Natalia López Moya – Translating Cuba

‘El Químico’ Is No Longer Just for Poor People in Cuba

A young doctor tells ’14ymedio’ that among his colleagues “there are many hooked” on this cheap and highly addictive drug.

Hospital Calixto García, in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, havana, 21 April 2025 — “Time of death 2:32 in the morning, cause: cardiac arrest,” summarizes the death certificate of a young man from Havana, 28, who died earlier this year in the emergency room of the Calixto García, in Havana. The small print, however, hides a much more dramatic story of addiction, drug use and meager resources in the Cuban health system, faced with the spread of “el químico” [the chemical].

“I was on duty that night, and when he arrived I thought he had an asthma attack,” recalls Marieta, a nurse at the hospital center whose name has been changed for this story. “He came with two friends after midnight on a Saturday, which is usually a time with many cases of knife wounds, cuts from bottles thrown at some party and also injuries from domestic altercations,” she says.

When she graduated, two decades ago, Marieta remembers that on weekends in the emergency room of the central hospital, a few meters from 23rd street with its clubs, bars and recreational centers, most of the emergencies were from “alcohol and fights.” The newly recruited doctors and nurses received the hardest shifts. In those long hours of late Saturday and Sunday, they learned very well to “sew heads and knife wounds while the patient’s foul smell of rum almost asphyxiated us,” she recalls.

“More and more cases arrive of people intoxicated with drugs”

However, for some time now the uninvited guest of the night has changed. “More and more cases arrive of people intoxicated with drugs, especially the “chemical,” but in recent months we have treated cases of all kinds of drug mixtures,” she explains to 14ymedio. One of the serious problems faced by health professionals who assist these patients is the lack of information about what has happened to them.

“We know an accident victim has been run over by a car or hit by a motorcycle, because the people who brought him tell us and give us the details, but with drug addicts it doesn’t happen,” she says. “People have left them lying on the entrance ramp and run away so they don’t show their faces. Others come accompanied by friends, but these people don’t talk. They won’t tell us what happened or just say that the person started feeling bad.”

Not only do you see the progression of drug addiction among patients treated in the emergency room. The medical sector itself is also being rocked by the chemical, which is currently sold in Havana at a price ranging from 150 to 200 pesos per dose. A pound of beans costs more than one of those little pieces of paper that envelop the substance for its illicit trade. In a country where commodities are on the rise, this drug is still surprisingly cheap.

A young doctor tells this newspaper that among his colleagues “there are many who are hooked” on the addictive mixture. “It comes from the bad neighborhoods,” he warns. “My girlfriend and several friends in the healthcare profession are consuming it in an uncontrolled way; it is no longer just something for poor people.”

Among their most complicated cases are those who have recently come in with serious breathing problems and heart failure after having consumed the ’chemical’

In the emergency room, a police officer takes note of patients arriving with knife wounds, gunshots or signs of violence, but the protocol for drug users who arrive in bad shape “is not so clear,” says the woman. “If it is a slight intoxication, the doctor himself doesn’t want to report it so as not to get into trouble with the patient, but there are some who arrive in an obviously very high state, and there is no way to hide it.”

Among their more complicated cases are those who come in with serious breathing problems and heart failure after having consumed the chemical, the most popular drug right now in Havana. With a formula that may vary depending on who prepares it, its base is synthetic marijuana mixed with drugs, some intended for the treatment of epilepsy, tranquilizers for animals or compounds used in surgery. Once hooked, addicts try other very risky combinations, such as adding lidocaine, a local anesthetic that is readily available on the Island’s informal market.

“I saw a boy who was not even 18 take one of those lidocaine patches that you put, especially on your back, when you have some pain. He cut it into small pieces, ate it and immediately had neurotoxic and cardiotoxic reactions. When they brought him in, there was nothing that could be done,” he says. “They’re not just mixing the chemical with drugs that are hard to get or more expensive. Now even a less-controlled medication can be a hazard if it is consumed incorrectly or in conjunction with other substances.”

Among the products most imported by mules to the Island, protected by the exemption of tariffs on food and medicines, are not only coffee, spices and multivitamins, but also the popular lidocaine patches. In an aging population like the Cuban one, there is a wide demand. Light-weight, without customs controls and apparently harmless, in the wrong hands these patches become a danger.

In a society that is very loquacious about defining illegal phenomena, it is surprising that there is no clear term for defining the drug trafficker

“After oral ingestion, lidocaine enters the systemic circulation very quickly due to the extensive hepatic metabolism of the compound,” warns a patient from another hospital in Havana who prefers anonymity. “It begins its action very quickly, and the signs of intoxication begin to be noticed within the first 10 to 25 minutes. By the time these patients arrive at an emergency room, their clinical condition is very advanced.”

The code of silence spreads among addicts and those who accompany them to the hospitals. Describing what they consumed can draw the attention of the police, who will pressure them to report the dealer. The producers and sellers of the chemical, ambrosio* and other mixtures are mostly thugs who threaten to retaliate against the snitches and their families.

In a society that is very loquacious when it comes to defining illegal phenomena or the vagaries of the informal market, it is surprising that there is no clear term for defining the drug trafficker. This figure, who is known elsewhere with expressions ranging from the well-known “camel,” through “eraser” to the explicit “coke pusher,” has just begun in Cuba to have its own name. In a country where the illegal lottery, known as the “bolito,” has a wide range of terms, and prostitution also contains a vast vocabulary, the world of drugs, however, is more sparse. Perhaps the language has not evolved at the same speed as the spread of the chemical through the streets.

“Some say ’quimiqueros’,” advises El Pury, a resident of the Los Sitios neighborhood, who knows very well the damage that drugs are causing among the young people in his community. Proud to be”ten years clean” after spending time in the addiction ward of a psychiatric hospital, he now works as a stretcher-bearer. “I was inside the monster and I know its entrails,” he says, reinterpreting José Martí’s well-known phrase.

“I just have to see a little kid who arrives trembling, skinny because he barely eats and with skin the color of paper, and I know that it’s because of the drug,” he says. “It’s one thing to see it in the movies, or someone from abroad telling you about it, and another to experience it here.” Two weeks ago he had to carry a body from the emergency room to the morgue on a stretcher. The official cause of death was respiratory arrest, but El Pury knows that the young man died “from the shit that is killing everyone.”

*Translator’s note: Ambrosio is a mixture primarily involving drugs like Diazepam, Parkisonil, and Amitriptyline. Sprinkled with Ketamine, it is smoked in a roll or added to an alcoholic drink.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Add Some Sauce, but Without Lime, It’s Very Expensive

Private businesses have opted for imported citrus because the island’s lemons “are small and hard.”

As he did with other crops, Fidel Castro sought to make the island the largest regional producer of those fruits. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 12 April 2025 — When dancers in the last century moved their bodies to the catchy beat of Ignacio Piñeiro’s “Échale salsita!” (Add some salsa!), they imagined not only adding more fun to the moment, but also eating a butifarra (sausage) laced with mojo criollo (criollo sauce). But there’s no good marinade without lime in Cuba, so the musical theme now clashes with the reality of markets where the citrus fruit has reached 500 pesos a pound.

“The most affected are the bars that prepare many cocktails and drinks that include fresh lime,” Ismael, a 56-year-old bartender who has worked at several state-run establishments before finally working at a private paladar in the city center, tells 14ymedi . ” We continue to use freshly squeezed juice because that’s a guarantee of quality, and the customer can immediately tell when tasting the drink if it’s been substituted with an artificial concentrate.”

However, cocktail purists face a serious problem. “Supply is unstable, and prices can spike dramatically from one week to the next,” he explains. “We have a combination of suppliers: a couple of guajiros from Mayabeque, and the other part is supplemented with imported limes.” In his opinion, “the limes coming in right now come primarily from Mexico and are of quite high quality, with good yields.”

When asked to describe the ideal fruit for his concoctions, Ismael explains: “Large, with plenty of juice, few seeds, and an intense flavor.”

When asked to describe the ideal fruit for his concoctions, Ismael explains: “Large, with plenty of juice, few seeds, and an intense flavor.” But those qualities seem to have been lost in the citrus fruit that sprouts from Cuban fields. “They’re small, hard, hard to squeeze, and you have to use twice as much to make the drink flavorful.” This decline in national citrus fruits has come with pests, hurricanes, the loss of international markets, and government inefficiency. continue reading

Ismael is a close witness to the debacle. “I was in the Isla de la Juventud camps because I’m from Girona, so I can say I grew up among orange groves, planted with grapefruit and limes.” Those immense, fragrant fields were part of the National Citrus Program, created in 1967 by Fidel Castro, who, in the same way he did with livestock, coffee farming, and the sugar harvest, sought to turn the island into the largest regional producer of the fruits that nations with long winters craved.

In the 1980s, per capita citrus consumption was around 25 kilograms per year, and exports to the communist countries of Eastern Europe reached 200,000 tons. It’s hard to believe these figures now in a country where limes are rarely found in many markets, and many have opted to multiply them by zero in family kitchens due to their high prices. At the beginning of this century, according to the FAO, per capita consumption barely reached 15 kilograms per year, and it has continued to decline significantly, although official data have not been updated to the same extent.

“The other day I went to a private cafe, and they said they had all kinds of juices, so I asked for a grapefruit one,” Nuria, a 68-year-old Havana resident who also did “a lot of volunteer work for those citrus projects” that spread across the island in her youth, told this newspaper. “I asked the girl if they had a grapefruit one, and from her face, I thought she didn’t quite know what I was asking for,” she says. With a hint of irony, the woman explained to the clerk that it was a large fruit with a thick rind and a bitter taste. The clerk’s face gave no indication that she had found anything matching the description in her memory.

Nuria believes that many Cuban teenagers and children also believe that lime is a liquid squeezed from one of those containers containing such an unnatural extract, which are increasingly common in homes on the island. “If we were experts at peeling tangerines and squeezing local limes, what these children know how to do is take the cap off the bottle and pour a little bit into their food.”

In this setting, it’s easy to imagine the scene: the Ignacio Piñeiro septet singing “Échale salsita!” (Add some salsa!) and a beardless Cuban shaking a plastic container over a sausage fresh out of the package, because there’s not even any butifarra left.

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Trump’s Tariffs Also Affect the Cuban Informal Market

Uncertainty and fear of rising prices are growing among Cuban mules traveling to Panama.

Candonga at 100 and Boyeros, one of the markets in Havana where they sell products ’made in China’ / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 8 April 2025 — The earthquake of tariffs announced by Donald Trump, which this Monday sank the stock markets and caused an uncertainty unprecedented since the Second World War, is also felt in Cuba. Although because of US sanctions Cuba is not on the list of countries affected by tariffs, the fear of price increases and shortages in the informal market keeps businesses and buyers in suspense.

Magda, a 56-year-old woman from Havana who became a Spanish citizen a decade ago, learned of the announcements made by the US president last Wednesday while having lunch at a small inn in the Colón Free Zone in Panama. “I still do not know how it will affect my business, but I have already had calls from several contacts who had agreed to make deliveries, to tell me that I had to wait.”

Magda, who imports clothing and footwear from Panama, is among thousands of Cubans who travel to Panama every year to buy products that they will then sell on the Island. continue reading

“I buy sportswear, tennis shoes, hair accessories, caps, sunglasses, backpacks – everything for sale that can enter Cuba with no trouble”

“I buy sportswear, tennis shoes, hair accessories, caps, sunglasses, backpacks – everything on offer that can enter Cuba with no trouble,” the woman tells 14ymedio. “As I have been doing this for many years I now have my contacts and agreements with Panamanian and Chinese business people who know what I am looking for. They give me a price for the quantities that I need and are people I trust.”

“Every year I come to Panama up to five times,” she says. ” I have learned some phrases in Chinese because there are areas where the intermediaries speak neither Spanish nor English.” Her previous trip, at the end of last January, coincided with Trump’s declarations showing his intentions for the US to take over the management of the Canal, with five main ports, two of them managed by China.

Finally, after multiple pressures, the Hong Kong giant CK Hutchison sold its ports to the American fund BlackRock, a transaction that is in progress and which has badly hurt Beijing and has “enraged” the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who considers that the operation will go “against the interests” of the nation. But beyond the government palaces, chancelleries and stock exchanges, doubt has already settled among the traders who feed the Cuban mules in that country.

“The first thing I noticed is that many do not want to close deals in the medium term because you do not know how prices will be tomorrow”

About 3% of world trade passes through the Panama Canal. Its main customer is the United States, which accounts for two-thirds of the tonnage crossing it, followed by China and Japan. “This is the best country to come to buy because it has a lot of variety, prices are very good and plane tickets are not so expensive, but if everything starts going up they won’t give me the accounts.”

“The first thing I noticed is that many do not want to conclude agreements in the medium term because we do not know how prices will be tomorrow,” says Magda. “Some products have gone up, such as hearing aids, smart watches and accessories from China that sell very well in Cuba. Before they were cheaper, but we still don’t know if everything will go up, and we must wait for the waters to calm down.”

Any increase, however, will end up being paid by the client. ” I have my regular clientele, who ask me by catalogue also or that their family pays for the products from the United States and I make the delivery in Havana. I have already told them that I can not guarantee I will maintain current prices,” she explains to this newspaper. ’There are those who have already told me that they will stop shopping because food and basic products have gone up a lot in Florida, and they can no longer pay for clothes and shoes for their relatives.”

Others have started their business with goods that come directly from the United States, even though they are also from the far-off continent of Asia. ” I have women’s dresses, girls’ dresses and men’s sportswear,” says El Pury in its catalog, updated up to three times a day, which is disseminated through a WhatsApp group with more than 3,000 subscribers. “It’s all Shein and Temu, nothing else,” he writes accompanied by colorful emojis.

“I lost some money because, although I explained to the customers that they had to be patient, many withdrew their order due to the delay”

El Pury is part of a growing group of Cuban traders who bring goods to the Island that their contacts in the United States buy through fast-fashion giants like Temu and Shein. The mechanism is simple: “the client chooses what he wants in the application, passes me the code of what he selected, gives a part of the money in advance, or, if he is very trustworthy, he does not have to pay anything before, and I tell my sister in Miami to buy it online.”

When they have a certain amount of products selected on demand by the buyers, the woman sends the goods through mules, takes them herself on a personal trip or uses one of the parcel agencies to Cuba that have multiplied in recent years in southern Florida. “I don’t sell only clothes but also home accessories, appliances and lots of makeup.”

El Pury’s business is now in the middle of a tariff war between Washington and Beijing. Among the highest taxes imposed by Trump are those applied to goods from China and that reach tariffs of up to 25% on technological products, machinery and textiles, among others. The tone of confrontation has risen in recent hours, and China has warned that it will “fight to the end” if the US imposes additional tariffs of 50%.

The result of this confrontation began to be noticed in February when Temu and Shein, the two largest Chinese e-commerce platforms operating in the US, started to raise prices. Digital stores also removed some products from their websites, and delivery times were extended. ” I lost some money because, although I explained to the customers that they had to be patient, many people withdrew their order because of the delay,” the businessman acknowledges.

“The truth is that we don’t even know what’s going to happen. Not even Trump himself knows what’s going to happen”

“Before all this I could guarantee that from the time the customer placed the order until he had the product in hand would be only 25 to 30 days, but now that has changed, and I have to tell them that it can take up to 45 days,” she says. “I can’t even guarantee that those deadlines will be met. A few days ago my sister was waiting for a purchase of more than ten items she had bought on Temu to send me. Every time I checked the application the day of delivery was revised: one week became three.”

Despite the economic crisis on the Island, fast fashion has carved out an increasingly large place in the wardrobe of Cubans. In the middle of the ruins, the mountains of rubbish and the sewer waters, it is frequent to see people dressed in new clothes and shoes, mostly Chinese copies of famous brands. The years of austerity and uniformity imposed by the rationed market for industrial products seem to have led to a great appetite to dress well according to world trends.

Cuban sites that promote themselves as intermediaries of Shein have also proliferated a lot in recent years. Some promote their services as a way to “buy easily” from Cuba and even allow payment in national currency. They have the option of express shipment of the goods from the US to the Island or the possibility to pay less because the package is sent by boat and takes longer.

An employee at one of these digital stores has told 14ymedio, anonymously, that they are having many inquiries from customers who fear that the goods already purchased will not reach their hands. “We are trying not to panic and tell them that everything will continue as before but the truth is that even we ourselves do not know what will happen. Even Trump doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Obispo Street in Havana, Where Tourism Has Pushed Out Neighbors

The main artery of Old Havana has lost much of the network of residents who once gave it grace and life.

Tourists on Obispo Street in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 27 March 2025– It is one of the busiest streets in all of Cuba, but on the cobblestones of Obispo, those who pass by are mostly tourists, employees of nearby hotels and people from another municipality who come to walk or shop, but there are fewer and fewer neighbors. The main artery of Old Havana has lost much of the network of residents who once gave it grace and life.

“My mother spent the last few years of her life sitting on the balcony,” says Natacha, a 48-year-old woman from Havana who lives in a dilapidated tenement, one of the few buildings in which most of its inhabitants were born or have been there for many years. “She entertained herself by greeting the neighbors who passed by on the street, the merchants and everyone she knew. If she is resurrected, she will no longer have hardly anyone to greet.”

Natacha complains that the familiarity she felt as a child when she lived on Obispo Street has been lost. “The block is now full of businesses, hotels and rental houses for tourists. You go for a walk and don’t meet anyone you know, just people who are passing through.” The excessive tourist character of the area and the exodus of many of its former residents have left the feeling “that this is a movie, all made of cardboard,” she says. continue reading

“There’s the Florida hotel, next to the Cadeca, then a State store and a cafeteria. As for living, no one actually lives here”

Further up, the block where the foreign currency exchange is located is an example of what Natacha means. There are almost no houses on either side of the street. “There’s the Florida hotel, next to the Cadeca, then a State store and a cafeteria. As for living, no one actually lives here.” In front of the ATMs, in a long line made up of tourists and employees of nearby companies, a dozen people are waiting. “You ask them where the ration store is or if water came in today and they don’t know, because no one is from here.”

The massive arrival of tourists, which may seem like a blessing for any Cuban neighborhood, has completely changed the physiognomy of the historic center of Havana and especially of Obispo Street. On the corner with Habana Street, Hector and his family survive on the second floor of a four-story building. “Here there are only our neighbors and an old woman who lives on the first floor who remain,” he explains. “The rest are rental apartments for foreigners.”

The well-painted staircase, the facade without cracks and a “Room for Rent” sign on the main entrance distinguish the building where Héctor lives. But despite the renovations in the common areas, he and his family would prefer to have someone they know whose door they can knock on in case there’s a problem. “Sometimes we can’t sleep because the renters blast their music and stay up dancing until dawn.

Above Héctor’s apartment there is a rental apartment where “it’s rare that a week goes by that something doesn’t happen: they leave a tap open when there is no water and when it arrives the house floods and there are leaks. Tourists don’t understand that there is no water now but maybe in an hour it will arrive.” Another added nuisance is the prices. “The sellers believe that because we live on Obispo Street we are rich, that everyone here is rolling in dollars.”

Some of the inhabitants of Obispo have ended up trying to sell their belongings because they have emigrated / 14ymedio

The rise in prices in tourist areas is a phenomenon that affects several regions in Cuba. Varadero, the main resort of the Island, was the first place where the massive arrival of travelers from the 90s made prices go up in the markets and for the street vendors. The town of Viñales, in Pinar del Río, and the traditional city of Trinidad have followed in their footsteps.

“What in Cerro used to cost 200 pesos now costs 300 or 350 pesos,” complains an old man. On Saturday he haggled with a cart seller, set up on a corner, over a pound of small tomatoes that looked spoiled. “Buying in this area is like being robbed in the middle of the night at knife-point. Because there are tourists and renters here, the sellers think we are all loaded.”

Finally, the man declines to buy the tomatoes at that price and decides to turn his steps in the direction of O’Reilly Street to see if he has better luck. On the way he has to step over a beggar who, lying on the sidewalk, holds out a tin cup where some passers-by have dropped a few bills. Further along, an old woman with an outstretched hand also asks for “something to eat.”

The proportion of homeless people asking for money on Obispo Street is probably the highest in the entire country. They station themselves on the sidewalks with the illusion of receiving generous alms, preferably in a currency other than the devalued Cuban peso. Some sleep in the stairwells, in doorways or in a corner under the facades.

“When I was a child, the La Moderna Poesía bookstore was a wonderful place. I loved to go there, but it has been closed for years, and the surroundings are now the public bathroom for many of the homeless people who stay overnight on this street,” says Natacha. “Many places that used to give life to the neighborhood, where there were children, have been lost. Now everything is designed for tourism, and whatever does not bring in foreign currency is closed and left to deteriorate.

“There are many empty houses and businesses that started out well but now are being redone”

Natacha believes that the restoration process, promoted by the late City of Havana Historian Eusebio Leal, had “its good things but also very bad results.” Among the negative points she mentions are that “when they allowed the sale of houses this was one of the most expensive areas of Havana, and there were people who bought to remodel and make a private restaurant or a rental house. The families who used to live in those homes left because many were poor, and this was becoming a neighborhood for the rich.”

However, some of those new owners have ended up “closing the houses and putting them up for sale” because they have emigrated. “There are many empty houses and businesses that started out very well but now are gone,” the woman explains. “So you can find a lot of buildings where there are only one or two residents.” On classified sites, the homes on Obispo Street are advertised as “ideal for renting” or “with an active Airbnb rental business.”

Very few ads talk about the advantages of a house for a large family, the proximity of schools or agricultural markets in the area. Obispo seems like a place just to sleep a few nights and continue heading to another tourist destination. The so-called gentrification, which is hardly talked about in the official media, has especially favored the pedestrian zone that goes from the Floridita bar to the Plaza de Armas.

“That old lady over there was born here; she was my mom’s friend,” says Natacha. “She is one of the few left in the neighborhood who has lived all her life in this area.” To cross to the door where a lady in a wheelchair is sunbathing, Natacha must dodge a group of tourists who compulsively take photos of a building from the early twentieth century, bypass the feet of the man lying on the sidewalk with his cup for alms and go past the stand of a seller who offers oranges, twice as expensive as in any other neighborhood of Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Clásica Card, A Trap That Scares Away Tourists in Cuba

In its eagerness to extract more dollars from foreigners, the Government forces them to pay with plastic and prohibits them from using cash.

K Tower employees received rapid training last year on how to operate the Clásica card. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 22 March 2025 — A tourist enters the cafeteria of the Grand Aston Hotel in Havana and is immediately approached by an employee who warns him that if he’s an American, he can only pay with the Cuban Clásica card. The traveler takes some bills from his pocket, but the waiter shakes his head: “No, dollars aren’t accepted here.” A minute later, the customer has left, and the place is empty again.

The dollarization of the Cuban economy is most fully expressed in the Clásica card. Created in early 2024 by the Cimex corporation, part of the military-controlled Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (Gaesa), this payment option has, so far, caused more problems than solutions in the tourism sector. Delays, complaints, and doubts surround the latest financial innovation from national banks.

“They told us this would make it easier for Americans and Cuban-Americans to spend more during their stay, but it’s not working,” an employee at the Iberostar Marqués de la Torre hotel, located a few meters from Havana’s Central Park, explains emphatically. The employee, along with his colleagues, received rapid training last year on how to operate the Clásica. “They told us great things about this option, but in reality, it only brings disappointment.”

The sources of discontent are multiple. “American tourists are generous, but they expect efficient and fast service, without delays. So when they order a drink at the bar or go to a restaurant for a meal and are told they first have to buy the Clásica Card at the front desk, it’s like having a bucket of cold water thrown over them.” On multiple occasions, the man has seen guests “turn around and say they’ll go to a paladar [a private restaurant].” continue reading

During the first two months of this year, 38,757 Cuban emigrants and 25,197 Americans visited the island

Although the tourism sector is not experiencing a favorable outlook, 38,757 Cuban emigrants and 25,197 Americans visited the island during the first two months of this year. Among the former, many stay part of their visit with relatives but also choose a tourist accommodation to treat their loved ones to a few days away from the power outages and everyday problems.

Cards issued by US banks don’t work in Cuba due to the economic sanctions imposed by Washington. For this reason, tourists arriving from the United States are forced to buy the Clásica card to access a wide variety of services. “When Marrero talked about dollarizing the economy, we all thought they would use cash directly, but that hasn’t been the case,” complains the Marqués de la Torre employee.

“The simplest thing would have been to allow the dollar to circulate freely in hotels, but they say that’s not possible for now, because if they let it circulate here, it will spread everywhere and sink the Cuban peso.” For the time being, authorities prefer to encourage the use of the Clásica and avoid direct payments in US currency. “We’ll see when they come to realize this mechanism is useless,” he concludes.

For the employee, as for many other professionals linked to tourism, it remains contradictory that cash payments are allowed in the dollar-denominated stores that have begun to open throughout the island since the beginning of this year. Many wonder why US currency can be used in those markets but not in hotels. The answer points to a decision that is more political than pragmatic.

Outside the Tropicana cabaret, an employee tried to explain to an American couple this Saturday that they had to first buy a Clásica card to pay for admission to the venue, which, despite the crisis and the exodus of many of its dancers, continues to define itself as “a paradise under the stars.” With a look of confusion, the visitors finally agreed to exchange their bills for the blue plastic card.

To obtain a Clásica, tourists can go to a bank branch, an exchange office or to the hotel reception.

To obtain a Clásica card, tourists can go to a bank branch, a currency exchange office (CADECA), or to the reception desk at hotels and recreational centers where they are also sold. The purchase price of the card is $4, and the service charge for reloading it is equivalent to an additional $1, for a total of $5 for the first time. After that, each reload costs $1.

The couple visiting the Tropicana had to shell out $155, $75 for each ticket, plus the purchase price and the top-up service fee of the Clásica. The card will most likely fly off in the tourist’s pants pocket to the United States, having been used only once, as is the case with most tourists who are forced to buy it.

The Clásica card is not linked to a personal bank account, nor does the cardholder’s name appear on the card. “Upon departure, the cardholder may be reimbursed for the unused amount up to a maximum of 100 US dollars or the equivalent in another available currency, provided they present their boarding pass,” explains Fincimex, but the refund depends on many factors.

René, a Cuban who has lived in Miami for more than 20 years, knows the difference between words and deeds. He recently traveled to the island to visit his few remaining relatives in Havana. He took the opportunity to pack two suitcases full of old family photos, belongings from his late mother, and other mementos with more emotional than material value that he wanted to take back to the U.S. He had the misfortune that, the night before his return to Florida, the national electrical grid went out.

Upon arriving at the Delta airline counter in Terminal 3 of José Martí International Airport, René thought he’d been saved from being stranded in Cuba due to the power outage. When he tried to pay the $80 fee the company was demanding for two suitcases—$35 for the first and $45 for the second—he ran into a problem. “We don’t accept US cards or cash in dollars,” the employee stated.

The woman told him he had to go to the Cadeca on the ground floor of the airport and buy a Clásica card to pay for the right to have his luggage put in the plane’s hold. The terminal’s escalators weren’t working, and only one elevator provided transportation between floors. Alone and carrying two bags, René had to wait patiently in line to use the elevator.

When he arrived at Cadeca, the workers were having lunch and card sales was at a standstill.

When he arrived at Cadeca, the workers were having lunch, and card sales were at a standstill. After half an hour, service was reactivated, and the Cuban-American purchased a Clásica card for $80, but the employee who served him didn’t warn him that he would only have $75 left, after deducting the $5 in fees. The result: long minutes wasted again in the line at the elevator and at the airline counter, only to have to return to Cadeca to deposit more cash and reach the $80 required by Delta.

“They rejected about ten of my 20-dollar bills because they said one had a dent here, the other was a little worn, and some had a bent corner. Not even the US Federal Reserve is that particular about paper money,” he laments. “If they say they want dollars, they can’t be carrying those exquisite things because money that’s worth something deteriorates; it passes from hand to hand; it’s not meant to be hung in a museum.”

When the eventful expedition ended, there were only about 40 minutes left until the plane was due to take off. “Because of the Clásica card, I almost ended up in Cuba,” he told this newspaper after his return to Miami. He couldn’t even give his family in Cuba the card so they could recharge it later, as he had chosen to go to the airport alone. Now, in a drawer in his Hialeah apartment, he keeps the memory of the awful time he had in Havana.

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The ‘MLC’ Is Not Dead in Cuba: New Stores Open in Freely Convertible Currency

La Tienda Panamericana Primera del Cerro in Havana has just been inaugurated under this sales approach

Some products for sale in the Panamericana Primera del Cerro store in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/José Lassa, Havana, 10 March 2025 — The marquee at the entrance is still broken on one side, and the steps in front of the door still show their cracks, but the interior has changed. The Panamericana Primera del Cerro Store in Havana has just been inaugurated under the practice of sales in freely convertible currency (MLC). Before opening to foreign exchange trade, the store, located on Santa Catalina Street at the corner of Vento, was not used after a long stage of deterioration offering scarce goods in national currency.

The place was not used after a long stage of deterioration offering scarce goods in national currency / 14ymedio

“It was a lion’s den every day,” recalls a woman who ran into a neighbor this Monday just before entering the market. Since last Thursday, the shelves no longer display the few products in Cuban pesos that were distributed by the so-called rationed “module.” Instead of the packages, semi-thawed, of chicken thighs, the tasteless El Cocinerito picadillo and the odd bag of detergent, now on the shelves you can see bottles of wine, different tomato sauces and seasonings of the American brand Goya.

Now on the shelves you can see bottles of wine, different tomato sauces and seasonings of the American brand Goya / 14ymedio

When in Primera del Cerro you paid with pesos, the surroundings of the store also looked very different. “There was always a line, and it was a rare day that a fight didn’t break out,” recalls another customer who found out from a friend that you can now buy there only by paying with foreign credit cards or with the Classic and MLC cards issued by Cuban banks. No type of cash is accepted, the clerks clearly clarified as soon as she inquired: no dollar bills and much less Cuban pesos.

No type of cash is accepted: no dollar bills, and much less Cuban pesos / 14ymedio

Unlike other markets that have recently begun to operate in dollars, on the corner of Santa Catalina only foreign currency “in plastic” is accepted, emphasizes a worker. Of course, once they’ve fulfilled this requirement, buyers can choose between several types of canned sardines or tuna from the Spanish brand HiperDino, ranging from $1.45 to $3.85 dollars a can, and Didi condensed milk at $7.50 per kilo or a small jar of Hellmann mayonnaise for $2.85. A large number of sauces from national industries fill a good part of the shelves.

A large number of sauces from national industries fill a good part of the shelves / 14ymedio

For customers with more resources, there are rice cookers, washing machines and even electric ovens. “It is for use when there is electricity,” ironized a young man who entered to explore the new image of what until recently was an empty place with employees without much to do. However, there is still a lot of that past. The floor is broken in several places, the paint is still peeling on the walls, and some of the ceiling lights do not even turn on.

The floor is broken in several places, the paint is still peeling on the walls, and some of the ceiling lights do not even turn on / 14ymedio

The dividing line between one store in MLC and another in cash dollars is also noticeable in those details. If Lincoln and Franklin rule in newly released or carefully repaired spaces, the convertible currency, which only exists in plastic and is quoted at 280 CUP to the dollar in the parallel market, must settle for buildings with broken stairs and demolished gardens.

For customers with more resources, there are rice cookers, washing machines and even electric ovens. / 14ymedio

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“There Is No Bread, There Is No Flour”: The Omnipresent Poster in Havana’s Shops

Shortages affect both the rationed and informal markets

A bakery in Havana announces on an improvised poster that it is not selling bread / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 28 February 2025 — In La Timba the mornings are too quiet. In that poor neighborhood that extends a few meters from the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, the proclamations of the street vendors who sell bread have not been heard for days. The absence of their voices is a terrible sign in a city where many bakeries have displayed the “There is no” sign due to the lack of flour that has sunk the production of this basic food.

“There is some, but you have to do a lot to find it,” says a retiree who this Friday walked from the Luyanó neighborhood to Central Havana. “I went to several private businesses, and they say they are not making bread, that they don’t know when they will sell it again.” In at least two of these MSMEs, employees explained that the current shortage is due to problems with the supply of flour after the offensive that the authorities unleashed against informal sellers and illegalities in the sector, in the capital and also in the provinces, especially Matanzas.

An open secret is that much of the bread sold by street vendors is made in the same bakeries that make the rationed bread. The raw materials that guarantee 60 grams per consumer per day are being diverted and become a product that economically supports a wide network of bakers, administrators who turn a blind eye, and informal sellers. These days, the official media have warned in several provinces that the State does not have enough flour to guarantee that daily quota, a shortage that has also put the black market in check.

“I went to several private businesses that say they are not making bread and don’t know when they will have it for sale again”

Private producers are also experiencing difficulties. “The price of flour has gone up, which forces us to raise prices or cut production,” Samuel, a young baker who works in a private candy store where they also make cookies, breads and the popular breadsticks, explains to this newspaper. “In continue reading

February of last year, if you bought by quantity, a 25-kilogram bag wasn’t even 30 dollars, but now it’s a miracle if you can find it under 40.”

“We had to stop selling bags of bread because there was one complaint after another. We had one that contained eight bread rolls at 200 pesos because they were big, but the people who came in treated us like scammers,” he explains. Finally, “we couldn’t even continue at that price, because buying quality flour and selling at that price only gives us losses.”

Samuel points to an increase in State controls as part of the problem. “Some inspectors arrived at the bakery and started handing out fines before even entering. They fined us thousands of pesos because we had a sign outside with the prices, and they said No, it has to be inside. Then they came in, and because there was a bag with a little flour that we had transferred from a sack and did not have the origin on the outside to compare it with the invoice, they added 8,000 more pesos to the fine.”

The result was that they stopped making not only bread but also panettone, puff pastry and any other type of dough made from flour. “Now we are only making cremitas de leche (milk caramels), guava bars, custard and coconut macaroons.” Of course, the large sign with “There is no bread, there is no flour” has been placed inside the business, on a counter with empty shelves behind it.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Fatally Injured, Cuba’s Hard Currency (MLC) Stores Refute the Official Speech About Their Continuation

The dollar stores that Tiendas Caribe and Cimex have begun to open in the provincial capitals have given their final blow.

The Puentes Grandes Shopping Center, located on the corner of 26th and 51st streets / 14ymedio

14ymedio, José Lassa/Natalia López Moya, Havana, February 13, 2025 — “They have fans for sale in Roseland, hurry up,” writes a user in a WhatsApp group where hundreds of customers meet to monitor stores in freely convertible currency (MLC) in Havana. Following the trail of products in those State shops has become a full-time task due to the shortages that keep their refrigerators and shelves practically empty.

After touring several markets of this type in the Cuban capital, Yusimí, 43, arrived at one quite far from his home: the Puentes Grandes Shopping Center, located on the corner of 26th and 51st streets. “I haven’t been to this place for years, and it left me cold,” he said when he came across the holes in the floor at the entrance. That damage was only a part of the deterioration he found inside.

Practically empty of customers and products, the huge warehouse that once belonged to the Telva towel factory barely had a few cans of tomato sauce, some beach flip-flops and a few appliances with expensive prices and dubious quality. “This was a high-end store and now it’s scary to go inside; not even the lights work well,” lamented Yusimí, who, finally, “in order not to waste the trip” ended up buying a couple of cans of beets.

Damage to the floor was only a part of the deterioration inside / 14ymedio

The place was inaugurated as a shopping center in 2014, under the management of the military corporation Cimex. “The lines were constant because it was very well stocked,” recalls a former employee, who evokes those first years with nostalgia. “People came from all over Havana, because we had a very good supply of perfume and food. The hardware store also attracted a lot of customers, but the best thing we offered was the great variety of appliances.”

At that time, the authorities even announced that the market would have a web-browsing room and a Wi-Fi area that were never installed. “We even offered a gourmet assortment with good cheeses and very fine chocolates,” recalls the employee. It is difficult to reconcile that image of full shelves, well-dressed workers and customers who carried baskets full of goods with the empty refrigerators and listlessness of the employees today. continue reading

“When they removed the convertible peso in 2021, the decline began,” the woman says. The suppliers began to fail: “Cimex supplied sometimes yes and sometimes no, until only a few customers came every day.” The conversion of the store to sales in MLC (hard currency) initially seemed to revive it. “We thought that, since in the end they were dollars that people had deposited in the bank to make the purchase, the supply was not going to be lacking, since we were talking about hard currency.” Less than five years later, the only thing left of that splendor is the bright white paint on the facade.

The final push was given to the stores in MLC by the dollar shops that, through the network of Caribe and Cimex Stores, began to open in the capitals of each of the 15 Cuban provinces. The flagship of that process is the 3rd and 70th Supermarket, on the ground floor of the luxury Gran Muthu Habana hotel, which only accepts payment in that currency, both by card and in cash. While on the platforms of the brand new store there are plenty of goods, at 26th and 51st every day more products are missing.

The scene is repeated in another of the large MLC stores in Havana. The market of Boyeros and Camagüey has followed the same route as its cousin from Puentes Grandes. Recently several officials assured on national television that the freely convertible currency will be maintained, but there has been much speculation about the disappearance of the stores in MLC, and the owners of accounts in that virtual money have fewer and fewer options to spend it.

The old vitality of the business contrasts with the empty refrigerators and the listlessness of the employees / 14ymedio

What three years ago was a parking lot, where a space was barely empty for a few brief minutes before it was occupied by another vehicle, there is now an almost empty esplanade. On the outskirts of the store, this Wednesday, a custodian replied to a customer that they had no chicken or picadillo in the butcher shop. “They haven’t put it out this week, and we don’t know if they’re going to stock up in the next few days,” the worker explained vaguely.

Inside, the floors have holes in several areas, and the shelves are almost empty or filled with the same product. “I came to get olives and Castilian flour, but there isn’t any,” concluded a customer who finally bought a package of custard, family size, so as not to leave empty-handed. Away from the most central neighborhoods, buyers who have a vehicle arrive at Boyeros and Camagüey, a very small number in a city where getting fuel can take several days in line.

With many lights off, the interior of the store not only leaves an image of deterioration but also an unpleasant smell. “The light comes on, the light goes out; the refrigerator holds out for a while but not much, and the products are spoiled,” is how a worker in the storage area summarizes the situation. “There are many employees who have asked for leave, because working like this is not worth it.”

A couple walking down one of the aisles finally decides on a package of peas and a bag of imported sugar. The woman looks at her cell phone and tells the man that in the WhatsApp group where she is registered they have just published a new ad. “They have sausages and Gouda cheese in La Puntilla,” she says, and they leave at full speed to get to the Miramar neighborhood. There, another MLC store, out of stock, with broken floors and no lights, awaits them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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On the Third Day of Coppelia’s Reopening, Everything Starts To Be Missing at the ‘Ice Cream Cathedral’

In the long lines to enter the ice cream shop, the main topic was the rapid deterioration of the emblematic State business

Private companies are far ahead of state-owned businesses in terms of diversity of flavours and quality. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia Lopez/Jose Lassa, Havana, 8 February 2025 — It has been a few days since the Coppelia ice cream shop reopened and the drop in variety of offerings has already begun to be noticed. This Friday afternoon, only two flavors were still on sale – guava and pineapple – instead of the eight that were shown as available last Wednesday on the product display at the shop. Located on the corner of 23rd and L in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood, one of the Coppelia stands to buy ice cream cones had even closed due to lack of merchandise.

In the long lines to enter the “ice cream cathedral,” the main topic was the rapid deterioration of the iconic shop. “We already know that everything here has little fijador, but the truth is that this place is fading too quickly,” commented a teenager who went in search of a chocolate and strawberry ‘salad’ — multiple scoops — based on the ads she read on social networks. “I thought I was going to find another, more beautiful sight, but it’s the same as always.”

One of the stands to buy barquillos [wafers] was closed due to lack of merchandise. / 14ymedio

With prices ranging from 30 to 40 pesos per scoop, depending on the size and combination ordered, the ice cream shop is still much cheaper than the private businesses that have proliferated in the area. However, private businesses are far ahead of state-owned businesses in terms of the variety of flavors, the quality of the toppings and add-ons, and the wide assortment of sweets. The waiting time is also not in Coppelia’s favor.

“I came at four in the afternoon and it’s already after five and I haven’t been able to get in,” lamented a mother with a small child on Friday. “I wanted to have a nice chocolate curly cake with some torticas, which they told me they had brought out on the first day, but there’s nothing left.” After an hour and a half of waiting, the woman and her daughter finally made it into one of the courts located on the ground floor. The glass of water placed on their table was another hard blow. The temperature of that liquid was as warm as the afternoon that stretched over Havana.

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Cubans Are Prohibited From Visiting the Apartments of Foreign Students

“Don’t even think about having a Cuban girlfriend, because she’ll leave you speechless and cackling.”

Renting a room or apartment to foreigners with temporary residence ranges from 250 to 500 dollars a month. / EFE

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 1 February 2025 — From a balcony in El Vedado, Joao Henrique, a 28-year-old Brazilian native from San Salvador de Bahía, points to the building where he should be staying every night. “My scholarship is there, but the conditions are not good, so my parents helped me rent this place.” The house where he lives while pursuing a postgraduate degree in a medical specialty is more comfortable and safe than the state shelter, but it has strict rules.

For 300 dollars a month, the Brazilian student has a room to sleep in, a well-equipped kitchen, a bathroom, a balcony, and a living room. The small apartment is the result of the division of a larger house, so the owners live on the other side of the wall. “I can’t receive visitors, much less have parties,” he explains. “It’s a safe place, but the owners have warned me not to bring Cuban friends over, because then they can’t guarantee that things won’t get lost,” he explains to 14ymedio.

Tourism, which has fallen by almost 50% since the start of the pandemic, has pushed some homeowners to rent their spaces long-term to foreign students. Unlike nightly rates, which can exceed $30, renting a room or apartment to foreigners with temporary residence ranges from $250 to $500 per month, depending on the conditions and location of the home.

The most attractive spaces combine comfort, security, and proximity to the hospitals

The most attractive spaces combine comfort, security, and proximity to the hospitals where students do their internships, or to the facilities where they take classes. Foreign scholarship students are more highly valued than Cuban tenants, because they can pay more and do not accumulate any “right” over the property. But foreign students are often unaware of the characteristics of certain neighborhoods, and have a harder time reading the warning signs of a possible scam or danger. continue reading

From rooms inside a house where they share their daily life with the family, to comfortable independent apartments that include hot water and air conditioning, the variety of options fits everyone’s budget. “This place is close to the hospital where I do my internship, and is also quite central, so though I pay a little more, it’s very practical for me,” explains Joao Henrique.

As part of an agreement with Havana, Brasilia has financed the transfer to the Island of students who are paid for their plane tickets, classes in each specialty, and accommodations. The Brazilian was placed in the Comandante Ramón Paz Borroto Student Residence on the corner of 25th Street and G Street, in Havana’s Vedado. But Joao Henrique only spent the first month there after arriving on the island. “There are many problems with the water supply, and I was robbed twice in my room,” he explains.

“This apartment has better conditions, but it saddens me that my friends can’t visit me. I would like the owners to be less present in my life, and to have a little more privacy,” he admits. “Cubans have a very bad opinion of each other. The lady of the house warns me every week not to even think about having a Cuban girlfriend because she will leave me ’featherless and cackling,’” he says, imitating a Havana accent.

The owners of Joao Henrique’s apartment have a license to rent rooms to foreigners, something that many owners who do the same thing don’t have. “I was in a house where they told me I couldn’t greet the neighbors so they wouldn’t notice I wasn’t Cuban,” he recalls. “That place was cheaper, but one day the owner told me I had to leave because they had fined her thousands of pesos for renting without a license.”

The owners of Joao Henrique’s apartment have a license to rent rooms to foreigners

Others, far from home, prefer to live more closely with a local family. This is the case with Claudia, a German geography student who came from Bremen desiring to “get to know Cuban life.” The young woman took a break from her university and enrolled for a semester at La Colina. There she met a Havana student who offered to rent her a room in her house.

For 250 dollars a month, Claudia got a room in Centro Habana, about a ten-minute walk from her classroom. “I learn a lot by living with a family, but sometimes everything is very complicated. The house only has one bathroom, the kitchen is small, and when I go to the market and buy food there is only one refrigerator to store it in, so it runs out very quickly,” she says.

“I can’t bring visitors, but the girl who rents me a room and I go out a lot together. She has shown me many parts of Havana and introduced me to her friends.” What she misses most about her life in Bremen is “being able to eat vegetables more often, and having more privacy in my room, which has a door that I can’t even close from the inside.” She sums up her experience as “a crash course in Cuban life.” She says she hasn’t been able to learn much geography: “The teachers are absent a lot and sometimes classes are cancelled without explanation.”

The European Claudia and the Brazilian Joao Henrique don’t confront the roadblocks facing African students, who have to deal with prejudices and racism on the Island. For them, the rules can be much stricter.

Manuel, from Angola, and Nicolas Suminwa, from South Africa, have had to learn (by stumbling) to avoid these obstacles. Both have been living in Havana for a couple of years while studying medicine. “They give me a stipend to finance my transportation, my accommodation, and the food I need,” explains the South African, originally from Pretoria. “What I can afford is the cheap spaces, because here in Cuba life is very expensive.”

For 200 dollars a month, Suminwa rented a room with a bathroom in a large house in the El Cerro neighborhood

For 200 dollars a month, Suminwa rented a room with a bathroom in a large house in the El Cerro neighborhood that other compatriots recommended to him. “It’s quite safe, but in one room, which is not very big, I have to have everything: an electric pot for cooking, a table to study on, the bed, and my belongings.” When he returns from his next vacation he will have to rent something bigger. “It’s not going to be easy because when I read an ad, I call, and they tell me that the apartment is vacant, but when I go to see it they tell me that it’s already occupied.”

Suminwa believes that there are many prejudices against African students. “They put more restrictions on us than on others. I’ve spoken with Mexican, Colombian, and colleagues from other countries who are also studying medicine here, and this does not happen to them as much as it does to me.” The South African has experienced things that would be comical if they were not so lacerating to human dignity. “One day the owner of the house unlocked the door to my room because he heard laughter and thought I had sneaked in a secret guest, but it was something I was watching on television.”

Manuel, a 27-year-old Angolan who claims to have earned “a diploma in understanding Cubans,” has experienced similar stories. Now, after many bad moments, he has been able to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Nuevo Vedado for 300 dollars, together with his girlfriend, who is from Luanda like him. The house, owned by a family that recently emigrated to the United States through the Humanitarian Parole Program, is well-equipped and affords privacy.

“The owner’s mother comes by all the time to check if everything is okay,” says Manuel. “We have a washing machine, there is sometimes a lack of water but there is a tank to store it in, and the building is quiet enough.” But the list of prohibitions contains some things that the Angolan knows very well: “no loud music, no parties, and no Cuban visitors.”

Translated by Tomás A.

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Etecsa Will Start Charging for Some Services in Dollars Inside Cuba

The state communications monopoly has millions of pesos in cash but needs foreign currency to modernize

Etecsa has been fined for not using its whole 2024 budget of Cuban pesos

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 14 January 2025 — The Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) is trapped in a paradox. While it lacks foreign currency to invest in its deteriorated infrastructure, the monopoly has been fined for not using its entire budget in Cuban pesos allocated by the State for 2024. The national currency abounds in its coffers but is not good for buying antennas, cables or fuel.

“We were fined because last year’s accounting showed we had millions of unspent pesos,” Moisés, an Etecsa administrative officer at its headquarters in Old Havana, with his name changed for this report, told 14ymedio. “The problem is that there was no way to use them, because you can’t buy anything with pesos that you need to make repairs or new installations.”

Etecsa’s accounting department had already warned management that “there was a surplus with no time to spend it before the end of December,” the worker adds. “But there was no way to do anything with those millions of pesos, because no foreign company based in Cuba wants to accept them to buy equipment or pay for services. It’s money that is very difficult to get rid of.”

“The way they got rid of that money was to distribute it, as profit, among some of the employees”

“So we were fined, and the managers had to come up with something,” says Jorge. “The way they got rid of that money was to distribute it, as profit, among some of the employees. In other words, they spent the national currency not on investments but as wage incentives.” To prevent the scenario from being repeated this year, Etecsa is preparing new payment methods for its services to collect as much hard currency as it can. continue reading

“Several scenarios have been evaluated, and so far the one that seems the best is to limit the number of recharges in national currency for the same customer. When he gets down to a certain monthly amount, he will have to recharge in dollars,” clarifies the administrator. “Together with the recharges from abroad, the purchase in Cuba will be enabled, directly in dollars or with a Classic card.”

“What happens now is that mobile phone customers sometimes have thousands of pesos left and can buy as many navigation packages as they want. They can even make transfers of that money so that others can buy a connection package. It will remain limited, because there’s not much Etecsa can do with that Cuban money. It’s worthless for investments and purchasing infrastructure.”

“We are just now restructuring everything, and that is one of the reasons why we are removing some monthly offers of recharges with a bonus, because there are many customers whose relatives abroad buy the recharge for them, which includes a balance and a recharge package, but then they resell it to others who pay them in Cuban pesos, and these in turn buy new navigation packages. We even know that many relatives send them dollars, and they change them on the black market and buy the packages in national currency. So Etecsa doesn’t earn foreign exchange and can’t go on like this because this is a telecommunications company and has to earn a lot of money.”

“Etecsa doesn’t earn foreign exchange and can’t go on like this because this is a telecommunications company and has to earn a lot of money”

Etecsa has not updated the exchange rate between foreign exchange and the Cuban peso – as the state exchange houses did almost three years ago – and continues to be governed by the obsolete rate of 1 dollar for 24 pesos. “For example, a standard recharge from the United States costs the emigrant between 20 and 23 dollars, and their relatives in Cuba receive about 500 pesos of fixed balance, plus the bonuses that Etecsa promotes at the time,” he explains.

“But that same amount of money paid in Cuba to a telecommunications agent or in an office is now equivalent to 6,000 pesos, enough to obtain up to 12 packages of 500 pesos each, and they can buy anything from telephone minutes to gigabytes of web browsing. That distortion cannot continue; no telephone company in the world can balance the books with the contradiction between the currency it charges and the one it really needs.”

The sudden increase in money in employee accounts, due to the hasty liquidation of last year’s budget, has not brought much joy to the workers, who have run into a new problem.

“I have to pay much of the money they gave me in personal income taxes,” explains Tatiana, an employee, also from the administrative area of Etecsa, but from the municipality of Playa in Havana. In addition to taxing wages, there is tax on the profits and incentives that state workers receive.

“People are upset because they know that this is not a prize nor something they gave us in recognition of so much sacrifice, but a last-minute trick,” the woman laments. “On the one hand they have given us that money, and on the other the working conditions are getting worse. At this time of year we are saved because temperatures have dropped, but in my office we have to bring our own fan to cool off because the air conditioning cannot be turned on.”

“There are no land lines to replace, we lack the boxes for home installation, and there are also many problems with supplying cables”

Etecsa’s financial limitations are not felt only in the work environment. In October 2022, this newspaper collected the testimonies of several workers who reported the lack of resources to undertake basic repairs in the fixed telephone network or replace the batteries of the telecommunications towers that, most of them obsolete, stop providing service when a power cut affects the area where they are located.

“We are tying pieces of cables together to repair the breaks,” explained José Ángel, a worker of the state monopoly. He said that the company was going through “the worst crisis since its creation.” The list of what was missing was long, and over the years it has continued to grow: “There are no fixed telephone devices to replace, we lack the boxes for home installations, and there are also many problems with the supply of cables. Even our mobility is affected by the lack of fuel.”

Most of the currencies they receive for top-ups from abroad are not invested in telecommunications infrastructure. “About 90% of what Etecsa collects comes out of the company in a large item with an ’undefined’ concept,” another employee linked to the accounting area and who preferred to remain anonymous told 14ymedio. “With the rest of what remains it is very difficult to maintain a quality service because you can hardly make large investments.”

The lack of liquidity has been taking its toll on Etecsa for years, especially with its foreign investors. In 2022, for the first time in 15 years, the company could not fulfill its financial commitment to Nokia, the Finnish company that has worked on the Island implementing the data service for mobile telephony.

For the 2025 budget, the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, has warned that a “special tax on telecommunications services” will be implemented. According to the owner, “this will generate a tax in addition to the invoices from the Cuban Telecommunications Company of more than 13 billion pesos,” a sea of national currency for some dollar-thirsty coffers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mysterious Hydraulic Work on Havana’s Boyeros Avenue Coincides With the Inauguration of the K Tower

Cubans are skeptical when a construction or restoration goes too fast and too well

Workers engaged in the hydraulic works on Rancho Boyeros Avenue. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 12 January 2025 — In the middle of the night on Saturday, with their reflective vests and with a haste that is unusual in Cuba, a team of workers continued to work on the mysterious hydraulic project that is being carried out on Rancho Boyeros Avenue, from Calzada del Cerro to the area near Tulipán Street. The opening of a long trench in the street and the placement of a new, wide pipe have sparked speculation among residents, who have never seen such haste and such new equipment and efficiency put into this type of repairs.

According to the official version, sections of the pipeline that brings water from the Palatino pumping station to Marino Street are being replaced to solve the problems in the upper area of the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, where Nuevo Vedado is located, “benefiting a population of approximately 72,250 inhabitants.” In a brief note, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources adds that the work will be 2.8 km long and will also improve pressure in the municipality of Cerro.

However, the large and modern resources used in the Boyeros section, together with the speed with which the laying of the pipeline is progressing, have fueled speculation and rumors that point to another, more powerful beneficiary: the K Tower, the tallest building in Cuba and a future luxury hotel that is about to open this January.

Accustomed to the fact that tourism is the only endeavor in which larger investments are made, Cubans are skeptical when a construction or renovation project goes too fast and too well. In 2023, for example, almost a third of investments went to the two areas associated with the tourism sector: business and real estate services and rentals (23.745 billion pesos, almost a billion dollars at the official exchange rate) and hotels and restaurants (8.626 billion pesos or 360 million dollars).

In the three days that the brigade has been working in the area near Nuevo Vedado, including working on the weekend, residents in the area have tried to get the workers to reveal the main reason for installing the new pipeline, but an unusual reticence extends among them as well, further fueling the rumors.

On Saturday night, the secrecy with which the workers of the state-owned company Aguas de La Habana responded to 14ymedio ’s questions reinforces the thesis that the work hides much more than what has been said publicly. “What is known is not asked,” replied an employee in response to questions about whether the so-called López-Calleja Tower — named in reference to the former son-in-law of Raúl Castro, a tourism magnate who died in 2022 — would be the real reason for speeding up the continue reading

installation of a pipeline in a neighborhood that has been suffering from water supply problems for many years.

Although far from the site, the colossal building is located on 23rd Street in El Vedado, an area that is also supplied by the same Palatino Marino pipeline. Any change in the current section directly influences the flow that reaches the concrete giant that will also house offices and a commercial area. “I have lived in this neighborhood for 30 years and I have never seen a construction project done at night or at such speed,” said a retiree this Friday, as he waited in the queue for the ATM at the Banco Metropolitano on Estancia and Santa Ana streets.

“In my building, it has been years since water pump has been functioning badly, one day on and one day off, so why are they fixing this now, when everyone knows that there is no money for almost anything, that all repair work is practically paralyzed due to lack of resources,” added another customer of the branch who, nevertheless, is glad that “something ends up benefiting this area even though that is not the main reason.”

This Saturday at night, the secrecy with which the workers of the state-owned company Aguas de La Habana responded to the questions of ’14ymedio’ reinforces the thesis that the work hides much more than what has been said publicly / 14ymedio

In other Havana municipalities, the images of Boyeros Avenue are causing a stir. “Here in the Cujae-Toledo area, Marianao, we are still in the same situation. Nobody offers you an answer. No water since the end of the year,” wrote Mario Ernesto González, expressing his annoyance on the provincial government’s Facebook page after the publication of the images of the impeccable machinery, the workers dressed in new uniforms and the gigantic pipe that is being placed on what is also known as the Avenue of the Presidents.

Another Internet user went further and sarcastically summed up the rumors surrounding the repair: “That must be for something that needs a lot of water because it has swimming pools, jacuzzis, showers with high-pressure water, laundries where many sheets, towels and tablecloths need to be washed every day. What could it be? It sounds like the K Tower.” Shortly afterwards, her comment was deleted.

This newspaper had already confirmed the installation of a powerful underground cable system that supplies the high-speed internet that guests of the K Tower will have. / 14ymedio

Before this meteoric work, this newspaper had already confirmed the installation of a powerful underground cable system that supplies the high-speed Internet that will serve guests of the K Tower. Crossing J Street for a section, going down University Hill until passing Zapata Street and crossing the nearby Carlos III Avenue, the installation continued on its way to the vicinity of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, where one of the main nodes of access to the network of networks is located.

With these two undertakings, the clients of the luxurious hotel will be able to enjoy two of the services that cause Cubans the most suffering every day due to their instability: the water supply and web browsing.

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Like Zombies, Cuban Smokers Look for Affordable Cigarettes in the Midst of Inflation

The customers, with the anxiety of those who cannot contain themselves before the image of their desires, raised their eyebrows and pursed their lips when the saleswoman answered their questions

This Wednesday, on the boulevard of the central San Rafael Street in Centro Habana, a petite woman unfolded her box of merchandise / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 January 2024 — In the movie Juan de los Muertos [Juan of the Dead], the zombies who wander the streets of Havana have a lost look and a clumsy step. That fiction, which masterfully mixed humor and terror, seems to have predicted the nervous walk and the irritated faces of the smokers who roam the Cuban capital these days. Desperate and with a gesture of anguish, they are looking for cigarettes that they can afford in the midst of a rise in price, which has exceeded 1,500 pesos per pack.

This Wednesday, on the boulevard of the central San Rafael Street in Central Havana, a petite woman unfolded her merchandise in a box. The customers, with the anxiety of those who cannot contain themselves before the image of their desires, raised their eyebrows and pursed their lips when the saleswoman answered their questions: “The boxes of H are 1,000 pesos. The Upmann [strong] and the mild ones are from 300 to 600.” If the smoker doesn’t have enough money for these, the merchant offers Criollos, the worst valued and popularly known as “rompepechos” [chest breakers] at 350 pesos a pack or each cigarette of H. Upmann for 50 pesos.

“The packs of H are 1,000 pesos. The Upmann [strong] and the mild ones are from 300 to 600”

“It’s better to smoke the bills than to pay so much” lamented a sad customer who went for a pack and left with barely three cigarettes in his hand. “I haven’t even been able to sleep for days. I no more end a fight with my wife only to get into another; I can’t go on anymore,” he stammered. In other places, managed by MSMEs, the prices are even higher. In those markets a pack of Populares with filters reaches 1,600 pesos, and a pack of H. Upmann is fast on its heels with 1,500. Employees justify the escalation with the cost of buying the goods from the State or, in the case of foreign brands, of importing them. continue reading

“Most of the time we have to buy Cuban cigarettes in the stores in MLC [hard currency] or now in the ones that have opened in dollars, so we barely get anything at the current price of dollars,” says an employee of a private market on Reina Street. The young worker says that in recent days she has even come to feel afraid, “because the smokers come in, see the prices, get very upset and take it out on everyone. They usually swear and even punch the wall.”

“Most of the time we have to buy Cuban cigarettes in the stores in MLC [hard currency] or now in those that have opened in dollars”

In a country that grows tobacco and in which 24% of Cubans, from the age of 15, actively smoke, the rise in the price of cigarettes puts hundreds of thousands of consumers in check. Although some cut consumption in order not to affect personal and family finances, most reduce expenses in other areas in order to be able to pay for their addiction. “I may lack food, water and a roof over my head, but I don’t want to gamble with cigarettes,” summarized a young man sitting in Fraternity Park smoking a newly-bought pack: “It cost me 1,500 pesos, the same amount as the monthly retirement my mother receives.”

According to this Havanan, lowering cigarette prices should even become a political priority for the authorities. “They know that when people can’t smoke they go crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a protest, with smokers throwing themselves into the street,” he predicts. It is not difficult to see his premonition in some scenes from that 2011 film where some zombies, with their slow gait and their terrifying gaze, take over the esplanade in front of the Plaza de la Revolución.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A New Year’s Eve without Pork, Rice, Beans, Yucca or Tomato — the Five Pillars of the Cuban Family Dinner

Many Cuban households are reducing portion sizes, cutting back on the number of traditional items on the menu or simply working with whatever happens to be available.

Rice for sale at the Young Labor Army market in Havana’s Nuevo Vedado district. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 31 December 2024 — On December 31, the Cuban dinner table will reflect a year marked by higher food prices and shortages of basic products. New Year’s dishes will cost more to prepare than they did twelve months ago. While imported ingredients will play a larger role, the holiday meal will be little different at some homes from the meager rations of any other day.

Pork, rice, beans, yucca and tomato — the inseparable quintet of the Cuban New Year’s Eve meal — are among the ingredients in shortest supply. The situation is such that some households are opting to reduce portion sizes, cut back on the number of traditional items on the menu or simply work with whatever is available and affordable.

Among the items seeing the largest price increases in 2024 is pork, which sold for 1,000 pesos a pound in December. At some markets in Havana, such as the one on 19th and B streets in Havana’s Vedado district, it was going for 1,200 pesos, almost double what it cost at Christmas in 2023. A shortage of animal feed has hampered domestic production, resulting in a proliferation of American pork loins, which now dominate the market. Steak, pork rinds continue reading

and fried pastries have become luxuries in a country where the average monthly income is 4,648 pesos (USD $193.62 at the official exchange rate) according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).

One of the main price increases in 2024 has been for pork / 14ymedio

The tomato is not far behind. The fruit — typically thinly sliced, seasoned and served with lettuce or cabbage — was 400 pesos at the Plaza Boulevard market in Sancti Spíritus in December 2024. The previous January it was going for only 100 pesos at the same market. By July it had completely disappeared due a supply shortage. The market, which is located in a region with a long agricultural tradition and whose prices 14ymedio tracks every week, has become a gauge for measuring a crisis that has burned through wallets and charred household finances.

The fruit has reached 400 pesos in the Plaza Boulevard market in Sancti Spíritus this last month of the year. / 14ymedio

In Cienfuegos province, another agricultural region, black beans closed out the year at 400 pesos a pound, a price in excess of $1.30 USD at the informal exchange rate. In other regions the price exceeded $1.50. The legume is one of the foods most severely impacted by the drop in domestic production. Faced with an avalanche of foreign labels, Cubans now find themselves having to learn the names of this product in other countries, buying packages whose labels read “porotos,” “alubias” or “habichuelas.”

In the province of Cienfuegos, black beans closed the year at 400 pesos per pound. / 14ymedio

However, it is rice that has undoubtedly been the biggest headache for Cuban cooks in 2024. Stores selling rationed goods are only now, in late December, getting around to selling November’s allotment of the popular grain. After seeing prices soar in the last five years, rice is now selling on the open market for close to 200 pesos a pound.

Imported 0ptions, sold mainly in one-kilogram packages, are of higher quality and are more carefully presented but cost more than 400 pesos. This basic ingredient, essential to almost every lunch or dinner, has driven the island’s food costs through the roof. At Holguín’s Los Chinos marketplace, the prized item was going for as much 240 pesos a pound in August. Though it had fallen to 190 pesos by year’s end, this is cold comfort to those households whose only source of income is a state pensions or a government salary.

Rice has undoubtedly been the biggest headache for Cuban kitchens this year. / 14ymedio

The news is not good for yucca either. In December 2023 it cost 50 pesos a pound at Cienfuegos’ Plaza La Calzada market. A year later it is nearly 70 pesos at the same location. The dramatic fall in domestic production threatens to further reduce the number of cassava crops, a food inextricably linked to national identity. The steepest decline can be seen in the state sector as evidenced by this graph prepared by economist Pedro Monreal based on data from ONEI.

The debacle is most evident in the state sector. / Pedro Monrael

Those who decide to forego the usual New Year’s Eve dinner in favor of a popular lifesaver in times of scarcity will not have an easy task either. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz recently recalled Raúl Castro once saying that it would be a shame if we ever had to import sugar. “Well, we are now experiencing that shame because we are now importing sugar,” he admitted. Even without data on the sugar sector for the past year, the average Cuban knows what is going on. There is no sugar and prices are skyrocketing, hovering around 400 to 600 pesos per pound in recent weeks.

The situation is summed up in the November consumer price index. ONEI reports that raw sugar rose by 16.12% while the refined version rose by 10.98%. “Milordo” or “munga” — a recipe in which a couple of spoonfuls of sugar are mixed in a glass of water — has also become unattainable for many Cubans this New Year’s Eve.

The crude product rose by 16.12%, while the refined product rose by 10.98%.

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Chickens on the Balcony and Pigs in the Bathtub: Cubans Go Back to Raising Their Own Food

On Monte Street, the smell of improvised chicken coops spreads through the nearby houses and gives the neighborhood a certain rural touch

Chickens on a balcony on Monte Street, in Havana, this Friday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 28 December 2024 — Cubans have stopped wondering if this crisis is worse than that of the 1990s. The blackouts, food shortages and lack of fuel for public transport during the Special Period — in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of its subsidies to Cuba — have now been surpassed in duration, severity and limitations. The breeding of animals at home like chickens and pigs for eggs and meat has also returned.

On Monte Street, one of the most populated and poor arteries in Havana, no one is surprised anymore if they see a couple of chickens on a balcony, guarded by a cat ready to meow an alert against any attempted robbery. Separated from the abyss by the rusty irons of a fence, the birds look down at the traffic, peck some grains of rice and are unconscious of the casserole that awaits them. The smell of the improvised chicken coop spreads through the nearby houses and gives the neighborhood a certain rural touch.

“We’re back in that time when they sold chicks so you could raise them for food,” remembered a seller of matchboxes, instant glue and other paraphernalia. From her strategic position in a doorway on the central street, the woman knows everyone’s business in the area. “In that house they were raising a pig in the bathroom,” she explains and points to a tiny room, with just a small window to the street, on the first floor. “You could hear it and smell it.” continue reading

“Even if I’m starving, I won’t do that for anything in the world,” said a potential customer

“Even if I’m starving, I won’t do that for anything in the world,” said a potential customer who looked at some shoelaces for sale, asked the price of some plumbing pieces and checked the flavors of the instant soda packages. “My family and I raised a pig 30 years ago and in the end got attached to the animal and couldn’t kill it,” he explains. “It escaped from the bathroom where we had it locked up and went to sleep in our bed. Finally we had to sell the pig to a cousin because we didn’t have the heart to sacrifice it.”

With their white plumage, blackened by the soot that rises from the street, the two chickens on the balcony continue to peck stubbornly at the floor and in the cracks of the unpainted facade. “In addition, fattening an animal requires food, and if it’s hard now to get food for humans what is left for them? At least in the 90s you could find something to feed them,” said the man, who in the end leaves without buying anything. Comparisons with current times have ended up turning the 1990s Special Period into a longed-for time for Cubans. Better to avoid parallels.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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