Category: Translator: Silvia Suárez

Cuba: How to Convert a Distinguished Pioneer Into a Vile Elvispreslian Worm

Cover of “This is your house, Fidel. The History of a Grandson of the Revolution”  Xavier Carbonell

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 6 March 2024 — Carlos Lechuga Hevia was a machine for the Revolution. His grandfather, Colonel Manuel Lechuga was a machine for Independence. What type of machine is his grandson, Carlos D. Lechuga? His first last name is barely a letter, an elipsis, interfering with the nice ring of the clan name. Lechuga Hevia, red aristocrat, Castro’s ambassador in New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis, returns as a ghost to settle scores with his grandson for converting him into a fictional character and stealing — for the title of his book — the golden rule of communist hospitality: This is your house, Fidel. You better run, D. Lechuga.

Published by De Conatus, the grandson’s 137 pages are an insult to the memory of the ashen comandante, familiar idol and devil upon the shoulder of pioneer Lechuga. The mantra, from preschool through sixth grade, was one, “Fidel-Alejandro-Castro-Ruz!” The fantasy: that his grandfather would die so that he’d attend the funeral, with a sensational bodyguard, the supreme grandfather, Fifo. His biggest desire: to extend the hand of the Revolution itself, with its long, chilling nails.

Lechuga Hevia, red aristocrat, Castro’s ambassador in New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis, returns as a ghost to settle scores with his grandson for converting him into a fictional character 

But Lechuga has no reason to run. He is far from the tropics and his childhood, and ghosts don’t bite. The main character of those 137 pages is him and no one — not even the other children born in the 80s — can steal the show, which begins with the imaginary funeral of the old man and ends with the suitcase he brought to Spain. “Am I leaving anything behind? Anything that defined me? Was I leaving myself behind?” I get the impression that Lechuga still has not answered these questions and that one book is not enough for him to do so. But, let’s get back to the pioneer who dreamed about Fidel. continue reading

Lechuga seems — we see him — with the neckerchief and white shirt, distinctive of a good student and a last name that opens doors. García Márquez visited his grandfather’s house frequently; he and the old man had in common that both were surrounded by girls, women and matriarchs. Lechuga was the first boy of the family and he was named after the ambassador. “If the baby is a boy he will be named Carlos, like his grandfather; if it is a girl, she will be named Carla; and if it is born gay, it will be named Carlota.”

Childhood was idyllic. Thinking in Russian, dreaming in American, the hierarchy was clear and it always imitated the State. Lechuga Hevia was the household Fidel; Carlos the child, a little proletariat at the bottom of the cosmic order. When anyone brought his grandfather a sweet, his wife would toss it, in case they were trying to poison him like the comandante. One day the child discovered that Castro not only had a symbolic double–his grandfather and the rest–but also a real one. A slightly heavier farmer but with the same face. One of many, he later learned, who played the Fidel game to such an extent that every year, the Spanish film about Franco’s double, Espérame en el cielo, would air on television.

With adolescence, which coincided with the Special Period, the world begins to crack. Lechuga feels that, like his mother, there is a magnetic field that wants to expel him from the family photograph. “Life has put me in an inferior place,” reasoned the child when workers at the Romanian Embassy, near his house, threw “things” across the fence. But the mental breakthrough arrived when he saw the “enraged people” crushing an independent journalist. The possibility of turning into part of the mob, the dilemma between being complicit or protesting, resulted in an instinctive reaction, “I had to censor myself. Edit. Delete.”

The possibility of turning into part of the mob, the dilemma between being complicit or protesting, resulted in an instinctive reaction, “I had to censor myself. Edit. Delete.” 

We will always doubt whether Lechuga is telling the truth when he describes falling in love with a young man whose code name is the Afghan whippet. If he had any “Elvispreslian attitude” or whether anyone had to tell him to deepen his voice and stop being “soft”. But sexual rebellion was only the result of political rebellion, and the sharpest hierarchs came to warn him, “We hope to continue knowing you as the good kid, Lechuga’s grandson, and not as a vile worm.”

It was quite late. When grandfather died, Fidel did not go to the burial. The world of Lechuga Hevia, the loyalty machine, was in ruins. “Traveling down Quinta Avenida, you could see its books in the trash, its old passports, its bar in the shape of a globe, the painting of the singing fish.” The “comrades in arms” looted his mansion before the family could act.

But this is your house, Fidel is not only the dialogue with the dead, but rather a prologue to his exile, his new life. In 2013, Lechuga managed to screen his film and State Security got wind of — and recognized — the typical worm. He had to leave a couple of years ago. The rest is life, neither fiction nor memories. Lechuga in color, not in black and white. Owner of his cigar. Without having to offer his house to undesirable spooks.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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 Cuban Government Used to Praise the Business Whose Owner is Now in Detention

Fernando Javier Albán founded the successful ’mipyme’ [micro, small, or medium enterprise] Media Luna, linked to the former Minister of Economy
14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2024 — On March 3rd, while one of the owners of the Media Luna ’mipyme’*, Fernando Javier Albán, was supposedly arrested for corruption or about to be, Cuba’s Vice Minister for Food Industry, Orlando Borrero, visited the agroindustrial company in Ciego de Ávila and went out of his way to praise the juice and preserves producer, for its technology as well as the quality and capacity of its production and health and safety of the work. “We need many Media Luna,” he insisted.

Despite having its production paralyzed while an audit was conducted, workers remains at the company’s facilities, as documented on their social media with abundant photos. Media Luna’s Facebook, X and Instagram accounts and even LinkedIn showed the hyperactivity of the mipyme, wehether it was receiving a visit from the authorities, pariticipating in an event as the juice purveyor for the tourism industry or treating its employees to a copious luncheon on March 8th, International Women’s Day.

According to journalist Mario Pentón of El Nuevo Herald, Albán was arrested around the time former Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández, was relieved of his duties; he is now under investigation for unknown crimes, though the state-run press insinuates corruption. Sources close to the businessman have reported to the daily that the Cuban authorities are investigating whether Gil benefitted personally from his relationship with Albán. continue reading

“The company has not been shut down, but sales are paralyzed by an audit following the arrest of Albán and those closest to him”

“The company has not been shut down, but sales are paralyzed by an audit following the arrest of Albán and those closest to him,” an administrator who manages procurement for the tourist zone confirmed to 14ymedio.

Media Luna was founded on October 18, 2021 as a medium sized enterprise and grew in very short period of time, becoming the exclusive supplier of the hotel sector in the Northern Cays. The brand also has a point of sale, La Casa del Jugo, and a litany of praises from the state-run press, which led many to believe he benefitted from his good relations with the authorities.

According to El Nuevo Herald, Alejandro Gil intervened to obstruct an investigation of the medium-sized enterprise, which aimed to prove that its success was genuine.

Be that as it may, the state-run press had nothing but praise for it. In 2022, Bohemia magazine visited its facilities and was stunned that meeting its commitments, including loans, resulted in “good things for the population and for Cuba.” These “things” were repairs to a rural school, a medical office and a local shop, in addition to opening a point of sale in a provincial hospital, with reasonable prices.

“Why?” they asked. “Because we are Cuban, because we are grateful. Because this is our country, because we remember and because we want the best for everyone,” responded Néstor Proveyer Ugando, another partner of the mipyme.

Translator’s note: “mipyme” is generally MSME in English, for Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Following Criticism from Cuban Officials, the Sign for San Pepper’s Burger in Holguin is Removed

On Friday morning, nearby residents noticed the colorful letters and the cute image of a hamburger with wings were missing. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 13 October 2023 — The sign on the facade of San Pepper’s Burger, a private establishment which was about to open in the city of Holguín, lasted less than a week. On Friday morning, nearby residents noticed the colorful letters and the cute image of a hamburger with wings were missing. “We saw it coming,” said a resident of the zone, alluding to the attack on the business last Tuesday on the state-run site Cubadebate, where they reproached the establishment for selling “a culture that is not ours.”

On Thursday, 14ymedio published an article which included testimonies of people from Holguín who offered their opinions on the diner, its name and the impact its opening could have on the depressed food service scene in the city. “No one knows what happened because it’s been closed all day, but rumor on the strees is that the owner got scared,” said an old lady who lives in the area near Parque de las Flores located right in front of the private business.

With what that sign must have cost and the effort they went through to put it up, no one believes that they now removed it for anything other than pressure by the extremists.

“With what that sign must have cost and the effort they went through to put it up, no one believes that they now removed it for anything other than pressure by the extremists,” said the woman. The renovated facade, painted yellow with its blue colonial doors, seemed to be missing something today after the establishment’s name disappeared. “People used to come all the way over here to take pictures and the kids were taking selfies with the wings in the background, as if they were coming out of their head,” added Paco, a frequent visitor to the park. continue reading

As of yet, the local press has not mentioned the matter and the question that Cubadebate’s writer posed in her article has already been answered. Faced with the question of “what happened with fighting the culture war” the facade is now bare and one sign no longer lights up the night in Holguín.

“People used to come all the way over here to take pictures and the kids were taking selfies with the wings in the background, as if they were coming out of their head,” added Paco, a frequent visitor to the park. (14ymedio)

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Cuba: Totalitarianisms’ Dangerous Business Vision

A small and medium enterprise (mipyme in Spanish) in Havana, Cuba. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, October 14, 2023 — Castroite totalitarianism is reinventing itself by launching the rise and development of small enterprises, an activity that would not be possible if the ruling class weren’t strongly involved with the opportunistic objective of preserving power.

I confess that I do not believe in the good faith of Cuban autocrats. They’ve demonstrated more than enough skill to manipulate the population and other people of good faith, without excluding professional climbers who only seek to promote their own interests. Subjects whom we all know.

The heirs of those who belong to “the new class” — as Yugoslav Milovan Djila would wisely identify them — is greedy for the wealth and wellbeing that competes with the resentment and sectarianism of their predecesors. Nevertheless, they do no want to leave the government, which would mean losing their invaluable prerogatives.

On March 13, 1968, with the so called Revolutionary Offensive — which eliminated close to 60,000 small private businesses that had survived other confiscations by Castroism — Fidel realized his dream of building a kind of trinity comprising him, the Revolution and Cuba. continue reading

The confiscations were so absurd, says writer Jose Antonio Albertini, that a high-ranking government official, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, one of Castro’s loyal servants, opposed the measure alleging that socialist countries like Czechoslovakia and Poland hadn’t implemented that option. The Castros never listened to the claim.

To grow, the ’mipymes’ need the least intrusive government possible, a condition the Cuban authorities never grant, due to their controlling and arbitrary nature

One year later, Christmas was banned on the Island by governmental decree. The regime declared July 25, 26 and 27 official holidays. The caudillo assumed the role of messiah. We had a new national religion with a vanguard of loyalists, which we could have referred to as Castro’s inquisition, supported by mass organizations the leaders of which, to the rythm of songwriters of totalitarianism, emulated the sadly famous Tomás de Torquemada.

Some will remember that, parallel to the scarcity and the snitches of the Committees in Defense of the Revolution, the firing squad was deafening and more jails were built, because death and prisoners were the only thing the regime produced.

Until 1968, we had lived under an iron-clad and bloody dictatorship. As of that date, we began to suffer one of the most severe and disastrous totalitarian regimes to ever exist, accumulating, by imposition, failures, misery and a profound disenchantment among most citizens.

We can’t deny that imposing totalitarianism relied on the complicity of a large number of citizens and that the counteroffensive we live today, contrary to the nature of absolutists, isn’t orphaned by the support of other Cubans on the island and abroad either, which trust that Miguel Diaz-Canel and his servants, through economic freedom, will drive the Island toward democracy, as if Xi Jinping’s China were free.

The extreme poverty created by even the most modest confiscations — barber shops, hair salons and even the closure of the miserly shoe repair establishments — led to strengthening the state bureaucracy with the creation of consolidated enterprises that managed the businesses confiscated by sector.

We cannot deny that imposing totalitarianism relied on the complicity of a large number of citizens

Certainly, although the inefficiency was enthroned in the country, humor was not lacking, people would say that the most important business was Ecochinche — Bedbug Management Company — that horrendous parasite Castroism had imitated to perfection because it has spent more than six decades bleeding the people dry, plundering their allies and stealing from business owners who, trustingly, have invested in their properties.

The micro, small and medium enterprises have always existed and, luckily, many of them were the starting point for large companies that, due to their efficiency and creativity, have been pillars of universal development. However, to grow they all need the least intrusive government possible, conditions the Cuban authorities will never grant, due to their controlling and arbitrary nature.

In any given Latinamerican country, even the poorest, small businesses which are now called mipymes exist. The governments allow them to be created and grow without restrictions, in contrast to what happens on the Castros’ Island, where even to travel abroad a permit is required and the approval of political commissars. From there, my doubts about the legitimacy of management that should benefit Cubans, more than its despots.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Cuban Prisoner, Sissi Abascal, Punished for Refusing to Shout Slogans in Favor of the Regime

Sissi Abascal was sentenced to six years in prison for demonstrating with her family in Carlos Rojas, a neighborhood in the Jovellanos municipality of Matanzas (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 September 2023 — Authorities from the women’s prison in Matanzas, known as La Bellotex, have once again denied a change from a severe regimen to a minimum security for political prisoner and Lady in White, Sissi Abascal, sentenced to six years after the July 11th (11J) protests in 2021. Prison directors, who allege “indisciplines” and “negativity” on the part of the prisoner, will not reconsider a change within the next six months.

In conversations with 14ymedio, Annia Zamora, Abascal’s mother, said that although the judge should provide the final approval for her transfer to the minimum security, the report issued by the prison carries a lot of weight in that decision. “Currently Sissi is in a closed cell and wearing a uniform. She should have already been transferred to the minimum, in another section of the jail, where prisoners wear civilian clothing, with other privileges, and they receive passes to go home each month,” she said.

Regardless, the prison authorities refuse to concede Abascal the change in regimen, alleging supposed indisciplines: “Lieutenant Colonel Marta Cristina, director at La Bellotex, called Sissi to tell her they wouldn’t transfer her to the minimum because of her ’negative attitude’ and because she does not participate in political activities nor does she repeat the slogans.”

“All these measures are taken in coordination with State Security, who manipulate everything related to the Ladies in White and political prisoners. They constantly attack them because they maintain impeccable conduct and are very respectful and educated,” denounces the woman. continue reading

Zamora said that her daughter’s refusal to study in jail is considered an “indiscipline” by State Security, in complicity with the jail’s director. “The Criminal Code does not say it is obligatory to study, participate in activities or to work,” says the woman. “If they give her the minimum, she wouldn’t have to do that either. We already consulted a lawyer and know it is not obligatory. They are the ones violating all of her rights and oppressing her like this.”

Last Wednesday, during a visit to the jail, Abascal told her family of the measure and assured them that, after returning from the penitentiary’s offices, she found they had searched her belongings and even confiscated some.

Zamora also said that, in August, during an activity on the anniversary of the founding of the Federation of Cuban Women, Abascal as well as political prisoners and Ladies in White Tania Echevarría and Sayli Navarro, also imprisoned at La Bellotex, they refused to leave their cells or eat during the celebration. “This is what the jail refers to as indisciplines,” she stated.

“Sissi’s friends were afraid to be with her because while she was in the classroom they would come and take her out. She is not going to study now just because they want her to. She is a political prisoner and they do not have to ’educate’ her” 

According to Zamora, the prison authorities have also taken as a “contrarian attitude” that Abascal did not want to study during her time in prison although they frequently insist on it. “They want Sissi to study and she does not want to, because when she attempted to study psychology while she was free, they never allowed it,” states her mother who recounts the frequent arrests and threats the young woman endured when she tried to go to university.

“Sissi’s friends were afraid to be with her because while she was in class they would arrive and pull her out. She is not going to study now just because they want her to. She is a political prisoner and there is no need to ’educate’ her. When she gets out of there, has a future, and remakes her life she can decide if she studies or not,” she said.

To top it off, she adds, “the prison conditions are the worst. The water and food are not good and it is very hot. During the search, they took her sleeping clothes, with which she kept cool, because between the mosquitos, bed bugs and the heat, the situation in the jail is unbearable.”

The denial of the change of regimen is turning into a common “punishment” for political prisoners who refuse to bend in penitentiaries. On Friday, Martí Noticias reported the cancellation of change in measures for 13 of the 11J prisoners in the Guanajay prison in Artemisa.

That media, which says it was in contact with one of the prisoners, explained that the Implementation Tribunal denied the measure for the following prisoners: Manuel Díaz Rodríguez, Julián Manuel Mazola Beltrán, Omar Hernández Calzadilla, Ángel María Mesa Beltrán, Livel Hernández Mendoza, Efrén Duany, Víctor Alejandro Painceira Rodríguez, Aleandry Lechuga Junco, Liván Hernández Sosa, Adrián Rodríguez Morera, Lázaro Cecé Gálvez, Lázaro Mendoza Caraza and Denis Hernández. In all these cases, the tribunal alledged indisciplines by the prisoners.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

An Official Describes the Cuban Ministry of Tourism’s Information Policy as ‘Machiavellian’

Dayamis Sotolongo Rojas, of “Escambray”, complains about the difficulties with immediacy faced by the press in Cuba (Vicente Brito/Escambray)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 28 August 2023 — It is not the first time the provincial daily in Sancti Spíritus, Escambray, is at the vanguard of the most daring official press in its critique of the authorities, and the column published on Monday is, perhaps, one of its milestones to date.  The article, signed by one of its most well-known voices, Dayamis Sotolongo, is sharp against the measures that present obstacles to the objective of immediacy in reporting. “Failing to report on time is the same as remaining silent,” says the journalist.

In the article, titled, ¿Callo, después informo? [Keep quiet and then inform?], Sotolongo explains that days ago, professionals were called to a meeting during which the provincial tourism directorate announced a new mechanism for accessing information, which she describes as Machiavellian, implemented by the ministry itself. The procedures they proposed will elicit more than perplexity among editors of any country with a free press.

“To draft anything, from an informative article on the Meliá Trinidad Península hotel to a short piece on Campismo Popular Planta Cantú, journalists must make a formal request where they must provide, in addition to their personal information, the dates in which they plan to conduct their work, the facilities that will be visited, the objectives, whether photos or videos will be taken, the outlets in which the communications products will be publish and, after being analyzed by the Ministry of Tourism’s Directorate of Communication — a lapse which can take days — it will be communicated to the provincial leadership whether or not the work can proceed,” she explains.

Sotolongo made it clear that immediacy is intrinsic to journalism and news cannot wait, because it then stops being news. But, above all, this type of technique is, in fact, contrary to the Social Communication Law approved this year on the Island, the text of which — though it is not yet in effect — is already known. continue reading

Article 25 states that responses to media requests for information should be responded to with “timeliness, transparency, and veracity” so that the press can exercise its social function while article 33 forces the media to “act with immediacy, timeliness, and strategic foresight.”

Thus, the columnist believes that the Law is being violated even in spirit. “Information on paper and leaks to the communications media? The law on one side and the discourse on the other? (…) At first glance, many decision makers seem oblivious to these duties. As if putting up barriers to information could then be hidden,” she states.

The article opens with several cases in which Escambray has circumvented the rigidity of the rules to offer information, from the first cases of COVID-19 in Cuba, to the rise of the Zaza river, which almost ended in tragedy, or the real reason for which a 2014 baseball game was canceled by an outbreak of diarrhea. Sotolongo celebrates that the new daily does not expect the authorization of the Ministry of Public Health, Civil Defense or the National Baseball Commission, for these and other cases or “Cuba nor the world would have known” any of that.

The article does not mince words, “Every attempt to trip up access to information is one more step toward censorship.” “If anything has been sadly articulated by Cuban communications is that the media is late to publish what the vox populi has been confirming to to the four winds.” “Discrediting always weighs on everyone.” “This does not only apply to journalists, because failing to tell the truth is not just a crime against journalism.”

The criticism, despite its ferociousness, is not aimed at revindicating a free press, nor does it empathize with independent journalists, who are boycotted and oppressed by the regime. Sotolongo demands good working conditions within the legal margins in Cuba, that is, she only recognizes the official press and launches criticism. “Each time the press loses an opportunity to say, they gain one in lying or in distorting others,” she alludes in writing on social and alternative media.

Sotolongo won the Juan Gualberto Gómez National Journalism Prize in 2019 and is one of the most reputable journalists in the country, specializing in social issues. That same year, she was at the center of a great controversy when the Press and Society Institute (Ipys) decided to award several communicators on the Island during a contest called Cubacron, among them the Escambray journalist and two from the state media, but most were from independent media.

The situation bothered the Union of Cuban Journalists (Upec) and the cuban leadership who described the prize as “U.S. intervention” and accused Ipys of being linked to the “counterrevolution.” Sotolongo rejected the nomination and expressed her distaste for having been included in an award to which she did not apply. “I don’t sell my soul to the devil; they can go to. . .”, said the reporter, without specifying where she wanted to send those who dared issue her the prize.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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 Young Man with the Placard’ Will Go to a Lower Security Prison After Almost Three Years of Mistreatment

Yindra Elizastigui turned 50 on Sunday, as she received the news of the change in prison regimen for her son, Luis. (CubaNet)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, August 22, 2023–Luis Robles Elizastigui known as “the young man with the placard” and incarcerated since December 2020 in the Combinado del Este prison in Havana has achieved some relief from his prison conditions and will transfer to a minimum security regimen. As his mother, Yindra Elizastigui, on Monday told CubaNet, the young man will be transferred to La Lima camp in Guanabacoa.

Elizastigui, whose birthday was Sunday, happily stated in a video shared by the independent news outlet that she would be able to speak with her son on Tuesday; as of today he has a right to a phone call, but it was a fellow prisoner who assured her the change had been approved.

“After so many years, so much time struggling, I expect them to continue honoring the rights he had and that later, after this, they give him his conditional [release]”, she said.

Elizastigui also said her health had improved, after the cerebral vascular accident she suffered last May. The political prisoner’s mother also suffers from hypertension and diabetes, but is optimistic about the change in conditions for her son. “I continue with my rehabilitation. Thank God, I have improved quite a bit and, as my doctor says, to put a lot of effort and if things continue turning out well for my son Luis, I expect my health to improve as soon as possible.”

Thirty-year-old Luis Robles has also suffered from several health problems since he went to prison, which his mother has reported, including mistreatment and ophthalmological and gastric complications. In addition, he has been denied appropriate medical care. continue reading

The political prisoner’s brother, Lester, has not been spared; in January of this year he was arrested while building a vessel for “attempt to exit illegally” and, during his arrest he was harassed with questions related to his brother.

As Yindra Elizastigui reported, last week Lester was assaulted with a sharp weapon when he was returning from a shower. While returning home, two couples who were walking a few yards away began, according to her account, to insult the young man who “tried to defend himself.” At that time, his mother states, he was stabbed in the leg and when he was on the ground, he was stabbed in the back.

Yesterday, the woman said Lester must go to the doctor because he is experiencing complications from one of the wounds, but the progress is good. “We expect that we’ll be getting through this whole situation. Freedom for all political prisoners, freedom for Luis Robles,” stated Elizastigui.

Luis Robles was prosecuted, charged with the crimes of enemy propoganda and disobedience and sentenced to five years in prison. The young man, born in Guantánamo, was arrested after holding up a sign that read, “Freedom, no more repression, #FreeDenis”, alluding to the incarceration of Cuban rapper Denis Solís. With a degree in informatics and father to one son, he received support of passersby when the police forcibly detained him in Havana.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Cuban Rice Producers Threaten to Stop Growing if the State Limits Their Own Consumption

The norm will take into account whether the rice grower has met their cereal production targets. (EFE/Archive)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, August 17, 2023 — With the lack of rain, the departure of Vietnamese technicians and, now, a new state regulation that will limit the amount assigned for producers’ consumption, the rice-growing region of La Sierpe, in Sancti Spíritus, is living through difficult times. This norm, which has not yet gone into effect, is part of a new package of measures to prevent the cereal from ending up on the black market while the country is suffering a profound food crisis.

Actually, most farmers who grow rice in La Sierpe use state lands — leased to them under usufruct — hence must abide by any norms of the Ministry of Agriculture and other official entities. Disobeying any regulation of this kind could cost them their use of the land and the loss of what they have already invested in those lots.

“How can they know if the rice we separate for ourselves is enough or too much for our own consumption?” asked Daniel, one of the producers who will be affected by the new measure, which is being prepared to be applied in the coming months. “They say we are selling it on the black market but it’s that in my house, for example, each time there is less to put on the plate and rice is what we have left.”

Several officials from the area have visited the farmers to warn them of the new norm, although they have not talked about quantities for the moment. “They have come house to house and say the machete will come down in the coming months. They say that next year we will need to adjust to a smaller quantity,” explained Daniel to 14ymedio. continue reading

Authorities have warned that they will base their calculations on the number of people in the producer’s family and whether they have other crops such as root vegetables, fruits or vegetables that could complete the household food supply. They will also take into account whether the rice producer has met the cereal production targets and whether there have been previous complaints that they have diverted part of the harvest to the informal market. The formula for arriving at the total number of sacks each farmer can keep is not simple and raises suspicion.

Producers believe that the motivation for this reduction is “the low production and that people are very unsatisfied with the price of rice in the markets. Of course, now they want to punish the same people as always because the rope breaks where it is thinnest,” says Daniel. “What is going to happen with this is that farmers will leave, in the same way that the Vietnamese left.”

In 2022 a rice project began in La Sierpe in collaboration with Vietnam, which supplied equipment and machinery to producers in several regions of the Island, with the support of dozens of specialists and technicians. They bet mainly on the plains of Sancti Spíritus in this collaboration and there they made dikes, cleared canals and trained local specialists.

However, after a few years during which cereal production increased significantly, the yields of rice fields took a nose dive and was unable to meet the expectations of the Vietnamese, who also had to deal with the convoluted state bureaucracy and the inefficiency of Empresa Agroindustrial. The final blow to the project was the current fuel crisis.

“Here, most rice producers are new generation usufructuaries and a few are cooperative members,” an administrative employee of the company explained to us. “They are the ones who took the land when the Vietnamese left and the state wanted to increase production. They were fields that had been worked for this crop, which is hard and difficult, and also very dependent on rains and irrigation,” said the employee.

“Everyone knows that if producers do not have extra earnings selling some of the rice they declare as being for their own consumption, very few people would want to work in these fields because it is a lot of effort every day for the low price the state pays for each sack,” said the woman.

After the departure of the Vietnamese, the area’s productivity has gone off a cliff. If in 2015 they managed to produce up to five tons of cereal per hectare, in 2023 they barely get three. In the agricultural markets of Sancti Spíritus this week one pound of rice sells for 160 pesos and the product leaves a lot to be desired among clients due to the high proportion of split grains.

Now, with the announcement of the upcoming measure many are thinking, “pack up everything and leave the crops half way,” said Daniel. Either way, he has let his close family and friends know to purchase and store rice. “It could reach 200 pesos or more per pound before the end of the year,” he predicts.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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 President of Cuba’s National Assembly Lashes Out: ‘We’re Tired of Programs and Measures. Where is the Reality?’

The President of Cuba’s National Assembly of the People’s Power, Esteban Lazo. (@AsambleaCuba/Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2023 — On Tuesday, Cuba’s Parliament held a session to take the pulse of the national economy for the current year and evaluate 2022 results. The outlook, judging by the data offered by the Vice Prime Minister for Economy and Planning, Leticia Morales, is discouraging: 45.48% annual inflation, only 1.8% growth — they had predicted 3% — barely 3% overall recovery and colossal losses in almost all relevant sectors.

The numbers enraged the President of the Assembly himself, Esteban Lazo, who launched into a diatribe against the inability of leaders to manage well and concluded that the government has “no money”. “We are already very tired of programs, measures, studies, diagnoses. And where is reality? And where is the solution to the problem? he asked before the disconcerted faces of parliamentarians.

“Today, the country does not have the resources to continue the current level of imports. Practically 100% of the ’family basket’ is imported.” “We don’t produce rice. . .100% of the beans are being imported,” enumerated Lazo, noting that in 2017 and 2018 they had these products, to spare.

Vice Prime Minister Morales, detailed the Island’s alarming financial situation, they were able to generate — in the first half of 2023 — only $1.282 billion dollars by exporting goods and services, meeting 37% of their target, which translates to a loss of $94 million, the effects of which will be noticeable in “activities that require hard currency.”

Cuba imports everything, it does not produce a thing. “How long will we be in this situation?” /  It was not the independent media nor an opponent saying this, but rather Esteban Lazo, President of the National Assembly in #Cuba. / What is your opinion of Lazo’s words?

With regard to Gross Domestic Product, a data point not revealed by Morales — although last December the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, predicted it would exceed 2.2 billion dollars — stated that not only were the 2019 pre-pandemic levels not reached, but there is a gap of 8% and, in some parameters, it declined to negative numbers. “The primary activities report negative values of 34.9%, the secondary -20%, and social -4.9%,” he explained. continue reading

“All this in the context of shortages and limitations to access fuel,” in addition to the “distortions with a clear trend toward dollarization and, in the case of non-state economic actors, with the retention of hard currency abroad to pay providers, without going through the national banking system,” he snapped.

Exports from micro, medium and small enterprises (mipymes) increased to 6.3 million dollars, but that is almost entirely due to the sale of charcoal (representing 0.2% of the country’s exports). Morales recognized that they should “push” the work of mipymes more and facilitate their access to raw materials with “fiscal and tributary policies” as incentives.

Detailing the Cuban business landscape, the Vice Prime Minister highlighted that there are 16,253 entities in the country: 2,422 state businesses, 5,138 cooperatives, 103 mixed enterprises, 8,590 mipymes and 596,000 self-employed people.

Important gains were made in the first half of the year, but in the same areas: tobacco, rum, and shellfish exports. However, neither sugar nor charcoal produced the expected revenues. One sector which has been unexpectedly disgraced is nickel, the exploitation of which is led by Sherritt, a Canadian company to which Cuba owes 362 million dollars.

Morales bemoaned that telecommunications, managed by Etecsa, a state monopoly, also reported a decline in revenue and a decline in “collection of foreign currency.” The explanation, she added, is the increase in the sale of services in pesos. “This is good for the population, but affects revenue,” she complained.

With regard to tourism, there isn’t room for optimism either: Cuba received, she said, 1.3 million visitors — 80% of the target for 2023 — but this estimate does not come remotely close to the 2019 figure. “In the case of domestic tourism, there have been 2.9 million tourists to date and we expect 7.6 million tourists by the end of the year,” she added.

Regarding inflation (45.48%), Morales confirmed what all Cubans can attest to: that 8% of inflation is concentrated in food, beverages, and transportation. To contain it, she promised — without details — a “macroeconomic stabilization program” with “diverse actions in specific areas.”

Several delegates took the floor to comment on the Vice Prime Minister’s report, and highlighted the tasks that always remain for the Cuban economy: the tension between the U.S. dollar, the peso and the freely convertible currency (MLC); the mediocrity of state businesses and the laborious rise of mipymes; and the lack of food sovereignty.

Far from the reality faced on Tuesday in Parliament is what happened last December, Alejandro Gil declared without a shred of doubt, “2023 will be better than 2022.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Cuban Activist Maykel Osorbo Sews His Mouth Shut in Protest of Mistreatment in Jail

Cuban rapper Maykel Castillo “Osorbo”. (Facebook)

14ymedio biggerEFE/14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2023 — Cuban artist and dissident, Maykel Castillo aka Osorbo, sentenced to nine years in prison, sewed his mouth last week as a sign of protest against his mistreatment in prison, according to statements made to EFE on Tuesday by sources close to the opponent.

The coauthor of Patria y Vida — anthem of the July 2021 antigovernment protests and winner of two Latin Grammies — sutured his lips last Wednesday. A nurse removed the sutures the next day, according to the same sources.

Similarly, they reported that the dissident was sent to a punishment cell after sharing graphic materials related to his protest.

Last week, Cuban activist Anamely Ramos, exiled in the U.S. had shared on her Facebook profile that Osorbo had tattooed “Patria y Vida” on his forearm and was threatening to sew his mouth shut as a gesture of protest against the mistreatment he’s suffered in the Kilo 5 y Medio prison in Pinar del Río, where he has been held for two years.

“If on Friday you don’t hear from me, you know what happened: plantado in a cell, with my mouth sewn. That is war!” warned the musician during a phone call he had with Ramos, who stated that up until that point Castillo had approached prison as a career in “resistence” and had focused on reinventing himself, reading and “connection” with his people, but now he demands “respect”. continue reading

Ramos reminded us that for months she has been informing on Castillo’s situation in prison, where he has suffered “all kinds of abuses” and recurring violations of his rights.

It isn’t the first time the rapper has sewn his mouth shut in protest against the government, he also did so in August 2020.

In June of last year, artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Osorbo were convicted and sentenced to five and nine years in prison, respectively.

Otero Alcántara and Castillo were punished for crimes of disrespecting national symbols, contempt, public disorder in the former’s case, and contempt, assault, public disorder and defamation of institutions and organizations, heroes and martyrs, in Osorbo’s case.

The court proceedings were not linked to the 2021 antigovernment protests, but rather to events that occurred on April 4, 2021. On that day, according to the prosecutor, Castillo clashed with some agents, apparently because his companion was not wearing a mask.

According to what has been shared on social media by several activists, Castillo ended his statement during the trial telling the magistrate: “I expect that the sentence you decide, your honor, be that of your conscience.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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 Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers Requests that Censored Authors and Works be Restored

The filmmakers also announced a revamping of the Assembly’s structure.

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Havana, 5 July 2023 — A half-hour blackout delayed the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers’ meeting scheduled for Monday at 9am at the theater on 23rd and 12th in Havana. The producers, who had invited about thirty professionals from other provinces and those living abroad to join the meeting via Internet, proposed creating “an organizational structure” to consolidate its functions.

Among the main topics addressed were the need to revise the Film Law, “the drafting of which should include professionals from the guild such as the G-20 group”, whose members — among them directors Fernando Pérez and Rebeca Chávez — have since 2013 presented to authorities proposals similar to that of the Assembly. Furthermore, they discussed the noxious reach of Decree-Law 373, which regulates the audiovisual and cinematographic creation and the restoration of censored works and authors.

Other topics debated were the safeguarding of Cuba’s cinematographic heritage, the autonomy of the Fondo de Fomento del Cine Cubano [The Fund to Encourage Cuban Film] — a state scholarship designated to support production–and the possibility to join, in a single organization, all Cuban filmmakers, regardless of whether or not they live on the Island.

In the Assembly’s declaration, published on Tuesday on its official Facebook page, the group expressed their disagreement with the response from government and Communist Party authorities to their formal complaints presented on June 23 in Havana’s Chaplin Theater and they demand that institutions focus on “complying with their true social function, without infringing on the artists.” continue reading

The systematic protests resulted from the illegal airing on Cuban Television of director Juan Pin Vilar’s and producer Ricardo Figueredo’s documentary, La Habana de Fito, and they’ve prepared the ground to discuss other important topics with the regime’s cultural representatives, such as the constant censorship of works and independent creators and the unjustified suppression of spaces such as Muestra Joven [Young Sample], dedicated to exhibiting works of creators younger than 35 years old.

With regard to Pin Vilar’s documentary, the Assembly demanded that the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (Icaic), the Ministry of Culture and the Institute of Information and Social Communication (IICC) clarify the “exceptionality criteria” referenced as the justification to illegally air the documentary and they demanded “an compensatory response from those responsible for the events, to these filmmakers, and the Cuban artistic community.”

The creators also announced the revision of the Assembly’s structure, which will be divided into four commissions in charge of managing the group’s internal affairs: cultural policy, censorship and exclusion, laws and decrees, and production. Each member of these working groups “will be selected by votes”, they agreed.

The event attendees also stated that “neither representatives of government institutions nor the press participated” and that the meeting was filmed “from within”, in contrast to the meeting that occurred with government officials on June 23, during which leaders opposed the filming of the meeting by the filmmakers that were present. Despite all this, filmmaker Miguel Coyula managed to publish several clips of audio and video taken during the meeting.

To date, the group’s initial declarations against the unethical procedures of Cuban Television have been signed by more than 600 filmmakers, intellectuals, artists, which suggests a direct questioning of the regime’s cultural policies.

“I congratulate you, you are creating a precedent to dialogue with officials,” wrote professor Alina Bárbara López — who has been harassed for weeks by State Security in Matanzas — in the comments at the bottom of Tuesday’s declaration. In addition, she urged the creators to continue contributing “to the present and future, not only of Cuban culture, but to the current politics of the nation.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

Cuba Lacks Food. . . and Will Continue to Lack Food

Feeding the fish at the Sancti Spíritus Fishing Company. (Escambray)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 22 June  2023 — In Cuba, food is lacking. It’s been six decades of pernicious scarcity that demand a response to one of the most serious day-to-day problems for Cubans. A recent edition of the State TV program Mesa Redonda [Roundtable] was dedicated to this issue, with the title What is happening with food production in Cuba?

Four officials participated in the program. The Minister of Food Industry, Manuel Santiago Sobrino; the Director of Food Industry Research, Jesús Lorenzo Rodríguez; the President of the Food Industry Business Group, Emerio González and the Vice Minister of Food Industry Midalys Naranjo. Each one spoke, without responding to the question all Cubans are asking, Why isn’t there any food?

The Minister of Food Industry stated, in the first place, that in the country’s development plan for 2030, food production is strategic for Cuba, and later recognized that the industry has been affected by the country’s current economic situation, which he attributed to the embargo/blockade. He did not take responsibility for a single thing. He spoke of the increase in international market prices in the last years and of the war in Europe as determinants of the increased food prices in Cuba, without once mentioning the person responsible for it all, the regime’s ally, Putin.

He ended by saying that the availability of electricity has affected the industry’s productifity, in a clear allusion to that branch minister, and even referenced the effects of climate change, specifically drought, as responsible for low production. continue reading

Secondly, the Minister said that the new economic actors have energized the sector and stated that, in the country, there are 844 micro, small, and medium private enterprises, of which 144 are bakeries and cake shops, 194 are meat producers, 188 produce preserves and 92 produce dairy products. He referenced the existence of 350 microindustries primarily in agriculture and in AZCUBA (sugar producers). Enough? Appropriate distribution? Sustainability? All doubtful.

Third, he referred to changes in the agricultural commerce introduced last year, establishing that contracts for these products within the industry should be producer-to-producer, a measure that has not been applied correctly, which affects the size of milk and meat contracts offered to producers. For that, he requested a changes in mentality, business concepts, and leadership structures, and a reliance on communication and information systems. That’s it? And who is responsible for inspiring and promoting change if not him?

Fourth, he referred to the Food Sovereignty and the Food and Nutrition Security Law, which according to him, provides the tools necessary for the Ministry of Food and other actors involved in food production. He recognized that people still cannot see the changes reflected at their tables, for which there are doubts about them. He is not of the same opinion as the UN World Food Programme which gave a stern warning to Cuba for its inflation.

The next one to speak was Jesús Lorenzo Rodrīguez, Director of Food Industry Research, who centered his remarkes on the results of scientific-technical activities within the sectot that, over the last 46 years, has developed 700 products, provided tools to all food processors, from product nutrient composition to the implementation of technical processes and the most efficient equiment. Where are those developments and what have been their results?

He spoke of research projects, such as flour production, training of local producers, to produce food to satisfy the population’s demand in terms of protein, fats, etc. And all that, without citing specific results, such as, for example, the 16 technical consultations. He cited some projects of major impact, all at the direction of the Council of Ministers (a political not technical decision) in the areas of Puerto Padre and Los Palacios. He cited, as if it were notable, the use of food industry sub-products, a practice that is widespread throughout the world and that reduces the environmental impact of waste. Finally, he signaled that currently, since the sugar shortage, the Ministry is working with AZCUBA to use sugar byproducts as sweeteners in other products.

After that, the president of the Food Industry Business Group, Emerio González spoke; he referenced last year’s structural reforms, with the creation of a group dedicated to agrifood activities to attend to the source of primary inputs for agriculture, dairy, meat, preserves, coffee; another fish industry group.

Among the group’s tasks is guaranteeing wheat flour, through the National Milling Company that produces and distributes wheat flour and also yeast and other inputs for bread production destined for the basic food basket and other consumption. The Roundtable participants dedicated their attention to flour and bread, because they know that the issue is worrisome for Cubans.

He explained that, with regard to this product, a very critical situation began in mid-2022 with the wheat supply and it has become more acute in the first six months of this year. To achieve stability in wheat production and traditional consumption within a month requires three shiploads of wheat valued at $35 million. In that regard, he signaled that in 2023 they’ve only managed to purchase four shiploads of wheat, the price of which has increased considerably and pointed to a product that is heavily affected by the blockade.

It’s all the same, the issues are due to the blockade and he cited the case of spare parts. There are four mills, with financing available, they have paid spare parts providers and their banks will not accept payment, but without these spare parts they can’t function. Well, search for them elsewhere. As of now, no one is going to gift them.

Despite the difficulties, the government does not give up bread production and has adopted several actions such as searching for flour and wheat in nearby regions to reduce the shipping time. According to the directors, two ships containing wheat flour have been contracted to arrive in the coming months, though the volume is not large, but two more ships containing wheat are also scheduled to arrive. With that, they can guarantee July and they are working on the contracts for August.

He also recognized that they have not been able to deliver flour to Cadena Cubana de Pan and that several economic actors have imported some flour and have participated in this supply chain. Furthermore, these supply chains are also achieving results in the confectionery industry. What he did not say is that to purchase and contract, they must pay debts, and in that regard, Cuba has bad, very bad data.

With regard to production of alcoholic beverages, he said that the decline in sugar production in Cuba has negatively impacted the sector. Nonetheless, he pointed to measures approved by AZCUBA as an opportunity to correct the situation. In addition, with AZCUBA they are conducting systematic checks on productive processes and to date they have been able to produce more than two million cases of rum, which will allow them to recover production.

Then, to speak of fisheries, the Vice Minister of Food Industry, Midalys Naranjo, surprised everyone by saying that although Cuba is surrounded by sea, its waters do not have the required levels of fish to satisfy the population’s demand. Since when does she have this information?

She explained that between 1976 and 1990 Cuba had a fishing fleet that operated in international waters and provided a portion of the fish consumed in the country (around 100,000 tons per year). However, since 1992 the fleet had to slowly withdraw from international waters, because it could not comply with fishing agreeents, which affected the availability of this food item in Cuba. Between 1986 and 2009, the country imported around 33,000 tons of fish products, which the Vice Minister said was not currently possible to maintain, because of the levels of financing required.

As a result, the regime decided that fish should be based on aquaculture in Cuba, with a program that includes all the provinces in the country. Among products, developed extensively, because intensive aquaculture demands high volume of feed for the fish, which is not currently available. Production of cyprinids (what is commonly known as tench) is one of the most common, although it requires around 18 months to achieve a commercial size fish. Furthermore, there are new economic actors in this activity. There are, for example 485 private producers with around 1,546 hectares under production. It is not a private initiative. They are tenants who do not own the means of production.

The Vice Minister referred to some difficulties in aquaculture, such as the effects of climate change (especially drought and heavy rains), the timeline for producing marketable fish and limited fishery capacity at the moment. With regard to the latter, she informed that the shipments contained inputs for fisheries.

After that, she referred to the Fisheries Law of 2019, which according to her, was debated in fishing communities who offered suggestions; were evaluated and it wasn’t until four years later that they were taken into consideration to supposedly ease the norms. Haven’t they had enough time? In essence, there is a working group charged with revising the legal norms that support the law; it has drafted proposals to develop fishing activities which have been approved by the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers.

Among the reforms, they discussed gradually creating conditions in all regions for the wholesale and retail of fishing supplies, offering construction and boat repair services, allowing commercial fishing between August and January in areas declared as preferential to tourism for a period of two years, modifying navigation area three C. Currently the following have been approved: navigating up to 12 miles, an increase in the size of motors to seventy horsepower, a revision to the plans for managing protected areas, declaring fishing bases such as fishing ports as areas of local interest and facilitating fish commerce, applying the sales and pricing concepts in accordance with all products and economic actors. Note this last one.

Resolution 52 was approved in October 2022 precisely for this reason, which already applies; it states that commercial fishermen are not required to have a contract with a state entity and can sell products directly. That resulted in an increase in the sale of non-state commercial licenses, which reached 4,042 licenses at the end of May, a much larger number than in 2022.

She clarified that the prior measures were being implemented and that in the next few months they should allow a greater level of easing of fishing activities, which will be well received by fishermen. That remains to be seen. Hopefully all this will result in greater production and consumption of fish, but it does not seem probable. The right to property continues to be untouchable.

At the end of the event, the Minister broached the situation of the basic food basket, the products it comprises and its current situation. A topic of interest for the population.

His remarks addressed what he called challenges in food packaging, safety and quality. Specifically, the bread, in addition to the issues with raw materials, the quality of this product is influenced by the lack of quality control in places where there have not been enough requirements in place.

He later referred to the complex situation of the products that make up the basic food basket, practically all of them.

Of powdered milk he said that to ensure consumption within the country they rely on small imports from Latin America and the Caribbean, which he acknowledged, do not satisfy demand. Regarding oil, he acknowledged they owe consumers one months’ supply [as a part of the rationed goods], but said that it is in the country aboard a ship with enough inventory to satisy demand for two months and assured that oil distribution to the population would begin in the coming days. With regard to baby food, with a difficult situation at the beginning of the year, it seems that the raw materials for its production are now available and it is currently being distributed.

About coffee, he said they are finishing up distribution of the supply for May’s basic food basket, which can be guaranteed with domestic raw materials. He then said something surprising: from now on, coffee production will depend on what can be imported because domestic production can no longer cover these months. With regard to chicken included in the basic food basket he said distribution will begin any day but only for a portion of the population and he assured that in July and August distribution of this product in the rationed basket will improve. About other meats, he said that in the coming days a ship should arrive at a Cuban port carrying raw materials and inventory for two months, designated for production of food items such as ground beef and ham. With regard to soy products, he said the picture is complex due to a shortage of products on the international market and only said that they are working on a timely solution.

After this story, certainly dramatic, he said that a government-driven program is underway to improve the situation this summer, with products such as beer, soft drinks, ice cream and candies. Curiously, these have experienced declines in inflation during the month of May.

He announced that in the coming days more than five foreign capital investment projects and two domestically funded projects will be functioning, which should improve the consumption scenario. Among these are factories for crackers, candies and coffee; as well as a brewery in Mariel; a candy factory in Caibarién, Villa Clara; the launch of the chocolate factory in Baracoa; the expansion of production in the Bucanero brewery; among others.

An extensive event. Anything less would not do. Without a doubt, the topics covered deserved it. The audience that put up with the program up to this point went to bed with the same sensation of misfortune. Even worse, feeling they had been fooled once again.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez 

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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 Cuban Regime Admits to the UN That 39 Adolescents Were Sentenced to Prison for the July 11th Protests

One of the protesters arrested by the police during the July 11th (11J) protests in Havana (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, May 29, 2023 – The Cuban regime admitted to arresting and prosecuting 39 minors, and sentencing six adolescents aged 16 to 18 years old to prison, after the protests of the July 11th, 2021 (11J).  The data are part of a government report dated December 30th, 2022, presented by the Diplomatic Mission of Cuba to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva.  On Monday, Prisoners Defenders (PD) called attention to the recent publication, unknown until now.

In the report, the Government accused the committee of maintaining “a profound ignorance to the reality of the country and the vast protection and promotion of child and adolescent rights in Cuba.”  Immediately afterwards, it revealed its “opinions” regarding a complaint by Geneva against the regime in May 2022, which demanded accountability with regard to compliance with the rights of minors in Cuba, following the wave of repression unleashed by the 11J protests, a date on which, the report states, “extremely serious violent actions and crimes” were carried out against state security.

“Four hundred eighty-eight people have been sanctioned, including 39 young people between the ages of 16 and 18 years, primarily for the crimes of sedition, sabotage, armed and violent robbery, assault, contempt, and public disorder,” the report summarizes, almost at the end of the document. In addition, it confirms that “the sanctions of deprivation of liberty befell upon 383 of the accused, considering the severity and circumstances in which the events occurred, their level of participation and personal conduct; among them 6 young people aged between 16 and 18 years.”

However, the document by Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva insists that “the age for a subject to be considered criminally responsible is 16 years of age, as established in the current Criminal Code” on the Island. “As such, in Cuba there aren’t any minors younger than 16 years who have been subjected to judicial proceedings, regardless of the result or severity of their actions.” continue reading

The report acknowledges that another 105 protesters who were tried had their prison sentences commuted to correctional labor, and 33 young people between the ages of 16 and 18 years were among them, “11 were sentenced to correctional labor with internment and a similar number were sentenced to correctional labor without internment and limited freedom, respectively.” The latter, it states, were under surveillance to achieve “rectification of conduct” and “social reintegration”.

The text alleges that Cuban authorities respect “the freedom of assembly, protest and association,” including that of children and adolescents but only for “legal purposes” and they are not opposed to “observing the precepts” established by the law.

Particularly bothersome for the authorities, states the document, was the Committee’s observation that “several children, some as young as 13 years, were violently arrested, taken from their homes during the night without informing their families of their whereabouts, detained, isolated and transferred to different locations to be interrogated for long hours.”

As for the minors younger than 16 years, it states they “receive decriminalized treatment and administrative measures are available for their reorientation, specialized and individualized education” in ’special centers’.

PD, in its commentary on the report, denounced that “the centers for minors belong to the Ministry of the Interior, not the Ministry of Education. They are prisons,” and adds that the document does not specify what treatment was given to those younger than 16 years.

The report admits that “for cases comprising those between 16 and 18 years of age, they exercise strict observance of the Criminal Procedures Law, in place since January 1, 2022,” which assumes they are treated with the same degree of rigor as those outside that age range, although they are promised “special treatment” during the trial.

On May 11, PD denounced that as of the end of April Cuban prisons held 1,048 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Although that is 18 fewer than in March, the Madrid-based organization highlighted in its last monthly report that the the number of cases of minors “have flourished”.

The organization stressed an increase in the number of incarcerated minors, which totaled 35 in April (two more than in March.) Of these, four are girls, serving sentences or being processed. The organization highlighted that a “good portion” are held in penitentiary centers the government refers to by the euphemism Integrated Education Schools.

At least 18 adolescents were charged with or convicted of sedition, one of the most severe charges in the Criminal Code used by the regime to punish the 11J participants. “The median penalty for these convicted minors is five years deprivation of liberty, a punishment which is, on average, greater than that suffered by adults in political prison prior to 11J,” states PD.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.

One NGO Figures 909 People Have Been Convicted Since the July 11th Demonstrations in Cuba

Arrest of protester in Villa Clara, on July 11, 2021. (Captura)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 7 June 2023 — Justicia 11J reported on Wednesday that, since the antigovernment demonstrations of July 11, 2021 (11J), a total of 909 people have been tried or convicted in Cuba.

In its May update, the group of activists added that 1,845 people have been arrested for political reasons since those protests, and in 2023 will mark their second anniversary.

Justicia 11J stated that the people arrested are being held in seven prisons spread throughout the country.

The NGO added that since the demonstrations in the summer of 2021 — the most numerous in decades — it has registered another 236 protests, 33 of them so far in 2023.

In its April report, Prisoners Defenders, an NGO based in Madrid, increased the number of political prisoners on the island to 1,048, 35 of whom are minors younger than 18 years of age.

The organization stated that in April, 24 new names were added to the list while 42 others “were removed” after having completed their sentences. continue reading

Last year, Cuba’s attorney general reported on the proceedings against 790 people related to 11J, 55 of whom were between 16 and 17 years of age (the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Cuba is 16).

During his visit to the island at the end of may, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, stated that the European bloc’s delegation and the Cuban government spoke about the “situation created before, during and after” 11J.

In November the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, will visit Cuba to follow up on the situtation of those sentenced for 11J.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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 Terror that Reigns in Cuba Dismantles the Exercise of Opposition to Achieve Freedom’

Manuel Vázquez Portal presents his book on Friday in the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, June 9, 2023 — In Miami on Friday, Former Cuban political prisoner, poet, and journalist, 72-year-old Manuel Vázquez Portal, jailed during the wave of repression in 2003 known as the Black Spring, will present a book Cartas marcadas [Marked Letters] 20 letters he wrote from the “solitude of isolation” in his cell to overcome the “censorship and silence”.

“They were written so as to not allow myself to be defeated by the solitude of isolation,” he said to EFE on Thursday. Vázquez Portal, to whom love of family, freedom, and faith in God gave the strength to sustain himself in the “oppression of a punishment cell” he endured while in “isolation, in solitude” for over a year.

The former Cuban prisoner managed for his letters to mock the penitentiary’s controls and were “clandestinely” smuggled out of the Boniato and Aguador prisons, both in Santiago de Cuba, to his wife, Yolanda Huerga, a co-founder of the Ladies in White and his son, Gabriel, who was 9 years old at the time.

“These 20 letters written to my wife and my son were born marked; first because I had to mark the envelope so my wife would know which ones were for her and which ones were not; later to circumvent the censorship and silence, the mark of the cross with ashes the Cuban government had placed on me,” said Vázquez Portal.

It has been 20 years, he adds, since the writing of these letters that served, at least, to “safeguard psychological balance” and that constitute a “political and esthetic ideology”.

The book, edited by Berlin-based Ilíada, also serves as an homage to the 75 Cuban dissidents, intellectuals, and human rights activists who were incarcerated during the Black Spring and to the Ladies in White, the latter being “the most solid and courageous group in the history of the Cuban opposition, its symbol,” he highlighted. continue reading

Released in June 2004, thanks to a strong international campaign, the Cuban journalist states that “the terror and the domination of the Cuban dictatorship does not allow the successful articulation” of protests in the medium term, as was shown during the peaceful protests of July 11 (11J), 2021.

The largest antigovernment protests in decades took place that day, a “spontaneous social explosion” that spread thanks to social media, though it lacked coordination, maintained Vázquez Portal.

That is, continues the dissident once sentenced to 18 years in jail, “the terror that reigns in Cuba dismantles the exercise of opposition to achieve liberty”. He predicts, however, that this will be a “determining” summer because “always during summers in Cuba there is an explosion.”

In this context, he maintains that “Cuba is a pressure cooker, without escape valves and the dissatisfaction inside is great,” with a “collapsed government that does not govern and the only thing it does is repress to stay in power.”

The book will be presented in the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami, within a tertulia titled “The other corner of words”, which will include as presenters writer and activist Janisset Rivero and President of PEN Cuban Writers in Exile, Luis de la Paz.

Written in the “most anguished solitude and poverty”, Cartas marcadas [Marked Letters] act to potently “awaken love of family, homeland, and freedom” and a revulsion against hate.

“Not even after they sentenced me to 18 years did I let hate soil me. On the contrary. I thought it necessary to cleanse the soul to explain to others how to confront a dictatorship.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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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.