Venue: Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus, Building 8, fifth floor, room 8503. 300 NE Second Avenue, Miami, Florida 33132, United States.Start date: November 22, 2026, 4:30 pm. End date: November 22, 2026, 5:30 pm.
Antonio José Ponte y Néstor Díaz de Villegas presentan dos libros que exploran diferentes momentos de la historia política cubana.
14ymedio, Miami, October 26, 2026 / Cuban writers Antonio José Ponte and Néstor Díaz de Villegas are taking part in the event Cuba: territorios del poder [Cuba: Territories of Power], a conversation about history, literary creation and the mechanisms of political repression on the island, as part of the Miami Book Fair program.
Ponte presents Desfila La Habana [Havana on Parade], a novel that combines fiction and reality to reconstruct the political and social atmosphere of Cuba between 1958 and 1959, in the months that preceded and accompanied the triumph of the Revolution. The work delves into a period of profound transformation, marked by the fall of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship and Fidel Castro’s rise to power.
A poet, fiction writer and essayist, Antonio José Ponte is one of the most recognized voices in contemporary Cuban literature. His books include La fiesta vigilada, Un seguidor de Montaigne mira La Habana and Contrabando de sombras. His writing has repeatedly explored the relationship between history and memory, as well as the material and symbolic ruins of Cuban society. continue reading
For his part, Néstor Díaz de Villegas presents Cómo entrar a una cárcel [How to Enter a Prison], a testimony that addresses the relationship between artistic creation, dissent and repression in revolutionary Cuba. The work draws on the experience of a writer who learned from a very young age the consequences of standing up to political power.
Díaz de Villegas was imprisoned in Cuba in the 1970s for political reasons and later settled in the United States, where he has built an extensive career as a poet, essayist and fiction writer. His work is characterized by a critical, often irreverent, view of Cuban history and culture.
Although they belong to different generations and use different narrative techniques, both authors share a concern with examining the weight of political power on individual and collective life. Their books offer two approaches to Cuba’s recent history: one through the literary reconstruction of the founding moment of the revolutionary regime, the other through the personal experience of repression.
The conversation will be led by Alejandro Ríos, a journalist and film and art critic, who will discuss with the writers their works and the potential of literature to revisit the past and question official narratives.
The event will be held in Spanish and is part of the Ibero-American program of the Miami Book Fair.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
On Nicaragua, the organization denounces that there continues to be “structural censorship and systematic persecution of independent journalism”
La SIP pide “el pleno respeto” de las garantías judiciales de Henry Constantín. / Facebook/Henry Constantín Ferreiro
14ymedio, Havana, October 26, 2026 / The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has once again included Cuba in the alerts it issued following its annual assembly, held this time in Bogotá (Colombia) this Sunday. In its report, the organization refers expressly to the case of Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president for the island of the IAPA’s own Commission on Freedom of the Press and Information, whose pretrial detention it considers to be “especially serious.”
As the organization recalls, Constantín “remains held in the Kilo 7 prison, accused of disobedience, after a court rejected a habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf.” It therefore demands his release “and full respect for his judicial guarantees and his right to a defense.”
In its recitals, the IAPA states that in Cuba “the use of police and judicial mechanisms against independent journalists, content creators and activists who report on matters of public interest has intensified, through arrests, summonses, surveillance, restrictions on movement and criminal proceedings,” and that “independent journalists continue to face restrictions on leaving the country, while the independent press lacks legal recognition and the State maintains control over the main media outlets, telecommunications and other activities essential to the production and dissemination of information.” continue reading
“The application of broad-reaching criminal offenses persists in cases linked to freedom of expression, as well as the lack of information on investigations”
According to the organization, Decree 160/2026 – which since last July has opened several activities to the private sector – actually reinforces control, “by limiting the possibility of formalizing independent media and keeping activities related to journalism, media publishing, news agencies and broadcasting under state control, in a context aggravated by blackouts and connectivity deficiencies.”
It also states that “the application of broad-reaching criminal offenses persists in cases linked to freedom of expression, as well as the lack of information on investigations or sanctions against those responsible for acts of harassment and repression.” In its statement, the IAPA cites the Declaration of Chapultepec, which establishes that “there are no free people or societies without freedom of expression and of the press” and that its exercise “is not a concession by the authorities; it is an inalienable right of the people.”
Thus, in addition to Constantín’s release, the organization urges the regime “to guarantee the recognition and functioning of independent media and to eliminate the rules and practices that restrict the exercise of press freedom.”
Likewise, it resolved “to condemn the harassment, surveillance, arrests and criminal proceedings against journalists, content creators and citizens for exercising their right to inform and to express themselves,” as well as “to demand an end to the arbitrary restrictions on movement and the bans on leaving the country imposed on journalists.”
“The decrease in physical attacks on the street does not reflect an improvement in guarantees, but rather the virtual disappearance of field journalism within the country”
At its 82nd General Assembly, the IAPA also referred to Nicaragua, attesting that the Government of spouses and co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo maintains “structural censorship and systematic persecution of independent journalism” in that country.
“The decrease in physical attacks on the street does not reflect an improvement in guarantees, but rather the virtual disappearance of field journalism within the country, where those who continue to report must do so clandestinely or under constant surveillance,” the IAPA warned in the report approved after the meeting in Bogotá.
The organization cites a study by the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy (Fled), which has documented that since 2018 more than 300 journalists and media workers have gone into exile, while in 2025 at least 58 communicators left the profession due to economic precariousness, unemployment, the closure of news outlets and the risk of repression.
As a consequence, Fled identifies 11 departments (provinces) – 65% of the national territory – as “zones of informational silence,” although the efforts of media outlets and journalists in exile continue to keep the population informed.
In Nicaragua, moreover, there are currently no printed newspapers in circulation, it warned.
The IAPA indicated that, with street journalism having all but disappeared, state pressure has shifted to the digital sphere and to administrative and legal mechanisms
The IAPA indicated that, with street journalism having all but disappeared, state pressure has shifted to the digital sphere and to administrative and legal mechanisms.
In this regard, it said that in April 2025 the Government, through the state-run National University of Engineering (UNI), eliminated the .com.ni domains of outlets such as La Prensa, Onda Local and 100% Noticias.
A month later, the state-run Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Postal Services (Telcor) ordered the closure of Radio Stereo Romance and confiscated its equipment, alleging technical non-compliance.
Between April and June of last year, Fled recorded 28 digital attacks, including smear campaigns, the disclosure of personal data and threats against journalists and their families, driven by networks of trolls and profiles sympathetic to the ruling party.
The IAPA also warned that the legal framework continues to be used as an instrument of intimidation and mentioned the reforms to the Special Law on Cybercrimes and to the Penal Code, which incorporated ambiguous concepts linked to “national security,” “sovereignty” and “stability of the State” that allow the dissemination of information deemed unauthorized to be restricted.
In addition, it noted that in 2026 a constitutional reform was also pushed through to raise to constitutional rank restrictions applicable to persons officially labeled as “coup plotters” or “traitors to the homeland,” labels that have been used against journalists.
Similarly, the inter-American organization stated that the right of access to public information remains practically inoperative for independent journalists.
Furthermore, Fled also documented attempts to recruit journalists as state informants. The National Police and other state agents are identified as those chiefly responsible for these practices, which include being followed, restrictions on mobility, confiscation of devices and interrogations, according to the report.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
After persecuting believers for decades, the Cuban Government turns to the Vatican in search of a political miracle
Miguel Díaz-Canel and other leaders of the Communist Party during a mass in memory of Pope Francis, in Havana. / Facebook/Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba / Facebook/Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Cuba
14ymedio, Madrid, Yunior García Aguilera, October 25, 2026 / After 67 years of die-hard Marxism, the Cuban Revolution seems determined to ask the Pope for a miracle. It is not about turning water into wine, although getting running water in Havana would already be a marvel. Nor about multiplying the loaves, which would come in quite handy. The miracle Cuba’s leaders need is far more complicated: getting their political system to survive. And since Marx isn’t answering, Lenin has been embalmed for too long and Che was never a specialist in resurrections, they have decided to try their luck with the Vatican.
The Cuban ambassador to the Holy See, Leyde Rodríguez Hernández, has just repeated the official invitation to Leo XIV to visit the island. They have been inviting him, without much luck, ever since the white smoke rose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. But, for now, the Pope does not seem in any hurry to pack his bags for Havana.
The insistence comes in the midst of the worst economic crisis and growing tensions with Washington. The Communist Party, which for decades preached dialectical and historical materialism, seems to have discovered the practical advantages of divine intercession. Of course, it is not asking forgiveness for its sins. It is desperately asking for a favor. continue reading
In 1992 the State stopped declaring itself atheist. The move coincided, not at all by chance, with the collapse of the communist altars in Europe
It is worth recalling a few details of this sudden religious vocation. In the early years of the Revolution, the Government confiscated Catholic schools, expelled priests and turned faith into an obstacle to getting ahead professionally. Believers were discriminated against in universities, workplaces and political organizations. Some even ended up in the sadly notorious Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), those forced labor camps where the aim was to correct, by dint of the machete, the ideological, sexual and spiritual deviations of Cubans.
Over time, official atheism softened. In 1991, the Party finally admitted believers, and in 1992 the State stopped declaring itself atheist. The move coincided, not at all by chance, with the collapse of the communist altars in Europe. There was no need to prove the existence of God by means of a scientific treatise. It was enough to realize that religion could be very useful in international relations.
In 1998 John Paul II arrived; then came Benedict XVI and Francis. Cuba’s leaders learned to take off their combat fatigues and receive pontiffs with smiles, ties, ceremonies and speeches about peace. They suddenly discovered the diplomatic advantages of appearing alongside the successor of Saint Peter.
The Government wants the Pope to talk about the embargo, but does not seem to show the same devotion when the bishops mention pluralism and freedoms
Vatican diplomacy has already intervened in prisoner releases and in negotiations with the United States. But the most recent episode deserves special attention. In March, Havana announced the release of 51 prisoners as a goodwill gesture toward the Holy See. According to later investigations by Prisoners Defenders, the beneficiaries included common criminals and only a tiny fraction were political prisoners. It was a veritable “Operation Barabbas.” Moreover, several of those released kept their sentences and restrictions.
It would be unfair, however, to confuse the intentions of the Vatican with those of the Palace of the Revolution. The Church has legitimate reasons to be concerned about the suffering of Cubans, to call for an end to the measures that worsen their hardships and to promote peaceful solutions. Leo XIV himself joined, in February, the appeal of the island’s bishops, who warned of the urgent need for profound changes. Curiously, that last part of the message tends to arouse considerably less enthusiasm in official offices. The Government wants the Pope to talk about the embargo, but does not seem to show the same devotion when the bishops mention pluralism and freedoms.
The Hermanos Saíz Association awards its Master of Youth prize to Frei Betto, a Brazilian friar whose loyalty to the Revolution has survived even its economic failures and its orders of combat
The question is what exactly Havana expects from a new papal visit. Mediation with Trump or with Marco Rubio, as Catholic as he is anti-Castro? An easing of sanctions? A photograph that would let the Government present itself to the world as a respectable interlocutor? Any of those possibilities is understandable in terms of political calculation. The trouble with inviting the Pope is that he might come with the inconvenient habit of also listening to his bishops.
And while the Foreign Ministry invites Leo XIV, the Hermanos Saíz Association awards its Master of Youth prize to Frei Betto, a Brazilian friar whose loyalty to the Revolution has survived even its economic failures and its orders of combat. We don’t know whether Cuban communism has finally found God, but it seems to have discovered that some foreign clerics turn out to be more deserving of tributes than troublesome local artists. For purely utilitarian reasons, mind you.
In the Catholic tradition, absolution requires repentance and a firm purpose of amendment. The Revolution seems very interested in absolution (and not only the historical kind, as the bearded one dreamed [a reference to Fidel Castro’s “History will absolve me”], but also the divine kind). It wants its debts forgiven, its sanctions lifted and another chance granted, but without renouncing any of the commandments of its own peculiar political catechism: a single party, blind obedience and prison for heretics.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
Authorities will push back the start of school and work by 30 minutes between November 1, 2026 and March 14, 2027
Imagen de archivo de los trabajos de mantenimiento del reloj de Quinta Avenida, en Miramar, La Habana. / Cubadebate
14ymedio, Havana, October 25, 2026 / Cubans will not have to set their clocks back an hour on November 1. The Government announced this Saturday that it will keep daylight saving time until November 7, 2027, with the aim of reducing electricity consumption during peak demand hours and easing the prolonged blackouts the country is suffering. The decision will also mean pushing back the start of school and work by half an hour over the coming months.
The measure was announced jointly by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which estimate that keeping clocks forward will avoid a 126-megawatt (MW) increase in power outages during the evening hours, when one of the consumption peaks occurs.
According to the authorities, 76 MW correspond to the savings from making longer use of natural light, without the need to resort to artificial lighting, while the other 50 MW are attributed to the solar photovoltaic generation available at that time of day.
The statement, however, does not explain how those calculations were made or how much electricity consumption could rise during the early morning hours, when artificial lighting will have to be used for longer. continue reading
To offset the difficulties this change will cause at the start of the day, the authorities have ordered the start of school and work to be pushed back by 30 minutes
With the decision, Cuba will remain on UTC−4 throughout the winter, instead of returning to UTC−5, as usually happens when daylight saving time ends. This means that sunrise and sunset will occur an hour later by the clock, although the actual length of the day will remain exactly the same.
To offset the difficulties this change will cause at the start of the day, the authorities have ordered the start of school and work to be pushed back by 30 minutes between November 1, 2026 and March 14, 2027, the period during which standard winter time would normally have been in effect.
The adjustment will not, however, prevent many students and workers from having to set out before sunrise. In Havana, for example, during the weeks around the December solstice, sunrise will come shortly after eight in the morning under the current time, which will force many families to carry out much of their morning routine still in the dark.
The ministries specified that the heads of workplaces must agree on the new schedules with the trade union organizations, in accordance with article 223.2 of Law 189, the Labor Code, of July 30, 2026. The change, they stated, may not result in any reduction in employees’ wages.
To justify the decision, the Government once again blamed Washington for the energy crisis. According to the official note, the tightening of the US embargo and what it calls an “energy siege” have caused a shortage of the fuel needed for electricity generation.
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country’s largest generating unit, dropped off the SEN again this Saturday at 8:11 p.m., due to vibrations in the turbine
The fuel shortage, however, comes on top of the deterioration of the thermoelectric plants, the frequent breakdowns and the insufficient generating capacity that have plagued the national electricity system (SEN) for years. The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country’s largest generating unit, dropped off the SEN again this Saturday at 8:11 p.m., due to vibrations in the turbine. The Matanzas plant had been running for barely three days, having come back online on Wednesday after several breakdowns and failed synchronization attempts.
Nor has the addition of solar photovoltaic parks managed to eliminate the large deficits recorded every day, especially when solar radiation drops.
Keeping daylight saving time is intended to make better use of the overlap between natural light, photovoltaic output and peak consumption hours. However, moving the clocks forward does not in itself increase the amount of electricity generated by solar panels, whose output depends on the radiation they receive.
Nor have the authorities specified what proportion of the electricity deficit projected for the coming months the announced 126 MW represents, or whether they have calculated the effect of shifting part of the consumption to the mornings.
The decision comes in the midst of an electricity crisis that keeps numerous towns on the island subjected to daily blackouts of more than 20 hours, while the Government looks for ways to reduce demand without having sufficient generating capacity.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
The signatories of the document call, as a priority, for the “total release of all political prisoners and the decriminalization of dissent”
El documento fue presentado este jueves en el Museo de la Brigada 2506, en Miami. / Captura/ Telemundo
14ymedio, Madrid, October 23, 2026 / Former political prisoner Ángel de Fana, leader of the group Plantados hasta la Libertad y la Democracia en Cuba [Holdouts until Freedom and Democracy in Cuba], presented in Miami this Thursday a letter sent to the State Department and backed by more than 140 former Cuban prisoners of conscience, in which he asks the US Government to make dialogue conditional on the release of all those who remain in the island’s prisons for ideological reasons.
“We don’t want there to be negotiations with those who are to blame for the dramatic situation of the Cuban people, with the murderers of our people; with them there is no trust, nor is it honorable to negotiate,” De Fana told CubaNet after the press conference at which the document was presented. The event took place this Thursday at the Brigade 2506 Museum in Miami and was attended by several of the signatories.
“There are other Cubans, including military officers and officials, who don’t have blood on their hands, with whom we are willing to negotiate the democratic future of our country,” he added. continue reading
“There are other Cubans, including military officers and officials, who don’t have blood on their hands, with whom we are willing to negotiate the democratic future of our country”
It is a statement in line with what was expressed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the end of September, when he told the media at UN headquarters in New York: “there are some individuals in that regime with whom we can never work because they have blood on their hands. But there are people there with whom I believe we could work if they are willing to steer the country toward political and economic freedom and toward the process that will lead us to that final goal.”
De Fana confirmed this Thursday that the letter, dated October 10, had been sent to the State Department, but they have not received a response. The former political prisoner stated that in order to talk with anyone linked to the regime, “the first condition is the total release of all Cuban political prisoners and the decriminalization of dissent.”
“The situation in Cuba and the uncertainty about possible negotiations with the United States made it urgent to publish the document,” said De Fana, who defended as the declaration’s objective reflecting the stance of those who have paid with prison for their fight against the regime, as well as giving a voice to those who lost their lives “in combat for freedom.”
The signatories argue that they are not seeking “revenge, but justice for the demands of the people,” and that the release of prisoners and the decriminalization of dissent are “non-negotiable” conditions prior to dialogue. Without them, no rapprochement can take place, they believe. “During our ordeal in prison we refused to be used as bargaining chips so that the regime could obtain international concessions,” they contend. Therefore, they stress, “any negotiation can only take place after the political prisoners are released. It is not permissible to monetize their ordeal.” Only after this “could progress be made toward a transition leading to the establishment of a new Republic.”
“It is one thing to provisionally welcome a technocratic and mixed transitional government, made up of military officers and officials of the previous regime with an acceptable track record together with other Cubans from the island and the diaspora. It is quite another to agree to the continuity of the current political system under the hegemony of the power elite,” it adds.
Another of the document’s key points is the identification of two distinct kinds of problem: the one that exists between the governments of the US and Cuba, and the one between the regime and the population.
Washington should “directly” support the Cubans’ struggle against the current political system if the population’s safety were put at risk through repression. This backing should include “all the means at its disposal” and, eventually, the support of any other nation so that the citizenry may recover national sovereignty.
On the other hand, the declaration adds that if the Cuban leadership agreed to leave power in order to avoid personal risks, there should be channels allowing the participation of Cubans in the negotiations.
On the other hand, the declaration adds that if the Cuban leadership agreed to leave power in order to avoid personal risks, there should be channels allowing the participation of Cubans in the negotiations.
Some of those attending made statements to the media present at the gathering. Among them was former political prisoner José Rolando Cáceres Soto, imprisoned on several occasions until his last release, in 2021, who praised the historic exile community. “For us they represent experience; they are the ones who have shown us the steps to follow, necessary steps that we young people have to take. We see how the youth inside Cuba are already taking part in the future of our country. We are fighting against a dictatorship that (…) has mutated. But that mutation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t draw on the experience and the lived experience of these people,” he told Cubanet.
For his part, academic Eduardo Zayas-Bazán noted that “to forge a new Cuba we need honest people who want a future for Cuba, a democratic Cuba, and who have no blood on their hands.”
The document has been signed by 146 people to date, among them Yamilka Abascal, Sissi Abascal, Eduardo Cardet, Pedro Corzo, Guillermo Fariñas, Angélica Garrido and Luis Zúñiga.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
Those responsible for protecting the 46 installations of 21.8 MW and other smaller ones receive monthly salaries of about six dollars
the theft of a solar panel affects the complete circuit. / X @MMarreroCruz
14ymedio, Madrid, October 23, 2026 / The guards, called upon to protect solar energy, are, precisely, among the main collaborators enabling thefts that often render the entire infrastructure of a solar park useless. That was the main conclusion drawn this Thursday on the television program Hacemos Cuba, which airs on Canal Caribe and which addressed the prevention of and fight against crimes targeting renewable sources.
At present, at least 24 guards are under arrest for acts such as these, which are tried as crimes of sabotage and carry potential sentences of four to ten years in prison in their mildest form, but can reach 30 – or life imprisonment or death – if the consequences are serious or affect anyone’s personal safety.
Among those currently being prosecuted, “23 of them have already been permanently dismissed from the organization. We have one left who is under a precautionary measure because he is in the process of being investigated,” said Argelis Lescay Martínez, head of the renewable energy investment group of the Unión Eléctrica [Electric Union]. Throughout the program, the official emphasized the importance of careful personnel selection in order to have committed guards. continue reading
“I believe the best people have to be guarding the park. The most responsible, most serious people, the people with the most appropriate civic conduct”
“I believe the best people have to be guarding the park. The most responsible, most serious people, the people with the most appropriate civic conduct. But also, it’s not just the salary, you have to show those people some affection; they need to feel that they are in the most important place, that it is providing energy for the people. It’s not just the salary,” he insisted.
The figures, of course, leave no room for doubt. These workers, he specified, are on support staff scale six, which according to official regulations means a base salary of 4,065 CUP, to which would be added a supplement that, according to Lescay Martínez’s estimates, would be around 877 pesos. In total, with the data provided, the employee earns about 5,000 pesos a month, which at the informal exchange rate amounts to around six dollars.
Although Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Ábalo Mendoza, deputy department head in the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Ministry of the Interior, agreed – “selective personnel with conviction must be sought to protect these installations” – there was a dissenting opinion in the room.
“We have… let’s say, a high level of salary demotivation. Ours are among the lowest salaries in the country’s business systems today. The salary of one of our guards doesn’t exceed 4,000 pesos, or 3,700-something,” stated Junior González Núñez, first vice president of the Water and Sanitation Business Group of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources.
Humberto López, the program’s host, interrupted the executive: “This is a matter that has to improve immediately because we are talking about the place on which a community’s water depends,” he rebuked.
“We have… let’s say, a high level of salary demotivation. Ours are among the lowest salaries in the country’s business systems today. The salary of one of our guards doesn’t exceed 4,000 pesos, or 3,700-something”
González Núñez elaborated that the water situation is substantially different from that of the large electric parks and even the installations on community buildings, because, since the panels are installed in small communities to which water is to be brought, the crime remains within a small circle where the neighbors themselves help resolve the situation and even point out the culprit.
According to his explanation, there are some 856 communities with these resources, out of the more than 1,300 that are intended to be covered, but any one of these thefts can leave more than 20 families without running water. In the case of the hydraulic companies, it is not specifically guards – except at night – who are in charge of watching over the panels, but specialized operators.
In the case of the solar parks, said Lescay Martínez – where there are the most cases of vandalism, because they are isolated out in the fields – the installation is carried out first, along with training in operational and security matters. “Many of these institutions have their own security and protection force and we take part in the preparation we provide them,” he noted. Once the assembly is finished, responsibility rests in the hands of these workers.
Lescay Martínez said that the 46 parks already installed in the country have about 26 or 28 panels on each table (metal structure), but stealing just one is enough to put the whole circuit out of action. “When a photovoltaic panel is removed, it leaves the energy of the entire table useless,” he explained. This means, he calculated, around 15.5 kilowatts per hour that go ungenerated. Many of the thefts even precede the commissioning of the park, when the parts are stored inside the fence awaiting installation. Neither the fence nor the security cameras have prevented the vandalism, precisely because of the cooperation of those who are supposed to supervise it.
“A large percentage of incidents of this kind have been cleared up and others are now in the investigation phase”
“A large percentage of incidents of this kind have been cleared up and others are now in the investigation phase,” stated Ábalo Mendoza, who lamented that there is also violence on many occasions, including stone-throwing resulting in injuries to those guards who risk their lives for such a low salary.
The lieutenant colonel warned that the panels can be identified one by one, making it easier to detect the origin of one that has been stolen. “It’s very easy, when carrying out an investigative process, to go to a home, see the panels and the number, look up the number and you know where the panel comes from. In addition, the panel has a plate on the back with a set of data, which makes it evident that it comes from such-and-such photovoltaic park, from such-and-such project,” he added.
Meanwhile, the guests argued, although there is an extra 5% of resources provided for in the contract to replace parts that may break – which makes it possible to have reserves in case of theft – what is needed is not always covered. And, while waiting for it to arrive, “a community is left, as the comrade was saying, eight or ten days without drinking water. Plus the replacement of the panels that has to be done, the consequences are high.”
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
Tehran calls the arrest warrant against the former president for the shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue planes “criminal”; Moscow points to “revenge by Miami’s anti-Cuban lobby” and Beijing offers its “firm support”
Xi Jinping with Raúl Castro during a meeting in Havana in 2014. / Xinhua
14ymedio, Madrid, October 21, 2026 / China has been the latest friendly country to join the club of solidarity with the Cuban regime following the indictment of Raúl Castro in the case of the 1996 shootdown of two light aircraft belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue organization, expanded this Monday by a Florida judge. The measure, signed on Friday by Ariana Fajardo Orshan, charges the former ruler with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, in a case separate from the federal proceedings opened in May over the deaths of four members of the organization.
“Raúl Castro is a highly respected leader of the Cuban Revolution,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said this Wednesday, adding that the former leader “enjoys great international prestige.”
Xinhua echoed these statements, made at a regular press conference at which the spokesperson was asked about the matter. “China has consistently opposed the abuse of judicial means to pressure Cuba,” she said, before stressing that Beijing “firmly supports” the island in “protecting its national sovereignty and rejecting foreign interference.” continue reading
“China has consistently opposed the abuse of judicial means to pressure Cuba”
Mao once again called on the United States to “put an end to its blockade of Cuba and to any other form of coercion or pressure,” and urged it to “stop violating the Cuban people’s rights to survival and development.”
Beijing had been preceded by two other regular partners of Havana, one of them Iran, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement through the state news agency IRNA in which it described the issuing of the arrest warrant against Castro as “criminal and illegal.” Tehran denounced Washington’s “interventionist actions,” including sanctions it called “inhumane” and attempts to threaten and intimidate Cuban authorities and public figures.
The Ministry added that the policy of sanctions, pressure and intimidation “applied against the Cuban people for more than seven decades violates the Charter of the United Nations and contradicts the principles and norms of international law and human rights.” In the view of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Washington will have to answer for the “catastrophic consequences” of these decisions on the daily life of the population, with which it expressed its solidarity in the face of these “criminal actions.”
Moscow was not missing from the group either: quite the contrary: it was the one that opened fire, criticizing the “unfounded and false accusation” that comes “more than 30 years later.” In the view of the Russian Foreign Ministry, this “is nothing more than revenge by Miami’s anti-Cuban lobby, a desire to settle scores with Castro, who celebrated his 95th birthday in June.”
After “categorically” rejecting and condemning the arrest warrant against Castro, the statement said that it is nothing more than part of “a broader escalation of tensions around the Island of Freedom [as Moscow calls Cuba], which is going through extremely difficult times due to an unprecedented commercial, economic, financial and energy blockade, and could destabilize the entire Latin American and Caribbean region.”
The note concludes with a personal message to the former Cuban leader himself: “We wish Comrade Raúl Castro, a friend of Russia, good health and that he maintain his unwavering bravery, courage and strength.” Although the Russian Foreign Ministry took the opportunity to reaffirm its solidarity with the Cuban regime, with which it will continue “strengthening the close ties of friendship, mutual support, assistance and comprehensive cooperation,” the words once again remain just that. Like those of Iran and China. So far this year, the three countries have not stopped expressing, almost weekly, their support and backing for an island in need of resources that none of them has fully decided to send.
While China is the one that has contributed the most goods, products and donations to the regime, Iran and Russia are the partners that have not dared to defy Washington to send the much-desired fuel that could serve as an immediate lifeline for the regime. Chinese support through solar energy, underway for more than two years, represents a slower and more gradual change in the energy matrix, while the oil tankers that Tehran and Moscow could deliver would give Havana breathing room, as happened in April.
On the last day of March, the Anatoly Kolodkin arrived on the island with 730,000 barrels of Russian crude, an entry authorized by Washington, which did not try to prevent the tanker’s arrival, as it later did with other attempts, without Russia daring to enter into direct confrontation. Iran has not even tried, despite being in open war with the US, which it has repeatedly defied, but only in relation to its own territory and surrounding areas.
“Well, I think it’s political. It’s political and it also has to do with the November election, from my point of view”
Mexico is another of the countries that has tried to find legal loopholes to keep supplying oil to Cuba while avoiding a clash with the US, with which it maintains relations vital to its economy. Its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was asked by the press this Monday for her opinion on Castro’s new indictment, which she attributes to the pre-election climate in the neighboring country. “Well, I think it’s political. It’s political and it also has to do with the November election, from my point of view,” she said. “And the votes they want to win on one side and the other,” said the president, who went no further in her remarks.
Paradoxically, her opinion is shared by many Cuban-American users on social media, who reacted to the news the other day by calling it a “circus” or “theater,” explicitly linking it to the November elections, as CiberCuba has reported, based on comments on its social media accounts. These messages do not reflect sympathy for the elderly former president, but rather disappointment with Trump’s handling of the Cuban issue and with other political decisions that are causing dismay among his base of loyal Cuban voters and followers.
The reasons go beyond his policy toward the island – or his lack of action – and extend to his attitude toward Venezuela, where he has shown that he puts the oil business ahead of democracy, and to his open animosity toward the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in contrast to the sympathy he shows for Russia’s Vladimir Putin and for Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un themselves.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality tops the list with 38.2%, followed by the province of Villa Clara with 30.2%, while Guantánamo is the youngest region, with 23.3% having reached old age
The increase in the lowest pensions represents “a bag of milk or a bottle of oil” bought from a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Madrid, October 21, 2026 / Cuba has the largest population over 60 on the entire continent, and the figures are advancing by leaps and bounds. This is revealed in the 2025 yearbook on demographic aging, published this Tuesday by the National Office of Statistics and Information [ONEI]. Older adults now account for 26.7% of the total population, an increase of exactly one point compared with 2024, when the figure stood at 25.7%.
Data from Cepal [ECLAC, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean] show that this is by far the highest figure in the continent’s statistics and classify the country as having “very accelerated” aging. Second on the list is Uruguay, with 21.8%, followed by Chile with 19.5% and Argentina with 17.2%. However, a quick look at the trajectory of its main competitors in the category is enough to see the difference.
In 2015, the population over 60 in Cuba was 19.4%, which means growth of 7.3 points in just ten years. Uruguay had 19.4% a decade ago and now has 21.8% (2.7 points), while Argentina went from 14.9% to 17% (2.1 more). Chile, the only one with faster growth, has gone from 15% to 19.5%, which represents 4.5 points over the whole decade. continue reading
Moreover, zooming in even further, it can be seen that in Cuba the acceleration has become extreme in the last five years, since 2021
Moreover, zooming in even further, it can be seen that in Cuba the acceleration has become extreme in the last five years, since 2021. While between the years 2014 and 2019 to 2021 aging remained between 18% and 21%, the big rise came in the last four years, with a jump of 5 points. The timing coincides with the combination of two factors that triggered the migration crisis on the island: the end of the pandemic – which opened doors that had been almost completely shut for two years – and the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021, which brought thousands of people into the streets against the regime.
Frustration over the change that did not happen and the repression of the protesters were the last straw for thousands of people who left Cuba in search of a better future. Officially, the loss is estimated at 15%, more than 1.6 million people. Independent experts speak of 24%, 80% of them in the 15 to 59 age bracket, that is, people of working and childbearing age.
By province, Villa Clara takes first place, with 30.2% of adults over 60, but Havana follows closely, with 29.1%, even though it is one of the territories that benefits most from internal migration, gaining population that moves to the capital in search of work – which affects a younger segment.
Havana is currently home to 1,673,208 people, of whom 486,650 are over 60, almost a third of the total, which highlights the alarming problem in the care sector, along with other closely related ones such as health. By contrast, children under 14 number barely 251,527, confirming the low birth rate of the province, which also has the oldest municipality on the island: Plaza de la Revolución, with 38.2%.
At the opposite end are Guantánamo, the youngest, with 23.3% – and which in turn is home to the municipality with the fewest older people, 17.9% – along with Santiago de Cuba and Artemisa, both with 24.2%. In this case, although these provinces retain a high number of retirees who stay in these areas, poverty – which holds back migration – and higher fertility rates – which coincide with eastern Cuba – bring the average age down.
At the opposite end are Guantánamo, the youngest, with 23.3% – and which in turn is home to the municipality with the fewest older people, 17.9% – along with Santiago de Cuba and Artemisa, both with 24.2%
In its introduction, the ONEI points out that births are also at extremely low levels, with just 68,064 births and a total fertility rate of only 1.29 children per woman, the lowest figure in history. The report notes that, given the progressive aging of its population, Cuba faces the challenge of “reorienting its economic model toward demographic sustainability, promoting inclusive employment, technological innovation and policies that integrate older adults into the economy.”
In a long interview with this newspaper, demographer Juan Carlos Albizu* warned of the risks of not making changes to deal with the island’s demographic crisis, including reform of the pension system. “If what has to change hasn’t changed, we’re going to have a very hard time, because the State, which is already socioeconomically bankrupt, would have no other way out than to abandon people to their fate.”
According to ONEI experts, Cuba will reach 36% population aging by 2040, and the population will have fallen to 8.3 million inhabitants. Unlike other countries, the island currently has no prospect of changing this dynamic through immigration.
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.
Residents walk several kilometers to communicate and others keep paying 1,000 pesos for ‘Nauta Hogar’ Internet for fear of losing the service
The entire area around Casino Deportivo, in the Havana neighborhood of El Cerro, has been without telephone service or internet connection / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, October 21, 2026 / The entire area around Casino Deportivo, in the Havana neighborhood of El Cerro, has been without telephone service or internet connection for almost a month due to a fire in the cables of the Electric Union (UNE), which also damaged the lines of Etecsa [Cuba’s state telecommunications company]. The electric company repaired its fault weeks ago, but the telecommunications monopoly says it does not have the cables to restore communications, residents told 14ymedio.
The lack of service affects both those in that part of the municipality of Cerro who use landlines and the homes that depend on Nauta Hogar, Etecsa’s home internet service, which needs the damaged infrastructure to work. Faced with this unresolved situation, residents must travel several kilometers to make a call or connect to the internet.
Among the places they go is the ground floor of the Ministry of Agriculture
Among the places they go is the ground floor of the Ministry of Agriculture – located on Conill Street, at the corner of Independencia Avenue, in Nuevo Vedado – where, as this newspaper was able to confirm, residents also come from around Primelles and from the side of Calzada de Ayestarán that belongs to the municipality of Cerro. continue reading
On top of being cut off, there is a financial problem for families who have contracted Nauta Hogar, the web browsing service offered over fiber-optic cables. According to customers who spoke to this newspaper, many pay more than 1,000 pesos a month and have already lost practically an entire period of connection because of a fault that was not their responsibility.
Many pay more than 1,000 pesos a month for the Nauta Hogar service and have already lost practically an entire period of connection
Now, customers of the cable connection service face the dilemma of paying out the money again without knowing when they will be able to use the service, since they fear that if they stop topping up their accounts while the outage lasts, they will end up losing access to Nauta Hogar. Some are considering continuing to pay while waiting for Etecsa to replace the line damaged by the flames.
Residents, however, can file a claim under Cuban law. Decree 124 of 2025, which regulates Etecsa’s concession, establishes in its Article 13 that the company must not charge its customers for the time they remain without service. It would not be the first time the company has had to compensate an affected customer: in February 2026 it acknowledged that it owed a credit of 1,800 pesos to a user who had spent several months without a landline or Nauta Hogar because of a cable fault.
Decree 124 of 2025 establishes in its Article 13 that Etecsa must not charge its customers for the time they remain without service
In the building where the 14ymedio newsroom is located, many of the apartments have been without a landline for more than a year because of another fault that also burned the cables. Since then, Etecsa has not been able to replace the line.
In the rest of Havana, blackouts not only leave residents in the dark and cut off: they also pit them against one another over the few hours of electricity they receive, even provoking a “war” between the circuits that receive unequal treatment from the UNE.
In Luyanó, residents of the less favored areas protested because the circuits that supply two hospitals, the Miguel Enríquez Clinical Surgical Hospital and the Diez de Octubre Gynecological-Obstetric Hospital, hardly suffered any outages. After months of complaints, petition drives and representations to the authorities, they managed to have the blackouts shared out between the two sides week by week.
The measure had an additional consequence. A resident of the favored circuit explained that when the power is cut to the buildings in the other sector, they are also left without internet, because the Etecsa antenna is installed there. Having power is not enough to be connected. Very often the exact opposite happens.
Last weekend, the discontent also reached Nuevo Vedado, where circuit PZ15 racked up 37 hours and 19 minutes without electricity. Residents staged cacerolazos [pot-banging protests] and shouted from the buildings to demand that the supply be restored. The protest was especially striking in an area where numerous officials and people linked to the ruling party live.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
The lack of cash has become an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike
Sacar dinero de una cuenta bancaria se ha convertido en una gestión que puede consumir una mañana entera y terminar con las manos vacías. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Guantánamo, Dayamí Rojas, October 18, 2026 / The line starts before the bank doors open. Some have brought a bag to sit on, others carry a bottle of water, and almost all of them look at their watches with the same worry: that the cash will run out before they reach the window. In Guantánamo, withdrawing money from a bank account has become a task that can take up an entire morning and end with empty hands.
Marcelo, 78, knows that uncertainty well. At his age, collecting his pension should be a simple procedure, but every month he has to calculate how much time he will spend looking for the bills he needs to live. “They made bancarization compulsory, but they didn’t create the conditions for it to work first,” he declares.
The complaint sums up a contradiction that runs through the city. The authorities promoted electronic transfers as a solution to reduce the use of cash, but a large part of everyday commerce still depends on bills. The result is that money can appear on a phone screen and yet be useless at the counter. continue reading
Long lines outside the bank to withdraw cash are now a daily occurrence in Guantánamo. / 14ymedio
A retired woman from Guantánamo describes her pilgrimage through the shops: “I go business by business and one by one they tell me they don’t accept payment by transfer, and when they do accept it, it’s at 40 and 50%. Having money on the card is just for show, it’s no use at all.”
In the streets near the center, where small private businesses, street vendors and state establishments coexist, the question is repeated before any purchase: “Do you accept transfers?” The answer can determine whether someone goes home with food or has to keep walking under the Guantánamo sun.
Niuber sells pizzas and sandwiches on a central street corner. His problem is not a lack of customers, but the difficulty of turning his digital income into usable money. The flour, ingredients and other supplies he needs cannot always be paid for through a bank transaction.
“The fines against private businesses that don’t accept transfers don’t solve the problem. Bancarization has been a failure throughout the country, because they haven’t managed to make it possible for us to withdraw cash from the bank when we need it. My account is crammed with money that’s no use for buying the raw materials I work with,” he explains.
Retirees are among the groups most negatively impacted by the banking reform process. / 14ymedio
The paradox is bitter: the more he sells through transfers, the larger the balance frozen in his account can become. If his suppliers demand bills, his earnings remain trapped in an electronic circuit that does not respond to the needs of small businesses.
The blackouts add another difficulty. When there is no electricity, ATMs can be out of service and digital transactions stumble over dead phones, unstable connections or establishments without the means to process payments. The promised modernization ends up depending on something as basic as there being power.
Nor is it enough to find a working ATM. Most of the time it has no bills or imposes withdrawal limits that force people to come back again. For retirees, especially those who have difficulty walking or live far from the branches, each attempt represents a physical effort and an additional expense for transportation.
In rural areas the impact is more dramatic. The day laborers who sweat over the furrows to plant or harvest food “have to be paid in cash because most of them are very humble people who don’t even have a cell phone,” explains a farmer who owns a small farm where root vegetables and other produce are grown.
The lack of cash has gone from being an occasional nuisance to an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike.
“When I have to hire people, I can’t tell them I’m going to pay by transfer. If I do that, the sweet potatoes stay in the field,” the farmer adds. “What works here is money in your hand,” he declares.
Guantánamo’s official newspaper Venceremos has addressed the difficulties of bancarization and the payment of pensions, a sign that the discontent is impossible to hide even in the state media. The lack of cash has gone from being an occasional nuisance to an everyday problem that affects consumers and merchants alike.
Meanwhile, the bill takes on a value that goes beyond the printed figure. Whoever has it can negotiate, buy and get by; whoever has only a bank balance has to ask, wait and sometimes accept abusive conditions, such as a percentage added to the price of a product.
“The pound of beans that was going to cost you 400 pesos, you have to pay 450 for if all you have is money on your phone,” warns Marcelo. For the retiree, “bancarization is a punishment, and those of us who are poorest and oldest are the ones paying for it.”
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
It will be screened on November 16 at the 39th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious in the world
Fotograma de la película ‘Bahía Honda’, cedido por su productora. / Estudio ST
Bahía Honda (2026), the second feature film by independent Cuban director Alejandro Alonso, will have its world premiere this November 16 at the 39th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), one of the most prestigious festivals in the world, which will be held from the 10th to the 22nd of that month.
Produced by Estudio ST, Vega Alta Films and Folk Film, with the collaboration of the Norwegian Embassy in Cuba – one of the great promoters of non-institutional cinema on the island – Bahía Honda was filmed in the ship graveyard and scrapyard of the town of the same name in Artemisa province, and contains the last images the filmmaker shot in Cuba before emigrating to Spain in 2021.
The director conceives of his film as “a kind of journey.” And he tells 14ymedio: “Initially, our first wish was to make a portrait of this place. It was a paradox to have found this place where they destroy ships, and what that meant at a time when, in Cuba, this other great wave of migration was also beginning.”
“This place is a kind of bubble because there are hardly any spaces like this left in the world,” Alonso remarks. The director explains that there are currently very few ship scrapyards because of their environmental impact, but that Cuba “skips all those laws, all those protocols.” The chosen place, he says, “is somewhat left to its own devices when it comes to labor and environmental protection policies.” continue reading
“He’s someone who destroys ships by day and at night, with the parts, tries to put together his own boat. There was something there that seemed very powerful to me”
After the initial fascination with the scrapyard, the filmmaker recounts, what changed his way of looking at the place and relating to it was getting directly close to the workers, in particular Raudel González Cordero, Pitufo, “with all the baggage he brought, all that desire to leave, to escape.” The filmmaker explains that his character is “someone who destroys ships by day and at night, with the parts, tries to put together his own boat. There was something there that seemed very powerful to me.” It is on the basis of that “desire” that Alonso has built the entire story.
“This place is a kind of bubble because these kinds of spaces hardly exist anymore in the world.” / ST Studio
The images filmed in this place, at once so strange, fascinating and gloomy, came to light years earlier in the short film Abisal (2021), which won the Coral Award for Best Short Documentary at the 43rd edition of the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in December 2022.
But this distinction did not prevent its director from being censored by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, when its officials vetoed the screening of a recorded acceptance message that Alonso sent from Spain. The director mentioned the Cuban migratory stampede at the time, and in a way “closed” the protagonist’s story outside the film, revealing that he too had emigrated from Cuba.
These “unwanted” words would have tarnished the spotless image of the regime that was being projected, after the veto of the feature film Vicenta B. (2022) by Carlos Lechuga and some “provocative” words by Cuban actress Andrea Doimeadiós at the opening of the event.
This is one of many examples that explain why filmmakers as key to Cuban cinema as Alejandro Alonso are not recognized by the island’s “general public”
The whitewashing of that edition included, in addition to the censorship of Alonso’s words, the presentation of the Honorary Coral to Silvio Rodríguez, almost the only person authorized to make statements that night (“Down with the blockade!”), since not even the jurors were allowed to approach the microphones during the awards ceremony.
This is one of many examples that explain why filmmakers as key to Cuban cinema as Alejandro Alonso (along with Rafael Ramírez, Luis Alejandro Yero, Miguel Coyula, Marcel Beltrán, Violena Ampudia, Raydel Araoz, Carlos Quintela, Orlando Mora, Josué García, Heidi Hassan, Carla Valdés, Carlos Melián, Armando Capó and so many others that they would make this paragraph extremely long) are not recognized by the island’s “general public” – which depends to a large extent on what the official institution screens, with the proper authorizations and ideological filters, in its already scarce movie theaters.
Still from the film ‘Bahía Honda’, provided by its production company. / ST Studio
“We always conceived of Bahía Honda as an expansion of the universe presented in Abisal,” says Alonso. “They are films that are connected by the protagonist, by the place, but now there is an attempt to take the universe and the imaginary of the ship-breakers somewhat to the limit. I feel that the film establishes a dialogue between that universe of theirs and my own imaginary.”
Alonso is no stranger to film platforms in the Netherlands. In 2021 he won the Hivos Tiger Award for Short Film with Terranova (2020), co-directed with the Spaniard Alejandro Pérez, at the equally important International Film Festival Rotterdam, where shortly afterward he gave the world premiere of his short film La historia se escribe de noche (2024). The latter is an existential reflection on life in the blackouts, with its burden of dread, mystery and anxiety.
As in these other films, two of his most representative titles, ‘Bahía Honda’ subscribes to the sensory cinematic creed that defines Alonso’s style and audiovisual discourse
As in these other films, two of his most representative titles, Bahía Honda subscribes to the sensory cinematic creed that defines Alonso’s style and audiovisual discourse. He always places the expressive force of the image above didactic narrative, impression above description, and the free association of images above “logical” articulation. These are films that must be read and felt like poems, with all their enigmas, challenges and invitation to complex dialogue.
Although this feature film is described by Alonso as “a much more atmospheric film. It’s a bit of a glimpse into that world, into this whole universe.” Alonso explains that Bahía Honda aims to be much more narrative, to explore other resources and to try to paint a much more complex portrait of Pitufo. “Above all, of the imaginary of his desire to emigrate.”
The filmmaker also says that Bahía Honda is a “very participatory” film that was built up from the research, because they had very little time to shoot. “I’d say three or four weeks,” he explains. “And of course, as we discovered the place, as we understood what we wanted to do, as we got to know our protagonists, we kept filming.”
For its director, Bahía Honda “seems like it’s going to be one thing, then it mutates toward another place and finally moves into more fictional territory.” Alonso explains that, although the film starts out “very tangible, very much about texture, very much about metal, very much about the body,” as it progresses “it moves more toward the universe of dreams, of desires.”
Bahía Honda is not an “easy” film. It is not a film to laugh at or to escape from reality. It is the story of an escape, but, thanks to the eye of Alonso and his film crew, the scrapyard becomes an almost monstrous landscape, a circle of Hell in which its protagonist and the other characters seek to survive until a possible escape.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
The official end date is still unknown, as courses that have already begun will be completed, said a senior military officer
South African military personnel alongside Cuban engineers and technicians from Project Kgala. / defenceweb.co.za
14ymedio, Madrid, 15 October 2026 / The South African Army will finally halt Project Kgala, a controversial military cooperation program with Cuba that began in January 2025 and on which some 279 million rand, equivalent to 16.9 million US dollars, has already been spent irregularly. The agreement had been hanging by a thread since South Africa’s Auditor General declared it invalid four months ago.
The news was announced by the local press this Thursday, which quotes a high-ranking officer in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), Navy Lieutenant James Matshimane. This officer, the Army’s new head of military policy, strategy and planning, told Parliament that “an instruction has already been issued” to stop the Project, in which, in his own words, 119 Cubans have taken part.
With such a fleeting statement, Matshimane left questions unanswered, such as the date for the definitive end of the cooperation, who the order came from, or whether payments to the island will continue while the courses already underway, which “will be allowed to conclude,” are completed.
Project Kgala, which replaced Project Thusano almost two years ago, brings Cuban engineers and technicians to South Africa to help the SANDF with the maintenance and repair of military vehicles, as well as air and naval transport equipment. continue reading
The agreement had been hanging by a thread since South Africa’s Auditor General declared it invalid four months ago
The report produced by the Auditor General’s office last May documented in detail what both agreements have involved. In the 2024-2025 period alone, more than 1.5 million dollars was spent on the Cuban technicians’ upkeep, accommodation, travel and operating costs. The Army documented that during the Thusano years (2021-2024), 18,498 “job cards” – official documents certifying that a task has been carried out – were issued, including more than 10,210 interventions on Army vehicles, 1,067 on aircraft and Air Force (SAAF) vehicles, 107 in the Navy and 4,505 operational and medical interventions in the Military Health Service (SAMHS).
In the little less than a year that it had been in force when the audit was carried out, Kgala had completed 2,502 work orders, with 1,198 component repairs for the Army, 418 on vehicles and aircraft, 196 interventions in the Navy and 659 medical tasks for SAMHS. Although the report considered the volume of work credited to be considerable, that did not justify how the agreement had been reached.
According to the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser, the pact with Cuba bypassed the country’s public procurement rules, which require a tender or, failing that, a special permit (an exemption request) from the Treasury. However, the Department of Defence signed directly with the Cuban side under a memorandum between the two countries. In addition, the program had spent almost a million dollars at the time it was examined, which, lacking a permit, was irregular expenditure. Moreover, as the total value of the agreement was 11 million dollars, that entire amount – not yet delivered – was likewise considered “irregular.”
The military leadership defended the viability of the agreement at the time. Vice Admiral David Mkhonto, the SANDF’s Chief of Logistics, explained to the committee that the cooperation arose from a bilateral government-to-government Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and that, although it should have been processed by requesting the exemption, it was the right choice.
“The studies revealed excessive costs, prolonged response times and capacity limitations in the domestic industry. Cuban collaboration represented the most cost-effective, sustainable and operationally viable option for restoring the core mission equipment,” Mkhonto said, adding that the Department is already working on an internal delegation framework and oversight mechanisms to correct the irregularities.
The halt now acknowledged by the Army does not necessarily guarantee that South Africa will do without the Cubans. Having already renamed Thusano in 2025, after it had been in the eye of the storm, it could now adjust – and even rename the agreement once again – in order to keep the personnel.
Having already renamed Thusano in 2025, after it had been in the eye of the storm, it could now adjust – and even rename the agreement once again – in order to keep the personnel
Cooperation between Cuba and South Africa, which dates back to the days of Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, has accumulated controversial episodes. Among the best-known cases is the sale of Heberon Alfa R for the coronavirus crisis, purchased by Defence – when, at the start of covid-19, it believed it was a bacteriological weapon – without the required authorization from the Health Department. In that operation alone, the island pocketed almost two million dollars, which could have been 17 if the purchase had been completed.
The collaboration also includes the exchange of doctors or engineers between the two countries, which has led to further questionable spending, as well as more than generous donations, including one of 3 million dollars that was ultimately annulled by the courts of the African country in 2023.
Last September a new controversy broke out, when the military trade union South African National Defence Union demanded an investigation into all the details of the complaint by a group of 38 officers who were training on the island and were allegedly pressured to donate money from their salaries to the Cuban side. The donations were to be recorded on a list, next to each officer’s name, with the suggested amount, which, although voluntary, was expected to come to about 940 dollars for officers and at least 188 dollars for those of lower rank.
This month there has also been a flood of complaints from South African students who are doing or completing their studies on the island, in some cases because of the lack of opportunities their country offers them on their return – since, after paying for their training on the island, it has no money to hire them – and in others because of the poor conditions they face in their daily lives as residents in Cuba.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
The shortage of nurses leaves children and their families waiting for hours in a hospital hit by the exodus of health workers
La falta de personal sanitario se ha convertido en uno de los agujeros más visibles del sistema de salud cubano. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Havana, October 15, 2026 / In the emergency room of the Eliseo Noel Caamaño Pediatric Hospital, health workers can hardly be seen moving back and forth anymore. Along the hallway that leads to the inpatient wards, every now and then someone in a white coat comes out of a consulting room, closes the door and hurries off to avoid questions. On the metal benches sit children and their relatives, looking toward the nursing station and waiting for an employee who, they are told, has gone for a snack.
Standing in front of that door, Yanelis has less patience. Her four-year-old son needs an injection to bring down a persistent fever. “First I had to send someone to buy the acetaminophen on the street, because there isn’t any in here. The doctor saw us more than an hour ago and we still haven’t been able to get it done because the nurse has disappeared,” she tells 14ymedio. The young woman threatens to go to the hospital administration.
Her son needs an injection to bring down a persistent fever / 14ymedio
The shortage of health personnel has become one of the most visible holes in the Cuban health system. In December 2024, even a commission of deputies that toured 39 municipalities in the 15 provinces acknowledged that the departure of professionals to other sectors and the migratory stampede had turned the worker deficit into one of the most alarming problems in Public Health. Years earlier, the authorities themselves had admitted that professionals and technicians were leaving for other economic activities, inside and outside the country. The deficit has only grown worse.
At the Matanzas Pediatric Hospital, that statistic takes on real faces. A young mother wipes the sweat from her daughter’s face with a handkerchief. At 8:30 in the morning she asked who was last in line for injections. It is now past ten, and she has seen elderly people selling roasted peanuts and medical students chatting openly about the lack of professors at the University of Medical Sciences pass through the emergency room, but not a single nurse has entered the nursing station. continue reading
“It’s hard to believe that in this hospital there isn’t a nurse to be found to give an injection,” she protests. The syringe and the amoxicillin are still in her bag when the antibiotic should already be taking effect in the girl’s body. What is missing is something that used to be taken for granted: the skilled hand to administer it.
A child bursts into tears and the impatience grows. The receptionist finally looks up from her phone and says someone has already gone to fetch the nurse. Then she offers an explanation that causes more worry than relief: “She’s been working alone for 72 hours and you have to understand that she gets tired, because she’s a human being.” The employee thanks God that no emergency has come in.
Since the child cannot climb stairs because he is in a wheelchair, she has had to leave him alone while she searches the hospital. / 14ymedio
That remark sums up the problem. It is not just a matter of missing medicines, broken equipment or run-down buildings. In a system that for decades turned its abundance of white coats into a propaganda banner, there is now also a shortage of people who know how to give an injection, take a blood pressure reading or prepare a nebulizer. Last July, several health workers consulted by 14ymedio described a picture of low salaries, a lack of resources and official statistics that, according to their complaints, was driving many to leave the sector.
Another mother walks the second floor of the pediatric hospital looking for help. “I couldn’t find anyone who could see us,” she says. Since her son cannot climb stairs because he is in a wheelchair, she has had to leave him alone while she searches the hospital. She is already thinking of another solution: tracking down a nurse she knows to come to her house. “I’ll surely have to pay him something, but that’s better than spending the week the treatment lasts chasing after these people.”
A man comes in carrying a little girl and asks who is last in line for injections. He has come from the polyclinic assigned to him, where he found a similar situation. He sits down and keeps his eyes fixed on a door, waiting for someone in a white coat to appear.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
Senate candidate Angie Nixon calls the president the “deporter-in-chief”
Image of the deportation flight to Cuba from the US published by the Ministry of the Interior. / X/@minint_cuba
14ymedio, Madrid, October 13, 2026 / Ready to fight for the Cuban vote, despite the challenge this initially poses, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate from Florida, Angie Nixon, recalled in a televised appearance this Monday the high number of people from the island who have been deported during the two Administrations of the current US president. “Donald Trump is the deporter-in-chief,” she said on CBS News Miami’s Facing South Florida program.
Nixon lamented that 13,000 Cubans have been deported during the time Trump has been in office, despite his having received strong support at the polls from Cuban Americans. The figures come from adding together different sources. On the one hand, the number of deportees during the Republican’s first term is official and comes from the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, which puts it at about 3,400 Cubans. There is, for now, no corresponding estimate for this second term, but Human Rights Watch calculates that there are around 8,500 Cubans. continue reading
In addition, there are those sent specifically to Mexico, some 4,400 Cubans according to the report published in May of this year by the same organization
In addition, there are those sent specifically to Mexico, some 4,400 Cubans according to the report published in May of this year by the same organization. In that 66-page document, the NGO lamented that 26% had no criminal record whatsoever and pointed out that only 16% of those who did have one had committed a serious or violent crime. A large majority had lived in the US for decades, and their expulsion to Mexico had left them highly vulnerable, as they suddenly found themselves in a foreign country, without rights and without access to housing or medicine.
In total, 18,000 people were deported between January 2025 and March 2026, of whom 13,000 ended up in that country. The figure shows that more than a third of those expelled were Cuban, a nationality that for decades has not exactly been the target of US immigration authorities, which had protected exiles from the island.
Nixon lamented that all of this has changed under the Trump Administration, which has also put an end to the specific programs for receiving the Cubans who left en masse from 2022 onward due to a combination of factors that included socioeconomic deterioration, the intensification of repression after 11J [the island-wide anti-government protests of July 11, 2021], and the reopening of borders once the worst of the pandemic had passed. The Democrat neglected to mention that Barack Obama was the president who, in the final days of his term, in January 2017, eliminated the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which allowed Cuban rafters to remain in the US.
The cancellation of the parole program – which allowed Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants to come to the US provided they were sponsored by a resident of the country – went so far as to reach the Supreme Court, where it was definitively revoked in May 2025, ending the permits of more than half a million people.
Deportations of Cubans had been minimal not only because of the immigration exceptions that applied to exiles from the island, but also because of the regime’s opposition to accepting the return of citizens who had left the country. That policy changed when, in April 2023, the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel and the Joe Biden Administration agreed to resume deportation flights operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but from that date until December 2024 the number of Cubans returned to the island from the US amounted to approximately between 1,000 and 1,200.
Since then, the number is unknown, and although most months a charter flight arrives in Cuba with around a hundred people, Washington has found other ways to rid itself of the Cubans that Havana refuses to take back. One of them – apart from the Mexican route – is sending them to third countries, including some in Africa.
The immigration debate promises to be at the center of the debates in the state of Florida, although the polls continue to give the Republicans the advantage. In the Senate race, Republican Ashley Moody has around 49% of the vote averaging most polls, while Nixon is at around 43% using the same method.
Translated by GH
______________________
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.
Almost half of last month’s repressive events affected people deprived of their liberty, “some of whom protested inside the detention centers”
Detail of a meal in a Cuban prison. / PD
EFE (via 14ymedio) Havana, October 13, 2026 / The NGO Cuban Prisons Documentation Center (CDPC) recorded 79 rights violations against incarcerated people and four inmate deaths in September, according to its recent report on that period.
The CDPC – based in Mexico – said it documented complaints of rights violations in 34 prisons, forced labor camps and criminal investigation centers across 12 Cuban provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
The provinces of Camagüey, Havana and Mayabeque accounted for most of the records, while the penitentiary facilities most frequently named in complaints were Kilo 8 and Kilo 7 (Camagüey) and Quivicán (Mayabeque), the report states.
Among the most frequent complaints, it recorded denial of medical care (27), state of health (26), food (19), restrictions on communication (15) and transfers (9). continue reading
Among the most frequent complaints, it recorded denial of medical care (27), state of health (26), food (19), restrictions on communication (15) and transfers (9)
Regarding the deaths, the report states that political prisoner Florentino Morono Torres, held in the Las Tunas provincial prison, died on September 20 at the Dr. Ernesto Guevara General Teaching Hospital, two days after suffering a heart attack in his cell without receiving timely medical care.
It also reports that common prisoner Reinier Ramírez Domínguez died at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, 17 days after receiving a medical release from prison [licencia extrapenal], “when his health was already severely compromised due to deficient medical care in prison.”
To these it adds two other inmates in the Mar Verde prison, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, whose deaths have been attributed to “lack of food and severe malnutrition.”
In this update on the situation in Cuban prisons, the NGO reported that 72 people in prison (4 women and 68 men) were identified as affected by some of the documented violations.
Among them, it cites independent journalist Henry Constantín, imprisoned in Camagüey, and political prisoners Roberto Pérez Fonseca and Vladimir Castillo Llanes (both in Quivicán) and Ediolvis Marín Mora (Kilo 7) as those who accumulated the most incidents of this kind last September.
The NGO indicated that 23 of the complaints collected referred to situations affecting the entire prison population of certain facilities.
To these it adds two other inmates in the Mar Verde prison, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, whose deaths have been attributed to “lack of food and severe malnutrition”
It also noted that people detained for political reasons and those suffering from chronic or infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, diabetes, asthma and psoriasis, as well as those living with HIV, were “the most frequent victims,” according to its observations.
The report also includes complaints about retaliatory measures such as suspension of visits and phone calls, confinement in punishment cells and beatings inflicted on prisoners who protest against prison conditions.
The CDPC stressed that the information listed in its report represents “an underreporting of the actual events and victims.”
It further explained that complete documentation is impossible due to “the systematic opacity of the Cuban regime, which refuses to make official information about its prison system transparent, prevents independent observers from accessing prisons and criminalizes the work of documenting human rights violations in these spaces.”
Incommunicado detention “reached its highest level of the year; for about a week, relatives of prisoners in dozens of centers were unable to communicate with them and were left without news”
Meanwhile, the legal advisory center Cubalex also documented that, last September, acts of repression in the country were concentrated in prisons. In a report published this Tuesday, the NGO notes that almost half of the events affected people deprived of their liberty, “some of whom protested inside the detention centers, even with hunger and thirst strikes.”
It also indicated that incommunicado detention “reached its highest level of the year; for about a week, relatives of prisoners in dozens of centers were unable to communicate with them and were left without news.”
It also noted that last month exceeded August by 18 repressive events, despite the decrease in protests compared to the previous month. These events added up to 606 incidents of harassment, since a single event can involve several types of incident.
As for the provinces where the repressive acts were recorded, Cubalex reports that Havana accounted for 38% of the events, followed by Camagüey (15%) and Santiago de Cuba (6%). “The absence of documented events on Isla de la Juventud may reflect underreporting,” the organization states in the document.
Translated by GH.
______________________
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.
14ymedio, Miami, October 26, 2026 / Cuban writers Antonio José Ponte and Néstor Díaz de Villegas are taking part in the event Cuba: territorios del poder [Cuba: Territories of Power], a conversation about history, literary creation and the mechanisms of political repression on the island, as part of the Miami Book Fair program.
