Translator: Regina Anavy – Translating Cuba

A U.S. Drone and a Secret Letter From Raúl Castro to Trump Cross the Florida Strait

The Triton flew over Cuban territory without problems while the general’s letter was intercepted at the Miami airport and its carrier returned to the Island

Reconnaissance flight of a U.S. drone over Cuba. / Flightradar

14ymedio, Madrid, April 17, 2026 – A Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drone from the United States Army carried out a surveillance mission of more than 12 hours along both coasts of Cuba on Thursday night. The aircraft has drawn the attention of numerous intelligence analysis websites, although most identify the flight patterns as “typical of reconnaissance over the Caribbean.”

The drone flew at about 49,000 feet in altitude and crossed Cuban territory, from north to south and back again, at the level of Pinar del Río and the Isle of Youth.

The aircraft is part of the deployment that the United States began in January as part of intelligence and surveillance operations in the Caribbean, which included, along with these drones, military vessels, spy plane flights such as the RC-135 Rivet Joint, and P-8A Poseidon aircraft. In addition, in February a surveillance balloon known as the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) was added, located in the Florida Keys, about 145 kilometers from Havana and at an altitude of 2,500 meters.

The drone flew at about 49,000 feet in altitude and crossed Cuban territory, from north to south and back again, at the level of Pinar del Río and the Isle of Youth

At that time, expectations were already very high, at a moment of extreme tension between the United States and Cuba and just days after the capture in Caracas of Nicolás Maduro, which was preceded, precisely, by a continue reading

deployment with a MQ-4C Triton. These aircraft usually accompany P-8A Poseidon planes and, since the end of 2025, have carried out constant surveillance operations from Puerto Rico or Florida toward the coasts of Venezuela.

The situation repeated itself yesterday, precisely one day after reports emerged claiming that the Pentagon has intensified plans for a possible intervention in Cuba and just hours after Miguel Díaz-Canel said that U.S. “military aggression” is a real possibility.

“We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it were unavoidable, to win it,” said the Cuban leader in his speech this Thursday marking the anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution, in which he maintained that the regime’s priority is “dialogue.”

Capture of the drone’s trajectory in the Caribbean. / Flightradar24

After the month of March, during which the idea took hold that talks between Washington and Havana were moving in the right direction, in recent weeks the signals have gone in the opposite direction. This Thursday The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) independently verified information first reported two days earlier by Martí Noticias, according to which a Cuban businessman in the luxury car rental sector and closely linked to the regime attempted to deliver a letter to the U.S. president at the request of Raúl Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo [The Crab], grandson of former president Raúl Castro.

According to the reports, Roberto Carlos Chamizo González arrived in Miami with a letter from Raúl Castro’s grandson in an attempt to bypass official channels and avoid the State Department. The letter, whose contents have not been seen by the media, reportedly in a format similar to a diplomatic one and with a seal, proposed economic and investment agreements, as well as the lifting of sanctions, and warned that the regime was preparing to repel a U.S. military invasion.

The WSJ could not determine why the messenger was detained, but it did confirm that a Customs agent confiscated the letter and sent him back to the Island. It has also not been able to determine whether the letter reached the White House, which declined to comment on the matter.

“The Cubans appear to be trying to bypass Rubio and send a clear message directly to Trump”

“The Cubans appear to be trying to bypass Rubio and send a clear message directly to Trump,” Peter Kornbluh, co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana, told the U.S. outlet. “This attempt suggests that they no longer trust Rubio to be an impartial interlocutor and want to appeal directly to the president to resolve the growing crisis.”

Ricardo Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, stated that “trying to bypass Rubio while he is secretary of state is foolish and doomed to fail. It is even worse to resort to an unknown person with no personal relationship with the president, which makes it seem even more absurd.”

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the U.S. Congress, Michael Kozak, a senior State Department official, avoided revealing whether Washington is maintaining ongoing negotiations with Havana. Asked by Florida lawmakers on the matter, the official limited himself to responding: “If you want to get anywhere with talks of this kind, they are not conducted in public.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Tens of Thousands of Cubans Will Be Able To Regularize Their Status in Spain Starting This Thursday

If the country of origin takes more than a month to provide the applicant’s criminal record, one of the concerns of citizens from the Island, the Spanish authorities will obtain it through diplomatic channels

The procedure can be requested starting April 16 electronically or at offices designated by the Royal Decree. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, April 15, 2026 / Tens of thousands of Cubans may benefit from the extraordinary regularization of immigrants who were living in Spain at the beginning of this year, a figure that is around 840,000. The measure, approved this Tuesday by the Government and entering into force on Thursday, April 16, will allow nearly half a million people to obtain the rights and obligations associated with temporary residence, including working, contributing to social security, and paying taxes.

It is estimated that the number of Cubans in an irregular situation in Spain is about 16,000, while 72,270 have legal or “quasi-legal” residence, which includes a large number of asylum seekers. There are currently between 45,000 and 55,000 asylum applications from Cuban citizens in process or accumulated without resolution, a wide range calculated from those already registered as such (and who have a red card) and those who only have a prior appointment. This is one of the reasons cited by Pedro Sánchez’s Government to support the reform: to provide a solution for hundreds of thousands of people who have been living in the country for months and years without rights and obligations due to administrative reasons and bureaucratic delays.

There are two new pathways for regularization: one for asylum seekers who applied for international protection before January 1, 2026 and have not yet received a response; and another for those who were residing in the country without any type of permit as of that date.

There are currently between 45,000 and 55,000 asylum applications from Cuban citizens in process or accumulated without resolution, a wide range calculated from those already registered as such (and who have a red card) and those who only have a prior appointment

In the case of the first group, the main requirement is to be of legal age and to have been in Spain continuously for at least five months prior to the application, which can be proven by any document containing the applicant’s personal data. To apply, they must provide their passport, pay the corresponding fee (38.28 euros), and have no criminal record. This is one of the points that most concerned Cubans — and other foreigners — for various reasons, including the traditional delays of the Cuban Government in continue reading

providing documentation, whether due to organizational and logistical problems or intentionally, in order to hinder procedures.

During the processing of the regulation, it was speculated that a sworn statement would replace the need to provide such records, but an opinion from the Council of State advised against it, so the situation has been resolved in an intermediate way. The applicant must request the certificate from the country of origin and be able to prove that they have done so, but if they do not receive it within a month, there is an alternative. They can submit proof of the request and a sworn statement, as well as authorize Spain to carry out the process through diplomatic channels.

If a person chooses this pathway, which is contained in Additional Provision 20, settlement for asylum seekers, it is mandatory to formally withdraw the asylum application. In return, immediate work authorization is granted, unlike the previous procedure, which required waiting six months without a response (a deadline almost always reached due to the volume of cases) to obtain permission for self-employment or employment by others. This authorization lasts one year, after which the applicant can apply for ordinary residence.

The other pathway — Additional Provision 21, extraordinary settlement — is very similar, although it is more universal in nature and is intended for those who arrived in Spain irregularly without having requested international protection. The measure also applies to those who were in the country before January 1, 2026, have been there for five months at the time of application, have no criminal record with the same rules applying if the country of origin does not provide it within a month, and are of legal age. In addition, they must demonstrate one of the three situations specified by law.

The other pathway, Additional Provision 21, extraordinary settlement, is very similar, although it is more universal in nature and is intended for those who arrived in Spain irregularly without having requested international protection

One is having worked in Spain, having a job offer or a self-employment project, which must be declared in a specific document. Another is having minor children, adult children with disabilities, or dependent parents. The last is proof of vulnerability through a report from social services or authorized private organizations of the same type.

In this case, immediate authorization to work is also granted from the start of the process for a period of one year, after which it must be converted into ordinary residence. If no response is received within three months, the application is considered denied.

A point of common interest for both pathways is that applications can be submitted simultaneously, so that in a family, all members — spouse, partner, and cohabiting children of an applicant — can submit their applications at the same time and must receive a response simultaneously.

The regulation also specifies what can be done if ordinary residence is not obtained within a year, for example in the absence of a work contract. Affected individuals may request a one-year extension if they can prove they are actively seeking employment through registration with the state public employment service, or submit a report demonstrating integration efforts, a document prepared by authorized regional bodies in which knowledge of official languages will be taken into account. For more serious cases, such as if the applicant becomes seriously ill, acquires a disability, or reaches retirement age, there will be extraordinary extensions of four years.

The Royal Decree was published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette, which means it comes into force this Thursday. From that day, applicants can request an appointment online to begin the process, the most recommended option, although it can also be done at post offices, Social Security offices, and immigration offices to be designated.

The deadline ends on June 30, and some organizations have expressed concern to the press about the fact that the documents are not yet available on the website. “We spend the whole day checking the ministry’s website to see if the forms we will have to fill out are being published,” Mónica López, general director of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), told El País.

The measure has sparked broad debate in Spain, as it is opposed by the main opposition parties (PP, Vox, and the Catalan nationalist party Junts), which asked for it to be halted in Congress. The rest of the parties support the measure, including the Basque regionalist right, which, although it has described it as “opportunistic,” believes it will facilitate the labor integration of hundreds of thousands of workers who are currently in the informal economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Havana Refinery Is Not Operating and All Russian Oil Was Taken to Cienfuegos

It is suspected that the Ñico López has suffered damage caused by a fire in February

The Cuban tanker Pastorita, in front of the Ñico López refinery in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana/Madrid, April 14, 2026 – Almost two weeks have passed since the Anatoly Kolodkin docked in Matanzas with 750,000 barrels of Russian crude, and the Ñico López refinery in Havana, which is supposed to convert the oil into even more valuable products such as gasoline and diesel, is still not operating. This is revealed by its inactive chimney, visible across the bay from any high point in the city, and about a dozen tanker trucks parked nearby.

When asked about it, Cuban specialist from the University of Texas Jorge Piñón suspects that the plant, located in the municipality of Regla, “is inoperable as a result of a technical problem or lacks reliable and uninterrupted electrical power to operate.” Refineries, he continues, “burn oil for high-temperature heating and steam; however, they depend on electricity to power essential equipment such as pumps, compressors, fans, and automation systems.” Electricity, moreover, “also powers critical safety systems, sensors, and pumps that transport fluids during the refining process.”

This is revealed by the inactive chimney, visible across the bay from any high point in the city. / 14ymedio

He adds that this inability may be due to the fire at the facilities last February 13, whose “damage to logistics,” he says, “has not been repaired.” The large column of black smoke produced at the time, visible from numerous points in Havana, caused alarm among the population, but authorities quickly downplayed the incident, explaining that it occurred in a warehouse containing “an unused additive product” and that it did not spread to other areas, so the flames did not reach the fuel storage tanks.

What is certain is that ship geolocation services have not detected any movement from the port of Matanzas to Havana, which is “only 52 nautical miles away” (just over 96 kilometers), Piñón emphasizes. Also, in Havana’s bay, in front of the refinery, there were only two liquefied gas vessels, the Pastorita and the Emilia. The latter departed on March 12 for Cienfuegos, where it will likely load LPG produced from Russian oil. continue reading

Also heading to Cienfuegos since the Anatoly Kolodkin set sail, after unloading the crude it carried on April 4, are two tankers from Matanzas, even though it is much farther away, at 125 nautical miles (more than 230 kilometers). One is the Vilma, under Cuban flag, which, according to Piñón’s data based on its draft, received from the Russian vessel “a ship-to-ship transfer” of 414,000 barrels and arrived at the Cienfuegos refinery on April 8.

The other is the Nicos I.V. – under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines- which, the University of Texas expert estimates, carries 227,000 barrels of Urals crude and is currently located off Cape San Antonio, in Pinar del Río. The remaining 109,000 barrels needed to complete the 750,000 brought by the Anatoly Kolodkin may be aboard some of the other Cuban tankers moored in Matanzas: the María Cristina, the Lourdes, and the Alicia.

The problem with the Cienfuegos refinery, Piñón points out, is that it “does not have a vacuum tower or a catalytic cracking unit like the Havana refinery” and, therefore, is more likely to produce lower-quality fuel oil used for distributed generation engines and less of “high-value products such as gasoline and diesel.” The expert notes that the coastal vessel Prímula has been docked in Cienfuegos for two days, right after the Vilma departed, and speculates that it is “ready to transport refined products as soon as possible from the Cienfuegos refinery to a Cuban oil port yet to be determined.”

Meanwhile, maritime tracking agencies show the Russian tanker Universal, which is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union, like the Anatoly Kolodkin, loaded with 320,000 barrels of fuel and coming from the Baltic port of Vysotsk in the North Atlantic, is bound for Cuba. Its expected arrival date is April 23.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Díaz-Canel Calls Democracy, a Free Press, and Human Rights ‘Paraphernalia’

More details emerge from the NBC interview: the Cuban leader avoided any self-criticism, denied the existence of political prisoners, and blamed the crisis on the United States

Díaz-Canel during the interview broadcast by NBC this Sunday. / EFE/Screenshot

14ymedio, Yunior García, Madrid, April 13, 2026 – The U.S. network NBC published this Sunday the full interview with Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, conducted by journalist Kristen Welker on the program Meet the Press.

Not accustomed to facing the foreign press—until now he has moved almost exclusively among official media or international interlocutors aligned with the regime—Díaz-Canel responded harshly and took refuge in the most worn-out repertoire of Cuban power.

Over more than 50 minutes, he did not assume a single political responsibility for the country’s deterioration. On the contrary, he defended the continuity of the system, rejected any conditions from Washington, and presented himself as part of a “collective leadership” willing even to “give their lives for the Revolution.”

In the face of threats from Donald Trump, Díaz-Canel also suggests that aggressive language toward Cuba has not come solely from the U.S. president but also from other members of his administration, in a barely veiled reference to Marco Rubio, whom he avoids mentioning by name in that part of the interview.

Instead of using the space to ease tensions or outline a political solution, the president once again situates himself on the terrain of resistance, the ‘besieged plaza’, and a nation permanently on guard. A serious leader would have spoken of de-escalation, international legality, and the protection of civilians. Díaz-Canel, however, preferred the liturgy of martyrdom and the use of the population as a rear guard for the doctrine of “war of the whole people.”

In the face of threats from Donald Trump, Díaz-Canel also suggests that aggressive language toward Cuba has not come solely from the U.S. president

The Cuban leader avoids drawing parallels between Cuba and other countries and takes refuge in the Island’s historical singularity, but that caution does not erase a recent uncomfortable fact. The doctrine of “civic-military unity,” which Chavismo copied from Castroism, has already shown its most resounding failure in Caracas. continue reading

In the section devoted to fuel, Díaz-Canel admits, perhaps more clearly than at any other moment in the interview, the magnitude of Cuba’s energy precariousness. He acknowledges that the recently arrived Russian tanker “will only cover one-third of Cuba’s monthly oil needs,” that this crude still has to be refined and distributed, and that much of it will be used to recover 1,200 megawatts that have been out of service for four months.

From there he tries to wrap the Island’s dependence on Russia in the language of resistance and sovereignty, but what remains is the admission of a country that cannot sustain its economy or its electrical system without immediate external assistance.

When the journalist asks whether he assumes any responsibility for “the suffering Cubans are experiencing,” Díaz-Canel does not offer a single concrete admission of mismanagement, economic design errors, state inefficiency, or internal obstacles. He simply turns the question back: “What is the main cause of that suffering?” His answer is evasive: “It is not the Cuban government’s fault.” With that statement, he abruptly shuts down any serious examination of the State’s role in the electrical collapse, food shortages, lack of medicines, or mass emigration.

His evasiveness becomes even more evident when visible poverty in Havana, 20-hour blackouts, and the departure of hundreds of thousands of Cubans are addressed. He acknowledges that “our people are living very harsh conditions daily,” but avoids linking that suffering to a centralized, unproductive, and politically closed model.

He prefers to describe the population as resilient. “The Cuban people feel frustrated,” yes, but “the majority of the Cuban people do not blame the Cuban government.” The claim contradicts what can be observed on social media and even in the streets, where more and more citizens openly reject not only his management but also the power structure that sustains it.

When NBC lists some of the demands Washington typically puts on the table—release of political prisoners, multiparty elections, independent unions, and a free press—Díaz-Canel responds with a mix of denial and disdain. He first claims that “no one” has raised those demands with him. Then he makes it clear that, in any case, the Cuban political system and “constitutional order” are not subject to negotiation.

The most revealing moment comes when he reduces democracy, human rights, freedom of the press, and union autonomy to mere “paraphernalia” of manipulated concepts loaded with “prejudices.” That is, he does not refute the accusations, offer evidence, or address the substance of the issue. He simply discredits in advance the language used to question him. His closing escape—“we don’t have time now,” “it would take a long time to discuss it”—completes the picture of the maneuver.

NBC presses on, mentions Maykel “Osorbo,”* and places the number of those imprisoned for political reasons at more than 1,200. “It is a big lie,” the president responds.

NBC presses on, mentions Maykel “Osorbo,”* and places the number of those imprisoned for political reasons at more than 1,200. “It is a big lie,” the president responds. According to his version, in Cuba protest is not punished, but rather vandalism and subversion encouraged from abroad. But reviewing case by case the files, charges, and sentences imposed on protesters, artists, opponents, and activists shows that it is Díaz-Canel himself who distorts reality.

In the diplomatic arena, the leader presents himself as open to negotiating with the United States but under an absolute condition: that “our political system” and “our constitutional order” not be touched. He asserts that dialogue and agreements “are possible but difficult,” and lists areas of cooperation such as migration, drug trafficking, terrorism, and investments.

One of the most revealing moments comes at the end. When asked whether he would be willing to resign to “save Cuba,” Díaz-Canel responds irritably with a phrase that sums up the essence of the entire interview: “The concept of revolutionaries abandoning and resigning is not part of our vocabulary.”

*Maykel Castillo Pérez is the real name of Maykel Obsorbo, an independent musician. He co-founded the San Isidro movement in protest of Decree Law 349, which required artists to get State permission for exhibitions and performances.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Political Prisoner Alexander Díaz Rodríguez Is Released With Severe Malnutrition

The 11J protester, suffering from cancer, denounces lack of medical care and mistreatment in prison

The activist Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, before and after his release. / Prisoners Defenders

14ymedio, Havana, April 13, 2026 – Cuban opposition figure Alexander Díaz Rodríguez was released on April 4 in Artemisa after fully serving a four-year prison sentence for peacefully protesting on July 11, 2021. The state of physical deterioration and malnutrition he was in upon release highlights the levels of abuse to which prisoners of conscience are subjected in Cuba.

“When I saw the condition he was in, I noticed what I have seen on other occasions in prisoners leaving Cuba: they look like they’ve been rescued from a concentration camp,” Javier Larrondo, president of Prisoners Defenders, told 14ymedio, after Díaz Rodríguez contacted him via video call immediately upon leaving prison.

The photographs of the activist taken after his release, which Larrondo urges to be shared despite their harshness, speak for themselves. “I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to congratulate him, but I was speaking to a human being reduced to skin and bones, completely destroyed,” Larrondo notes.

During his imprisonment, in 2022, Díaz Rodríguez was diagnosed with advanced-stage thyroid cancer, but at no point did he receive adequate treatment. This was compounded by later suffering from hepatitis B, anemia, inflammation in his limbs, and a progressive state of malnutrition.

“We knew he was in terrible condition and we have fought for years for his life. He has requested parole on medical grounds, we have taken his case to the United Nations, but the Cuban regime continue reading

made him serve the entire sentence, in full,” adds the Prisoners Defenders president about his case.

There were numerous complaints about his deteriorating health and the irregularities surrounding the entire judicial process against him

Indeed, during the sentence of the now former prisoner, aged 45, there were numerous complaints about his deteriorating health and the irregularities surrounding the entire judicial process against him. According to relatives and independent organizations such as Justicia 11J, Prisoners Defenders, and Cubalex, the political prisoner was deprived of medication and specialized care. On several occasions he had to be urgently transferred to Abel Santamaría Hospital in critical condition, even vomiting blood, but was always returned to prison without guarantees of treatment.

Despite his condition, he was subjected to forced labor. The former political prisoner stated that he was forced to work to access a less severe prison regime, despite his physical state, and that by refusing to collaborate with State Security he lost prison benefits, including sentence reduction.

The complaints also include physical assaults: in 2024 and 2025, his mother reported that he was beaten by prison officials. Additionally, he was subjected to threats so that his family would stop denouncing the situation on social media. He also endured constant interrogations and arbitrary restrictions, such as the removal of his prison job after refusing to cooperate with State Security.

Despite his critical condition, the authorities refused to grant him medical parole. The refusal was based on his status as a “counterrevolutionary”

Despite his critical condition, authorities repeatedly refused to grant him medical parole. According to his family, the refusal was based on his status as a “counterrevolutionary,” despite meeting the medical requirements to access this benefit.

Díaz Rodríguez was detained during the 11 July 2021 protests in Artemisa and remained in pretrial detention until his trial. On December 27, 2021, the Municipal People’s Court of Artemisa sentenced him to four years in prison for contempt and public disorder.

Prisoners Defenders presented the case before the UN Human Rights Council as part of the collective complaint “1,000 Cuban Families vs. Cuban Government.”

This document claims that Díaz Rodríguez’s process was plagued with legal irregularities. Among them, the imposition of pretrial detention without judicial intervention and the lack of access to independent defense, as he was represented by lawyers from the National Organization of Collective Law Firms, subordinate to the State.

The document also points to the absence of judicial impartiality and the use of questionable evidence and testimony, mostly from State officials, as well as the complete dismissal of defense witnesses.

Cuba has consolidated itself as the country with the most convictions for arbitrary detention in the world according to the UN Working Group

The court used subjective assessments such as “poor social conduct” or “destabilizing actions” to justify the severity of the sentence, which reached the maximum limit provided. According to the complaint by Prisoners Defenders, these expressions, included in the ruling, demonstrate political bias and a lack of neutrality incompatible with international standards.

The images, circulated among activists and opposition figures, were also shared by the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer, who publicly denounced the situation through a video on social media and recalled the situation of other prisoners of conscience who also suffer mistreatment, such as Roilán Álvarez, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and Félix Navarro, among the 1,213 political prisoners that Prisoners Defenders reports to date.

Meanwhile, Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, in his recent interview with NBC, has once again denied the existence of political prisoners on the Island: “That image that in Cuba, anyone who speaks against the revolution is imprisoned is a lie.”

The UN has shown that the detentions are political in nature and violate fundamental rights of expression and assembly

Prisoners Defenders reports that Cuba has consolidated itself as the country with the most convictions for arbitrary detention in the world according to the UN Working Group. The UN has shown that the detentions are political in nature and violate fundamental rights of expression and assembly.

Javier Larrondo also recalls that according to the latest report from the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances, Cuba is the fourth country in the world in urgent actions for this crime, behind only Mexico, Iraq, and Colombia. Unlike these countries, he notes, in Cuba enforced disappearances are directly attributed to the State.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Only Labor Union (CTC) Calls To Celebrate May 1st ‘While Rationally Assuming the Imposed Restrictions’

With grandiloquent language and references to ‘Che’ Guevara, the CTC calls to “defend the country from the furrow, the factories, the classrooms, from every trench of combat”

In recent years, the May 1 parade has had low turnout, despite pressure. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, April 13, 2026 – The Island’s single union, the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), will once again adapt to circumstances and on May 1 will again celebrate its act of revolutionary reaffirmation, this time “with parades and events in every workplace collective, towns, municipalities, and provinces, rationally assuming the imposed restrictions.”

The call has gone through years of ups and downs in which the pandemic, lack of fuel, and low turnout capacity have made the traditional parades to the Plaza de la Revolución disappear. What remains unchanged is the distance from international labor movements, which dedicate the day to making demands on governments and not to applauding their own, with the exception of China, North Korea, or Vietnam.

The statement was released at the end of the most recent “voluntary workday,” held this Sunday with a focus on food production. Union leaders present at the event highlighted that these activities, called by the CTC on weekends this year, “have become a demonstration of unity alongside other organizations, reviving the creative idea championed by Che Guevara in the 1960s as a powerful tool to produce and sustain the vitality the country needs to grow and move forward in the face of the genocidal blockade.”

Union leaders present at the event highlighted that these activities, called by the CTC on weekends this year, “have become a demonstration of unity alongside other organizations, reviving the creative idea championed by Che Guevara in the 1960s

Last week, in fact, Miguel Díaz-Canel participated in one of these events in Artemisa. The president was photographed turning the soil in a furrow with a hoe, alongside about 50 people, including 18 young people to whom he handed membership cards of the Union of Young Communists. The CTC has asked that these voluntary work efforts focus, in addition to “food sovereignty,” on the installation of solar panels and the sugar harvest, although milling is halted in all sugar mills in the country due to lack of fuel.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, first secretary of the Communist Party in Havana, and Yanet Hernández Pérez, governor of the province, accompanied by other members of the UJC and the PCC, stood alongside Osnay Miguel Colina Rodríguez, president of the organizing committee of the 22nd Congress of the CTC, who outlined the purpose of the May 1, 2026 event. Under the slogan “the Homeland is defended,” the objective will not differ from continue reading

traditional ones, although with the yearly varnish, which this time is the energy blockade.

The statement emphasizes the importance of “working together and growing as a country (…) in the face of increasing threats from the U.S. Government, reinforced by the executive order of January 29, which added an energy siege to the already intensified economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed on us for more than 65 years simply for wanting to build a dignified, sovereign, and independent nation.”

Nor does the call differ, as is traditional, in the use of the so-called founding fathers of the nation. “Celebrating May Day (…) is to once again ‘break the corojo’* as Maceo did in Baraguá when he did not accept a peace without independence; it is to evoke the ideas of José Martí in his speech Los Pinos Nuevos, a transcendental declaration of unity of several generations of Cubans around the independence project; it is to defend, in the year of the centennial of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, his concept expressed on May 1, 2000.”

The organization calls on workers to “defend the country from the furrow, the factories, the classrooms, scientific centers, thermoelectric plants, hospitals, culture, sports; from every trench of combat,” and invites “friends of Cuba around the world” to accompany the celebration. Last year, according to the organizers, nearly 1,000 activists from 260 organizations aligned with the regime in 39 countries traveled to the Island, including 211 Americans, the largest national delegation. Now, with a large number of international flights suspended, it remains to be seen what will happen with these foreign delegations, which normally attend the Havana event and usually take part in a tour of activities.

Now, with a large number of international flights suspended, it remains to be seen what will happen with these foreign delegations, which normally attend the Havana event and usually take part in a tour of activities

In any case, the CTC thanks in its statement the solidarity of those who wish to support them “in the midst of a real military threat” and repeats the idea that Díaz-Canel brought up last week during his interview on the U.S. channel NBC: “To die for the homeland is to live.”

The document continues by urging workers to comply with “the priorities defined by the Party,” whether it be the energy matrix shift, food, education, or health, “not out of dogma or fanaticism, but out of conviction, ideas, and action.”

Last year, the regime claimed to have gathered one million people at the May 1 parade, which was again held in the Plaza de la Revolución. Enthusiasm, however, was once again notably absent, as in the past decade. According to official data, in 2018 there were 800,000 attendees, but a year later, during the so-called energy “conjuncture,” the empty spaces were clear evidence of the lack of motivation, despite pressure. After the suspension of celebrations due to the pandemic and the last-minute cancellation in 2023, the situation was such that in 2024 the march was held at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, with 13,000 square meters and the attendance of supposedly around 200,000 people.

*Translator’s note: The phrase “el 23 se rompe el Corojo” was used as a coded message of defiance by supporters of Maceo, setting a date (March 23) to “break the corojo,” meaning to break the agreement and resume hostilities. (AI)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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China Replaces Canada’s Sherritt As the Main Operator in Nickel Exploitation in Cuba

The multinational has suspended its activities in Moa due to the lack of fuel, while Beijing, the leading buyer of the mineral, invests in modernizing the industry

The deterioration of Sherritt in Cuba is due both to the collapse of the international price of nickel and to the growing financial burden of its operations on the Island. / Radio Angulo

14ymedio, Havana, April 12, 2026 – The Cuban energy crisis has opened a gap in one of the country’s most sensitive industries, and China is moving to fill it. While the Canadian company Sherritt has suspended operations in Moa due to fuel shortages, the Cuban government is showcasing the arrival of Chinese technology at the Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara plant as a sign of continuity in a sector that has been operating at the limit for years. What is at stake is not just a specific investment, but a rebalancing of external influence in the exploitation and commercialization of Cuban nickel.

The official press reported this week on the installation of a Chinese-made sedimentation tank in the leaching and washing area of the Moa plant, in Holguín, framing it within a technological modernization program. It did not report how much the equipment cost, who manufactured it, under what conditions it was acquired, or how much it will increase process efficiency. In Cuba, strategic industrial investments are often announced as political gestures rather than as projects subject to public scrutiny.

The new development stands out because it comes at the most delicate moment for Sherritt in years. In February 2026, the Canadian company reported that it had reduced or halted activities in Moa due to fuel restrictions and warned that a prolonged shutdown makes any restart more expensive and complicated. Sherritt maintains its stake in the joint venture Moa Nickel S.A., but the operational crisis has reduced its visible presence on the ground and exposed the fragility of a model overly dependent on imports, subsidized energy, and logistical stability.

In 2024, China was the main destination for Cuban exports of “nickel mattes” and other intermediate nickel products, with 53.1 million dollars

In that context, China appears less and less like a distant partner and increasingly like the practical support Havana needs to sustain the industry. This is not, at least for now, a formal corporate replacement of Sherritt. It is something more gradual and perhaps more important. Beijing gains influence where the Canadian company loses room to maneuver, especially as a buyer of the mineral, supplier of equipment, and actor willing to sustain a strategic relationship with an industry that Cuba cannot allow to collapse.

China has long occupied a central place in this framework. In 2018, Cuba aimed to produce more than 50,000 tons annually of continue reading

combined nickel and cobalt. Production from the Ernesto Che Guevara plant was exported mainly to China, while that of Pedro Soto Alba, operated in association with the Canadian company Sherritt, was sent to Canada. China was, at least for a significant portion of Cuban nickel, the main destination market.

The most recent trade data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity reinforce this trend. In 2024, China was the main destination for Cuban exports of “nickel mattes” [intermediate sulfide products] and other intermediate nickel products, with 53.1 million dollars, ahead of the Netherlands, with 35.4 million. The figure confirms that the link with Beijing can no longer be described as complementary. In a key part of the business, China is now the most important buyer.

The relationship between the two countries in this sector, however, did not begin now. The most ambitious precedent dates back to 2004, when Cuba and China signed 16 cooperation agreements that included a promise of investment exceeding 500 million dollars to complete a ferronickel plant abandoned in the eastern part of the country. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), that package also included the supply of 4,000 tons of nickel annually to China between 2005 and 2009, and the creation of a joint venture to explore and develop mineral deposits. As has happened so many times in the Cuban economy, the gap between announcement and outcome was considerable. It was later acknowledged that the Camarioca project ended up leaving the orbit of China Minmetals.

Sherritt has not disappeared from the map, but the combination of energy crisis, production paralysis, and external dependence has weakened its immediate prominence

In statements to 14ymedio, businessman William Pitt has linked the deterioration of Sherritt in Cuba both to the collapse of the international price of nickel and to the growing financial burden of its operations on the Island. In April 2024, he warned that a metric ton of nickel was trading at 17,439 dollars, well below the 23,894 dollars of a year earlier, and argued that this drop was forcing mining companies to cut investments in Cuba. A year later, commenting on the company’s annual report, he noted that although in 2024 Sherritt extracted 30,331 tons of nickel and 2,206 of cobalt, its revenues fell to 109.9 million dollars, 29% less than in 2023.

In May 2025, moreover, the company recorded a loss of 40.6 million dollars in the first quarter, while its nickel production fell from 3,597 to 2,947 tons, its nickel sales declined from 87.8 to 75.7 million dollars, and the Cuban State kept frozen the payment of some 107 million dollars it owed the Canadian company. For Pitt, behind those losses there is not only a bad price cycle, but a combination of blackouts, fuel shortages, falling global demand, lack of personnel, and the general deterioration of the Cuban state partner.

Sherritt has not disappeared from the map, but the combination of energy crisis, production paralysis, and external dependence has weakened its immediate prominence. China, on the other hand, is strengthening its position through a less visible and more effective route. It buys, supplies equipment, sustains cooperation, and places itself at the center of an industry that the Cuban government needs to preserve in order to obtain foreign currency. According to the USGS, mineral products accounted for nearly a third of Cuban exports in 2023, a proportion too high to allow nickel to collapse without external support.

The installation of the sedimentation tank does not by itself rescue the industry nor does it amount to a major wave of investment. But it does function as a symptom. At the moment when the Canadian company slows down and the Cuban State cannot sustain the comprehensive modernization of the sector with its own resources, China occupies the available space.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Madruga, a Cuban Town Stalled at the Bus Stop

The lack of transportation turns every trip into an odyssey of hours and money in the Mayabeque municipality

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Madruga (Mayabeque), April 12, 2026 – The traffic sign next to the bus stop has blank boxes. There could be no better symbol to define the lack of public transportation, the void that stretches along the central highway for those who have to travel. In Madruga, Mayabeque, the stop has become a place of waiting without promises, a point where time stretches and patience is tested under the clear sky and the dust kicked up by the few vehicles that manage to pass.

“The route that used to go to San José de las Lajas twice a day no longer exists. Now you have to go segment by segment, getting on whatever stops,” explains Ignacio, a self-employed worker who comes to the town frequently. The man, with a backpack slung over his shoulders and rubber boots still stained with dirt, watches the road as if salvation might appear at any moment in the form of a truck, scooter, or improvised pickup.

According to Ignacio, speaking to 14ymedio, he managed to get on an electric tricycle that charged him 500 pesos to Catalina de Güines, from where he managed to climb onto a cargo truck for another 600 pesos. “To get here I was lucky, but the return is very complicated. I’ve been here at the stop for four hours and not even flies are passing. My only hope is that by holding out a 1,000-peso bill, some driver will want to take me,” he laments, pacing restlessly back and forth along the sidewalk.

Only a woman with a small child shelters under the yellow roof of the terminal, trying to protect themselves from the heat and exhaustion. / 14ymedio

Next to the stop, the taxi stand from which private taxis used to depart is also deserted, leaving no way to travel to Ceiba Mocha or Matanzas. The metal bench, once contested by passengers, remains empty for long stretches of time. Only a woman with a small child shelters under the yellow roof of the terminal, trying to protect themselves from the heat and the fatigue accumulated after hours of waiting.

“It’s already past 2:00 in the afternoon and not a single car has come through today. Now things are really bad, because even with money in your pocket you can’t get out of here,” says a young man, for whom the municipality of Unión de Reyes feels farther away than ever. The man checks his phone frequently, although he knows the battery will run out continue reading

before a vehicle willing to pick up passengers appears. “The few that are circulating are from the same town. No private driver will go to Matanzas for less than 40,000 pesos. Honestly, it’s an abuse,” he complains.

Worried that night will fall without being able to leave, the man from Matanzas has gone several times with his four-year-old son to a nearby cafeteria, where tractor-trailers stop to eat. The child, sitting on the edge of a bench, plays with an empty cup while curiously watching the road. “Only two or three big trucks have passed. All the drivers tell me they’re loaded, that they can’t take me. My child keeps asking when we’re leaving. He asks for water, food, and we’re stuck in the middle of the road. We left San Nicolás de Bari before dawn and we’re still wandering around. Hopefully we won’t have to sleep on a bench,” says the young father, visibly exhausted.

“No official is concerned about the hardships the people go through, because they all have ways to get around.” / 14ymedio

You could cross the road without looking both ways, if not for the occasional electric scooter breaking the silence of the roadway. The sounds of combustion engines have practically disappeared from the central highway. There is little movement in the surroundings: a street vendor pushes a cart with agricultural products, a cyclist passes slowly, and occasionally a truck raises a cloud of dust that forces those present to cover their faces.

“I need to take medication to my mother who lives in Aguacate, just a few kilometers from here. A trip that can be done in minutes takes a whole day because there are no intermunicipal buses running,” says a woman, sitting in the same spot since mid-morning, without even leaving to get a coffee for fear of missing a vehicle that might stop. She grips her bag tightly and anxiously watches every point that appears on the horizon.

“The traffic sign is there for nothing. I got tired of raising in accountability meetings that this stop needs an inspector, but no official cares about the hardships people go through, because they all have ways to get around,” the woman argues, unable to hide her frustration.

As the afternoon goes on, the sun beats down on the sidewalk and the shadow of the yellow roof becomes the only refuge for travelers trapped in the wait. Time seems to stand still in Madruga. Only the young man with his son and four other people persist in trying to embark on a journey whose wait becomes unbearable due to the heat and uncertainty.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Iberia Suspends All Its Flights to Cuba Starting in June

It is the first time in history that the Spanish airline cancels the route for reasons attributable to conditions on the Island, although it aims to resume flights in November

A Havana-bound aircraft from the Spanish company, landed at José Martí International Airport. / Iberia

14ymedio, Madrid, April 13, 2026 – The airline Iberia announced this Monday the suspension of its flights to Cuba due to a drop in tourism. The measure does not take effect immediately and is limited to the low season, between June and November, with the intention of resuming routes at that time. However, the fact that it is one of the main airlines connecting Europe with the Island, and until now seemed committed to continuing to guarantee the route, is another final blow to the deplorable state of the sector.

The Spanish company currently maintains three weekly frequencies from Madrid to Cuba, and the first step is to reduce them to two in May. When June arrives, the only alternative will be to travel to Panama and, from there, come to the Island with Copa Airlines, which has a codeshare agreement with Iberia. The company has stated that its offices in Havana remain open to assist customers who need help.

“This temporary suspension affects exclusively Cuba, due to its exceptional situation. Iberia maintains the rest of its operations normally and, looking ahead to this summer, will offer a record number of 21.4 million seats,” the airline said in the announcement. The declaration is another painful verdict for Havana. The Spanish company had only suspended operations twice before, and neither was attributable to conditions on the Island. continue reading

“This temporary suspension affects exclusively Cuba, due to its exceptional situation. Iberia maintains the rest of its operations normally and, looking ahead to this summer, will offer a record number of 21.4 million seats”

In 2013, Iberia went through a severe economic crisis that forced the airline, which only two years earlier had merged with British Airways in the IAG alliance, one of the largest in the world, to carry out a workforce restructuring. In those negotiations, which led to the departure of more than 4,500 employees, three long-haul routes were canceled: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. It was the first time in more than 60 years that the Spanish company did not fly to the Island.

The measure lasted two years, and in 2015 flights resumed in a big way, with five weekly connections, precisely in a promising year for the Cuban economy, when amid the thaw with the United States, companies from around the world bet on positioning themselves on the Island ahead of an opening that ultimately ended in failure.

Iberia suspended flights to Cuba again during the pandemic, when air routes worldwide were affected by border closures and airspace shutdowns.

This is, therefore, the first time the Spanish airline leaves the Island for reasons attributable exclusively to Cuba. On February 9, the company announced that, despite the lack of fuel, it would maintain its flights to Havana by refueling in the Dominican Republic. It was also one of the few airlines that did not backtrack on its decision, unlike those from Canada and Russia, countries that currently have higher flows of tourism to the Island, which nevertheless evacuated their nationals and stopped traveling until the situation is resolved.

Spain, despite being a key economic and cultural partner of Cuba, has ceased to be a top-tier tourism market as it had been until recently. The commitment of hotel entrepreneurs remains, for now, intact, but travelers are fleeing. Last year, barely 46,489 Spaniards visited the Island, compared to 65,054 in 2024. These numbers are put into perspective when compared to those of 2017, when the figure was 168,949.

In the first two months of 2026, only 4,422 Spaniards traveled to Cuba, 32% fewer than in the same period the previous year.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Seven Cubans Deported by the US Find Support in a Shelter in Tapachula

“These people have spent more than half their lives in the US and they have no one in Mexico.”

A group of deported Cubans in Tapachula. / Video capture

14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico City, April 10, 2026 / Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, has become the epicenter of deportations from the US of Cubans, Haitians, Mexicans, and Salvadorans. “Mexico is doing the dirty work; today it accepts people that the Donald Trump administration doesn’t want—people with criminal records and the elderly, people who are abandoned without papers or money,” says lawyer Jacinto Gómez.

At the Jesús el Buen Pastor del Pobre y el Migrante shelter, there are seven Cubans. The oldest, Olga Sánchez Martínez, the center’s director, tells 14ymedio, is about 65 or 75 years old. “These people have spent more than half their lives in the US; they have children, family, property, but they were deported and have no one in Mexico.”

Doña Olga, as the migrants call her, has accepted these Cubans regardless of their history. “They need help; most are between 40 and 50 years old, and many of them have spent days without food and sleeping on the street.”

At the shelter, located almost 20 minutes from downtown Tapachula, migrants find a place to sleep, shower, and eat, “for as long as they need.” The facility, which has been receiving migrants for decades , has a capacity for 1,500 people, but is currently housing only 90. In addition to Cubans, “there are Nicaraguans, Haitians, Salvadorans, Africans, and Mexicans.”

Despite being expelled, the island’s nationals, Sánchez says, “are hoping to return when Trump leaves the White House. They are waiting for continue reading

changes.”

The Jesús el Buen Pastor del Pobre y el Migrante shelter has a capacity for 1,500 people. / Facebook

More than 500 Cubans have been deported by the US between March and the beginning of April. The director of the Center for Human Dignity, Luis Rey García Villagrán, denounced the apathy of the authorities toward their requests for immigration regularization. They are allowed to fill out the forms and “in the best-case scenario, are told to wait three to four months to receive an email that will never arrive.”

The shelter is sustained by Sánchez Martínez, who also owns a small store: “That’s where the money comes from to cover the electricity, water, and food expenses.” The state government helped him this year with bathroom renovations. “Health authorities come to the shelter twice a week to provide medical care.”

Sánchez began supporting migrants in 1992, helping those who “fell off the train and lost legs or an arm,” she says, referring to the freight train known as La Bestia (The Beast), which travels north-south through Mexico carrying all kinds of goods, while migrants sneak on for a ride north. She continued even when authorities pressured her to stop the aid. “The train left, but the migrants kept arriving, first a few, then thousands, and they know they won’t lack food or shelter.”

During the day, the migrants go out in search of work; “there is work on the farms, harvesting bananas, papayas, and coffee.” Because of their circumstances, the wages are low; they earn 150 pesos a day (a little over $8) when the average wage is 270 pesos ($15.60) per day.

While some deported Cubans hope to return to the United States, others have expressed their desire to go back to the island. One of them is William Herrera López, who told Diario del Sur last March that, given the lack of opportunities in Tapachula, he was seeking Mexico’s support to return to his country. “I’m 53 years old and I’d like to be sent back to my country. There I have my mother, siblings, nephews, and a humble little house where I can stay, not here in a place I don’t know and am completely alone.”

Óscar Rodríguez, another of those expelled by the US, lamented: “Work is hard here, it’s poorly paid, and it’s not enough. The truth is, all we can do is ask to be sent back to Cuba or given the opportunity to move to another part of Mexico, because things are complicated in Tapachula.”

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A Man Dies While Attempting To Steal Dielectric Oil in Santiago De Cuba

Two brothers were extracting the product when a transformer exploded, causing the death of one and severe burns to the other

Transformers where the incident took place, in Songo La Maya, Santiago de Cuba. / Santiago de Cuba Electric Company

14ymedio, Havana, April 11, 2026 – A man died and another was seriously injured on Friday night in Santiago de Cuba while attempting to steal dielectric oil* from a bank of transformers in the locality of Alta Esperanza, in the municipality of Songo La Maya.

According to the official publication of the provincial Electric Company, at the moment when the two brothers were attempting to carry out the theft, a fault in a transformer caused an explosion that directly affected those involved, instantly killing one of them and severely burning the other.

The statement emphasizes that this type of crime against the National Electric System (SEN) is punished under Law No. 151/2022, Article 125, of the Penal Code, which constitutes “sabotage” as it is an “attack against the infrastructure that sustains daily life and the country’s economic development.”

The risky theft of dielectric oil is not new in Cuba, and its recurrence demonstrates the level of desperation the population has reached in the context of needs and shortages resulting from the current crisis on the Island.

The risky theft of dielectric oil is not new in Cuba, and its recurrence demonstrates the level of desperation the population has reached

In addition to being dangerous to the physical integrity of the perpetrators, as seen in this and other cases, the crime is defined and severely punished by law. Penalties can range from four to twenty years in prison and even reach life imprisonment if there are aggravating circumstances. In some cases reported by 14ymedio, perpetrators have received sentences of up to 15 years in prison. continue reading

Dielectric oil serves an essential function of insulation and cooling, crucial for extending the lifespan and efficient operation of electrical transformers. In a situation of scarcity of all kinds of supplies in the country, this substance has become a valuable commodity, stolen from power poles to end up lubricating motors of household appliances, among other uses.

The explosion of the transformers caused a power outage in the municipalities of Songo La Maya and Segundo Frente, following the fall of a 33 kV line that supplied the area. The Electric Company warned that the extraction of dielectric oil can cause breakdowns, explosions, and blackouts as occurred in this case, in addition to generating a shortage of this essential resource for the system, with direct effects on supply to the population.

The state entity reported hours later that the perpetrators were brothers, and that authorities managed to recover 70 liters of the stolen oil 100 meters from the scene of the incident.

*Dielectric transformer oil is a specialized insulating fluid used in power transformers to provide electrical insulation and cooling.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Pair of Oxen and a Cart, the Latest Innovations in Cuba’s Military Strategy

What must they be thinking in Washington and Moscow about the bovine logistics introduced by Havana in the “war of all the people”?

Following the same logic, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed with a pair of barracudas. / Screenshot

14ymedio,Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, April 11, 2026 – Social media of the regime have once again delivered one of those scenes conceived halfway between parody, mockery, and Cuban-style ridicule. In the videos of defense preparations circulating this Saturday, several half-malnourished uniformed men deploy around a rural house, crouch down, take positions, and simulate a military operation with the seriousness of someone who believes they are participating in the prelude to the Normandy landings. Except that in the middle of the scene, a camouflaged cart bursts in, pulled by a pair of oxen, as if it were a secret, decisive, and impregnable weapon.

In some Pentagon office, one imagines U.S. generals watching the videos in silence, first with confusion, then rewinding them to make sure they are not looking at a meme, and finally wondering whether it is a military exercise or a Gaesa agricultural fair. Perhaps one of them has concluded that there is no need to deploy drones, satellites, or precision missiles against an adversary that still seems to fight its battles in the Middle Ages.

On the other side, it is also easy to imagine the discomfort of Havana’s allies. In Moscow, perhaps someone has looked away to avoid admitting that, after sending weapons, oil, and political support, the great showcase of Cuban “resistance” ends up making such blunders. Even in Tehran, perhaps some strategist has thought that, following the same logic, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed with a pair of barracudas, three sharks, and a boat covered with dry grass. continue reading

It’s one thing is to improvise in a ruined country and quite another to turn precariousness into military doctrine

While the world discusses autonomous drones, electronic jamming systems, highly precise guided missiles, and wars fought thousands of miles away through screens, satellites, and sensors, in Cuba the defensive epic seems to continue relying on bovine logistics. The ox, slow and completely alien to the rhetoric of the “imperial enemy,” thus enters the cast of the “war of all the people.”

There will be no shortage of those who say it is ingenuity, adaptation to shortages, or a display of “creative resistance.” But it’s one thing to improvise in a ruined country and quite another to turn precariousness into military doctrine and, on top of that, to showcase it. In the images, soldiers run around, smear their faces with mud, cover themselves with grass and bushes, as if thermal weapons, night vision, and satellite surveillance had not yet been discovered.

What is laughable, however, stops being amusing when the context is observed. Since January, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the cutoff of Venezuelan oil shipments, the Cuban regime has intensified its military maneuvers and the staging of defense exercises. In parallel, the energy crisis has worsened to extremes that affect daily life, the electrical grid, and essential services.

That is where the oxen from Villa Clara come into the scene, not as a tactical innovation, but as a prop resource to disguise waste

The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived with about 730,000 barrels of crude, a limited amount whose real dilemma is not its volume but what the authorities will decide to spend it on. That aid will not last long if it ends up squandered on absurd war drills. While operations in hospitals are suspended, supplies are scarce, and the healthcare system operates at the limit due to blackouts and lack of fuel, the State continues to find thousands of liters, week after week, to move tanks, helicopters, and heavy equipment, as has been seen in previous maneuvers.

Now propagandists seem to have understood that it is no longer effective to denounce to the world that there is no fuel for pediatric services but there is for weekly military deployments. The narrative of permanent victimization runs into the evidence of a power that, when it comes to shielding itself, always finds reserves, diesel, mobilization, and staging. Perhaps that is where the oxen from Villa Clara come in, not as a tactical innovation, but as a prop resource to disguise waste.

In a collapsed country, wasting fuel on useless exercises to reassure a nervous leadership does not convey strength. It conveys fear. And also disconnection. The distance between power and the needs of the people is measured today in hours of blackouts, canceled bus routes, lost harvests, and exhausted hospitals. But also, it seems, it can be measured in the length of a cart pulled by oxen and presented as if it were a strategic resource.

The scene provokes laughter, yes. But then it leaves something worse: the certainty that, while the country sinks, those in power continue playing at war with the fuel they deny the population. And so, among dry grass, mud camouflage, and the weary pace of military cattle, the Revolution ends up demonstrating that it no longer knows how to run a country and barely manages to herd its own decline.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Russia ‘Is Working on an Energy Supply Plan’ That Includes Sending Another Oil Tanker to Cuba

An envoy from Moscow gives no details about this cooperation and limits himself to noting that it involves restarting the Antillana de Acero plant, paralyzed by the lack of electricity

Antillana de Acero, halted since 2020, continues without stable operations due to the energy crisis and decades of deterioration. / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, April 11, 2026 – Speaking Friday, the Russian Deputy Minister of Industry Roman Chekushov said, “We discussed with our Cuban partners that Russian companies would have access to the management of industrial enterprises in the Republic [of Cuba].” Chekushov is in Havana as part of a delegation led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Last Thursday, Chekushov had stated to the same outlet that both parties have agreed on “an energy supply plan” as a basis for reactivating production at the Cuban metallurgical plant.

“We will try to launch rolled steel production once the small remaining outstanding debt is settled, which will increase the turnover of metallurgical product sales and allow further development of that business with those funds,” the Russian official noted.

Chekushov stressed that Cuba’s current economic priority is the restoration of normal electricity supply. “All industrial projects are linked to this,” he said.

“We discussed with our Cuban partners that Russian companies would have access to the management of industrial enterprises in the Republic”

The most important project within this bilateral cooperation is the modernization of the Antillana de Acero José Martí metallurgical plant, whose rehabilitation was agreed upon in 2015 by both governments. According to the Russian official, the contract is 93% completed in terms of value, which he described as “practically the end.”

The completion of the project would allow an annual production of around 160,000 tons of rolled steel, in a context where Cuba’s heavy industry has operated for years with serious energy and investment continue reading

limitations.

He also noted that in the case of the assembly of Russian vehicles in Cuba, suspended last month as a result of the energy crisis just one year after its launch, is expected to resume once the energy supply is normalized.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, at a press conference following his meeting with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel last Thursday, stated: “Ensuring the Island’s energy security is a priority. It is premature to talk about next steps. It is widely known that we are not limited to the supply of the batch of oil that has already arrived on the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin.”

A second tanker loaded with 251,000 barrels of diesel and coming from the Baltic port of Vysotsk is heading toward the Caribbean, probably to Cuba

Following the arrival in Cuba on March 30 of the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, with 100,000 tons of oil, a second shipment appears to already be en route to the Caribbean.

However, Ryabkov did not confirm the departure of the second Russian tanker promised a few days earlier by Energy Minister Sergei Tsiviliov, who boasted of having “broken the energy blockade” imposed by Washington.

According to maritime tracking agencies, the tanker Universal, loaded with 320,000 barrels of fuel and coming from the Baltic port of Vysotsk, has just crossed the English Channel and is heading toward the Caribbean, with an arrival date of April 23, probably to Cuba, although it keeps its final destination secret, as do all Russian ships sanctioned by the United States and Europe.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Cuban Man and Others Deported by the U.S. to Eswatini Will Have the Right to a Lawyer

Roberto Mosquera del Peral, who had served a sentence for homicide in Miami, was sent to that African country last summer

In October 2025, the Cuban’s lawyer said her client had begun a hunger strike to protest his detention. / DHS

EFE / 14ymedio, Nairobi / Madrid, April 11, 2026 – The Supreme Court of Eswatini, the former Swaziland, ruled in favor of four of the migrants deported by the United States to that small African kingdom and recognized their right to meet with a lawyer, after spending nine months without in-person access to legal assistance. Among them is the Cuban Roberto Mosquera del Peral, sent to the country last summer as part of the new policy of expulsions to third states promoted by the Trump administration.

The court’s decision confirms an earlier ruling by a lower court, which had been challenged by the Eswatini government. The case refers to the first group of deportees that Washington sent to Eswatini in July 2025: initially there were five men, although one of them was later repatriated.

The judicial resolution does not end the case nor immediately improve the underlying situation of the deportees, but it does represent a defeat for the Eswatini executive, which had argued that those men did not have the right to a defense because, formally, they were not detained nor had they been charged with any crime in the country. It also claimed that they did not wish to meet with the local lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, who acts on behalf of the attorneys representing them from the United States and who until now had only been able to speak with them by phone.

Amnesty International (AI) welcomed the ruling, although it warned that the main problem remains unchanged. “The Supreme Court’s ruling represents an important step in defending the right to access a lawyer for people who have been illegally transferred by the U.S. to Eswatini,” said Vongai Chikwanda, regional deputy director of the organization for East and Southern Africa.

“No one should be transferred to a country in violation of international law guarantees, only to then be secretly detained without a clear legal process”

The NGO, however, stressed that access to a lawyer does not correct the most serious violations reported for months. According to AI, these transfers are part of an abusive practice that leaves deportees trapped in continue reading

countries with which they have no connection, without a clear judicial process, and without guarantees against a new expulsion.

“No one should be transferred to a country in violation of international law guarantees, only to then be secretly detained without a clear legal process, without access to lawyers, and without protection against a subsequent illegal expulsion,” the organization insisted.

The case of Mosquera del Peral illustrates this policy. The Cuban man had served a sentence for homicide in Miami and was one of the individuals sent by Washington to Eswatini after his country of origin, like others, refused to accept him. He traveled with nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, and Yemen. Over the months, the number of deportees transferred to that African kingdom grew to at least fifteen people, although two of them have already been returned to their countries, Jamaica and Cambodia.

Last October, Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, reported that the Cuban had been held for more than three months without charges in the maximum-security prison of Matsapha, in Eswatini. The attorney said at the time that her client had begun a hunger strike to protest his detention and warned that his life was in danger, while demanding that he be allowed access to a lawyer in that African country.

Washington agreed to pay 5.1 million dollars to the Eswatini government, as acknowledged by the kingdom’s authorities

According to complaints filed in court and by human rights organizations, the deportees have remained detained without charges and in isolation in the maximum-security prison of Matsapha, near Mbabane, the capital of Eswatini. The local government denies that these are illegal detentions, but that has been precisely one of the central issues in the litigation.

As early as last February, Eswatini’s judiciary rejected an appeal that sought to halt the deportation of third-country nationals from the United States. That lawsuit had been filed in August, shortly after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the transfer of the first five foreigners to the African country.

The agreement was not free. Washington agreed to pay 5.1 million dollars to the Eswatini government, as the kingdom’s authorities acknowledged. That figure further fueled criticism from activists and legal experts, who see in these agreements an externalization of the U.S. migration system: those expelled leave American territory but do not necessarily return to their countries of origin, instead being sent to third states willing to receive them in exchange for financial compensation.

Nine months after their arrival at a maximum-security prison in a foreign country, they remain in a situation of legal limbo

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has hardened his migration policy and promoted rapid expulsions with the support of several countries. In addition to Eswatini, Washington has reached similar agreements with El Salvador, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Humanitarian organizations believe these agreements expose hundreds of people to a chain of abuses: arbitrary detention, mistreatment, isolation, and the risk of being sent to places where they may face persecution, torture, or degrading treatment. For this reason, they have called on several African governments to refuse to become destinations for migrants expelled from the United States.

In the case of Eswatini, the Supreme Court’s ruling opens a legal window for the deportees but does not clarify how long they will remain detained or what their final destination will be. Nor does it resolve the underlying issue: whether a country can accept people expelled from another state and keep them detained for months, without charges, without transparency, and without explaining what will happen to them.

For Mosquera del Peral and the other men, the ruling means at least a possibility of defense that had until now been denied to them. But nine months after their arrival at a maximum-security prison in a foreign country, they remain in a situation of legal limbo, turned into pawns of a migration policy that has moved the problem far from the U.S. border.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Denounces the United States’ “’Obsession’ With Expelling Russia From the ‘Western Hemisphere’

Moscow reiterates its “100% solidarity with Cuba” and its intention to remain in the region

Díaz-Canel conveyed to Sergei Ryabkov a hug for Putin. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Madrid, April 10, 2026 – Nine days after the Anatoly Kolodkin docked at the port of Matanzas with 730,000 barrels of crude oil, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, entered the Palace of the Revolution ready to receive praise from Miguel Díaz-Canel. “There is value in countries like the Russian Federation in not allowing themselves to be subjected to imperial policies,” said the Cuban leader.

The meeting also comes after Moscow announced the shipment of a second tanker to the Island, although it has not provided details about it. “Russia is not going to abandon the Western Hemisphere, no matter what they say in Washington, which is obsessed with the idea of expelling Russia, as well as China, from this region,” he said.

“At the present time, Russia is one hundred percent in solidarity with Cuba; despite the complexity the country is going through, we are by your side,” Ryabkov told the Cuban leader.

Díaz-Canel thanked the deputy foreign minister for his support and stated that “it is proof that Cuba is not alone.” According to the Cuban leader, the shipment of crude oil to the Island “supports a concept that we are defending, which is that we have every right to receive oil and that other countries have every right to export oil to Cuba.” continue reading

“It supports a concept that we are defending, which is that we have every right to receive oil and that other countries have every right to export oil to Cuba”

The decision to send the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin to the Island seemed like an impossible mission at the time it became known. After the order signed by President Trump at the end of January imposing tariffs on countries that sent oil to the Island, none were willing to take the risk, even though both Russia and Mexico stated several times that they were seeking solutions. The decision by the Supreme Court, which declared the mechanisms by which Washington intended to apply those tariffs illegal, seemed to open a window, but no one made a move knowing there were other possible penalties.

Another possibility opened with the announcement by the United States of suspending sanctions on Russian crude for one month to ease energy problems resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Sea Horse, flying the flag of Hong Kong (China) but loaded with Russian oil, began heading discreetly toward the Island but changed course almost at the same time that the White House added an amendment stating that Iran, North Korea, and Cuba were excluded from that relief.

However, the Anatoly Kolodkin continued its route without opposition from the United States. “They have to survive! (…) I have no problem,” Trump himself said when asked about that ship. “I said, if a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with it. Whether it’s Russia or not,” he added. Subsequently, the White House clarified that it was a humanitarian decision and that it would be reviewed case by case, making the future of that second shipment announced on April 1 by Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsiviliov unpredictable.

Ryabkov spoke yesterday of the “special nature” of relations between Havana and Moscow and described as “very productive” the meeting of political consultations between the foreign ministries of both nations held that day, which he considered “very useful in carefully evaluating different issues.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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