Translator: Silvia Suárez – Page 3

Cuba’s 2022 Accounts Confirm That the Country Spends 16 Times More on Building Hotels than on Healthcare

Five star hotel under construction, on First and B streets, Havana (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 13 April 2023 — The two sectors on which the Cuban regime has founded its popularity since 1959, health and education, combined received in 2022 one tenth the budget dedicated to business services and real estate and rentals. The area, considered a mixed bag that includes tourism, received 33% of the budget last year (23.360 billion pesos, almost one billion dollars at the official exchange rate), compared with the other two, which taken together barely received 3.3%.

The accounts are even worse if these two areas are separated. The health and public services received 2.1% of the budget (1.520 billion pesos or 63.4 million dollars), education received 1.2% (820 million pesos or 34 million dollars), that is 16 and 27 times, respectively, less than the so-called “business and real estate services.”

The poor investment in health contrasts with the gigantic income the Cuban state obtains from exporting medical services, the country’s main source of hard currency. According to official data, collected from annual statistics published by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), in 2021, they collected 4.349 billion dollars from the export of health services, although between 2011 and 2015 they were able to obtain more than 11.500 billion, according to the information provided by the former Minister of Economy José Luis Rodríguez.

That imbalance in the budget for that sector, which is diverse and non-specific but associated with hotel construction, has been going on for many years; in 2021 the pinch was even greater, it received 35% of the total budget, though the total amount was smaller. continue reading

The only area that dares to approach it, although still far behind, is the manufacturing industry, which receives 17.3% of the budget, totaling 12.304 billion pesos. The sugar industry is excluded from that, with its own budget line which allows us to see the ruinous budget assigned to that notable product of Cuban industry — barely 0.6%, with 410 million pesos.

With a percentage in the double digits, the transportation, food and communications sector received 10.3% (7.316 billion pesos).

In fourth place, though barely noticeable to Cubans, was the provision of water, electricity and gas, which received 6.988 billion or 9.8.% of the total budget. Although the figure seems padded when compared to some of those already mentioned, it continues to be less than one third of what was budgeted for real estate.

Two other sectors that fared well were mining and quarries, an area in which the government has placed a lot of hope for the supposed benefits of exporting nickel, among other minerals. Those rceived 5.066 billion pesos. Hotels and restaurants — the portion of tourism not related to real estate — received 3.226 billion pesos, and commerce and repair of personal effects received 2.506 million pesos, ahead of what should be a priviledged sector, agricultural production.

To this area, specifically designated by the government as a “priority”, a mere 1.855 billion pesos were budgeted, only 2.6% of the total budget. “Amid a situation of food insecurity, it is worrisome that the relative weight of investment in agriculture remains stagnant at a leven which is 12 times lower than the relative weight of investment in business services and real estate,” stated Cuban economist Pedro Monreal on his Twitter account Wednesday.

The expert reminds us that the agriculture sector employs more than 17% of Cubans, the sector with the most employment, but the low level of investment makes it a beacon of low productivity that weighs down economic growth for the entire country.

“It is probably understood, but worth repeating — without a major investment in agriculture it will not be possible to overcome food insecurity in Cuba, nor to mitigate inflation, nor poverty, nor will there be national development. The slogans they come up with matter very little,” he said.

The data provided by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), which are for last year, lay bare not only the (now) old evidence that tourist construction is disproportionate compared to other sectors at a time when it is not on par with profits. It also reflects the constant contradiction of the government discourse that stops investing in pillars of social justice such as food (fishing uses 0.7% of total investment) health or education, to capture foreign currency which, to make matters worse, does not arrive.

The small amount budgeted for the agriculture sector, moreover, serves to bring down tourism. As the reproaches come from the ranks of officialdom itself, tourists spend more on food when they come to Cuba than on paying for hotel accommodations, but if there is no food, the country loses out on that income as well and informed travelers lose the incentive to come.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Election Results are the Fruit of Repression

The lack of enthusiasm marked the March 26th elections, the preliminary results of which point to the lowest participation since 1959. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 27 March 2023 — It is not possible to scientifically or judicially prove that the official results of the voting to approve the delegates to Parliament were fraudulent, but it is difficult to believe them. Even believing it to the letter, the conclusion is that they are the fruit of neither revolutionary enthusiasm nor of the conviction that those candidates will represent the interests of the population.

There will be plenty of time to analyze the numbers in detail and to calculate how much the abstention results were influence by the prior “scrubbing” of the voter registries to reduce them by almost four percentage points relative to the voters registered during the referendum on the Family Code.

In the municipal polls, where the results of the district votes are reconciled, a report is drafted which goes “up to the province.” These proceedings are not public, but the provinces cannot alter their data to achieve a deceitful total without counting on the complicit silence of the members of the electoral polls. The same thing occurs when the provinces submit their reports to the National Electoral Commission. Alina Balseiro, the president of the National Electoral Council cannot inflate the sum of the data that are sent by the provinces, which also are not public, without hundreds of people knowing and maintaining their silence.

It may not qualify as “fraud” that the oppressive atmosphere that sent an undetermined number of voters, who attended for fear of being labeled disaffected, to the polls. But the degree of pretense required to attend that parody of an election knowing that the preferred candidates are not being elected, without believing one bit of the electoral process, being intimately in disagreement with the political system that declares itself valid by “the majority presence at the polls” is evidently fraudulent. It is most similar to those marriage of convenience that the judicial system of most countries annul when the pretense is discovered. continue reading

The submission occurs when faced with the lack of alternatives, or worse, to keep the escape hatch open to the desired alternatives. We will never know how many of those who did not dare abstain opted for behaving well because they are awaiting the conclusion of their parole process to leave to the U.S., or desiring to be sent on an internationalist mission or a sporting or cultural event where they plan on deserting.

Or because their child aspires to go to university or because they are that child; because they cannot survive on their salary, but rather from what they call the “hustle” and their work place offers a way of surviving on corruption and, for that, one must be as invisible as possible.

The victory declared by the dictatorship feeds off of those individual defeats.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Responding to Cuban President Diaz-Canel’s Boasting ‘D Frente’ Suggests That One Third of Cubans Do Not Support Him

Attendance was low at the polls not only in the capital but also in other provinces. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 30 March 2023 — Although the votes on March 26 “reaffirmed revolutionary convictions”, according to a statement by Miguel Díaz-Canel on Wednesday in a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the official had to devote several minutes to defend the legitimacy of the process after 2.5 million Cubans who live on the Island were left without representation.

This last data point has been claimed by D Frente, an opposition organization, which published a statement that same day suggesting that the sum of those who either abstained, left the ballot blank, or annulled their ballot indicates that 33.8% of the electorate “were not in favor of the continuity of the current Cuban political order.”

Conscious that the elections resulted in an historically high abstention rate (24%) since 1959, Díaz-Canel centered on minimizing the importance that one in four Cubans did not show up at the polls by comparing it with another geographic context (the U.S.), while refusing to compare it with another temporal context, that of the legislative elections five years ago, where only 15% of registered voters abstained.

“The comparison the enemy attempts to make between these results and those obtained in the 2018 national elections is opportunistic, as they are completely different electoral contexts,” he said, and went on to state how the situation on the Island has worsened in the last five years, presumably due to the tightening of the blockade, its supposed consequences — from the lack of electricity to lack of credit in international markets — and the U.S. media “campaign to discredit”.

More importantly, in exchange, Díaz-Canel seemed to compare the data with the elections in democratic and multi-party systems which have little to do with the Cuban context. “The same press that covers up electoral results in first world countries which aren’t even blockaded, nor attacked, nor subjected to enormous media campaigns, and the participation is barely above 60%,” he said. continue reading

The government official also spent a good part of his time justifying the electoral transparency. Activists and opponents — relying on images published by citizens, independent, and even official media — have cast doubt on the participation rates offered by the National Elections Commission (CEN), but Díaz-Canel defended that there is no proof that there were illegalities in the process.

“Even though the counterrevolutionary campaign was intent on presenting the elections as lacking transparency, the truth is that they do not have a single bit of evidence, not one bit of evidence of any irregularity,” he said. From there, he continued with an explanation on the different processes required to approve candidates and in which, in his opinion, everything is open to the citizenry.

That there is no independent candidate nor one that does not subscribe to the official discourse does not surprise the General Secretary of the Communist Party, for whom international observers are unnecessary; even in democracies well-recognized and funded by the population, such as the U.S. or Spain, the electoral process is supervised. “We don’t need international observers, everyone has the right, the possibility and the authority to be an observer, and they do it.”

The government official presented as extraordinary, events that are common any election, such as showing empty ballot boxes as the polls opened or counting the in front of those who attend–a half-truth, since the director of this very daily, Yoani Sánchez, attempted to exercise that right in 2019 and was only able to do so following an act of repudiation and many obstacles.

For Díaz-Canel, however, Cuba couldn’t be more proud. “We’d have to ask ourselves, why the biased and tendentious view — simply, colleagues, because we are an example for the world. And we must continue to defend that example, and that example must also be defended with the encouragement give of the people who produced results during these elections,” he added.

The government official also puffed his chest recounting the percent participation which, in his opinion, offer “the demonstration of civility, but also patriotism, of loyalty to the Revolution,” by the people amid the difficulties. “There is expectation, trust, and I believe we all must work as part of that learning in search of, above all else, an economic response to the country’s current situation,” he said before enumerating the long list of the day-to-day problems for Cubans, which span lack of food, housing or water, deficiencies in education, health and transportation, or the alarming increase in violence of all kinds.

Faced with these, he did not offer any solutions, beyond aiming for a change was based on magic realism that will result in “tremendous energy to continue advancing because in these elections, Cuba won.”

One vision that differs from that detailed by D Frente in its statement, in which it considers the vote a “a confirmation of delegates previously designated to those posts.” The organization denounced the harassment and arrests against those who attempted to promote abstention, something which is prohibited by Cuban law although it is legal in most countries where voting is not obligatory, as well as direct or indirect coercion of voters for them to cast their vote and to do so in the convenient sense.

“Even when the process didn’t benefit from the supervision of independent observer institutions nor with the minimum guarantees of a democratic electoral process, the public results by CEN show the continued erosion fo the current political regime,” stated D Frente, which urges the elected delegates to take on the issue of the system’s representativeness and demand “that all political prisoners be released; that the human rights of all Cubans be respected without political discrimination; recognize political pluralism; and begin a process of transition to save the country from the crisis it is currently living.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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China and Cuba Agree on ‘A Long-term Strategic Relationship’ in Cybersecurity

Mayra Arevich, Cuba’s Minister of Communications, and Cao Shuming, Cyberspace Administrator sign agreement. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2023 — On Monday, China signed an agreement with Cuba that details the collaboration between the two countries on matters of cybersecurity, as they had suggested in November. Press agency Prensa Latina celebrated the news that this compact lays the groundwork to build “an internet that supports development and wellbeing of the people.”

The agreement, which was signed by Mayra Arevich, Cuba’s Minister of Communication, and Cao Shuming, Representative of China’s Cyberspace Administration, marked the mission of a Cuban delegation to Beijing, headed by Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Perdomo.

During an interview with Prensa Latina, Perdomo stated that along with China they are working to strengthen the development of telecommunications on third and fourth generation — 3G and 4G — networks, as well as broadband, the deployment of which, he added, has not been completed because it is dependent on the Island’s economic capacity.

He said, “Chinese entities and collaboration with China are vital.” During the meetings they also reviewed the “actions” to continue with the digital television program, a project that began on the Island in 2013, with support from Beijing.

The cybersecurity ties with China go “beyond a commercial relationship,” and is considered, “a long-term strategic relationship,” in the economic and national security areas, said the vice prime minister. He added that information and communications technologies are being considered; they are “also platforms to destabilize politics, imperialist aggression in our country, political and ideological subversion.” continue reading

As you know, the Asian giant maintains strong control over the internet, with an organization specifically dedicated to this considered the most extensive and most sophisticated. The perfect example is the battalion of employees working 24 hours a day dedicated to reviewing any content or page that could a broad audience.

None of this is mentioned in the Cuban state-run press, the vice minister stated that the Island defends the sovereignty of each country to build a technology infrastructure that “it could use for its political, economic, and social development,” as well as “communicate” with other countries to safeguard “its national identity and values.”

The agreement was reached in the context of sanctions placed by the United States on several Chinese companies, such as ByteDance, owner of TikTok, for the repercussions it could have on its security. The Asian firm is called out for leaking data on American citizens to Beijing.

The state press stated that the Cuban delegation’s agenda included meetings with the Executive Vice President of China’s Development Bank, Wang Weidong, as well as with the President of the Insurance Credit Coorporation, Sheng Hetai. In addition, they held a meeting with Han Fangming, the president and founder of Charhar, an institute described as the thought center of “high professional ethics and global vision”, dedicated to promoting China’s political discourse to the international community.

The tour, which began last Thursday, also included visits to Information Industries and Technologies, the International Agency for Development and the National Health Commission. A visit to Changchung, in Jilin province, and a tour of mixed enterprise Changherber were scheduled for Tuesday.

The new rapprochement between Cuba and China comes five months after Miguel Díaz-Canel met with his counterpart Xi Jinping in November 2022, in a desperate search for financing amid a new economic and energy crisis. In that meeting, they agreed to disperse $100 million to reactivate important lines of industrial activity on the Island, production of renewable energy and cybersecurity.

The relationship between Cuba and China for cooperation in cyberspace is not new and there is evidence that dates back to 2014, long before the government authorized access to the internet on mobil phones. Nine years ago, Beijing and Havana signed an agreement to develop laws and regulations.

In 2014, one of then President Raúl Castro’s concerns was the “existence of a global system of telecommunications espionage” by the United States. Since then, according to several articles in the state press, the Cuban government has had more rapprochements with China and the issue has remained on the negotiating table.

While the government in Havana hawked the internet for development, the state monopoly, Etecsa, maintains control of telecommunications and restricts the telephone service of individuals on the island considered to be of interest.

In addition to China, in 2018, the Cuban informatics solutions firm, Softel signed an agreement with Russian Inoventica to build a regional cybersecurity center in Havana, although following the signing the state press has maintained complete silence on the topic.

Last week, another agreement was reached between Havanatur and Chinese tour operator Tumei International Travel to promote the Island to the Asian market as a “reliable and safe” destination. According to Rodrigo Wen, Vice General Manager for Tumei, Cuba is a priority on its agenda and is among the 20 countries approved by Beijing for group travel after reopening its borders after three years of COVID-19 isolation.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Arrested in January for Calling for ‘Another July 11th’ in Cuba, Sulmira Martínez is Taken to Guatao Prison

Sulmira Martínez, 21 years old. (Cubalex)

14ymedio, Havana, March 31, 2023–Sulmira Martínez Pérez, arrested on January 10th for announcing her intention to protest in the streets, was transferred on March 17 to Guatao prison in Havana, according to Mónica Baró who cited the 21-year-old’s mother, Norma Pérez.

“Norma says her daughter is traumatized, that in Villa Marista [prison] during the visits they had, which last ten minutes or a bit more, always in front of an officer, she couldn’t say anything, but yes, she suffered in there,” said on Friday the Cuban journalist who now lives in New York.

Baró stated that Martínez Pérez, “began yelling in Villa Marista for them to let her go and after that they transferred her to El Guatao.” They transferred her, continues the publication, “in a little cage, one of those State Security vehicles that are hermetic, with bars,” and she was mistreated on the way.

“She was handcuffed and asked them to loosen the handcuffs because they were tight, and what they did was to stand her up and handcuff her to a bar in the vehicle, with her arms spread apart, as if it were a stockade,” stated the independent journalist.

Similarly, Norma Pérez told Baró that the charges against her daughter have changed from “propaganda against the constitutional order” to “instigating a crime,” one of the charges applied to many of the protesters of July 11th, 2021. She does not have, at the moment, a trial date. continue reading

The woman was able to visit her daughter on Wednesday, but told the journalist that she cannot go see her every Thursday, which is visitation day, “The transportation to the prison, round trip, from Las Guásimas to El Guatao, including the wait time, costs 3,000 pesos and Norma receives 2,000 pesos [per month] as a retiree. Furthermore, she cannot gather enough food every week to take her daughter and pay for the transport.”

In jail, Baró continued, “the prisoners are sleeping on mattresses full of bed bugs, receiving poor nutrition and suffering cruel and degrading treatment by the guards.”

The legal organization, Cubalex, which monitors cases of political prisoners on the Island also demanded on Friday, “The Cuban regime should release Sulmira without delay and stop incarcerating Cubans for freely expressing themselves.”

Known on social media as Salem Cuba, a pseudonym under which she managed a Facebook page where criticism and memes of Cuban authorities are frequent, posted the following before her arrest, “For those who say ’all bark and no bite’, I am planning a demonstration, in the streets, not behind a screen,” and “We need organization… spread the word!!! We’re planning another July 11th.”

At first, little was known about her arrest, but a few weeks later, her mother’s desperation began to echo; during a livestream she expressed how “she was holding it in.”

“First she was at 110 y Aldabó [a detention center in Havana] and later they moved her to Villa Marista [State Security headquarters],” explained the woman, who claimed that during the arrest her house was the target of a police search, “They took the computer, the telephone and the Nauta internet connection.”

The lawyer, hired through the “revolutionary state” cost 5,400 pesos, said the woman and she clarified that her daughter is accused of “propaganda against the constitutional order.”

The new Criminal Code, which went into effect last December, increased the penalties against human rights defenders, activism, and controversial criticism on social media. In article 143, the norm states that anyone who supports, encourages or receives resources “for the purposes of paying for activities against the State and its constitutional order” incurs a sanction of deprivation of liberty for four to ten years.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Comedian ‘El Gato’ Receives a Pass to Visit his Family After Two Years in Prison

Prisoner Yoandi Montiel Hernández received a permit to visit his family after almost two years in prison. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2023 — Political prisoner Yoandi Montiel Hernández, known as El Gato de Cuba, obtained a permit to visit his family a few days before completing his two-year prison sentence, accused of contempt after lobbing criticism against the regime during livestreams on social media.

On Sunday, the news was confirmed by activist Daniela Rojo who shared on Facebook a photograph of Montiel, with his much more tired-looking face reflecting the two years he spent in prison. Rojo wrote, “his eyes, I no longer have words,” on a post that generated a wave of comments from followers who referred to the “pain and sadness” in his look.

The comedian was arrested on April 12, 2021 at home, by an officer of the Ministry of Interior and about 20 police officers. During a trial held on April 7, 2022, El Gato received a two-year prison sentence, but according to opponent Osmay Pérez, at that time there was a possibility that the lawyers and the prosecutor’s office might reach an agreement for him to be released in three or five months, although there were not any advancements in the case.

This April he will have spent two years in prison; he was first taken to the State Security general quarters in Havana, Villa Marista, and was later transferred to the Valle Grande prison, where he remains. During this time, the regime has rejected his family’s requests for his conditional release, and on the contrary, in May 2022 they requested a review of his case to increase his sentence. continue reading

In statements made to Diario de Cuba, his father, Lázaro Montiel, said that El Gato was arrested for “having mocked Miguel Díaz-Canel in his latests livestreams.” His mother has said that he only spoke “the truth.”

Contrary to the requests of human rights defenders, the number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience remains high in Cuba. The last report from Prisoners Defenders (PD) suggested that, at the end of February, 1,066 Cubans were detained, including 34 minors who are being charged or have been convicted of sedition with sentences of up to five years in jail.

One of the recent cases of greatest consternation was the March 23rd arrest of activist Aniette González, in Camagüey, after posting photographs of a performance with the Cuban flag as part of the The Flag Belongs to Everyone campaign, in solidarity with artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. González is being held in pretrial detention, awaiting trial, and is accused by authorities of “insulting the symbols of the homeland.”

One of her two daughters, Aniette Ginestá, told Radio Televisión Martí that last Tuesday they filed a write of habeas corpus in favor of the activist before the Provincial Tribunal of Camagüey, although they could not present the document directly in the courtroom “because the procedures have changed a bit and now it must be presented in the office.” According to her, the authorities have one week to respond to their petition.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Police Arrest an Activist in Camaguey for ‘Insulting’ the Cuban Flag

Aniette González was arrested on March 23rd in Camagüey for posting photographs of herself dressed in the Cuban flag. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2023 — Activist Aniette González was arrested on Thursday in Camagüey after posting her photographs during a performance with the Cuban flag. Accused of “insulting the symbols of the homeland,” she was transferred to Villa María Luisa, the headquarters of State Security in the province, according to reports of several users.

The news came to light after the Facebook profile of Mambisa Agramontina demanded freedom for González and gave an account of the events. “Enough of the repression, down with the dictatorship,” she wrote.

The post was also shared by journalist José Raúl Gallego, who reminded readers that the prison cells of Villa María Luisa are used by police to torture the opposition and stated that González “is in danger” every second she remains in the cell. “Whatever happens to Aniette inside there is the responsibility of the State Security officials,” he tweeted.

González’s last activity on social media was precisely on March 23, when she shared a video of user Guillermo Sierra Conda who denounced the authorities for the arrest and torture of his brother, who suffers from psychological problems.

González joined La bandera es de todos [The Flag Belongs to Everyone] campaign in solidarity with artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who is imprisoned in the Guanajay maximum security prison in Artemisa province, for insulting the symbols of the homeland, contempt and public disorder. continue reading

In 2019, the artist carried out Drapeau using the flag as revindication that it is a symbol of the Cuban population. Immediately the regime arrested him and, after several complaints from human rights defenders, was freed, but the harassment did not cease. On 11 July 2021, he was arrested before he could join the protests that took place that day throughout the Island, although it wasn’t until June 2022 that the People’s Municipal Tribunal of Centro Habana sentenced him to five years in jail.

The number of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience remains high in Cuba. Prisoners Defenders (PD) reports that as of the end of February, 1,066 Cubans were detained, among them are 34 minors — the minimum age of criminality is 16 — who are charged or have been convicted for sedition, with a five year jail sentence.

The Madrid-based organization, registered that 116 women (including several trans women) are serving sentences for politics or conscience. According to the report, 210 prisoners are protesters accused of sedition and 208 have been sentenced to an average of 10 years in prison.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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An Election in Cuba: ‘Not a Day of Reflection’ and Electoral Messages at the Polls

A session of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power, showing the deputies voting unanimously, as is the norm.

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist,27 March 2023 — Ahead of the election results in Cuba on Sunday the 26th, it is worth reflecting on some aspects of the process that was followed. Specifically, the practice of asking for votes up until the time people arrive at the polls is one controversial aspect of Cuba’s communist electoral system where plurality does not exist. Furthermore, there isn’t even a day after campaigning finishes to provide a day of reflection.

The electoral throng designed by communists to get their way has little do do with usual democratic practices. Actually, Díaz-Canel who aspires to subsequent reelection launched a grand election speech in front of the state media cameras in an attempt to influence participation up until the last minute. All rather undemocratic, of course.

And what did the leader speak of in front of the cameras? Well, more or less, the same as always. In district number 44 in Santa Clara, where he cast his vote very early at one poll — which justified his hasty return from the Iberoamerican Summit in Santo Domingo — before entering the poll, Díaz-Canel launched into a speech, the content of which had little to do with what democrats tend to do at polls during voting.

In effect, he said he was convinced that “the candidates have had the opportunity to dialogue with the people about Cuba’s challenges facing the economic blockade and unjust inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.” A claim that continues to transfer responsibility for the country’s dire economic situation to its northern neighbor, despite the fact that its government’s decisions explain, to a great extent, the disaster which has occurred. Furthermore, the dialogue with the people has been non-existent. continue reading

After announcing that the National Assembly “should change it’s system of working to facilitate the exchange with people and advance the legislative agenda” during an announcement of government action that conveys the communist leader’s absolute conviction that he will be selected once again o continue until 2028 by the delegates chosen in these elections. Later, he expressed his confidence that “the Cuban people will defend the future, the homeland and unity of the revolution with their conscious and optimistic vote.” It is crystal clear.

Not satisfied with weaving this into his speech, Díaz-Canel resorted to pontificating upon the phenomenon of migration in the context of the current global crisis. Surprisingly, he said, “Cuba is not immune to the problems faced by migrants in the world,” but that he is “also confident that many of the young people who have left the country will return.” A coded message that was for internal consumption directed at all the families torn apart by the rupture, that has displaced in just one year more than 200,000 Cubans.

Then he continued on the domestic messaging, revindicating “the role of young people in Cuba’s development and the importance of offering them spaces for their academic and professional training, as well as for their participation in innovative processes and social transformation.” A lot of grandstanding, but young Cubans are leaving the country. They do not accept the misery in which their parents and grandparents have lived, and are searching for a better life, far from the empty ideological messages. From there, Díaz-Canel’s next message was to call for “unity and dialogue among all sectors of Cuban society,” and to reiterate his “commitment to the defense of the revolution and national sovereignty.”

He later hailed “the diversity and representativeness of the unique candidates running for Parliament,” which is nothing but a contradiction in itself. He justified it by saying that “in these candidates, all the sectors are represented and the majority are women, that is important because it allows us to have better representation from the country’s social fabric.” But that already happens in all countries around the world and there is no reason for Cuba to be an exception.

He ended by referencing the economic and social challenges the country faces and reiterated his “rejection of any external interference that aims to undermine Cuba’s sovereignty and independence.” Díaz-Canel rejected that “some could prioritize the economic situation,” which leads us to ask what the vote should depend on. He then said that, in his opinion, “most people know that despite the difficult economic situation if we were once again a colony of the United States the problems would only grow, if everything were privatized. What would be the future of the young people?” The eternal obsession since the times of Fidel Castro. Of course, a hodgepodge of tantrums that was possibly not correctly picked up by the media, since everything seemed like absolute nonsense.

Leaders of democratic countries rarely make these types of allegations at the polls when they go to vote. At most, they congratulate themselves on that day, rejoice that everything functions and trust that the day will turn out for the best. There is no room for lowbrow speeches and demagoguery. In Cuba there is.

In the single-party democracy, as Mogherini defined it, the maximum leader says whatever he wants at the polls when he goes to vote, and there are no limits. The playing field is his and no one else’s. He is even allowed to announce the priorities of his government, before he is elected by those whose mission it is to elect him or not. It is an international embarrassment however you view it.

The socialist democracy in Cuba is lightyears away from international practices. The power is highjacked by a farce, which resists advancement.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Mother Seeks Justice for Her Son’s Death at the Hands of Two Cuban Police Officers

14ymedio, Havana, 23 March 2023–The Territorial Military Tribunal in Havana absolved two police officers accused of killing Exduyn Yoel Urgellés Huete in the municipality of La Lisa on October 7th. Milagros Huete, his mother, maintained her silence all these months for fear of reprisals, but on Tuesday she confronted the officers during an interview with independent news outlet Cubanet, “You killed my son!”

According to Huete, Sub-lieutenant Raunel Castillo Milanés’s defense and that of Sergeant Eudys Jiménez Matos claim that “there was not excessive use of force.” The young man’s mother believes the opposite: both agents, she says, ignored the vital signs and the correct application of the containment technique, a maneuver which aims to immobilize the person who is detained.

Her son and one of his friends, called Yunieski, who dedicated themselves to the illegal sale of air fresheners, witnessed a police operation to arrest a thief who stole a gold chain in La Lisa, the woman said. When they arrived at the scene, they found a group of people who took off running and, instinctively, Urgellés also took off running because two weeks earlier he had been fined 2,000 pesos for his informal business.

Urgellés had a daughter who is a minor and the sale of air fresheners was the only means of subsistence he’d been able to find, said his mother. “I understand it is wrong, but it was his job,” she said. continue reading

Agent Castillo caught up to him and sprayed him with pepper spray. “They handcuffed him and threw him on the ground,” narrated Huete who is sure that, having consulted the court documents, Officer Jiménez joined the interrogation. They asked him why he stole the chain, but Urgellés declared that he did not know anything about that and attempted to explain why he had run off.

Not listening to his story, said Huete, the policemen put her son in a patrol car with his head down and had a conversation about the containment technique. When his partner asked, Jiménez responded that he didn’t know how to implement the technique and Milanés proceeded to show him how to apply it.

He placed his left arm between the arms of a handcuffed Urgellés and moved his head forward and back. After the “demonstration,” Jiménez attempted to apply the technique himself in the “same conditions and without using force,” because, they declared, the detainee remained “calm and communicative.”

Subsequently, in the patrol car they headed to the Aleida Fernández polyclinic looking for the victim of the robbery which had resulted in his presence there, presumably to take a statement, but the person had already been discharged. Once again, the car headed to the police station in La Lisa.

Upon reaching the station, one of the agents noticed that Urgellés was foaming at the mouth. “Immediately” they removed the handcuffs, stated the court document consulted by his mother, and they took him to the Cristóbal Labra polyclinic two kilometers away where “they arrived a few minutes later.”

Urgellés arrived in cardiorespiratory arrest, in a cyanotic state and without positive vital signs. For 30 minutes they tried to resuscitate him, but he was finally declared dead due to “asphyxia.”

During the trial, which Huete attended, military prosecutor Gabriel Pérez Lázaro disregarded the arguments of the young man’s lawyer, Pedro Roberto Valdés, who said that none of the two agents nor the patrol car driver had been arrested, “they had to attend to” other things unrelated to Urgellés’s “detention.”

“The result of the trial was freedom for both police officers,” stated the frustrated mother, who at that time lashed out at Castillo and Jiménez who had murdered her son.

Exduyn Yoel Urgellés Huete used to work as a baker in La Lisa until, according to his mother, he was assigned to oven duty. After falling asleep several times and burning the bread, he began to have problems at work, and he finally resigned. Soon after, faced with the impossibility of finding legal work, he and his friend Yunieski began selling air fresheners, said Huete.

Urgellés’s widow, Yuraimy Galdo Pérez told CubaNet that the young man was “an excellent father.” “The girl, since dad lost his life, is sick every month,” she said and added, “It is another case that goes unpunished.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Reports of State Security Threats Toward Elections Observers in Cuba

Signs with information and propaganda related to the upcoming elections in Cuba. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 March 2023 — On Monday, Zelandia de la Caridad Pérez, the national coordinator of the Cuban Commission for Electoral Defense (Cocude) denounced that several Cuban activists are being threatened with arrest by State Security if they persist in their intent to observe the electoral process on Sunday, March 26th, when the delegate candidates to the National Assembly of the People’s Power (ANPP) will be voted on and approved.

During a telephone conversation with 14ymedio, De la Caridad Pérez stated that for several days, the political police have been conducting this type of threat and also stated that “they are strongly repressing those who are campaigning for abstention, alluding to the recently approved Criminal Code.”

“A number of citizens and activists who promote and participate in a campaign for abstention are being threatened with judicial proceedings for supposed law violations,” signaled a joint statement by Cocude, Observadores de Derechos Electorales [Electoral Rights Observers], and Ciudadanos Observadores de Procesos Electorales [Citizen Observers of Electoral Processes].

Activists pointed to the electoral law which does not prohibit citizens from “demonstrating their preferences,” although it does prohibit formal election campaigns.

“The right to observe is consecrated in the current electoral law, thus, these repressive actions and operations by State Security against activists interested in exercising that right is a clear violation of the law,” insisted the activist who added, “We’ve received reports of these threats from Santiago de Cuba, Artemis and especially here in the capital.” continue reading

These threats, insists De la Caridad Pérez, are in contrast to the statements made by Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, president of the National Electoral Council, “who called for the entire population to participate in the voting this coming Sunday. We can only conclude that they do not want our reports, which are serious and well-documented, to belie their propaganda.”

“One of the things we will audit is whether, in the polls, when the process ends, they prominently post information with the results. That is one step they often violate, in the same way they also violate the deadlines for posting voter lists at each polling site,” explained Concude’s coordinator.

For their part, Electoral Rights Observers (ODE) decried on its Facebook page that during a test run on Sunday ahead of the March 26 vote, there was not “access to independent national and/or international actors” who could participate and “audit the process.”

“In fact, in all prior processes, as well as the current one, the regime’s willingness to impede any independent citizen monitoring exercise that would expose the multiple irregularities in the process is made clear,” exposed the organization.

Of the test run, ODE stated that it visited ten polling sites in Havana and Holguín and confirmed that “there is no detailed information” about how the process will be carried out, “what the evaluation criteria are” nor “how the staff who will participate in the process are selected.”

“Generally, it was another demonstration of the secrecy with which they conduct electoral processes in Cuba, as well as the lack of participation from those who should attend. Independent citizens in different locations reported there were many voting centers where they did not conduct the test, and that were not even open,” concluded ODE, but only after saying that in some centers there was strong police security, State Security agents and the presence of local authorities.

In the Parliamentary elections next Sunday more than eight million Cubans are called to the polls to vote, 1.5 million of whom are in the capital.

A total of 470 candidates are running for an equal number of seats on the Cuban unicameral legislature and voters can support them or not. Only those with more than 50% of the submitted votes may occupy their seat. There are several legal provisions to fill seats that might remain vacant.

Candidates were selected by the so-called mass organizations, associations within the orbit of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC, the only legal party), and approved by the municipal assemblies of the People’s Power, where their militants are the majority.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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In Cuba, Food Prices Increased by 73 Percent in One Year

Among other goods, the prices of urban transportation have increased notably. (Nycecile)

14ymedio, Madrid, 20 March 2023 — In the first months of the year, the cost of living in Cuba has increased by 5% compared with December, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was only slightly better in February than in January. The second month of the year ended with an increase in CPI of 2.61% compared with 2.74% the previous month and 44.50% higher than February 2022. In addition, the estimate is double the year-to-year increase at this time last year, which was 23% compared with February 2021.

Once again, the figure is worse if we focus on the food and non-alcoholic beverage sector, which experienced a year-to-year increase of 72.62% or on restaurants and hotels, 62.51% over last year. These two areas, directly related to food, are the ones that once again drive inflation in Cuba–4.4% for the month and 9.5% since the beginning of 2023, in the case of gastronomy, 3.3% in February and 6% for the first two months of this year for food an beverages.

In more detail, this month white cheese contributed most to the price increases, with an increase of 13% followed by taro root (9%), rice (7.7%) and poultry (7.4%). The price of pork increased only slightly in this period and costs 1.6% more than last month, but its impact, along with that of rice, on inflation is greater.

With regard to gastronomy, snacks once again drive the increases, with a 5.7% increase, followed by prepared foods and breakfast (both at 5%), soft drinks (4.4%) and lastly, lunches and dinners, with a 3.3% increase. This sector is gaining importance when it comes to driving price increases and is once again, just like last month, the sector that experienced the most increases. continue reading

The sector in third place for price increases was furniture and home goods (2.3%), its impact is not as great as the transportation sector, fourth place in terms of inflation, but third for its impact on citizens day-to-day. In January, it was already 1.6% higher than in December and rose again in February to 2%.

Thr price of urban transportation in diverse vehicles is growing rapidly (7%), followed by urban taxis and rickshaws (5.2%). Long distance taxi prices increased by 3.3% and other types of transportation in this area by 1.87%. Finally, buses, the price of which continues to increase, although moderately — at less than 1%.

The report, published online on Friday by the National Information and Statistics Office (ONEI), focuses, as usual, on the goods that experienced the greatest variation in prices in February and that, along with cheese, rice and taro root are mostly foods. The price of cooking oil increased more than 10% and the price of flours, highly desirable during this time of great scarcity, increased more than 8%.

On the opposite end are price decreases, with peppers (-15.8%) and tomatoes (-13%) in the lead, and red beans (-2%) and black beans (-1.8%). Somewhere in the middle are cigarettes, which for several months has been one of the products that has contributed most to softening the calamitous price increases of the last several months.

This division, which began to register price decreases in December and January, once again declined notably with a decrease greater than 5%. So far this year, the decrease is almost -11%, moderating the year-to-year increase, which is only 12%.

With regard to the rest of the sectors, home services is the only one that experienced a price increase greater than 1%, with the following areas all less than that: education (0.9%), recreation and culture (0.6%), clothes and shoes (0.47%), health (0.3%) and communications (0.03%).

Although the official statistics help us monitor the evolution of inflationary trends, to understand the real CPI, it must be calculated taking into consideration the informal economy. American economist Steve Hanke, who does that calculation constantly, placed inflation at the beginning of March at 81%, 12 points above the prior month.

Furthermore, on March 8th Hanke published the evolution of the value of the currency, where the Cuban peso continues to be the fourth most depreciated against the dollar, at 60% and only surpassed by Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Lebanon.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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‘Cubadebate’ Exhumes Fidel Castro’s Speech That Gave Way to the UMAP Camps, and Removes it Hours Later

On Tuesday morning, the publication had been removed without explanation.

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 14 March 2023–Universidad de la Habana, March 13, 1963. Fidel Castro leaned on the podium, at the top of the stairs facing thousands of students. Dressed in a suit, grimacing, are: President Dorticós; the adventurous geographer Antonio Núñez Jiménez; youth director José Rebellón; and the parents of Camilo Cienfuegos, who had died just a few years earlier. He gives a long speech. The next day, the press repeats the same headline, Castro promises a “firm hand” for the “weak,” the “lazy,” the “religious,” the “blue jeans,” the “lumpen,”and all kinds of “worms.”

Sixty years later — this Monday — the regime’s press dusted off what was one of the most sinister speeches given by the caudillo after 1959. On Tuesday morning, the publication, shared as a special in Cubadebate, had been taken down without explanation. The speech, however, remains accessible at this link there is the cached version created by Google which Cubadebate cannot erase.

Attempts have been made to tone down or even justify the so-called “speech at the staircase,” which gave way to the creation of what were called Military Units of Support to Production (UMAP) and the persecution of homosexuals, members of several religions and “off-track” intellectuals.

Personalities like Mariela Castro Espín, the leader’s niece and founder of the National Center for Sex Education (Cenesex) have not viewed Castro’s assault on homosexuals favorably and try to attribute his intolerance to “the times” and not to a political strategy.

Why are they interested in rescuing the regime from an oratory piece which ends by requesting the assassination of Jehovah’s Witnesses and capital punishment for common delinquents? The answer, given the context of ideological radicalization pushed by the Communist Party nowadays, is unsettling. continue reading

Leafing through the newspapers of the time or the popular “Bohemia” magazine allows us to take the pulse of the era. (“Bohemia” March 22, 1963)

Leafing through newspapers of that time or the popular Bohemia magazine allows us to take the pulse of that era. Military slogans, threats against any “Elvispreslian” attitude — one of Castro’s barbarisms that went down in history — interviews with leaders and news from the Soviet Union. Even the comics are eminently misogynous and sexual, to confirm the leader’s mandate: 1963 must be, even “by force,” the Year of Organization in all areas of life.

When Castro rose to the university podium, he was supposed to commemorate the sixth anniversary of José Antonio Echeverría’s death and the young men who took control of the Presidential Palace and the Radio Reloj station in 1957. After the failed assault against dictator Batista, the group was brutally assassinated.

However, the comandante dedicated a mention to Echeverría — a Catholic leader with a strong personality, whom Castro always viewed as a rival — to “apologize” for having allowed a group of radicals to erase from his statement “an invocation to God.” That act, he said was “erroneous and not revolutionary.”

Then, the “commemorative” speech took a spectacular turn and centered on the problems of the present. The recurring theme was Echeverría’s own religiosity: “Today, I will speak about others who, invoking God, want to make a counterrevolution.”

In a couple of phrases he neutralized the hierarchy of Catholic bishops who had published furious letters against the infiltration of Soviet communism on the Island. His government, he stated, “did not close churches, did not create obstacles for any priest willing to carry out his proper religious functions, and it could even be said that conflicts between the Revolution and the Catholic Church have begun to disappear.”

The waters have “leveled” with the bishops, Castro lied. His true objective was another, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Gideon Evangelicals, and the Pentecostal Church, three “Yankee sects” that had penetrated the Cuban countryside and that, to the chagrin of the military, proposed peaceful civil disobedience.

They drove him crazy, he admitted. “When it is time to harvest cotton, coffee, or sugar cane or when special work is required and the masses are mobilized on a Sunday, or Saturday, or any day, then they come and say, ’Do not work on the seventh day.’ And then they start with the religious pretext to preach against voluntary labor,” or they say, “Do not use weapons, do not defend yourself, do not be a militant.”

Castro accused them of being superstitious, of offending the homeland and the flag, and later asked what should be done with them for “preaching idiocies.” None of the young people hesitated, “Paredón!” — To the wall! That is the firing squad

It was just the beginning of the speech. The then Prime Minister continued talking about the ills they had inherited from the “capitalist past” and how they must draw a line between that and the present revolution.

“Many of those young slackers, children of the bourgeois, go around with their pants that are too tight; some of them with a guitar and their ’Elvispreslian’ attitudes.” (’Bohemia’ March 22, 1963)

Several “infectious focal points” remained, composed of “antisocials, thieves, pickpockets and parasites.” He stated that the police had been corrupted and the judges were soft in their sentencing. “The result: the need to take harsh measures,” he said, and asked the crowd what measures should be taken. Once again, drunk with enthusiasm, the university students responded, “Capital punishment!” and also, “Fidel, paredón for the thief!”

Satisfied, Castro increased the response. What can be done, then, with the young men who gather in the “pool halls” and other recreational establishments, “full of slackers and lumpen”? With the prostitutes, dedicated to the “repugnant profession”? And with the rest of the religious? He invited those who wished to leave to the United States to walk away. “What do they expect?” he asked and his audience broke out in laughter.

The “soft” who dare to complain, he dug in, “we understand they should undertake physical labor, which is the type most needed at the moment, and that they should go work in agriculture,” as a “little reinforcement, but not much!”

He then stated the most famous phrase from that speech, the one that would decide the fates of thousands of young people in the sixties and that today the official press repeats intentionally, about what he called a social “subproduct” of 15 or 16 years: “Many of those young slackers, children of the bourgeois, go around with their pants that are too tight; some of them with a guitar and their “Elvispreslian” attitudes, and they have taken their debauchery to extremes, wanting to organize their feminoid shows freely in public.”

With the spiel against those with “weak legs” and the “crooked trees” he abandoned the podium. He’d leave them, he said, with a big lesson, “All the worst comes together. Don’t ever forget that, don’t ever forget it.”

In 1965, the UMAP system was already operating in Camagüey. “We have made our calculations,” warned Castro about that measure and its impact on “the New Man” that the Revolution desired. Thanks to that speech of 60 years ago, notable cultural figures paraded through the UMAP, such as future cardinal Jaime Ortega, troubador Pablo Milanés, and author Reinaldo Arenas.

On December 31, 1963, Arenas — an aficionado of “the world of Havana show business” — hugged his lover, a young man named Miguel and wished him a Happy New Year despite the “sexual persecution.” Miguel returned the hug through tears and said, “It’s unbelievable that Fidel has already been in power for four years.”

“Wretched,” wrote Arenas as he recalled that hug. “I thought that was too much time. He ended up arrested and taken to one of the concentration camps. I never saw him again.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Monthly Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Cuba (February 2023) / Cubalex

Cubalex, 14 March 2023 — In February 2023, the human rights situation in Cuba continued to worsen. The two most frequent factors were state repression and the authorities’ inability to satisfy basic social needs such as provision of electricity, medicine and food. In a context where Cuban citizens are unable to achieve a decent life due to the failure of the state to meet its obligations, repression is generalized and sustained over time.

Among the incidents recorded by Cubalex the applied practices of state agents are notable. Most of the acts were documented in Havana, although some also occurred in Matanzas, Camagüey and Mayabeque. In February we documented an increase in repressive practices.

The full report can be read and downloaded here.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

‘Hildina’, the Young Woman Who Exposes Poverty in Cuba on Her YouTube Channel, is Detained for More Than 7 Hours

Hildina’s channel on YouTube has more than 103,000 subscribers. (YouTube/Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2023 — Cuban YouTuber Hilda Núñez Díaz, also known as Hildina, was arrested on Thursday in Santiago de Cuba by police agents. More than 30 officials blocked access to the block where the young woman lives, they burst into her house and, after conducting a search, they seized her telephone and her computer.

“Hildina is already at home, she was fined and threatened, according to them (the Cuban regime) ‘for using social networks to discredit the government,’ and they made threats of all kinds as they well know how to do,” reported her own Facebook page.

“She has no way to communicate because they kept all her devices (cell phone, laptop, etc.)” adds the publication. “She is feeling very bad psychologically after everything she was put through and being treated like a criminal. Thank you to everyone who has shared what happened with her. Do not stop doing it.”

On Thursday morning, the Facebook page of the 24-year-old Youtuber had denounced that Hildina was being “interrogated” by State Security after a “big operation.” Several weeks ago, the young woman recorded a video in which she gave an account of the threats to which she was being subjected by the regime’s political police, who had prohibited her from “recording in Havana.”

Twenty-four-year-old Núñez “is being interrogated” by State Security after a “large operation,” states the young woman’s own Facebook page. Several weeks ago, Hildina had filmed a video where she recounted the threats to which she was being subjected by the regime’s political police, which had forbid her from “filming in Havana.” continue reading

“They know absolutely everything,” she decried, alluding to the blackmailing agent, who told her they would “complicate her life” and they reminded her that she was the mother of a small boy. “Where is the freedom of speech?” she demanded. “They don’t want people to know the reality of Cuba.”

Núñez continued working on her YouTube channel despite the media campaign against her launched by the regime. A Facebook profile associated with the state, Mercenarios en la mira [Targeted Mercenaries], attempted to discredit the young woman. It accused her of “hypocrisy,” of “manipulating the reality” of Cubans and of “selling herself as a good samaritan.”

A few minutes before Hildina’s arrest was made public, the same profile published another post. They described her as, uncovered, a “terrorist,” an “imposter with proven links to those who from the U.S. fund and incite violent acts on our national territory.” In addition, they mention, her presumed links with businessman Manuel Milanés and YouTuber Ultrack.

“Behind Hildina and her ‘inoffensive’ videos is the same strategy which ’spawned’ the most rancid and violent mercenaries living in the U.S.,” spewed Mercenarios en la mira [Targeted Mercenaries].

In her last livestream, on March 5th, Hildina said she received 34,000 pesos — around $200 — from a subscriber to her channel who lives in Germany. With that money, she went to the streets to buy food and give it to several disadvantaged people in Santiago de Cuba. In the video, the young woman divulged that State Security had prevented her from filming in a market in the city and that a woman had reprimanded her, calling her an “opponent.”

The report of Núñez’s arrest resulted in a wave of indignation among users. “Her content only talks about the day-to-day for Cubans and helps a lot of needy people with basic needs,” stated Jonathan Trujillo Pérez. “This is a violation of human rights. Once again, censure and the lack of freedom of expression are on display.”

The Cuban regime has toughened repressive measures against activists and opponents who live on the Island. The pressure for them to stop publishing content that challenge the government propaganda is one of the priorities of the political police.

Duanys Moreno, the young man provided minute-by-minute reports of the explosion at the Supertanker base in Matanzas, was harassed by State Security and spent several days subjected to torture and threats. Months later, he once again filmed from exile. “The most important thing in a struggle is to preserve life,” he declared to 14ymedio, alluding to the risk YouTubers face when complaining about the crisis in Cuba and the strict surveillance to which the regime subjects them.

Ruhama Fernández, also from Santiago, exiled today in Florida, was the victim of harassment and repression by the Political Police, who did not stop pressuring her to stop doing her work on YouTube. The young woman denounced many of the ills of the city and the country, such as the chronic shortage of food and the misery in which many families survive.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Monthly Report on the Human Rights Situation in Cuba: January 2023 / Cubalex

Cubalex, January 2023 — In January 2023, the human rights situation continued to worsen in Cuba. The two main factors that were most influential were state repression and the inability of authorities to satisfy basic social needs such as supplying electricity, medicine, and food. In a context where it is impossible for Cuban citizens to live a decent life due to the failure of the state to comply with its obligations, the repression is generalized and sustained over time. In addition, the attempts by the Cuban government to advance its relationship with the United States gained media attention.

Among the incidents reported by Cubalex the practices applied by agents of the State stand out. Most of these events reported were in Havana, although they also occurred in Cienfuegos, Pinar del Río, Matanzas and the special municipality of Isle of Youth. Most of these practices are selective and individualized, but on occasion they include entire families. In January, there was an increase in the number of repressive practices such as arbitrary detentions and threats and harassment, not only physical, but also digital.

The complete report is available to read and download here, in Spanish: Report-January-2023-with-Corrections.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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