Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 130

Food Prices Increased in Cuba by 52 Percent Last Year

Havanans resist buying some food because of the price increase. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 6 September 2022 — The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) gives no respite in Cuba and increased this July by 3.35%, boosted by the unstoppable rise in food prices. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (ONEI) reveal that, so far this year, the CPI has grown by 17.28%, and the year-on-year variation stands at 32.32%.

Although the increase is moderate, compared to the months of April and May, when it was 3.54% and 3.55% respectively, the deterioration is perceived compared to June, when prices grew by 2.83%.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco lead the rise, as their prices increased that month by more than 6%, although the most worrying thing remains the increase in the cost of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which grew in July by 4.67% compared to the previous month and already accumulate an increase of more than 27% for the year. In addition, compared to the price they had the previous year, the increase is 52.59%.

“The year-on-year inflation level of 32% in July 2022 reflects macroeconomic imbalance. Either it is corrected, or inflation will further sink the purchasing power of the national average wage and impoverish the average household,” Cuban economist Pedro Monreal said on Monday, commenting with concern on the rise in the most recent data indicating the loss of purchasing power of Cubans. continue reading

The figures provided by ONEI put in black and white the concerns of citizens, who have been alarmed for months about the increase in the cost of almost all goods. The document reflects that the products with a greater variation compared to the previous month are intercity collective transport, which grows by almost 17%, intercity taxi, with more than 14%, bricks, more than 11%, and cigarettes and snapper, which increase in price by more than 9%.

In addition, by sector, food and non-alcoholic beverages (65.69%), restaurants and hotels (13.15%) and transport (8.21%) are the ones that experience the most variations compared to June.

The rise in the price of pork, which little by little has become a prohibitive product, is 6.33%, with a real effect that is close to 33%. But other meats are not spared: poultry varies by almost 8% and the mutton by 4.6%, while eggs rose by 2.99%.

In the list, the appearance of rice among the fastest growing foods stands out, 4.22%, which translates into a monthly effect of 6.29%, complicating access to a basic food in the Cuban culture and diet, and one with which most families have been easing the shortage of other products for decades.

Last August, the American economist Steve Hanke placed Cuba as the country with the second highest inflation in the world, behind Zimbabwe, in Africa. “The economic collapse knows no barriers in Cuba’s communist paradise,” said the professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University. According to his calculations, on August 18, inflation reached 135%, a much higher number than that reported by ONEI, which only has the official prices in a country where the parallel market is effectively dominant.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexican Authorities Rescue 11 Cuban Rafters Who Were Adrift in the Caribbean

The rafters were transferred to Puerto Juárez, where they received medical assistance before being handed over to Migration. (Collage)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 8 September 2022 — On Wednesday, the Mexican Coast Guard intercepted a rustic boat with 11 Cubans on their way to Isla Mujeres, a Mexican beach in the Caribbean Sea that has been identified by the authorities as one of the escape routes in use by the rafters. According to the Navy, the migrants were intercepted 12 nautical miles from the tourist area.

“They made it known that they were adrift and had left Cuba due to the crisis there,” a Navy source who preferred anonymity told 14ymedio. “After being treated by naval health personnel and, later, transferred to the dock of the Advanced Naval Station in Puerto Juárez, it was explained to them that the National Institute of Migration would define their immigration situation.

Javier Robles, who has a catamaran that he rents tourists for snorkeling, told this newspaper that the arrival of Cubans in speedboats has increased since the end of last year.

“It’s a mafia that exploits the route through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, where surveillance is minimal,” the fisherman explained. “I don’t know the numbers, but I do know it’s in dollars. Those who don’t bring them through the reserve bring them in through Cancun and Playa del Carmen.” continue reading

On August 25, members of the Navy toured Isla Mujeres in search of Cubans who left a raft on the beach. (Semar)

Robles said that for Isla Mujeres, most of the Cubans who enter arrive on rafts. “Less than a week ago the Navy deployed several troops in search of rafters who had arrived on a raft that they abandoned on the beach.”

Last Saturday, a foreign-flag cargo ship requested the support of the Navy to rescue 16 rafters, 13 men and three women, who were adrift 78 nautical miles from Isla Mujeres, according to Noticaribe.

According to the report “Offshore: Migrants and Shipwrecks at Sea,” prepared by the United Nations, there are also other routes for migrant-smuggling in Rosarito, the beaches of Tijuana to San Diego, Puerto Nuevo-Chula Vista and Ensenada-Popotla. There, coyote networks charge between $15,000 and $17,000 for illegal transfers to the United States. These groups recruit fishermen for trips in exchange for $1,000 per person.

The transit of Cubans through Mexico in their attempt to reach the U.S. has increased exponentially. So far in fiscal year 2022, which began in October 2021, the Border Patrol has detained 175,147 Cubans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Russian Diesel Tanker Arrives at the Cuban Port of Matanzas

The ship, from the Russian Sovcomflot, travels under the flag of Liberia. (Peter Beenjes)

14ymedio, Havana, 7 September 2022 — The ship Transsib Bridge, carrying 300,000 barrels of Russian diesel, arrived on Wednesday at the port of Matanzas. The tanker, which operates under the flag of Liberia, took on the fuel at the port of Nakhodka (Russia) and, after passing through the Panama Canal, docked in Cartagena (Colombia).

On September 2, when it arrived at it scheduled destination, it didn’t unload — although Reuters speculates about a possible transfer of part of the cargo — and then updated its trajectory, declaring that it was on its way to the Island.

The oil tanker has been managed since April by Sun Ship Management, a unit of the Russian company Sovcomflot, which has been sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and has lost the insurance provided by Western companies for its fleet. continue reading

Russian fuel consumption, which plummeted in the West after the sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine, has increased in Cuba in recent months. Last July, a Russian tanker, also from Sovcomflot and flying the flag of Liberia, arrived at the port of Matanzas with 700,000 barrels of oil from Ust-Luga.

The oil tanker’s cargo was valued at about $70 million, according to the price of the product at that time.

The largest amount of fuel that Cuba obtains, however, continues to come from the agreement it maintains with Venezuela. From there, 81,000 barrels of oil and derivatives a day arrived on the Island in August, one of the largest quantities recorded in recent years.

Fuel arrives at a very necessary time for Cuba. The country is immersed in a serious energy crisis, and on Monday gave the green light to the import of electric generators of greater power than previously allowed.

A month ago, Customs authorized the free importation of different products, mainly electronics and household appliances. Among them, and in order to alleviate the tense electrical situation, it allowed the bringing in of two generators with an economic value less than the current forecasts, such that after a few weeks, Customs was forced to correct the rule.

Generator owners have competed for long hours this summer with vehicle drivers to be able to get fuel. The lines even caught the attention of the international press, amazed by the number of Cubans who waited more than four days to fill a tank.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Lack of Three-Phase Electrical Transformers Paralyzes High-Demand Services in Cuba

Workers change a transformer in the province of Villa Clara. (Unión Eléctrica)

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Ciego de Ávila, 8 September 2022 — As he does very morning, Luis Andrés got on his bicycle to go to the private workshop where he fabricates bricks, blocks and tiles on the outskirts of Ciego de Ávila. But as soon as he approached and felt the silence, he knew that something wasn’t right: the electric transformer that supplies energy to the premises had broken, and he would soon know the dimension of his misfortune, because the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) had no other of its kind to replace it.

“The oven we work with is electric and powered by a three-phase transformer that supplies 110 to 380 volts; a lightning strike damaged it and paralyzed production. We had several orders from people who are building a house and from other private businesses, but everything stopped,” Luis Andrés tells 14ymedio. He worked for years in the state sector as an accountant until he went to work in the self-employed sector.

The first reaction of the owner of the small industry in Avila was to report the break to the UNE, which took several days to get there. “When they came and saw the damage that the lightning had done, they concluded that they had to change the transformer but clarified that the country doesn’t have these three-phase devices, and they could only install a conventional, single-phase one,” explains the employee.

“When we insisted and commented that this workshop supplies a good part of the blocks and tiles that people need in these surroundings, they replied that being a private business, the State had no responsibility. In other words, if a new transformer arrives at the company later, it won’t be for us, but for a state entity that needs it.”

Seven people work in the small industry, all of them with families that depend heavily on the pay that these employees receive. For ten days, these private workers haven’t received a cent, because production has stopped and they haven’t been able to complete the orders. In addition, customers are also delayed in their construction work due to the lack of these materials. continue reading

The deficit of transformers of this type is confirmed in the Investment Department of the Electricity Union of Havana, where customers who want to install one to use the benefits of three-phase current in their private business must direct themselves. “There are difficulties, and we can’t guarantee that the device can be installed in the short or medium term,” an employee of this state agency confirms to 14ymedio.

“There are few resources right now, and what we’re doing is advancing the contract of the self-employed who need to install one of these transformers. We do all the paperwork and then the customer must keep calling to know when there is availability. But to promise that he will have it quickly, we can’t do that,” says the UNE worker.

In Havana, Enmanuel and Lucy have been trying for months to get a contract to have a three-phase transformer to supply their ceramics workshop in La Víbora. “We have gone to the commercial office of the Electric Union in the municipality, talked to several officials and explained our need to solve this as soon as possible, but they always respond that right now this equipment isn’t available.”

The couple, who have decided to start a private business in which they combine her industrial design knowledge and his experience as a potter, never believed that a metal rectangle from which cables come out could be the obstacle that would stop them for so long. “No one told us that this was going to be a difficulty the size of the Turquino Peak,” Lucy laments.

A mutual friend has recommended a faster way to solve the problem. This entrepreneur, who runs a turning business, has closed the deal with UNE employees “under the table.” “With 20,000 Cuban pesos, the three-phase transformer appears–the truck to take it, the cables to install it and even the technician who smiles at you after it’s ready,” the man says, ironically.

But Enmanuel and Lucy prefer to do everything “legally.” A path where “all phases are shut down” at the moment.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Century Later than Mexicans, Cubans Will be Able to Separate Their Property When They Get Married

Photograph from February 11, 2017, during a marriage on the beach of Tarará, in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 September 8 2022 — Spanish laws provide for the separation of property in marriage since 1889; Mexican laws, since 1927. With a century of delay, Cuba hopes that the new Family Code, which will be submitted to a popular referendum on September 25, will grant “greater freedom” in marriage to decide what will happen to the property, in case of divorce, separation or death of the spouses.

With the signing of a “pact,” the couple will be able to define the economic regime that they will assume once the union is legally recognized, in addition to determining which goods are their own and which are common. “This offers legal certainty, prevents future surprises and facilitates the painful moment of separation or divorce,” says an article published on Wednesday in the official newspaper Granma.

The explanations about the separation of goods are part of the national campaign that the Cuban Government is carrying out to ensure the approval of the Code. This forecast, as explained in the article, constitutes an evolutionary step with respect to current legislation.

Until now, Article 29 of the current Family Code made it mandatory to consider the resources acquired by the formal couple, exclusively, as “community property.” This obliges the spouses, in case of separation, to share their assets equally.

In 1975, when this body of law was approved, “the participation of women in paid work was negligible,” the article justifies, so the Government had to guarantee the “compulsory support of the woman after separation.” continue reading

However, the current dynamics of life as a couple make this rule anachronistic, so the new Code responds better to “the reality of litigants,” according to Guantanamo judge Yeniseis Palacio Durruthy, interviewed by Granma.

Palacio Durruthy points out that, in many cases, the rule is taken advantage of by one of the spouses to evade responsibility for the family or validate the squandering of “common heritage.”

“It could happen that an international ’collaborator’, married and posted in another country on a mission, had left his partner at home,” but on his return, the wife had squandered his property, forcing him, by divorce, to give her even the profits of his “mission,” the judge alleges.

Another verified case, according to Palacio Durruthy, is the citizens who have been out of Cuba for a long time, “without taking direct care of the family or the home,” and whom the law must oblige to “share or compensate their spouse for the time they spent caring for the common goods.”

The new Family Code, he says, intends to break that “legal bond” and resolve any possibility of dispute even before signing the marriage certificate. If approved, the couple may go to a notary and opt for a “mixed regime” or a “separation of property.”

In any case, this would not be an obligation of citizens but “a right that is exercised or not, at will,” clarifies Dairon Lorenzo Salazar Caramanzana, a specialist in Criminal Law of Collective Law Firms in Guantánamo.

In addition to redefining the economic regime of the couple, Granma concludes, the new Family Code will offer possibilities for greater consensus of the couple regarding the order of the children’s surnames*, their religious affiliation and family coexistence.

*Translator’s note: Traditionally, Cuban children carry both parents’ surnames, with the father’s name first, a practice common throughout Mexico and Central and South America.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Regime Continues with Arrests in Nuevitas

Jimmy Johnson Agosto was arrested by the police on his way back from having an electroencephalogram. (Justice 11J)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 September 2022 — Despite the apparent calm in Nuevitas, Camagüey, where three weeks ago the largest demonstrations took place on the island since July 11, 2021, the Cuban regime continues with arrests. The organization Justice 11J reported on Wednesday the arbitrary arrest of five people in recent days.

The legal platform pointed out, on Tuesday, the arrest of Jimmy Johnson August, 26 years old, when he returned from having an electroencephalogram after an episode of epilepsy.

In a Facebook post, the organization explains that Johnson Agosto was arrested without shoes and is still in poor health. He remained in these conditions in a unit of the Nuevitas Police, where he was also not offered food or carbamazepine, the drug used to stabilize an epileptic patient during a seizure.

The young man was transferred to Villa María Luisa, the State Security prison in Camagüey, and the authorities have not reported the type of crime for which he is accused. “There is only one alleged complaint of having damaged a store window” during the protests, Justice 11J points out, taking as the only evidence that the young man possessed “a slingshot and pellets, that he has used for years to hunt doves.”

The organization also reported that the police searched his home, but it’s unknown if they had a court order to support this procedure. “We demand the immediate release of Jimmy, who remains in detention under the imminent risk of deterioration of his health,” the movement insisted.

Likewise, Justicia 11J confirmed to 14ymedio the arrest in the Camagüey town of La Gloria of four more people, whom it hasn’t yet been able to identify, in similar circumstances.

On the night of August 19, hundreds of people in Nuevitas took to the streets banging on their pots and pans, not only to demand the restoration of the electricity service, but also to shout “freedom.” The demonstrators were immediately repressed by the police and military, and there were even complaints about two girls who were beaten by the uniformed men. continue reading

Recently Roberto Morales Ojeda, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, said that the Government understands the “annoyances and inconveniences” caused by the continuous power outages, which, he asserted, don’t “justify” the demonstrations.

“There will never be a justification for those who try to generate vandalism, destabilizing acts or promote violent demonstrations in the country. Each of these provocations will have a strong response within the framework of the law,” he said at an event for the 65th anniversary of the Popular Uprising on September 5 in Cienfuegos.

The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) said on Thursday that there are 1,016 political prisoners in Cuba, of which 43 were arrested this month alone, and 904 correspond to the demonstrations of July 11, 2021.

In a statement, PD points out that hundreds of arrests have been carried out since the demonstrations in Nuevitas, including adults and children beaten “savagely” by the security forces. “In particular, there are 43 defendants, which is the most conservative figure possible since many families are terrified and still don’t dare to speak.”

PD pointed out that the repression occurs at the hands of a new unit of the Counterintelligence Services, created by people from Havana, who study all possible protests and coordinate the deployment of the security forces. PD adds that this unit has an “order to use violence without limit to stop demonstrations and take to prison, without consequences for any of the agents, officials or civilians involved in these operations, even in the event of deaths.”

The protests of Nuevitas were also alluded to by the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), which, in a report released on Tuesday, pointed out that at least 327 repressive actions have been recorded; 90 correspond to some type of arrest and 237 to unspecified abuses.

The OCDH warned that the exact number of repressions during the protests in both Nuevitas and Artemisa – where the police thwarted the attempt of Cubans to flee – is unknown, but said that judging by the images, there could be more than a hundred.

The images show evidence of abuses, such as entry into homes, harassment, police summonses, threats, fines, physical assaults, impediments to travel to foreigners and forced exile. OCDH also recalls that five independent journalists were forced to give up their professional activities due to threats from State Security.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Six Cuban Opposition Organizations Unite to Refound the Republic

The collective maintains that it’s necessary and urgent to recover the republican project. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 September 2022 — Members of the Cuban opposition inside and outside Cuba announced their support for “D Frente,” a group of “coordination of plural Cuban civil and political actors, whose central objective is to achieve the refounding of the Republic, guided by José Martí’s idea of building a country ’with everyone and for the good of all.’” This is how the collective is defined in a message made public this Wednesday on their Facebook page, in which they informed the public about their founding.

The united organizations in this “Front” and their representatives are Luis Rodríguez Pérez, from the Association of Mothers and Relatives of Political Prisoners for Amnesty; Ileana de la Guardia, from the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba; Enrique Guzmán Karell, from the Center for Studies on the Rule of Law and Public Policies for the Next Cuba; Yunior García Aguilera, from Archipíelago; Jorge Masetti, of the French Association for Democracy in Cuba; and Yanelys Núñez, of the San Isidro Movement.

D Frente highlights in its statement that it considers “democracy and the rule of law” as “the best way to achieve inclusion, political pluralism, the sovereignty of citizens and the civilized rules of coexistence.”

The document made public yesterday by D Frente establishes in its road map five fundamental ideas: amnesty for political prisoners and the decriminalization of dissent; work for the full recognition of popular sovereignty and the end of the Communist Party as the only leading force of society; the search for the effective rights of free expression, information, press, demonstration and assembly, among others; the promotion of a new electoral law; and the creation of legal, institutional, civic and cultural conditions that favor the convening of a constituent process.

In addition, the Front proposes the holding of a plebiscite “so that the people, in the exercise of popular sovereignty, decide.”

The collective initially established its principles, which include: respect for the full dignity of the individual and human rights; the condemnation of all forms of violence, including that of the State; the promotion of a pluralist dialogue and national reconciliation; the commitment to peaceful actions of social and political activism, resistance and negotiation; respect for all political and ideological creeds, religions and gender identities; respect for national sovereignty, non-interference and rejection of unilateral actions contrary to international law. continue reading

The new platform maintains that it’s necessary and urgent to recover the republican project in the face of an authoritarian regime that is apathetic about poverty, exclusion and violence: and for this it has appointed a Provisional Coordinating Committee that will prepare a proposal for statutes, a road map for action and other operational issues. The members are Elena Larrinaga, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Boris González Arenas and Michel Fernández.

Yunior García Aguilera, one of the signatories on behalf of Archipíelago, tells 14ymedio that the initiative is still in a very preliminary phase and needs work, but that he joined the project because of its comprehensive vision. “What I find interesting is the breadth it has, with a wide range from one side and the other of the [ideological] spectrum, and, above all, because I think that the strategy within it for how to achieve these objectives is a little clearer.”

Aware that democratizing political initiatives have been and are multiple, some even with the same members, García emphasizes that this proposal has “an intent of balance, objectivity and search for realistic strategies to achieve democracy in Cuba. Now we’ll see what happens; it’s better that there are four or five attempts to coordinate than none, but it remains to be seen. We have work to do,” adds the playwright, currently exiled in Madrid.

At the time the manifesto was published, almost 150 people had signed it, including historic opponents of the Regime, members of the San Isidro Movement and 27N (27 November), and a multitude of relatives of the prisoners of ’11J’, the protests of 11 July 2021. Among some of the best known are José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and Félix Navarro, both in prison since July 11, 2021. In addition, there are plastic artists such as Julio Llópiz-Casal and Hamlet Lavastida, the emigrant historian Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, and the economist Elías Amor Bravo, among many others. In a personal capacity, different anonymous people have shown their support from the beginning.

The birth, however, has not been without controversy. Hours after the text was disseminated, Salomé García Bacallao, of the organization Justicia 11J, called for the inclusion of the signatures of four relatives of political prisoners who, in his opinion, had not wanted to appear on the list. D Frente claims to have received the list from the Association of Mothers and Relatives of Political Prisoners for Amnesty. But a Facebook user, the father of a prisoner, says he doesn’t know that group and wants information.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Gastronomic Debacle of the Habana Libre Hotel Reaches an Unprecedented Level

Located in the Habana Libre hotel, the La Rampa cafeteria has suffered the same fate as the establishment that hosts it and has become a small restaurant. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 7 September 2022 — The La Rampa cafeteria, with its terrace protected from the flow of 23rd street, has known better times. Located in the Habana Libre hotel, it has suffered the same fate as the establishment that hosts it and has become a small restaurant of little heritage, whose prices give no respite to the hungry citizen.

The old Hilton, destined to be one of the most luxurious on the continent, opened its doors in 1958 and was nationalized by Fidel Castro only two years later. Time and underdevelopment have reduced its category rating many times, but nothing, not even the resounding Special Period, compares to the debacle it’s going through today, which has already reached its dining establishments without adapting the prices to the poverty of the offerings.

At the entrance of La Rampa, the clerks place a black, battered banner with the menu of the day written in chalk. A ham and cheese sandwich costs 250 pesos; a juice, 100; depending on the amount, the coffee will cost 30, 60 or 70; and for those who are in the mood at the time to buy a drink of 150 pesos, you can choose among a mojito, a daikirí and a cuba libre.

There’s nothing more. Inflation and the lack of products pull each other down, so that not only is supply expensive, but there is no supply at all.

A maid, very busy scaring away two foreigners who have chosen her space, is slow to write down the request of Cubans. “This table is dirty,” scolds the woman, “you can’t sit here.” “So clean it,” they reprimand her. For them, the state of the cafeteria is inconceivable.

At last it’s possible to request something to eat and when, after a long wait, the food arrives at the table, the Cubans devour it quickly and bitterly. The “natural” juice is actually an artificial preparation to which too much ice has been added; the tiny bread, baked with whole wheat flour, is pale and tasteless. The worst: the cook had no scruples about frying “chopped” sweet potato flakes, bitten by insects, and the little insect pieces leave a black border. continue reading

The total cost of a lunch is 400 pesos. As the hotel is partially managed by the Gran Caribe company and not by the all-powerful Gaviota, there is still the option of paying in cash. Otherwise, you would have to present a magnetic card that not all Cubans have.

But that’s not all. There are other examples of the sad decline of the Habana Libre. The 25th and L sweet shop, before full of exquisite sweets even despite the pandemic, offers empty refrigerators, and only a few small, lackluster pieces are offered. “Thanks for the four sweets!” exclaimed an ironic customer on Wednesday. “Now if I want to buy cake, I’ll have to come when you open.”

The El Polinesio restaurant, which was once the gastronomic pride of the hotel, follows the same route as the cafeteria and the sweet shop.

As soon as he approaches the entrance of the premises, the customer is hit by the smell of moisture and accumulated fats stored on the carpet. Where before was the roasting area for its mythical barbecue chicken, which diners could see while it turned golden on the firewood, now there is only one useless area full of dust. From the decor that recalled the wildlife of Polynesia, there are a few masks left on the wall and some wooden logs covered with flies.

Despite this, you need to make a reservation to eat at the premises. “You have to call on the phone or come the day before,” clarifies one of the waiters. After the culinary disappointment at La Rampa, reading the Polynesian menu is enough not to eat there. All dishes exceed 300 pesos, and the famous chicken reaches 500, although it has little to do with the recipe of yesteryear.

Ordering a coffee or a sandwich in a hotel cafeteria and hanging out in a different environment was something acceptable even for some Cubans capable of making the economic effort in exchange for escaping routine and the heat of Havana.

Inflation and the recent measures of the Ministry of Economy to capture as much currency as possible have made this option impossible for the majority of the population, for whom even several salaries are not enough to cover a lunch.

“Where does the rope break? On the weakest side,” a social networks user commented this Friday, attributing to the “crazy monetary reorganization” his decision not to consume again in the prestigious Manzana, Parque Central, Packard or Paseo del Prado hotels. “Bye bye, cubanitos; bye bye, terraces of Havana,” he wrote. In the case of the Habana Libre, you can pay for luxury, but you can’t find it.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Otero Alcantara Wins the Impact Award from the Dutch Prince Claus Foundation

The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, in a 2017 image, after being released from arbitrary detention. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 6 September 2022 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), is one of the winners of the Impact awards of the Prince Claus Foundation in the Netherlands, which every two years recognizes cultural professionals around the world, not only for their work but for their “positive contribution to the development of their society.”

The foundation reported on Tuesday, through its social networks, that along with the Cuban, the award also went to the Brazilian Ailton Krenak, the Argentine María Medrano, the Egyptian May al-Ibrashy, the Moroccan Hassan Darsi and the Senegalese Alain Gomis.

The Dutch foundation explains on its website that the beneficiaries of this award “are promising leaders in their field” and “excellent models to follow,” who “have demonstrated transformative power, constant dedication and commitment within their contexts and beyond” and who “deserve much broader recognition.”

According to the institution, these awards are presented at a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam and, also, in the respective countries of origin of the winners, in collaboration with the Dutch Chancellery, through the embassies of the Netherlands.

It’s not the first time that the Prince Claus was awarded to personalities of Cuban dissent: in 1999 it was awarded to the magazine Vitral, by Dagoberto Valdés; in 2008, to the artist Tania Bruguera, founder of the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism; and in 2010, to the director of this newspaper, Yoani Sánchez. continue reading

Via Facebook, the MSI congratulated Otero Alcántara, who is serving a five-year sentence in Guanajay’s maximum security prison for the crimes of outrage to the symbols of the homeland, contempt and public disorder.

The artist was arrested on July 11, 2021, before being able to join that day’s protest in Havana, and he was tried along with others, including rapper Maykel Castillo Osorbo, for several accusations that had nothing to do with the demonstrations of that day.

The rapper said a few days ago that he is willing to exchange prison for exile, a letter with which State Security has blackmailed him, to treat an illness that hasn’t been diagnosed in prison. In the case of Alcántara, he has made it clear, at least for now, that he “will not accept exile as an option under any circumstances.”

Both activists refused to appeal their convictions last July. Osorbo then declared, through his friends, that he would no longer lend himself “to that circus,” referring to the trial to which they were subjected.

“It’s been the independent artists who in recent years have continued to give prestige to Cuban art,” the Movement declared in its publication on Tuesday. “In the midst of censorship, repression, economic precariousness and the systemic violence of the Castro leadership, the art organization has managed to impose itself, at the same time that it offers emancipatory references to citizens.”

As an example of awards that have given prestige to Cuban culture in recent years, mentions include the two Latin Grammys obtained for the song Patria y Vida — of which Osorbo is co-author and in the music video Alcántara spoke — the Egeda prize awarded to Carlos Lechuga for his film Vicenta ,and the Special Mention awarded to Sergio Fernández Borrás for his film Cuba and the Night, at the 19th International Documentary Cinema of Madrid.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Filmmaker Lester Hamlet Arrives in the United States After Confronting Cuban Arts Institute

Filmmaker Lester Hamlet, 51, was sanctioned by the ICAIC after not handing over the official passport. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 September 2022 — Cuban filmmaker and producer Lester Hamlet, who said two weeks ago that the Cuban Institute of Arts and Cinematography (ICAIC) prohibited him from returning to the Island, announced his arrival in the United States.

In a short video shared on his social networks this Monday, Hamlet appears at an airport walking towards a friend whom he hugs, visibly excited. The filmmaker doesn’t identify the place, but accompanies the images with the song “It’s a Beautiful Day,” by Michael Bublé, and the words: “Friendship and loyalty, above all things!” On his social networks, some of his relatives greet him: “Welcome to the United States.”

On August 24, Hamlet posted on Facebook that the ICAIC had imposed a sanction on him that prevented him from returning to Cuba in the next five years.

Immediately, the ICAIC responded with another post on Facebook, denying the sanction and clarifying that they had called the filmmaker because he had left Cuba for Mexico to attend an event in the state of Quintana Roo, with an official passport, which “is only valid within the dates for which it is requested.”

“In the exchange of WhatsApp messages between Lester and the ICAIC official, the latter asked him if he was already in the country. Lester asked to call him on the phone and, in the telephone communication, informs the official that he had not yet returned to Cuba and that his decision was not to do so,” Tania Delgado, vice president of the institution, said at the time. continue reading

In his wake, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Alpidio Alonso, also spoke up and said on Twitter that Lester Hamlet can “enter Cuba whenever he wants. It’s a constitutional right. Anything else they have said since the ICAIC Protocol is a mistake.”

However, the artist insisted that he was prevented from returning, because “they do not want at home those of us who have different ideas” about freedom and homeland. “I accept the gift with honor and embark on restarting my life elsewhere, at the age of 51, full of new dreams and under the impact of knowing exile in the first person,” he wrote on August 24.

Born in Havana in 1971, Lester Hamlet has directed short films of fiction, advertising, musicals and documentaries, and has received several official awards throughout his career, such as the Caracol Award of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Customs Corrects Itself and Will Allow More Powerful Generators to be Imported

Electric generators need fuel, which is also currently scarce on the Island. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 September 2022 — Despair over the lack of electricity has provoked the first amendment to the package of measures “to save the Cuban economy” that, in reality, simply made the import of some non-commercial items to Cuba more flexible. The provisions of the General Customs of the Republic went into effect on August 15, allowing up to two electric generators with a maximum power of up to 15,000 watts to be brought to the island, upon payment of the 30% tax.

But the document provided for market prices very different from the real ones, so the Government has issued a new rule that rectifies the previous one, according to which units of up to 900 watts for 200 dollars, from 900 to 1,500 watts for 500 dollars and greater than 1,500 watts for 950 dollars were allowed.

“When assessing the effects on the residential sector that still persist, as a result of the energy deficit caused by the breakdowns in the national electro-energy system, it’s necessary to authorize, on a temporary basis, the import of generators with a power greater than 900 watts, whose reference value in Customs exceeds the maximum value of two hundred (200) US dollars allowed to be imported by air, sea, post and non-commercial couriers,” says the new resolution, published this Monday in the Official Gazette.

The situation requires the government “to authorize, exceptionally, the non-commercial import, above the established value for air, sea, postal and courier shipments, of generators with a power greater than 900 watts, which are presented to the office of the General Customs of the Republic until December 31, 2022.”

In addition, a 30% fee will be applied for the payment of customs tax on the excess of the load to be taxed. continue reading

Currently, there are few offers under 500 dollars for generators that exceed 900 watts, neither in the markets of the United States nor in those of Panama, some of the most popular destinations for Cuban ’mules’ and travelers who go abroad to look for electronic or technological products that are absent on the Island.

The measure reflects the urgency of the Government to try to tackle the blackouts and power outages that are bringing so much discomfort and protest to the population. However, the “patch” has limitations.

The largest consumers of this type of device, with such high power, will not be so much households as small businesses that need to stay afloat in the midst of the growing crisis, but the shortage of fuel portends difficulties in supplying the equipment. There are many services that currently keep the sale of gasoline in containers limited, although it’s also not difficult to find workers who break the norm and provide the liquid in exchange for compensation, as long as it’s available. In addition, its storage is considered potentially dangerous and can cause fires if done incorrectly.

Furthermore, the high cost of the generators reduces the possibilities of buying and importing them. Even so, those who manage to do so will see their homes light up in front of those who lack any ability to do the same for themselves.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Official Cuban Press Chokes on the Voters’ Rejection of the Constitution in Chile

Supporters of the “Rejection” option celebrate the result of the constitutional plebiscite, in Santiago de Chile. (EFE/Elvis González)

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 5 September 2022 — The rejection by Chileans of the draft Constitution endorsed by President Gabriel Boric hasn’t taken the Cuban pro-government media by surprise, but it still provokes resentment and bitterness.

This Sunday, the proposal was defeated, with almost 62% of the votes, and Chile chose to maintain the current text, written in 1980, and reformed after the fall of Pinochet and the establishment of democracy.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, several reports, articles and opinion pieces, programmed from the offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, spared no reproach or nefarious adjective against those who revalidated the “Constitution of the dictatorship.”

An analysis by journalist Oliver Zamora, broadcast on Noticiero Nacional de Televisión, described the approval of the project as “the most important political event in Chile” since the end of the government of Augusto Pinochet. Enthusiastic about the continental turn to the left, no matter if it’s grotesque or outdated, the reporter doesn’t hide his dismay at defeat.

Chileans were supposed to vote to “delete the legacies of the dictatorship,” and achieve the “real, not apparent, change” that only socialism can offer. Zamora points out that Chile rejected the possibility of a “stronger state,” which would guarantee rights and not allow itself to be “conquered” by neoliberalism.

They threw away, in the opinion of the journalist, a “superior” Constitution because of the media campaign of their enemies, which is a sign that Chile is a “polarized society, trapped in the past.” continue reading

Once the result was known, another of the voices of officialdom, the journalist Talía González, insulted the text of the current Constitution, “written during the military dictatorship.” “The Chileans,” she lamented, “denied their support for a text written by leftist and progressive forces,” to which President Boric had given his “total support.”

Both the State newspaper Granma and Cubadebate took advantage of euphemisms so as not to admit the defeat of the preliminary draft. Metaphors, circumlocutions and extensive paragraphs were intended to cover up the “Rejection option.”

“The option of maintaining a Constitution inherited from the time of Augusto Pinochet is announced as the winner,” admitted the national organ of the Communist Party. “Several experts agree that this result is the consequence of a wide campaign of disinformation regarding the new Constitution; and of an incentive, with a lot of money, to reject the text or deliver invalid votes,” it simplified.

“The most likely thing,” the editors said with disdain, is that Chileans will “wake up without the possibility of having a Constitution” with guarantees in health, education, the environment and pensions.

For Juventud Rebelde, the opportunity was missed to crystallize “the popular claims of the decades under the laws left by the dictator Augusto Pinochet.” Its previous articles warned, with alarm, that all polls pointed to the “possibility of the triumph of Rejection.”

But the “newspaper of Cuban youth” reassured its readers: “There are totally different forecasts and mathematical prediction studies” based on readings from social networks, which “have predicted that the triumph will be of Approval.”

However, there is something that all the official Cuban media agree on. Despite not understanding the mechanisms inherent in democracy and that it seems inconceivable that the government of a country doesn’t have absolute authority over the approval of the laws it intends to propose, as happens on the Island, each comment about Chile ends up predicting Boric’s triumph by any means.

It doesn’t matter if it is the direct one, which has just failed; or the more subtle and slow one, calling a plebiscite again. “Boric needs it,” say the Cuban newspapers, in order to consolidate the socialist reform in a complex country like Chile, which will not easily give up freedom to choose its future.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The U.S. Embassy in Cuba Announces an Increase in Control in the Florida Straits

One of the boats in which Cuban rafters were traveling this August. (Twitter/@USBPChiefMIP)

14ymedio, Madrid, 5 September 2022 — The U.S. embassy in Cuba warned on Sunday of the increase in surveillance in the Straits of Florida in the face of the unstoppable flow of people trying to reach the United States by that route.

“The Joint Task Force of Homeland Security increased its operational position to deal with a recent increase in irregular maritime migration. Agencies are increasing patrols and law enforcement by land, air and sea, day and night,” the institution said on Twitter.

“People who try to enter the country illegally by sea will be intercepted and must wait to be repatriated to their country of origin, or to the country from which they left, in accordance with the laws, policies and obligations of the international treaties of the United States,” it added in a second message.

The warnings were issued a day after the Border Patrol detained 42 Cuban migrants off the coast of Florida. Walter N. Slossar, chief agent of the corps in the Miami sector, explained that 21 rafters made landfall in the Dry Tortugas, and another 21 arrived in Islamorada.

That same Saturday, the Coast Guard had suspended the search for a Cuban who disappeared in Islamorada after overturning a boat. With him were 20 people who were rescued and will be repatriated to Cuba, and four others who managed to make landfall. continue reading

Operations of this type do not cease, in any case. On Friday, September 2, the Coast Guard repatriated another 37 people from the Island, and in the third week of August the Border Patrol intercepted 96 Cuban rafters.

In total, from October 1, 2021 until last Friday, 5,113 Cubans have been intercepted. The figure is close to that of 2016, when the last major migration crisis occurred. In that period, 5,396 arrived in the United States, a number that could be exceeded in by the end of September, which will mark the end of this fiscal year.

In the last five years, the number of Cubans intercepted at sea by the U.S. authorities had decreased progressively, especially during the pandemic. In 2017, 1,468 arrived, in 2018, there were 259; in 2019, 313; in 2020, 49 and in 2021, 838.

The intention to increase surveillance in the area was communicated this Friday by the Southeast National Security Working Group in a document stating that the objective is to prevent the loss of life at sea.

“The Miami Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol is committed to working together with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners in an entire government-wide effort to prepare for and address any potential increase in irregular maritime migration or threats to border security in Florida,” Slosar said.

In addition, Brendan C. McPherson, director of the department and commander of the Seventh District of the Coast Guard, stressed that “illegal maritime travel in the Caribbean is always dangerous and often deadly.”

“The smugglers exploit vulnerable migrants for profit while putting their lives at risk on board overburdened boats that are unfit to sail. These dangerous trips should not be attempted. Safe, legal and orderly migration saves lives,” he added.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Wait All Night at the Currency Exchange to Buy Dollars, Which Now Cost 150 pesos in the Informal Market

Like an anthill, the people of Santa Clara hunkered down during the early hours at the junction of Cuba and Tristá streets. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Juan Izquierdo, Havana, September 5, 2022 — The night begins to cool off over Santa Clara and, after having a bite to eat, the coleros [people standing in line for others, for pay] cross Vidal Park on their way to the currency exchange (Cadeca). The custom is new but the method is as common as poverty and underdevelopment on the island: hold on all night to guarantee one of the first places in line.

The booty: the hundred dollars “per head” that the Government promises to sell to anyone who has a place. Like an anthill, the people of Santa Clara hunkered down during the early hours of Friday at the junction of Cuba and Tristá streets.

It’s a central corner and a crucial one for the movement of the city, interrupted, however, by a long zinc fence, which slows down traffic. The inhabitants of the city are accustomed to going around the obstacle, which “protects” them from the ruins of the old Florida hotel, to reach the Cadeca and the branch of the Bank of Credit and Commerce.

“A tremendous show broke out that night,” one of its readers in Santa Clara tells 14ymedio. “More than a hundred people waiting, and everything is a disaster. A guy started shouting that it was a shame and that he couldn’t take it anymore.”

At ten at night, the man says, the atmosphere was already “heated.” From afar, in the park, the police didn’t lose any time in harassing the coleros. “It’s normal that they patrol that area and, from time to time, intercept a drunkard or an unsuspecting university student and ’invite’ them to enter the guasabita,” he adds.

The guasabita is the name that the people of Santa Clara give to a small gray bus where the officers improvise their “interrogations.” “People leave there on a stretcher,” says the man, “that’s why the coleros also avoid it.” continue reading

But not even a hypothetical beating or an unforeseen arrest stop those who have to exchange their dollars. In the Cadeca, the mechanisms of a gear that no one fully understands and that works based on traps, tricks and bribes, begin to rotate.

The fundamental rule: maintain your ground and be aware of the movements of others. The euphemism par excellence, “taking care of the line,” is the ace up the sleeve of those who appear and disappear, exchange places with someone, or duplicate their place under all kinds of pretexts.

The “dollar line” is confusing and exhausting, with the additional danger of knowing that everyone who goes in or out carries money in their pockets, which tempts the city’s bandits and assailants.

“I’ve even been afraid of standing in line,” admits the man, who says he feels the same neurosis in the Cadeca as in a line for chicken, coffee or cigarettes. The overnight sale of foreign exchange has become another business in the informal market.

“But make no mistake,” he adds, “this is a small business; it isn’t the ‘mafia’ of Santa Clara. This is the same thing that happens when people ‘struggle’ with their ration books for meat or some tobacco. The idea is to spend the time that others can’t or don’t want to spend. That’s why they [the coleros] take a percentage.”

At the moment of greatest agony, when there is no longer any desire to shout or protest, the sun rises. Cadeca workers, very calmly, open the door and start calling the first numbers. But there is no guarantee that there will be enough dollars to cover the demand.

“Everyone knows that you can spend the night here and that it’s a choice,” the man concludes, “but that’s what it is. This is the only country where you can live from standing in line for someone.”

Those who read the daily reports of the official press won’t be able to detect any abnormalities. With subtlety, the Government is recalibrating the balance of exchange: every day it sells the most expensive dollar, but demands to buy it at the lowest possible price.

Meanwhile, exchange rates have skyrocketed on the informal market. The dollar reached 150 pesos on Saturday, according to the monitoring of the digital media El Toque. Those who experienced the instability of the currencies during the Special Period soon recognized that this was the figure at which the dollar came to be valued during the previous crisis.

At exchange rates of 149 and 148 pesos, respectively, the euro and the Freely Convertible Currency (MLC) almost reached the threshold of the US currency. With these figures, phrases such as “recovering the purchasing power of the salary in Cuban pesos” or “single type of exchange,” formulated by Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández, are already terrible jokes of economic humor.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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From Cuba’s Daily Drama of Blackouts to Unimplemented Innovations, No One Understands It

Customers in a Havana electronics store, in line to buy fans, to cool the night air and repel mosquitos. But the fans are useless when there is no electricity.

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 5 September 2022 — La Guiteras has been incorporated into Cuba’s national electricity system after overcoming the failures that caused its shutdown, news that in any other country in the world would be inconsequential. But in Cuba, in this agonizing summer of 2022, in which the alumbrones [a word coined to mean periods when the lights are on] have become a daily event in the difficult coexistence on the Island, it’s great news when a thermoelectric power plant produces electricity.

And as the communist regime enjoys the propaganda and the legendary narrative of the events that happen in the country, the article published in the State newspaper Granma is not wasted and says something like “after about four days of uninterrupted work, in which more than 200 maintenance actions were carried out, the largest unitary bloc in the country went online after ten o’clock on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning it exceeded 200 MW.” That doesn’t fool anyone and isn’t a heroic deed. This is a brief description of the usual operation in these cases, by the way, not exclusive to La Guiteras, since the rest of the plants are the same, or worse.

Granma added that “the operators solved the localized breakdown in the boiler and the vacuum damage in the condenser-turbine, and eliminated the causes that led to high water consumption, the origin of the problem that forced the plant to stop.” This is one more example of the work of informational monitoring by the regime so that Cubans understand the official version of the origin of the blackouts and attribute them to short-term or specific causes, which are resolved in this way, when the national electricity system is really a victim of the prevailing economic model, and its destiny is linked to it. That is, in order to enjoy quality electricity again and continuously, it is necessary to implement structural changes that the regime doesn’t even want to talk about. continue reading

And as the Guiteras problem will promptly return, Granma says that “to achieve greater reliability, it will be necessary, as soon as possible, to carry out the proper cleaning of the boiler and eliminate all the defects that limit its efficiency.” (so, what have they done?) and adds in this regard that “the washing of the boiler requires a shutdown of approximately ten days to increase the load to 280 MW and prolong its permanence in the system, without unforeseen exits.” Thus, a shutdown of Guiteras and a return to the blackouts are foreseen.

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