The national team needs to beat Uruguay and Panama to advance to the qualifier for Qatar 2027
Cuba had a poor 26 percent in field shots against Argentina. / Facebook/351 deportes
14ymedio, Havana, December 2, 2025 — Argentina swept the Cuban national basketball team from the court with an overwhelming 105-49 score at the Obras de Buenos Aires stadium, in what was their second qualifying match to advance to the World Cup in Qatar 2027. Faced with the abysmal difference of 56 points, the official media Jit acknowledged that “a pragmatic analysis of what happened is urgently needed.”
With the argument of a Cuban basketball team “reduced to alarming levels” by injuries and absences, the same media tried to minimize the fall, mentioning the foul by injury of basketball player Reynaldo Garcia, in addition to the losses of Anthony Rodríguez and Pedro Bombino.
For its part, the Argentine newspaper La Nación said that the Cuban team arrived in Buenos Aires with nine players. At the “last moment” the Cuban Basketball Federation “called Joan Gutiérrez, who days before had played with Gimnasia de La Plata in an Argentine League match against Villa Mitre.”
The controversial absence in the team led by Osmel Planas was that of Karel Guzman. According to Jit, the athlete “did not arrive at the headquarters due to errors in the coordination of his trip.” However, the reality is that “they did not give him the official passport to board the flight” to Argentina, and he was stranded in Havana. continue reading
Karel Guzmán, according to Jit, “did not arrive at the headquarters due to errors in the coordination of his trip” to Argentina
The regime punished the athlete for denouncing the bad practices and poor management of the Cuban federations. “The effort that we make in coming to play for the national team, although it is something we want, is not very valued by the federation. We always come with the best attitude, but there are times when we get there and there are extra things not related to basketball that affect us,” said Guzmán.
The basketball player was barred by the Cuban Federation of Basketball from traveling despite having an official passport, a confirmed flight ticket and his return flight already paid for, according to sports specialist Henry Morales.
At the end of the match against Argentina, Marlon Díaz, who is Cuban, confirmed to the Argentine media that Guzmán “was not given his passport.” When questioned about the reason, he replied: “These are things that happen, and we don’t know exactly why.” Planas, the coach, only would comment that the basketball player “could not travel for document reasons.”
Sobre el aspecto deportivo, Cuba presentó un deficiente 26 por ciento en tiros de campo. Lo sobresaliente fue, según medios oficialistas, la actuación de Ibrahim Echevarría, quien consiguió un doble-doble de 12 puntos y 13 rebotes.
On the sporting aspect, Cuba presented a poor 26 percent in field shots. According to official media, the performance of Ibrahim Echevarría was outstanding, with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Cuba has matches ahead against Uruguay and Panama, which it must win in order to continue to advance to the World Basketball Championship of Qatar 2027.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Juan Pablo Roque González infiltrated the organization in Miami and returned to Cuba just before the attack
Juan Pablo Roque, during an interview given to América TeVé in 2012. / Capture
14ymedio, Madrid, November 28, 2025 — Juan Pablo Roque González, alias “Germán,” one of the Cuban spies involved in the shoot-down of Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, has died in Havana at the age of 70. This was confirmed this Friday from Miami by his ex-wife, Ana Margarita Martínez, who stated that his death occurred on November 25.
In an interview with Mario Vallejola, a Cuban journalist living in the US, the woman explained that he died from “a virus, one of those that is going around Cuba now.” He had undergone a heart operation and was in “delicate” condition.
“In an ironic turn of events, his death occurred on the same date that Fidel Castro died, the same dictator he served,” said Martínez, who has always maintained that Roque hid his true job from her during the marriage. She referred to this again in a social media post: “Although our marriage was later annulled in court, the consequences of his deception were profound and personal. He never faced earthly justice for his actions.”
Martínez states that, before the death of her ex-husband, she felt “obliged to address a chapter that left a deep mark on my life and in our Cuban-American community.” Roque González — recalls his ex-wife — was a member of the so-called Wasp Network, “and his betrayal caused immense damage,” not only to her and her family, “but also to the brave volunteers of Brothers to the Rescue and all those who have fought tirelessly for freedom, truth and human dignity.” continue reading
The woman explained that “he died from a virus, one of those going around Cuba now.” He had undergone a heart operation and was in “delicate” condition.
In her post she mentions the four victims of that attack — Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales and Armando Alejandre Jr. — volunteers from the Brothers to the Rescue organization, which helped exiled Cubans and promoted freedom on the island. On February 24 almost 30 years ago, they flew in three small planes to track the rafters in the Florida Straits.
Only one returned to the Opa Locka airfield in north Miami. The other two were pulverized by missiles fired from two MiG fighters of the Cuban Air Force. Havana — then with Fidel Castro still in full power — claimed that the aircraft violated the airspace of the country, but both the US and the exile community maintained that the attack took place over international waters.
Roque González himself, a lieutenant colonel of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, served as a pilot for Brothers to the Rescue, which he infiltrated after simulating his desertion from the island in 1992, swimming to the US naval base at Guantánamo. He returned to Cuba one day before the attack and never faced justice.
His story was different from that of the five Cuban spies convicted in 2001 by the US for conspiracy to commit murder and espionage, as well as being unregistered agents of a foreign government. Arrested in 1998 in Florida while carrying out intelligence work for Cuba, the regime deployed an intense and costly propaganda campaign for their release, elevating them to the status of heroes.
The figure of Roque González gained prominence five years ago, when Netflix aired the controversial film “The WASP Network,” where he was played by actor Wagner Moura
One of them, René González, was released in 2011, and three years later, Fernando González completed his sentence, after which both returned to Cuba. In December 2014, as part of the thaw initiated by President Barack Obama, with Raúl Castro succeeding his brother Fidel in the Plaza de la Revolución, the three who remained serving sentences in the US — Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernández Nordelo — were released and deported to Cuba. In return, the Cuban government handed over Alan Gross, a contractor imprisoned on the Island for trying to deliver satellite connection devices to the Jewish community.
The figure of Roque González gained prominence five years ago, when Netflix aired the controversial film “The WASP Network,” where he was played by actor Wagner Moura. Ana Margarita Martínez, who was played by Ana de Armas, filed a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming that the film distorted reality. It was not the only lawsuit over the film: José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, also sued for presenting him as a terrorist, although he finally settled with Netflix.
The attack on the planes took place at a time when the US administration was considering lifting the embargo on the island. In response to the shoot-down, the opposite happened: then-President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act and intensified the economic sanctions against Cuba.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The symptoms that affect the entire country do not correspond to an arbovirus but to a respiratory disease similar to Covid
Everything indicates a person-to-person contagion. Not by a vector. So what are we talking about?” / RL Hevia
14ymedio, Havana, November 30, 2025 — Cuba is experiencing a wave of febrile diseases which, according to the Ministry of Public Health, are mainly due to an outbreak of chikungunya. However, on social networks the official diagnosis is discussed with growing mistrust, while reports of severe clinical episodes, unexpected deaths and symptoms that, according to many doctors and patients, do not fit with the usual description of arboviruses proliferate.
The publications of Dr. Reinaldo Verona Bonce, from Ciego de Ávila, who has worked for decades in tropical medicine, have catalyzed a conversation that, in a few hours, spread throughout the island. In an extensive analysis published on Facebook, the author states that “the lethality present in our country is incompatible with historical records” of chikungunya, and the current transmission patterns “deny the epidemiology of the arboviruses.”
A particularly worrisome point in the debate is the unusual severity of symptoms in children, which several doctors consider to be incompatible with a typical chikungunya outbreak. “My son was in therapy with bronchopneumonia and shortness of breath. What does a mosquito have to do with this clinical picture? I also saw babies with the same,” warned Karina Silveira after her son’s hospitalization. For Dr. Verona Bonce, the occurrence of critical cases in newborns and adolescents “is unprecedented in Caribbean arboviruses.”
The doctor says that, while the medical literature describes chikungunya as a generally benign virus — with a mortality rate of only 0.1% — in Ciego de Ávila, “daily mortality has increased from an average of 12 to 14 people to 34 in 24 hours.” At the same time, he denounces the absence of conclusive diagnostic tests: “Without PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to detect the cause, there is no possible diagnosis,” he insists.
The doctor particularly questions the speed at which the disease has spread. “Female mosquitos cannot make an entire country sick in weeks. Whole families become infected in unison, and you get sick if you visit a patient. One vector does not explain this,” he wrote, referring to continue reading
the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“The spread, contagion and severity are more consistent with a respiratory virus than with an arbovirus”
The recurrence of symptoms in people who had already suffered chikungunya is another point that worries doctors and citizens. The medical literature indicates that this virus usually generates lasting immunity, with relapses considered exceptional. However, several users describe the opposite. “I am seeing that people who already were in remission now present again with the virus when they should have immunity. This leaves many questions,” wrote Neyda Nocedo, a Cuban who worked in Venezuela during previous outbreaks.
Other health professionals have begun to express similar doubts. Marisabel Delgado Quintero, a doctor at the Antonio Luaces Iraola General Hospital, comments: “The spread, contagion and severity coincide more with a respiratory virus than with an arbovirus. No mask has been recommended, nor distancing; nor was the initial outbreak contained in Matanzas.” In her opinion, the scenario greatly resembles the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hypotheses about a possible respiratory pathogen –or the simultaneous circulation of several viruses — are not new, but they have gained strength due to lack of official information. Dr. Verona Bonce himself points out that there is no feedback between the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine and the provinces, and that the results of dengue tests are neither confirmed nor explained.
Among the most controversial theories is the one posted on social media by Ulises Camacho, who asked people “not to be scandalized” by his approach: “It is necessary to review the long-term effects of all the Covid vaccines that were applied hastily in Cuba.” In his view, the fact that the current epidemic appears to be concentrated exclusively on the island –with no similar outbreaks elsewhere in the Caribbean or Latin America — would indicate that “there must be a very specific factor causing this only here.” His words sparked an intense discussion. While some users appreciated that “someone mentioned the issue,” others recalled that there is no scientific evidence linking vaccines to the current outbreak, and they warned of the risk of turning uncertainty into unfounded suspicions.
Beyond the scientific debate, hundreds of users have shared their personal experiences. Many describe prolonged symptoms, relapses, severe joint inflammation, generalized rash and, in some cases, difficulty breathing or severe pneumonia.
Daniela, a young woman from Havana, recounts: “I had a fever of 39 [102.2 F], swollen lymph nodes, a bulge in my groin, pain in my wrists and heels, a rash from my face to my feet. I had no respiratory symptoms. A friend of my mom’s got the same and died three days later from ‘pneumonia’.”
The variety of symptoms fuels a sense of uncertainty. No one knows exactly what is circulating, and the health system, already hit by shortages and lack of staff, is not offering answers. Many patients claim that they were sent home without diagnostic tests and without a clear clinical diagnosis.
Concern increases in communities where several deaths were reported within a few days. In Holguín, Leyza Beatriz Lorenzo, laments the death of two girls: “No one says anything; there are neither alerts nor a quarantine. That’s what they should be doing now.”
“They gave the virus a name, but I don’t think anyone knows what it is”
Another report comes from Mayabeque. Herminia Santana, a funeral home worker, describes a continuous flow of burials: “We haven’t had any relief for more than a week. Even with Covid, we didn’t see this.” Reporters from 14ymedio have been able to corroborate this by visiting cemeteries and funeral homes, where they have noted a much larger influx than usual.
In Ciego de Ávila, a doctor comments anonymously that hospitals “are full of children and adults with fulminant pneumonia and arrhythmias,” and the current protocols “do not respond to the picture we are seeing.”
These experiences do not confirm a real increase in mortality, since the government does not publish transparent statistics, but they do reveal a social perception of the crisis. The lack of transparency of the Ministry of Health has created a vacuum that is filled with speculation. Dr. Verona Bonce himself warns that his hypotheses do not seek to generate political alarm but to call for medical logic: “The idiots come out saying that this is the fault of imperialism. It’s science, reasoning. If three months ago there had been a quarantine in Matanzas, this would have been prevented.”
What is clear is that the disease affects a huge percentage of the population. In Los Palos, Mayabeque, Rosita Betancourt describes a bleak picture: “Here, 90% of us have the virus. I have been in unbearable pain since October 12. I went to the doctor, and without a test they told me it was the virus.”
The general frustration is summed up in the comment of Maguy Díaz, who has been sick for 12 days: “They gave a name to the virus, but I think nobody knows what it is.”
While the government maintains a uniform message — “it’s chikungunya”– the citizen debate shows an epidemic that behaves like nothing Cuba has seen before, in a country with a weakened health system and public confidence at historic lows. Dr. Verona Bonce closes one of his messages with a phrase that is now repeated throughout the island: “Everything speaks in favor of a person-to-person contagion. Not by a vector. So what are we talking about?”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The disease detected in Catalonia has forced the suspension of exports to 40 countries
The price of pork will rise as the Christmas festivities approach. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, November 29, 2025 — The outbreak of African swine fever in groups of Catalan boars has forced the Spanish government to suspend 120 health certificates for the export of various pork products to 40 countries, including Cuba. The ban covers meat and pork products, sausages, hams, pig fat, offal, genetic material, semen, breeding pigs, feed materials, piglets for fattening, intestines and pig embryos.
African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease affecting only domestic and feral pigs. It is not transmitted to humans but causes hemorrhagic fever and high mortality in infected animals. Because of its easy spread and devastating impact on farms, countries impose strict trade restrictions whenever an outbreak occurs.
Spain has not had a case of swine fever since 1994. The current outbreak causes it to lose its African swine fever (ASF)-free status from the World Organization for Animal Health, and, therefore, its products can no longer carry this certificate.
Spain has not had a case of swine fever since 1994
However, not all countries react in the same way to an ASF outbreak. Some large importers, such as China, which is the largest purchaser of Spanish pork, accept regionalization, which means that they will only restrict imports from the affected area, in this case Catalonia, allowing the rest of the Spanish territory to continue exporting normally. This is not the case in Cuba, which does not apply this principle and imposes a total ban on pork products as soon as an outbreak of the disease is detected anywhere in Spain.
The situation hits the pockets, already punished, of Cuban families. / 14ymedio
The unexpected outbreak is a severe blow to Spanish pig producers and also for Cuba, which depends almost entirely on imports to meet its meat demand due to the collapse continue reading
of its own industry, which is at historical lows. Spain is, since 2023, the main supplier of pork to the island, followed by the United States and Brazil. We will have to see how these health measures affect Cuban tables, at least for those who can afford it this year. The temporary loss of this key supplier coincides with a Cuban market already under pressure from shortages, rising food prices and persistent weakness in domestic production.
A pound of boneless pork exceeded 1,000 pesos this November
In most of the country’s agricultural markets, a pound of boneless pork exceeded 1,000 pesos this November, and, as is usually the case, its price will rise as the festivities approach. The suspension of purchases from Spain will make the traditional end-of-year dish even more unaffordable.
So far, there is no official pronouncement by the Cuban health authorities on whether or not the entry of pork products from Spain through travelers or personalized shipments will be maintained. This is a common technique to introduce food into the country, which since 2021 is maintained with a tariff exemption for “non-commercial” import of medicines and food. The situation is aggravated by the proximity of the Christmas dates, when demand for pork meat, sausages and ham grows. This extraordinary situation may hit the pockets of Cuban families hard at end of this year.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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A reporter from 14ymedio noted the deployment of State Security and the absence of the international press.
Police surveillance in the vicinity of the People’s Civil and Family Court of Marianao, Havana. / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana/Madrid, November 26, 2025 — Not only behind closed doors but also without advance public announcement, the second trial of the former minister of economy and planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, indicted two weeks ago for espionage, took place in total secrecy. The hearing, in which he is being tried for more than a dozen crimes -including embezzlement, tax evasion, influence trafficking and money laundering- began at 9:30 am at the same place, the People’s Civil and Family Court of Marianao, in Havana.
The surroundings of the building were guarded from the beginning, although with a smaller operation than on the first day of the trial, when streets and nearby shops were closed. This time there was no press stationed outside the courthouse, although a man could be seen with a camera hanging from his neck.
View of the building of the People’s Family and Civil Court of Marianao, in the background, from an adjacent street. / 14ymedio
According to a source close to the case who requests anonymity, the two children of the former minister, Alejandro and Laura María Gil González, were forced to sign a confidentiality clause at the hearing on Wednesday. At the first trial, only his son was allowed to enter. His daughter had requested a “public and open” trial for her father on social networks and in various publications.
The regime reported the first trial less than 24 hours in advance, through a statement read on state television, but they did not even announce it this time. The official media are busy today with Fidel Castro, as yesterday marks nine years since his death.
A 14ymedio source said that the case for which Gil Fernández is being tried this Wednesday has 20 more defendants, including “a deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power and a secretary of the Communist Party.” The Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to this source, asked for 30 years for the former minister and “sentences of at least 15 years for the others.” continue reading
State security agents in the vicinity of the Marianao Court. / 14ymedio
No decision from the first trial has been handed down so far. According to the sister of the former minister, María Victoria Gil Fernández, corroborated by this newspaper’s source, Gil’s attorney, Abel Solá López, made a “brilliant” defense.
In an interview granted four days ago to the Cuban journalist resident in Miami Mario J. Pentón, María Victoria (Vicky) Gil said that her brother is accused of having spied for the US, and that every case against the former minister was instigated by Manuel Marrero, Prime Minister and a colonel in the Army. It was a plot orchestrated by the military sector of the regime, whose economic interests were affected by the Ordering Task, the process of monetary and exchange unification that began on January 1, 2021, managed by Gil Fernández.
It was Marrero, said the former presenter of De la Gran Escena, having been informed by a “very reliable” source whom she could not name, who called Alejandro Gil Fernández on February 1, 2024, to tell him that his work as Minister of Economy and Planning had not given “the expected fruits” and that he would be replaced the next day.
There was no press stationed outside the courthouse, although a man was seen with a camera hanging from his neck. / 14ymedio
When the former official appeared before the prime minister to hand over his portfolio, he found that two State Security agents were there with Marrero, who told him that he was “under investigation.” It was then that he was arrested and taken, along with his wife, Gina María González García, to a safe house. She was exonerated, and he went straight to the maximum security prison of Guanajay in Artemisa.
Until he was removed from office, Gil Fernández was not only Minister of the Economy and Planning, but also Deputy Prime Minister and Miguel Díaz-Canel’s right-hand man. On March 7, 2024, a criminal case against the official was initially announced in a brief note signed by the president himself, alleging, without further details, “serious errors committed in the performance of his duties.”
The next thing that came out of the case, 20 months later, was a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office last Friday, which, without giving numbers or names, spoke of “other defendants” and reported that Gil was accused of “espionage, acts to the detriment of economic activity and contracting, embezzlement, bribery, falsification of public documents, tax evasion, influence trafficking, money laundering, violation of the rules on protection of classified documents, and theft and damage of documents and other objects in official custody.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Simplification of procedures, free hiring of personnel and importation of its own fuel, all this within “the guidelines of the economic and social policy of the Party of the Revolution”
Fidel and Raúl Castro’s great-nephew presented what he described as an “integral” set of incentives to attract foreign capital. / Cubadebate
14ymedio, Havana, November 25, 2025 — In response to the urgency of the country, the Cuban government says that it is now ready to open doors and loosen ties without changing the current model. The VIII Investment Forum of the Havana International Fair (Fihav 2025) returned this Tuesday to promise dynamism, new regulations and a package of measures that, according to the deputy prime minister and head of foreign trade and investment, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, seeks to “correct distortions” and revive an economy in free fall.
“Cuba currently has 376 businesses with foreign capital from 40 countries, 56 of which are in the Mariel Special Development Zone,” said the official. He added that in 2025, 32 new businesses from 13 countries have been approved, with a committed capital of $1.1 billion.
In a speech reminiscent of similar announcements in the last ten years, Fidel and Raúl Castro’s great-nephew presented what he described as an “integral” set of incentives to attract foreign capital. The package, which is still waiting for its legal formalization, “will be published soon,” he promised. It includes a simplification of procedures, greater freedom in labor contracts, facility to trade in foreign currencies and access to underutilized structures of the country. All this with the aim of offering a business environment that is “more attractive and competitive.”
The most striking announcement, undoubtedly, was the commitment to reduce project approval times. According to Pérez-Oliva, State agencies will have only seven days, instead of the current 15, to respond to investment proposals. If they do not, an automatic “yes” will be assumed, something unprecedented in a country where bureaucracy has ruled for decades. continue reading
For the first time, the employer will be able to participate in the selection of his workforce
The scheme recalls other deadlines announced in various sectors and never met. The question remains the same: what will prevent agencies, historically reluctant to relinquish control, from using other ways of blocking what they do not wish to approve?
Another point raised by the Deputy Prime Minister concerns recruitment. For the first time, the employer will be able to participate in the selection of his workforce, partly breaking with the model in which State agencies acted as compulsory intermediaries. Even so, the reform does not eliminate these agencies, and it remains to be seen how it will be applied in hotels, the first sector that should benefit from this measure.
The Government will also authorize the payment of foreign exchange bonuses, an incentive that implicitly recognizes the inadequacy of wages in pesos, unable to sustain daily life. These bonuses, which do not replace the official salary, have existed for decades, always under the shadow of informality. Recognizing their existence is a step, although these payments will have quite strict limitations: they can only be made from profits, through bank payments and provided that the company generates external revenues.
The innovations also include the authorization for foreign-owned companies to trade “without restrictions” with domestic economic actors. They will also be allowed to import fuel directly if they deem it necessary. Thus the government opens a hard currency highway for those who can generate income for the State, escaping from the annoying blackouts, which will continue to affect the rest of the population.
To this is added the announcement of new special development zones
In fact, nothing in the package suggests that the benefits granted to foreign capital will extend to Cuban entrepreneurs, who continue to deal with obstacles, inspections, regulatory uncertainty and a very unfavorable exchange rate.
The minister also spoke of the possibility of investors having access to underutilized facilities. The country has hundreds of abandoned factories, semi-derelict industrial buildings, disused warehouses and hotels without guests, all State-owned. To this is added the announcement of the creation of new special development zones, whose location and timing were specified. Some experts point to the Antilla project in Holguín, designed to rehabilitate the aqueduct distribution system.
The experience of the Mariel Special Development Zone, after more than a decade of operations, serves as a reminder of an attractive structure on paper that does not guarantee results when the macroeconomic environment is unstable, access to foreign exchange is uncertain and the State reserves control of all the processes.
The Deputy Prime Minister clarified that “none of these proposals has any contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, the guidelines of the economic and social policy of the Party of the Revolution or the conceptualization of the Cuban economic model.” All the decisions explained, he said, are perfectly possible and can be implemented without difficulty under existing regulations.
The government admits that the materialization of foreign investment remains low, perhaps because the real deterrents are still intact. These include the lack of legal certainty, to which has recently been added the freezing of all foreign currency funds in the bank accounts of foreign companies.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban Chancellor Bruno Rodriguez denounces “electromagnetic interference” in the Caribbean attributed to US military deployment
The publication comes at a time of maximum tension between Washington and Caracas. / EF
14ymedio, Havana, November 29, 2025 — US President Donald Trump declared this Saturday on his Truth Social network that the airspace “over and around” Venezuela is “closed in its entirety.” The message, addressed to “airlines, pilots, drug traffickers and people smugglers,” was presented as a security warning, but its tone and breadth immediately caused a political earthquake in the region.
The publication comes at a time of high tension between Washington and Caracas. In recent weeks, the US government has reinforced its warnings about the situation in Venezuela and warned airlines of increasing risks associated with political instability, troop movements and the presence of irregular armed groups.
Several international airlines, already operating severely restricted routes, have pre-emptively suspended their flights while awaiting clarification. Venezuela, whose international air traffic has been declining since 2017 due to sanctions, airline bankruptcies and security concerns, has become even more isolated in recent days.
Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodriguez reacted immediately on Saturday by denouncing an “electromagnetic interference” in the Caribbean attributed to the US military deployment, which, he said, “particularly” affects the airspace of Venezuela. In a message on social media, he said that this activity “is part of the escalation of military aggression and psychological war against Venezuelan territory, aimed at overthrowing by force the continue reading
legitimate government of that sister nation of Our America.” Havana, central ally of Caracas, insists that Washington’s pretexts for an eventual intervention “cannot be legally or morally accepted.”
This climate of alert adds to the bombing carried out by US forces against several boats in the Caribbean Sea
Trump’s announcement comes shortly after The New York Times revealed that Trump and Nicolas Maduro had held a telephone conversation to explore the possibility of a meeting, a call that neither the White House nor Miraflores has confirmed or denied. According to that report, the communication also involved Secretary of State Marco Rubio — an ironclad critic of Chavismo — although the conversation did not lead to any concrete agreement.
The leak coincided with Trump’s warning the day before that his Armed Forces will act “very soon” on Venezuelan territory against alleged “drug traffickers from Venezuela,” while US naval deployment continues in the Caribbean. On November 21, the Federal Aviation Administration asked airlines to “take extreme precautions” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean due to a “potentially dangerous situation” in the region.
This climate of alert adds to the bombing carried out by US forces against several boats in the Caribbean Sea that have resulted in deaths. Washington justifies these attacks as anti-drug operations, although it has not presented conclusive evidence and is directly targeting Venezuelan authorities, including Maduro himself.
Venezuelan communities have mobilized following the call of Chavismo to prepare for a possible armed confrontation with the United States. Since September, the Government has been promoting the creation of Community Militia Units in more than 5,300 areas of the country and says that over eight million people have registered with the militia. In neighborhoods of Caracas, neighbors describe meetings, training and plans to protect against a possible attack, while Chavista leaders, such as Diosdado Cabello, warn that “anyone who dares to set foot in Venezuela” will face “the fury of a people that has never surrendered.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The Ómnibus Caisa Production Company does not believe it can deliver more than 20 vehicles before 2026
Bus in Havana / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, November 22, 2025 –The work of the Ómnibus Caisa Production Company, located in Guanajay, is strongly affected by the constant power cuts in Cuba. This situation means, according to a note published by El Artemiseño this Friday, that the only bus assembler in Cuba cannot advance in the repair work of the buses in Havana, despite having recently received a large donation of parts from the Chinese government.
This Saturday, for example, the Electric Union of Cuba reported the shutdown of unit 1 of the CTE Felton because of “high temperature in the bearings,” which will consequently contribute to prolonged blackouts throughout the day. Yesterday, according to the UNE, there was a maximum allocation of 1,707 megawatts (MW), slightly higher than that planned for today (1,685 MW at peak hours), with an availability of 1,665 MW and a maximum demand of 3,280 MW.
Meanwhile in Caisa, 100 buses are stranded in the company’s parking lot, waiting to be repaired for several months.
A hundred buses are stranded in the company’s parking lot
The company’s workers assure El Artemiseño that they do not believe that more than 20 can be ready before 2026. The employees also point out that, although 27 people are active in a workforce of 47, if they could complete their eight-hour working day, they would be able to be much continue reading
more productive and meet the capital’s transport demand more effectively.
This would also partially alleviate the serious crisis of public transport in Havana, already marked by the shortage of fuel and aggravated by the poor state of maintenance of the buses.
The situation is further complicated by the lack of operational vehicles. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial Company indicate that of the 435 buses which should be circulating in the capital, only 130 are able to operate. This represents only 35% of the fleet, with serious consequences for urban mobility. Of the 17 main and 112 secondary routes, less than half are in regular operation, affecting especially the working community, students and people who have to travel for health reasons.
The lack of buses is compounded by damage caused by misuse and vandalism: broken windows, chipped glass, damaged door systems and stolen parts, even in the new Foton minibuses from China, of which only 34 out of 50 were recently serviced. In the face of this shortcoming, many citizens are forced to resort to taxi drivers, but the prices of these private taxis have become significantly more expensive in recent years.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
ECLAC and Cuba Siglo XXI also describe a shocking panorama and the regime’s rejection of any change
“It is difficult to understand how ordinary Cubans survive today,” says The Economist / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Madrid, November 23, 2025 — As if they refused to take the antidote that would prevent death when bitten by a poisonous insect, the Cuban government continues its forward flight blindly with a reissued “program to correct distortions and boost the economy.” The plan, presented on Thursday in the official press and on the Round Table TV program, came out the same week that the accounts of all foreign companies were frozen and three devastating documents were published about the situation of the island: an article in the prestigious weekly The Economist, a new report of Cuba Siglo XXI and the latest data from the Economic Commission for America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
These three go in the same direction, summarized by The Economist from its headline: Cuba is heading for disaster, unless its regime changes drastically. For the British environment, which usually does not devote much space to the island, given the poor economic, energy, health and demographic conditions of the country, it is fully summarized in its long text: “A convulsion is coming.”
“It is difficult to understand how ordinary Cubans survive today,” the weekly begins, because “basic necessities cost much more than the official average monthly salary of 6,506 pesos (equivalent to 14.46 dollars at the informal exchange rate, which is what is used).”
The Economist’s portrayal of everyday sufferings is recognizable to any citizen of the island: “Under a suffocating heat, electricity is cut off in most places for at least four hours a day, and in some areas almost all the time. Fans and air conditioners are usually turned off. Water is also missing in many places, so drinking, cooking and washing, not to mention showering or even using the toilet, are often impossible.”
“Under a suffocating heat, electricity is cut off in most places for at least four hours a day, and in some areas almost all the time”
The data provided by the specialized media are known, such as that 89% of families live in extreme poverty, that public transport has “practically” disappeared, that “millions of Cubans” depend on remittances or that a quarter of the population has left the island. But put in black and white, they are impressive for an international audience. continue reading
Particularly eloquent are two graphs on migration included in the article by the independent demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos: next to the figures of Cubans who left their country are those of Cubans who entered the United States, which are, year by year, inversely proportional, like an inverted mirror.
The main focus of the text is economic data, including the collapse in tourism, high inflation, devaluation of the peso and the fact that output is at its lowest in more than a century, resulting in an 11% contraction since 2019, a number recognized by the Government itself.
The latest ECLAC report, made public last Wednesday by the Cuban economist resident in Spain, Pedro Monreal, points out that the island appears as “one of the three countries with no growth in the value of projected exports of goods (worse than Haiti but better than Venezuela). For this expert, “the reduction in the estimated value of exports of goods from Cuba in 2025 would be explained by the poor sugar yield and the fall in the price of nickel.”
“Because of Cuba’s high import dependence, the contraction in imports must have a negative impact on economic growth”
Monreal also highlights the results of the first half of 2025, which indicate a simultaneous reduction in exports and imports, the negative balance of trade in goods (exports-imports) and the fact that the government does not report its data on trade in services. And he states: “Due to the high import dependence of Cuba, the contraction in imports must have had a negative impact on economic growth.”
“The only ray of hope is the rise of private enterprise,” states The Economist, which then warns of the constraints faced by small entrepreneurs. “The Government seems unable to decide whether to simply tolerate private activity or encourage it,” notes the article. The owners of private firms, it continues, “are constantly frustrated by the government’s lack of clarity in interpreting the law and its persistent mistrust of free enterprise.”
They quote an interviewed businesswoman, Marta Deus, who runs a tax consultant and distribution company, Mandao, (with 200,000 users): “Everything is done in circles. There is no clarity. Nobody knows the rules. We expect a change. But it seems that the government lives in another world.”
The fundamental reason for the regime’s reluctance is the fear that the system will collapse if the private sector expands. “They see private enterprise as a nest of worms that will infiltrate, destabilize the country and end up driving out the Party,” says another interviewee. And a third: “When you see the first McDonald’s in the Plaza Vieja, you will know that the Revolution is finished.”
The text of The Economist, which regrets that “no Mikhail Gorbachev” is still visible within the regime, as there was in the Soviet Union, and that the opposition is “weak and fragmented,” concludes with the words of a taxi driver: “This system is so bad that it is irreparable. The only thing you can do is get rid of it and start from scratch.”
The military conglomerate is “the real power in Cuba and has led the country to the worst financial crisis of its history”
It is the same conclusion reached, in other words and by other means, by Emilio Morales in his most recent report for the organization Cuba Siglo 21, published last Wednesday. “The only way to abort this financial crisis that has practically paralyzed the country and plunged the population into extreme poverty is to eliminate the system of governance that created it,” he writes.
For Morales, the fault lies with the Grupo de Administración Empresarial (Gaesa). The military conglomerate is “the real power in Cuba and has led the country to the worst financial crisis of its history.”
The expert recalls various data such as the shortage of dollars, the general fall in national production and the increase in external debt, explaining them around an idea: “The government headed by Miguel Díaz-Canel does not in practice have control over the country’s finances. The Central Bank of Cuba, which is the institution that should govern the management of the nation’s finances, is completely subordinate and subject to the interests of Gaesa.”
A proof of this -which Morales does not mention- is the trial carried out against the former Minister of Economy and right hand of Díaz-Canel, Alejandro Gil Fernández, accused of spying for the CIA and other serious crimes of corruption.
In any case, and given the new measures it is publicizing these days, the regime will continue on the wrong track. Although the official claims that “the Government Program is made up of 10 general objectives, 106 specific objectives, 342 actions and 264 indicators and targets, all closely interrelated,” it does not really offer anything new.
First, they attribute the economic disaster to “the effects of permanent aggressions resulting from the economic blockade and internal inadequacies.” The tone of words expressed by officials continues with controls on private businesses: The “distortion in relations between economic actors today impedes the fundamental role of the State enterprise,” declared Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo, head of the Economic and Productive Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCC). Another example is the campaign against El Toque, accused of being in the service of the US to devalue the national currency.
As for the energy crisis, far from proposing an innovative approach, they return to the “classics” of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), with the words of Broche Lorenzo: “Let us remember that Lenin was clear on this: communism in those conditions is translated as the power of the soviets plus the electrification of the country. If our electrical system is not reactivated to the level required by economic management, it will take work to move forward in the process of socialist construction.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Reports multiply about “corruption in the Electric Company” to connect the powerful and leave others in the dark
Some 20 residents of Guairajal, in Holguín, protested this Sunday in broad daylight. / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, November 24, 2025 — Hurricane Melissa left Mayarí hours after striking the east of Cuba, but the effects are still felt in the municipality of Holguín, where there have been three consecutive protests in small rural towns tired of living in the dark for almost a month. The last occurred this Sunday in Guairajal, where more than 20 people took to the streets with signs written on cardboard, demanding electricity after more than 25 days without service.
“Every day we talk to the delegate and the president of the People’s Council and nobody listens to us,” said one of the residents. Another explained that the community suffers a serious abandonment, and it has been decimated. “There were 200 or so houses here and there are 40 left,” she explained.
Women with babies in their arms and children holding balloons shouted “We want electricity,” a protest that could have been avoided, another neighbor said on social media. “We are tired of calling and complaining and not being heard. It shows a lack of respect for this small, poor and obedient town.
“In addition to not having electricity we have infinite problems; for example, not having water and being almost isolated, with the river running on the road and the bridge broken that connects us with Arroyo Enmedio. And nobody cares about that either. We feel totally abandoned by the authorities of the municipality,” she lamented only one day before the protest. continue reading
“There were 200 or so houses here and there are 40 left,” she explained
Although the government has praised the effort of the Electric Union linemen who came from different provinces in eastern Cuba to collaborate in repairs, the work has not been as exemplary as it appears, some complain.
“It’s been more than 20 days without electricity, and yesterday the linemen were up in Guayabo, where our transformer is located. They put on the power in one part and cut the cables that go to our neighborhood, on 21st street at the bottom, leaving out 11 houses. They did not want to continue because it was raining, there was mud, and they had to cross a bridge. So I ask you: Where are those hard-working linemen who are mentioned so much, leaving children, the elderly, the sick and working mothers without electricity? The residents themselves had to fix the fallen lines and keep the poles from falling down. The linemen only had to bring a ladder and connect the lines that go to the houses, but they didn’t do their work. It could have been done in less than half an hour, but it was easier to cut the lines and leave us without power. They reported that all the lines were on the ground and left,” said a resident of Mayarí, who continued with a warning: “We call the command post and they hang up the phone. So, what do we women and children have to do? We’ll throw ourselves into the street if they don’t connect us, like they did in Seboruco.”
The reference was to the protest that took place last Thursday in this community, where the neighbors went to the streets after 23 days without electricity or running water, an alarming situation amid the epidemic of arbovirosis affecting the island. “We called all sides; the mothers went to the Party (Communist Party of Cuba, the PCC), and there was no response from anywhere. We carried water from the rivers and were told every day that they would come, but it was a lie. Mothers with children went to the government, and we didn’t get a clear answer, so we could no longer stand it and threw ourselves into the street,” a resident, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals, told Martí Noticias.
There, before the dozens of people who demanded solutions, a PCC representative arrived and asked for understanding because the problem affected the entire locality. “Well this is all of Mayarí, not just Seboruco. If you want I will explain it to you; otherwise, I’ll shut up and keep walking,” he said. Empathy ended when he realized that he was being recorded: “You can’t record me because it’s against the law,” he said. Several hours later, according to various reports, electric service was restored to the community.
“We call the command post and they hang up the phone. So what do we women and children have to do? We will throw ourselves into the street if they do not give us electricity, like they did in Seboruco”
Pontezuela, another rural area of Mayarí, came out banging pots and pans on Friday night, in a type of protest more usual than the other two, which occurred in broad daylight with faces uncovered. There, the mayor and a political police officer stated that they did not yet know the extent of the damage or when services would be restored, and they asked for more patience from the population.
The last clear count of those without electricity in Holguín was on November 14, when there were still more than 52,000 residents without power. “We know that there are still areas waiting for attention. We have not forgotten anyone. We continue to try to reach every affected site, repair every malfunction and return every home to normal. Already this Tuesday 336,521 people in Holguín have been serviced, and we’re not stopping. Thank you for your patience, solidarity and trust,” added the provincial electricity company on day 19 in a Facebook post, where it showed the unsuccessful repair of the poles of Guairajal.
In the midst of this situation, the La Tijera Facebook page has reported rumors supported by countless commentators. In a post this Sunday, it described a dispute between local Electric Union administrators and residents of Manzanillo, in the province of Granma, who charged the workers with influence peddling and bribes.
“Neighbors complained that the power cuts were not due to the population but to an uncontrolled increase in private businesses, including illegal bakeries, welding workshops and refrigeration centers for sausages and meat, that were operating thanks to bribes paid to Electric Union officials, managers and linesmen,” said the post. It added that the inspection does not work and pointed to some specific businesses that paid to connect to circuits prioritized for leisure, among other irregularities.
A former worker of the electric company of Matanzas has confirmed to Martí Noticias that it is not only true, but the same thing happens throughout the island. “I saw the corruption in the Electric Company. It goes so high that you can offer any lineman money and get the service you need without having to go through the State channel,” said specialist Yanan Camaraza Medina.
“There are two transformers that feed the nearby neighborhood of the Cooperative, which has service 24 hours a day, because there are interests of millionaires based in the United States”
Living in Unión de Reyes, he said that the village of Juan Gualberto Gómez has been without service for weeks, but there are “two transformers that feed the nearby neighborhood of the Cooperative, which has service 24 hours a day, because there are interests of millionaires based in the United States who have their businesses, their investments here in Cuba, and, of course, they pay bribes.”
Camaraza Medina states that it has also been reported that the Provincial Freight Office accepts bribes in exchange for improving the conditions of the circuit and that there are more provinces where cases of this type have occurred, including Cienfuegos. In the municipality of Aguada there are four circuits that are exempt from the long blackouts, among them those that host facilities of the Party and the Government.
“If you pay they connect you to the protected area. That has happened in several houses here that have been reconnected in the neighborhood of the cooperative because they paid and are close by, and the linemen come and do the work stealthily and connect them,” the specialist told Martí Noticias. He describes several more cases of a situation that is not new, but that has become more desperate in these times of deep energy crisis.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Ómnibus Caisa Production Company does not believe it can deliver more than 20 vehicles before 2026
Bus in Havana / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, November 22, 2025 –The work of the Ómnibus Caisa Production Company, located in Guanajay, is strongly affected by the constant power cuts in Cuba. This situation means, according to a note published by El Artemiseño this Friday, that the only bus assembler in Cuba cannot advance in the repair work of the buses in Havana, despite having recently received a large donation of parts from the Chinese government.
This Saturday, for example, the Electric Union of Cuba reported the shutdown of unit 1 of the CTE Felton power plant because of “high temperature in the bearings,” which will consequently contribute to prolonged blackouts throughout the day. Yesterday, according to the UNE, there was a maximum allocation of 1,707 megawatts (MW), slightly higher than that planned for today (1,685 MW at peak hours), with an availability of 1,665 MW and a maximum demand of 3,280 MW.
Meanwhile in Caisa, 100 buses are stranded in the company’s parking lot, waiting to be repaired for several months.
A hundred buses are stranded in the company’s parking lot
The workers of the company assure El Artemiseño that they do not believe that more than 20 can be ready before 2026. The employees also point out that, although 27 people are active in a workforce of 47, if they could complete their eight-hour working day, they would be able to be much more productive and meet the capital’s transport demand more effectively. continue reading
This would also partially alleviate the serious crisis of public transport in Havana, already marked by the shortage of fuel and aggravated by the poor state of maintenance of the buses.
The situation is further complicated by the lack of operational vehicles. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial Company indicate that of the 435 buses which should be circulating in the capital, only 130 are able to operate. This represents only 35% of the fleet, with serious consequences for urban mobility. Of the 17 main and 112 secondary routes, less than half are in regular operation, affecting especially the working community, students and people who have to travel for health reasons.
The lack of buses is compounded by damage caused by misuse and vandalism: broken windows, chipped glass, damaged door systems and stolen parts, even in the new Foton minibuses from China, of which only 34 out of 50 were recently serviced. In the face of this shortcoming, many citizens are forced to resort to taxi drivers, but the prices of these private taxis have become significantly more expensive in recent years.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Digital influencer Axios cites sources from the White House and points out that the Venezuelan president’s allies could eliminate him if he yields to US pressure
Maduro surrounded by his close military circle, which includes several Cubans. / EFE
EFE (via 14ymedio) ,Caracas, November 25, 2025 — US President Donald Trump is planning to hold a phone call with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to the digital media Axios, which cites anonymous sources in the US administration.
“Nobody plans to come in and shoot or kidnap him (Maduro) right now. I would not say that it will never be so, but that is not the plan at this time,” a US official close to the alleged talks with Caracas told Axios.
“Nobody plans to come in and shoot or kidnap him (Maduro), right now. I would not say that it will never be so, but that is not the plan at this time”
Among the issues raised by the media is that Venezuela’s oil wealth “has helped to shore up the dictatorship in Cuba, which provides the security that helped install Maduro in 2013 and keeps him in power.”
“Part of the challenge to persuade Maduro to leave, say US officials, is that the Cubans who control him could execute him if he yields to American pressure and resigns.”
The information comes amid the huge military deployment that the US has maintained in the Caribbean since this summer. Yesterday, the US Department of State designated the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) as a foreign terrorist organization. Not much is known about this cartel, but the US links it to the head of the Army and the Venezuelan government and claims it is led by Maduro, who says the accusation is unfounded.
This Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said that the Cartel de los Soles is a “fetish invented” by US intelligence services in order to justify violent actions to overthrow the Government of Venezuela. continue reading
“The Cartel de los Soles is an invention of the US Government and its Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) in order to justify violent actions to overthrow by force the Government of Venezuela and seize the oil of that sister country,” wrote Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, on social networks. In turn, he considered the designation to be “fraudulent, arbitrary and unilateral.”
The head of Cuban diplomacy also said that Washington intends to “return to the policy of gunboats as US conduct towards the region.” Venezuela quickly thanked him for the words of support from Havana.
This Monday, in addition, several US military aircraft flew over the waters of the Caribbean between the coast of Venezuela and the island of Curaçao
This Monday, in addition, several US military aircraft flew over the Caribbean waters between the coast of Venezuela and the island of Curaçao, which are 65 kilometers away, according to the flight tracking page FlightRadar24. It detected the movement of at least one B-52 bomber, two F/A-18 fighters and an E-2, an early warning and operations control aircraft.
This overflight coincides with the cascade of cancellations of flights by international airlines after the US Federal Aviation Administration last Saturday urged “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuelan territory.
Since that day, at least 22 flights from Caracas have been cancelled.
This Monday, US Chief of Staff Dan Caine visited Puerto Rico and will meet on Tuesday with Trinidad’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, two of its military allies in the Caribbean.
The sister of the former Minister of Economy describes a plot devised by the prime minister and the military sector of the Cuban regime to protect their economic interests
The prime minister of Cuba, Manuel Marrero Cruz, and Alejandro Gil Fernández, then Minister of Economy, in a 2023 photo. / Granma
14ymedio, Madrid, November 22, 2025 — María Victoria Gil, the sister of Alejandro Gil who was tried last week behind closed doors for espionage, has said that the country for which the former minister is accused of spying is the United States, specifically the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and suggests that the case against her brother was instigated by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero. In an interview with Miami-based Cuban journalist Mario J. Pentón, she said that her source, whom she cannot name, “is very reliable” and that the information “is corroborated.”
“What I am going to say is what my brother has really not been able to say,” said the former state television host and attorney. About her revelations Pentón says: “Supposedly the CIA gave him the Ordering Task to destroy Cuba; you know where this thread leads.” And Vicky Gil adds: “They always blame the United States for all the failures of a failed system that is corrupt to the core and that has been able to totally and absolutely destroy an entire country.”
Gil’s sister reiterated that the former Minister of Economy “categorically denies all facts related to the espionage” and that, as confirmed by a source close to the case, the defense made by lawyer Abel Solá López was “brilliant.” This same informant told 14ymedio that they expect the next trial of Gil, for more than a dozen crimes such as embezzlement, tax evasion, influence peddling and money laundering, and in which other senior officials of the regime are involved, will take place next Wednesday.
This same informant told 14ymedio this Saturday that they expect the next trial of Gil, for more than a dozen crimes, will take place next Wednesday
“In a country where the entire leadership is corrupt, how are you going to try an official for corruption, money laundering, influence peddling? You would have to try all of them,” observed Vicky Gil in the interview with continue reading
Pentón. So, she continued, they have to put on a “strong case,” which, brought by State Security, as happens in cases of espionage, “may be a total lie, but how do you prove it?”
The former presenter of De la Gran Escena on Cuban Television believes that “the least guilty of all that is happening with my brother is President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez,” because he was unaware, she claims, of the case being set up against Gil, who was his right-hand man. And she mentions, in this regard, the information about the prime minister that her source shared: on February 1, 2024, Marrero called Gil and told him that “his work as Minister of Economy and Planning has not yielded the expected results, that his work was poor, and, therefore, the next day he would be dismissed and must begin to hand over all the documentation relating to the ministry.”
The following day, continues Vicky, it was reported that her brother had been dismissed. “What is Miguel Díaz-Canel doing? Congratulate my brother for the good work,” she says about the tweet that the president posted on X on February 6, Gil’s birthday. On the other hand, according to her, the now-dismissed minister agreed to go to Marrero’s office for the delivery of the portfolio. “When my brother arrived there with all the documentation, he found that along with Manuel Marrero Cruz there were two officers from Cuban State Security,” who informed him that “he was under investigation.”
From that moment on, they took him and his wife, Gina María González García, “to one of those famous houses that the Ministry of the Interior has that are wonderful, that I know, that are in Nuevo Vedado, in Miramar…” “How do you know of them, Vicky?” asks Pentón. “I know two in Nuevo Vedado, because I was an agent for a short time, and I didn’t do well because I chickened out,” she confesses, specifying that she was picked to monitor the trafficking of artwork on the Island.
Gil instead went straight to the high security prison of Guanajay, in Artemisa, where his family has been able to visit him for “15 minutes every 15 days”
In any event, Gil and his wife stayed in that house for four months, during which time nothing was known of them publicly. It was then, imagines Vicky, that a criminal investigation was ordered. Her brother was prosecuted, and her sister-in-law was acquitted and returned to their home in Miramar, one of the most affluent neighborhoods of the capital. Gil instead went straight to the high security prison of Guanajay, in Artemisa, where his family has been able to visit him for “15 minutes every 15 days,” says the former presenter.
To Pentón’s question about whether the prime minister is the one behind her brother’s arrest, María Victoria Gil reaffirms: “Yes, Marrero is the person in front and behind this whole trial against Alejandro Gil,” which she considers “a racket.” As for the crimes of corruption that are attributed to the former head of Economy, she adds, “Marrero has committed five times more.”
The confrontation between Gil — who comes from the civilian world — and Marrero — a colonel — evidences a possible operation mounted by the military-controlled Group of Business Administration (Gaesa), which would thus hold the former minister responsible for having affected its business and contributing to the widespread collapse of the economy with the Ordering Task*, the process of monetary and exchange unification that began on January 1, 2021.
For Vicky, it may come from somewhere else: “Perhaps my brother wanted to put a stop to Marrero’s shameful waste and disloyalty.” Without giving more details, she adds, “We know how corrupt that world is. What more proof of the corruption do you need, and how little does the Cuban government care about the people of Cuba that when you put them all together, they can’t even close one button on their guayaberas?”
*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [TareaOrdenamiento] was a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.
The Cuban political prisoner faces dehydration and possible kidney failure
Yosvany Rosell / Facebook
14ymedio, Mexico, November 21, 2025 — The health of Cuban political prisoner Yosvany Rosell García Caso continues to deteriorate after almost a month of hunger strike. The activist, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his participation in the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 [’11J’], was rushed to the Hospital Clínico Quirúrgico of Holguín. According to his wife, Mailin Sánchez, she was able to visit him yesterday and attend a medical consultation in which the doctors expressed their concern about possible irreversible dehydration and kidney failure.
Despite his physical deterioration, which is palpable in both his weight loss and the deterioration of his voice, Rosell remains firm in his position. “Do not ask me to stop my strike, I ask you to fight for my freedom,” was the message he sent, reaffirming that his refusal to receive treatment constitutes an act of radical protest against the unjust treatment he claims to have suffered in prison.
“Don’t ask me to stop my strike, I ask you to fight for my freedom.”
His family has been making an urgent appeal to international agencies for immediate action. They consider that the case is evidence of serious violations, both because of the prison conditions in which he has remained and because of the lack of humanitarian response to his protest.
Rosell began the strike on October 23, demanding a definitive change in his confinement regime. He alleges that prisoners considered to be opponents are subjected to constant pressure, prolonged isolation and practices which he describes as abusive. His family says that this is the seventh time continue reading
the activist has been on a hunger strike, despite being hypertensive and suffering from heart disease, which increases the risks.
The family insists that every day counts and that international intervention could prevent a fatal outcome. Meanwhile, human rights organizations watch the evolution of the activist with alarm. They fear that the continuation of his hunger strike could have irreversible consequences. In the midst of this situation, his wife expressed on social media that Yosvany received religious assistance this Friday.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Other hotels suffer more than the Spanish, and the country’s revenues fall another 12%, with an occupancy rate of only 18.9% of the available rooms
Year after year, occupancy data deteriorate with no end in sight. / 14ymedio/Archive
14ymedio, Madrid, November 21, 2025 — “In Cuba, there are signs of recovery despite the persistence of discouraging social network campaigns.” The phrase is not from the Minister of Tourism or any Cuban hierarchy: it appears in the quarterly results report that the Balearic hotel Meliá is obliged to make public as a company listed on the Spanish stock exchange. The company is proud of having recovered a derisory 0.7% occupancy between June and September, which is not little in the panorama of the Island, which so far this year has not managed to fill even one-fifth of the rooms available.
On Thursday, the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI) published its balance sheet for the first nine months of the year. There are few reasons to be satisfied, with an occupancy rate — in international tourism — of just 18.9%. Income also fell by 12%, from 94,320,614,700 pesos in the same period of 2024 to 82,885,5516,000 this year.
Although the exchange rate applied by the government to the sector is unknown, the Cuban economist Pedro Monreal has concluded that everything indicates that it is 120, so the amount represents about $690.7 million, compared to the $786 million that accumulated last year at this point. This is gross revenue, from which expenses must be deducted, not disclosed but very high, because Cuba has to import everything from food to towels for the hotels, all owned by the State. continue reading
The amount is about $690.7 million, compared to the $786 million that it accumulated last year at this point
No indicator is saved, since there was also a drop in travelers, now known from the monthly reports, by 20.5% up to September, including the number of nights they decide to spend on the Island: a drop of 20%. If up to a year ago foreigners had more than 10 million nights in Cuba, now there are two million fewer overnight stays. In summary, the four main indicators outlined by ONEI show a substantial decline of the sector.
From the Meliá data it is clear that its hotels get the best share, since the occupancy in its facilities was 40.2%, but all that shines is not gold. The hotel has had to continue to lower rates — 76.2 euros is now its average price, 8.7% less — and, therefore, its performance per room (Revpar) fell by 6.9%, reaching 30 euros. The hotel states in its report that the current Black Friday with its offers and the bet of the tour operators — facing the drop in direct reservations — will end up returning Cuba to its place.
The document takes stock and makes it clear that its bet on Cuba continues against all odds: “US restrictions and the complex energy situation remain the main challenges. However, the creation of a supply chain of our own has improved sourcing, allowing us to gain market share and strengthen our position in the market,” it says in relation to its company Mesol, from which this newspaper has tried to gather information without obtaining any response. In addition, air capacity has increased using the charter mode, especially from key source markets such as Canada.”
The return of the Canadians had been anticipated by Juan Carlos García Granda, minister of the branch, in some tourist areas, but this has not been supported by the current data. After a season of persistent falls, the Canadians return persistently to the Island, being one of the few nationalities that grows in the month of September, when 12.7% more travelers arrived from that country.
However, we will have to wait for the development of the last quarter to know whether it is a mirage, since in global terms, Canadians still represent 20% less than in the first nine months of last year.
Canadians return to the Island persistently, being one of the few nationalities that grows in the month of September, when 12.7% more travelers arrived from that country
Few nationalities have grown in this period, and some of those that do are with a low number of visitors. Among them are Argentina (7.3%), Colombia (11.2%), Turkey (9%) and Peru, (27%) but with only 10,382 tourists.
On the other hand, among those that fall — some of them plummet — are some of the main groups: Cubans abroad (20.7%), US (19.6%), Spain (27.1%) and Germany (43.5%). United Kingdom, where the drop is 56.8% -the largest of all countries listed — does not even count as a powerful nationality, bringing in only 10,175 tourists.
Also among Cuba’s partner countries there are notable collapses, especially — and although it has already strengthened — the Russians, who were the great hope of the year (it was expected to attract 200,000, but they didn’t come in 2024) and reached only 88,879, which is 37.2% less than in the same period of the previous year. The large resources and political efforts made to increase this group have proved fruitless, another failure in the bulky account of García Granda.
Mexico, with 10% less, and Venezuela, with a 20% reduction, have not helped in this sector either. The new hope seems to be China, with whom a strategy similar to that of Russia is being deployed and which is only just beginning to bear very poor fruit. Although the coveted tourists of this nation grew by 4%, their total represents nothing for Havana: only 17,810 Chinese. Many, probably, are the ones who come to trade and monitor their investments.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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14ymedio, Havana, December 2, 2025 — Argentina swept the Cuban national basketball team from the court with an overwhelming 105-49 score at the Obras de Buenos Aires stadium, in what was their second qualifying match to advance to the World Cup in Qatar 2027. Faced with the abysmal difference of 56 points, the official media Jit acknowledged that “a pragmatic analysis of what happened is urgently needed.”
