Miguel García – Page 2 – Translating Cuba

A Plague of Bedbugs, Just What Cubans Needed To Plunge Them Even Deeper Into Misery

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.

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In Holguín, the ‘Chemical’ Takes Over Marijuana Alley

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

____________

Walls in Holguín, Cuba Scream ‘Down with Communism’

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.

____________

“In Cuban Hospitals, if You Don’t Donate Blood They Won’t Operate on You”

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

____________

They Promised To Sell Them in Pesos, but the Chinese-Cuban Company Charges Dollars for Its Electric Tricycles / 14yMedio

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
____________

Faced with a 990-Peso Price Cap, Cuban Shop Owners Opt Not to Sell Cooking Oil

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.

____________

With His Crusade Against the Private Sector in Holguín, Queipo Is Making Merits To Succeed Cuban President Díaz-Canel

“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.”

A Former Officer Insists That 13 Soldiers Died in Melones Because “Protocols Were Violated”

“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

____________

Due to Shortages of Cattle and Chickens, Slaughterhouses in Holguin, Cuba, are Cutting Staff

Meat deboning at a plant in Mayarí, Holguín. / Trabajadores

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguin, 20 January 2025 — Employees of state-owned companies in Holguín are going through uncertain times. The successive staff reductions seem to have no end and another cut is expected in the month of February. The most affected entities are those linked to food production and processing, hit by low agricultural and livestock production, sources in the sector confirmed to 14ymedio.

“Every time I go to work I think that it will be the last day I will go.” With more than 20 years at the Felipe Fuentes Fernández Meat Combine, belonging to the Holguín Meat Company, Gerardo, age 45, is one of the most veteran employees of the state entity. However, his permanence in his position hangs by a thread. “Last year there was a staff reduction and they already announced another one for February. Right now we are about 200 workers and that number could be halved.”

The reason for the staff cuts is “the low number of animals to process,” Gerardo says. “We spent almost all of last year with our arms crossed because we weren’t getting any cattle. During that time, they put us to mow green areas and do beautification work in the surroundings, but the meat itself, we hardly touched it.”

In 2023 alone, more than 7,400 heads of cattle were lost in the province due to theft and illegal slaughter

The company receives mainly cattle farmers from Holguín must deliver as part of their commitments with the state monopoly Acopio. Although the quantity is agreed upon at the beginning of each year, it is increasingly continue reading

common for producers to fail to comply with the agreement and justify their cuts based on the drought, the lack of animal feed and the scourge of theft and illegal slaughter of their livestock.

In 2023 alone, more than 7,400 heads of cattle were lost in the province due to theft and illegal slaughter, according to data provided by the local newspaper ¡Ahora!. In total, taking into account other factors such as terrain conditions, diseases and feed, of the 307,053 heads that the province had in January of that year, 38,319 were culled in just eleven months.

Of these cattle “discounted” from the provincial inventory, 19% corresponded to crimes of theft and illegal slaughter, while 52% were classified as deaths due to different factors. This resulted in the loss of almost three million tons of meat and more than 4.5 million liters of milk that could have been dedicated to the population’s consumption.

“Our company supplies tourists, maternity homes and hospitals,” Gerardo continues. “When the animals arrive, they are separated into ’prime cattle’ for hotels and those for social orders, but now we lack cattle for both destinations, so most of the hotels in this province are stocking up on imported products that give them more stability in supply and higher quality, while we cannot meet our social commitments either.”

“During that time without animals, we painted, we did maintenance, we looked like a construction brigade”

“During that time without animals, we painted, we did maintenance, we looked like a construction brigade instead of workers from a place where pot roast, mincemeat, ribs, steaks and even bones are produced.” Towards the end of last year “a few animals came in, all quite thin, because the guajiros say they have almost no food to give them. On the days when we received the most, there were 15 or 20 cows, when a few years ago there were more than 100 each day.”

The discontent over the cuts in the workforce is worsening at the Combinado because “they are not reducing the administrative and management staff equally, here they are removing workers from the corrals, refrigerators, slaughterhouse and packing plant areas but in the offices no one has been touched. The bureaucrats will remain in their chairs and those of us in the production area are the most affected.”

Another of the state-owned companies that is failing on all sides and preparing to cut staff is the main poultry slaughterhouse in the province, located in San Rafael Adentro, at kilometer 5 and a half on the Mayarí highway. “This company never had 15 workers,” says Yaquelín, one of the employees who expects to be removed from the workforce in a few days, when the new layoffs are announced.

“We belong to the Ministry of Agriculture and we are among the companies where workers have the lowest salaries,” the employee explained to this newspaper. “Here, most salaries do not exceed 2,500 pesos a month, and you cannot even buy a carton of eggs* with that money.” “They are going to reduce positions and the equipment, such as the executives’ cars, and they will be moved to the main headquarters of the Provincial Poultry Company.”

“We were told that 50% of the workers would stay, now there are about 60 of us so maybe 30 will stay.” So far, the workers have received the offer to be relocated as security personnel in other companies linked to the poultry sector. “I have already done several night shifts, as preparation, in an egg warehouse belonging to Acopio, but I am not going to stay in that position because it is dangerous and at night you can’t even see your hands.”

In the middle of last year, the slaughterhouse was in the news because at least 54,000 laying hens had to be slaughtered on the premises due to the impossibility of keeping them because of the lack of animal feed. “Before, you would pass by these sheds and the sound of the animals would barely let you hear what another worker was saying,” Yaquelín says. Now silence spreads, and with that calm fear also spreads among the workers. “This is going to end up dismantled if it continues like this.”

*Translator’s note: This is literally true. Eggs are sold in cartons of 30, which currently cost about 3,500 pesos.
____________

“We Family Members Have Been Banned From Posting on Social Media Because Enemies Take Advantage of It To Harm the Country”

The “Explosion process” at Melones is still “active” and “it is still not possible to go in,” according to the authorities.

The government reported that it has “protected” several hundred people residing in the vicinity of the facility / Facebook/Joel Queipo Ruiz

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 10 January 2025 — The obsolete weapons stored in the military warehouse that exploded on January 7 in Melones, in the municipality of Rafael Freyre in Holguín, are still in the “process of explosions” and the experts have not yet been able to reach the site. Three days after the first detonation and with 13 people missing – most of them military service conscripts – the despair of the families is increasing.

“There are several mothers with nervous breakdowns because they are only told to be calm, but they do not make any progress in the search,” a relative of the family of one of the young soldiers told 14ymedio. “The mother of one of the boys from the military service who is missing is my friend and she is devastated. Yesterday she tried to go out on her own to the military base to look for her son and we had to stop her, but the lack of response is enormous, they only tell us that we have to wait.”

According to the head of the Communist Party in the province and member of the Central Committee, Joel Queipo Ruiz, the security forces have authorized the return of some displaced persons to houses “located at a radius distance that no longer poses any danger.” As for the “specialized actions, they continue to be carried out within the limits of a certain radius outward from the center of the place.”

Queipo, who referred to the warehouse as a “wrecked facility,” did not give a date for the search of the missing people, he said he is in contact with their relatives. The area is still dangerous for the “physical safety of any continue reading

human action,” he said. “As soon as conditions permit, the site will be accessed with all the established protective measures.”

“We are also afraid,” adds the source interviewed by 14ymedio, “because we have been told that we cannot talk about this with anyone or post anything on social media because enemies are taking advantage of what has happened to harm the country. I have my WhatsApp full of messages from our relatives who live in other parts of Holguín and I am afraid to answer them because I don’t know if something will happen to me.”

According to the source, “the officers’ families are handling this differently because many of them are very involved people, people from the government, and they know that their husband or son had chosen a job that involves risks. But the conscripts’s parents do not have that strength because they were not there because they wanted to be, they were forced. My friend’s son sometimes said that they were forced to move ammunition, but he talked about it as if everything was under control as if there was no danger.

Several accounts of failed attempts to approach the area have circulated in the official press

“I haven’t said anything to him, but I already have set up a little altar in my house with his picture and a candle. It’s not because I think he’s dead, but if he’s alive he’s also going to need that to get out of there.” She says there are two nerve-wracking issues: “not knowing if he is alive or dead and thinking, about what he could have suffered if he died and if perhaps he was trapped and it was something very painful and long.”

The official press has circulated several stories of failed attempts to approach the area. One of them, published in the State newspaper Granma, was about the president of the Municipal Assembly of People’s Power of Rafael Freyre, Alexis Driggs Gómez. The leader, according to the newspaper, “bears on his forehead, between his eyes, the mark of the impact of a shard of glass from the first big explosion that occurred in the Military Unit.”

Driggs was in the area with a group of military personnel at 2 a.m. when the shock wave from one of the detonations threw them to the ground, “amid a cloud of particles, dirt and dust flying in all directions.”

Authorities have not said much about the details of the accident itself, although it is estimated that there have been at least two separate explosions on the first day, and many more in the following days. Without information on how much military material was stored at Melones it is impossible to get an accurate idea of how much more ammunition will blow up in the area.

Translated by LAR

____________

Some Relatives of the 13 Missing From the Explosion in Cuba Criticize the Military’s Decision To Delay the Rescue

More details are known about the victims of the Melones explosion in Holguín
The alert has been extended to Sancti Spíritus, where helicopters fly over the weapon silos on the Zaza road

’Granma’ does not specify how many explosions there were in total, but in the videos spread on social networks by eyewitnesses can be seen at least two explosions that occurred during the day. / Screen capture

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 9 January 2024 — “We are doing what we can.” The response of the authorities is invariable when approaching the relatives of the 13 soldiers who disappeared after the explosions that occurred on Tuesday at the Melones base, in the municipality of Rafael Freyre, in Holguín. As explained to 14ymedio by the aunt of one of the young recruits affected, who asks for anonymity, the local government officials themselves visit the homes but are not able to give the families concrete information.

They hope, says this same source, that the soldiers – nine recruits of the Active Military Service (SMA) and four officers – “have managed to enter a security tunnel near the site of the explosion, to which they had access.” The woman continues: “They say that when they manage to lower the temperature of the place they will look there specifically, because it’s the only hope of finding them alive.”

One of them, Leinier Jorge Sánchez, only 18 years old, is the son of Gretel María Franco, secretary of the president of the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power of Rafael Freyre, Alexis Driggs Gómez, as confirmed to this newspaper by several local residents.

The shock wave of the explosion that happened “impacted them all, throwing them to the floor”

Driggs Gómez himself was injured in one of the explosions, as the State newspaper Granma published this Thursday: “He carries on his forehead, between his eyes, the imprint of the impact of a glass fragment caused by the first large explosion that occurred in the Military Unit.” The text details that the municipal president, along with several military authorities, “had reached the vicinity of a burned silo, where the military chief explained to them the continue reading

magnitude of the danger that threatened the residents in the vicinity and the need for a quick evacuation.”

The shock wave of the explosion that occurred, the article continues, “hit them all, throwing them to the floor in the middle of a cloud of particles, dirt and dust flying in all directions.”

After that first explosion, “around two in the morning,” Yamilé Suárez Serrano, one of the evacuees from the hamlet of Sao Nuevo, whose home served as an “address post” in the first hours, told Granma that “the warning was set in motion,” and “later the means of transport arrived.” The first evacuated were the elderly, children and pregnant women, said the same source, who is also the mother of a People’s Power delegate in the area.

The Communist Party newspaper does not specify how many explosions there were in total, but in the videos spread on social networks by eyewitnesses can be seen at least two that occurred during the day.

On Wednesday afternoon, says the official newspaper, “a press group gained the closest possible access to the damage.” “Columns of smoke still crowned several elevations,” although “no explosions have been reported since early Wednesday morning.”

More than 490 residents in the rural constituency of Sao Redondo, according to official information, were transferred to “safe places,” as were residents of Sao Nuevo, El Cerro and the town of Melones itself. Granma sources highlighted “the creation of rural brigades” that guarded “homes with the belongings of those transferred to evacuation centers and protected the homes of family and friends, in the municipal capital and in other places.”

General Ramón Pardo Guerra, 88, described the event as a “disaster of technological origin”

The report also indicates that “surveillance is constant with the use of various means, including unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).” According to sources from 14ymedio, the alert went throughout the country. In Sancti Spíritus, this Thursday “helicopters are flying over the city in the northern part, specifically over the weapon silos on the Zaza road,” says a former SMA recruit in that area. “In addition, you can see the coming and going of cars with soldiers.”

In the official press, the authorities claim that they showed “courage and responsibility” and that in the “area of greatest danger from the first moment” the “main heads of the Eastern Army and the Military Region of Holguín have been there, as well as Joel Queipo Ruiz, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and first secretary of the organization in Holguín territory, also Manuel Hernández Aguilera, governor of Holguín, and members of the Defense Council of the Municipality and other local authorities.”

The head of the National Civil Defense General Staff, General Ramón Pardo Guerra, 88, described the event as a “disaster of technological origin,” without specifying why he used this term, although he added that the causes were still being investigated.

However, the opinion of family members, who vent on social networks, is very different. Jesús Antonio, uncle of Liander José García Oliva who is missing, posted,”I feel that the right thing is not being done; I feel that those children are still alive but nothing is being done to save them. They are leaving them to God’s fate, because we know that they have not tried to look for them. And what hurts the most is that they had the courage to risk them all, but now none of them want to risk it for those children, whom they forced to do the dirty work that didn’t correspond to their rank.”

Jesús Antonio says that they are still waiting for the return home of the recruits, and adds: “All parents and close or distant relatives should come together and make it come true. Tell them to stop lying and do what they have to do, which is to give their lives to try to save those whom they forced to be there.”

More commentators joined his wish, such as Yeikel del Valle, who says that his ex-brother-in-law and uncle of his daughter is also among the victims, and Camila Ching, who says: “Very true, I have the brother of a dear friend on that list and there are no answers. It is not fair to leave them to the fate of what may happen.”

Leandro Pérez Alberteriz says he is “available in case they need volunteers. Those words are very well written. My first cousin is also among the missing, and they aren’t doing anything to get them out.”

From testimonies of relatives and comments on Facebook, it is possible to reconstruct scraps of the biographies of the disappeared.

Among the nine SMA recruits are a Japanese cartoon enthusiast and a future chef, and some who were only a few months away from demobilizing. Most are residents of the vicinity of the Melones base or other Holguin municipalities.

Leinier Jorge Sánchez, only 18 years old, is the son of Gretel María Franco, secretary of the president of the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power of Rafael Freyre

Along with the aforementioned Leinier Jorge Sánchez and Liander José García Oliva, the list of recruits consists of Brian Lázaro Rojas Long (from the community of Esterito, in the municipality of Banes), Yunior Hernández Rojas (originally from Holguín), Rayme Rojas Rojas (born in 2004), José Carlos Guerrero García (only 19 years old), Frank Antonio Hidalgo Almaguer (neighbor of the municipality of San Andrés), Carlos Alejandro Acosta Silva and Héctor Adrián Batista Zayas (from Las Tunas).

Among the officers is Major Carlos Carreño (from Santiago de Cuba, married and with a child), the second non-commissioned officer Orlebanis Tamé Torres, with a military degree also obtained by Yoennis Pérez Durán, a graduate of electrical engineering, as well as Major Leonar Palma Matos (also the father of a son).

Their identities were made public by the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces almost 12 hours after the event occurred, and after long hours of rumors and uncertainty.

These types of accidents are not rare in military installations such as Melones. In the first hours of the event, news was spread by mistake – even by the official press – that the damaged warehouse was the same one that in 2020 also suffered two morning explosions in Gibara, about 50 kilometers from Rafael Freyre.

In addition, in June 2017 there was a similar event, this time in Santiago de Cuba, when several explosions occurred in the municipality of Songo-La Maya, near the Ti Arriba military unit .

Then, half a thousand neighbors were evacuated for five days, without anyone giving them an explanation about the incident, which did not cause more damage than the consequences, reported by the residents, of leaving their animals abandoned for several days.

Last 2024, three workers died in several explosions at the Ernesto Che Guevara Industrial Military Company (EMI), located in La Campana, in Manicaragua, Villa Clara. In these cases, accidents occurred when employees handled potentially dangerous explosives.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

To Have Internet Despite Etecsa, Cubans Need a Bamboo Cane and 10 Meters of Cable

Cuban antennas are made of aluminum and plastic, and have become the queens of rooftops.

Next to one of Etecsa’s tower-antennas, the homemade devices look a bit pathetic.

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 3 December 2024. At first glance, they look like gadgets from a science fiction movie. Made from aluminum and plastic pieces and perched on top of a long bamboo pole, these antennas for amplifying 4G signal have become the queens of the rooftops in Cuba. Born of scarcity and ingenuity, they are the stars of the latest chapter in the Cuban fight against Etecsa, the communications monopoly on the Island.

Walking around Holguin in search of an antenna can, in fact, become a plot out of Star Wars or Dune. The setting is a planet in ruins: ramshackle buildings, oppressive heat and unfriendly faces. When you finally get – by way of acquaintances and contacts – the details of an “inventor”, you have to pay between 4,500 and 5,000 pesos to take home the gadget along with its cable.

You have no choice. No antenna means no internet, and no internet means no entertainment. The weight of reality without that little six-inch screen – a portal to entire galaxies of escape – is too suffocating. If the antenna is effective, the mental anesthesia is greater.

Getting the device in parts is another adventure. The coaxial cable costs 110 pesos a meter and it takes quite a bit of height -about 10 meters, if you add a house and the almost three meters of the rod- to get an improved signal. The pole, a long bamboo cane or a branch similar to the one used to cut guavas in backyards, can be obtained in one of the fields near the city. continue reading

Coaxial cable costs 110 pesos a meter and it takes a lot of height to get a better signal / 14ymedio

Next to one of Etecsa’s antenna-towers, the home-made devices look a little pitiful. But what they lack in technology they make up in numbers: most neighbourhoods have two or three of these stakes, with the device on top: a shaft with small circular brass attachments, pointing to the source of the signal. In theory, although antenna manufacturing is not an exact science, it works.

The Cubans raising their antennas today are the successors of those who, until very recently, painstakingly sanded aluminum tubes, made a booster and hoisted heavy devices to pick up U.S. television. Many did not even understand English, but that succession of commercials, talk shows and car dealership ads was enough to thrill anyone who looked at the Panda’s screen.

There were plenty of “radio aficionado” groups, who took advantage of a kind of state-sanctioned loophole to traffic in cables and parts under the guise of being radio enthusiasts. Adapted to the times they live in, Cubans now form “antenna groups” on WhatsApp or Facebook, where, like in space taverns, they share ideas and tricks to perfect their inventions.

What happens in Holguín happens everywhere in Cuba. Even if the coverage is on the ground, if you place the phone on the attachment connected to the antenna -a rustic base with a small metal contact-the cell phone acquires superpowers. Or at least the Cuban equivalent of a superpower: having Internet despite Etecsa.

Translated by GH

____________

In Holguín, Cuba, the Windows of Hard Currency Stores Are Kept Covered for Fear of Being Stoned

“We Holguin residents are such that if they prick us we don’t even bleed”

Hard currency stores have been a frequent target of stone throwing in Cuba. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 25 October 2024 — Although the people of Holguín only have memories of October’s Hurricane Oscar, the El Nickel store, located at the intersection of Frexes and Máximo Gómez streets, still has its windows covered with panels. The reason for protecting the windows is not due to the winds or rains that the meteor brought to the province, but rather the authorities’ fear that popular indignation over the long blackouts will lead to a barrage of stones against the trade in freely convertible currency (MLC).

This Thursday, the downtown store offered a few goods, diminished by the lack of supplies and the compulsive purchases of customers who managed to prepare with canned goods, cookies and batteries for Oscar’s passage. “It seems that the windows will stay like this for a few more days, because we know that people here are very upset,” said Yunior, a driver of an electric tricycle that provides merchandise transport services on the outskirts of El Nickel. The social anger is summed up for the driver in a more than graphic phrase: “We Holguiners are such that if they prick us we don’t even bleed.”

Hard currency stores have been a frequent target of stone throwing in Cuba. The high prices and social inequalities that these businesses have contributed to aggravating are the fundamental fuel for these actions. The Holguin store sells household appliances, parts and accessories for motorcycles and cars, as well as sports equipment and food. “There are bicycles in there that cost 699 MLC, they have been there since the beginning and they have not been able to sell a single one,” Yunior criticizes. “In the four years since they turned El Nickel into a hard currency store, they have not reduced the price of those bicycles by a single dollar, despite the problems with transportation in this city.” continue reading

Other currency exchanges also keep their windows protected, which worsens the lighting inside.

Other foreign exchange markets also keep their windows covered, which worsens the lighting inside. “The height of absurdity, you go in and you can hardly see the products on sale because the few light bulbs that are on — when there is electricity, barely give a little light” — lamented a customer in another store in the MLC in downtown Holguin. Residents of the city have already experienced other moments of covered windows, such as in the days following the popular protests of July 11, 2021. “You can measure the degree of people’s discontent and the government’s fear by going around these stores to see if the windows are covered,” she adds.

This week, judging by the wooden planks covering the façade of El Nickel, it can be concluded that the discontent of the people of Holguín is high and so is the fear of the authorities.

____________

A Young Woman Was Murdered in Holguín, Cuba, by Her Ex-Husband, Who Was Blackmailing Her

Yoannia Hernandez had a four-year-old daughter from a new relationship and wanted to move abroad

Yoannia Hernández had been an art instructor and was the mother of a girl, who was orphaned at the age of four. / Facebook

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 31 October 2024 — Yoannia Hernández was murdered by her ex-husband early Thursday morning in the 26 de Julio neighborhood of the city of Holguín. According to a resident of the area who spoke to 14ymedio , the attacker had a history of violence. “A few years ago he stabbed a neighbor of mine,” said the same source, who knew the victim well.

The 32-year-old woman, known to her family and friends as Yuyi, had been an art instructor and had a daughter with a foreign man, who has now been orphaned at the age of four. Although she lived in Holguín, this neighbor explains, Hernández frequently traveled outside the island. Meanwhile, her relatives say, the alleged murderer harassed her.

“He blackmailed her and asked her for money for his vices and his habits,” said another neighbor. “He killed her in front of a group of people, it was not in private. Several people said she said ‘I told you no, I won’t give you any more’, and then he grabbed her by the arm, stood up and stabbed her.” continue reading

With this femicide, there are 41 sexist crimes in Cuba so far this year, according to the ’14ymedio’ registry

They also say that the young woman had previously sought legal advice to take her daughter out of Cuba to a European country, which the sources cannot specify, and where the girl’s father resides.

With this femicide, there are now 41 such crimes in Cuba so far this year, according to 14ymedio’s records. The most recent known murder was that of Tamara Carreras Martínez, 57 years old and a resident of Santiago de Cuba, last Thursday. Her partner and alleged aggressor was later attacked by local residents.

Before her, also in Santiago de Cuba, the femicide of Yucleidis Morales was confirmed.

The murder of Yoannia Hernández in the early hours of Thursday morning took place two days after the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) issued its observations on the island, which included a section dedicated to gender violence.

In this regard, the organization asked the government to incorporate the crime of “femicide” in the Penal Code, to “raise awareness and public recognition,” “strengthen measures to prevent, prosecute and punish perpetrators of cases of gender violence against women,” and establish shelters throughout the State, “including in collaboration with civil society organizations.”

____________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________