huge,” he says. “It’s a big cement arch, an entrance where you can fit up to two war tanks, side by side. The doors are made of a special material, a mixture of lead, sand, iron and concrete.”
In Cuban military jargon, this combination of construction materials has a name that is reminiscent of the most thrilling years of the Cold War: the “anti-atomic league.”
The Melones tragedy took place in this scenario. Explosions screams, commands – negligent and carelessly issued in the heat of the moment, the captain says – and the recruits operating without understanding the caliber of the equipment. “Those kids were ordered to die,” he insists. “The correct protocol is immediate evacuation.”
“The Armed Forces have specialists in weaponry and explosives control, they even have technical forces trained in firefighting. They are what people call ’FAR firefighters,’” he explains. “People were not supposed to go in there, and the order that should have been given was to evacuate the facility and notify the right authorities.”
“Those tunnels were hermetically sealed. When there is a fire, if you open the mouth of the tunnel, you are oxygenating the fire.”
The military staff did just the opposite. “Those tunnels were hermetically sealed. When there is a fire, if you open the mouth of the tunnel – that huge, heavy door – you are oxygenating the fire. They opened the mouth of the tunnel and went in carelessly.” According to some of his former colleagues who were aware of other details of the explosion, with whom he has discussed the case, toxic gases were already coming out of the Melones tunnel.
“They went in there and then the oxygen fueled the flames,” he continues. “There were two soldiers who tried to get in. One came out coughing, asphyxiated by the fumes and smoke. The other was the one who didn’t want to go in and said he would rather go to prison than die. A few minutes later, the tunnels exploded”.
The case is reminiscent of the 2020 explosion in the military unit of La Púa, in the town of Velasco -just 50 kilometers from Melones. What exploded then was also an ammunition warehouse “in poor condition.” Silos with bullets, rifles, various types of machinery. The mushroom of yellowish smoke that rose over the arsenal, photographed by the villagers, was almost identical to that of Melones.
The big difference, the former officer stresses, was that in La Púa the 1,245 inhabitants of the village were evacuated quickly and that, as the official note on the explosion stated, “there was no loss of human lives.” Besides, “that unit had less explosive material than the magazine of Melones.”
The Ministry of the Armed Forces will keep secret how much equipment exploded in Melones and what operation was being carried out there
There are other recent cases, all similar, that point to the obsoleteness of the equipment stored in the subway magazines of the Armed Forces. Almost everything dates back to the Soviet era when Fidel Castro intended to arm the country to the teeth. In 2017, a silo exploded in Songo-La Maya, Santiago de Cuba; in 2011, an ammunition depot exploded in Boyeros, Havana; in 2000, another warehouse blew up 20 kilometers from Matanzas.
Cubans know that, despite the death of the 13 soldiers, the Ministry of the Armed Forces will keep secret how much equipment exploded in Melones and exactly what operation was being carried out in the unit before the incident. “There are still sporadic explosions there,” confirms the former captain interviewed by 14ymedio.
“The government will never admit it, but there was negligence,” he insists. “There would have been material damage, of course, but all those lives could have been saved. Not one would have been lost.”
Translated by LAR
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14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, December 16 2025 –In the morning progressing along Valle road with an unforgiving rattle. Every pothole forces us to slow down, every puddle – thick, greenish – reminds us that last night’s rain found no drainage and no official concern. Electric tricycles, motorcycles, bicycles and private cars arrive here with the same destination: the Lucía Iñiguez Landín Surgical Hospital. People arrive with fevers, joint pains, and the exhaustion of those who have been waiting for days for their bodies to give way.
