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The Death Toll From Hurricane Oscar in Cuba Rises to Eight

Authorities are looking for two more people who are reported missing

According to the government of Guantánamo, Oscar has damaged more than 11,000 buildings, including housing and public infrastructure / Facebook

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 31 October 2024 — The Cuban government raised the death toll to eight after the passage of Hurricane Oscar and said that the authorities are looking for two people who are reported missing, the state press reported on Wednesday.

This is the first official figure on disappearances, more than a week after Oscar’s scourge in the east of the country.

The two missing are a 42-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman, both from the town of San Antonio del Sur, in Guantánamo, according to a statement from the Civil Defense General Staff.

San Antonio del Sur, along with the neighboring municipalities of Baracoa, Imías and Maisí, was one of the territories most seriously affected by the floods of October 21, with numerous damage to the housing stock, health centers and schools, and losses of personal property.

This Tuesday, for the first time since the occurrence of the meteorological disaster, photographers from some international media accredited in Cuba – including EFE – had access to San Antonio del Sur. continue reading

This week some roads were opened to allow aid to reach the settlements that have been incommunicado

The United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, Francisco Pichón, indicated that he will present an “action plan” prepared by UN agencies, which includes providing funds and programs “in order to join the concentrated recovery efforts of the national authorities” in support of the victims.

The intense rains that accompanied Oscar, which continue to affect the region, caused the flooding of rivers, landslides from the mountains that brought down mud, and the isolation of communities that rescuers have not been able to reach due to the state of the roads.

But this week some roads were opened to allow the passage of aid to settlements that have incommunicado, especially in mountainous or flooded areas.

Seven of the deceased were located in San Antonio del Sur, while the other deceased was located in Imías

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Imías on Wednesday to assess the damage after Oscar’s passage.

Also, the Guantanamo Defense Council reported this Wednesday that Oscar’s passage through the province damaged more than 11,000 buildings, including homes and public infrastructure, and affected more than 13,000 hectares (32,124 acres) of various crops.

Power cuts continue in the region due to the fall of 98 power poles and damaged transformers in five municipalities

The official provincial newspaper Venceremos reports that houses suffered the greatest damage, with 257 total collapses and 360 partial, while 9,198 houses lost part of their roofs, among other damage.

Facilities for 627 state institutions have been affected. Among them, the damage is mainly concentrated in commerce, with 183 establishments, health centers (71), and Education, Culture and Sports sectors, with 210 effects recorded.

Electricity cuts continue in the region due to the fall of 98 poles and damaged transformers in five municipalities, where more than 56,000 customers are still without service (some 35,000 now have power).

The report points out that to alleviate the generation deficit, 69 generators are being used to supply isolated communities, food production centers, public health centers and other services.

In agriculture, negative effects are reported in 13,255 hectares (32,754 acres) of banana, coconut, cocoa, fruit, forest fuels and, in particular, coffee, one of the main productions of the territory.

The committee points out that 14 national and foreign donations have been received, nine of them sent by the United Nations World Food Program

The recovery begins gradually with the arrival of materials and donations for the restoration of infrastructure and land communication with the four affected municipalities. This includes returning most of the evacuees to their homes, and the planting and harvesting of coffee in the unaffected areas.

In addition, the committee points out that 14 national and foreign donations have been received, nine of them sent by the United Nations World Food Program, plus others from the Bridges of Love initiative and The Peoples Forum in the United States.

Hurricane Oscar – the first meteorological event that directly hit Cuba in the current hurricane season – penetrated Cuba on Sunday the 21st as a category 1 hurricane (maximum of 5) on the Saffir-Simpson scale, very close to the coastal city of Baracoa, in Guantánamo, and became a tropical storm before leaving the next day through an area near Gibara, in the province of Holguín.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexican ‘Coyotes’ Promote Themselves on TikTok To Attract Cubans Who Seek To Reach the United States

A VIP trip from the Cuba to the Mexican state of Chiapas can cost between $5,000 and $7,000 per person.

In the state of Chiapas there are almost 1,000 migrants stranded due to the delay in the CBP One procedures / EFE

14ymedio, Mexico City, 31 October 2024 — A VIP trip from Cuba to the Mexican state of Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, can cost Cubans leaving the Island between 5,000 and 7,000 dollars per person. The coyotes claim that traffic is “safe” and that they know the tricks to mislead or convince the authorities. “There are no robberies, much less threats with firearms,” a coyote who calls himself ‘AK-47’ told Diario del Sur in an article published on Tuesday.

The search for customers begins on social networks, where traffickers present themselves as travel agents, the same source tells the Mexican newspaper. “We use the TikTok platform, which is the one that is fashionable. It helps us to publicize testimonies that people arrived well at their destination,” he explains. The flight to Nicaragua costs $3,600, and if you want a more thorough service, an extra $1,200 guarantees the arrival to Tapachula without problems. For that price, security is a fact: “We have bought the police. We use code words and above all ’official’ stamps, each one from his own company, and we avoid confrontations,” he says.

According to AK-47, the “center of operations” is Cuba, from where flights depart to Nicaragua, Russia, Peru and Guyana. There they have their “travel agency” installed and promote plane tickets to those destinations. If the client requires it, they provide ground transportation to get closer to the final goal: the United States.

Diario del Sur managed to interview a Cuban woman who hired — for herself, her husband and their two children — the agency’s services to fly to Bogotá (Colombia) and make a second stop in Nicaragua. In this way, Yadiris, 45, found it cheaper to cross than if she flew directly to Managua. From there, the coyotes took care of moving them to Mexico, where the family ran out of money. continue reading

A coyote claims to pay the police in Chiapas to allow them to traffic migrants / EFE

The trip wasn’t easy either. According to Yadiris, the driver who took them to Tapachula drove as if the vehicle were a racing car. Once in Mexico, they had to look for work to support themselves, but the Cuban woman says that she is still in contact with the coyote.

Karla, another Cuban interviewed by the Mexican media, tells a similar story. After reaching Tapachula, she was also stranded without money. Now she works as a waitress, because “it’s easy money,” and she hopes in a few months to have saved enough to request a CBP One appointment with US Customs and Border Protection.

Recently interviewed by 14ymedio, another Cuban migrant, experienced in the tricks of migration, Alexander Mori, told this newspaper that he has been approached by coyotes to offer him “facilities” to reach the border. “To get to Tijuana they charge you 2,000 dollars in a van, and 1,500 if you make the trip by bus. The traffickers give you a bracelet, which they say is to prevent Migration officials from arresting you,” said the Cuban, who hopes that in Chiapas, he will get a CBP One appointment.

According to figures from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid, up to September of this year, a total of 39,754 migrants had gone to their offices in Palenque and Tapachula seeking asylum. At the beginning of October, the director of the Human Dignity Center, Luis García Villagrán, said that more than 45,000 illegal foreigners were stranded in that state, of which some 1,000 were Cubans, due to the delay in the procedures through the US application.

Last week the mayor of Tapachula, Yamil Melgar Bravo, told EFE that the municipality has received 60% of the migrants in Mexico. Irregular migration rose by 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year to more than 712,000 people nationwide, according to the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Argentina’s Prime Minister Milei Removes His Foreign Minister for Voting Against the US Embargo on Cuba

A few months ago, the minister had denounced the presence of “infiltrators from Cuba and Venezuela, specialists in destabilizing Governments”

Diana Mondino with the president of Argentina, Javier Milei / @DianaMondino/X

EFE/14ymedio, Buenos Aires, 31 October 2024 — The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, suddenly dismissed his Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, on Wednesday for her vote in the United Nations General Assembly in favor of the resolution against the US embargo on Cuba.

The resolution, without binding effects, was approved, as in previous years, by an overwhelming majority (187 votes in favor, 2 against – the United States and Israel – and the abstention of Moldova).

This decision surprised the Argentinians due to the strong alignment of the Milei Government with Israel and the United States in terms of foreign policy, and the president’s emphatic rejection of left-wing governments.

In an interview Mondino then declared that there were “infiltrators from Cuba and Venezuela in the country who are specialists in destabilizing Governments”

The performance of the foreign minister in this case contrasts with the radical positions she had expressed last March against the Cuban regime. In an interview, Mondino then declared that there were “infiltrators from Cuba and Venezuela in the country who are specialists in destabilizing governments.” This comment earned her this answer from Cubadebate: “Little insight and quite manipulative, Diana Mondino.” continue reading

As soon as Argentina’s vote in the UN was known, a wave of rumors began in the local press about a possible removal of Mondino from the Government, which at the moment had not released information about the reasons for her departure.

“The new foreign minister of the Argentine Republic is Mr. Gerardo Werthein,” announced the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, on X.

The designated foreign minister is an important local businessman, close to Milei. Since last April he has served as Argentine ambassador to the United States.

A veterinarian by profession, Werthein also served as president of the Argentine Olympic Committee (COA) between 2009 and 2021, and was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cabbage, Veteran Protagonist of the School Dinner, Now Too Expensive for Cubans

It is one of those products which, along with the cooking banana, is inextricably linked, in the collective imagination of this island, with times of the most extreme penury

Cabbage on sale at the market on Calle 19/B, Vedado, Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 27 October 2024 – In the 1995 film Madagascar, directed by Fernando Pérez, around a dinner table, a family of “vegetable eaters” creates, out of the act of chewing, a physical and aural embodiment of the difficult years of Cuba’s ’Special Period’. The sound of crunch, crunch, crunch dominates the scene in which the characters seem trapped inside a hunger which forces them to eat only leaf vegetables every day, with nothing else as accompaniment. It would cost much more to reshoot that scene now, in these times of inflation and shortage.

Cabbage is one of those products which, along with the cooking banana, is inextricably linked, in the collective imagination of this island, with times of the most extreme penury. Resistant to the damaging effects of transport, easy to store and capable of filling several plates from one single item, it has as many admirers as it has critics. The majority of those who keep it away from their table tend to be people who are marked by the trauma of an infancy or adolescence in which Mrs Cabbage was all too often present.

“I was a pre-university student for three years in Güira de Melena and they gave us cabbage for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day”, jokes Lázaro, who, at 51 administrates a small fruit and veg stall near Calle Carlos III in central Havana. “I don’t eat it anymore, I can’t even bear the smell, but thanks to cabbage I can at least feed my family”, he says, pointing to some cabbages still enveloped in their dark green outer leaves. continue reading

“I was a pre-university student for three years in Güira de Melena and they gave us cabbage for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day”

“I sell them individually and on some days they’re the best quality but on others they arrive a little bit bruised because, although they’re a hardy product it’s best to transport them in boxes so they don’t get as knocked about or damaged”, he says. Most of the ones he sells are from the San Antonio de los Baños municipality, in Artemisa, where he has contacts “with a peasant farmer who harvests a little bit of everything”.

When a customer leaves Lázaro’s stall with a cabbage in his shopping bag, it is then that begins the new life of the vegetable which is later transformed according to who is to cook with it and the ingredients which are to be added. It may end up being just some rough dry strips on a prisoner’s tray, or, some thin strands spiced up and sprinkled with olive oil on a plate in a luxury restaurant. One’s expertise with a kitchen knife and the spices one has to hand can elevate it from the mediocre.

“The trick with cabbage is to peel off the leaves one by one”, says Julia, 81, who worked for years in a canteen based on the now defunct Cuban Fishing Fleet. “On the days when it was my turn to cook nobody left any cabbage on their plate, they ate it all up because I knew how to cut it, unlike my colleagues who just hacked away at it, producing only thick, hard pieces, which no one wanted to eat”.

Julia explains her technique like the surgeon describes to his students an incision to be made in a delicate area of bone, veins and tendons. “Once you’ve removed the leaves one by one, you wash them thoroughly and then you need to remove the central part which is difficult to chew and has a rather pungent taste”. On the table rests a very sharp knife, with which, after rolling up each leaf into a long tube, she cuts them into thin rings. When they unfurl and reveal their multiple layers, they look like slender noodles. “To season them I prepare separately a mixture of oil, salt and vinegar, although if I have some lemon juice that’s even better”.

Served immediately after seasoning, “this recipe for cabbage is irresistible”, says Julia. She also likes to sauté it, put it in preserves and make it into soups, but her speciality is “the cabbage salad for people who say they don’t like cabbage”. Given her level of skill, the only problem now is that her principal raw material is no longer that cheap product which used to fill the market counters and made Cubans chew unenthusiastically several decades ago.

Starting with an average-size cabbage, and using my technique of taking off one leaf at a time, and of using a very sharp knife to cut them into very thin strips, my husband and I can have salad for a whole week

Inflation has also had an effect on this vegetable, which has seen an increase in price in recent years. If one cabbage cost 80 pesos at the Plaza La Calzada (Cienfuegos) market a year ago, by the end of October this year the price had gone up to 100 pesos. Nevertheless, the price in this agricultural region par excellence is still massively lower than the 500 pesos needed to buy one at the Calle 19/B market in El Vedado, Havana.

“Starting with an average-size cabbage, and using my technique of taking off one leaf at a time, and of using a very sharp knife to cut them into very thin strips, my husband and I can have salad for a whole week”, Julia explains, but then adds, immediately: “That’s if my pension allows, because what I get per month isn’t really enough for even three cabbages, and with what my husband earns we can barely afford to prepare the dressing”.

Scattered across the world, some of those fishermen who, in the 80s and 90s sat down in front of a food tray in a state canteen where Julia was working, must remember those thin strands that she cut with such care and which they chewed with delight, tasting every mouthful.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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About 1,615 Cuban Ranchers Have Been Tried for Trafficking and Cattle Slaughter, Most of Them With Prison Sentences

The Government continues to apply a policy of “maximum severity” to livestock illegalities

The Government blames the poor livestock yields on theft / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, 29 October 2024 — Up to August of this year, the Cuban regime tried 1,615 people for “conduct associated with the crime of illegal slaughter of beef cattle and trafficking in their meat,” the government newspaper Granma reported on Tuesday. The sanctions, the media said, are the result of the “investigation of the use and possession of land and livestock” that the Government began to carry out last March.

“In correspondence with the provisions of the Criminal Code,” 90% of those sanctioned were sentenced to deprivation of liberty, the media explained. Of them, 78% were sentenced to sanctions of up to 15 years in prison, “which highlights the rigor in the treatment of these behaviors.” In addition, the defendants’ property was confiscated, and “other accessory sanctions provided for in the law” were applied.

According to Granma, which defends the rigor of the measures, the premise of the sanctions is “to manage the livestock mass and achieve greater discipline in the field, so that each producer knows the responsibility he has as a cattle breeder with the control, care and recording of events.”

The Government achieves two of its objectives: to intimidate the ranchers and to hold the producers accountable

With these actions, the Government achieves two of its objectives: to intimidate the ranchers, who have shown their discomfort with the control of livestock and the land, and to hold producers responsible for the debacle of agriculture, despite the fact that the farmers have denounced the scarcity of resources to maintain their crops and their animals, in addition to the lack of support from the Government.

However, Granma reminds the producers that business outside State channels is inadmissible. For meat trafficking, the penalties vary between three and eight years; for buying the meat, from six months to one year and continue reading

a fine. Aggravating circumstances are charged for those who try to sell the product “to centers of processing, production, trade or sale of food.”

Both the livestock and agricultural sectors are in moments of crisis on the Island. Last July, Alexis Rodríguez, general director of Economy and Agricultural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, recognized the debacle in front of Parliament. Of the 10 fundamental items in agriculture, from 2023 and until last July, only the plans of four had been fulfilled: vegetables, food, corn and rice. Meat, milk and egg productions are in a critical state.

Of the 10 fundamental items in agriculture, from 2023 until last July, only the plans of four had been fulfilled

For example, Cuba has lost 62% of its chickens and 72% of its pigs since 2020. On October 10, the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez Brito, reported on Cuban Television’s official Round Table program about the first results of the exercise of control of the use and possession of land and livestock.

In his report, he blamed the poor yields of livestock on theft and slaughter that, according to Granma, is punishable by between four and eight years in prison. Pérez Brito added that there are other types of illegalities, such as illegal sales, unbranded animals and lack of records for missing livestock and deaths.

The alternatives to stop the debacle, beyond supervising the producers to exhaustion, have been few. “Our country has approved policies for the land that no one else has, such as lending it free of charge to sow,” and “we are giving cooperatives greater autonomy for their management,” have been the arguments of the officials to wash their hands of the crisis.

Some clues, however, have left the ruling party to decipher the problem: “The livestock areas have been destroyed” and with them a large percentage of the industry, Granma confessed last April. Likewise, the State has acknowledged that it does not have the budget to revive agriculture.

The State has recognized that it does not have the budget to revive agriculture

In an article published on April 4 of this year, entitled “There are ways to stop the deterioration of livestock,” farmer Miguel Valdés Carmenate, from Ciego de Ávila, said in an interview that the sector in the country “is bad because we have been allowing it to be destroyed for many years.”

His message was a reminder of the shortcomings suffered by producers. “For an adult animal, to ruminate it must have no less than 45 or 50 pounds of fodder in its belly and drink more than 70 liters of water daily. And more than half the cows don’t have either,” he warned.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Only 300 Cubans Received US Humanitarian Parole in September, the Lowest Figure in the Program

Migrant entries with this mechanism fell by 99% since the changes introduced in August

In less than two years, more than 110,000 Cubans have benefited from the parole program / Mario Vallejo

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 October 2024 — Last September, only 300 Cubans received humanitarian parole from the United States, the lowest figure since the program came into force in January 2023. The latest U.S. immigration data, which correspond to fiscal year 2024 and include September arrivals, reflect how the changes introduced since the suspension between July and August of the plan, which provides approval for 30,000 migrants per month, have affected migration.

According to data from the Department of Customs and Border Protection (DHS) published last week, barely 1,000 migrants arrived from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela last month. In total, throughout the fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2023, 531,000 people from these countries arrived through a sponsor in the U.S., only 1,000 more than in August, when the plan was reactivated.

In total, throughout the fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2023, 531,000 people from these countries arrived through a sponsor in the U.S., only 1,000 more than in August

Last July, the Office of the DHS Inspector General detected irregularities in the system. Among them were blank forms, phone lines that did not work, postal codes that did not exist, social security numbers of dead people, repeated texts in thousands of applications and people who presented their documents more than once.

On July 6, the parole program was suspended for Venezuelans, and on the 18th for all nationalities until the necessary changes were introduced to avoid fraud. At the end of August, the DHS announced the reactivation of the mechanism with new guarantees, including the presentation of sponsors’ fingerprints and a more thorough review of the applicants.

This has slowed down approvals, with a consequent drop of 99%, according to the DHS. In total, during the fiscal year that has just ended, 110,000 Cubans have arrived in the United States with the program, which gives continue reading

them the right to stay and work in the United States for at least two years.

In statements to Café Fuerte, immigration lawyer Willy Allen predicted the probable elimination of the humanitarian parole, created by Biden, after the presidential elections, which are close. “Actually, humanitarian parole is mortally wounded,” he said. “I don’t see a future for the program at the moment, and I think that after November it will die naturally.”

Last September, former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump announced in an interview on Fox News his intention to eliminate the parole program if he won the elections. The same thing would happen, he said, to the CBP One.

“I would revoke it,” said Trump, claiming that the appointment program is “bad” but the parole is “even worse,” because it allows beneficiaries to reach the United States by plane. “Get ready to leave, especially if you are criminals,” warned the former president, who considers those who arrive by means of this mechanism illegal, although they are not, since their entry is authorized.

Since its entry into force, in January 2023, about 852,000 people have managed to schedule appointments to present themselves at the border

Less clear is what will happen if the current vice president and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, wins. Although it was her government that created the parole program, during the Democratic campaign it has been hinted that the migration policy would change and that there would be more restrictions, but she has not specifically mentioned what will happen. It is known, however, that those who have entered by means of this mechanism will not be able to renew it by extending the two-year period.

As far as the CBP One is concerned, the pace has remained sustained, with about 44,000 admissions per month. Since its entry into force, in January 2023, some 852,000 people have managed to schedule appointments to present themselves at the border. Most of the applicants are Venezuelans, Cubans, Mexicans and Haitians.

At the end of fiscal year 2024, irregular arrivals of Cubans through the border stood at 217,615, 8% more than the previous year, although the migratory flow was reduced, going from 3.2 million in 2023 to the current 2.9.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Judas Tadeo, Patron Saint of Lost Causes, Works Overtime in Cuba

This October 28th, we ask for help for lost rafters, to obtain parole or to rebuild a home

At the foot of an image of San Judas Tadeo, there were relatives of prisoners, relatives of rafters lost at sea and Cubans engaged in tortuous procedures / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez / Natalia López Moya, Havana, 29 October 2024 — Some advanced along San Nicolás Street and others approached by Rayo, in Centro Habana, to the church of San Nicolás de Bari and San Judas Tadeo, the latter the patron saint of the impossible, venerated every October 28. The temple of the saint of desperate and complicated problems has been besieged for months by a mountain of garbage, a difficult cause that seems to have no solution in sight in the Cuban capital.

“I came to ask to leave the country, because the cost of tickets is going through the roof,” a resident in the distant neighborhood of San Pedro, in the municipality of Cotorro, told 14ymedio. He had bought a very thin green candle for 100 pesos and then stood in the long line to receive some holy water after mass. “The priest threw a lot at me; it was almost a shower. So I hope it works and that I’ll be celebrating Christmas in another country.”

In another line to place flowers and candles at the foot of an image of San Judas Tadeo, there were relatives of prisoners, relatives of rafters lost at sea and Cubans engaged in tortuous bureaucratic procedures that seem to have no end. “My house’s roof fell in more than five years ago, and although I have sent letters everywhere I still have not been able to buy all the materials I need for the repair,” complained an old woman who placed her candle and prayed for “a quick solution” to her serious problem. continue reading

Garbage dump next to the church of San Nicolás de Bari and San Judas Tadeo / 14ymedio

In a country seized by an economic crisis that has already surpassed the collapse suffered in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, difficult causes are everywhere. “It seems impossible to even have electricity every day,” complained an old man, who deposited a small bouquet of sunflowers in front of the saint’s picture. “I didn’t come to ask for electricity but for my two children who left for Nicaragua three weeks ago and have already arrived in Tapachula,” in Mexico. They are now waiting for their appointment for an interview that will allow them to enter the United States after registering for the CBP One application.

Throughout the morning, a sea of desperate people continued flowing to the church. On one side, nine garbage containers overflowed with waste that extended along the sidewalk and spilled into the street, forcing the faithful to avoid the bags, cartons and waste that gave off a strong stench. Around noon, a Communal Services truck approached, and four workers began to collect some of the filth. But the accumulated volume is such that cleaning the surrounding area has already reached the level of the impossible. On the scale of the complicated, achieving a clean city has surpassed even the obstacles to getting on a plane, rebuilding a house or obtaining humanitarian parole.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Only 15 Sugar Mills Will Participate in This Year’s Harvest in Cuba, Which Is Expected To Be Disastrous

The number of mills is reduced year after year, but this time the loss has accelerated, after the 25 of last year.

The Uruguay sugar mill in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, has not been grinding for years, even after investing in “reforms” with Russian capital / Escambray

14ymedio, Madrid, 14 October 2024 — A few weeks before the start of the 2024-2025 sugar harvest, the production of the last harvest remains a state secret. The authorities have not hidden that the campaign was bad, but the lack of data makes us fear the worst, and nothing invites us to think that things can change. This weekend, coinciding with the Day of the Sugar Worker on October 13, events were held throughout the Island that recorded the serious situation of Cuba’s once star industry.

“A very complex harvest is coming,” said William Licourt González, general secretary of the sugar workers’ union before calling on the entire sector to work. But the media are what they are, and the vice president of the Council of Ministers, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, left a surprising fact the day before. In the next harvest there will be grinding in only 15 sugar mills throughout the country, the lowest number in history by far, since just three years ago there were thirty-six.

The decline in the number of sugar mills involved in grinding has been extremely accelerated. In 1959, Cuba had 161 mills that produced 5.6 million tons of sugar in that last harvest in private hands. After the nationalization of the plantations first and the mills shortly after, both in 1960, there are years in which, encouraged by the Soviet subsidy, the sector grew unstoppably, reaching production of up to eight million tons, with the decades of the 70s and 80s as the best. Although Fidel Castro’s dream of producing ten million tons was never achieved, everything went smoothly until the fall of the USSR. continue reading

In 1959, Cuba had 161 mills that produced 5.6 million tons of sugar in that last harvest in private hands

The sugar industry began to collapse with the Special Period, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of its subsidies for Cuba, but there were still good data. The 1995-1996 harvest achieved 4.3 million tons, but Castro decided to take a different direction. In 2002, he ordered the production capacity to be cut in half, to give 60% of the land over to other crops. “Sugar will never return to this country; it belongs to the time of slavery,” he said in 2005, while describing the sugar sector as in “ruin.” So, the number of mills was now 66, while the harvest remained at 1.2 million tons.

There are currently 56 sugar mills in Cuba, but their dilapidated state has forced an increasingly lower use of that capacity. In 2010, 44 were employed, but in 2020-2021, there were 38. A year later, 36 were scheduled, but only three of them met the production plans, so the decision was made to go to 26 in the next harvest – 2022-2023 -, a figure that was finally reduced to 23 due to lack of resources. The plan was to produce 455,198 tons of sugar, a quantity even less than the half-million at which national consumption was calculated. In addition, at least 411,000 tons had to be sold abroad. The plan was never fulfilled, nor were the final data ever known.

In the last harvest, the one corresponding to 2023-2024, there were 25 mills grinding, 10 more than this year.

“Why don’t almost 50% of the production bases have good yields and production diversification?”

“Why don’t almost 50% of the production bases have good returns and diversification of production?” Tapia Fonseca wondered at the party meeting, held on the 11th and 12th in Havana. “We have to do an in-depth analysis to save the sugar industry. We have approved measures for the sector. The debt of many Basic Units of Cooperative Production has been renegotiated on up to three occasions. The price of cane has gone up, and differentiated attention to retirees has been promoted,” he reproached. The official asked to hold meetings between the companies that achieve good data with the majority that do not, to share experiences. “We have to transform the work of the municipal and provincial governments to better serve sugar cooperatives,” he said, in turn with the new technique of placing responsibility on local administrations.

“We cadres have to transform this issue and save the sugar industry, because the most important thing in this sector is its workers who, in the midst of difficult weather conditions, fuel shortages, energy problems and more, are working every morning to plant and produce more cane,” he said. The official newspaper Trabajadores points out that his speech achieved “applause, and precise agreements came out in black and white for the immediate performance of the sugar union,” but it does not give details of any of them.

In the previous weeks, the provincial media have often mentioned the risk of a bad harvest due to low planting, labor shortages, bad weather, lack of fuel and a litany of misfortunes that, in turn, mean fewer mills, either because there is not enough cane from fuel rationing, or because the mill itself is in a calamitous condition. The Government, however, asks mills that aren’t grinding to “diversify” their work. As a result, several of them are currently dedicated to the production of molasses, brandy and other alcohols.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Filmmaker Jonal Cosculluela Dies at the Age of 47 in Havana in Unclear Circumstances

The director starred in a public protest in October last year, which he documented through social networks

Jonal Cosculluela Sánchez was born in Havana in 1977 / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 29 October 2024 — Cuban director Jonal Cosculluela Sánchez died this Monday night at the age of 47 in Havana. The news was spread by the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers through social networks, without giving the cause of death.

Graduated in Film Direction from the University of the Arts (ISA) in 2010, he went through all levels in the television industry. He was an editor, sound engineer, director and project advisor for cinema and national audiovisual. He mainly worked making series.

With the passage of time and more experience, his career culminated with his first fiction film, “Esteban” (2015), which won awards in different festivals and events. In 2020, he directed, together with Maritza Ceballo, the documentary “Volverán los abrazos” (“The Hugs will Return”), filmed in the middle of the pandemic. The work tells the experience of the Island’s doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. His filmography also includes titles such as “Asdrúba” (2008), “Altocontraste” (“High Contrast”) (2010) and “Room for Rent” (2010).

Just a few days ago, the filmmaker won the Best Historical Drama award at the prestigious Bombay International Film Festival with “Voces de 1912” (“Voices from 1912”) (2024), which addresses discrimination and racial injustice in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century. continue reading

He denounced the confiscation of a piece of his land due to a legal conflict between state entities

In its message, the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers highlighted not only the professionalism of the director, but, above all, his humor. “With Jonal we shared time, work, jokes, ideas. We thought, we suffered, we loved the country. We tried to release our own demons through art. We will remember his jokes, his particular way of facing the difficulties that surround us.”

Various personalities of the guild reacted to the news. Critic Juan Antonio García Borrero said on his Facebook profile that “Cuban cinema loses another young and talented director. Someone’s death always hurts, but much more so when there is a way to go. And with “Esteban,” Jonal Cosculluela had already shown his credentials. He left us lots of light with his cinema.”

Another filmmaker, Ricardo Figueredo Oliva, on the other hand, suggested that Cosculluela must have suffered some kind of pressure: “I don’t want to believe that they led you to that. But I might as well believe it, since the motto of the country’s stupid rulers is to subtract and never add. Rest in peace dear filmmaker friend. I already have more than enough pain to continue believing that Cuba is sinking in shit.”

Born in Havana in 1977, the director starred in a public protest in October last year, which he documented through social networks. He denounced that a piece of land he owned at 23rd and 2nd, in El Vedado, Havana was confiscated due to a legal conflict between the state entities of Heritage and Housing.

In the images he shared on his Facebook account you could see the land, occupied by a park. The filmmaker lay down on a park bench and posted: “Sleeping at noon, here at home.” Shortly after, his posts were deleted.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The UN Asks the Cuban Government To Respect International Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners

The report points out other mistreatment, such as being denied visits from their relatives or that some trans women must share cells with male detainees

Posters with photos of Cuban prisoners during a press conference in Miami, Florida, on May 16, 2023

14ymedio, Madrid, 29 October 2024 — The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued its observations on Cuba on Tuesday, after receiving reports from both the State and non-governmental organizations between October 15 and 18. The text, disseminated by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights on its networks, includes its “concern” for the situation of women detained on the Island.

In this regard, it mentions the reports that women prisoners, for “expressing dissident opinions,” face “violations of procedural guarantees and a fair trial, severe punishment, physical abuse and psychological violence, including the arbitrary use of punishment cells in deficient conditions and for excessive periods.” In addition, it notes other mistreatment, such as being denied visits from their relatives or that some trans women must share cells with male detainees.

Therefore, CEDAW recommends that the State adhere to the Bangkok Rules, approved by the United Nations for the treatment of female prisoners, and the Nelson Mandela Rules, the minimum for the treatment of prisoners in general. Likewise, it highlights that the Cuban Government must ensure the access of prisoners to periodic visits from their relatives, “in particular for detained mothers,” and remove the use of isolation as a punitive measure.

The CEDAW recommends that the State adhere to the Bangkok Rules, approved by the United Nations for the treatment of female prisoners, and the Nelson Mandela Rules

The Committee admits that the Cuban Government “has made progress since the examination in 2013” on the same subject – for example, the 2019 Constitution, which includes the State’s obligation to protect women from gender violence and creates institutional and legal mechanisms to achieve it, and the 2022 Family Code, for promoting equality between women and men in family relationships. In addition, it exposes the “socioeconomic impact” of the embargo imposed on the Island by the United States, as well as other sanctions, which, in the opinion of the UN, “have exacerbated the deterioration of the national economy.”

“The State is currently experiencing shortages of food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel and building materials and has intermittent access to continue reading

electricity, which disproportionately affects women and girls. This has also resulted in a large-scale migration of more than one million people between the ages of 15 and 59. The Committee notes that the situation has been aggravated by prolonged blackouts that have further limited access to health care, education, food, hygiene, transportation and other basic services for women, girls and the general population.” Along with this, the Committee states that it is concerned about the “extreme responses of the State party to people who participate in street protests in relation to these circumstances and the resulting reprisals and arrests, especially after the 2021 protests.”

Women, the organization indicates, “are little aware of their human rights under the Convention and the resources available to claim them, particularly rural women, women living in poverty, women with disabilities, women of African descent and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.” Therefore, it recommends that the Government “intensify its efforts to widely disseminate and raise awareness of the Convention and the general recommendations of the Committee.”

It recommends that the Government “intensify its efforts to widely disseminate and raise awareness of the Convention and the general recommendations of the Committee”

Another observation expressed in the document is that the Federation of Cuban Women “functions as a mass organization rather than as a government institution, which limits its effectiveness in promoting the enjoyment of women’s rights and gender equality.” Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Island establish an “independent national human rights institution.”

Regarding gender violence against women, CEDAW asks the Government to incorporate the crime of “femicide” in the Criminal Code, to “create awareness and public recognition,” “to strengthen measures to prevent, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of gender violence against women,” and to establish reception centers throughout the State, “including in collaboration with civil society organizations.”

The UN praises “with satisfaction” the representation of women in Parliament (more than half, with 55.7%), but “observes with concern” that few are at the highest level. The Political Bureau, the organization recalls, is currently made up of 17 men and only 3 women, and only 5 of the 25 ministries of the People’s Power are led by women.

“Public spending on primary health care and medicines and the percentage of the national budget allocated to health have decreased”

The public and free health coverage on the Island is also commended by the Committee. However, it states that women and girls have limited access to “modern contraceptives” and that there are “high rates of early pregnancy.” It also observes the shortage of essential medicines, which force women to buy them at very high prices in the informal market or to run out of them. “Public spending on primary health care and medicines and the percentage of the national budget allocated to health have decreased,” CEDAW states.

The Island’s delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman, presented its report to the Committee on October 18, three days after the documents provided by the independent NGOs.

The official text, 38 pages, mentioned “the political will of the Cuban Government for the advancement of women,” as well as the “undeniable progress” on the Island in terms of the protection of their rights. It also stated that “there is effective protection, even if there is no specific law on violence against women.” However, it did not mention the term “femicide” in the entire document and did not provide figures of sexist violence, despite the fact that it recognized 61 convictions for this type of crime in 2023.

For its part, the parallel report for this commission made jointly by the Gender Observatory of the independent platform Alas Tensas (AT) and the NGO Prisoners Defenders and presented on October 15, precisely criticized “the lack of political will” to face the problem.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Terrible Data of the Cuban Economy Do Not Show an Improvement Either in the Short or Medium Term

Pavel Vidal points out that the purchasing power of families “has been pulverized”

One of the variants adopted by misery in Havana is that of the “seller beggars” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, October 28, 2024 — “In economics everything is paid for; you can’t create wealth out of nothing.” This is the forceful conclusion of the most recent special report of the National Office of Statistics and Finance of Cuba (ONEI), directed by the Cuban economist living in Colombia, Pavel Vidal. In it, the expert analyzes the six essential macroeconomic indicators of the Island that explain “the cost of doing nothing,” as the document is titled.

The six indicators, all with data ONEI and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), collect figures from 1990 to 2022 and address the fiscal deficit, money supply, gross domestic product (GDP), the exchange rate in the informal market, the average exchange rate, and the wage-productivity ratio. The result is clear: all indicators grew exponentially, with the exception of GDP, which is collapsing.

“The contraction of GDP not only aggravates the imbalance between supply and demand for products, but also increases dependence on imports, thus generating a permanent and structural demand for foreign currency,” explains the report, which arrives a few days after another publication was made public, under the title of International Trade Prospects 2024, in which ECLAC states that imports will contract by 5% this year. continue reading

“The contraction of GDP not only aggravates the imbalance between supply and demand for products, but also increases dependence on imports”

Exports will suffer even more, with a contraction of 15% as a result of the productivity crisis that Vidal also mentions. “The low figures in exports, agriculture and manufacturing production are scary. The crisis has affected the potential production capacity; it is not just a short-term issue,” he adds. The outlook is discouraging, as the energy crisis, mass migration and the rampant deterioration of infrastructure do not allow an improvement to be seen either in the short or medium term

The report reviews well-known data: there is no hard currency; the deficit is compensated with an uncontrolled issuance of unsupported currency; inflation is officially above 30% and reaches three digits if the data of the informal market are included; the depreciation of the peso is constant and, although wages increased in 2021, they have not done so significantly again. This, although it causes suffering in the population, is paradoxically one of the few good decisions of the Cuban government, says the economist.

The measure “avoids the generation of repetitive and superfluous cycles of wage increases, price increases, new wage adjustments, and so on, as has happened in economies that end up in hyperinflation scenarios, as has happened in Venezuela.” In this way, Cuba has avoided placing itself in a hyperinflation scenario, formally corresponding to those who exceed the limit of more than 50% in a single month.

However, the social cost is “extremely high.” The purchasing power of fixed income in Cuban pesos, he continues, “has been pulverized and has led to poverty for families who do not have other alternative sources of resources,” Vidal reflects.

The economist calls “inflationary tax” the overcost reached by goods and services on the Island because of the unstoppable rise in prices, which falls on the entire population regardless of their salary or sources of income, generating greater vulnerability in those who have the least. “By not doing anything substantial to stop the fall in national production and exports, and to reduce the imbalance of the budget, the Government has allowed an asymmetric adjustment of the crisis that falls on families that depend on fixed income in pesos,” he insists.

Cuba cannot continue to wait for “an international ally that does not exist and miracles of an economic model that does not give more”

Thus, Vidal considers that the model preserves little more than the name and the “discourses” but does not give in practice. “The social benefit of subsidies, programs and budgeted transfers, and free education and health, is not real when it must be paid by the poorest families through an onerous inflationary tax.”

The report also recalls that Cuba cannot continue to expect “an international ally that does not exist and miracles of an economic model that does not give more,” nor inflating a state business system that only “drains human, financial and budgetary resources.”

The document was made public this Monday, just a few days after the bad news of the ECLAC report, otherwise expected. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, which depends on the UN, underlines that the fall in the price of nickel and the collapse of sugar production make Cuba one of the five nations on the continent with the greatest contraction in exports.

The report does not include the resources that the Island will obtain from the export of services, since Havana has not provided them, “something that draws attention due to the high weight they have,” recalls economist Pedro Monreal, without expressly mentioning doctors, who represent billions a year for the State, even despite the decline in recent years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Suffers a New Defeat in Baseball Against Curaçao

The team, led by Alexander Urquiola, failed against Curaçao, in the Bahamas / Jit / Giovanni Martínez

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 28 October 2024 — Island baseball continues to add disappointments. Curaçao beat Cuba 2-1 this Sunday at the Andre Rogers stadium, in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, and thus took away the possibility of competing for the gold medal in the Caribbean Cup. “Without a doubt, it is another major failure in the international arena,” published the specialized media Pelota Cubana USA.
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The same publication detailed that despite the fact that the selection, led by Alexander Urquiola, was made up of several young figures, “many with inexperience in Cuban teams, it was not a tournament to be left out of the title discussion.”

The defeat against Curaçao shows that the sport, once king on the Island, “requires work, resources and above all respect,” warns Por la Goma in its Facebook post. “We should have removed the blindfold a long time ago,” emphasizes journalist JuanK. continue reading

The same publication specified that while the Provincial Series are suspended in Cuba, there is a lack of balls for practice from the lower levels, and they stopped “two months ago paying the players their salary of 3,500 pesos.” In Curaçao “they play baseball all year round,” and they have a professional league and lower categories.

In addition, the author urges, we must stop thinking that the rival teams “do not have the same history” as the Island: “We must understand that history is not lived, and that while we are analyzing how to create a National Series, all the other countries are preparing and inserting themselves more every day into the world elite.”

The Cuban baseball team during their performance against Curaçao at the Andre Rogers stadium / Jit / Giovanni Martínez

The official media Jit pointed out that two “failures” – the games lost against the Virgin Islands and Curaçao – led the national team to the match against the Dominican Republic for the bronze medal.

The defeat against Curaçao was taken by José Ignacio Bermúdez after allowing two runs and scoring four opponents. For his part, Randy Martínez, from Pinar del Río, got outs without allowing hits, one of them thanks to a strikeout. The hope for Cuba in the Bahamas is the bronze medal.

As for the U-12 team, this Sunday they defeated Panama 5-1 in a match played at the Rod Carew stadium and got a third place in the Pan American Championship.

Prensa Latina highlighted the offensive actions of Humberto Alfonso and Alan López, both with a couple of trailers, and Alex Batista. Also, Barrero hit a single and double, and victory was credited from the mound.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Hotel Employee in Colombia Is Accused of Trafficking and Hosting Migrants, Including Cubans

The coyotes transport migrants in boats / EFE]

14ymedio, Havana, 28 October 2024 — A Colombian woman linked to a Cuban migrant trafficking network was sentenced this Sunday to four years and two months in prison. Gloria Milena Álvarez Quinchía will also have to pay a fine equivalent to 1,383 dollars.

According to the evidence provided by the Attorney General’s Office, Álvarez Quinchía took advantage of her work in a hotel in Medellín, Antioquia, to facilitate the lodging of irregular migrants, mainly Cubans, on their route to the Gulf of Urabá, from where they continued to Panama and then to the United States.

The Specialized Directorate against Human Rights Violations, which led the investigation, pointed out Álvarez Quinchía as the one in charge of operating the logistics to host and facilitate the land transport of irregular migrants to Capurganá, in the department of Chocó.

Coyotes charge between 150 and 350 dollars for each migrant for taking them in speedboats from Capurganá to Panama, through the Darién jungle, in search of the American dream.

Álvarez Quinchía was arrested in May 2022 along with 10 other people allegedly involved with a network of coyotes. According to official data, up to August of this year the illegal entry of 273,142 people into Colombia was recorded. continue reading

Some migrants sleep on mattresses on a street in Turbo; the photo is from June of this year / EFE

Coyotes exploit several routes for migrant trafficking. Among them is the Darién jungle, through which as of May more than 70,000 migrants had crossed on their journey to the United States.

More than 520,000 migrants crossed the Darién in 2023. Venezuelans (328,667), Ecuadorians (57,222), Haitians (46,558) and Chinese (25,344) “were the most recurrent nationalities to cross,” according to data from the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security.

Illegal trafficking is quite profitable, and in Colombian regions such as Necoclí, Turbo and Acandí, the coyotes use boats for transport. The New York Times reported that migrants pay $40 for a boat ride from Colombia to get to the rainforest.

“A guide that takes you along the dangerous route when you start walking: 170 dollars. Someone who carries your backpack in the muddy hills: 100 dollars. A plate of chicken with rice after a day of laborious climbing: 10 dollars. Special packages with everything included to make the risky effort faster and bearable (with stores, boots and other basics): 500 dollars, or more,” published The New York Times in 2023.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The House Where Evo Morales Abused Minors in La Paz Was Guarded by Cubans

A report by the Spanish newspaper ’El Debate’ points out several findings by the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office

Morales is being charged with the crimes of statutory rape and human trafficking / EFE

14ymedio, Mexico City, 28 October 2024 — A group of Cubans with diplomatic passports guarded a house in La Paz where former Bolivian President Evo Morales allegedly sexually abused underage girls. This was revealed by El Debate on Monday, in a report presenting several pieces of evidence of the investigation that judicially corners the former president.

According to the Spanish online newspaper, it is a residence where Morales supposedly claimed to have undergone some unspecified medical treatment and that in reality, it was a cover. “The house was guarded by people who claimed to be Cuban doctors”, says El Debate, but, according to the investigation by the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office, ‘they were Cubans with diplomatic passports who were discharged from the Embassy’ of the island.

Another exclusive of the report is a series of photographs showing Noemí Meneses Chávez, one of the teenagers with whom the former president had relations, crying and with bruises on her body. This would prove, according to the newspaper, that high-ranking police officers stopped an investigation against Morales for physical violence. continue reading

According to the Spanish digital newspaper, it is a residence where Morales allegedly claimed to have undergone some medical treatment

The case of Meneses Chávez, now 23 years old, was discovered by chance in July 2020, during a routine control. The young woman was, together with her sister and a driver, on board an official vehicle of the Government of Cochabamba that had been stolen several years earlier.

They discovered in her phone, seized by the police, messages exchanged with Morales that showed that the two had been in a relationship since she was a minor. In addition to the written material, they also found dozens of photographs where Evo and “La Noe,” as he referred to her in private, pose together in a multitude of everyday situations typical of a couple.

Another case involving Morales being investigated for human trafficking and rape is that of Cindy Sarai Vargas Pozo, who was declared missing last week along with her daughter – allegedly fathered by Evo Morales and now eight years old.

The main evidence in this investigation is the baby’s birth certificate, dated February 8, 2016, at 11:12 a.m. in Yacuiba, southern Bolivia. The document reflects that Juan Evo Morales Ayma, the former president’s full name, acknowledged being the girl’s father.

Vargas Pozo met Morales when she was only 14 years old when she was part of the controversial “youth guard” of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), the former president’s party, consisting only of minors.

In addition to the residence guarded by the Cubans and the presidential plane itself, on occasions the minors were taken to the Mamá Diablo bar

In addition to the residence guarded by the Cubans and the presidential plane itself, the minors were sometimes taken to the Mamá Diablo bar, also in the Bolivian capital, where they were forced to consume alcohol, according to the testimony of a former bodyguard of Morales, reported by El Debate.

This source stated that Morales ordered the bar closed to ensure his privacy and that of his companions, about whom he did not provide their identities or further details. The person in charge of making these arrangements was Patricia Hermoso, who served as Morales’ chief of staff during his last term in office, according to the testimony of the former collaborator of his security team.

Other Bolivian politicians authorities have stated participated in the abuse network led by Morales include former vice-president Álvaro García Linera, former ministers Carlos Romero, and Sacha Llorenti, as well as Andrónico Rodríguez, president of the Senate, and Senator Leonardo Loza.

Since early October, when the Attorney General’s Office announced that it would resume investigations against Evo Morales, his supporters have led more than 20 consecutive days of protests and blockades throughout the country.

The former president was shot at on Sunday, in an incident in which his driver was injured. On Monday, Morales blamed the incident on President Luis Arce and accused him of trying to “eliminate” him to wipe out the MAS.

Meanwhile, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, expressed her solidarity on Monday with the former Bolivian president. Morales was welcomed as an asylum seeker in 2019 by the government of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after Morales’s forced resignation due to his involvement in electoral fraud.

“We condemn it, our solidarity with Evo Morales and always a call to avoid violence. Let it be peace and political definition. Our condemnation, our solidarity and always the pursuit of peace and non-violence,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference.

Translated by LAR

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“Lives Would Have Been Saved”: The Residents of Guantánamo Denounce the Cuban Government’s Negligence

A resident of San Antonio del Sur confronts Díaz-Canel: “They left us alone”

From the afternoon to the night, between Sunday and Monday, the dams in Guantánamo overflowed / Facebook/Daniel Ross Diéguez

14ymedio, Havana, 24 October 2024 — Four days after the passage of Hurricane Oscar through northeastern Cuba, there are communities that are still isolated, and it has not been possible to determine a total account of the number of victims. Everything points to the Government’s negligence as one of the causes of the tragedy. “The Defense Council of San Antonio del Sur was not activated in time, and they did not know what they were facing. They were surprised by the overflow of the dam in the middle of the night. The current number of missing people could have been avoided,” says filmmaker Daniel Ross Diéguez, from the city of Guantánamo, in a Facebook post.

At the local government headquarters of the Popular Power, he sent an audio to his friends to which 14ymedio has had access. There is a list of the inhabitants of the municipality of Imías, which remains isolated this Thursday. “The only communication comes from those who went on foot to see what happened,” explains the visual artist, who is also trying to locate several relatives.

“They took notes and put down the names of those who are alive and sent them with someone,” he says. “And so they censor the map of the disappeared.” According to the artist in the same audio, there are 76 missing but there could be more. “The figure is large,” because the coastal municipalities of San Antonio and Imías have a large population. “Many who were able to return say that they saw people climbing the mountains, and we have to start looking for them.” continue reading

According to the artist in the same audio, there are 76 missing but there could be more

In the same message, Ross Diéguez criticizes: “There are immediate things that could have been done and were not done, and others that were done too late.” According to his story, days before Oscar’s passage it was reported that its intensity was decreasing, and after the collapse of the electro-energy system on Friday, since there was no connection or news, the inhabitants of those communities were left with the idea that it would not be serious.

“Those people unfortunately didn’t know anything for three days and suddenly began to see a wall of rain.” They realized, at dawn, that water was flooding the houses. Those who could took refuge on the upper floors.

Ross Diéguez explains that the geography of Guantánamo, with thousand-meter high mountains that act as “cloud harvesters,” had a lot to do with the catastrophe. “When a hurricane passes, it retains water and weakens very slowly because it’s hot, and this generates three times the rain that it already brings,” he explains. And so it happened: from the afternoon to the night, between Sunday and Monday, the dams overflowed.

According to the official press itself, the Los Asientos reservoir, in San Antonio del Sur, “overflowed with 17.5 million cubic meters of water.”

“Uunfortunately, the Defense Council could not be activated because there was no electricity,” Ross Diéguez continues, and the Armed Forces (FAR) “were not intelligent.” They could have used a radio that “does not need internet or a connection,” to warn of the dam’s overflow, but they didn’t have one. Nor did they think of reserving fuel to send a vehicle and warn these towns. “People didn’t know what it was; they didn’t understand what was happening to them. Lives could have been saved.”

So far, the official calculation is seven fatalities, six in San Antonio del Sur – including a five-year-old child – and one in Imías.

“We used to complain before, but we had no idea how lost this Government is”

This Thursday, the FAR claims to be chartering helicopters to bring food to areas without access. The shortage of food and the poor organization are also denounced by Ross Diéguez. “There was rice and other food in warehouses that they did not distribute at the time, and it spoiled. “One wonders why they didn’t give that in advance also, if we were starving. Here they still owe* September’s rice,” he claimed.

“We used to complain before, but we had no idea how lost this Government is,” concluded the filmmaker, who recalled the number of crops lost in the Caujerí Valley, “where more fruit is grown in Cuba, where more food is contributed,” he noted, “and not just for export.”

This Thursday, the newspaper Venceremos gave a devastating account of the losses. About 75,000 cans of coffee were lost in Maisí. “All coffee plantations suffered the hurricane’s impact, with damage of different magnitudes,” says the official newspaper, which documents “significant damage” to yams, malanga, cassava, beans and, above all, bananas.

More than 70% of the banana plantations and 3,502 hectares of cocoa in Baracoa “suffered damage, from mild to strong,” as did the 481 hectares of coffee. Another crop that suffered great damage was coconut, in the Güirito-Mata-Guandao basin, “with the collapse of a considerable number of plantations and the loss of production.”

The situation is such that the Central Bank of Cuba has made public several account numbers – in the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec), in the Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA) and in the Banco Metropolitano – to receive donations, in pesos, for the victims. “Transfers can be made through electronic payment channels: ATMs, Transfermóvil or by depositing cash at any bank branch,” it says in a statement.

For his part, Miguel Díaz-Canel could clearly hear the summary of what happened in these territories from the mouth of one of its inhabitants, during his official visit to San Antonio del Sur. “They didn’t take all the measures to evacuate us; they left us alone there,” a man reproached him, kind but desperate.

“Who left them alone?” the president asked with a frown, stuttering before the citizen who dared to confront him. “The Government,” replied the good neighbor. “There was no one to rescue us.” The man had to help remove, he said, up to 29 children who were refugees in a school, along with the rest of the population. Díaz-Canel tried to explain: “They took all of you to the school precisely because of the evacuation; what happened is that the phenomenon was worse than expected.” The man insisted that they were left without any equipment to evacuate people “in case the river got in.” The president settled the brief dialogue by promising, “We’ll investigate that.”

*Translator’s note: “Owe” refers to not having distributed the rice sold through the State rationing system, almost certainly because the bodegas (ration stores) had not received the rice.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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