In Coyote Regimes

The former Cuban president, Raúl Castro, along with the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and their Venezuelan partner, Nicolás Maduro. (Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 18 February 2023 — We often read about that particularly predatory human subspecies that we call “coyotes,” unscrupulous subjects who live from the despair of those who seek to have a better life for themselves and theirs.

These people have no mercy. They traffic people, making them face countless dangers, like being kidnapped, raped or killed. It’s a dirty international business of billions of dollars in which organized crime has a great participation, an entity present in more than one government in the hemisphere.

It is prudent to wonder if that activity was in principle an invention of criminal-minded governments or simple criminals who are always looking for a greater fortune. The question is a consequence of the recent decision of the Nicaraguan dictatorship to banish 222 political prisoners, an act that confirms that the tyrants of Castro-Chavismo do not even respect their own laws.

This release of political prisoners to obtain some political or economic benefit was a practice that Fidel Castro instituted in the 1960s, when he put a price on the head of each and every one of the prisoners of the 2506 Brigade*. Later, every time an influential U.S. senator traveled to Cuba and interceded for a prisoner, the dictator released some of his slaves. The same happened with the few Ibero-American political leaders who were interested in those who were in the Caribbean tyrant’s dungeons. Even the Nobel Gabriel García Márquez was rewarded by his friend Castro with a slave, the already disappeared political prisoner Reinol González.

Castro-Chavista regimes dictate particularly repressive laws whose direct results are death or imprisonment and, nevertheless, they break them extremely easily if there is any benefit involved, because all those dictators share the greed of coyotes. continue reading

Of course, these exiles, in addition to looking for economic benefits, have political gains in their sights. The Ortega-Murillo duo seeks, with the banishment of political prisoners, an approach to the government of President Joe Biden, who apparently, as former President Barack Obama did, is in favor of a rapprochement with the despots that prevail in the hemisphere, perhaps with the naive idea that the bad guys give in to good examples.

Political prisoners are a by-product of repression, the greatest hallmark of Castro-Chavism. To achieve absolute social control, punishment is essential. That’s why in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia there are political prisoners who in most cases have not committed any crime; they have been punished for the right to think and give their opinion without hypocrisy, a crime for the autocrats who govern those countries.

The worst thing is that they use repression as an instrument of punishment, in addition to simulating changes. These regimes condemn a large number of people for no reason with the aim of breaking them, sometimes releasing them en masse and banishing them, in order to receive benefits from the government that welcomes them or, at least, making “useful idiots” think that the dictatorship is changing by exiling prisoners who did not commit crimes, as the writer José Antonio Albertini said.

The best evidence of this statement dates back to the arrival in Spain of several prisoners of Cuba’s 2003 Black Spring, something similar to what Ortega-Murillo did. On that occasion, Member of the European Parliament María Muñiz, of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, told Deutsche Welle: “We must appreciate this gesture of Cuba,” adding, “this will allow the European Union’s Common Position towards Cuba to be changed in the near future,” ignoring that the prisoners were unjustly sanctioned, as is the case with the banished.

It is not fair that tyrants are rewarded for rectifying their crimes. The Iranian autocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pardoned prisoners for the protests that motivated the murder of the young Mahsa Amini and, according to some rumors, the Cuban regime will release some of the protestors arrested on July 11, 2021. These injustices should not be rewarded by democratic governments by declaring that there are changes and granting benefits, when the dictatorship is actually preparing the prisons to receive new innocents.

*Translator’s note: The 2506 Brigade was made up of Cuban exiles, and in 1961 they landed at the Bay of Pigs [known as Giron in Cuba] to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

New Stores are Born in Cuba with a Strange Alliance Between the Private and State Sectors

La Bodeguita de San Rafael, on the Boulevard of the same name, in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 20 February 2023 — A new market in the heart of Centro Habana, a ration store with various items, a stationery store in the Miramar Trade Center, a fabric and upholstery store in El Vedado, a re-opened Italian pizzeria in the same neighborhood… these establishments have three things in common: they have recently opened or reopened in the capital, they have very high prices, and now — with a new or former name — they are in private hands.

In the middle of Boulevard de San Rafael, the colorful poster of a large and well-stocked shop, inaugurated this Saturday, La Bodeguita de San Rafael, is a surprise. “The best of all I’ve seen so far; it’s one of the most beautiful,” said a customer, surprised at what the state clothing store that used to exist in that place had become.

But what left most people speechless were the prices: 34-oz. soft drinks at 450 pesos ($19), condensed milk at 550 ($23), a small tetrapack of tomato puree at 380 ($16), a pound of lentils at 400 ($17), a kilo of wheat flour at 590 ($25), two pounds of rice at 650 ($27), a simple glass of yogurt at 120 ($5).

“A woman spent almost 33,000 pesos ($1,375) in front of me,” said another man who went shopping. “I don’t know what she had in her shopping bags.”

Inside the store, a couple, a foreigner and a Cuban woman were talking. He asked her: continue reading

“Why do you go to the store in MLC [freely convertible currency] if they sell here in pesos?” She replied: “Because the prices are much higher; they are inflated. For example, that package of rice will cost 2 MLC or $1.90, and here it costs 600 Cuban pesos ($25).”

“It looks like they are reselling things from the MLC stores, but that’s not supposed to happen because it’s not allowed,” speculated an old man.

What seems clear is that, once again, the same scheme of the recently inaugurated grocery store of the Miramar Trade Center is being repeated, the same as what happened with the branches of the Sylvain chain and before that, the Fress. A variety of businesses have now gone from state hands to private hands overnight, without competition or prior notice.

Therefore, the inauguration the same Saturday of a “sodería-hamburger” shop called Complejo Zapata y 12, in that same municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, was striking. It was attended by Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party, and Reinaldo García Zapata, Governor of Havana.

Tribuna de La Habana reflected the same thing in a note published this Sunday. The initiative, reports the official press, is due to the “productive chain” between the state Provincial Company of the Food Industry (EPIA) and the private company Epcc, “with one person responsible.”

In this association, the text released by the director general of the EPIA, Abdelín González Mesa, explains, “The state entity provides the premises, the labor force and the technological infrastructure, while the private company supplies all the imported raw material and is involved in the manufacturing  process.”

With this joint production, Tribuna continues, “the private actor has fewer costs and therefore can set more affordable prices for customers,” alluding to the surprising financing of the private company with public resources.

As stated with pomp, the establishment offers “several varieties of ice cream made in the unit itself, using natural fruits collected in the country and from imported components (chocolate, lemon, strawberry, orange and pineapple).” In addition, they boast that the offer “is marketed at prices lower than those currently set by other forms of private management”: the ice cream scoop costs 35 pesos ($1.45), and the simple hamburger costs 150 ($6.25).

This is one of the few occasions in which the official press publishes something related to new private businesses, whose proliferation was ratified by the meeting, last January, between Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Kremlin adviser Boris Titov.

As revealed by Russian media at the time — not by Cuban officials — both parties agreed to transform Cuba’s economy into a “private enterprise” one. For voices in exile such as the Cuba Siglo XXI ideas laboratory, this means an imminent transition from a “state-controlled economy model” to the “old elite oligarchic Soviet scheme” of taking control of numerous businesses.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

‘No One Can Be Forced to Leave Cuba as a Condition for Release’

Three mothers of 11J prisoners demanding their release. (Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio) Madrid, 21 February 2023 — The release of detainees in Cuba due to protests such as those of the July 2021 protests should not lead to a “forced expatriation” as in Nicaragua, several Cuban human rights organizations warned on Monday.

The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Justice 11J and Cubalex stated that “the recent release of 222 political prisoners from Nicaragua and their immediate deportation to the United States has raised an alert in Cuban civil society about a similar ’solution’ in the current context of the Island.”

“The alert is motivated by the talks between the Cuban State and agencies such as the Catholic Church, the European Union (EU) and the Government of the United States, which have expressed positions in favor of the unconditional release of political prisoners,” says the statement, disseminated by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, based in Madrid.

The release of the demonstrators has become a key political issue in Cuba after Nicaragua’s precedent and the insistence on this matter by the United States, the European Union and the Vatican.

The possibility of prisoners being released for protests against the Cuban government is on the table in the context of a potential negotiation with the United States.

In this regard, these organizations recalled “antecedents” such as the release and exile in 2010 of “the majority of the political prisoners of the Black Spring” from 2003 as part of a negotiation process in the EU, and continue reading

in 2015 the release of 53 others imprisoned in this case in negotiations for the restoration of relations between Cuba and the United States.

The signatories of the statement cited that the UN Human Rights Council has denounced these “forced expatriations,” which they describe as “a systematic practice in repressive governments,” and they stated that “the Nicaraguan political prisoners did not participate in the negotiation process either” nor “were they informed that the condition for their release was forced exit from their country.”

“No person, much less in the inhumane conditions of deprivation of liberty in Cuban prisons, can be forced to leave the country as a condition of their release or of definitive freedom,” they claimed.

“Whoever negotiates with the Cuban State should request guarantees that the person deprived of his liberty will make the decision to leave the country without pressure from the organs of State Security,” they added.

In addition, they demanded “the participation of people deprived of liberty and their families in the process of negotiating the exit,” along with “minimum guarantees for those who freely and voluntarily decide to leave the country, such as facilities in the relocation process to access the legalization of their immigration status.”

“We oppose laudatory pronouncements such as those issued by the US State Department, in which a human rights violation act is presented as a ’positive success’ for the consolidation of relations between countries and the path to democracy,” they stressed.

“However, we receive with hope the idea that they will be released, in any of the possible ways,” they concluded.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

No Customs, Thank You

Customs Officer in the process of confiscating the belongings of Eliecer Avila. (Somos+)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 18 February 2023 — My Cuban friends come from the Island to Europe and are amazed that when we travel to different countries when we arrive at the airports there are no “customs” or police controls. The magic of Schengen Area for Europeans (Spanish Cubans too), the disappearance of customs and controls, is one of the greatest successes of this part of the world. It wasn’t always like that.

The European Union, which was the architect of this congregation of nations that opted to eliminate barriers to the free movement of people and goods, allowed circulation through the countries of the west before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. But with the disappearance of socialism, Eastern Europeans also integrated into the Schengen area and others, those who were left out, did their best to make entrances more flexible. Customs are part of “cold-war” past, which Europeans have forgotten, as if Europe had been transformed into a kind of United States of America.

By contrast, in the Cuban case, Customs has existed for six decades, and those who return to Cuba or want to enter must face a complex and absurd barrier of entry that has been done and undone during its existence. To be honest, there are few reasons for celebration.

Shall we start?

Customs was responsible for the shameful searches that were made of people fleeing the country in the early sixties, a real dispossession of scarce, last-minute belongings that Cubans managed to remove from the terrible communist inventories of their homes.

There, in the presence of those who fled communism, boxes were available to throw all kinds of requisition objects, certainly with little or no professionalism. It was the years of militarized Customs, which created a bitter experience for those continue reading

who sadly left their lives behind. That image of a predatory and vengeful customs remained for decades, and many Cubans remember it that way.

Customs, in this case, which guards the Island, has committed terrible crimes such as the incident of the 13th of March tugboat, at a much later date, where murder was committed against young children. This work of surveillance and control of territorial waters to prevent the flight of Cubans has been a source of atrocities that have never been punished, and which in many cases are not even known.

But true, the years are passing and on February 5, General Customs turned 60, and for that reason Randy Alonso invited to his Roundtable program on State TV William Pérez, deputy head of Customs; Yamila Martínez, general director of Customs Processes; David Fernández, director of Technologies and Infocommunications and Glenda González, secretary of the Communist Youth Union.

Tremendous program. There, some keys were given to “orient” the audience on the functioning of Customs in the service of the communist regime. As a starting point, the reference to political-ideological work, “in the interest of strengthening the institutional image and strengthening the sense of belonging of workers” gives a good idea that Customs, far from being governed by technical criteria, does so by the communist party, no more or less than the rest of the inefficient monstrosity of the state.

Some facts are surprising. Of those employed, 66% are young and 70% are women. This attraction of young people is apparently attributed to a youth detachment called 60 Socialist Customs, composed of the 60 most prominent young people in the country; the development of an internal festival of amateur artists; and other communication and information actions.

For Customs managers, this web that traps young people in its service is a positive point and, as could not be otherwise, most of them come from the Comminist Youth Union, which even has a secretariat in Customs, to ensure ideological purity. The young people of Customs must be proud to be part of the “60 Socialist Customs” detachment, cited above, and must participate in the activities organized outside their specific activity in Customs by monitoring the borders.

A piece of advice to these young people. Don’t have too many illusions. No matter how efficient and quality Customs services are, this entity would have its days numbered in a democratic, free country and, of course, with another economic model, in line with what happens in other countries. The communist customs that has worked with its light and dark tones in these six decades could not remain the same in a democratic and free country. Let them think that their working lives are not going to end there.

On the Roundtable program the purposes of Customs were reported to be facilitate customs policy, consolidate the customs confrontation system (together with the Ministry of the Interior), eliminate of obstacles, simplify of procedures, and the develop the integrated system of attention to the population, which has been an important handle to perfect the work.

It was said that the employees come from the Higher Customs Technician course, which this year in its third edition graduated more than 300 people. In other words, Customs has been operating for 60 years, but only in the last three years has there been for training professional specialists. Ask yourself where the previous employees came from. They have announced for 2024 a Bachelor of Law with a Customs profile, which would promote the improvement of the labor force of that organization. For human resources and qualification, this all very recent.

And of course. Customs, following the guidelines of Díaz-Canel’s doctoral thesis, also has a sectoral program in science, technology and innovation and computerization.

From this preamble, the functions of Customs began to be defined, and the first task is border security. I remind you again, Europe does not have customs in 27 countries, and that security requirement does not exist. Something doesn’t fit here.

In this case, Customs in Cuba exists to “prevent acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, smuggling and other demonstrations that threaten the security of people and the environment. To do this, and to the extent that international crime becomes more sophisticated, the preparation of human forces has had to be improved and the borders have been equipped with new technologies.” So, what does the police, state security and the entire repressive apparatus of the communist regime do that is any different? Will we not be facing an eventual duplication of functions?

They also explained that to provide better service they are in a process of updating regulations and simplifying customs processes, which in Cuba means more bureaucracy, obstacles and obstructions. Contributions such as the Single Customs Window were cited, which they say allows the management of documents, procedures and collections for foreign trade, mainly imports and exports that are carried out digitally.

Another step of alleged flexibility is the consolidation of the Authorized Economic Operator program, conceived and promoted by the World Customs Organization, to facilitate trade. It classifies entities with high security standards in their logistics chain. In reality, these globally competitive entities have very little to do with customs processes. And Cuba is an island.

They said that, since last August, two rules have been published that have allowed the increase of the import capacity by the passenger and shipping route. These are Resolutions 175 and 176 of 2022. With these measures, it is intended to better carry out risk studies and the management of Customs to the fundamental lines of confrontation, and to not be so much concerned with counting and seeing other goods that are not of priority interest and, ultimately, to solve problems for the population. There have also been changes and new procedures with the six freight forwarders that operate cargo from non-natives. As a result, postal clearance was automated.

More bureaucratic work. The advance passenger information form in digital format was implemented, in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport and other agencies that exercise border control, and the Predespacho Pasajero APK has been developed and updated, which allows passengers to organize their luggage before arriving in Cuba.

It’s a network of controls and interventions to prevent anything from escaping the control of Customs. There are no data from surveys of citizens who are subjected to customs controls when they arrive in the country. I suggest such a quality survey because at this time they would get some surprises. And in the end, let no one be deceived, it should not be forgotten that behind the customs racket there is a collection purpose.

In fact, that collection power is the main justification for the customs that survive in the world. In particular, in the Cuban case as if it were a gracious decision of power, it was reported that the tariff benefit that authorizes, exceptionally and temporarily, the non-commercial import, without limits in its value and exempt from payment of customs duties, food, toiletries and medicines will remain in force until next June 30.

And, until March 31 of this year, the tariff benefit that exceptionally authorizes non-commercial importation, above the value established for air, sea, postal and courier shipments, of power plants with a power greater than 900 watts.

After that, it will be collected again.

It was finally reported that Customs is also being digitized in an alliance with the University of Computer Sciences that will be realized in eight projects to manage customs processes, the deployment of a tool for administrative procedures and the computerization of the Customs school. They are working on artificial intelligence projects for the integration of technologies (scanning, image and information processing) and the improvement of cybersecurity. And what about state security? Won’t it be connected? Let me know. In the program, not a single word was said about the cost of this to the state coffers and, above all, the measurement of the effectiveness of its services. Randy didn’t even ask about that. Too bad.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Biden Extends the Ban on U.S. Ships Docking in Cuba

Boats registered in the United States have not been allowed to dock in the ports of Cuba since 1996. (Norwegian Cruise Line)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 February 2023 — On Friday, Joe Biden’s government extended for another year, until 2024, the ban on ships with American flags docking in the ports of Cuba. Almost three decades have passed since this measure went into effect, and Washington still considers that Havana has not demonstrated that it will refrain from the use of excessive force against its boats or aircraft.

In a note sent to Congress, Biden says that the entry of any unauthorized vessel into Cuban territorial waters “remains harmful” to US foreign policy, a fact that could facilitate irregular migration from the Island.

“Massive migration from Cuba would endanger national security by posing a disturbance or threat of disruption of U.S. international relations,” President Biden says in the note.

The United States declared a national emergency on March 1, 1996 after, on February 24 of that year, the Government of Cuba ordered a military maneuver against three civilian planes of the Brothers to the Rescue group, dedicated to spotting rafters fleeing the Island. continue reading

The Cuban Air Force used MiG fighters, who managed to shoot down two Cessna Skymaster planes from the exile organization and kill the planes’ four of the crew members. This event triggered President Bill Clinton to issue the ban, which his successors have kept in force.

At that time, Havana alleged that small planes had violated Cuban airspace, while the United States maintained that they were in international airspace, north of the island.

In the note, the US government says that the proclamation came into force 27 years ago due to the threat of disturbance caused by the “destruction” by the Cuban Government of those two unarmed civilian planes.

The state of emergency was reactivated on February 26, 2004, when the United States implemented sanctions to deny monetary and material support to the regime. The measure was softened, although not revoked, during the Barack Obama administration.

With the arrival of Donald Trump there was a new chapter in the tightening of economic measures, including sanctions for airlines and cruise ships that maintained operations in Cuban terminals.

At the end of December 2022, federal judge Beth Bloom sentenced the cruise companies Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises to pay more than $400 million for docking at the Havana terminal. The judge considered that companies violated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, issued in 1996 and activated by Donald Trump in 2019. The companies have appealed that sentence.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

About to Serve in Parliament, ‘El Nino Elian’ Regrets that Everyone Receives the ‘Same Benefits’ in Cuba

Elián González (center) and his father, Juan Miguel González (right), also occupied a place in Parliament. Elián sees this “coincidence” as another responsibility to Fidel Castro. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 February 2023 — At the age of 29, with a position as manager in a military company in Varadero and his recent appointment to be a candidate for the Cuban Parliament for Cárdenas, the once “niño” Elián González has a high concept of himself. In an interview published this Thursday in the communist youth newspaper, this father of a two-year-old girl says he is proud that the voters of Matanzas have finally noticed his “qualities.”

Clearly, González is laying his best card on the political table: the reputation given to him by the media campaign launched by Fidel Castro in 2000 to achieve the return of the “little rafter” to the Island from the United States. That episode is, for the young man, a “responsibility” that he owes to Castro, for having “mobilized” the same people who voted for him.

“I will always have Fidel and Raúl’s hand on my shoulder,” insists González, who now is enjoying in advance the “simple fact of being nominated,” even without “being a deputy” yet. Should he occupy a seat in Parliament, of which the young man has absolute certainty, he plans to “approve the most just and equitable laws,” represent the “concerns” of his territory and be “faithful” to the legacy of the Castros. Even so, González does not commit to anything: “Many times we will not have the resources nor will we have an immediate response,” he warned.

At no time in the interview did he mention Miguel Díaz-Canel or the other members of the current government. Nor did he mention that the area of Matanzas that he will have to represent has been characterized in recent years by a fall in tourism, inflation and the loss of purchasing power. In addition, it was precisely in Cárdenas where one of the most notorious popular protests in history on the Island occurred on July 11, 2021, and where police repression fell the hardest.

His appointment to occupy a seat in the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) leads González, rather, to evoke the past and resurrect his obsession with Fidel, who made him a standard-bearer of the “Battle of Ideas” and forced him to be at his side in public.

His father, Juan Miguel González, also occupied a place in Parliament. Elián sees this “coincidence” as another responsibility to the regime. “I know that the training I have, the support and admiration that I enjoy from the people of Cuba, even this responsibility, I owe to Fidel,” he says. continue reading

Despite his meteoric rise in the economic administration of the Island and, soon, in the Government itself, González alleges that he never aspired to any position, although he clarifies this by saying that “I will always be willing to assume it as long as it’s required. I am proud to know that I’m going to share in a part of the historic direction; knowing that Raúl will be there redoubles my happiness,” although he regrets not being able to be “in that room” with Fidel Castro.

Both leaders, he admits, urged him on more than one occasion to follow “that path” of politics. His entry into Parliament, he says, is a sign that “I followed that path and have done it well.”

González devotes several paragraphs to reflecting on the impact that his position will have on his family. “I wouldn’t be a good Cuban if I didn’t take the problems home,” he says, while warning that the work will “steal my time.”

Asked about Cuban democracy, González avoided assessing the system in general and offered a vague answer: in Cuba there is democracy because among his friends are both “a division general” and the “president of the Council of Churches of Cuba.”

As expected, he referred to the “blockade” of the United States as the cause of all the ills of Cuba and detailed his idyllic vision of the Island, “a country [in which] there are so many gratuities [’freebies’] and social benefits.” In addition to the embargo, González assumes that the Cuban economy has a failing for allowing those who “do not contribute anything” to receive the “same benefits” in health and education. “That damages us,” he complained.

He asked that, despite the obvious economic crisis, people “do not lose confidence in their leaders” and to express their problems “without fear.” He did not clarify whether among the ways of being heard by the leaders was that of peaceful protest, for which hundreds of Cubans have been tried in recent months.

González, a member of the Union of Young Communists and with a military education, is one of the regime’s great bets to rejuvenate its image. The election of young deputies has been, at least since the last legislature of the Parliament, a way to appear updated, which echoes the traditional policy of “continuity,” the slogan of Díaz-Canel.

Victimization by the United States and “politically correct” self-criticism characterize the discourse of young people close to the regime. Despite his fifty years, the official singer Israel Rojas repeated last Tuesday in an interview the same ideas about the young people that Elián González had.

In short, Rojas said he defended “the Cuban cause, beyond the government. Because the government also fucks up.” He quickly qualified his statement and said that he did not mind being branded as an “official” musician, because “all speeches are official.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Medical Organizations Around the World Should Investigate Cuba’s Psychiatric Hospitals

The context in which the complaints appear is worrying: the situation of public health in Cuba is precarious. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 17 February 2023 — The complaint on social networks this week regarding 13 patients killed at the Holguín Psychiatric Hospital, if confirmed, reproduces the tragedy of 2010, when 26 Cubans died in the Mazorra Psychiatric Hospital of Havana, which, according to Granma, was due to low temperatures in the capital from a cold front.

What forced Granma to report on the matter on that occasion were the photos that arrived abroad of the victims, reminiscent of those of the Nazi death camps. We will have to wait for what independent journalists, who continue to be harassed by the regime, will report on the situation in Holguín.

But the context in which the complaints appear is worrying: the situation of public health in Cuba is precarious. The regime maintains a medical apartheid system by which foreigners are treated in air-conditioned hospitals, where they lack nothing and enjoy the necessary diet and medicines. Meanwhile, Cubans suffer from all the shortages of food and medicines.

The Island suffers from epidemics of dengue, scabies and other diseases that had been eradicated before 1959, and an extraordinary increase in pestilence, flies, mosquitoes and rats that did not occur before the Revolution, as a result of the lack of maintenance of the aqueducts and sewer systems, the rationing of food and the poor collection of garbage that piles up in the streets of the poorest neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the Government builds luxury hotels for foreigners. continue reading

That the regime has abused psychiatry for political purposes is undeniable. In 1991, the prestigious University of Rutgers published The Policy of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba, a study of more than 200 pages sponsored by Freedom House and Of Human Rights, presided over by Dr. Elena Mederos and the exiled bishop Eduardo Boza Masvidal.

In a devastating introduction, Vladimir Bukovsky, the Soviet dissident and intellectual that the KGB tortured in a psychiatric hospital, wrote: “One cannot be surprised. . . Cuba in this matter is only different in that it achieved in thirty-two years what the USSR achieved in seventy-three. During a single generation, Cuba advanced from ’revolutionary justice’ to ’socialist legality’, from ’the liquidation of class enemies’ to ’political re-education’ and to ’psychiatric treatment’ of ’those disaffected with socialism’.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

BioCubaFarma Announces a Dengue Vaccine for 2023, Already in Use Since 2015 in Other Countries

The crisis is aggravated every year by the lack of Abate pesticide, insecticides and even fumigation fuel. (Minsap)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2023 — BioCubaFarma hopes that this year they will finally have the first vaccination candidate against dengue, after almost a decade of research, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, president of the state pharmaceutical group, told the official press on Thursday.

In 2013, Cuba began the first studies to develop a vaccine against the virus transmitted by mosquitoes of the Aedes aegypti species. In an interview with the official newspaper Granma, Martínez Díaz justifies the delay in the research, saying “it is a complex process,” because dengue has four serotypes and each one must be immunized against at the same time for the drug to be effective.

Although the Government in Havana reiterates that there is currently “no effective and safe vaccine,” in December 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the first dengue vaccine with the trade name of Dengvaxia, manufactured by the French company, Sanofi Pasteur. This serum has been approved in 20 countries but is not available in Cuba. WHO points out that this drug is aimed at people aged 9 to 45, living in endemic areas and who have had at least one episode of a previous infection.

Guadalupe Guzmán Tirado, director of the Research Center of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), also said that Cuban scientists have dedicated “decades of work” to controlling the disease. An example of this, she continued, is that Cuba contributed to the new classification of dengue with or without warning signs from the WHO. continue reading

The president of BioCubaFarma said that by 2023 a rapid dengue diagnosis system will also be launched, developed by the Immunoassay Center, which will identify if a patient is infected with the virus from the appearance of the first symptoms. This will facilitate a differentiated treatment for patients and prevent the worsening of the disease, the executive insisted, without committing to a date for its application.

Martínez Díaz believes that these measures “will have a significant impact” on Cuban families, overwhelmed by the lack of medications and shortages in the hospital network, which doesn’t have the supplies needed to care for patients.

The highest peaks of dengue infections occur between September and November of each year, coinciding with winter on the Island. The disease is a public health problem for most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, although the Government maintains that dengue hemorrhagic fever was introduced in 1981 by Eduardo Arocena, a Cuban convicted of terrorism in the United States who was released in 2021 after almost 40 years in prison.

The Cuban regime kept the number of active cases on the Island a secret in 2022, but the provincial press gave clues to the severity of the disease. One of the provinces with the highest incidence  was Santiago de Cuba, which reached figures not seen in 15 years and the highest number of outbreaks from the transmitting mosquito.

The majority of confirmations of deaths associated with the virus transpired on social networks, and among the deceased there were also several health professionals. The crisis is aggravated every year by the lack of the Abate pesticide, insecticides and even fuel to fumigate or transport doctors to the areas with the greatest presence of the mosquito.

Even health care centers have not been spared the proliferation of outbreaks. A patient from the 14 de Junio Polyclinic, in Havana, told this newspaper that the rooms with electric beds, which are supposed to be dark rooms and free of infection, are populated by these insects. The woman arrived for an evaluation of her feet, but at the end of the exam “there were five mosquito marks. The mosquitoes nest in the bottom of the machines in the room. When they turn them on, they come out,” she said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Cuban Authorities Maintain Secrecy About Avian Flu at Havana’s 26th Avenue Zoo

A space like the Havana Zoo could be the propitious scenario for spread between species and possible contagion to humans. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 16 February 2023 — “You approach and it seems nice, a green rectangle, but it immediately jumps out that it’s a place with many hidden things,” says María Elena Valdivia, designer and neighbor of the 26th Avenue Zoo in Havana, the place where lions roar and the first case of avian flu has been detected. If someone had thought about the worst point on the Island for the virus to land, reality has just surpassed it.

This Thursday the main entrance of the park remained closed, although the movement of workers could be seen inside. A faded poster with a painted zebra welcomes people, but there is no sign of the line of families with children that is usually nearby. The park has been in quarantine since the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza was detected in wild birds.

“This has been a health problem for our community for a long time  and we are very concerned about this,” says Valdivia, who lives a few meters from the bus stop near the main entrance of the zoo. “I grew up in this neighborhood and went to the zoo many times as a child. I have pleasant memories, but living nearby is something else; this place has to be closed.”

She lists the problems. “The animals are hungry, overcrowded and cry all the time. We live 24 hours a day with roars, bellows and bleats that make you sad. It’s very difficult to sit at your table at home and eat hearing those sounds of beings that are starving. I can’t do it anymore.”

Overcrowding and the presence of mammals near the areas intended for birds or in contact with wild birds increases the risk posed by the Havana zoo of a jump of the virus between species. The disease, first detected in 1996, has spread among free birds and those in captivity, but in recent decades it has also affected humans.

Migratory birds carry the four strains of this influenza that has already reached Central and South America. Avian influenza is still rare in people “but we cannot assume that this is always the case, and we must prepare for any change in situation,” warned the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Between 2003 and March 2022, there have been 864 cases in humans and 456 deaths. continue reading

Recently, the alarm went off even more when in Peru it was confirmed that the death of hundreds of sea lions was due to the virus, and researchers warn that there may already be contagion among mammals. “What happened in Peru is the first case in all of Latin America of massive mammal mortality,” acknowledges Víctor Gamarra-Toledo, an ornithologist and researcher in the Andean country.

A space like the Havana zoo could be the ideal scenario for the spread among species and possible contagion to humans. The authorities have not updated the situation and insist that everything is controlled, but the traditional secrecy of the official Cuban media generates more suspicion than certainty. In previous epidemics, reality has far surpassed the information disseminated by the national media.

A few years ago, the presence of the giant African snail was detected at the 26th Avenue zoo. After being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the park reopened with a panorama of malnourished animals, without water, with their cages full of dirt and excrement, in addition to the prominence of the snail, one of the 100 most invasive species internationally.

People focused on Covid and masks, but we have also had to live with the African snail; no one told us that they eat everything.” A neighbor close to the Zoo says that he has seen how his small garden with succulents and banana bushes has been devoured by “slow but crushing beings like the elephant.”

Apes confined in tiny cages, employees who profit by taking out lion cubs for photographs, workers who sell anything from peacock feathers to hyena excrement, in high demand in certain religious rituals: the zoo on 26th Avenue is old-style, with caged animals and lack of hygiene.

However, fears that the virus will affect national poultry production seem much lower in a country with decimated production due to the lack of animal feed, the deterioration of farms and the increasing import of chicken meat from nations in the region, especially the United States. The “disease” that seems to have ended the poultry industry on the Island does not spread among birds but is born from the inefficiency of the system.

The main fears with the current situation are focused, then, on the impact on wild birds and the possible zoonotic jump, a scenario that would aggravate the delicate situation of the public health system, which has a deficit of professionals and drugs and a very deteriorated infrastructure.

This week, private sellers of trinkets and toys have disappeared. The zoo, a state-run monopoly, is a frequent target of resellers who take advantage of their increasingly poor subsidized offers to buy and then offer those same products to the families who come to visit the premises. But between the closure and the fear of contagion, visitors are dissuaded from even approaching their kiosks.

It’s funny because you can hear a lot of birds singing, most of them passing through or wild. They like this area because of the many trees in the middle of the city,” says another neighbor whose patio is barely separated by a street from the back of the zoo. “This sound has always been there, but now with the arrival of avian flu, you notice it more because you don’t know what’s going to happen to the birds.”

Through one of the trees whose branches come out of the zoo and almost touch the roof of this resident’s house, an agile mockingbird jumps and sings his song, a melody of hope in the midst of worry.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Cuba Receives 25,000 Tons of Wheat Donated by Russia

In the last two years, Cuba received several donations from Russia, the United States, Japan, Nicaragua and Vietnam. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 15 February 2023 — On Wednesday, Cuba received 25,000 tons of wheat donated by the Russian Government for food production on the Island, which is going through a serious economic crisis.

The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González, thanked Russia for the donation, which arrived in Cuba by ship and joined other shipments from Moscow in recent months.

“This donation is a demonstration of the Russian nation’s historic support for the Cuban people in complex moments like the one our country is experiencing today,” González said in an act of gratitude at the port terminal located in Regla (Havana).

She added that the aid “reaffirms the bonds of brotherhood and the mutual commitment to strengthen economic and cooperative relations.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to Cuba, Andrei Guskov, stressed that his country continues to “support the brotherly people of this heroic country in the extremely complex situation it is facing.” continue reading

“I am sure that this wheat, in addition to being a symbolic gesture, will be a support for many people in Cuba,” he said.

The Russian diplomat mentioned in the reception of the cargo that “the unprecedented resurgence of the inhuman and criminal blockade (embargo) imposed by Washington” is one of the causes of the crisis.

“Another negative factor is the global food and energy crisis largely caused by the unilateral and illegitimate sanctions of the West against Moscow,” he said, referring to the measures taken in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

Guskov stressed that “despite everything, Russia and Cuba continue to develop their strategic relationship based on the historic foundation of friendship, solidarity and mutual sympathy.”

In this regard, he said that “Russian companies will continue to participate in bilateral projects that contribute to the fulfillment of the Island’s national economic and social development plan until 2030.”

In the last two years, Cuba received several donations from Russia, the United States, Japan, Nicaragua and Vietnam, among other countries, from both the governments of those countries and from private groups.

The island has been going through a serious crisis for more than two years due to the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tightening of the US embargo and failures in national macroeconomic management.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Beangel Duo Premieres the Song ‘Te Pienso’, a Tribute to the Cuban Rafters

Frame from the music video for the song Te pienso [I Think of You], by Beangel, Randy Malcom and Kelvis Ochoa. (Screen capture)
14ymedio bigger

14ymedio, Madrid, 15 February 2023 — Since this Tuesday, Te pienso is part of the list of songs dedicated to Cuba and its situation. Composed by the duo Beangel, formed by Beatriz César and Ángel Pututi, the theme, they say in a press release, is “a declaration of love” for the Island.

“We pay respect to the rafters, to those who never arrived and died at sea,” say the Beangel musicians, who have composed for, among other singers, Marc Anthony and the duo Gente de Zona.

Member of this ensemble and special guest in the video clip, Randy Malcom adds: “The song is dedicated to the land that I love so much and where I cannot perform.”

Cuban singer-songwriter Kelvis Ochoa, author of Hidden Havana and winner of a Goya Award in 2006 for the best original music for the film Havana Blues, also participates in the song, which is available on all digital platforms.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Communist Regime Does Not Know What to Do Against the Demographic Winter

Cuban children remain with their parents in Panama to wait to continue the route to the US. (Silvio Enrique Campos, a Cuban immigrant in Panama)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 15 February 2023 — For some time, Cuban communists have been facing a serious problem that, due to its permanence and worsening, they don’t know how to address. We are referring to the rapid demographic aging that has made Cuba, with more than 20% of the population over 65 years old, into one of the oldest countries in Latin America, and possibly in the world.

The Cuban demographic winter, the aging of the population and a simultaneous decrease in birth and growth with a fall in population is not a recent phenomenon, but has been part of a long-term dynamic in Cuba since the 1950s. That the authorities now wake up in amazement and consider doing something is anecdotal.

By the mid-twentieth century, Cuba had joined the demographics of advanced countries, without the negative consequences of today. Since then, external migration compensated for the lower internal growth. The revolution disrupted this process, and except for specific oscillations in certain years, the trend was the same again, with the aggravating circumstance that foreign migrations disappeared while the nation bled with more than two million Cubans abroad.

These guidelines have been exacerbated recently, and this has led Díaz Canel to declare that “we have to give a blow to all these issues of demographic dynamics that affect us so much.” The question is the same as always, how do they plan to do it, with the paradigm of the communist model? Failure is inevitable.

The diagnosis is clear. In 2022, demographic dynamics showed that Cuba continues with an accelerated demographic aging process, which is also present in all sectors of society, with a negative total and natural population growth, which has its origin in an increase in the number of deaths and the decrease in live births. continue reading

Indicators have caused the alarm, in the face of what is described as an increasingly complex situation (another one) in the words of Cuban Prime Minister Marrero, who, to this end, has announced the creation of a “governmental commission to look into it.”

The situation is aggravated by other coincident and surprising factors, such as the decrease in the working-age population and the economically active population, the increase in urbanization, despite the decrease in the urban population, and the increase in the average number of people per household.

The combination of factors is so negative that now the communist leaders also recognize that “in many places there is a lack of attention, beyond the absence of resources, and these are extremely sensitive issues.” There is the feeling that, once again, they arrive late for problems and will not succeed if they don’t make a 180-degree turn in their performance.

Because getting out of the demographic winter in a nation as economically committed as Cuba is not just a matter of pulling public spending and having material and financial resources incorporated into the state plan and budget, by agencies and territories. Those who think that the 2,113 million pesos, recorded in the public accounts for 2023, will be of some use are wrong.

But when you look at the destiniation of that money, the immediate question is: What does it have to do with the recovery of the population that is needed? Let’s see. There is public money for “resources for stomatological prostheses, hearing aids, care for the infertile couple and modernization of equipment for assisted reproduction centers.” Also for the training and attention to the education of the elderly, development of workshops, events and other improvement actions. Are there resources? Yes, of course, the earnings and salaries of employees who serve people. And little else. Current expenditure.

This plan of the regime coincides with the one that aroused our attention a few days ago when the recovery was announced by territorial governments of childcare centers, nursing homes, maternal homes and grandparents’ homes, the construction of homes for mothers with three children or more, as well as housing needs in rural areas, taking advantage of abandoned communist infrastructures such as schools in the countryside.

Who can think that the increase in children’s facilities can be used to increase the birth rate, when the Cuban woman knows that it makes very little sense to bring children into a country where they will have no other future than fleeing into exile when they are older? Despite the systemic waste of expenses, the regime is to blame for having only met half of the requests for childcare centers. The solution is easy: stop building hotel rooms.

The initiative of the opening of children’s homes in labor entities, that is, companies, will be subject to inequalities because it will only be possible for those workers who provide their services in those companies with the capacity to create these classrooms. Before incorporating companies into the service, availability must be ensured for everyone. Communists think of companies rather than of setting up a form of self-employment as a childcare assistant. A formula that they don’t like because they say it’s unfair according to their ideological code. One yes, the other no.

At the meeting of the authorities, an evaluation kit in geriatrics and gerontology was also presented for use in health institutions, to address aging, which contains a glucose meter, a digital equipment to take pressure and an oximeter, among others, prepared by the company Combiomed Digital Medical Technology. It is thought that this is a basic module that should exist in any population care center, because it is not only for the sick, it is also for studying population, early diagnosis and follow-up.

At the meeting, the proposal for the improvement of care schools was also presented, which will have the responsibility to train caregivers, paid or unpaid, to provide them with the knowledge, skills and aptitudes, that allow them to provide care with the highest possible quality.

Flailing around. Not one on the target. The fight against the fall of the population does not depend on these kinds of laboratory initiatives, but on the basis of a prosperous economy in which everyone takes part. Curving the depressive dynamics of the population does not depend on public spending, but on the creation of powerful and solvent private activities and sectors that pay good wages and improve the quality of life and prosperity of the people. Communists entertain themselves with their resource objectives, pecking here and there, but in this type of action, the only thing that matters is the results.

However, the leaders assure that demographic problems will be solved in the medium and long term with some euphoria, but they also say that “the fight will be difficult and discouragement must be avoided if the population patterns are to be changed” to which the governors, the mayors and the councils of the administration of municipalities and provinces must remain attentive. More work. Will it work?

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

A Mexican Friend of the Regime Sees a ‘Disconnection’ Between the Official Press and the Common Cuban

The writer and director of the Mexican publishing house Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), Paco Ignacio Taibo II, in Mexico City (Mexico). (EFE/José Méndez/Archive)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, February 15, 2023 — The director of the emblematic Mexican state publisher Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), Paco Ignacio Taibo II, gave an interview to EFE in which he asked the official journalism of the Island to “increase the critical level that expresses what people say on the street.”

The writer, a militant of the Mexican left, who is in the Cuban capital within the framework of the Havana International Book Fair, considered that there is a “disconnection” between the discourse related to the Government and the vision of the common Cuban.

“We have to lose fear of critical capacity,” continued the journalist, who gave value to “the criticism to the left from the left.”

For Taibo II, author of titles such as Ernesto Guevara, también conocido como el Che [Ernesto Guevara, also known as Che], the digital transition of Island magazines, books and newspapers “has stopped” the “critical spirit” that “unfolded, for example, in the eighties.”

The Cuban Constitution establishes that the media of the Island can only be of “socialist property” and its Criminal Code punishes with up to three years in prison “whoever disseminates false news” for the purpose of “disturing international peace or endangering the prestige or credit of the Cuban State.”

Regarding the economic situation in Cuba, a country he has visited numerous times, the director of the FCE believes that it will be “very difficult to get out of” the crisis, which he directly links to the blockade (the US economic embargo) and the pandemic.

“As much as I look and see initiatives, it’s not easy at all. And I lack the Cuban perspective, which I don’t have. After all, I am a Mexican who comes to Cuba,” he told EFE. continue reading

Taibo II inaugurated last August the Tuxpan bookstore of the Economic Culture Fund in the well-known Havana area of Vedado. Originally, the opening was going to be in April, after the closing of the last Havana Book Fair, in which Mexico was the guest country of honor, but an inexplicable delay in the works also delayed the inauguration.

The director of the FCE sees the operation of the branch in the Cuban capital as a “success,” although he admits that “the only problem is to maintain it with those prices.” Unlike other foreign publishers, the Fund decided to sell its copies at affordable prices for Cubans.

This Tuesday, the writer led a talk in Old Havana about the “Vientos del Pueblo” collection, with short books with an average price of 40 Cuban pesos ($0.32 at the official exchange rate).

“I can’t see the Cuban branch as a branch to produce money. I have to find ways (to compensate for the losses),” he told EFE, the precise reasons for which previous Mexican administrations did not finish opening a Fondo bookstore in Cuba. Taibo added that for this he is looking for agreements such as the purchase of copyright translations made on the Island of books in Eastern Europe. “We are bartering, imagine,” he says, laughing.

The writer also took the opportunity to criticize foreign publishers present at this year’s Fair, such as those in Colombia — a guest of honor this time — with prices that most Cubans cannot access, even in foreign exchange. “Compadre, that’s not worth it. Do you work for buyers or for readers?” he asked.

Last Saturday, López Obrador decorated his counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel with the order of the Aztec Eagle, the Mexican State’s highest recognition of a foreigner, during the Cuban’s visit to Campeche.

The opposition National Action Party (PAN), as well as other politicians and intellectuals from the democratic left, criticized the decoration of the Cuban president, whom they described as a dictator.

“The act is deplorable and denigrating for Mexicans and Cuban citizens who live under a regime that keeps them in oppression,” said the right-wing party.

Regarding this controversy, Taibo II said that “the Mexican right no longer knows what to say.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Mexico Buys Medicines From Cuba for More Than $84 Million

A group of Cuban doctors is received in Mexico, hired by the Government of Andrés Manuel López. (IMSS)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 13 February 2022 — The Government of Mexico announced the purchase in Cuba of medicines for anesthesiology, pulmonology, ophthalmology and cancer treatment. According to the Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela, for the “already consolidated” acquisition, the Island will receive 84,425 dollars as part of the new health agreement that was ratified with Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Campeche.

This agreement also provides for the extension of the hiring of Cuban specialists. The plan, which has not yet been detailed, foresees that another 100 health workers will arrive in Mexico this year, in addition to the more than 641 doctors for which the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador disburses $1,308,922 per month.

The state company Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos S.A. is in charge of managing the shipment of doctors. For each specialist, the Cuban Government receives $2,042 per month, while for the services of general practitioners, $1,722 per month enter its coffers. Health professionals are only granted a stipend in Mexico that will be kept by the Cuban Government  during their year of service.

Although there are intentions to continue with the purchase of the Abdala vaccine against covid-19, this has not yet been ratified by Mexico. 14ymedio was able to confirm that, of the 9,000,000 doses already sent to Mexico, less than 3% had been used up to February 7.

About the Cuban specialists who have been distributed in various states, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard proclaimed this Sunday on his social networks that thanks to these professionals “162,000 Mexican lives have been saved.” And so he said goodbye to Díaz-Canel. continue reading

However, one day before the enthusiasm of the Mexican chancellor, the data provided by the Mexican Secretary of Health, Jorge Alcocer Varela, reveal something else. Cubans had provided 242,000 services as of Friday, of which, he stressed, 110,246 were specialty consultations.

In detailing part of the activities of physicians in Mexico, Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer explained that Cubans have “coordinated laboratory services”; that is, they have taken samples for the performance of 46,191 clinical analyses and performed 41,418 X-rays for radiological studies.

In June 2022, a report by LatinusUS revealed that Cuban doctors who arrived in Mexico during the pandemic limited themselves to “making beds, taking vital signs and conducting surveys, in addition to passing sponges to patients to bathe.” This contrasted with the triumphalism of the Cuban authorities, who even assumed the decrease in mortality caused by the coronavirus in Mexico.

The general director of the Mexican Social Security Institute, Zoé Robledo, explained that Cubans who arrived in Mexico have a specialty in internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, family medicine, ophthalmology, nephrology, intensive care, imaging, cardiology, dermatology and otorhinolaryngology.

Robledo mentioned that doctors are currently in large general and civilian hospitals, as well as in small community health centers “where their arrival often meant the first time there was a  specialist available.”

He mentioned that they are located in the most remote areas such as La Mesa del Nayar, (Nayarit), the Costa Chica (Oaxaca), the desert of Baja California Sur, Cananea (Sonora), Tlaxcala, Colima, Tierra Caliente (Michoacán), in the Huasteca Alta (Veracruz), in Zacatecas, Morelos, Campeche and La Montaña de Guerrero, where 11 specialists arrived just this Sunday to make a total of 29.

On the other hand, there was indignation among Mexican politicians and the media by the delivery to Miguel Díaz-Canel of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, created in 1933 to distinguish foreigners for humanitarian services. This was joined by a group of people who define themselves as “sympathizers of a democratic, liberal and institutional left.”

“There are no ’acceptable left-wing dictatorships’ and ’abhorrent  right-wing dictatorships’,” they said in a public statement, signed  by members of the opposition party Movimiento Ciudadano, including Martha Tagle Martínez, as well as the Party of the Democratic Revolution, Cecilia Soto González, and the academics, Diego Petersen Farah, José Woldenberg, the Cuban academic based in Mexico and Armando Chaguaceda, among others.

“We condemn the president of Mexico for turning a deaf ear to the repression that the citizens of Cuba endure on a daily basis and even for hanging on the chest of the Cuban dictator the highest distinction that a foreigner can receive from our country,” the signatories endorsed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

A Fire in a Cane Field Caused a Seven-Hour Blackout in the Middle of Cuba

The reconnection of the National Electricity System came around 9 p.m., but total reestablishment was not planned until 11 pm. (@OSDE_UNE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 14 February 2023 — A fire in a cane field was the cause of the disconnection of the National Electricity System (SEN) that affected half of Cuba this Monday from the center to the east of the Island. The disconnection, from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo, occurred around 2 in the afternoon and lasted until 9 pm.

“When they burn the cane field, the air ionizes and can cause failures between the phases of the transmission lines. When the two lines left the system, the power transfer between the western-central-eastern area was cut off and caused the failure of the system from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo,” said a note from the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE).

The failure began to be noticed on a 220 KW line that links Sancti Spíritus and Vicente through two substations that left the network. Yoanni Acosta, director of the Electric Base Organization in the province, told the official newspaper Escambray that around 5 pm the damaged part of the system could be reconnected when the transfer from the western to the eastern part of the Island began to be restored.

The electricity company indicated that, due to the generation deficit at peak hours, “the province had 20 megawatts open,” which caused breakdowns in several circuits that remained until 8 pm. “As long as the generating plants in the east are incorporated, the impact will also progressively decrease in all the localities of those territories,” Acosta added.

After the announcement of the reconnection, several people warned on social networks that the blackout continued for them, complaints corroborated by the words of Lázaro Guerra Hernández, technical director of the UNE, who told state television that the service would recover “gradually” and that the total restoration was estimated for 11 pm. continue reading

The official added that, in addition, 240 megawatts of the generating capacity were damaged. For this Monday, in fact, an estimated electricity deficit of at least 112 MW had already been planned, reaching 182 at peak hour.

Yesterday’s blackout is the largest since September 27, 2021, after the passage of Hurricane Ian, when the National Electricity System completely collapsed and the country was left in the dark for several hours. It was the culmination of a summer of cuts that exceeded 14 and 16 hours at times and provoked protests almost daily in many municipalities.

The failures in the thermoelectric power plants, which provide most of the electricity to the Island, have been constant these months due to the lack of maintenance and obsolescence of the plants, which mostly exceed their useful life.

With the arrival of cold fronts, the fall in demand last December provided relief to the situation, to which was added the arrival of two Turkish floating power plants and the recovery of some thermoelectric units. However, the authorities have already warned that from January and, especially February, some plants would return to maintenance in an “organized” way to be ready in May and ensure an adequate volume of electricity generation.

At the moment, Unit 1 of Felton and 4 and 6 of Renté are in that situation. But to this must be added the breakdowns in blocks 6 and 7 of Mariel, 1 and 2 of Santa Cruz del Norte, 4 and 5 of Nuevitas and 2 of Felton.

The arrival in February of an eighth Turkish power plant, much more powerful than the previous ones with its 240 MW capacity, has not been enough to put an end to the instability of the system.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.