Translator: Regina Anavy – Translating Cuba

At the Agroindustrial Fair, Cuba Seeks Foreign Investors for Its Ruined Agriculture

An article in ‘Granma’ describes the bleak outlook for the sugar harvest in Guantánamo province.

Argeo Martínez is the only sugar mill in the east of the country that joined the campaign this year / Prensa Guantánamo

14ymedio, Havana, 18 March 2025 — The International Agroindustrial Food Fair of Cuba began this Monday in Havana, at a time when national agriculture is experiencing a deep crisis and desperately needs foreign investors to revive production. Proof of this is an unusual article by the State newspaper Granma that describes the bleak panorama of the harvest in the eastern provinces and bears a title that says it all: With such ingenuity and effort, where’s the harvest?

In the eastern zone, the Argeo Martínez sugar mill is the only one that has assumed the grinding (there are only 14 throughout the country this year), but its entry into the campaign was late, and after the appearance of other “inconveniences,” the delays have accumulated. From the beginning, the mill was far from reaching the 26,000 tonnes of sugar it achieved in 2014. For this year, the plan is one fourth as much, and with a deadline of March 25, they already owe 700 tonnes.

This translates into thousands of tonnes of cane not being processed, according to the mill’s administrator, due to rain and other obstacles.

The raw material “reached the conveyor belt with a delay of up to 90 hours and was often burned”

According to Granma, the raw material “reached the mill with a delay of up to 90 hours and was often burned,” which the person in charge of the harvest in Guantánamo – where the mill is located – justifies with the poor state of the fields: “In some seedlings there is pica pica,” a plant that stings the skin of the cane cutters and which it is better not to approach,” says the continue reading

newspaper.

Other plants have also invaded the oldest plantations, neglected for two and a half years. Cutting them down, the article argues, would demand too much effort on the part of the macheteros, so it is decided to burn the field,* and only the blackened cane remains standing. “The scientific literature states that the burning of cane fields affects biodiversity and the ecosystem, reduces the natural fertility of soils and reduces the quality of the raw material,” the media emphasizes.

The same was alleged by Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca in his visit to Argeo Martínez last week, when he asked for “more discipline” on the part of the employees: “What kind of harvest can be obtained from a burnt cane that arrives late to the conveyor belt?” he scolded.

The director also “saw railroad cars waiting too long to be unloaded, and he knew – from the record – that there was cane in the field waiting to be transported, a sign of discontinuity in the flow of raw material to the mill,” says the media.

To this are added the failures, unforeseen stops, problems in the boilers, “disorders here and there in the 162-year-old ’rheumatic’ colossus”

Granma also highlights “other causes and bad luck” that delay the transport to the mill. “The humidity on the ground has risen, and many times, because of it, the cutting and lifting slow down. The mud makes it difficult and sometimes prevents the cane from arriving on time, which takes away its freshness,” emphasizes the administrator of Argeo Martínez

Added to this are failures, unforeseen shutdowns, boiler problems, “disorders here and there in the 162-year-old ’rheumatic’ colossus” whose ailments can no longer be corrected with temporary patches.

However, some workers take responsibility for the failure with voluntarism and promise a better future for the harvest. The administrator believes that the next plantings “will give more sugar.” Until now, the yield was 5.79 tonnes of sugar for every hundred tonnes of ground cane, but “in recent days that index exceeds 6.50,” which managers see as a “good symptom.” And they assure: “we will get to eight.”

“At first glance it seems impossible,” predicts Granma, which attributes to the mill a “gypsy curse disguised as interruptions and inefficiencies, which has haunted them year after year for more than a decade.” If it is achieved, it is thanks to the “efforts of the operators and the workers.” And it clarifies: “The good, the bad and the regular of the current sugar campaign in the Upper East depends on this sugar mill, the only one working in Guantánamo.”

For years, each sugar campaign has been worse than the previous one, and, in 2024, the Island reached its lowest point. Barely 160,000 tonnes were produced, less than half of what was achieved a year earlier, when 350,000 were reached. Last year, Cuba also imported more sugar than it produced for the first time.

Sugar is just one product of those presented – all in a similar state – by Cuban agriculture to companies in Spain, Italy, Panama, Chile and Brazil, and to the 46 firms from 20 countries visiting the Agroindustrial Fair. Currently, according to official data, the country imports 80% of the food it consumes, including 100% of the products in the basic family basket.

*Translator’s note: Burning the cane field eliminates the grass and makes it easier to cut at the base of the plant.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

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.

Electricity Returns in Havana and Now There Is No Water

A power deficit of 1,300 MW is forecast for today as more tankers carrying oil and fuel continue to arrive.

The Luyanó neighborhood has been without water for more than a week / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 18 March 2025 — After the collapse last Friday of the national electricity system (SEN), electricity is not the only thing missing for Cubans. In Havana, the image of elderly people carrying buckets or pushing wheelbarrows with water containers has become frequent. In some neighborhoods, the supply cycle was interrupted by the total blackout, and, since then, “not even one drop of water” has reached homes.

This is the case of Luyanó, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, where the neighbors who talked to 14ymedio assure that they have been “more than a week”, since Monday, March 10, without water. Normally, they say, the service works every other day. The options to overcome the shortage range from appealing to the kindness of neighbors with wells to going to relatives with reservations to be able to bathe or cook.

In Nuevo Vedado, where the editorial staff of this newspaper is located, the situation is similar. “I only have a small reserve left, and I hope that this afternoon there is enough water in the building’s cistern to be able to pump it into a container,” says a resident in the area.

“I had to go to the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital on Monday. and there were nurses complaining that they had not been able to wash their uniforms”

I had to go to the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital on Monday, and there were nurses complaining that they had not been able to wash their uniforms because they still had no power in their homes,” adds the neighbor, worried about the hygiene of the employees who are exposed to diseases and infections. In the center, despite now having electricity, “the servers were down and there was no network,” she adds.

According to an article published yesterday in the State newspaper Granma, the “greatest complexity” with the water supply is in the capital. Interviewed by the official media, José Antonio Hernández Álvarez, director of Water and Sanitation in the province, explained that water service would not be available until “the afternoon-night of Wednesday” if the supply is restored.

“The stability in the pumping systems begins about 72 hours after being energized, in this case after the reconnection of the national electrical system, which collapsed last Friday,” Granma added.

The weekend of total blackouts has reminded many of the obstacles they faced at the end of the year, when the SEN suffered three power outages in three months. In Holguín, on the other side of the island, Manuel still laments that most of the food he had refrigerated ended up in the trash. “We had to bring food to my wife’s grandmother, who lives in the countryside about five kilometers from the city, because everything went bad,” he says.

He explains that this week everything has returned to the usual “normality,” at least in Havana. “The blackouts are now scheduled and will happen as before. But in the countryside it takes two hours and more to turn on the power, taking the programming schedule as a reference,” he says.

The image of elderly people carrying buckets or pushing wheelbarrows with water containers has become frequent in Havana / 14ymedio

As of this Monday, and despite the fact that many Cubans continue to suffer the consequences of the total blackout of the weekend, the Electric Union began again to broadcast its usual report. For this Tuesday, the deficit is forecast at 1,300 megawatts, a number that has become standard in recent months and that represents almost half of the Island’s demand.

The situation is barely alleviated by the tankers that arrive on the Island and take time to distribute the tons of oil they bring. “It took the Corossol about 120 days to unload its precious cargo of urgently needed fuel,” Texas University expert Jorge Piñón told this newspaper about the ship loaded with 650,000 barrels of diesel that had been circulating around the Island since November before docking at the port of Matanzas on March 3.

The same is repeated, says the specialist, with the Marlin Aventurine, which has been waiting to unload in the operational part of the Matanzas Supertanker Base since March 5. On the horizon, with an expected arrival in Matanzas on April 1, he explains, there is another ship approaching, the Marlin Ammolite, with an estimated 330,000 barrels of fuel from France. “Does Cuba have a problem in the storage capacity in its logistics chain or a financial problem?” asks Piñón, who emphasizes that these three tankers “do not come from Mexico, Russia or Venezuela, where there would not be any kind of delay for payment reasons.”

They are all, for the moment, questions: “Is it Cuba who is paying in cash for the fuel in these three tankers? Or is it a third party, Russia or Venezuela, that is the counterparty through a credit to the supplier?” Not counting the freight, the expert estimates these three tankers carry fuel worth 85 million dollars.

Meanwhile, unit 6 of the Renté thermoelectric plant, in Santiago de Cuba; the 2 of Felton, in Holguín; the 6 of Mariel, in “maintenance in Artemisa; as well as the 3 of Santa Cruz del Norte, in Mayabeque; the 3 and 4 of Cienfuegos, and the 5 of Renté are out of the game.

Another 435 megawatts are not available in thermal generation, he says without offering explanations. And, finally, 42 distributed generation plants are not working due to lack of fuel, affecting another 176 megawatts.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Radio and Television Martí Operations Are Paralyzed, Its Employees on Administrative Leave

“We are at home and they have kept our salaries until they decide what they are going to cut and what stays,” says a worker at the entity.

The media, active since 1985, seeks to promote democracy and the free flow of information in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 16 March 2025 — On Saturday, all employees of Radio and Television Martí were put on administrative leave, after a decision by the Trump administration to temporarily suspend the operation of the entity. The media, active since 1985, which seeks to promote democracy in Cuba, has been practically paralyzed.

“They sent us home, but our salaries will continue until they decide who will be cut and who stays,” said an employee who works in the digital division of Martí News. “We hope that this is only temporary and that everything will return to the way it was before, for the good of Cubans,” said the source, who preferred to remain anonymous.

The workers were notified of the temporary suspension of their activities through an email that reached their mailboxes on March 15. According to the electronic message, those affected will not only keep their salary for the time being but will also receive all their benefits until further notice.

The pause of Radio and Television Martí has come just one day after Trump signed an executive order to begin dismantling the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The entity in turn manages the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, Middle East Broadcasting Network and Open Technology Fund.

Initially, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which oversees the Martí group with its radio, television and news website about the Island, was not included in the list of media. But this Saturday, the relief of its employees turned into deep concern after receiving the announcement of the group’s administrative leave. continue reading

During the day, the digital platform has continued to publish news but at a much slower pace than before. Readers have also perceived a drop in the use made by the website of press agency images, given that this week the cancellation of USAGM’s contracts with Reuters, AP and AFP was announced.

The decrease in the services of these agencies has caused Radio and Television Martí to have fewer photos, videos and other materials about the reality of the Island, which they used in their coverage and transmissions. According to the CaféFuerte website, the company has “about 100 workers between federal employees and contractors. Of the 46 professional employees registered on the federal payroll, all receive salaries above $100,000 per year.”

An internal source had assured this newspaper that they were not afraid that the Trump administration intended to close the Martí group

Last month, however, workers felt confident in the continuity of the project. An internal source had assured this newspaper that they were not afraid that the Trump Administration intended to close the Martí group.

“Elon Musk walks like a child with a torch in his hand burning left and right and causing concern among federal employees, a group of people who thought their jobs were secure. In the case of Martí, we are in one of the best moments in our history, with numbers that show how well we are doing our work: we exceed one million followers on Facebook; we have millions of views on our social networks from Cuba, and we are expanding audiences on the Island,” he stressed at the time.

Founded 40 years ago on May 20, Radio Martí was for several decades one of the few unofficial sources of information about the Island. In 1990, Television Martí came to light, which can barely be seen inside Cuba, where the radio signal also suffers from strong interference in several parts of the country.

The existence of the stations popularly known as “los Martí” has caused friction between the Cuban and US governments. Havana frequently demands that Washington eliminate transmissions, as happened during the diplomatic thaw led by Barack Obama and Raúl Castro from December 2014.

But the stations have suffered attacks not only from the regime. They experienced an intense controversy after a report commissioned by the federal government that revealed irregularities in the information management of certain topics.

One of its directors, former Miami mayor Tomás Regalado, resigned in September 2019, after a scandal involving his son, also an employee of the entity, who, allegedly, manipulated a news story about the popular riots in Nicaragua.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

What Isn’t Broadcast on Cuba’s Radio Ciudad Del Mar

The sound engineer, apparently removed from all official propaganda, also receives requests not to broadcast certain “controversial opinions.”

In recent years, with the intensification of the crisis, controls on the station’s employees have also increased / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, March 17, 2025 — A few weeks ago Adriano resigned from Radio Ciudad del Mar, the local station in Cienfuegos where he had worked as a sound engineer since his college graduation. The decision cost him, especially because of the uncertainty of not knowing if he was going to find another job that he would enjoy as much. But he tells this newspaper that he does not regret putting a stop to what was happening inside the medium: “No one has the right to think for me or put words in my mouth.”

Working on the radio was not a dream he had as a child, but as a teenager, when he became interested in the work of Radio Ciudad del Mar, located in a two-story house in front of the Cienfuegos boardwalk. He was not so attracted to talking on the programs as to doing them himself, taking care of the music and sounds, and after graduating from Physical Culture he managed to sneak into the station.

However, with the work of a sound engineer, apparently far from all official propaganda, also came requests not to give certain “controversial opinions.” “The time came when it was impossible to broadcast one’s real thoughts or give opinions different from what is established on social networks and in the studio itself,” he says. continue reading

“The time came when it was impossible to broadcast one’s real thoughts or give opinions different from what is established on social networks and in the studio itself”

For Adriano the threshold of the door of Radio Ciudad del Mar marked the border between two different realities. Inside, the team and especially the announcers, “are continuously forced to broadcast news that is very distant from reality.” Outside, in the street, “we face criticism from listeners who call us liars or say we gloss over things that are serious. We find ourselves locked between what we’re supposed to say and what we experience daily as part of society.”

“It is very difficult to work in a place where anything that we do must have the approval of those from above. Creativity is subordinated to an institutional methodology, which in turn is subordinate to the orders from Havana,” explains the young Cienfuegan, who admits that, although surveillance is general, some people are more controlled than others. In the case of broadcasters, “the censorship is constant and comes from advisors, assistants and program directors. Whatever is minimally problematic is crushed by editorial policy, which is actually a straitjacket,” he says.

In recent years, with the intensification of the crisis, controls on the station’s employees have also increased. At the same time, Adriano adds, there are the practical problems: How do you broadcast without power? How do you record a program in a closed studio without air conditioning? How do you work without microphones, with old computers and sound equipment from decades ago?

“No one imagines how suffocating it is to work besieged by blackouts. The station’s generator does not support the equipment and air conditioners at the same time,” says the sound engineer, who reveals the tricks they used in the station to evade the suffocating heat. “While a program was running, we were bathed in sweat. Sometimes we played two or three songs in a row to have a few minutes to go out and catch the cool air that comes from the bay,” he confides.

“Sometimes we played two or three songs in a row to have a few minutes to go out and catch the cool air that comes from the bay” / 14ymedio

When a complaint was made to the superiors for not being able to connect the air conditioners or because the equipment was now too old and needed a replacement, “the response of the National Radio Directorate was always the same: there are no resources and the country faces a complex situation.”

This situation is also to the detriment of the audience, which is already diminished by the emergence of alternative means of information, more truthful, faster and which consume less of the public’s time. “If serious surveys were conducted at the station to evaluate audience levels, it would show that most people even prefer social networks to the radio to get information. In theory, the programming is designed for different audiences, but in practice it is very far from pleasing popular tastes,” he says.

As he explains, the station broadcasts live programs until ten at night. “From that time on, everything that is heard is recorded and, it must be said, it is not consistent with the demands of the early morning. Thus, an important segment of the population is lost, which deserves spaces capable of attracting the attention of radio subscribers,” he argues.

For a while, when Adriano saw several colleagues leave the radio to work in other state or private-sector centers, the question of whether he should leave worried him. The “thing,” he says, was having to choose between doing what he likes with a salary that does not reach 4,000 pesos – it depends on the number of programs that are made – along with constant surveillance, or giving priority to his discomfort with the censorship and a better pay.

But a month ago, when he learned that his wife was pregnant again, the indecision cleared up. However, Adriano assures that he did not leave the station just to ensure the family economy but that the pregnancy was only a catalyst. Between proposals to cut down to the least “subversive tone” and the frustration of not being able to do his job with quality, his departure from Radio Ciudad del Mar was “inevitable.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

After a Sleepless Night Due to a Blackout, Cubans Go Out To ‘Hunt’ for Scarce Food

Not even a police baton are able to prevent people from speaking loudly and badly against the government.

Tension is more abundant than oxygen among the food stalls, punished by the midday sun of Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 15 March 2025 — The lack of enthusiasm of the three policemen who watched the Guanabacoa fair this Saturday, settled on their motorcycles, does not deceive anyone: they too have had a difficult night. For anyone’s nerves and body, an early morning of total blackout is devastating. Even so, you have to go out to look for food, and no matter how slim the pickings are, you have to take advantage of it.

The motorcycles come and go around the stalls, and the officers – two young men in blue and an older one in the army’s olive-green uniform – continue to watch over the transactions. But be careful. With a night like this Friday, not even a police baton is able to prevent many insults from being hurled loudly against the Government.

The blackout also has an amplifying effect on the general annoyance. If every weekend prices go up and pocketbooks lose power, after a night without sleep everyone wakes up in a bad mood. Customers are tense, and sellers are uncomfortable; those who listen are upset, but no one can think of what to do or what pill to resort to. continue reading

Two young policemen in blue and an older one in the olive-green uniform of the Army watch over the transactions / 14ymedio

A concern runs through the crowd: with the total blackout, the last reserves of liquefied gas in homes will have to be used. When what they have saved is used up, they will have to go back to using charcoal. The bread, increasingly compact and hard, is sold for 200 pesos in Guanabacoa, and only the rich – if that word makes any sense in Cuba – can afford to buy a bag from a street vendor.

The tension is more abundant than oxygen among the food stalls. The noonday sun is punishing; last night it was the mosquitoes and the blackout. One of the policemen wakes up and walks around the food fair. Fleeing from the sun as if he were a vampire, he soon returns to the comfort of his motorcycle.

Several kilometers away, in Luyanó, people also wake up hungry. The most desperate ride their bicycles up and down the street, hunting a seller. The bakery door is closed. Bad sign. A messenger explains that the bakeries in La Víbora – another Havana neighborhood – closed yesterday and they asked him to collect about 600 bags of bread.

“It was the only thing that could be done before the arrival of the blackout, and I have already sold everything,” he says, before continuing with his wheelbarrow on Arango Street.

The electronic equipment at the sugar mills had their own blackout.

Dodging the power cut and saving the equipment has become a macabre sport in Cuban homes, and there is not always luck. “You have to have everything disconnected when the current comes back on so that things don’t explode,” a housewife from Cienfuegos tells this newspaper. “In my house an air conditioner and a microwave oven have already bit the dust.”

When hunger presses, everyone looks for what they can, and no one has to remind the dumpster divers. About to dive into the trash, an old man pushes the bags away from the top to see if it’s worth exploring further. Like those lined up in Guanabacoa or pedaling under the Luyanó sun, his clothes are threadbare and his face full of wrinkles. They are emblematic of a country where the goal is to survive. Living will be for another day.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The General Blackout in Cuba Continues, With a Few Islands of Light

Technicians face difficulties in resolving a “complex situation”

There are hardly any vehicles or people in the streets of Luyanó / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 16 March 2025 –The few lights that were on in Havana at sunset this Saturday looked more like phantoms in a cemetery than a capital city. From the Loma de la Cruz in Guanabacoa, where a reporter from this newspaper photographed the dark panorama, a few lights marked the port area and the Naval Hospital, privileged – like the hotels – for having their own generators.

At dawn this Sunday, darkness still dominated part of the city. The neighbors “go crazy looking for ice because their food will spoil,” a resident in the Luyanó neighborhood told this newspaper. Those who do not have their own generator have also faced difficulties cooking and, in many cases, the water supply has been suspended. “There are hardly any people on the streets and no cars,” the woman says.

According to the Unión Eléctrica (UNE), it has been possible to connect some areas of several Havana municipalities, but, as this newspaper verified, the restoration of electricity service in homes has been unstable and has been interrupted on several occasions. In the neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, where the newsroom of 14ymedio is located, only some ministries and official entities have electricity.

At the end of Saturday, Lázaro Guerra, who from his position as UNE director has become a bearer of bad news for Cubans, assured that the UNE had managed to connect a “broad system of islands” from Matanzas to Holguín and that it began with Energas Varadero. The west and east were in a “complex situation,” he said. In the case of the first, the failed entry of the Energas Boca de Jaruco plant had slowed down the connection on several occasions.

Saturday’s dark sunset in Havana, photographed from the Loma de la Cruz in Guanabacoa / 14ymedio

This plant, managed in collaboration with the Canadian Sherritt, is the main link in the synchronization and conformation of the so-called microsystems in the western region, with which power is then brought to continue reading

the thermoelectric plants Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas), Mariel (Artemisa) and Santa Cruz del Norte (Mayabeque).

“We have the floating power plant in Havana (the Turkish patana works with fuel oil), which is delivering a level of electricity here in the capital, and we are looking for alternatives to be able to reach the most important generation centers, such as Mariel’s,” added the engineer, who said that the “problem has a solution,” although it may take time. “Microsystems are in themselves weak systems, and there is always the possibility that something can happen and involve a delay or a setback.”

Outside the capital, in Pinar del Río and Artemisa, some small islands are responsible for giving electricity to “vital centers,” Guerra added. During the last failures of the SEN, which coincided with the passage of Hurricane Rafael through Artemisa, this province was the most affected and the last to recover electricity.

As for the eastern provinces, the manager explained that microsystems had been established in Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba and Granma, but none had been able to connect to the main Matanzas-Holguín network. This Sunday, units 5 and 6 of the Nuevitas thermoelectric power plant were integrated, and unit 1 of Felton, in Holguín, managed to enter the national electrical system (SEN) during the early hours.

The authorities have not dared, nor did they do so in the three total blackouts of October, November and December, to predict a date for the SEN’s restoration, but the cancellation of classes at the universities confirms that the situation is expected to extend at least until Monday. In a statement on Saturday night, the Ministry of Higher Education postponed the entry of national and foreign scholarship students to residences until further notice.

The authorities have not announced anything for other education levels, although some local governments have delayed the entry of students in pre-university scholarships pending the reconnection of the SEN.

In the three previous national blackouts, the UNE began by reactivating microsystems – powered by large generators that use fuel oil or diesel – and interconnecting them to bring power to the thermoelectric plants. Every time the SEN has collapsed, like last Friday, the authorities allege lack of fuel to keep it afloat. On this occasion, however, the shortage of fuel oil or diesel is difficult to justify.

A few weeks ago, two diesel-loaded tankers entered Cuban ports, the Marlin Aventurine from France with 340,000 barrels, and the Corossol from Rotterdam, with 650,000 barrels. In addition, the Akademik Gubkin arrived with 790,000 barrels of high-quality Russian oil to be processed in Cuban refineries.

Translated by Regina Anavy

__________________

Cuba Delivered Poor Quality Medicines to Mexico at the Wrong Time for More Than Two Million Dollars

Cuban pharmaceutical company Neuronic Mexicana benefited from Birmex laboratories, revealed the Superior Audit Office of the Federation.

Birmex staff receiving the batches of medicines in their warehouses / Birmex

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 14 March 2025 — The laboratories of Biologicals and Reactives of Mexico (Birmex) – the state company responsible for buying and distributing medicines, and controlling their quality – covered up during fiscal year 2023 the payment of 46,695,400 Mexican pesos (2,348,358 dollars) to the Cuban-Mexican pharmaceutical company Neuronic for medicines that did not meet the quality standards required by Mexico.

The payment set off alarms during a Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) of Birmex, which showed that some drugs did not comply with the requirements and that others were not even those requested by the Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi), an institution created by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador that operated from 2020 to 2023.

In August 2023, Neuronic – which, with the permission of the Cuban regime, manages the salaries that Mexico pays to Cuban doctors who carry out missions in Mexico – was also favored by Birmex with a payment of 5,880,398 dollars, a source from the Health sector told 14ymedio. The reason: “contracts” for unspecified activities that took place between 2022 and 2023.

The audit, published last February, also yielded other significant figures: Birmex delivered to Neuronic, two years ago, 1,334,500 Mexican pesos (more than 67,000 dollars) as payment for 7,395 containers of 20 ampoules continue reading

of aminophylline, a drug for asthma and shortness of breath, and 1,181 containers with 10 bottles of fluorouracil, which is used in cancer treatments.

A tour of the warehouses of Birmex, the company in charge of buying and distributing medicines / Birmex

According to the investigation, the lots were delivered after the agreed deadline, which carried “a penalty of 160,100 pesos that was not covered.”

By contract, Neuronic also had to deliver to Birmex 30,203 packages of pilocarpine, 158,031 of atropine, 1,900,290 of chloramphenicol, 208,864 of diclofenac, 1,130,857 of prednisolone and 192,099 of cisplatin, drugs for a whole range of treatments. To guarantee delivery, Mexico gave the Cuban-Mexican company 23,258,500 pesos (more than a million dollars).

However, the audit found that the batches of chloramphenicol, pilocarpine and atropine delivered by Cuba – where all these medicines are missing – “do not correspond to the codes and descriptions that were required by Insabi.” Nor are they listed in the National Compendium of Health Input, an index of drugs endorsed for use in Mexico. This absence caused “several rejections by health institutions,” they said.

Another irregular deposit from Birmex to Neuronic was one of more than 15 million pesos (almost 700,000 dollars) for 10 batches of medicines that did not meet the requirements of the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris), and that were still not rejected by the state.

Birmex warehouses also hold batches of the Cuban Abdala vaccine. / Birmex

The Government of Mexico has favored Neuronic again and again. The National Council for Humanities, Science and Technology (Conahcyt) awarded it $7,427 three years ago for a pharmacokinetic project for early detection of Alzheimer’s in rats.

In March 2022, Conahcyt received notification about four payments for other projects of the Cuban-Mexican company. It released the money on September 27 of that same year. For the so-called “validation of the production process and preclinical tests with CNEURO-120” – the drug intended for early detection of Alzheimer’s – $3,439 was paid. Later, as part of that same project, $15,037 was delivered and, in another phase of the investigation, another $4,028.

Other anomalies were detected in the course of the audit. In fiscal year 2023, Neuronic was not the only company that, having caused losses to Birmex, was protected by its managers. In the same situation are the company Almacenaje y Distribución Avior, which paid 819,630,000 Mexican pesos (more than $41 million), and Farmacéuticos Maypo, which paid 152,533,000 pesos (almost $8 million).

List of drugs purchased by Birmex from the Cuban-Mexican pharmaceutical company Neuronic. / ASF

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘Because of Various Distortions’ It Is More Expensive To Produce Food in Cuba Than To Import It

Without offering solutions to this situation, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero calls on the agricultural sector to produce more.

A dollar store in Galerías Paseo, in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, March 14, 2025 — “We need food and, above all, proteins,” insisted Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, before recognizing that, of the nine products in the ’family basket’, eight come from imports. Quite a novelty, since not even a month ago he said that 100% were bought abroad.

He reported this at a meeting of the Ministry of Food Industry, in the presence of his boss, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and called on the agricultural sector to produce more. “The safest food comes from national production,” said the prime minister, who recognized, in the words of the State newspap Granma, “that its cost of preparation in the country is high, due to several distortions.”

Just 24 hours later, the provincial newspaper of Sancti Spíritus, Escambray, published an article dedicated to one of the great exceptions of the Cuban industry: shrimp, which along with lobster is the only fish product that does well in Cuba.

“The safest food comes from national production”

Despite the fact that, according to the data of the last five years, there is a decrease of 82% (from 7,200 tons in 2018 to 1,200 in 2023), the production of shrimp gives good results, but it is far from becoming that national continue reading

protein sought by Marrero: it goes to the tables of foreigners or to Cubans with access to dollars.

“In the first months of the year, there is expected to be about 300 tons for export and internal sales in foreign currency,” says Escambray’s text. The newspaper spoke with Romny González Álvarez, director of Industry in the Fishery and Industrial Company of the province, located in Tunas de Zaza. He explained how the workers “get involved” in their “rigorous” work, which requires “strict quality standards so that it classifies as an exportable product within the international market, mainly destined for Europe and Asia.”

The manager says that on February 25, the crustacean began to be processed, from Júcaro, in Ciego de Ávila, and on the 28th, the batch from the Cienfuegos fleet arrived. All of them are raised through intensive cultivation on farms and give up to eight sizes, the smallest being 20 grams.

“Cienfuegos asks that its product report 92.5% for each ton of shrimp it sends, and here we achieve 95% or 96%, while Júcaro demands 94.1% but reaches 97%. In summary, we exceed what both suppliers demand from us and what is reinvested into economic results for our entity,” he explains, talking about how the seafood is used once received. All this, he boasts, is despite the fact that the machines have been failing, a problem solved thanks to the preparation of the workers.

The last liberalization of the sector occurred in March 2014, when the Government allowed private fishermen to agree on sales without State contracts

While shrimp workers clean the product, destined for the exterior, Marrero “called for the removal of obstacles to fishing activity and highlighted the role of municipal governments in the search for agreements with fishermen,” says Granma. The last liberalization of the sector occurred in March 2014, when the Government allowed private fishermen to agree on sales without State contracts.

However, he specifically left out lobster and pink shrimp, which provide a considerable amount of foreign currency. The last year with available data is 2023, when the State received 62 million dollars for these foods. It’s not a huge amount, but it is for the meager amount of product it managed to achieve: 2,380 tons.

Marrero, in his regret for the lack of national production, reported precisely the large amount of money that the State must invest in buying mackerel because of the embargo: 3,000 tons of the fish “facilitated by an African country” had to travel 75 days “with very high costs.” To these hardships, Marrero added the problems of the Bucanero Brewery, which “could not open accounts abroad due to the delay in bank procedures, under pressure from the imperial power. In addition, Havana Club suffered losses of more than 40 million dollars.”

The president of the Business Group of the Fishing Industry, Osmani Barreiro Consuegra, mentioned the reduction of catches by 50%, without specifying the year and what amount was achieved. He regretted that the export plan remained at only 67%.

The Meat Company of Sancti Spíritus said it plans to increase in 2025 “the delivery of 17.4 kilograms per month to each consumer, although it is still insufficient”

The Meat Company of Sancti Spíritus said it plans to increase in 2025 “the delivery of 17.4 kilograms per month to each consumer, although it is still insufficient.” It did not explain the basis for the optimistic calculation in the midst of a galloping crisis, nor did the Canning company of Ciego de Ávila, which “plans to rescue the productive poles.” On the other hand, the launch of a brand of soft drinks gave no details but reported that they will “try to conquer the Russian market.”

In the midst of such an ominous outlook, the ministerial authorities were optimistic, although it is not known what accounts they have made to present a perspective that is not bleak. The minister, Alberto López Díaz, said – in a confusing way – that a “growth of one-tenth in profits, 26% in the contribution to the State, and twice the production of the cooperatives” is expected. In addition, he proposed “nine collection products, with potential for more than 74,000 tons, and a reduction of the fiscal deficit by two-fifths.”

Meanwhile, the Island will continue to import a generous amount from the United States. According to the report published by Cuba Trade, in 2024 Havana spent 586.5 million dollars on its purchases from the United States, of which 433.8 million (74%) corresponded to food and basic necessities, chicken for the most part.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Caribbean Countries Claim That They ‘Do Not Exploit’ Cuban Doctors

The Caribbean countries claim that they “do not exploit” Cuban doctors

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley / EFE

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 14 March 2025 — Numerous leaders of countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have criticized the restrictions announced by the United States against Cuba’s medical missions, fundamental for the subsistence of the region’s health systems. As an important part of the staff of its health centers, Caricom members are loyal to Havana’s views on the Washington embargo and strongly thank Cuba for its medical “support.”

In recent days, leaders of Caricom, an organization made up of 15 countries, have denied that hiring Cuban doctors is an exploitation of labor, as Washington claims, and have warned that their health systems would collapse without these doctors. The United States announced at the end of February that it is extending the current visa restriction imposed on those who benefit from the “labor exploitation” of Cuban workers abroad to apply also to foreign government officials who are believed to be responsible for or who are involved in this program.

Mia Mottley, President of Caricom, said that she is prepared to lose her US visa

The last to speak was the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, president of Caricom, who said that she is prepared, like other leaders in the region, to lose her US visa if “a sensible agreement” is not reached on this matter, since “principles matter.” In the same vein, her counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves; and Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, promised to protect their own sovereignty. continue reading

“I have just returned from California and, if I never return there in my life, I will ensure that the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago is respected by all,” Rowley said this week. All Caricom leaders also agreed in rejecting that benefiting from Cuba’s medical missions is a form of human trafficking. “We pay them the same as the Barbadians.* We repudiate and reject the idea, spread not only by this US government but by the previous one, that we were involved in human trafficking,” Mottley stressed.

“Suddenly they are calling us human traffickers, and we are accused of participating in a program in which people are exploited,” Rowley replied. In this regard, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, said on Wednesday that the laws and the Constitution of the country prohibit involvement in human trafficking and that his government “will never use forced labor. It goes against our laws, and we are a country of law. We don’t think we did it; we’re not doing it, but we’ll review our situation,” he added.

“Suddenly they are calling us human traffickers, and we are accused of participating in a program in which people are exploited”

The controversial medical missions have been operating for more than 60 years. According to official data, more than 605,000 professionals have been sent to 165 countries, mainly in the Caribbean and Latin America. The criticisms of the missions, which Havana defends as a legitimate initiative of “internationalist solidarity,” focus on the commission that the Cuban government keeps from the salaries paid to doctors in host countries, as well as on the withdrawal of their passports during the missions and the lack of freedom and transparency, among others.

“We depend heavily on the health care specialists we have obtained mainly from Cuba over the decades,” acknowledged the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Likewise, Browne said that the US should treat the Caribbean with respect: “If they take punitive measures due to the presence of Cuban medical personnel in our health systems, they would practically dismantle these systems throughout the region.”

For her part, Mottley indicated that Barbados does not currently have Cuban medical personnel, but the country “could not have overcome the pandemic” without the help of these doctors. “I look forward to joining my Caricom brothers to make sure we explain that what Cubans have done for us, far from resembling human trafficking, has been to save the lives of many Caribbean people,” she said.

Caricom, composed of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, decided at its last summit to request a dialogue with US President Donald Trump to discuss the issue.

*Translator’s note: The payment for Cuban doctors goes to the Cuban government, not to the individual doctors. They receive a stipend to cover living costs, and the rest of their salary is kept in a bank account for them, which they can access when they return from the mission.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Surveillance Is Tightened on Migrants Who Received the I-220A Form When Entering the United States

Verifications could include visits to the migrant’s residence and calls to check on their status.

Demonstration of Cubans with I-220A asking for the normalization of their immigration status / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 14 March 2025 — The United States Department of Immigration and Customs Control (ICE) has increased the use of the Intensive Appearance Monitoring Program (ISAP) – a migration control mechanism – for those who have received the I-220A form upon arrival in the country. The measure, which has been in place for two decades as an alternative to detention, seeks to maintain strict surveillance on this group while their asylum requests are being resolved.

According to CaféFuerte, migrants with I-220A were informed this week that they will be subjected to a rigorous verification process during their immigration process. After attending a control appointment with ICE, some have even been temporarily “detained” and then released. This was the case of Laura de la Caridad González Sánchez, arrested on Monday at the agency’s office in Miramar, Miami. She was released shortly after, but her arrest prompted a demonstration of Cubans with the same status, next to the young woman’s lawyer’s office. More than a hundred beneficiaries of the I-220A were processed in recent days in those offices, the report indicates.

ISAP allows those who have applied for asylum or have been detained by ICE to wait for a judicial hearing in freedom, provided that they comply with the surveillance regime established by Customs Control. The program may require the use of ankle bracelets or applications that allow the authorities to know at all times the location of the migrant and even monitor, through continue reading

periodic calls, their situation.

Form I-220A is a “provisional release order” for parole offered by the Government to migrants who were arrested when entering illegally

In the case of those with the I-220A who have been notified about the measure, CaféFuerte says that the surveillance system includes the use of an application with a calendar of appointments at fixed times, once a week, during which they can be contacted by the authorities by phone or even video call. Others, it found out, were informed that the verifications could include visits to the migrant’s residence.

Form I-220A is a “provisional release order” of parole – a conditional permit – offered by the United States Government to people who were arrested while illegally entering the country. It requires those involved to attend hearings in an immigration court and comply with a series of rules while their immigration status is resolved.

However, the process can be long and does not guarantee that those involved will receive a favorable judgment. This, along with the series of radical measures against the migratory flow implemented by the Trump Administration, keeps many undocumented people in the uncertainty of whether they will be arrested or deported.

Added to this is this Friday’s announcement by the President that he will invoke an old law of 1798, the Foreign Enemies Act, which would allow him to deport migrants without the need for a hearing.

Trump had already mentioned that measure during his election campaign and did so again in his keynote speech on January 20: “By invoking the Foreign Enemies Act of 1798 I will order our Government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks that bring devastating crimes to American soil.”

The Foreign Enemies Act has not been invoked since World War II, when it was used to arrest Americans of Japanese origin.

The Foreign Enemies Act has not been invoked since World War II, when it was used to arrest Americans of Japanese origin

At the beginning of March, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) also announced the implementation – after an evaluation of 60 days from March 5 – of a regulation that will force migrants who request visas for privileges already granted in national territory to deliver to the authorities information from their social networks.

As they explained then, migrants who will be affected are those who apply for the Naturalization form in the United States, known as N-400 (about 909,700 people, they calculate), and the Permanent Residence Registration form I-485 (1,060,585 people). These are two of the benefits most requested by Cubans, especially the latter which is essential to benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Law.

According to both institutions – which opened the proposal to a debate that will last two months – USCIS “identified the need to collect social media identifiers,” such as user profiles and other similar elements, with a view to verifying the identity of the applicants and whether they represent a potential danger to the United States.

Other measures taken by the Trump Administration, which particularly affected Cubans, were the suspension of the CBP One application – with which asylum appointments were requested from Mexico – and
the humanitarian parole, which benefited thousands of Cuban immigrants.

In the case of the first, this week National Security announced the launch of the CBP Home, so that irregular immigrants can leave the U.S. with the promise of being able to return through legal ways in the future.

“Self-deportation is the safest option for undocumented immigrants,” the DHS said on Monday. “It is not only safer but also saves money for U.S. taxpayers and allows the valuable resources of the Customs and Border Protection Office and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service to focus on dangerous criminal immigrants.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

More Than a Million People, Including 300,000 Cubans, Apply for Spanish Nationality

They are joined by another 200,000 who have already been issued passports under the Democratic Memory Law.

Line at the Spanish Consulate in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 13 March 2025 — About 300,000 Cubans are currently processing an application for Spanish nationality based on the Democratic Memory Law — also called ’The Law of Grandchildren’ — whose submission deadline ends October 21. The number was released this Thursday by Juan Manuel de Hoz, spokesman for the United Spanish Descendants Center (CeDEU), in statements to the regional newspaper La Voz de Galicia.

The association explained that, according to its current data, there are 200,000 passports already delivered to descendants of those who were forced into exile for political reasons during the time of Franco, although it does not have figures disaggregated by nationality of origin.

To these must be added more than a million people who are in the process. The 300,000 Cubans pale next to the more than the 790,000 Argentines who are distributed among the consulates of Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Rosario.

“The figures are impressive, and at the end of the process we will have between a million and a half and two million new Spaniards,” De Hoz tells continue reading

the Galician media. “It is a very generous law, comparable to that of Portugal and even broader than that of Italy,” he added.

“The figures are impressive, and at the end of the process we will have between a million and a half and two million new Spaniards”

The law, says the activist “gives the right to obtain [Spanish] nationality to all the grandchildren of the emigrants, absolutely to all and, in addition, to their children. Their descendants will be able to continue to do so later, as long as they ratify at the age of 18 that they want to maintain the Spanish nationality inherited from one of their parents.”

De la Hoz indicates that Cubans, the second nationality in number of applications – Mexico, Venezuela and France are also among the countries with the most applications – have had an extra difficulty, since the country is not a signatory of the 1961 Hague Convention.

In Cuba, the difficulty of not adhering to the Hague Apostille Convention is added. This mechanism simplifies the validation process of official documents for international law but requires the country to be a signatory of the agreement. Cuba, therefore, has its own stamp for the documentation that is required, which implies more time. De la Hoz, however, is optimistic about the changes in the digitization of records and believes that it will alleviate the problems of applicants on the Island.

The CeDEU spokesman has taken the opportunity to highlight the relevance of good advice when it comes to simplifying procedures, something that is “exemplary” in Argentine embassies. “The important thing is to educate yourself in the time remaining before the deadline so that everyone knows what steps to take. This process is proving exemplary in the consulates of Rosario and Buenos Aires through its civil registry officer and his team,” he emphasizes.

To obtain nationality through this channel, you must register as a user at the consulate and get an appointment for the procedure. The actual birth certificate of the emigrated relative and the documentation proving exile is required if it occurred in or after 1956, something that is not required for descendants of those who left between 1936 and 1955 and are considered exiles by default.

There are also other necessary papers – marriage certificates – for descendants of women who lost Spanish nationality by marrying a foreigner before the Constitution (1978) was approved. In the case – very frequent in Cuba – of the children of those who got the nationality with the ’Grandchildren Law’ of 2007, the certification of that fact is required.

The actual birth certificate of the emigrated family member and the documentation proving exile are required if it occurred in or after 1956

The CeDEU is one of the associations that actively promoted a reform of the Historical Memory Law – known in Cuba as the Grandchildren Law – to cover others affected who had been left out of that regulation. This is the case of those born outside Spain of originally Spanish fathers, mothers, grandfathers or grandmothers who lost their nationality for political or ideological reasons, beliefs or sexual orientation and identity when they went into exile during the civil war under Franco, as well as children born to mothers who lost it by a Franco regulation that forced a woman to acquire the nationality of her husband if he was a foreigner.

According to the latest update from the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, a total of 36,117 applications for nationality had reached the Consulate of Spain in Havana up to January 31, 2024, of which 24,087 had been approved and 358 denied.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

For About 230 Dollars a Month, Mexico Hires Cubans and Other Migrants To Fumigate Against Dengue Fever

The Chiapas government includes them in the “junk and vector removal” program.

The migrants were trained to fumigate in priority areas / Chiapas Ministry of Health

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 13 March 2025 — The state of Chiapas, in Mexico, hired 390 migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras and Haiti as fumigators to stop the spread of diseases that increased last year, such as dengue, malaria, Zika and chikungunya, all transmitted by mosquitoes. “The pay will help me support myself while I’m in Tapachula,” 26-year-old Venezuelan Jaiver Urdaneta told 14ymedio.

The government of the state of Chiapas added migrants to the “unloading and vectors” program, in charge of removing garbage and abandoned objects from the streets. “Migrants join the brigades specialized in vector control and zoonoses,” said a source from the Ministry of Health.

At the end of January, state health authorities reinforced surveillance on the border. According to official data, last year the cases of dengue increased by 34% and those of malaria by 84%, both transmitted by mosquitoes.

In the first two months of the year, 600 cases of malaria in migrants were found. “It is a risk because it can spread,” the Secretary of State Health, Omar Gómez Cruz, told local media. “Fortunately we controlled it and treated all the people, who were from Venezuela, Central America and Panama.”

Jaiver Urdaneta told this newspaper that he is guaranteed three months with a salary of just over 2,300 pesos per fortnight in the border state with Guatemala. The payment is less than the average of 3,350 that a worker receives, and in addition they do not have medical services or other benefits continue reading

stipulated in the Federal Labor Law such as the payment of utilities, savings fund, pantry vouchers and food.

At the end of January, state health authorities strengthened surveillance along the border. / Cacahoatán City Council

“A friend told me about the job; I didn’t have any money. Now I can pay for a room, buy food and Migration has stopped threatening me.” Urdaneta says that the officers have a list with the names and photos of those who make up the program.

Yaniel, a Cuban who is in the same group as Jaiver, says he has been in Tapachula for three months. “I am doing the paper work with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar), and I have an appointment in May. I trust that they will give me refuge, because if it is not in Mexico, I will look in Guatemala, but I’m not returning to Cuba,” he states.

The 28-year-old from Havana explains that he was excluded in February from the group of migrants who were hired to sweep streets, collect garbage and paint public spaces, but the Comar told him that another project was going to be opened. The young man regrets that the remuneration for the salary is low, but at least “it is secure.”

For her part, the Secretary for the Development of the Southern Border, María Amalia Toriello Elorza, indicated that they have detected, without specifying nationality, doctors among the migrant groups. “We want to take advantage of their knowledge and give them the opportunity to contribute to the public health of Chiapas,” she said. “This will not only benefit the population but will also allow the practitioners to continue practicing their profession in a legal and dignified manner.”

Toriello Elorza assured that they are working on the requirements to be met so that migrant specialists can practice in the state under the corresponding legal framework. According to their profile, they will be assigned to the areas in which their knowledge can be used, she clarified.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry Says It Is Willing To ‘Assimilate’ the Cubans Deported by Trump

In the last four years, more than 860,000 Cuban migrants entered the United States, the largest migration in the Island’s recent history.

The increase in deportations from US territory occurs in a context of greater immigration controls / US Embassy in Cuba / Facebook

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 13 March 2025 — The Cuban government “is open to assimilating the return” of its citizens in the United States irregularly, but “within the agreed terms” in bilateral migration matters, official media reported on Thursday.

“It seems absurd and unfair to us that the United States threatens to massively deport this large number of Cubans, especially when there are migration agreements that have worked well in the past,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, in statements to state television collected by the state media Cubadebate.

Both countries maintain immigration agreements that include the commitment by the US to issue a minimum of 20,000 visas per year for Cubans and to return Cubans intercepted at sea.

In November 2023, they agreed to resume deportation flights for “inadmissible” Cuban migrants detained at the border with Mexico. continue reading

“It seems absurd and unfair to us that the United States threatens to massively deport this large number of Cubans”

The increase in deportations from US territory occurs in a context of greater migration controls and a stricter policy by Washington, in an attempt to stop the flow of migrants arriving at the southern border.

At the end of February, the United States Government resumed deportation flights to Cuba, in an operation that was the second of its kind since the arrival of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency this January. In total, 104 irregular migrants, 84 men, 19 women and a minor were repatriated.

According to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), during the fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 30, a total of 217,615 Cubans entered the United States.

In October 2024, the first month of fiscal year 2025, US border authorities registered the arrival of 8,261 Cubans. In the last four years, more than 860,000 Cuban migrants entered the United States, the largest migration in the Island’s recent history.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Cuban Army Holds Talks To Recruit ‘Little Girls’ for Military Service

It is about promoting “the inclusion of women in national defense” in exchange for “benefits”

The official media published scenes of the bastion in Sancti Spíritus, Las Tunas and Villa Clara / CMHW

14ymedio, Havana, March 12, 2025 — With weapons, drones and banners, Cuban Army officers have invaded the pre-university plazas throughout the Island with a declared objective: to “excite” teenagers with a custom-designed “bastion” – an exercise that has already been done at the national and university level – and convince women of the benefits they will obtain if they enroll in military service.

Voluntary except for girls studying Journalism and International Relations – and mandatory for young people – female military service is rare in Cuba. A group of officers went to the schools of Villa Clara, in the context of the bastion, to try to “capture females” in the classrooms.

Major Orlando Juvier Santos, head of the Military Committee in Corralillo and Quemado de Güines (Villa Clara), has done “interviews with the whole universe of little girls.” Whether or not he has had luck in his search, the officer does not say. Nor does he provide the number of women recruited or the number of educational entities that his entourage has visited.

Major Orlando Juvier Santos has done “interviews with the whole universe of little girls”

He states, however, that he has explained to the students “the benefits they will obtain when joining the military service, such as the possibility of changing careers if they are not satisfied with the one obtained in the pre-university, as well as opting for a new career after having fulfilled their time continue reading

of service in our units.”

In case of acceptance, and with the approval of the Federation of Cuban Women, which also does recruitment and selection work, the Armed Forces carry out the medical check-up of the candidate and send her to preliminary training.

It is about fulfilling an old slogan, says Juvier Santos: “the inclusion of women in national defense,” which implies encouraging the entry of women in “all areas,” including the military and from an early age.

Since this Tuesday, Sancti Spíritus has been the national headquarters of the bastion, whose characteristics have been similar to those of the university, held in February. “It is an ideological bastion,” stressed the national leader of the Federation of Middle School Students (FEEM), which groups together pre-university students as well as those of polytechnics and other secondary education centers. According to Lanier Gómez, they are preparing for “any aggression” by the United States.

The official media published scenes of the development of the bastion in Sancti Spíritus, Las Tunas and Villa Clara, provinces where the exercise – in the words of the Caribbean Channel – has been met with greater “enthusiasm.”

Among the “attractions” of the Army, maneuvers with drones were the most recorded by Cuban Television cameras

Among the “attractions” of the Army, the maneuvers with drones – ordinary ones, of Chinese technology and without any type of weapon, but suitable for surveillance – were the most recorded by the cameras of Cuban Television. Exercises were also carried out with war tanks, armaments and hand-to-hand combat.

“We will be going to military units, and even the women will have conversations with our girls to encourage them to do military service,” said the president of the FEEM in Las Tunas, Marcos Flores.

In Santa Clara, the military arrived at Osvaldo Herrera pre-university – in the middle of Vidal Park – to propose studying for military careers to young people. They were accompanied by the camilitos, students who have embraced military training since the seventh grade in the Camilo Cienfuegos schools of the Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Rigoberto Hernández Machado, head of the Preparation and Advance Section of the Central Army, said that they impart “vocational information” for several careers: Combative Security, Communications, Radioelectronics and Military Intelligence. He did not say if his “campaign” had been successful.

In a year that began with the explosion of an arsenal in Melones, Holguín, in which 13 soldiers died – nine of them military service recruits – the Armed Forces have not stopped making public affirmations of principles. This, the third bastion celebrated at the national level this year, will end on March 15.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Former Cuban Agent Arrested in the United States for Fraudulently Obtaining Residence

The identity of the former official has not yet been revealed, but it is known that his arrest is administrative, not criminal.

Image of the arrest of the former Cuban official released by US authorities / HSI

14ymedio, Madrid, 13 March 2025 –The US authorities arrested on Wednesday a former Cuban intelligence agent who allegedly obtained his residence (green card) in the United States fraudulently, according to the delegation in Miami of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The name of the detainee has not been provided, although an image has been released in which he is seen from behind at the time of the arrest.

“This morning, ICE, HSI and the FBI made an administrative arrest on a former member of Cuban intelligence for fraudulently obtaining his legal permanent resident status,” the institution said through its account in X.

“HSI and its partners will continue their efforts to identify and arrest people who represent a threat to our national security”

“HSI and its partners will continue their efforts to identify and arrest people who pose a threat to our national security,” the text concludes.

The arrest took place in Broward County, in a neighborhood near Weston, sources from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told the independent Cuban media CaféFuerte. According to this testimony, the identity of the detainee will be revealed this Thursday. continue reading

“It is important to note that this is an administrative arrest and that the arrested person will be subjected to a legal process to determine if there were irregularities in his case,” the source added. This individual resided with a green card allegedly obtained illegally, but there are no other charges against him.

Among the hundreds of reactions to the HSI post, that of the Republican Congressman of Cuban origin Carlos Giménez stands out, who applauded the measure. “There are hundreds of agents of the murderous Castro dictatorship who now live in our community of victims and survivors who fled the regime. These thugs must be arrested and deported for violating our laws!” he said, and thanked the US security forces for spreading the news and not letting it go unnoticed.

Many other comments were from Cubans and migrants from other countries such as Venezuela or Nicaragua who provided images, names and data of possible repressors who reside in the United States.

Many other comments were from Cubans and migrants from other countries such as Venezuela or Nicaragua who provided images, names and data of possible repressors residing in the United States

During the past year, the independent press and the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba reported numerous cases of former regime officials who arrived in the United States in 2024 or earlier. Among them is
was Judge Melody González Pedraza, who arrived at Tampa Airport with a Humanitarian Parole Order, although in this case the airport authorities immediately denied her entry into the country, at which time she decided to request political asylum. The official, who is on the Foundation’s “list of repressors,” is now detained, pending a decision by the US authorities.

Other cases include former prosecutor Rosabel Roca Sampedro, who pronounced sentences against demonstrators on 11 July 2021; the president of the Municipal Assembly of Popular Power on the Island of Youth between 2019 and 2022, Liván Fuentes Álvarez, to whom the immigration authorities denied entry by revoking the Humanitarian Parole that was granted to him; and Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, former first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, formerly part of the “Coordination and Support Team of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: