“There Are Dozens of ‘Regulated’ Doctors in Guantanamo Who Want to Leave Cuba”

The ‘regulation’ of specialists seems to be applied arbitrarily today. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, September 18, 2023 — Aníbal has been planning his departure from Cuba for months. A relative abroad will help him with the ticket to Managua, and from there he will make his way to the United States. But this 29-year-old doctor from Guantánamo has encountered an obstacle that has paralyzed his departure: he is “regulated” by the Ministry of Public Health; what the regime means by the term “regulated” is that the person cannot leave the Island.

“I found out when I went to get my passport; the office employee told me: ‘Pipo, you are regulated by the MINSAP (Ministry of Public Health); you can’t even have a passport’. That was six months ago, and no one warned me before,” complains Aníbal, (name changed to avoid reprisals). “In Guantánamo there are dozens of us doctors in the same situation, and no one gives us an answer; we only get responses that are evasive.”

Aníbal graduated more than six years ago from the Faculty of Medicine of the city of Guantánamo but now practices Integral General Medicine (MGI) for the second year, a field chosen precisely because he knew that the specialists were being ‘regulated’. “Since I had known for a while that I wanted to emigrate, I preferred to work as an MGI,” he tells 14ymedio.

Hannibal practices Integral General Medicine for the second year, precisely because he knew that the specialists were being ‘regulated’ – forbidden to leave to leave the island

“I made a complaint to the Department of Human Resources of the Ministry of Health here in Guantánamo, but everything remains the same. Two months ago I checked again, and I can’t even get my passport,” says the young doctor. “Margarita, the head of the department, is the one  who attends to the ‘regulated’. She is supposed to send emails to the ministry in Havana to unlock our cases, but we’ve waited for months and nothing changes.” continue reading

Aníbal’s story contradicts a statement made by MINSAP last August, when it denied the information circulating on social networks about alleged new regulations for the entry and exit from the country of workers in the healthcare sector. Georgina Álvarez, director of communications for MINSAP, warned against believing any rumor like this that was not confirmed through official channels.

But that denial did not calm minds and uncovered a wave of testimonies that indicated just the opposite. “I have not been practicing as a doctor for more than a year, and after that time I asked for ‘permanent deregulation’ for family reunification and was denied,” wrote a commentator who identified herself as Beatriz in the footnote published in the official media.

This newspaper tried, unsuccessfully, to get an answer about regulated doctors through the Facebook page of the Ministry of Public Health in Guantánamo and other provinces. The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” says Hannibal.

The situation seems to be unequal depending on the territory and “the contacts that the doctor has,” says Hannibal

The Guantánamo Human Resources office attends every Thursday to the doctors who are in a situation similar to that of Hannibal. “Every time I go, the lines are immense. Many of them are there for the same reason, so I calculate that there are dozens, if not more than a hundred of us, who are regulated in this province,” he adds. “I was there at six in the morning, and at that time there were already people.”

“It is arbitrary because most of us who are regulated appear on paper as specialists or residents, even if we aren’t,” Aníbal said. “Those in that situation are more limited to travel, but now the ban has been extended to others who do not even meet those requirements.”

The doctor also recognizes that many of his colleagues choose to stop working in the sector for fear of not being able to leave the Island. “Those who stand in line complain because they are prevented from leaving the country or taking a leave from Public Health, which is almost the same, because many ask for leave to be able to emigrate later.”

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false, and the intent is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “Not by improving the salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation.” Aníbal also questions why his colleagues have not joined together to protest to the Health authorities. “Here the way that some of us have found is to denounce the situation in the independent media, but nothing more.”

In his opinion, the version of the head of the Department is false, and the intent is to prevent doctors from continuing to leave. “Not by improving the salary or working conditions, but by force, by obligation

“From my career year there are few in practice, and those of us who are working as doctors are regulated. The others are selling pizza, food,” he explains. “I should have taken a vacation myself, but I don’t think I’m going to because I can’t take it anymore. They are pushing me to ask for leave. At the moment, working in Public Health and wanting to travel is not compatible.”

In his case, the decision was made years ago: “Honestly, I want to travel in order to emigrate. I plan to go through Nicaragua, from there to Mexico, and from that country, my family in the United States will help me obtain the humanitarian parole to get to Miami.”

Anibal does not lose hope, seeing that some of his colleagues have managed to resolve their situation. This is the case of a nephrologist with more than 20 years of experience, who stopped practicing in 2020. “She knew that to get out of here she couldn’t continue in Public Health,” says her daughter Dayana. “She was regulated for a long time, but a few weeks ago they allowed her to get a passport, so it seems that she will be able to emigrate.”

Dayana is a fourth-year medical student, but she has just left the Guantánamo faculty. “I should have started my fifth year now but decided not to do it, because everyone in my family is waiting for the parole to arrive, and I feared that the ban on leaving the country would be extended to students.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

‘Cachita’ Goes for a Walk Through Havana Under the Watchful Eye of the Political Police

This is the second procession after the suspensions of public activities forced by the pandemic. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana | 8 September 2023 — With more needs but equal enthusiasm, Havana residents gathered this Friday at the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre Church on the corner of Manrique and Salud, in Centro Habana. Inflation and mass exodus have marked the day dedicated to Cachita*, the Patroness Saint of Cuba, in modest and heavily monitored celebrations.

“I managed to buy a small bouquet of sunflowers for 500 pesos, but I was lucky because most are between 700 and 1,500”, an elderly woman told 14ymedio.  She came to Mass in the central church that every September 8 pays tribute to “the mother of all Cubans”.

From Avenida Galiano, metal fences and several police officers controlled the passage to the Havana temple where thousands of people attend every September 8 to pay tribute. This year the date has coincided with a deep economic crisis, which has cut back on the offerings left on the altar at the entrance of the church.

Outside the temple, dozens of people waited for the image of Cachitato emerge to follow it in a procession through Zanja, Galiano and Reina streets and finally back to Manrique. A route in which flower petals are thrown from the balconies and the Cuban State Security tightly controls the passage of the devotees.

“I managed to buy a small bouquet of sunflowers for 500 pesos, but I was lucky because most are between 700 and 1,500”

After half past five in the afternoon the image of the Virgin appeared through the door of the church and was received with songs, applause and raised hands holding mobile phones trying to capture the moment. A vehicle with loudspeakers was waiting for Cachita and people alternately dressed in yellow and white clothes in the crowd, symbols of the Virgin who, in African religions, is syncretized with Oshun. continue reading

“What I want is for you to bring me luck on the journey I have to undertake,” repeated a young woman to the image, one of the first devotees with a sunflower in her hand, as soon as she descended the stairs of the temple. “I already set your yellow candle for you and now I need you to accompany me on the road. Little Virgin, go with me”, she repeated.

The crowd’s passage was guarded by the evident presence of State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes. This is the second procession after the suspensions of public activities forced by the pandemic and comes at a time of great popular unrest due to inflation, lack of cash and mass departures from the Island.

“My daughter is crossing right now through Nicaragua,” says Nieves, a 62-year-old Havana native who has been left in charge of her two granddaughters. “Our Virgin of Charity knows about that, she accompanies the rafters and everyone who leaves here, so I come to ask you to guide my daughter until she reaches her goal”.

Next to Nieves, two teenagers pointed their phones at the image of the Virgin. The Instagram and Tik Tok generation also mark a day where many had empty hands where before there were candles, bouquets of flowers or images. The crisis has turned this procession into a moment for minimalism. Some didn’t even get to the procession and were content with the photos.

At her house in Lawton, Mercedes de la Caridad preferred to wait for a couple of friends to send her the images of the procession. “With what it costs me for a round trip by car, I buy candles, candy and flowers for Cachita to put here”, she says. Next to the image of the saint, a sweet meringue, cascarilla and honey close the syncretism with which Mercedes lives her religiosity.

“The sunflowers have been very small this year”, laments a seller of flowers and other religious supplies who has a small table on Salud Street. “I buy from others and what has arrived in Havana is all like this, small and expensive. People complain, but for us the prices have risen a lot too. It is not a whim; it is what a sunflower is worth right now”.

“What I want is for you to bring me luck on the journey I have to undertake”

On the corners, agents in plainclothes stood out from the surroundings. Among the ruling party’s fears through the last two years is that the procession will become the scene of some demand for the release of political prisoners, which, since the protests of July 11, 2021, have increased to more than a thousand.

For the rest, from the beginning, the day has been influenced by complaints. The director of the Daughters of Charity in Cuba, Nadieska Almeida, published a text this Thursday on Facebook in which she summarized her wishes: “I want a free people. I want a government in dialogue. I want inclusion in this Cuba house. I want possibilities for everyone. “I want to dream again”.

“Where do we look when what surrounds us is hunger, abandonment, permanent flight from a country where it’s increasingly difficult to breathe? How can we stay here by choice? How can we find meaning in this senselessness?” questioned the religious nun, one of the most critical Catholic voices in Cuba.

Father Alberto Reyes, a priest, also described the current moment harshly, and extended his request to the Virgin to “help us get rid of so many omnipresent written, broadcast, televised… official lies, so much institutionalized falsehoods, so much sham that only serves to feed social paralysis”.

Dominican Priest Léster Rafael Zayas, for his part, asked his parishioners if Cubans had done “something wrong” to deserve that, in Cuba, “something has broken definitively.” He lamented the thousands of “fewer voices” in Cuba, after leaving on “planes that leave for Nicaragua… on a one-way trip: the backpacks of those who travel say so”. “What have we done wrong that young people do not feel proud of being Cuban?” He questioned. His response: “To silently approve with our lowered heads what is not right. What we have done wrong is to let fear overcome us, and lies take over all areas of our lives.”

Furthermore, he alluded to “young Cubans, who prefer to go to fight in Ukraine to obtain Russian nationality”. “What do we have to do with the Russians?” He added, criticizing those who let themselves be carried away by the “slogans”.

At this Friday’s mass at the Church of the Charity, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, cardinal and current Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana, was present. With his sparse, uncharismatic style, the priest limited himself to asking for the blessing of the Virgin for everyone and starting the procession immediately after.

The rest of the way was mixed with emotion, pleas and attentive looks from the police. For those who could not be in the procession in Havana, there was the possibility of following the mass at the National Sanctuary of La Virgen de La Caridad del Cobre, in Santiago de Cuba, starting at 8:45 pm this Friday. On the same television schedule where religion was stigmatized for decades, this Friday, Cachita will be able to be seen.

*Translator’s note: Nickname often used in Cuba for “Caridad,” the word for “charity.”

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

More than Twenty Former Cuban Employees of U.S. Embassy Apply to Emigrate

The US Embassy in Havana is issuing visas for some of its Cuban employees in light of exceptional circumstances. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, September 7, 2023 — It started off as a minor cough that later turned thunderous. Ibrahím was not moving. His family shook him several times but a bluish color spread across his face. This summer, at the age of 67, the bricklayer died. It had been just a month since he had received a tentative diagnosis of lung cancer after having spent more than a decade working on what was then known as the U.S. Interests Section.*

After shedding their tears at a hasty funeral, Ibrahím’s family tried to find answers for the cause of his illness. The doctor who treated him first blamed his lung problems on smoking but then came to a different conclusion. “Had his work involved longterm exposure to cement?” the doctor asked. A decade spent on construction brigades in the 1980s and almost twenty years making repairs to the Interests Section turned out the be the cause.

“His work killed him,” the doctor decided. However, that was all water under the bridge to his family, who once benefited from Ibrahím being a maintenance man hired by the state contracting agency Cubalse to work on what is now the United States Embassy in Havana. How would they be compensated for their loss? The response did not come in the form of money but rather as a visa to emigrate.

He won’t be able to enjoy seeing his grandchildren grow up in the ’land of liberty’ even though they owe it all to him. continue reading

More than twenty former Cuban employees and their families are on an embassy waiting list for an immigration visa. Their status as former embassy personnel allows them to apply for the visa, which will then allow them to reside in the United States, due to exceptional circumstances.

“He first worked on government projects and later at the Interests Section,” says Ibrahím’s brother. “Those were the days when people weren’t aware and didn’t have the information they should have had to stay safe. They didn’t have gloves, goggles or anything to keep them from inhaling the dust. He didn’t even know he was sick until he started coughing right before he died.”

“Of course, when he started working at the Interests Section, he talked about how great it was. Even though they had a foreman from the Cuban company who kept a close eye on them and treated them badly, he said he had never felt better,” the brother adds. “The lunches, the benefits they got, the attention to the staff. He even went on vacation to Florida a couple of times with his family… “At that time, he had no plans to emigrate, so he died here.”

A few weeks ago Ibrahím’s family filled out the U.S. immigration paperwork, extolling his dedication to his work at the embassy. The process is going smoothly. His children are already liquidating their properties in Cuba because they believe their visa applications will soon be approved. “He won’t be able to enjoy seeing his grandchildren grow up in the ’land of liberty’ even though they owe it all to him,” his brother adds.

At least two other bricklayers from Ibrahím’s crew are going through the same process. One of them, who was employed by Cuba State Security in the early 2000s, has applied for a residency visa. His history is somewhat different from Ibrahím’s.

An active Communist Party member until a few years ago, René (his name has been changed for this article) played both sides for a long time. While working as a security guard at what is now the U.S. Embassy, he was also part of a hardcore band the ideological extremists in his neighborhood.

While working as a security guard at what is now the U.S. Embassy, he was also part of a hardcore band the ideological extremists in his neighborhood.

He was responsible for everything from organizing acts of repudiation against government critics to preventing the national phone company, Etecsa, from installing landlines in the homes of dissidents. “He was a true believer until his kids left for the U.S.,” ironically notes a neighbor whom René reported for buying goods on the black market.

The list of those who fell victim to his denunciations and his extremism grew long. They now watch with astonishment as he sells off his properties and prepares to “jump the puddle.” As for his Communist Party activities, he no longer talks about them and no one knows what he wrote on his visa application when asked about his ties to the Cuban regime.

He gets encouragement from his friend and former colleague Ñico, now on the other side of the pond, who rose through the ranks until he came to work directly for senior American diplomats in their official residence. It was like a game of mirrors. Everyone knew that he might very well be an informant. But at the same time his job was to be a trusted employee, whether it involved serving coffee or being present during conversations between an American diplomat and a Cuban official or dissident.

Now living in West Palm Beach with his entire family, Ñico likes to give advice to his old colleagues, according to one of them. “Don’t worry,” he tells René. “It’s not a gift. You’re entitled to it because you worked for the Americans.” Laughing, they ask themselves, what embassy employees would be willing to work for the Cubans? There are only two options, says Ñico: “Those who don’t last long in the job because what they really want is to emigrate, and those looking for lifetime security by finding out what’s going on inside but who are bad bricklayers.”

*Translator’s note: The de facto American embassy during the years when the U.S. and Cuba did not have diplomatic relations. Though housed in the former and current American embassy and staffed by U.S. State Department personnel, it operated under the protection of the Swiss embassy.

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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.

Boss, Give Me the Leave, I’m Going to the United States Tomorrow With the ‘Parole’

View of passengers at Miami International Airport, Cubans’ gateway to the United States. (EFE/Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 August 2023 — She has her suitcase packed; every afternoon she practices a little English and counts the days until she can leave. Nidia organizes her departure with total discretion. In the Ministry of Transport in Havana where she works, no one knows that she is registered in the humanitarian parole program to emigrate to the United States. Only when she has the ticket in her hand will she notify her superiors and ask for leave.

Nidia, whose name is changed for this story, is one of the many Cubans who keep their possible departure from the country secret. The parole program, implemented in January of this year by the U.S. Administration, allows a blanket of silence to be draped over the migratory process until you already have one foot on the steps of the plane.

Since she hasn’t opted for a family reunification visa or political asylum, Nidia does not need to do an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Nor does she need a medical check-up or to go to the Embassy to pick up the visa once it has been granted. Everything happens between her, her sister, who is her guarantor for the parole, and the email where the approval will arrive.

“My sister has had me enrolled since February, and it is likely that they will let me know soon because she and her husband have a very good economic situation. He is even a federal employee, so they meet the requirements for the parole very well. They requested it for me, my husband and my 16-year-old son,” she explains to 14ymedio.

Nidia is a member of the Communist Party, more as a routine than out of ideological conviction. “I hardly go to the meetings anymore, but to work in the ministry, in the position I have right now, it would have been very difficult if I didn’t have the card,” she clarifies. “I don’t want to say anything at work because they will probably ’punish’ me and send me to a position of less reliability until I leave.” continue reading

How many employees and professionals are there throughout Cuba in the same situation as Nidia? Difficult to know. As of last July, more than 38,000 Cubans had been approved for parole, and more than 35,000 had entered the United States. The figure of how many are in the process is probably much higher.

Damián is one of the lucky ones who already managed to travel last April through the new mechanism. From Jacksonville, Florida, he tells this newspaper about his last days in Cuba in his job. “I didn’t say anything to anyone,” he explains about the attitude he maintained at an official radio station where he worked in Havana.

“When I was already informed that I was approved and my uncle had bought me the ticket, I went to see the director and told him directly: ’Boss, give me the leave, I’m going to the United States tomorrow with the parole.’ The official was unfazed and immediately replied: ’You are the fifth person who has told me the same thing in less than two months’.”

There are many reasons for keeping your intentions secret. For Yoandra, a resident of the city of Camagüey and an employee of the State telecommunications company Etecsa, revealing that she is about to leave the country could be a problem for the future. “If I’m never approved to emigrate, I’ll have to continue working here, and I don’t want a sign with the stigma of ’gusana’ [worm] hanging around my neck.”

Although the privileges that Yoandra enjoyed a few years ago for working in the telecommunications monopoly have plummeted, “the conditions are still better than in other places,” she says. In her case, her husband’s aunt has requested the parole for the couple and their young daughter.

In hospitals and strategic work centers, such as the Unión Eléctrica and Aguas de La Habana, managers fear that at any time they will hear a knock on their office door and lose another worker who has come to tell them they are emigrating. “There are people who do it decently and give notice a day or two before getting on the plane, but we have had cases of employees that have only told us when they are already boarding,” complains Magdalena, a worker of the Cuba-Petróleo Union (Cupet).

There are also those “who ask for vacation or unpaid leave. They go to the United States and try to get all their residence papers there and then return without telling anyone what they were up to,” says Magdalena. “This happened to us with an employee who left for family reunification, and since she had only a few months left to retire and get her pension, she pulled that trick.”

According to the Cupet employee, “It’s not that she needed that money, which was a little more than 2,000 pesos, but she didn’t want the State to keep her retirement. In the end, she returned to the U.S. and left her magnetic card with a nephew to collect the check every month.”

Without face-to-face procedures, without showing signs that they plan to emigrate, and without the obligation to obtain certifications and get them stamped and presented to the U.S. Embassy, Cubans who are waiting for the parole can decide who to involve in their situation.

Melba has not even told her family who lives in Ciego de Ávila, because “people become vultures, fluttering over you to see what you can leave them,” she tells this newspaper. “If I tell them that I’m leaving, I’ll have them in my apartment tomorrow morning appraising everything I have,” says the 53-year-old woman and resident of La Víbora.

But the discretion granted by the parole is a double-edged sword. “On my block there are soldiers, militants of the Communist Party, and even an extremist who organized the acts of repudiation against the house of an opponent who lives nearby,” Melba emphasizes.

“A young journalist, who was one of the first to harass me on my Facebook account when I shared images of the repression against the demonstrators on July 11, 2021, also left with the parole. No one knows who is in it anymore and who is not, and it’s only confirmed when they are already gone.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Prices for Illegal Satellite Dish Services in Cuba Skyrocket

Satellite dishes give Cubans access to a variety of foreign TV channels. (Sincable)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 30 July 2023 — Inflation continues to take its toll on Cuban pocketbooks. In addition to increases in the cost of transportation and food, the fees families pay to watch foreign television programs via illegal satellite dishes are also going up, doubling in some Cuban neighborhoods to as much as 1,000 pesos a  month.

“I can’t afford it so I told the boy who installed the cable to take it out,” says Maritza, a retiree in Central Havana’s Cayo Hueso neighborhood who has been enjoying the service for more than a dozen years thanks to wiring hidden in a fake water pipe leading to her house. The densely populated borough has one of the capital’s highest concentrations of satellite dishes.

“One day I learned the price was suddenly going from 250 pesos, which I had been paying, to 500 pesos.” Maritza complains. “I can’t afford something like that on my 1,400-peso monthly pension.” The service gave her access to variety shows, soap operas and “all the things having to do with Cuba such as the news programs on channel 41 [America TeVe].”

Costs are skyrocketing even more for suppliers whose cables are apt to be cut, stolen and resold on the black market, a growing practice on Havana’s rooftops. To replace their stolen wiring, satellite owners must shell out hard currency or turn to friends and family members overseas willing to use their Visas or Mastercards to buy it from online stores that ship to the island.

In Luyanó, an area in the Tenth of October borough, prices have risen even more. “There are packages that cost 800 pesos a month and others that cost 1,000 depending on the number of channels you choose,” says Dayron, a young man who acts as a broker between local customers and the owner of two powerful satellite dishes. “Everything has gone up and so everything costs us more,” he explains. continue reading

He points out that, in addition to maintenance costs, there are costs for the electricity needed to operate the devices, for DirecTV activation cards and for the cables that deliver the programming to customers. If owners of satellite dishes do not want to be reported to the authorities, government inspectors must also be paid to “turn a blind eye.” And to keep the most politically extreme neighbors from “wagging their tongues,” they are provided the service for free.

Though satellite dishes have been in the censors’ crosshairs for decades, efforts in Havana to root them out them have decreased significantly in recent years. After mass protests on 11 July 2021 (’11J’), however, the Cuban regime redoubled its efforts to crack down on the devices in order to prevent images of anti-government demonstrations from being disseminated.

Police operations aimed at finding the devices became so frequent that, in large areas of the city, satellite dish owners decided to suspend operations and wait for conditions to improve. Little by little, they reconnected customers and brought back their schedule of miniseries, movies, and reality shows.

These antennas are most commonly found amid Central Havana’s crowded streets and densely packed rooming houses. Among the first high-tech devices, they changed the way media was consumed on the island in the 1990s. They were followed by the paquete [’weekly packet’], the USB memory stick and, for nearly the last five years, the mobile phone internet connection.

More recently, however, satellite dishes have faced a new competitor: streaming services such as Netflix. Many Cuban emigrés subscribe to the service overseas and share their access codes with family members on the island. In some cases, the relatives in Cuba have a Fire TV device, or something similar, that allows them to enjoy a wide range of programming options on their televisions.

But connectivity problems, the high cost of web browsing and slow internet speeds limit the possibilities for watching movies or miniseries using these devices. In the poorest neighborhoods, satellite antennas still reign supreme because of their reliability and low cost, a situation that could change with the current rate increases.

“The greatest demand is for programs from Miami from [broadcasters such as] America TeVe, Telemundo, Spanish-language CNN and others that offer miniseries, documentaries and soap operas,” says Dayron. “Most of customers have told us they want to continue with the service even though it will cost more. “They’re already hooked and what they really don’t want, above all, is to go back to watching Cuban television.”

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Families Search for and Capture the Water Lost on the Streets of the Cuban Capital

Sitting on the porch, a couple of young people try to fill some buckets in in front of their building located on Malecón avenue. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 6 July 2023 — Every neighborhood has its secrets, its particular signs and marks. The place where the lowest tap is located is one of those pieces of information that can save a meal, a bath, and even a life. It is in that faucet, sometimes at ground level, where the water arrives first and leaves last. Sometimes it is inside the stairs of a house, other times in the corridor of a tenement and many times, in an old hydrant it runs out of.

In the midst of the profound water supply crisis that Havana is experiencing, where more than 200,000 people are affected by the lack of the precious liquid, knowing the closest point where you can go to fill at least one jug, late at night, or the day when water is finally pumped, is vital knowledge. As in those wide and hot savannas where the animals try to reach the only lake that allows them to cool off and drink, in the Cuban capital a pipe that releases a trickle, when the others are dry, is anyone’s wet dream.

Sitting on the porch this Tuesday afternoon, a couple of young people were trying to fill some buckets outside the ground floor of their building located on Malecón avenue. A pipe, which was once under the sidewalk but has now emerged due to soil erosion and the desperation of the residents, released a small stream. It was all the water that had arrived in days at one of the many tenements overlooking the sea on that street that acts as a border and breakwater.

With patience, for long minutes and hours, the men filled bottles, containers, the jug that they would later place in the refrigerator to quench the thirst of their large family. Right there, too, they took the opportunity to take a bath in front of the gaze of passers-by. No one flinched or was shocked. Finding water in Havana is a meritorious task. Anyone who knows where the lowest faucet in their neighborhood is located has a better chance of rinsing their mouths, washing a baby or making lemonade.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Private Carriers, Annoyed by the New Attempt To ‘Cap’ Prices in Cuba

According to the Directorate, Havana has “46 passenger transport routes operated by private carriers, with an average distance of approximately seven miles.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 5 June 2023 — The young man extends his hand with a 200 peso bill that the driver grabs, without returning any change. It is the price of a collective taxi on the stretch from the Parque de la Fraternidad to Santiago de las Vegas, in Havana, a distance of a little more than 14 miles. Beginning next Friday, private drivers will be obliged to charge half that for that journey, according to the new maximum prices set by the General Directorate of Provincial Transport.

The new rates arise “from the need to update the prices of the passenger transport service offered by the Non-State Forms of Management,” says the note published on June 5 by the state entity. The initial proposal was “coordinated with the majority of the holders who have a transport operation license, in each of their territories,” it adds.

According to the Directorate, Havana has “46 passenger transport routes operated by private carriers, with an average distance of approximately 7 miles.” The prices for a short section are set at 45 pesos, the averages at 70 and 100, and the longer routes, such as the one from Guanabo beach to Old Havana, is set at 170.

The new figures represent at least half of what private carriers are currently charging, rates that have not stopped rising since the fuel crisis decreased the availability of transport. Drivers allege difficulties in buying gasoline, high prices for spare parts and a  general increase in the cost of living. continue reading

In 2021, the year in which the Ordering Task* began, prices in Cuba suffered a 77.3% increase in the consumer price index (CPI) mainly from transport, which grew by 188%, a fact made public by the National Office of Information and Statistics (Onei). Since then, prices have continued to increase without seeing an end to the rise.

“Neither the State nor the passenger gives anything to the taxi driver,” laments David Pousada in a harsh comment on site of the Provincial Directorate of Transport. “As long as the driver has to buy medicines at 1,000 pesos, a can of oil at 1,500, a package of chicken at 3,000, fuel at 400 per liter and a soft drink in the cafeteria at 150, prices will not go down.”

At the collection points, such as the Parque de la Fraternidad, the news spread on Monday morning among the drivers. “This is the country of the 15 days: nothing is fixed. Now they are capping prices. The inspectors stand on every street corner, they fine us, they take some drivers prisoner to intimidate us, and after two weeks everything goes back to the way it was yesterday,” says Roly, who drives a nine-seater vehicle that makes the route to Playa.

Customers, on the other hand, are torn between hope and doubt. “It relieves me, of course, because if this is true I’m going to spend half of what I’m spending now to go from La Víbora to the Capitolio,” admits a young woman who works in a private restaurant near Central Park. “But other times, when they have announced capped prices, what has happened is that many drivers stay home and won’t go to work for that small amount of money.”

Others, such as Yuniel, 23, ask: “On the route that costs 45, what driver is going to return five pesos to you if you paid with a 50-peso bill?” According to this young man, “it’s not just about prices but also about the lack of paper money, especially small bills, because ATMs can spend days without cash, and the lines to withdraw money are getting longer and longer.”

The authorities warn that “the actions of confrontation and control on the road will be reinforced (…), applying to drivers who are detected in violation of the established prices, Decree 30 of 2021. In the case of those who exercise the activity illegally, it will act with greater rigor by applying Decree 45 of 2021.”

They have also enabled the telephone number 78813110 and the email oap.dg@getrans.cu so that the customers themselves report drivers who violate the new rates to “act on the offender” and ask that the report include “day, time, license plate number of the vehicle and the price charged.”

In addition to Havana, the new prices have reached the center of the Island, where on Monday the local press announced that “the price of 15 pesos per passenger is fixed for combustion tricycles, within the city of Cienfuegos, on the perimeter from any point of the city to the ring road,” and in the case of two-seater motorcycles, “the price is 30 within the mentioned perimeter.

It is expected that in the coming days similar news will be published in the official media of the rest of the country’s cities.

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy. 

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Chicken From the ‘Empire’ Was Delivered for the Cuban Ration Book

Unloading frozen chicken from a truck coming from the United States, in Central Havana, this Tuesday. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 10, 2023 — “The missing chicken and rice have arrived for the population. Pending coffee and detergent, blessings.” The message from a neighbor of Central Havana this Wednesday set off a crowd that ran in search of the chicken that had been lost for months. Two hours later there was no more chicken nor trace of a line.

Last Friday, the Ministry of Internal Trade asked the population for calm, assuring that chicken would arrive in all corners of the Island. A week earlier, the authorities revealed that, due to the lack of availability, only medical diets and children up to 13 years old would be entitled to the meat of the bird through the ration book, while those older than that age would receive picadillo and mortadella as a substitute.

Finally, and despite the collapse of chicken imports, the Government rectified the measure and began distribution in Camagüey last Friday, at the rate of one and a half pounds of meat for those under 14 and one pound for those over that age.

It is suspected that the shipment of chicken that arrived on May 5, aboard the refrigerated ship Orange Spirit from New Orleans, was destined for sale in Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), and that the authorities made the decision to distribute it through the ration book in national currency when they realized the growing unrest in the country, expressed on social networks and in the Caimanera protest, last Saturday. continue reading

Just unloaded from the Orange Spirit, the frozen poultry meat, which has become an object of desire for all Cubans since they stopped hoping for pork, was quickly distributed in Havana and dispatched to other cities in the center of the Island, as 14ymedio correspondents were able to verify.

This Tuesday, the trucks distributed the chicken to the butchers of the capital with such unusual efficiency that by the next day it was  already available in every shop, as this newspaper could see in a tour of different neighborhoods of the center.

The chicken, from the American brand Tyson, is not one of the most appreciated by the population, because of the dark color it acquires with cooking. But the mere fact of finally being able to buy the expected half pound – at 20 pesos [$.80] – was already a cause for joy for the habaneros.

“You can’t complain, now you have chicken,” joked one neighbor to another who came out with his long-awaited package.

Despite the announcement of the arrival of the shipment of chicken, broadcast with great fanfare in Tribuna de La Habana this Tuesday, some neighbors were not expecting the happy news. “It took people by surprise,” said a retiree from Nuevo Vedado who found out, hours later, that they had supplied his butchery with the long-awaited chicken quarters.

The general director of the Copmar Food Marketing Company, Enrique Plaza Maldestein, said in Tuesday’s Noticerio Estelar that 51 containers of chicken were being unloaded in the port of Havana. The average number of tons of chicken needed to supply the capital’s family basket is 5,300, imported in its entirety.

For the third consecutive month, chicken purchases from the United States, which must be paid in cash due to the embargo restrictions, fell in March due to the lack of foreign exchange in the Central Bank. Imports from Brazil also decreased, another of the most stable suppliers on the Island and for whom there are no such limitations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

The Cuban With Dollars Also Eats Badly: Picadillo, Sausages and Mayonnaise Bought From the Outside

Among the first five products of the “Most sold in the last hour” are foods that are very incompatible with a balanced diet. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 April 2023 — The online sales pages for relatives abroad to buy for their relatives in Cuba have not only proliferated like fungi after the rain but reveal the disorder in the island’s diet.

Among the first five products of the “best sellers” on some sites, such as Supermarket 23, Yuppy Market, Alawao and Nercado, the following are repeated: condensed milk, powdered milk (with and without sugar), ground chicken, sausages, and mayonnaise and crackers (a frequent snack for many Cubans). These foods are not very compatible with a balanced diet.

Among the most requested products are also those that can be divided and stretched for several meals. The list is led by chicken or pork sausages, hamburgers and the ground turkey that is used in many homes to make croquettes, along with the instant soft drinks that constitute the main snack that students take to primary schools

While pieces of beef or pork are less in demand, boxes of frozen chicken quarters, entrails and cheap sausages are gone only hours after appearing for sale on those online portals. Vegetable oil is also frequently exhausted, and the supply of fruits, vegetables or greens is small and often sold in cut or frozen format.

Imported goods win, widely, over what is produced on the Island. It is easier to find in those digital markets a can of tuna from Europe than a fresh fish taken from the seas around Cuba. Cheeses, Gouda or cheddar style, also surpass several times the few nationally made dairy products that are marketed. continue reading

All this proves that the problem of malnutrition in Cuba is not only due to the increasingly alarming rates of poverty. When the food and toiletry shops were dollarized almost three years ago, it seemed that, at least those who received remittances from relatives abroad were going to be able to have varied food. This, despite assuming a new social division, very soon turned into a widespread complaint and even one of the reasons for the mass protests of July 11, 2021 (many demonstrations were over the closure of stores in MLC, freely convertible currency).

Just at the beginning of April, the UN World Food Program released a report saying that “the diet of the average Cuban household is poor in micronutrients and not sufficiently healthy or diverse due to the limited and unstable availability of nutritious food, socioeconomic factors and bad eating habits.”

The document, which denounces the responsibility for the Government’s economic decisions such as the so-called Ordering Task* emphasized that the situation was worse for the Cuban who did not receive remittances. However, sales websites for buying from abroad confirm that, as with happiness, money does not guarantee a good diet either.

Roast meat, lobster and shrimp, which have disappeared from the vast majority of Cuban tables, seem to come out of a fantasy novel today, but access to foreign currency does not even make Cubans lean towards the varied foods and fruits that the Island always provides: avocado, sweet potato, yucca, malanga, okra, bananas, mamey, pineapple, mango or any type of citrus: more eloquent evidence of the failure of a system that has lasted for 64 years.

*Translator’s note: Tarea Ordenamiento — The ’Ordering Task’ is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.  Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

The Fuel Shortage Leaves Havana’s La Rampa Deserted — No Cars, No People

Calle 23 in El Vedado, Havana, was seen to be deserted on Saturday afternoon. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 April 2023 – ’Up La Rampa and down La Rampa!’ was the slogan used by all the people who flocked to Calle 23 in El Vedado, Havana at the weekends in order to get to or from the Malecón sea wall, or a cinema or the queue for the Coppelia ice cream parlour. All that activity has now gone, leaving behind  a deserted avenue, which, this Saturday at 5.30pm was seen to be empty of cars and pedestrians.

The fuel crisis has significantly transformed the view of what once was the left-hand atrium of Havana’s heart. There are closed cafeterias, restaurants only operating at half throttle and pavements/sidewalks lacking the usual activity of the capital’s residents, provincial visitors who used to come and check out the liveliest area of the city, or tourists keen to check out its bars and cabarets.

“We’re selling very little because there’s hardly anyone on the street”, Yusier laments — a waiter in a nearby private cafeteria which has had to resort to serving only on the terrace in order to keep both salons open. “People aren’t coming here from other areas now because afterwards they don’t have any way of getting back home, with the state that the bus service is in”.

In order to mitigate the fall in demand, the private business has set up a service which delivers pizzas, other foods and cold drinks to customers’ homes. “But it’s not the same as going out for a stroll and then having a meal, it’s a different experience. It’s people that give life to places and right now El Vedado is dead”, concludes Yusier.

The various taxi collectives that use Calle 23 as part of their routes are similarly reduced in service. On Saturday afternoon, three women were waiting on the main corner of El Vedado and Calle G, arms waving to try and flag down an almendron* cab. “I’ve been here an hour and there’s nothing. If I don’t get a cab soon I’m just going to walk it”, one of them told 14ymedio. continue reading

The centre of Calle G is an area of gardens and park benches which up until a few years ago was full of children and adolescents at the weekends. “We’ve moved on from complaining about them to missing them”, admits Maria del Carmen, resident of a three storey building on Avenida de los Presidentes, near to Calle 23. “Before, they wouldn’t let us sleep, and now what keeps us awake is the fact that they aren’t there! Where are they all?”

Maria del Carmen remembers the busy days when the pedestrian walkway down the middle of Calle G was packed from Friday onwards with all of Havana’s different urban tribes. There were rockeros, frikis, emos, góticos, aprendices de vampiros, raperos, mikis, repas** and whatever other groups there might happen to be in the most important city in the country. There were frequent complaints from residents and the police raided the area constantly and imposed fines.

Today, only the memory remains of that carnival of extravagant costumes, guitars, make-up and laughter. Niorvis, 32, worked as a caretaker for a nearby state restaurant which has been under repair for more than five years. “I spent my adolescence between Calle G and La Rampa, so that when I pass by there now it looks like a funeral parlour. All the passion is gone”.

If the fuel of passion is important for filling city squares, bringing people with a common interest together and keeping a group of friends singing until the early hours, it is no less certain that it is hydrocarbons which allow people from all parts of the city to meet up in one place. “The meeting up in Calle G has been snuffed out by police harassment, the number of people leaving the country, and transport problems”, Niorvis surmised.

Whilst he is evoking the past, a solitary bus passes in front of the man’s gaze, somewhat overladen and tilting with an excess of passengers. Dozens of people who are waiting at the Quixote Park bus stop get ready to try and board the vehicle. The bus can barely take on half a dozen before awkwardly heading out into the broad avenue, where only the clattering noise of the dilapidated vehicle can be heard.

When the bus has departed, temperatures rise at the bus stop. “I’m not leaving my house ever again”, says a woman carrying her child in her arms. “You can’t even relax when you do go out because every journey becomes a pain, like this one”, adds someone else. “But, guys, this is all gonna get fixed soon and there’s gonna be so much fuel you’ll even be able to gargle with it”, jokes another.

It’s getting late and the buildings begin to take on a reddish hue. In the whole of avenida 23 the only things that are moving with any dynamism are the forklift trucks and the labourers working on the construction which will be the tallest building in Cuba: the López-Calleja tower, so-named by people in allusion to the magnate of the military consortium Gaesa, who died last year.

A few shop signs begin to light up and La Rampa by night becomes a zone of shadows and silence.

Translator’s notes:

*’Almendron’ is the word used to refer to the classic American cars, generally in use as taxis, and in particular as shared, fixed-route taxis. The word comes from “almond” in reference to the shape of these ’ancient’ vehicles.

**This link (if your browser is able to convert it to English) describes in detail the various ’tribes’ and the sources and meanings of their names.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Forty-two Dollars for a Two-mile Taxi Ride in Havana

"Lamentablemente tenemos una alta demanda y poca disponibilidad de vehículos por falta de combustible". (EFE)
‘Sadly we have high demand and very little availability of vehicles because of the lack of fuel.” (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 17 April 2023 — The fuel crisis in Cuba is far from over and is reflected not only in the empty city streets but also in the unpayable prices of private transport.

“Unfortunately we have a high demand and little availability of vehicles due to lack of fuel,” said a highly respected agency representative in Havana this Sunday, excusing the cost. “We have only been able to locate one driver who can do the service but he charges 1,000 pesos [$42].

Maria, who lives in Nuevo Vedado, had called them. She had just been granted the United States visa for family reunification on behalf of her son and needed a ride early this Monday from her home to the Manuel Fajardo hospital, where she would collect the results of the medical check-up necessary for the consular interview at the embassy. A trip of less than two miles.

“I’ve been using them for months because a friend recommended them to me. They gave her a consular appointment a day after the passage of Hurricane Ian, when the city was full of branches and several blocked streets,” the woman explains to this newspaper to demonstrate the seriousness of the company.

This Sunday morning, she was informed that the service would cost 600 pesos [$25], which she accepted. “But the hours passed and they didn’t send me the make of the car and the name of the driver, as they always do,” María continues, “so I contacted them again in the afternoon.” It was then that they told her that the price would be a thousand pesos. “All that in the same municipality of Plaza de la Revolución; that is, that price for a very short stretch, because the rest of the road was going to be done on foot.” She had to say yes, although the price had almost doubled in a few hours, “because I couldn’t walk with my passport early in the morning given the lack of security.” continue reading

Another consequence of the gasoline shortage is being suffered by messaging platforms, such as Mandao. An employee of this company tells 14ymedio that at the moment only those who have a bicycle or an electric motorcycle are working on delivery. The young man, who has a bicycle, explains that his daily services have multiplied: “Before we were the least valued because at the pace of a pedal everything goes a little slower, and many businesses did not want us to take care of their deliveries. But now that there is no gasoline they have realized that our fuel is human, and we don’t have to buy it at gas stations.”

Of course, the law of supply and demand is not forgiving and, thus, the bicitaxis have also raised their costs. “All prices go up,” complained a customer who refused a service on Monday. “In that, the revolution is advancing.”

On Friday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel tried to offer explanations for the lack of fuel but, as on other occasions, he only pointed to scapegoats. “The countries that have certain commitments with us to supply us with gasoline from the agreements we have are also experiencing a complex energy situation,” he said in a meeting in Santa Clara with provincial leaders of the Party.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

‘Even Tourists Are Stranded on the Road Because There Is No Fuel in Cuba’

Traffic jam at Santa Ana and Boyeros of taxis waiting to get gasoline. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 10 April 2023 — Marta and Manuel, two Spaniards who arrived in Havana this Good Friday on the Air Europa flight, pass through the door of the José Martí international airport and come across a dark esplanade full of people holding signs with the name of a tourist. The taxi stand is empty. The lack of fuel has hit the strategic tourism sector, and the Madrid couple spends two hours waiting for a vehicle to take them to Old Havana.

“This is not how tourism can be recovered,” says the employee who manages the taxi stand. The man calls again and again on his mobile phone to the possible taxi drivers who relieve the long line that has been formed after the arrival of the European flight. But the answer he receives is almost the same: “I don’t have fuel.” After half an hour, a yellow Citröen arrives in front of the line of desperate travelers. “This is my last trip because what I have left of gasoline is not enough for another,” he says.

Several tourists hurry to get on the buses that will take them to Varadero and other resorts. “We are making the trips to leave the customers in the hotels but we have had to cut the excursions,” explains a driver who begins to read a list of British surnames to confirm the travelers he will take in his vehicle. “For almost a month we have only had fuel for transfers to and from the airport,” he emphasizes.

On the other side of the street, in the shadows, the drivers of several private vehicles load luggage into trunks and shout among themselves the coordinates to find fuel. “The Santa Catalina gas station has none; neither does Boyeros and Ayestarán although they told me that they saw a tank unloading an hour ago at the one on G and 25.” continue reading

The information, more valuable for filling the tank of the vehicle than the money itself, has created networks of solidarity among drivers who, in addition to spreading the word about where the supply has arrived, help each other in the lines in front of the gas station, which can last for days. “We are four taxi drivers and we take turns in line. The station that had fuel last week doesn’t have it anymore. We wouldn’t have a life if we had to be in line all the time,” explains a young man who rents a cab from the Taxi-Cuba Company.

“The tourists who arrive don’t know this, and some rent a car to go to the provinces; then they get stranded on the road because they can’t fill the tank,” the driver tells 14ymedio. “At first, passenger cars had priority, but if there is no gasoline, it doesn’t matter if you have priority. If there isn’t any there isn’t, and they can’t invent it.”

Marta and Manuel managed, after a long wait, to get into a vehicle on the way to a private rental house in the historic center of Havana. “Can we meet tomorrow for an excursion to the Zapata Swamp?” they inquired of the taxi driver. The payment proposal, an interesting amount of euros, would have been absolutely irresistible a few months ago, but the driver declines. “I can’t, this is the last gasoline I have left. Tomorrow I have to take care of getting more, and that will take me all day or all week.”

Rumors are circulating among taxi drivers that fuel problems will be solved on the 18th. In March, the British agency Reuters announced the shipment of oil from Venezuela that was going to be the largest in memory in a long time. The Nolan oil tanker, Panamanian-flagged and sanctioned by the United States, was in the Venezuelan port of San José loading 1.53 million barrels (400,000 barrels of oil and 1.13 of diesel), destined for Cuba.

Although the ship was supposed to arrive at the end of March, the shortage, visible at the Island’s gas stations, suggests that it arrived late or that the unloading has been slow. Radar positioned the Nolan for the last time off the coast of western Africa, but that was 111 days ago, and the sanctioned tankers travel with the transponder turned off to hide their location. The Venezuelan government opponent María Corina Machado said last week that the oil tanker was in the port of Antilla, in Holguín, according to a satellite application.

But the effects of the lack of fuel are not only noticed by tourists and Cubans who want to fill their tank. The blackouts are already back, and national television announced that a “complex” day is expected this Monday. Yesterday, Sunday, the deficit reached 368 megawatts (MW) at around 20:20, coinciding with peak time. Although the Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) assures that “this weekend it managed to meet the demand,” many Cubans have complained about more than three hours without power in different parts of the Island.

“Last night there was a blackout here from 10:27 pm until a little more than 1 am. I couldn’t rest well, and today we face the day to day to see how to survive,” lamented a woman from Cienfuegos. “I have just seen the list, and during the day there should be no problem, but in Remedios there is a deficit from 9 to 3 in the afternoon,” added another.

For today, UNE predicts a deficit of 200 MW, but 550 MW is expected to be missing at the peak. In its statement, the electricity monopoly speaks of a shortage in the distribution because of “failures and lack of maintenance,” correcting the information provided on television, which said that the lack of availability is due to “problems” in the distribution of fuel, which has not yet arrived.

“They don’t have oil because they don’t buy it, and they don’t pay for what they buy. Period.” says a user when reading the forecast for the day.

Meanwhile, the recovery work of the Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas thermoelectric plant continues after the accident that cost the lives of two people this Friday and injured two more when they were trapped by the collapse of a 23-foot high wall while cleaning the soot in the chimney of the plant. La Guiteras is the largest thermoelectric plant in the country, but last year it was out of service for more days than it produced energy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Between the Ballot and the Ticket To Leave the Island, Cubans Prefer To Emigrate

On Infanta Street this Wednesday, a young man in a ration store looked at one of the many official posters which, in these last weeks, promote a united vote for the parliamentary candidates.(14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 23 March 2023 — To vote or not to vote in the elections for Cuba’s Parliament, on March 26, is a dilemma in the face of which many Cubans have already taken sides. The economic crisis, lack of hope and little confidence in state institutions favor abstention in a country where not attending the polls is considered a political statement and can involve reprisals.

Among those who are overcoming fear and say that they will not vote are retirees whose pensions don’t go far enough, young people who have not known anything but scarcity since they were born and potential migrants who set their sights outside the Island. The dissatisfaction and mistrust that lay beneath the surface of Cuban society could materialize in an increase in abstentions this coming Sunday.

On Infanta Street this Wednesday, a young man in a ration store looked at one of the many official posters that in recent weeks promote a united vote for the parliamentary candidates. The colorful advertising stands out in the store, which has only a couple of products on display. On the counter, a small blackboard announces that allocation of cigarettes and cigars for the month of January are now being sold.

“I don’t even plan to go out that day, and I’m going to close the windows so they don’t bother me to go vote,” clarified another young woman who arrived at the bodega (ration store) to ask about the arrival of salt. “Two years ago I turned 16 and am on the electoral roll, but I’m not interested. I didn’t go to vote for the Family Code [in September 2022], and I’m not going to go this time either,” she says bluntly. continue reading

The reason borders more on indifference than on rebellion. “It’s not going to change anything if I go or not,” she tells 14ymedio. “My mother has been attending all those processes for 40 years and what does she have now? Nothing. A half-collapsed house, four old rags to wear and some children who only think about leaving this country as soon as they can.”

While she is speaking, an old woman arrives but doesn’t join the conversation. She makes a gesture of denial when she hears the young woman’s words. It is in the elderly where the official propaganda of the united vote and the attendance at the polls as a sign of support for the system penetrates with greater depth. They are the ones who are most afraid of change or have spent more years of their lives supporting the Government.

Maurín, 21, lives in the Havana neighborhood of San Pedro in the municipality of El Cotorro. In front of the door of his house extends a street that years ago lost some of its asphalt. Garbage accumulates on the nearby corner, while the line for the only kiosk that sells food in the area almost reaches his window.  “How am I going to go to vote if they haven’t even fixed the basics?” the young man asks, indignant.

With an engineer father and a nurse mother, Maurín questions the role of the delegates of the National Assembly of People’s Power in his neighborhood and the ability of parliamentarians to improve the lives of citizens. “In San Pedro we have been demanding [from the delegates] for years and years in the Accountability meetings that they fix our streets, improve the quality of the bread and open new stores to buy food, but none of that has been resolved.”

Disbelief has taken over many of the residents in the area, a phenomenon that is repeated throughout the country. To try to arouse enthusiasm in recent weeks, the Cuban ruling party has launched a campaign that includes meetings with voters, an avalanche of advertising in the national media, the reduction of annoying blackouts, and agricultural fairs to sell food at prices a little cheaper than in private markets.

However, the ideological offensive does not seem to be bearing fruit among a population that is tired of so many daily difficulties. For Maritza, 64, until recently employed by a branch of the Ministry of Culture, it is striking how people in the streets no longer hide that they will not vote on Sunday.

The Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel seems to fear a growth in abstention, which for decades remained below 10% but has experienced a significant increase in recent years. In last November’s municipal elections it reached an all-time high with 30% of voters absent. For the ruling party, attendance is measured as a sign of support for the system and the Communist Party.

“In the line at the bank I heard two employees who were talking and saying that they were not going to vote on Sunday. For me it is unprecedented that in a state work center people talk so openly in frank defiance of the system,” she tells this newspaper. “Before, that was unthinkable, and it shows that between fear and defiance, many are choosing defiance.”

Cuban dissidents have also raised the tone in the calls for abstention as the electoral date approaches and, for the first time in a long time, they have agreed on the “I don’t vote” premise, which has been joined by activists of various political stripes.

In Santa Clara, Ignacio, 47 years old and self-employed, has also decided to abstain. “The deputies will not solve any problem because they are the gears of this machine but not its essence. They are mostly a group of puppets without voice or vote because everything in Cuba has always been planned in that manual of ’continuity’,” he says.

Ignacio recognizes that others will go to the polls but says their attendance is not exactly because of a belief that the National Assembly will help improve life on the Island. “One of the saddest things is the political apathy of these people and the hopelessness that leads them to vote or take any decision dictated by the Government, such as voting for everyone,” he emphasizes.

Others, such as Jorge, a 23-year-old university student and resident of Camajuaní, Villa Clara, recognizes that he will go to vote on March 26 because he feels that attendance is “practically mandatory.” He does not want to stand out publicly and prefers to avoid teacher retaliation that could result from not going.

However, he recognizes that no candidate for parliament represents him “because the politics they defend has nothing to do” with his way of thinking. “The election process will solve absolutely nothing. All leaders follow the same ideology and do not change anything once they are elected,” he concludes with skepticism.

There are also those who seem impervious to the official campaign for the March 26 elections and say they are not even aware that voting will take place. “I don’t care about that; I just want to survive every day and wait for my sister to find me a sponsor to go to the United States,” acknowledges 19-year-old Jean Marcos. “The only place I’m going to go is to the airport when I have my flight.”

Jean Marcos’ friends share his position. Given the choice between the ballot or the ticket, they all seem to opt for something that gets them out of Cuba as soon as possible.

Translated by Regina Anavy 

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Banco Central de Cuba Made in China

Along with the name, the Central Bank of Cuba, the notices say: “Made in China.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 9 March 2023 — One day there appeared a significant number of ATMs around Tulipán Street, in the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado. The nearby market of the Youth Labor Army, which attracts not only local residents but also buyers from other municipalities due to its lower prices and the availability of wholesale purchases, made them necessary.

In addition to Tulipán Street itself, there were more ATMs on the ground floor of the Ministry of Transport and in the Metropolitan Bank on Conill Street, and still more at a Cadeca, an exchange house, which in its time changed the now non-existent Cuban convertible pesos.

All these machines were deteriorating, broken down and, therefore, disappearing, without the authorities doing anything to replace them. To such an extent that the neighbors of Nuevo Vedado have to travel to other neighborhoods such as El Vedado, Centro Habana or even Old Havana to withdraw cash.

These days, people have been surprised to see signs announcing the reinstallation of ATMs on Tulipán Street. Along with the name, the Central Bank of Cuba, the papers say: “Made in China.” People do not know, because the end of the work has not been announced, when these machines will be ready, but, for the moment, they smile suspiciously at the paper sign.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Infanta Street in Havana, Where all the Miseries of Cuba Come Together

“There is no other option, to fill the tank you have to get cooked over slow heat,” complains a driver who, at the stroke of noon, had already been in line for two hours.

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 4 March 2023 — The sun itches, although the Lenten winds blow over Havana and ruffle the hair of passers-by. Inside a vehicle, in the long line to buy fuel at the corner of Infanta and San Rafael this Friday, the temperature is similar to what is experienced in the purgatory of May, or even a high that’s reached in the hell of August. “There is no other option, in order to fill the tank you have to get cooked over low heat,” laments a driver who at the stroke of noon had already been in line for two hours .

The cars almost touch. There’s a garish red Lada that a few years ago would have targeted its owner as a vice-minister or colonel; a tricycle to transport goods; several modern Citroëns that seem older than any almendrón* from the last century and even a taxi that demands 30 dollars to shuttle travelers who have recently arrived at the José Martí airport to the city. It doesn’t matter the year of manufacture, the state of the body, or the pedigree of the driver. They are all scorching equally under the sun.

“I no longer go around in circles. I come directly to gas stations on the main avenues, which are the best supplied ones,” the driver of a Russian-made Moskvitch with nickel-plated wheels, interior air conditioning and other amenities, though manufactured, as he admits, “in times of the CAME [Council for Mutual Economic Assistance], so it was not designed for savings,” he laments. The owner perceives the fuel supply in the city as a “see saw”: “One day they tell you that there is no problem and you can fill the tank, and the next you can only add a certain number of liters.” continue reading

It’s common for people to come to blows when the line slows down or when an employee yells that they’re out of diesel or hot dogs

In addition, several lines converge at the gas station at the popular corner of Centro Habana. The place has a small store that sells frozen products, across from it there is a property belonging to the Rápido chain, an attempt by the Cuban regime to emulate the reviled, by official discourse, McDonald’s and Subway, but it ended up capsizing due to the lack of raw materials and inflation and joined the network of regulated trade. When the day begins, in this nodal point of Centro Habana it is difficult to know who is there for a package of frozen chicken, a bag of detergent or a liter of gasoline.

The avenue, named in honor of Princess María Luisa Fernanda, youngest daughter of King Ferdinand VII and sister of Isabel II of Spain, is lacking in monarchy and has a surplus of misery. It’s common for people to come to blows when the line slows down or when an employee yells that they’re out of diesel or hot dogs. That’s when, in one of the most “royal” of Havana streets, people take off their flip-flops, shout obscenities and seem to be ready for anything. Then the March winds blow and everyone goes home.

*Translator’s note: Almendrón, from the ‘almond shape’ of the vehicles, is a term that refers to mid-20th century American cars, still plying the streets of Cuba, primarily as shared taxis for Cuban customers, and as ‘nostalgic’ tours for foreigners.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.