Miguel García – Translating Cuba

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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The Youth Club in Cuba Ends a Project That Was More About Politics Than About Computers

In the neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo in the city of Holguín, another Youth Club is experiencing deterioration and no longer provides services to the public. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana / Holguín, Lucía Oliveira and Miguel García, 3 March 2024 — Where before there were tables with screens and keyboards, now there are boxes of vegetable oil, piles of spaghetti packages and bags of powdered milk piled up. Two of the most important buildings of the Youth Computer and Electronics Club in Holguín have been leased as warehouses to small private companies in the city. The initiative, originally created in 1987 to be the computer spearhead of the Cuban regime, has been in frank deterioration for years.

The economic crisis has hit the Youth Club network hard, because it needs frequent investments in computer equipment. “The machines are now very old, and we piled up some of them in a corner because they don’t even turn on,” an employee of the Lenin neighborhood premises in this eastern Cuban city tells 14ymedio.

“It’s been months since we became a warehouse for the products of private businesses in the area,” the worker admits. “The management of the Holguín Youth Club must collect eight million pesos per month for services, but since we provide fewer and fewer of our own services to the population, we have to make money in a different way.”

Previously, the money was obtained from customers who paid for “machine time” by renting a computer for a few hours, which teenagers and children from nearby neighborhoods used mainly to play video games. But most of the money came from the State budget, which thought of this initiative as the “apple of their eye.” continue reading

“Any little kid now has a mobile phone that is much better than the computers we had here”

“We also offered antivirus updates, a copy of the Ecured encyclopedia and La Mochila* (an official alternative to the ‘weekly packet’ [a collection of TV shows, music and digital material, much of it from abroad]). In recent years we didn’t have much, especially after people were able to connect to Wi-Fi networks and the internet,” he emphasizes.

The arrival, in December 2018, of the web browsing service through mobile telephony seems to have struck a mortal blow to a Youth Club network that was initially designed to centralize the use of new technologies. “Any little kid now has a mobile phone that is much better than the computers we had here. If they don’t have one, they ask their parents or a friend and can download and play whatever they want.”

Despite its loss of social importance, the Youth Club for Computation and Electronics continues to be defined on its digital site as “a network of technological centers, with computer solutions” at the fingertips of any Cuban. It adds that it has “a wide portfolio of products and services,” but a tour of its Holguin center points in another direction.

The entity’s office in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood is closed. “We don’t have a reopening date at the moment,” a custodian tells this newspaper. “Perhaps when we reopen there will be a store here because that’s what is being done with the others,” he says. Outside, the unpainted facade and a sign with faded colors are far from the impeccable presence that the Youth Club once had.

“All this fell out of favor with the departure of Fidel Castro from the leadership of the country, because everyone knows that this was a project of his”

“All this fell out of favor with the departure of Fidel Castro from the leadership of the country, because everyone knows that this was a project of his,” María Victoria Contreras, a worker for two decades at the Havana Youth Club, tells this newspaper. “I was among the founders, and I can say that here the resources were endless. Unlike other sectors, we lacked nothing.”

Contreras says that at first they had a lot of demand, “even a line outside, because almost no one had a computer at home, and the kids wanted to sit in front of a screen, touch a mouse. I saw many children play with a keyboard for the first time when I worked at the Club; there are things you never forget.”

“The first Youth Club that was inaugurated was the one on N Street, between 21st and 23rd next to the Cuban Pavilion in Havana,” recalls the retiree. “The technology we had at that time was keyboards with monochrome screens, which was a success for us.” However, “now investments are needed to build this network, and the money no longer arrives as before.”

Yordanis, a teenager in the 80s, discovered his passion in those places after spending several hours in line to gain access. Now a graduate of computer engineering, he recognizes the importance of the Youth Club in his life but considers that the project “was not updated at the same pace as the technologies.” For this professional, “the infrastructure has not been modernized, internet access is poor, and the user experience leaves a lot to be desired.”

The Youth Club of the Lenin neighborhood in Holguín has been converted into a merchandise warehouse for private businesses/ 14ymedio

“You can’t start a state-of-the-art video game on a computer where the mouse doesn’t work well, the keyboard lacks letters or the screen can’t support the definition of graphics for the current interfaces. It’s frustrating and, in addition, people don’t want others to be looking over their shoulder at what they’re doing,” he adds.

The Central Palace of Computing and Electronics, located at the intersection of Amistad and Reina streets in front of Fraternidad Park, in Central Havana, is the largest installation of this type in the whole country. The property has undergone all kinds of transformations and different uses throughout its more than six decades of existence.

First, the colossal building was the headquarters of the American Sears chain in Havana. Nationalized after the coming to power of Fidel Castro in 1959, the place spent years closed to the public and converted into bureaucratic offices. In the 1980s it was inaugurated as the Centro market, a free trade experiment that lasted a short time and fell out of favor during the process of Rectification of Errors and Negative Tendencies of 1986.

The old Sears building experienced another period of closure until 1991, when it reopened its doors as a Computer Palace. “Its huge rooms and many floors were always too complicated for this new function because it has always seemed more like a large store than a place to go to use a computer,” acknowledges a founding worker of the place.

“As he did with other emblematic buildings of Havana, he decided that the old Sears was not going to be dedicated to consumption nor was it going to give one more peso to anyone”

“But Fidel wanted to teach a lesson to all those people who were going to stand in line at the Centro market in the early hours of the morning to buy and resell the jams, beers and tins of cumin on the black market,” he says. “As he did with other emblematic buildings in Havana, he decided that the old Sears was not going to be dedicated to consumption nor was it going to give one more peso to anyone.”

“In those days we also gave courses to learn how to use programs and other tools, we even had a Geroclub for older people who wanted to approach a computer for the first time, but that is no longer done,” the former employee tells 14ymedio. “This was a political project rather than a computer project. It was designed to create the “New Man” in computing, and that objective was lost.”

The former worker of the Youth Club believes that the extension of new technologies “changed everything.” Cubans “prefer to enjoy a movie, a game or a videoconference at home with some friends or sitting in a park, but those facilities are more and more abused every day and don’t even make you want to sit in one.”

“Now there are other priorities,” the employee summarizes. In the list of preferences, the new forms of economic management are winning over the old official programs, marked by massiveness and bulky budgets. The city of Holguín is going at full speed in that reconversion; where before it was about getting online to play games or program, now it’s about buying rice and liquid detergent.

*Translator’s note: *La Mochila (Backpack) contains official State content as opposed to El Paquete (the Weekly Packet), which contains non-political content and is bought on the black market.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Bad Smells and Feces Floating at the Entrance Force the Closure of a Doctor’s Office in Holguin, Cuba

“Between the bad smells and the feces floating at the entrance, maintaining hygiene is impossible.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, February 10, 2024 — “I don’t know what’s worse, the plague or the lack of attention,” says Clara, a few feet from Office 24 of the Pedro del Toro Saad health clinic in the city of Holguín. On the outskirts of the premises, located on the road to the Mirador de Mayabe, a fetid liquid springs up from the sewer pipes and accumulates at the entrance. The spillage began last December, less than six months after the property was subjected to a “capital repair.”

“Just when we were under the illusion of being able to have higher quality care, we began noticing how the entrance was filled with sewage,” explains Clara, a diabetic with high blood pressure who lives nearby. “The doctor and nurse immediately reported the problem, but there’s no way they can work there because it’s a health hazard. Between the bad smells and the feces floating at the entrance, maintaining hygiene is impossible.”

The spillage began last December, less than six months after the office was subjected to a “capital repair”. (14ymedio)

The Hilda Torres neighborhood clinic serves 1,032 patients in the area, including two pregnant women. After closing the premises, the health authorities referred the patients to Office 25, which is some 650 feet away, but the congestion in the consultation rooms and the excessive number of patients are detriments to the care that they can receive. “It’s not worth going there; it can’t cope with all the patients. You spend hours for nothing and have to go back home.” continue reading

A week ago, after many criticisms and complaints, a vehicle specialized in evacuating the contents of the septic tank arrived at Office 24. “It should have come several times because of the large volume of waste, but it only came once because there is no fuel,” complains another resident. “Everyone knows this; we have repeatedly called the Polyclinic, Hygiene and Epidemiology, and nothing happens.”

The Hilda Torres neighborhood clinic serves 1,032 patients in the area, including two pregnant women

With an aging population, the Hilda Torres neighborhood also has a rough topography. “People who are in a wheelchair, the elderly with walkers and all of us who suffer from a locomotion problem find it very difficult to get to the other office because there is a steep hill,” adds the neighbor. “But once you arrive, you have to arm yourself with patience because it is always full of people. I calculate that in total there are more than 2,000 people who are now served there.”

“Closed for hygiene.” What was one of the health pillars of the Island is going through difficult times due to lack of investments and the loss of qualified personnel. (14ymedio)

The Family Doctor program in Cuba, which was originally designed for each office to provide care to between 600 and 700 patients, has been deteriorating with the exodus of professionals, the departure of others on official missions abroad and infrastructure problems. What was one of the health pillars of the Island is going through difficult times due to lack of investments and the loss of qualified personnel.

On the road to the Mirador de Mayabe, the panorama could not be more emblematic of what is happening along the entire Island: a closed office, the sewer waters covering part of its entrance and the logo of a rod with a coiled snake still hanging on the facade of the installation. The reptile seems to be lying in wait for the moment when the waste extraction vehicle comes back and patients can return to the benches, stretchers and blood pressure monitors.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Not Even the ‘Integrated’ Neighborhoods in Cuba Are Saved From Garbage Piles Everywhere

The volume accumulated in the containers is such that it would take several days of work and trucks to clean it up completely. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Havana, 15 January 2024 — Not even the Cuban military are saved from the mountains of garbage that are seen everywhere on the Island. The neighborhoods of Villanueva 2 and Villanueva 3, in the city of Holguín, where hundreds of workers of the Ministry of the Interior reside, is about to be swallowed up by the mountains of waste that accumulate around it. Despite the fact that a few days ago the Comunales [Communal Services] company collected part of the waste, the accumulated volume is such that it would take several days of work and countless trucks to clean it up completely.

Bags flying in the wind, several vehicle beds full of waste and a rotten smell that floods the air is the panorama facing the neighbors in the morning when they leave their homes. “You can’t even have the windows open because the flies get everywhere,” complained a resident in the area, located behind the Pedro del Toro Polyclinic of the Pueblo Nuevo People’s Council. “This started as a little bit of garbage but now it already occupies the space of several buildings.”

The nearby buildings, most of them five floors erected by residents, are of recent construction, and in them, in addition to members of the Ministry of the Interior, live some doctors and people from Holguin who lost their homes during the passage of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and had to wait more than ten years for a new home. “This is a very politically integrated neighborhood, and people are fuming because we have been abandoned,” a neighbor explained to 14ymedio. continue reading

A few meters from the garbage dump, the facilities of an organoponic nursery languish due to the lack of supplies and the absence of personnel interested in working there due to the low salary. (14ymedio)

“When we moved here, this was supposed to be a neighborhood that was going to have special attention but everything has deteriorated,” claims the holguinera. A few meters from the garbage dump, the facilities of an organoponic nursery languish due to the lack of supplies and the absence of personnel interested in working there due to the low salary.

In March 2021, a report on official television boasted of the resurgence of the organoponics system in the province. The report attributed the revival to the new economic measures, which allowed wages to go above 2,000 pesos and, in addition, the division of profits resulting from the sale of products. In the images disseminated there was no shortage of lettuce, radishes and chives, all freshly grown and available to customers.

Two years later, an entourage led by Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez, first secretary of the Communist Party in Holguín, visited the surroundings of Villa Nueva 3 where an organoponic nursery was built that would be baptized with the optimistic name of “New Dawn.” The official inspected the areas for the cultivation of vegetables and fruits.

However, this January, instead of the promised cucumbers and kidney beans, the most common product on the lands adjacent to Villa Nueva 2 and 3 was garbage. The harvest of filth is the only one that seems to grow stronger and over-fulfill the plans for this neighborhood.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Child Beggars, a Growing Problem in the Cuban City of Holguin

Children enter and leave a private business during the day and at night. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, January 6, 2024 — The youngest is called El Gatico [The Kitten] because he can sneak through any hole, jumps over walls and appears in the most unexpected places. She responds to the name of Rosita, and from the age of five she has been asking for money on the streets of Holguín. She and other children have formed a group who wander in the cafes, bars and restaurants.

In the private Bolas Bar, located in the popular neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo, they move between the tables, get on top of the customers begging them to share some of their food or, instead, to slip some bills in their hands. Rare is the day when these children with emaciated bodies and worn clothes, undermined by malnutrition, do not appear in the area.

Despite their young ages, which range from six to 14 years old, the children who make up this group sleep many nights on the street. Their parents, some alcoholics, others ill with HIV and all very poor, urge them to look outside their homes for everything that can help them survive on a day-to-day basis. Food, money, some clothes torn from a clothesline or a light bulb stolen from a doorway: everything works for them.

Sometimes, those who are there eating and drinking give them a soft drink. (14ymedio)

“This is one of the most critical cases in Holguín, and the State does nothing about it despite the reports we have made,” says Marcia, a social worker who investigated the situation of the children and presented a report on their vulnerability. “These children have been in this situation for years; the girl has been begging on the street since she was five years old. At first they were with an adult, but now that she is 11, she goes alone.” continue reading

“Someone passed through Pueblo Nuevo and took a photo of Rosita sleeping on the street after midnight. She goes to elementary school, but in the afternoons and evenings she dedicates herself to begging. Many times she goes barefoot because she doesn’t even have shoes,” says the social worker. “In these days when the temperatures dropped, they were without coats, with very few clothes.”

Several complaints to the local authorities have ended in evasive and bureaucratic responses. “Once they fined Rosita’s mother, but that’s not what needs to be done. She is also a victim. What is needed is to help that family, support them and get that girl and everyone else off the streets before a tragedy occurs,” the woman points out.

Several complaints to the local authorities have ended in evasive and bureaucratic responses

As the days go by, some try to help by buying the children in the group some food or giving them some Cuban pesos, but the fear of the majority is that “their numbers are increasing,” says a neighbor of Pueblo Nuevo. “The one you see there has already formed his own group of children to ask for money; before he belonged to the one his brother created,” he explains to this newspaper. “That other one is not from this neighborhood but arrived and now sleeps in the doorways.”

Children between six and 14 years old are in this situation of begging. (14ymedio)

“They don’t want people to take photos because they obviously don’t want to be identified. They climb the balconies of the buildings. The Directorate of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office know about these cases, because the social workers have denounced this a lot, and both the Communist Party and the local government are aware,” says Marcia.

“The life that Rosita and El Gatico are leading, in addition to the other children, is known to everyone, but there’s a lot of talk and little action,” she says bitterly. Between the walls, wine red, of the Bolas Bar, a little one stretches his hand and asks for a soft drink from a customer who is eating there with his family. After receiving a bottle of lemon soda, the child takes a long drink and runs away.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘The Cuban State No Longer Has Money To Pay Waste Collectors, so I Sell to the Private Companies’

Cooking pots like pressure cookers are made from the processing of cans. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 7 January 2023 — Search, collect and crush. Ramón’s day, at age 57, contains those three actions. He makes his rounds through the city center of Holguín, where cans of soft drinks or beer can be more common in the trash. Then, after several days of accumulating, he sells his loot to an intermediary who will take it to a workshop where it is turned into slotted spoons, frying pans, pots and buckets.

“It’s been more than three years since the Raw Materials Recovery Company here had almost no money to pay the collectors, so now I only sell to private companies,” Ramón tells 14ymedio. “Many people have left this job because they earn less and less, and it depends on many things, so everything is very insecure.”

Ramón needs a lot of tourists to arrive in Holguín because they empty thousands of cans a week, and he can “fish” them out from the city’s broken garbage containers. “Now fewer foreigners come, and the soft drinks that are sold almost all come in small bottles, which is not what I pick up. My thing is aluminum.”

On the outskirts of the rustic workshop, the cans that have previously been collected and crushed accumulate. (14ymedio)

Born in 1968, the same year of the Revolutionary Offensive that erased the private sector in Cuba with a stroke of a pen, this holguinero once dreamed of being an engineer, but a traffic accident caused him a head injury that left him with the inability to remember numbers, concentrate and even find his way home in the busy streets of the city. continue reading

“I made a living with whatever appeared, but since 2014 I have been doing this,” he explains. Although the Raw Materials Recovery Company has existed since 1961 on the Island, for decades its operation was nourished by the waste collected by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the State centers in their days of voluntary work, or with the by-products of the State industry.

After the opening to tourism during the crisis of the 90s, not only did travelers arrive but also their waste. Canned beer was no longer a novelty to be sold in hotels, shops and cafes. National soft drinks were no longer distributed in the traditional glass bottles but in the lightest and easiest to handle aluminum containers. It was at that moment that the “can crushers” emerged everywhere.

“I made my neighbors crazy,” acknowledges Luisa, another 81-year-old from Holguin, who was one of the first in the city to take up collecting raw materials on her own. “I would come home with a sack or two and spend the whole afternoon crushing cans, I didn’t let any can get away,” she says. Now she has left the business “because it got very bad.”

For the collectors of 30 years ago, the problems were different. “We didn’t have a license; we had to hide every time a policeman passed by, and people treated us badly because they thought we were all crazy,” Luisa recalls. “Now you can ask for a permit and sell the cans legally in one of the State raw material houses, but there’s hardly any business.”

By 2013 the country already had more than 5,700 people who were registered as self-employed in that occupation

It was the economic easing promoted by Raúl Castro from 2008 that boosted the activity, and by 2013 the country already had more than 5,700 people who were registered as self-employed in that occupation, according to Jorge Tamayo, then director of the state Raw Materials Recovery Company.

“With four or five bags of cans that I sold a month, I earned more than my doctor brother,” Luisa recalls. “We made the slab for this house out of crushed cans, because before it was made of tiles, and it was always wet. I had agreements with the private tourist homes, who gave them to me before throwing them away, and I also made some contacts in hotels to pick them up twice a week.”

Over the years, there were delays in payments. “You took the raw material to the State premises, and they told you that you had to wait for the money.” The State began to decline in the organization of its points of purchase, and the private sector occupied the place left by the increasingly ailing State companies with insufficient resources.

The clandestine factories now absorb most of the cans recovered from the garbage. Many of the owners of these small industries do not even have a license to operate, or, if they have a permit, it only covers a small number of employees under their direction.

Image of a finished lid for a pressure cooker. (14ymedio)

In the People’s Council of San Rafael, Víctor, (his name was changed for this report), says that in his private workshop he has “six permanent workers, although, if the volume of work grows,” he hires new employees. “One manages the oven, three are turners and the other two finish the pieces, throwing away the garbage generated by the whole process and collecting the cans upon arrival,” he explains to this newspaper.

“The State pays 30 pesos per kilogram of aluminum, and you have to empty the cans of any liquid and put them in a well-tied bag. They can be whole or broken, but now they’re buying only two or three times a month because they don’t have a budget,” Víctor explains. “We can pay a little more, at 100 pesos, depending on the need we have, with no delays to collect.”

Víctor clarifies that his workshop buys from intermediaries, who in turn pay between 50 and 60 pesos per kilogram of cans to the collectors who look for the raw material on the streets. “Everyone wins because a relationship is established, and the intermediary is the one who responds to me, the one who shows his face and has to guarantee that the merchandise he sells me is good.”

The arrival of the pandemic, the closure of the borders to tourism and the drop in the number of visitors to the Island have also influenced the number of aluminum cans that are discarded every day. “It’s not like before. There are fewer, and many collectors have left because they can no longer earn the same, plus the prices of food and everything else have risen a lot.”

The arrival of the pandemic, the closure of the borders to tourism and the fall in the number of visitors to the Island have also influenced the number of aluminum cans that are discarded every day

The fall into disgrace of State premises for buying raw materials is evident. On a visit to the 12th Street of Reparto Nuevo Llano, this newspaper found that in mid-December there was only one employee, who warned collectors who arrived that they were not buying due to “lack of money.” In another, located on 28th Street of the Reparto Pueblo Nuevo, the scene was repeated: two workers with their arms crossed due to the absence of a budget.

In Victor’s workshop, however, the coming and going doesn’t stop. “We have a lot of demand for pots, pans, kitchen utensils, buckets, pitchers and many other products we make,” the entrepreneur acknowledges. “Here the oven stays on for a good part of the day, and when a can arrives, it comes out on the other side in the form of a lemon juicer or a ladle.”

“Even people who can buy an electric pressure cooker in MLC [freely convertible currency] also want to have their aluminum pitcher to heat the coffee,” he says. “They are durable things that can be used for many years, and if they are broken it is not a tragedy for the family; they buy another one and that’s that.”

With instruments, also handmade, they produce kitchen utensils out of aluminum. (14ymedio)

The ruin of the State houses for buying raw materials is the result of the national crisis in which Victor and his employees get profits. “With the opening of the MSMEs [small businesses], a few more cans of beer and soft drinks arrived. That makes us happy because the customers buy them; they buy a lot.”

Thrown on a street or inside a garbage container, Ramón’s agile hands will find that empty can left by a tourist or a national. A large, dark stone, taken from a nearby river, helps him reduce it to a thin sheet. Then it goes into the sack, later into the hands of the intermediary and then into the oven.

In her kitchen, the experienced Luisa knows that the slotted spoon she uses to stir the rice once contained beer or Coca-Cola. The path of recycled aluminum that people like her helped to start remains open.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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La Fortuna, an Empty Bodega That Had Its Glory Days, Like So Many Others in Cuba

Around the bodega [ration store], several people gathered in search of answers. “I do not understand, really.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 5 December 2023 — La Fortuna has nothing left of the old enthusiasm that prompted it to be baptized with such a name. The rationed market bodega, located on Carretera Central, Reparto Alex Urquiola, in the city of Holguín, woke up practically empty this Tuesday. The surrounding residents were impatient because the regulated quota of rice has not yet arrived on this fifth day of December, a time of year when consumption and prices increase.

Several people gathered around the premises this morning in search of answers. “I don’t understand it, honestly,” stressed a woman who had been excited to see some acquaintances enter the store, but as she approached, she understood that they were people inquiring about grain. “I was hoping that they were already selling this month’s allotment, so I wouldn’t have to pay almost 200 pesos a pound for it, but no.”

In some bodegas in the Pueblo Nuevo popular council, only 10 ounces of peas and one packet of coffee have arrived per person, both corresponding to the allotment for this last month of 2023. In others, not even that. “This is bad,” said another frustrated customer who arrived at the point of sale. “Nothing here and on the street a pound of pork is already 470 pesos and the only chicken you find is in MSMEs*, at 12,000 per box of thigh and leg.”

In some bodegas of the popular council of Pueblo Nuevo, only 10 ounces of peas and one sachet of coffee have arrived per person, both corresponding to the December allotment

The data provided by an elderly woman was added to the calculations of the Holguín resident who also approached the corner. “They haven’t brought bread for like two days, there are areas here that don’t even supply milk for the children. Anyone who can, has to buy all that from outside, at the price continue reading

the sellers ask for.” The conversation continued to revolve around the shortages and in the impromptu gathering the topic of the sugar shortage came up.

“In my house we are sweetening with raspadura [panela],” said another client with an empty bag and a protective umbrella. Contacts with some guajiros [farmers] who live near a sugar mill have helped her family “at least not to add to this bitterness, also the other one, that of coffee without sugar,” she points out. “But they are small pieces, you have to be careful not to scratch your finger when you grate them.”

Made with sugar molasses, raspadura is a traditional Cuban sweet that began to disappear years ago due to the plummeting sugar harvests and the emergence of other more colorful and varied sweets. Unlike other countries, such as Colombia, where its use as a sweetener is still widespread, on the Island it has become a product that the elderly keep in their memories or that is only consumed in rural areas.

“You’re lucky that you have raspadura!” a passerby was heard saying who managed to hear the catharsis that was coming from La Fortuna, that business that was once named in honor of the lucky star and now only displays its empty shelves and dozens of dissatisfied customers.

*Translator’s note: Many of Cuba’s micro, small and medium sized businesses that are ostensibly private, in reality are often controlled by government figures.

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In the Cuban Province of Holguin, a Town of Potters Lives Outside the Law

Entrance to the community of Cayo de Mayabe, a small town of potters in Holguín. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 12 November 2023 — The red earth is everywhere. Stuck to the soles of the shoes, tucked between the boards of the houses and also on the bricks that come out of the oven in the Cayo de Mayabe community, a small town of potters who work outside the law and supply most of the bricks for the city of Holguín.

“This is a hard job and living here is even harder,” says Anastasio, one of the first inhabitants of the neighborhood, which was set up at the end of the 1960s. In his family there are now three generations who work in the brick factories that dot the entire area. The reddish color of the terrain has gotten into the skin of his hands and under his nails after decades of work.

In the neighborhood, made up of very low-income people, services are scarce: an elementary school, a doctor’s office, a food point of sale and a bleak park that was only cleaned and painted when State officials visited it. Outside those areas, people can be found in the halls of two evangelical churches, one Pentecostal and one Methodist.

Earth and water are thrown onto the so-called ’step’ and then mixed to form the mass of the bricks. (14ymedio)

In Cayo de Mayabe there are also, currently, about twenty brick factories where potters, from the early hours of the morning, shape the artisanal bricks and bake them. As the day progresses, these places are empty; not a soul peeks out there. Only the tables, the oven and part of the bricks are left. Working very early is vital for avoiding the midday heat and the police.

“They make our lives impossible,” Anastasio tells 14ymedio. “They don’t let us work but everyone knows that this city is built with the brick that comes from this little piece of land,” clarifies the man as he leans over the step, looking at the sinkhole into which the earth is thrown, the water added and the mixture prepared.

“This is a difficult part of the job ,and it takes a lot of effort because you have to grind the soil with a stick and keep it thin,” he explains. “Then you have to form the bricks on those potter’s tables,” he says, pointing to two raised metal vessels where “the hands and skills of the worker are what give quality to the shape and the compactness of the brick.”

A few feet away, an oven that is taller than a man is the next step in this informal manufacture. Once the pieces are baked, they are placed in a pile and sold for 11 Cuban pesos each. “People come here to buy because the continue reading

State does not make or sell bricks anywhere in the city.”

Both Anastasio and Leonel are aware that the holes they dig to extract the soil they need for the bricks affect their environment. (14ymedio)

When the sun starts to rise, the potters slip away and leave the factories empty. “We can’t stay even if we know that they can steal our merchandise, since no one wants to be caught and fined,” the man explains. There are times when they have to leave for long days because there are operations in the area, and when they return, part of their production has been stolen.

The brick factories of Cayo de Mayabe are illegal in the eyes of the authorities because the potters of the community don’t have a self-employment license to carry out this work. A few years ago some of them decided to become official, but shortly after they went back into hiding.

“We had the license and had to pay for it every month, but they didn’t sell us the raw material or allow us to extract it,” says Leonel, a young man who has been working with his father and brother in the family’s business for more than five years. “After a while we gave back the rights, and we continue working under the radar.”

The main material of the artisanal brick is mud, made with the reddish earth of the area, rich in clay. But there is no official place to buy this product, and the authorities prohibit it from being extracted. After a few years of accepting registrations for the potter’s license in the area, the local government closed off that possibility.

The bricks are shaped on the potter’s table. (14ymedio)

“They tell us that they can’t give a license to someone who doesn’t show the legal documents for the earth extractions,” Leonel emphasizes. “But they themselves know that there is no such thing as having it because it is not legally sold anywhere; the only way is by digging and opening up holes.”

When the rights were given to practice the pottery profession in Cayo de Mayabe, self-employed people were prohibited from hiring staff; only members of the same family group could work in the factory. However, then and now, when the work has been absolutely immersed in illegality, those craft workshops are the main source of employment for the locals.

If Cayo de Mayabe was already considered an area of poor people, several groups have emerged in the community with people who migrated from more remote municipalities wearing only what they had on. Over the years and with the departure of the youngest to Havana or abroad, the town’s population has been aging.

“Some 2,500 people live here, and right now the work in the brick factories is getting complicated because there is a lack of young arms,” Leonel acknowledges. “My father is still working with us but he can no longer do the mixing or other hard parts of the process. He’s now in charge of taking care of the people who come to buy the bricks.”

The sale, however, is not going well. The economic crisis that the Island is going through, the lack of fuel to carry the merchandise and the slowdown in tourism have decreased demand. “Sometimes we spend weeks without selling a brick, and that’s very serious because here the brick is what feeds us.”

An oven to bake bricks in the community of potters of Cayo de Mayabe. (14ymedio)

Among the clients that Leonel’s family has, there are people who are renovating or building their home, entrepreneurs in the city who are expanding a private hostel, others who improve a paladar (private home restaurant) or who want to decorate an interior patio with the handmade, reddish pieces. A few non-agricultural cooperatives also bought them “occasionally.”

Both Anastasio and Leonel are aware that the holes they dig to extract the soil for their bricks affect their environment. They cause erosion of the soils, damage to vegetation and water that stagnates in the sinkholes, increasing the risk of the growth and emergence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, with the consequent danger of dengue fever.

“Where the plant layer of the earth is removed, there are rocks where plants do not grow; nor can cows, goats and horses graze on those lands,” warns the young man. “But what are we going to do? This is what we know, this is how we feed our children. If they don’t sell us the land, we will have to steal it.”

By a rusty swing, in the only park in the community, a young woman threw an inflatable ball to her little son on Tuesday. “Here we lack everything; we don’t even have a bodega (ration store) to shop in. We have to travel two or three miles to get the little sugar and rice they sell us,” she explains to this newspaper.

After leaving the oven, the bricks are stacked for sale. (14ymedio)

The terrible condition of the roads around Cayo de Mayabe complicates the transfer. “The water they pump does not reach here, so we have to take the water from the wells that we have in our courtyards, but we already know that it is not good to drink.” The woman lists her demands: “a butcher shop, a bodega and a place to buy milk,” but clarifies that this is just “to begin with.”

“Here, a year ago, leaders came to visit and even brought some foreigners,” recalls the holguinera. “That’s when we were classified as a prioritized community of social complexity.” In 2022, with great fanfare, they built the park where a mother can go with her child. The weeds and rust go hand in hand where before the painting shone and the officials took photos for the official press.

As the ball goes up and down, a horse cart enters the neighborhood. “It comes to carry bricks,” the woman ventures. The red earth of the area sticks to the wheels, the same earth that feeds the potters of Cayo de Mayabe.

The community of Cayo de Mayabe was founded at the end of the 1960s. (14ymedio)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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An Electricity Pole Miraculously Still Standing Threatens Drivers and Pedestrians in Holguin

The post has been left in disrepair for six years, despite the danger it poses. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 31 October 2023 – Six years ago, a wagon crashed into an electricity pole on the road the leads to Valle de Mayabe in Holguín. The base of the structure was fractured and the rest of it remained, and remains, in a precarious condition, held up only by luck, and by the cables above it. Countless reports to Unión Eléctrica (UNE) have prompted hardly any visits by technicians and the concrete and steel giant remains broken. There is a constant mortal danger posed to the vehicles and pedestrians which pass below.

The pole – which is only metres away from a bus stop where workers and even local schoolchildren congregate – is a target for residents’ complaints. “This has been the topic of discussion in many many meetings”, Niubis, a local resident told this newspaper. “On one occasion we did have a visit from an Electricity Company rep but all he said was that it didn’t pose any danger because the cables – which are High Voltage! – were stopping it from crashing down!”

The residents didn’t believe the official view. “How can they say it’s all ok? These poles aren’t designed to be supported from above, they need to have a continue reading

solid base”, says the woman. “Many people use this pathway to get to their appointments”, she says, in reference to patients of the nearby Holguín Clinical Surgery Hospital, and adds that there are also people on their way to the affiliated Arístides Estevez Infirmary.

“To watch them, they’re not really aware of the danger. But when someone gets close to it they realise that no part of it is actually fixed into the ground: it has no foundations”, explains Nuibis, and she blames this danger on the apathy of the authorities. “If it were leaning more, or broken higher up maybe our complaint would go further, but as everything around here is always just a question of cosmetics, of optics, the only thing that matters to them is that it looks ok should Díaz-Canel pass by”.

From a distance, the danger doesn’t seem as great as when it’s seen close up. (14ymedio)

“No sooner than another vehicle happens to to give it a nudge, or another cyclone arrives, it’ll come straight down to the ground”, says a local seller of juice and soft drinks. “They haven’t replaced it because they don’t want to. Hundreds of people pass through here every day and they’re risking their lives everytime they get near this pole”. The man believes they’ve deliberately conspired to blame their negligence on the current fuel shortage, which, so often, officials use as a justification for not carrying out necessary repairs.

UNE also alludes to problems in getting hold of new electricity poles, given that production of these items was halted for more than two years in parts of the country. A lack of specialist labour also contributed to the deterioration in maintenance carried out by the state electricity monopoly. The exodus of trained linesmen has grown in recent months – they earn less than 10,000 pesos a month, including the additional ’danger’ payments.

It’s got to a point where locals and regular passers by are just praying that there won’t be a cyclone to bring down the battered pole – or failing that, that some ’illustrious’ visitor is due to pass by, thus obliging them to replace it. For the time being though, it remains a simple question of survival by keeping a careful eye on it and avoiding it as much as possible when travelling on the road to Valle de Mayabe.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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With Mobile Phone Internet and Fear of Being Robbed, Cubans Abandon Open-Air Wifi

A man connecting to a wifi hotspot at a park on the corner of Infanta and San Lázaro streets in central Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya and Miguel García, Havana/Holguín, 25 October 2023 — It’s 11:00 AM and the only people to be seen in the park at the corner of Infanta and San Lázaro streets in central Havana are couple of people sitting on a bench and a man with his dog. The scene was very different a few years ago when, all day long, dozens of people were enthusiastically connecting to the wifi hotspot here. Now safety concerns, technical problems and the advent of web browsing on mobile phones has left the benches empty.

Forty-three-year-old Dunia was one of those who spent many hours sitting on a sidewalk curb or in the shadow of the park’s trees. In July 2015, when the first antennas were being installed and the public squares of the Cuban capital were becoming wifi hotspots, this sociology graduate felt like she could finally breathe. Now, she says, “it bears no resemblance” to what it was back then.

On Monday morning the connection speed in the park was barely 270 Kbps (kilobits per second). A little after 1:00 PM, two more people — a man and a woman — arrived and sat down to log on. “It’s no longer like it used to be,” says Dunia of the times when the park was full of people with their eyes glued to their screens.

On Monday morning the connection speed in the park was barely 270 Kbps

“At that point, I almost didn’t know what the internet was. I had only spent a few hours online at a hotel when my brother came to visit us from Madrid and he was staying at the Presidente,” she recalls. “It was all anyone in this neighborhood talked about. Even children in their mothers’ arms were glued to screens to see what they could see.” continue reading

Dunia made her first video call from this hotspot and saw the inside of the Madrid home where her emigré family lives. From here she reconnected via Facebook or Twitter with old friends scattered around the world. And from this corner she shared with her brother the sad news that their mother, who suffered from diabetes, had died.

“We used to spend hours and hours here but I don’t come anymore,” she admits. “Now that we have internet on our phones, I have more privacy and feel safer [connecting] at home. There have been incidents in this park where someone’s phone was snatched or their computer was grabbed while they were logging on.”

In the first year of widespread internet access, official media was filled with headlines praising the new hotspots. Initially, an hour of internet browsing cost 4.50 convertible pesos but Etecsa, the state telecommunications monopoly, kept reducing the price until it was as low as 1.50 pesos.

After years of pressure, Cuban officials finally allowed customers to access the internet from their mobile phones in December of 2018. With the demise of the country’s dual currency system, and along with it the convertible peso, the fee rose to 25 pesos. The technical problems, however, only increased. Since then, the web browsing service has been marked by ups and downs, outages when authorities get nervous about social media posts, deteriorating infrastructure and the exodus of tens of thousands of customers that have left a gaping hole in Etecsa’s balance sheet.

A student using the wifi at Trillo Park in Havana’s Cayo Hueso neighborhood. (14ymedio)

The wifi phenomenon filled Havana’s squares and parks with people, who captured the gaze of photographers, whose images filled the pages of dispatches from the island’s foreign press. Now it seems something is missing on strolls through La Rampa, the park at the interection of San Rafael and Galiano, large stretches of the Malecón, and areas surrounding hotels and important sites. The hundreds of people who once occupied these spaces are gone, a situation that is repeated throughout the country.

The surrounding area is full of MicroTik wireless routers that suck up the signal

“You can’t connect,” complains Julio, who lives near a park in central Holguín. “You get there, you see the network but you can’t log on because there’s no capacity even though there’s not a soul to be found,” he adds. “The surrounding area is full of MicroTiks [a brand of wireless routers] that suck up the signal.”

Savvy businesspeople have saturated the area near the park with these routers, which allows them capture to the signal, amplify it and charge residents for a service they can enjoy from their homes.

“For 500 pesos a month, I can provide you with home-based internet,” says Dany, a Holguín resident whose name has been changed for this article. “It’s much more convenient and less dangerous. But it’s true that, if you want to connect at the park, it’s going to be difficult because we have the signal. It’s rerouted through our equipment, which is more stable and more efficient that Etecsa’s.”

Dany manages a network made up of about twenty Nano and Mikrotik routers. A significant part the city of Holguín’s digital traffic relies on it. “We cannot create capacity where there isn’t any and some days are tough,” he admits. “Etecsa has not expanded the bandwidth of these wifi hotspots, so we have to work with what there is.”

In 2018 Etecsa was talking about more than a thousand wifi hotspots across the island, seeing them as a way to computerize all of Cuban society at twice the speed. Internet users, however, complained about the precariousness of these spaces, the inclement weather that affected the technology when used outdoors, and the threat of crime. They also complained, though less vociferously, that they wanted to be able to consume content that they could not enjoy in public.

When the power goes out, everything shuts down. The park’s antennas turn off and, without electricity, Etecsa’s telephone data towers go dead

With the country’s current energy crisis, blackouts are having a severe impact on Dany and her crew. “When the power goes out, everything shuts down. The park’s antennas turn off and, without electricity, Etecsa’s telephone data towers go dead. So whether you have a Mikrotik or not, you also get disconnected.”

Jessica, a young resident of Sancti Spíritus, notes that, though there is less enthusiasm for them, people still go online at the city’s public hotspots. “They’re downloading movies and TV programs to sell as video entertainment, or to use in their computer or cell phone repair businesses. It’s not crazy like it was before, when everyone was going to the park for wifi. There are those who still use it, not so much for personal reasons but to download big files.”

Jessica believes that the mass protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’) were the kiss of death for these public hotspots. “They’re seen as threat because they have internet and people are physically congregating there.”

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San Pepper’s Burger, the Holguin Business Raising the Ire of Cuban Officials

The name of the new food service business has irritated some officials. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya / Manuel Garcia, Havana / Holguín, 12 October 2023 — For decades, chewing gum, corn chips and hamburgers were very much frowned upon by the Cuban government as symbols of American culture. Enjoying these products in public could lead to anything from a reprimand to more severe penalties. Though attitudes have changed a lot since then, some of that resentment remains among the most diehard officials.

A new, privately owned establishment called San Pepper’s Burger* was about to open it doors in the city of Holguín when it got some angry reactions on a government-run news site. An op-ed in Cubadebate criticized the restaurant — basically a hamburger joint — for promoting “a culture which is not our own.” The article’s author goes further, asking, “What happened to fighting the culture war?”

Located on Luz Cabellero Street, between Maceo and Libertad, and next to the José María Ochoa Correa Conservatory of Music, the building has been undergoing repairs for roughly seven years. The renovation process involved some internal structural changes but parts of the original facade, including some colonial-style entrance doors, were preserved to be enjoyed by passersby or people sitting on a bench in the nearby Park of Flowers.

“Word is that its prices will also be high, that the owners will have to recoup their entire investment and that the sign must have cost an arm and a leg”

That corner was very depressed so I’m glad this is going to, at least, revive it somewhat,” says Heidy Laura, a 28-year-old Holguín resident who lives a few yards from the new business. “But word is also that its prices will be high, that [the owners] will have to recoup their entire investment and that the sign must have cost an arm and a leg.” continue reading

“The wings coming out of the hamburger say it all, that the prices will be sky-high,” she jokes. Of course, unlike the author of the critical article, “Market and Culture with an English Accent”, Heidy Laura welcomes the fact that the city of Holguín will have this type of place. “But I’ll have to save all year to eat the cheapest combo on the menu,” she adds.

Cándida, a 61-year-old engineer who is also the young woman’s mother, believes, “This won’t last long because there are a lot of extremists in Holguín.” She believes that, given the critical article in the official press, it is very likely that the owners will change the name or delay the opening. “The thing is that people here carry a lot of ideological baggage and it’s very difficult to let go of that.”

Cándida remembers that the first hamburger she ate in public was in the late 1980s. “It was when Fidel Castro decided to open some cafes to sell the famous Super-Zas. On the face of it, it looked like a McDonald’s burger. Until then, saying that you wanted to sink your teeth into a hamburger with a bun, sesame seeds, mustard and cheese was like admitting you were a counter-revolutionary,” she says.

“So far, there’s been nothing in the local press about it I’ve but I have heard about some party members complaining about the English name because they say it sounds capitalist to them”

The new, privately owned establishment, which is next door to the state-run restaurant 1545 and the Benny Moré Room, “has raised the ire of people in the Communist Party,” says another Holguín resident who prefers to remain anonymous. “So far, there’s been nothing in the local press about it but I’ve heard about some party members complaining about the English name because they say it sounds capitalist to them.” The man notes that, until now, the building has always been used as a residence and that it probably will not open until next month because the furniture layout is still being worked out and the exterior in particular needs some more work.

“If you’ve already put a sign on the facade, it’s because you’re about to open. People walk by and take photos,” he says. “It’s quite large. It takes up half of one side of the block. It used to have a big inner courtyard but it looks like that part of the house has been roofed over and will have tables in it.”

The man shares his concerns about how high the prices might be given what he has seem with other privately owned businesses. “There are differing opinions in Holguín. Many people can’t afford those places but others are glad to have the option,” he says.

The rhetoric surrounding San Pepper’s Burger extends even to preservation of Holguín’s architectural heritage and the impact the recent changes have had on the urban fabric. The house, one of the oldest in the city still standing, was originally the residence of Fr. Antonio Santiesteban, and later of master builder José María del Salto y Carretero, according to experts consulted for this article.

“I don’t like how they’ve remodeled it. They’ve changed the original shape of the roof and now there’s almost nothing left of the colonial style,” complains Juan Ramón, another local resident who believes the city is losing too many historic buildings this way. “They’ve added too many modern elements that are not a good fit for this area.”

Young people, on the other hand, are optimistic that the it will become a popular gathering spot. The nearby Conservatory of Music, its central location and the dearth of public spaces suggest that the new business could become a place in high demand. Ultimately, price will be the determining factor but so will the quality of the ingredients.

“I don’t like how they’ve remodeled it. They’ve changed the original shape of the roof and now there’s almost nothing left of the colonial style,” complains Juan Ramón

“Will the hamburgers be made of beef or pork?” asks Javier, a rancher from Holguín’s Calixto García district. The cattleman describes the problems that the sector is having and the challenges of insuring a stable supply for a restaurant like this. “Will they be importing the product from abroad? Unless they do that, I see them having big problems.”

The theft of livestock, the lack of pasture land and the shortage of supplies and equipment — for example, wire for building fences and hydraulic pumps to provide water to the animals — have led to a significantly smaller livestock population. “Conditions here don’t allow anyone to sell high-quality meat on a consistent basis,” Javier says.

In July, the officials from the Ministry of the Interior arrested three people in the Martillo neighborhood, which is also in Calixto García, as they were transporting 200 pounds of beef on two motorcycles. According to official sources, they had allegedly obtained the meat through theft and the illegal slaughter of cattle.

For her part, the Cubadebate columnist warns that the problem is not the hamburgers — “they are not the enemy,” she writes — and does not want some “extremist commentator” misinterpreting her criticisms.

*Translator’s note: This article was written earlier than, but translated after, the linked article which speaks to the fate of the enterprise.
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Cuban Business Owner Does in Months What the State Didn’t Do for Years

Local residents say the business has reinvigorated the neighborhood. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, October 18, 2023 — A motorcycle zips by as a horse-drawn carriage makes its way on the other side of road. The sunlight glistens off the asphalt which is, quite surprinsingly, flawless, without a pothole or a crack. The owner of the nearby privately owned company, Super Rapido CG, invested in repairs to the street in front of his business so that it would not pose a danger to motorists. The money to restore more than a kilometer of roadway in the San Rafael section of Holguín came out of his own pocket.

“The man has revived the neighborhood,” says Georgina, a 76-year-old housewife who for decades watched the area around her deteriorate. Now hopeful, she closely follows the efforts of Amauris Gonzalez Parra, owner of the Super Rapido CG, who is changing the face of the neighborhood. “Not only did he fix the road here but several new businesses have opened thanks to this. The place is always full of customers.”

She points to a wide patio covered with a blue tarp where Gonzalez Parra, his two children and his employees wait on customers coming to pick up the shipments that relatives overseas have bought for them on the company website. On Monday, the place was bustling as workers behind the counter hurriedly fetched merchandise. continue reading

On Monday, the place was bustling as workers behind the counter hurriedly fetched merchandise

“Every month my brother buys me a supply of food, soap, cooking oil and detergent. It’s convenient for me come here to come here to pick it so we don’t need home delivery,” says 30-year-old Luis Angel, one of the dozens of people in the store at noon. Three coolers display soft drinks, beers and juices of different types and sizes.

“Amauris has helped his congregation a lot. He’s a Jehovah’s Witness and this is close to Kingdom Hall, the temple his family attends, says Luis Angel. “He has a very big heart. If a ’brother of faith’ gets sick, he provides food and other types of support. He has also given jobs to many of them.”

Although official resentment of Jehovah’s Witnesses has decreased significantly in recent years, it is still difficult for them to find work in strategically important sectors such as tourism. The prejudices that led to decades-long workplace discrimination have not been completely erased, which is why Gonzalez Parra’s gesture is so greatly appreciated by his community.

Luis Angel points out the the residents of San Rafael still find it odd that a private citizen had to pay to fix the road. It leads to two facilities — a slaughterhouse and an egg warehouse — belonging to Holguín Poultry Company. It also leads to Frutas Selectas, a division of the Silo Company, as well as to the main provincial warehouse of the all-powerful Cimex corporation, a business conglomerate run by the Cuban military.

To repair the road, Gozalez Parra hired a state-owned firm, Engineering Construction Company No. 17, from Holguín. (14ymedio)

“The highway was torn to pieces during all that time but none of those state companies lifted a finger or donated any resources so that delivery trucks didn’t have to constantly dodge potholes,” says Luis Angel. “With all the money they make, they didn’t invest a single peso to prevent accidents or improve the safety of their employees going to and from work. This businessman did in a few months what the state failed to do for years.”

To repair the road, Gozalez Parra hired a state-owned firm, Engineering Construction Company No. 17, from Holguín. Although the terms of the contract were not made public, many in San Rafael claim he paid seven million pesos for the repair work. They also claim he insisted on being onsite to insure the work was being done properly and with the required amount of asphalt.

In October of 2022, 50-year-old Octavio Almaguer Ricardo lost his life along the same stretch of highway when the motorcyle he was riding hit a pothole, throwing him off the vehicle. He suffered severe head trauma and multiple fractures in one leg.

“Holguín and Cuba are full of potholes like this, some even worse than this. What is the point of the license plate tax, the tax we pay to use the roads in Cuba? How many more lives will be lost due to the poor condition of Cuban roads?” asks an outraged cousin of the deceased on social media.

That bleak scenario has changed. Not only has the roadway in front of Super Rapido CG been repaired but stalls selling prepared food have popped up. Drivers also prowl the street looking for customers who want to be ferried with their purchases to a nearby town. And there is no shortage of vendors selling everything from freshly brewed coffee to cold beer.

The Super Rapido CG website points out that the company’s online operation is based in Hialeah, Florida. It provides both U.S and Cuban telephone numbers which customers can call if they any questions. Business at the Holguín location has been growing so rapidly that Gonzalez Parra decided to buy the house next door in order to expand.

A bit over a hundred yards away, the family has a farm at which it is installing walk-in coolers to store merchandise. They will also be opening an ice cream parlor on their property as well as a store with a bakery and sweet shop. Customers will be able to move effortlessly between the current property and the new operations as “if they were in another country because this road is like glass,” jokes a neighbor.

Super Rapido CG has been growing so quickly that Gonzalez Parra decided to buy the house next door in order to expand. (14ymedio)

Local residents can also buy directly from the store. One woman with a small child in her arms is trying to decide whether or not to get some bars of soap. “The prices are high,” she says,” but no other privately owned store in Holguín is as well-stocked or has such a wide variety. Several containers of merchandise get delivered here every week so you can buy with confidence. It never fails.”

Using three vehicles from a fleet of two late-model Peugeots and three electric tricycles, the company delivers purchases by Cuban emigrés to their families in Holguín. Super Rapido also carries footwear, clothing, household goods and home appliances. A WhatsApp group keeps customers up to date on the latest offerings and announces special combos and sales.

Even state-run media has been enthsiastic about the privately owned company. In September, local televesion broadcaster Telecristal praised Super Rapido, describing it as “today’s undisputed leader in the import of essential products in the eastern part of the country.”

The broadcaster detailed the contents of various shipments delivered to the store in late August: “assorted chicken parts, ground meat, detergent, cooking oil, jam and other products.” The report described the entrepreneur’s work as “effective business management with nations such as the United States, Panama, Spain and Poland as well as with companies from other countries with whom he maintains commercial ties.”

Telecristal also commended the fact that the privately owned business counted among its clients state-owed companies such as nickel industry subsidiaries, hotel chains, retail and food-service establishments, and even the Cimex corporation, the same conglomerate that for years did not spend one centavo to repair the San Rafael highway, the one that now seamlessly runs past Gonzalez Parra’s operation.

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