Translator: GH – Page 2 – Translating Cuba

Power Returns to Eastern Cuba After Partial Disconnection of the National Electric System

After 10 pm, the National Electric Union said, the system was restored, four hours after the Felton plant came back online

Once the Felton CTE, in Holguín, came back online, the Diez de Octubre plant in Nuevitas (Camagüey) was reconnected. / Adelante

14ymedio, Havana, 28 August 2026 / A new “oscillation” once again pushed the battered national electric system (SEN) to the brink this Thursday. A disturbance in the transmission lines caused the disconnection of the eastern region and knocked three thermoelectric units out of service, in an incident that authorities are investigating and that once again puts the spotlight on the growing instability of the Cuban grid.

According to the information released by government-aligned journalist Bernardo Espinosa, the National Load Dispatch reported an “extreme failure” that left the provinces from Holguín to Guantánamo separated from the SEN. As a result of the disturbance, unit 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez plant in Felton, unit 6 of the Diez de Octubre plant in Nuevitas, and unit 6 of the Antonio Maceo plant in Renté were taken out of service.

After 10 pm, the National Electric Union said, the system was restored, four hours after Felton came back online. From there, the Camagüey-based Diez de Octubre plant was reconnected, although authorities did not provide information about Renté.

In total, the SEN has already suffered seven complete disconnections so far in 2026, in addition to several large-scale partial separations

This is not the first time an “oscillation” has preceded a breakdown of the SEN this year. On March 21, just five days after the first national collapse of 2026, Cuba was once again plunged into complete darkness following a phenomenon officially described continue reading

using that same term. On July 14, the shutdown of Felton’s unit 1 caused, according to the official version, a “sharp oscillation in the system’s frequency” that ended in another total blackout.

In early August it happened again. As the country was still trying to recover from the year’s sixth national collapse, rain and electrical storms caused an oscillation that brought down the system once more – the second collapse in less than 24 hours.

In total, the SEN has already suffered seven complete disconnections so far in 2026, in addition to several large-scale partial separations. The first national blackout occurred on March 16. After that came the one on March 21, three in July – on the 6th, 10th, and 14th – and two consecutive ones in early August.

The recurrence of these oscillations takes on particular significance at a time when the Government is rapidly incorporating photovoltaic generation into a grid that operates with very little reserve and numerous damaged thermoelectric plants

These collapses are in addition to regional breakdowns such as the one that left western Cuba without electricity for nearly seven hours on August 1, affecting Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Havana, and Matanzas.

The recurrence of these oscillations takes on particular significance at a time when the Government is rapidly incorporating photovoltaic generation into a grid that operates with very little reserve and numerous damaged thermoelectric plants. Based on the information available, solar energy cannot be identified as the cause of Thursday’s incident, but the authorities themselves have acknowledged the problems involved in compensating for fluctuations without the anchor of the thermoelectric plants that are essential to ensuring the SEN’s stability.

Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted in March that instability was such that not all the energy available at solar farms could be used during the day. Its connection had to be increased or reduced, he explained, in order to regulate frequency and “avoid another blackout.” The president then announced the installation of battery systems intended precisely for that function.

The problem does not lie in solar energy itself, but in integrating it into a weakened grid. Traditional thermoelectric plants provide synchronous generation and help cushion sudden frequency changes, while photovoltaic farms depend on electronic inverters and their output can vary rapidly. Modern systems compensate for these fluctuations through batteries, electronic regulation, and sufficient generation reserve – elements that Cuba has only to a very limited extent.

In Cuba, where the loss of a single large unit can represent a significant share of all available generation, the margin for absorbing a disturbance is very limited

During the recovery from July’s blackout, the Director General of Electricity, Lázaro Guerra, specifically highlighted the importance of the batteries installed in El Cotorro (Havana), capable of “regulating the frequency” of the small systems that were forming before the national grid was reconnected.

Thursday’s incident now requires clarifying what happened first. Official information does not specify which line began to oscillate, what type of disturbance occurred, or whether the shutdown of Felton, Nuevitas, and Renté was the cause or the consequence of the instability. Nor has any information been provided on how much photovoltaic generation the SEN was delivering at that time.

These questions take on special relevance following the blackout in Spain and Portugal on April 28, 2025, whose investigation showed just how quickly oscillations, voltage problems, and cascading disconnections can spread through an electrical grid. In Cuba, where the loss of a single large unit can represent a significant share of all available generation, the margin for absorbing a disturbance is much smaller.

Translated by GH.

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Swiss Companies “Almost Never Manage To Collect” and Are Leaving Cuba

Trade between the two countries has collapsed and only multinationals, such as Nestlé and Roche, are holding on

Attendees at the Swiss Business Night 2026, held in Havana. / Swiss Embassy

14ymedio, Havana, August 28, 2026 / Swiss companies doing business with Cuba do not appear to share the enthusiasm of Auge, a private consultancy dedicated to business advice and development on the island. The firm recently celebrated its admission to the Swiss-Cuban Chamber of Commerce as a gateway to “new markets, alliances and opportunities,” but the organization it has just joined offers a far less promising picture of Cuba.

“When a Swiss company does business with Cuba, the state banks can issue payment orders, invoices or guarantees. But afterward, it almost never manages to collect,” said Ursin Mirer, president of this Chamber of Commerce, in a report published this Thursday by Swissinfo. The organization now has around 40 member companies, down from the 60 or 70 it once had. “Companies don’t feel protected,” Mirer summarizes.

This diagnosis contrasts with the tone Auge used when promoting its admission to the Chamber on June 10. “The world is full of opportunities. We keep weaving the network to bring them to our country,” the consultancy stated, presenting its membership as an opportunity to access B2B spaces, exchange forums and business databases that will allow it to “think big.”

“The report makes clear that the obstacles to trading with Cuba do not end in Washington”

The very headline chosen by Swissinfo, “Swiss trade in Cuba is being choked by fear of U.S. sanctions,” attributes considerable weight to Washington’s measures. European and Latin American banks, the outlet explains, avoid many operations related to the island for fear of exposure to the U.S. sanctions regime, a phenomenon known as de-risking. However, the report makes clear that the obstacles to trading with Cuba do not end in Washington.

“One of the causes lies in Cuba’s state-dominated economic system, and in the chronic shortage of foreign currency,” Swissinfo notes. That situation prevents continue reading

entities on the island from regularly meeting their debts to foreign companies. When asked what would need to change to win the business back, Mirer likewise does not mention only sanctions: “First there is legal certainty, followed by real protection for foreign companies and, finally, the currency issue.”

The numbers bear out the pessimism. Swiss exports of paper and cardboard to Cuba exceeded 2.7 million francs in 2025, but in the first half of this year they barely reached one million. Watch sales fell from 1.4 million to just over 357,000 francs (1 Swiss franc is equivalent to 1.23 dollars), and pharmaceutical sales stayed below 9,000 francs between January and June. Small and medium-sized companies, less able to withstand payment delays, have been scaling back their activity or leaving the Cuban market outright. Among the large companies that remain are Nestlé (food) and Roche (pharmaceuticals).

“One of the companies still holding on, Nestlé, has known the problem since the early years of the Revolution”

The outlook was considerably brighter just seven months ago. During a business gathering held in late January in Havana, Harold Hoffman, vice president of the Chamber, told the state broadcaster Radio Progreso that Cuba offered opportunities because its market was “quite promising,” something Swiss business owners needed to “take advantage of.” The event aimed precisely to encourage foreign investment and expand business ties.

The Swiss Embassy itself, under whose sponsorship the Swiss Business Night was held, was somewhat more cautious at the time. The focus of that meeting was Cuba’s energy crisis, described by the diplomatic mission as a “real operational vulnerability” that affects production, raises costs and “curbs investment.” The panel was moderated by Oniel Díaz Castellanos, co-founder of Auge and a collaborator with that business circle before formally joining the Chamber.

The difficulties in convincing Swiss business owners of the merits of the Cuban market are not new either. One of the companies still holding on, Nestlé, has known the problem since the early years of the Revolution.

Before “going far” in Cuba, the challenge can be much more basic: getting paid

In October 1960, Fidel Castro’s government nationalized three food companies with significant interests belonging to the Swiss multinational. After years of negotiations, Havana and Bern reached an agreement in 1967 for 18,039,000 Swiss francs to compensate for property, rights and other interests affected by the revolutionary measures.

Switzerland committed to purchasing 40,000 tons of Cuban sugar annually for eight years, with part of that revenue used to pay off the compensation. In this way, Cuba was able to compensate those affected while simultaneously securing a buyer, obtaining foreign currency and preserving an economic link with a major foreign company.

Almost six decades later, the words have changed less than the problems. Cuba needs buyers, investment and hard currency more than ever, while foreign companies are once again demanding guarantees to get their money back. U.S. sanctions make transfers far more difficult today and explain a significant part of the deterioration, but even business representatives interested in maintaining ties with the island point to internal problems that Washington cannot solve.

Auge, meanwhile, prefers to see the glass as half full. Its new membership, the consultancy stated, will help “invigorate the way we do things” and allow its clients to worry only “about going far.” The experience of some of its new Swiss partners suggests that, before going far in Cuba, the challenge can be much more basic: getting paid.

Translated by GH

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Harina de Otro Costal: A Cultural Rehearsal for the Cuba We Dream Of

Trigueros, where the scattered pieces of a country can sit together again around the same table

“We Cubans are like fragments of a broken mirror, like pieces of a puzzle we still haven’t managed to put together,” one audience member summed up.

14ymedio, Dayana Prieto Espinosa, Trigueros (Huelva), August 27, 2026 / For eight days, a small town in Huelva became a meeting point for an increasingly scattered Cuban culture. From August 19 to 26, the XIII edition of Cubacultura brought together in Trigueros musicians, writers, filmmakers, actors, and visual artists living both on and off the island, in a program inevitably shaped by emigration, memory, and reunion.

At the center of nearly everything is Harina de Otro Costal, a space that resists easy categorization. The home of cultural manager Lourdes Santos and artist Juan Manuel Seisdedos was built around an old mill, whose machinery today shares space with works of art. Together with actress Laura de la Uz and photographer and writer Héctor Garrido, the couple make up the foursome that has, for thirteen years now, sustained a festival dedicated to building bridges between Cuba and Andalusia.

Walking into Lourdes and Juan’s house carries something of the fascination Federico García Lorca felt on discovering the Loynaz siblings’ residence in Havana. The poet ended up calling that Vedado mansion “my enchanted house.” Cuban artists today feel something similar as they wander through Harina de Otro Costal, where the mill’s old machinery shares space with paintings, books, beds for friends, and tables always set to stretch out the conversation.

By day, Trigueros seems like a town suspended in time – closed doors, silent streets, roosters announcing dawn and siesta alike. But once night falls, Harina de Otro Costal transforms everything. Visitors arrive from Huelva, Seville, other Spanish cities, and even Portugal, and the old mill fills with conversation, music, and accents.

This edition opened with three photography exhibits: Retrospectiva inconclusa (Unfinished Retrospective), by Alberto Díaz Korda; Otra música (Another Kind of Music), featuring photographs by Silvio Rodríguez; and Cuba iluminada: 10 años (Cuba Illuminated: 10 Years), by Héctor Garrido. The first night ended with La Dame Blanche, a project by Cuban artist continue reading

Yaite Ramos Rodríguez, blending hip hop, reggae, cumbia, and Afro-Cuban roots.

Film picked up next. Al oeste, en Zapata (West, in Zapata), by David Bim, offered a look at a Cuba far removed from postcard images, while A media voz (In a Half Voice), by Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez, placed emigration at the center of the screen. Built on the correspondence and archives of two friends who left the island and ended up living in different countries, the documentary speaks to loneliness, the unexpected trades of exile, motherhood, and that sense of having left parts of oneself scattered across different cities.

“We Cubans are like fragments of a broken mirror, like pieces of a puzzle we still haven’t managed to put together,” one audience member summed up. For a few days, Cubacultura made it possible to try to put some of those pieces back together.

Patricia Pérez during the presentation of ‘A media voz.’ / 14ymedio

Music carried that same experience into other registers. Habana Abierta took over the old Convent of Santa Catalina on Saturday. Founding members Alejandro Gutiérrez, Vanito Brown, and José Luis Medina – La Liebre – were joined by Roberto Carcassés, Ernesto Blanco, José Raúl Machado, Fernando Favier, and Pedro Pablo Rodríguez.

Theater arrived two nights later with Jacuzzi, by Yunior García Aguilera, performed by the author himself alongside Claudia Álvarez and Yadier Fernández. More than a hundred audience members followed a story in which friendship, love, fear, and politics all end up trapped in the same space. It was then that political debate jumped from the stage into the audience. A member of a Spanish organization sympathetic to the Cuban government took the floor to repeat against García the narrative used by State Security, which years earlier had tried to portray him as part of a foreign operation aimed at pushing a “soft coup” in Cuba.

Some attendees counted the miles they had traveled to attend the event and see ‘Jacuzzi.’ / Courtesy of Héctor Garrido

The attempt to steer the discussion toward that narrative met with a calm response. García thanked the audience for the debate and noted that a discussion like that would be practically impossible on the island, given censorship and the government’s monopoly on public speech. Laura de la Uz then spoke up: “You have the freedom in Spain to say everything you think. But we, as Cubans, have it too.”

The audience quickly returned to Jacuzzi. Comments focused on the emotion and sincerity of the piece, and some attendees mentioned the miles they had traveled to see it. The incident ended up demonstrating, almost inadvertently, one of the festival’s distinctive traits: no one needed to banish the dissenter or silence him in order to defend their own ideas.

Karla Suárez and Héctor Garrido presented ‘Objetos perdidos’ and ‘Habitación con cielo’ in an unconventional conversation, almost a gathering among friends. / Leo Garrido

Literature continued that same dialogue between departures and returns the following day. Karla Suárez and Héctor Garrido presented Objetos perdidos (Lost Objects) and Habitación con cielo (Room with a Sky) in an unconventional conversation, almost a gathering among friends. The stories seemed to move in opposite directions only to end up meeting. Garrido, who is Spanish, writes about Havana after choosing to live in Cuba; Suárez, a Cuban who emigrated very young, sets in Barcelona a novel in which seemingly insignificant bracelets end up holding the emotional chronology of years of farewells and reunions.

The closing fell to musician X Alfonso, who brought the event to a triumphant close alongside Ernesto Blanco and Frank Durand. Hundreds of people had reserved their tickets, and the venue had been sold out for two days beforehand. In a small format of guitar, bass, piano, and percussion, the musicians switched instruments with startling ease during a concert as intimate as it was powerful.

The closing fell to musician X Alfonso, who brought the event to a triumphant close alongside Ernesto Blanco and Frank Durand. / Courtesy of Héctor Garrido

There’s something of a Renaissance artist about X. It’s hard to confine him to music alone. Composer, performer, photographer, filmmaker, and cultural manager, he has managed to bring together disciplines that others tend to keep apart. That vocation perhaps finds its most visible expression in Fábrica de Arte Cubano, the space he has championed for years in Havana as a meeting point for the arts, even amid the shortages and obstacles that come with sustaining a project like that in Cuba.

Central to that endeavor has been Sandra Lusitana, his wife, producer, and cultural manager, one of those people capable of solving any setback. In Trigueros, she wasted no time joining the invisible machinery that keeps the festival running. But if anyone ended up taking ownership of the event, it was Mar, X and Sandra’s young daughter. With the ease children have for abolishing formality, she renamed several of those present and lit up every corner of Trigueros with her personality.

Laura de la Uz and Lourdes Santos during the closing. / Courtesy of Héctor Garrido

What makes Cubacultura unique isn’t only its program. It’s in the hospitality. In those who cook for the artists, wash a costume at the last minute, fix a technical problem, offer a beer, or make room around a table. In Lourdes and Juan Manuel, after more than half a century together; in Laura de la Uz, also revealed as a tireless cultural organizer; in the hospitality of Garrido and of a team – made up of Lola, Chari, Vito, Parra, Alfonso, and Antonio – for whom almost no setback seems impossible to solve.

For eight days, Harina de Otro Costal was exactly that: another way of understanding Cuba. One where artists from different fields can share the same program; where someone can defend their ideas without triggering an act of repudiation; and where the scattered pieces of a country can sit together again around the same table. It isn’t yet the Cuba that exists. But for one week, in an old mill in Trigueros, it came close to a rehearsal of the Cuba we dream of.

Translated by GH

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Spanish Publishers’ Guild Honors Cuban Writer Leonardo Padura

The jury highlighted “his ability to tell stories” that “delve into truth, guilt, friendship, and the weight of history on individual lives”

Leonardo Padura, at a book presentation in Madrid.

14ymedio, Madrid,August 27, 2026 / Cuban writer Leonardo Padura has been awarded the 2026 Liber Prize, granted by the Federation of Publishers’ Guilds of Spain (FGEE) to the “most outstanding Spanish American author.” In a statement released this Thursday, the organization reports that the jury “highlighted his ability to tell stories that, starting from research, delve into truth, guilt, friendship, and the weight of history on individual lives.”

They also praised, the statement adds, “a career of great international reach and the richness of registers and genres that characterize his work.”

The statement also includes remarks from Padura upon learning of the award, in which he expresses his “gratitude as an author and as a Cuban writer who lives and writes in Cuba.”

“It is a source of double satisfaction, because it represents recognition not only of me personally, but also of the culture to which I belong and in which I remain”

Speaking from Spain, a country whose nationality he has held since 2011 and where he spends long periods of time, the writer noted that he is the first Cuban to receive this prize: “It is a source of double satisfaction, because it represents recognition not only of me personally, but also of the culture to which I belong and in which I remain.”

He likewise stated: “It is not just any prize, nor is it awarded by just any institution, but by one that carries out the essential work of giving visibility to our work as writers and of managing the means by which continue reading

it can complete its life cycle – first by existing, and then by reaching the reader.”

For its part, the Prize organization noted that “through his writing, Leonardo Padura has turned Cuban reality into literary material of international reach.” His body of work, it continues, “marked by social criticism and a deep attention to Cuba’s recent history, offers a complex view of the memory, utopias, and disillusionments of several generations.”

Born in Havana in 1955 and winner of the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, the writer has received numerous honors, among them the Café Gijón, the Dashiell Hammett, the Islas 2000, the Brigada 21, the Barcino Historical Novel Prize, and the 2023 Pepe Carvalho Prize.

His career is especially notable for his series of detective novels featuring Inspector Mario Conde – whose most recent installment was Personas decentes (2022), set during the 2016 thaw in relations between the US and Cuba – and El hombre que amaba los perros (2009), about Trotsky and his assassin, Ramón Mercader.

His most recent work is Morir en la arena, featuring Rodolfo, a recently retired man in Havana whose life is marked by the war in Angola and by his father’s murder at the hands of his own brother. Before that, he published Como polvo en el viento (2020), centered on the drama of exile through several characters.

The award ceremony will take place on September 30 at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), during the Liber International Book Fair, an event aimed at industry professionals, which in 2026 will be held in Barcelona from September 29 to October 1.

Translated by GH

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Eloy Nebreda and the Call-Up of a Cuban Player in Spain’s Second Division Football

Throughout history, 15 footballers linked to Cuba have played in Spanish soccer’s silver category

Eloy Nebreda received his first official call-up with the Basque institution’s B team / Instagram

14ymedio, Any Lans, Matanzas, August 25, 2026 /
In soccer, as in life, great achievements rarely happen overnight. Eloy Nebreda was 11 or 12 years old when he began in Real Sociedad’s youth academy. This past August 14, at age 19, on the opening matchday of Spain’s Second Division, he received his first official call-up with the Basque institution’s B team.

The match took place at the Zubieta Sports City Stadium in San Sebastián. The opponent was Castellón, who ultimately won the match 1-0. Eloy sat on the bench for Real’s reserve team, wearing number 33, waiting for his chance to take the field – an opportunity that did not come this time.

But how did a Cuban footballer make his way into Spanish soccer’s second-highest level? First, we need to tell the story of how Eloy Nebreda became Cuban. Although the left-footed winger was born in the Basque Country, his Cuban roots run deep: “My mother is from Alquízar, a town about 60 kilometers from Havana that, curiously enough, was founded by a Basque. She was a dance teacher in Cuba and came to San Sebastián on an artistic tour. There she met my father and ended up staying. At first she kept up with dance, but it’s not easy to make a living from that here. She had to change jobs several times, making her way as best she could. Eventually she managed to start her own insurance company, which is no small thing. The truth is that, like a good Cuban, she has a real entrepreneurial spirit. I admire her enormously for everything she has fought through. To me, she’s a clear example of overcoming adversity.”

“Cuba is present in my life from the moment I wake up. Every morning, the first thing I see from my bed is a Cuban flag hanging in my room”

Although an ocean separates the Iberian Peninsula from a Caribbean island, the memory of his mother’s homeland never leaves him: “Cuba is present in my life from the moment I wake up. Every morning, the first thing I see from my bed is a Cuban flag hanging in my room. After that, Cuban food and music are with me every day. My mother has always been proud of her origins,” Eloy continue reading

points out.

For that reason, when the opportunity arose to represent the senior Cuban national team, the young winger didn’t think twice: “The Cuban Soccer Association contacted me back around March 2025 and told me they had been following me. They asked if I would be willing to play for the Cuban national team. It was a tremendous thrill, and of course I said yes. I’ve always felt very connected to Cuba, I’ve traveled there many times since I was a child, and besides, I was already in the process of applying for Cuban citizenship. That allowed me to get my Cuban passport in September and make my debut with Cuba in November.”

In recent years, Nebreda’s rise at Real Sociedad has been meteoric. In the 2023-2024 season, he had a fruitful loan spell with CD Vasconia, which allowed him to play in the top youth category, the División de Honor, at just 16 years old. During that time, he also made a favorable impression as a left back. In 2024-2025 he was part of Real’s main Under-19 squad and played three matches in the Fourth Division with Real Sociedad C. He spent the entire 2025-2026 season with that third team, this time in the fifth tier, where he responded with two goals in 22 matches. For 2026-2027, a possible debut with the B team in the Second Division cannot be ruled out, although he is most likely to see more playing time with the C team.

“I got to Real Sociedad through some training sessions and tournaments the club organizes with a lot of players”

“I got to Real Sociedad through some training sessions and tournaments the club organizes with a lot of players. At first there were a lot of us, but then the number kept dropping. After a LaLiga Promises tournament that the club had entered me in, they told my parents they wanted me to play for Real Sociedad, and when they told me, I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy. That’s when I realized I was starting to take steps toward fulfilling my dream. Right now, this club is like my second home because of the way they treat me, because here I feel valued and I know they have confidence in me,” he notes.

“I couldn’t tell you which single person has helped me most since I arrived. So I’m grateful to everyone I’ve crossed paths with,” he says, looking back on his time with the club. Even so, one person does come to mind: “I would like to have a special memory for Mitxel Badiola, a coordinator I had through the youth ranks, who sadly is no longer with us. He helped me believe in my own potential, and for that I will always be grateful.” That’s how the defender who arrived from CD Kostkas describes his bond with the San Sebastián side.

Asked about his role models on Real Sociedad’s first team, Eloy replies: “Well, since I’m a winger, I look more to players like Takefusa Kubo or Ander Barrenetxea, who are more the dribbling type, and I identify with them more.”

With Eloy Nebreda’s recent call-up, the count now stands at 15 footballers linked to Cuba in the history of Spanish soccer’s silver category.

“Since I’m a winger, I look more to players like Takefusa Kubo or Ander Barrenetxea, who are more the dribbling type, and I identify with them more”

Because of his ties to the Cuban clubs Olimpia Sporting Club and Real Iberia, some specialized sites attribute Cuban nationality to the Galician-born José Torres Mourelle, who played in the Second Division between 1928 and 1934 with Deportivo La Coruña.

Francisco Betancourt, whose father was Cuban and who is recognized as the first Black footballer to play an official match with FC Barcelona, played 102 matches in the silver division across different spells between 1934 and 1951 with Badalona, Sabadell, and Constancia.

Another player with a past at Barça who also played in the Second Division with Deportivo La Coruña in the 1940s was midfielder Joan Muntaner, born in Chaparra, Cuba, in 1916.

Other players born in Cuba who also passed through Real Madrid were forwards Chus Alonso and Enrique Ferrer, as well as goalkeeper Mario Inchausti. All three played in the second tier. Alonso did so in 1935-1936 with Real Valladolid and in 1949-1950 with Zaragoza; Ferrer played eight matches with Nacional de Madrid in 1935-1936; and Inchausti featured for Zaragoza in 1935-1936 and for Betis in 1940-1941.

Francisco Martín Arencibia, born in Alquízar, had his moment in the Second Division with Granada, between 1947 and 1949

An Atlético de Madrid legend, Francisco Martín Arencibia, born in Alquízar, had his moment in the Second Division with Granada, between 1947 and 1949. The Divino Calvo (“Divine Bald One”) played 33 matches during that stretch, scoring a couple of goals, and flirted with promotion in 1948-1949, when the Andalusians finished third in the standings.

A particular case is that of brothers José and Emilio Álvarez Gutiérrez. Both Cubans played for Cultural Leonesa during the 1974-1975 campaign, in which the team finished last.

In this millennium there is the case of goalkeeper Christian Joel Sánchez, son of fellow Cuban goalkeeper Lázaro Joel Sánchez. Christian Joel had 212 call-ups in the Second Division with Sporting de Gijón between 2018 and 2026. He played 16 matches in the competition, conceding 16 goals and keeping four clean sheets.

Defender Carlos Vázquez, known as Cavafe, and a Cuban national team international on more than one occasion, was called up three times by Alcorcón at the start of the 2020-2021 season.

Alberto Moleiro, whose father is Cuban and who is now a Villarreal star, made his name with UD Las Palmas in the silver category

Forward Alberto Moleiro, whose father is Cuban and who is now a Villarreal star, made his name with UD Las Palmas in the silver category. At that level, he took part in 75 matches between 2021 and 2023, with three goals and nine assists. And, as if that weren’t enough, he experienced promotion to the First Division with the Canary Islanders.

During the 2021-2022 campaign, forward Jorge Aguirre, now a Cuban international whose mother is from Havana, played one match in the silver division with Real Sociedad B, and eight with Mirandés in the other half of the season.

Another player called up for a Second Division match with Real Sociedad B was fullback Alex Carbonell, whose father is from Guantánamo, on November 12, 2021, although he did not see any playing time that time.

Translated by GH
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The Chinese Ambassador Boasts About Electric Tricycles Helping Collect Trash in Havana

China is helping keep the island afloat, but does not seem willing to become its financial lifeline

China’s ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, joined trash collection efforts in Vedado. / @EmbHuaXin

14ymedio, Madrid, August 25, 2026 / The hyperactive Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, highlighted on Monday the use of Chinese-made electric tricycles for collecting trash in Havana and stated that products from his country are contributing both to public services and to the island’s energy transition. The diplomat joined trash collection efforts in Vedado.

“Chinese electric tricycles are helping clean up Havana,” Hua wrote on social media. Chinese cooperation is reaching vital sectors at a time when fuel shortages, blackouts, and the economic crisis have left the capital’s basic services on the verge of collapse.

Hua also noted that he has visited other assembly and welding projects for trucks dedicated to urban sanitation. “Chinese products are contributing to Cuba’s public services and energy transition,” the diplomat said.

The aid has taken on great importance for an economy facing an unprecedented energy crisis and growing ever more dependent on foreign support. Havana and Beijing maintain close political and economic ties – a closeness both governments have repeatedly sought to emphasize in their recent statements. The Asian country has established itself as one of the few allies the island has left.

“Chinese electric tricycles are helping clean up Havana”

Cuba’s energy crisis combines the deterioration of aging infrastructure and decades of low investment with the difficulty of importing fuel, worsened this year by Washington’s pressure measures. China has responded with a series of donations. This month, a new shipment of 15,000 tons of rice arrived in Cuba, part of a 60,000-ton donation. Days earlier, the second phase of a donation of 5,000 photovoltaic solar systems had continue reading

begun.

The Asian country has also committed to a program to install 92 solar parks in Cuba, with a combined capacity of nearly 2,000 megawatts, and Xi Jinping approved assistance in January that includes 80 million dollars for the island.

Beijing has turned solar energy into the main instrument of its cooperation with Havana. Cuban imports of Chinese solar panels rose from about five million dollars in 2023 to 117 million in 2025. By the middle of this year, at least 49 solar parks built with Chinese technology were connected to the national power grid.

But Cuba’s power grid remains deteriorated, storage capacity is insufficient, and most of the energy generated by the solar panels is lost before reaching consumers. Even with the solar rollout, Cuba continues to face blackouts of more than 20 hours a day.

An analysis warns that China does not need Cuba to thrive: it is enough to keep it standing and maintain a relationship that is strategic and manageable for China

A BBC Mundo analysis published in May concluded that, despite the donations and Beijing’s growing role in renewable energy, its support for Havana remains limited. Experts consulted by the BBC noted that China is more cautious than Cuba’s other historic allies and does not intend to take on the role the Soviet Union once played as the island’s almost unlimited financier.

Another analysis from The Diplomat argues that every gap created by US sanctions – from fuel to energy infrastructure – offers Beijing an opportunity to increase its presence on the island. But the same analysis warns that China does not need Cuba to thrive: it is enough to keep it standing and maintain a relationship that is strategic and manageable for China. It sends rice when food is scarce, panels when electricity is scarce, tricycles when fuel is scarce, and assistance when infrastructure is at its limit, but it does not cover the enormous financial hole the island would need to fill to get out of the crisis.

The relationship with Cuba is part of the broader dispute between China and the US for economic and strategic influence in the region

The relationship with Cuba is no longer solely a bilateral matter between Havana and Beijing: it is also part of the broader dispute between China and the US for economic and strategic influence in the region.

Beijing has reasons to keep Cuba on its side. The island occupies a strategic position facing the US and constitutes one of China’s main political footholds in the Caribbean. That geopolitical component has gained more importance as relations between Cuba and the US deteriorate. In the round of sanctions Washington imposed on August 6 against Cuban officials and companies linked to military cooperation with other countries, it specifically singled out the Cuban military attaché in Beijing, whom it accused of taking part in acquiring military equipment from China.

Beijing responded to the sanctions on August 10, which, according to Washington, were related to Cuba’s military cooperation with China and Russia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called Chinese-Cuban cooperation “legitimate and transparent” and called on the US to lift its sanctions and the embargo.

Translated by GH
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Despite Sentences of More Than 10 Years in Prison, Dielectric Oil Thefts Spread Throughout the Country

The official press in Holguín, where 28 cases have been reported, calls these acts an “epidemic” and calls for a firm hand

Repair of a transformer following the theft of dielectric oil, in a file photo. / Granma

14ymedio, Madrid, August 25, 2026 / However much the Cuban regime has toughened penalties for the theft of dielectric oil, the thefts have not let up. In Holguín alone, according to a note published this Monday in the official press, 28 cases have been reported so far, although it is not made clear since when. These incidents, laments ¡Ahora!, “have become a kind of epidemic spread across the entire country, with apparent impunity, given the slowness with which the judicial proceedings opened against those who commit these serious crimes unfold.”

The provincial newspaper cites the most recent cases as examples, which have taken place, for instance, in the town of Levisa (in Mayarí), in the Las Torres neighborhood of the municipality of Urbano Noris, in Moa, and at the Farallones substation, which supplies Cayo Grande. In Levisa, the theft of this oil – which functions as an insulator and coolant and prevents equipment from overheating – affected not only that community but also Nicaro and Cabonico, and in Las Torres, according to ¡Ahora!, it left 69 homes without power.

From a substation in Moa, 3,000 liters of oil were stolen, which harmed 2,000 people “unable to enjoy the mere three hours of electricity that the national electrical system (SEN) can guarantee, as a consequence of the energy siege imposed by the bad neighbor to the North,” the official newspaper stated, referring to the crisis worsened by the energy blockade that the US has been carrying out since the beginning of the year. continue reading

Moa is, precisely, where the most cases have been recorded (7), followed by Mayarí (6), Urbano Noris (4) and Cueto (4)

Moa is, precisely, where the most cases have been recorded (7), followed by Mayarí (6), Urbano Noris (4) and Cueto (4). “Generally the wrongdoers operate in areas far from the towns, which makes their misdeeds easier, but all the territories report this type of impact,” says the official newspaper’s note, which laments that the remedies put in place by the authorities are not producing results.

“Restoring damaged perimeter fences, installing padlocks where warranted, sealing transformer valves, and increasing patrols and inspections of substations are among the measures established by the National Electric Union to prevent these acts of vandalism, which warrant a greater and more coordinated popular rejection given their impact,” they proclaim.

The note recalls that the theft of dielectric oil is classified in the Penal Code as the crime of sabotage and can carry sentences of between 7 and 15 years in prison, and up to 30 years or life imprisonment “if the sabotage causes serious damage or accidents.” In fact, ¡Ahora! notes, citing figures from the Electric Union, “one hundred percent of those convicted of crimes against the SEN received sentences of more than 10 years in prison.”

“The slowness with which the proceedings against the accused unfold, due to adherence to regulations, creates the illusion of impunity”

However, even this is not enough, the Holguín newspaper also acknowledges, stating: “The slowness with which the proceedings against the accused unfold, due to adherence to regulations, creates the illusion of impunity, which encourages the criminal and causes a sense of powerlessness among the population and discredits the police and judicial institutions.”

Two of the trials that have come to light, indeed, show the lengthy sentences. Last May 23, the Prosecutor’s Office sought 12 years in prison against a 36-year-old man accused of stealing 70 liters from a substation in Cayajabos, Artemisa. In July, another sentence of 12 years became known for the theft of oil in Bungo 2 (Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba), which caused about 48 hours of power outages. But neither the threat of lengthy sentences nor the calls by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to apply a “firm hand” seem to stop the phenomenon.

In Santiago de Cuba, the theft of dielectric oil from a transformer supplying Molecular Medicine last week not only left the facility affected but also forced the transfer of samples all the way to Granma for a patient in serious condition who needed urgent tests.

It was the most recent incident in the long series of similar thefts that has affected the entire island in recent months. The product, which functions as an insulator and coolant and prevents equipment from overheating, can be used as fuel, in place of diesel, and as a lubricant, which is why it has become prized on the street.

Translated by GH.

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Dominican Republic Expels Nine Cuban ‘Spies,’ but Ten ‘Heroes’ Show Up in Havana

With the exception of Vice Consul Odin Ysla Hernández, the regime does not identify its officials or state the posts they held at the Embassy in Santo Domingo

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and Deputy Minister Josefina Vidal (both at center) at the “welcome” ceremony for the diplomats expelled from the Dominican Republic / Minrex

14ymedio, Madrid, August 20, 2026 / The Cuban regime has received its diplomats expelled by the Dominican Republic with grand words but very little information. And what little there is, is contradictory. The foreign ministry of the Caribbean country ordered the withdrawal, this past Thursday, of nine members of the Cuban legation, but in Havana, this Wednesday, ten showed up.

At the “welcome” ceremony, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez was present, but the official press conspicuously gave coverage not to his words but to those of Deputy Minister Josefina Vidal. “The Dominican authorities have not been able to present a single reason to justify such a decision, because none exists. It has therefore been made clear that they have done nothing more than bow to pressure from the United States government,” Vidal stated.

Rodríguez, to whom other official reports give precedence to the title of “member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party” over that of minister, expressed himself via X, as he usually does, reporting the “welcome to the Cuban diplomats and their families expelled for no reason whatsoever.” In the same vein as Vidal, he said: “We welcome them knowing that, adhering to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, they jealously upheld the principles of Revolutionary Diplomacy, as our officials do in any international setting and in the face of any imperialist pressure.”

Of the expelled officials, it has identified only one, as vice consul: Odin Ysla Hernández, but he does not appear on the Ministry’s official website

From the outset, the Dominican government claimed that the measure was adopted in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that it would not offer further details, as this involved “diplomatic communications,” but neither has the Cuban regime provided any. Of the expelled officials, it has identified only one, as vice consul: Odin Ysla Hernández, but he does not appear on continue reading

the Ministry’s official website as accredited personnel in Santo Domingo.

On that site only three positions appear: Ángel Arzuaga Reyes, as “ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary”; Norberto Díaz Franco, as economic and commercial counselor; and Damila Hechavarría Argudín, as second secretary in charge of consular affairs. It is not clear whether they are among those expelled.

Ysla Hernández spoke at yesterday’s event “on behalf of the expelled officials,” lamenting that the notification from the Dominican foreign ministry arrived “only 48 hours before the centenary of the birth of Fidel Castro was to be commemorated” and calling the decision “unjustified” and “another imperialist ploy.” The diplomat went so far as to state: “My brothers and sisters and I, returning to the homeland, feel only pride in a duty fulfilled and immense joy at returning to our land. The expulsion, given the motives behind it, is a medal pinned to our chest.”

On August 13 itself, the date of the centenary of the leader of the Cuban Revolution and when the expulsion of the legation was made public, there was, he recounted, a “political-cultural gala” dedicated to Castro, “attended by more than a thousand friends of Cuba representing the Dominican people.” Likewise, he offered congratulations for the third-place finish by the Cuban delegation at the Central American and Caribbean Games recently held in Santo Domingo.

“The expulsion, given the motives behind it, is a medal pinned to our chest”

It is precisely at these Games that investigations by the Dominican press place the origin of the reason for the Cubans’ expulsion. According to Diario Libre, security agents from the island infiltrated sports facilities during the Games to watch over the athletes of the fatherland and prevent defections.

To gain access to the venues and approach the Cuban competitors without arousing suspicion, they went so far as to wear the uniforms of athletes from other countries. The operation, the report indicated, published on Tuesday, was detected by Dominican security agencies, which removed several of those involved from the facilities.

Infiltration by Cuban security intensified during the first part of the Games, by which point two defections had already occurred: Moisés David Torres Puig, on the very day the competition opened; and rower Leah Daniela Almeida, a bronze medalist.

This information matched the account obtained by 14ymedio from the circle of one of the five Cuban athletes who left the delegation during the Games. The source stated that the athlete had been warned that Cuban authorities were trying to locate him and was advised not to go on social media so as not to be found.

“I do believe 100% that it’s because of our case,” the athlete stated, according to the same source. “They wanted to kidnap us in a country where they have no right to do that.”

In total, five athletes left the national team: in addition to Torres Puig and Almeida, fencers Adán Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz, and center fielder Yasmani Álvarez of the softball team.

Translated by GH.

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Cubalex Reports ‘Unprecedented Increase’ in Protests During First Half of 2026

In the first six months of the year, 766 demonstrations were recorded in 141 municipalities across the island

Images of demonstrators in Morón, this past March. Screen capture

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, August 20, 2026,The organization Cubalex stated this Wednesday that “the energy, water, and health crisis” caused an “unprecedented increase” in protests in Cuba during the first half of 2026, which reached 766 demonstrations in 141 municipalities across the island.

These demonstrations reached “historic peaks” in February and June, the NGO reported, noting that in the latter month it recorded as many as 31 protests in a single day. A total of 253 were counted, “the highest number in a single month” since Cubalex began documenting them, in 2022.

The protests “not only increased in number, but also in radicalization in response to the structural crisis” the country is experiencing, said Cubalex researcher Salomé García Bacallao, during a virtual discussion held today to present the Semi-Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Cuba.

She added that social discontent in Cuba is expressed through “burning of garbage, pot-banging protests, chants, signs, occupation of public spaces, and street continue reading

closures”.

The epicenter of the protests continues to be Havana, with 495 events in six months

In this regard, she noted that the most “radicalized” incidents recorded were the burning of the entrance to the municipal headquarters building of the Communist Party of Cuba in the city of Morón, in Ciego de Ávila, this past March, and a similar action at a museum dedicated to a guerrilla fighter close to Ernesto Che Guevara, in the town of Contramaestre, in Santiago de Cuba.

However, according to Cubalex, the epicenter of the protests continues to be Havana, with 495 events in six months, “registering a progressive shift from the outskirts toward central areas of the city”, while the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, with 81 demonstrations, and Matanzas, with 25, established themselves as the second and third centers of mobilization.

According to the report, the Cuban government “responded with a parallel intensification of repression” against the protests through actions such as “mass arrests at the time of the demonstrations, followed by summonses, threats, fines, and prolonged criminal proceedings weeks or months later”.

The NGO also denounced other repressive activities against the “right to freedom of expression and information”

Cubalex’s data indicate that 257 incidents of arbitrary detention were recorded during the half-year, representing a “70% increase over the previous half-year, with at least 410 victims”.

The NGO also denounced other repressive activities against the “right to freedom of expression and information”, which are carried out through “detentions, criminal proceedings, and sanctions for critical opinions, selective communication cuts, and hacking for purposes of surveillance and censorship”.

And it emphasized that in the prison system, “violence and preventable deaths due to medical negligence in a context of absolute impunity” persisted, and it denounced “the high concentration of vulnerabilities among persons deprived of liberty, Afro-descendants, human rights defenders, and former political prisoners”.

Translated by GH.

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Oil and Powdered Milk Prices Drive Up Inflation in Cuba

In July, the monthly CPI rose 2.56%, the cumulative figure since January reached 15.12%, and the year-on-year rate stood at 20.70%

Sale of oil, at 4,500 pesos, at an informal stand on Galiano Street, in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, 19 August 2026, Madrid / For another month, official data – far more benevolent than independent estimates, such as those of economist Steve Hanke – once again confirm what ordinary Cubans see for themselves every day: inflation shows no let-up. According to the most recent report from the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), the consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.56% in July compared with the previous month.

The cumulative increase in prices reached 15.12% since January, while the year-on-year variation stood at 20.70%, well above the figure recorded for the same period the previous year (14.37%). Hanke, for his part, in a chart published this same Tuesday, places the island among the countries with the highest inflation in the world, with a year-on-year rate of 67%, behind only Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan.

As the main factor behind the rise (accounting for 63.18% of the total) are, once again, food and non-alcoholic beverages. These grew 3.51% during the month, above the overall average. Their weight in the consumer basket means that this increase has a far greater impact than that of other categories, whose prices rose even faster, such as alcoholic beverages and continue reading

tobacco (which rose 6.07%) and, to a lesser extent, restaurants and hotels (3.68%).

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation

Among food items, the highest costs go to bottled oil, which has officially ranged from 1,400 pesos per litre (the lowest price recorded, in Pinar del Río) to nearly 2,800 (in Havana). Next comes powdered milk, at between 900 and 1,500 pesos per pound.

Transport recorded a monthly increase of 1.05% and contributed 4.06% to the rise, while miscellaneous goods and services rose 2.33%, with an effect of 4.86%. Furniture and household goods rose 2.22% and contributed 2.10% to the overall increase.

The remaining categories had a smaller impact. Housing services rose 1.60%, with an effect of 1.32%; clothing and footwear rose 1.30%, with an effect of 0.97%; and recreation and culture rose 0.80%, with an effect of 0.50%. Communications barely changed, at 0.08%, while health prices fell 0.01%.

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation, which consist basically of price caps, controls on commercial profits, inspections, and fines. The result of the new regulations, however, is already becoming visible on the streets: lost products, an exponential rise in food prices on the informal market and, above all, closed businesses.

Translated by GH

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Iberia Extends Suspension of Flights to Cuba Until June 2027

From Madrid, only Air Europa flies, three times a week, and Air China, once as part of its route from Beijing

Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, August 19, 2026 / The Spanish airline Iberia will extend the suspension of its direct flights to Cuba until at least June 30, 2027. The company itself confirmed this to 14ymedio, citing “the situation the country is going through, which has significantly affected both demand and operating conditions.”

Iberia also reports that ticket sales will reopen starting in July of next year, “provided that conditions allow.” For customers who already hold an issued ticket, the company has expanded its flexibility conditions.

Affected passengers can therefore choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to one of these regional alternatives – precisely competitors of the island – Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Mexico.

Last April, Iberia announced that it was canceling its route to Cuba, at least during the low season. It was the first time in the Spanish airline’s history that it had done so for reasons attributable to conditions on the island – in this case, the unprecedented drop in tourism. At the time, it stated that it intended to resume flights for the high season, starting in November, but continue reading

this will ultimately not happen.

Affected passengers can choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, or Mexico

Until then, the company maintained three weekly flights from Madrid to Cuba, which were reduced to two in May. Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines, which has a codeshare agreement with the Spanish airline.

Iberia was one of the few airlines that persevered on its routes to Cuba, despite the unprecedented energy crisis, which worsened after the United States’ intervention in Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent oil blockade against the island. On February 9, it announced that, despite the shortage of jet fuel, it would keep its flights to Havana operating, refueling in the Dominican Republic. The lack of travelers from Spain, however, ultimately made the operation unsustainable.

Currently, the only airlines flying from Madrid to the island are Air Europa, with three weekly flights and a refueling stop in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) on the return flight, and Air China, as part of its route from Beijing.

According to the most recent data released by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), tourist arrivals have fallen below the dismal figures recorded during the covid pandemic. Only 28,100 international travelers arrived on the island in June, slightly below the previous two months, when the figure stood at just over 30,500.

Traditional tourist markets for the island now carry little weight: Spain contributed 704 travelers that month, Canada 698, and Russia 99. The final blow to visits from the Iberian Peninsula came from the threat of sanctions against foreign hotel chains, mainly the Spanish companies Meliá, Iberostar, and Barceló, which withdrew from the country in July. The next Onei report will show the effects on the sector.

Translated by GH.

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Without Giving Details on the Sentences, an Official Report in Cuba Registers 49 Femicide Trials in 2025

Adolescent pregnancy, starting at age 10, remains at a high level and is considered a “serious social and health problem”

“Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / A total of 49 femicides were tried on the island during 2025. This is indicated by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), in a document released this Monday through the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality (Ocig), which does not specify when the killings occurred.

The figure provided by the official body is, in its own words, that of “female persons aged 15 and older who were victims of murder at the hands of their partners, ex-partners, or other persons for gender-related reasons, known through judicial proceedings tried in the year 2025.” This represents, as the Ocig boasts, “a slight decrease” in the number of murder victims known through judicial proceedings compared to both the previous year (76) and 2023 (60).

For 2025, the platform Alas Tensas recorded 48 femicides, and 14ymedio – which does not consider murders in robberies or other random circumstances to be gender-related – recorded 42. The fact that the official body reports no victims for Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Guantánamo, and Isla de la Juventud reaffirms that those 49 reported killings may have occurred continue reading

in previous years: at least in the first four provinces, according to independent media data, femicides did in fact occur last year.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.”

By province, Havana had the most cases (12), and its rate (1.54 per 100,000 women) rises slightly above the average of 1.19/100,000. The highest rate by far is found in Mayabeque, with 4.37/100,000 and 6 victims, followed by Ciego de Ávila, with 2.55/100,000 and 4 women killed, and Camagüey, with 2.16/100,000.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.” Of the total, 32 had minor children, who were left motherless, totaling 54 children. 75.5%, the report continues, “had no employment ties.”

The age group with the highest concentration of victims is 22 to 44 years old (38), and by type of area, more cases occur in urban areas (33) than in rural areas (16). Lastly, the Ocig notes: “Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority. None of the victims had any type of disability at the time of death.”

Furthermore, as also reported in the same document, the adolescent pregnancy rate in Cuba remained at its highest level – between 1.3 in 2021 and 1.4 per 1,000 girls in 2025 – in the youngest age group (10 to 14 years old). That indicator’s trend for the 15-to-19 age group did decline over that period, from 48.5 to 43.2 per 1,000.

“This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society”

For the youngest adolescents (10-14 years old), the highest rates by province were recorded in Mayabeque (2.2 per thousand), Guantánamo (2), Granma and Holguín (both with 1.9), followed by Camagüey (1.8), Pinar del Río (1.7), Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus (1.4 each).

The Ocig presents the figures with a note: “This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society. Let us care for and educate so as to build a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is without risk, and every young person achieves their full development.”
18% of the total number of adolescent pregnancies in Cuba involve girls under 14 years old, according to official data published by the Ministry of Public Health.

The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Reinol García Moreiro, described the data as worrying. He stressed that births to mothers under 15 years old are on the rise: there were 381 in 2021, while in 2022 and 2023 there were 397 and 419, respectively.

He also warned about unions between adults and minors as one of the main causes of this problem.

Adolescent pregnancy in Cuba is considered a “serious social and health problem” by the authorities, with close to 18-19% of total births coming from mothers between 15 and 19 years old.

Translated by GH.

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Boat With 19 Cubans Aboard Remains Missing a Week After Leaving Pinar Del Río

Among the passengers, who were headed to Mexico, are seven minors, including two-year-old twins

Images of some of the missing rafters, shared by relatives. / Mario Vallejo/Facebook / Mario Vallejo/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / At least 19 Cubans, including 7 minors, remain missing a week after setting out on a boat from Pinar del Río. The alarm was raised a few days ago by relatives of the rafters, who had had no word from them since their departure on August 11 at around two in the afternoon, and who asked for help from the authorities or from anyone who might know whether they had been assisted by the coast guard, a pleasure boat, or fishermen.

Broadcaster Mario Vallejo made an appeal on his social media, in a post to which he attached images captured by the rafters themselves aboard the vessel.

According to a report published this Monday by Martí Noticias, Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, through the Standing Guard of the Fifth Naval Region (RN 5), headquartered in Isla Mujeres (Quintana Roo), has not yet located the vessel. “The search-and-rescue naval stations within the jurisdiction have been placed on alert by RN 5, pending further information about the case,” an official from the agency told the Cuban-American newspaper. He also stated that “the port captaincies and all search-and-rescue naval stations are aware of the vessel.”

“It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled”

The agent, who did not give his name, was asked by Martí Noticias whether helicopters were being used in the search, and replied: “They have not been deployed; that is up to the naval command to decide.”

In Cancún, where the rafters are presumed to have been headed, some relatives are waiting, such as Yunaidy Martínez Ramírez, a native of Havana. “My entire family is on that boat,” she told Martí Noticias. Her husband and their three young children are among the missing. She gave that outlet some details about the crossing and expressed her fear: “It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then continue reading

they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled. The boatman said they would try to sail under sail… They brought food, but after so many days I’m afraid they may have nothing left.” That communication suggests that the boat was, in fact, not a makeshift vessel, since they had radio contact.

Among the passengers are also the twins Leosdel and Leosniel, only two years old, along with their mother, Yusimy Garrobo Leiva, 35, residents of Vertientes, Camagüey.

Martínez Ramírez denounced to Martí Noticias the slowness of the Mexican authorities’ response: “The Navy always tells me the same thing: that they are searching without results. In the first few days they kept passing me from one office to another. The twins’ father and I had to go directly to the main base; if we don’t call, they tell us nothing. They have helicopters and ships to search by air and sea; they should be searching faster. I’m desperate, going out of my mind, about to go look for them myself.”

Martí Noticias recalls a similar case that occurred on August 8, when a boat that also set out from Pinar del Río bound for Cancún sank near Las Martinas after suffering a breakdown. The disaster claimed the lives of young Leodannis Sánchez, 17, and his partner Osmaikel, 19.

After a long stretch with little news of rafters, on August 13 at least a dozen Cuban migrants came ashore at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West, Florida. They were traveling in a boat they had stolen from the state-run company Marina Marlin Tarará, and are now in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Translated by GH.

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Meteorologists Warn of the Effects of El Niño on Cuba

The phenomenon could cause effects on the island such as high temperatures, drought and the risk of a cyclone

House destroyed by Hurricane Melissa, in November 2025, in the town of Guamá, Santiago de Cuba. / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, August 17, 2026 / Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) warns that this year the presence of the El Niño climate phenomenon could cause effects such as high temperatures, drought and the risk of a cyclone affecting the island.

Known as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), it is an interaction between ocean and atmosphere that occurs when surface temperatures in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific rise above their usual values, explains an article published this Sunday on the state-run site Cubadebate.

Among the possible effects associated with El Niño, Cuban specialists foresee a summer with high temperatures and a lack of rainfall due to a combination of atmospheric and oceanic factors that could favor the occurrence of meteorological drought and water stress in the country. In addition, they point out that under El Niño conditions, which will extend until continue reading

the end of 2026, cyclonic activity in the Atlantic basin usually decreases, but its influence does not eliminate the risk of a cyclone’s impact.

Insmet’s forecast anticipates a cyclone season “less active than normal” and estimates a 40% probability that Cuba will be directly affected by at least one hurricane during the current cycle, which runs until November 30.

In the case of tropical storms, the probability of a direct impact rises to 75%

Meanwhile, in the case of tropical storms, the probability of a direct impact rises to 75%.

According to the forecast, up to eleven tropical cyclones are expected to form, eight of them developing in the Atlantic Ocean basin, two in the Caribbean Sea and one in the Gulf of Mexico.

Five of the cyclones are anticipated to potentially reach hurricane strength, and two would be classified as major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

Among the hurricanes that have affected Cuba in recent years are Melissa (2025), Oscar and Rafael (2024) and Ian (2022).

Cuba has still not fully recovered from the devastation caused by the impact of Melissa in the eastern provinces of Guantánamo, Granma, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba – with winds of 200 kilometers per hour and rainfall of up to 400 millimeters in some parts of the country.

Its impact caused no fatalities, but did cause extensive material damage to more than 116,000 homes, as well as 600 state medical facilities, more than 2,000 educational centers, some 100,000 hectares of crops, and transportation, telecommunications, electricity and water supply infrastructure.

Translated by GH

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José Martí, ‘Persona Non Grata’ in the Galician Village of Fidel Castro’s Father

The socialist mayor of Láncara conveys the feelings of local residents: “Martí was one of the organizers of the war of independence, in which nearly 50,000 Spanish soldiers died”

Unveiling of the bust of José Martí in Láncara (Lugo, Galicia), in the presence of, among others, Cuba’s ambassador to Spain, Marcelino Medina, and consul Ingrid Izquierdo. / Cuban Consulate in Galicia

14ymedio, Madrid, August 17, 2026 / The mayor of Láncara, in the Galician province of Lugo, has asked Cuban consul Ingrid Izquierdo to remove the bust of José Martí installed next to the house where Ángel Castro – Fidel Castro’s father – was born, which was unveiled last Thursday to mark the centenary of the birth of the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

In a letter published Saturday on his social media, the mayor, socialist Darío Piñeiro, conveys to the representative of the island in the Cantabrian region “the deep unease and indignation” of local residents toward the newly unveiled statue.

According to his letter, the monument is perceived by the public “not as a diplomatic symbol, but as a direct insult to ordinary people, reviving tensions, divisions, and a climate of confrontation that harks back to dark times such as the Cuban war.” For this reason, he calls for its “immediate removal.”

“No symbol in our municipality should be a source of discord, provocation, or offense to the local population, regardless of whether it stands within the boundaries of private property,” the mayor states. He continues: “The community has made clear its demand that this space be continue reading

free of an element that generates hostility and widespread rejection. Our city’s public or private space cannot become a stage for grievance or a reminder of old wars that wound the sensibilities of our people.”

“I find it regrettable that around 300 people are celebrating the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth while the Cuban people are starving”

Piñeiro warns in the letter that “should a satisfactory response or the removal of the piece not be obtained, the Town Council will proceed, as a corresponding measure, to the immediate removal of the monument of similar characteristics located on municipal public land,” referring to another statue of Martí located in the village of A Pobra de San Xiao, which belongs to the same municipality of Láncara.

In the same post where he made his letter public, the mayor adds a comment in quotation marks – without clarifying whether it is his own opinion or that of a fellow citizen – which reads: “I find it regrettable that around 300 people are celebrating the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth while the Cuban people are starving. I sincerely believe they lack sensitivity and dignity.”

The same text goes on to say that “José Martí was one of the organizers of the war of independence between Cuba and Spain, in which nearly 50,000 Spanish soldiers died, among them many Galicians and residents of Láncara. I do not find it acceptable that the families of those soldiers have to see a bust of the executioner of their relatives on a daily basis.” Fidel Castro’s own father took part in that war after enlisting in the Spanish Army.

“Martí was the intellectual author of Moncada, as Fidel himself stated, and remains the ethical and political wellspring of the Cuban Revolution”

And he ends with a third point: “I ask that you be consistent with your ideals: I cannot understand how someone who identifies as a communist and opposes private property in his own country can own property in Spain, which he could well have donated to the Town Council or to the Val de Láncara cultural association. It is contradictory to be a communist in Cuba and a capitalist in Spain, all the more so given that the transfer or sale of the house was made to a group of businessmen. Do they merely claim to be communists, or are they only communists when it suits or benefits them?”

Piñeiro himself confirmed to the local press that he will send the letter to the Cuban Consulate for Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, headquartered in Santiago de Compostela, this Tuesday, since Monday is a local holiday.

The bust next to Ángel Castro’s house is a donation from the Láncara-Cuba Friendship Association, and was indeed unveiled on August 13 in a massive event led by the association’s president, Antonio Sobrado; the island’s ambassador to Spain, Marcelino Medina; and consul Izquierdo. The authorities of the Láncara Town Council, governed by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, did not attend, however.

“Martí was the intellectual author of Moncada, as Fidel himself stated, and remains the ethical and political wellspring of the Cuban Revolution. To honor Martí and Fidel today is to reaffirm the continuity of a deeply humanist, pro-independence, and Latin Americanist line of thought, one that continues to inspire those who believe in a more just world,” were the words of Ambassador Medina when the statue was unveiled.

“Cuba’s government must reassess its strategy for becoming part of world trade and open the doors that would allow it to do so”

Castroite media covered the event in detail, with extensive criticism of the United States’ “genocidal blockade” of the island and songs by Silvio Rodríguez. At the same event, the Friendship Medal of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (Icap) was awarded to Ángel García Seoane, mayor of Oleiros (A Coruña) for the past 23 years on behalf of the independent party Alternativa dos Veciños.

García Seoane heaped praise on Fidel Castro and closed his speech with a “Homeland or death, we shall overcome,” but he also said that “Cuba cannot keep bleeding out through the departure of its youth” and that “the course must be changed while preserving the values of the revolution.” In a statement carried by El Español, he asserted: “Cuba’s government must reassess its strategy for becoming part of world trade and open the doors that would allow it to do so.”

The house where Ángel Castro was born, now converted into the Center for the Interpretation of Galician Emigration, was the “epicenter” of tributes in Spain to Fidel Castro for his centenary. Unveiled by Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl Castro, on July 28, 2022, the building was visited by the leader of the Cuban Revolution in 1992, accompanied on that occasion by then-president of Galicia Manuel Fraga, a former Francoist minister.

Translated by GH

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