The migrant showed up “as if nothing had happened” at a checkpoint in New Mexico, an agency official reported.
In New Mexico, the Border Patrol detained a Cuban migrant who was the subject of a permanent removal order.
14ymedio, Havana, 5 May 2025 — Last Friday, Border Patrol detained a Cuban migrant who acted “as if nothing had happened” at a New Mexico checkpoint. The migrant, whose identity has been withheld, had been issued a permanent removal order under Section 8 USC 1253 of the Immigration and Nationality Act for failing to appear for immigration appointments, according to Chief Warrant Officer Michael Banks.
According to Banks, the Cuban man’s arrest “underscores the crucial role that checkpoints play in protecting our communities from violent criminals.”
The arrest of this Cuban migrant follows the arrests in Florida last March of eight other Cubans with criminal records for drug trafficking, fraud, sex crimes, and elder abuse.
This Cuban immigrant is implicated in murder, weapons possession, and drug charges. / X/@USBPChief
“Undocumented immigrants will no longer hide in the shadows of the bureaucracy,” Jeffrey Dinise, head of the Miami sector of the Border Patrol, warned at the time, confirming that detainees rely on mitigating circumstances to avoid imminent deportation.
In the first 100 days of Republican Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president, raids to locate and deport irregular migrants with criminal continue reading
records have intensified.
During January through April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded the arrest of 66,463 migrants, 75% of whom had criminal records. Among those detained were 2,288 suspected members of gangs such as Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and Barrio 18. Additionally, 1,329 people were linked to sex crimes and 498 to homicides.
This week, Trump used the CBP Home app to promote self-deportations. He is now offering not only “travel assistance” but also $1,000 to all non-US citizens to voluntarily leave the country.
The Department of Homeland Security called the initiative a “historic opportunity” to offer foreigners “financial and travel assistance to facilitate their return to their home country through the CBP Home app.”
The U.S. government estimates that using the app “will reduce deportation costs by approximately 70%,” even with the payment of assistance. Currently, the average cost of arresting, detaining, and removing an illegal alien “is $17,121,” according to the administration.
Translated by Tomás A.
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The arrests of “these two peaceful pro-democracy activists” occurred in a context of “intensifying authoritarianism.”
Cuban dissidents Félix Navarro and José Daniel Ferrer, in archive images.
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 5 May 2025 — A total of 43 organizations, including political parties, unions, and NGOs, are demanding the “immediate” release of Cuban dissidents José Daniel Ferrer and Félix Navarro, after the Cuban government last week revoked their release from jail.
In a statement released this Monday by Prisoners Defenders (PD), they demand “coordinated and effective international diplomatic, political, and legal pressure to end the brutal repression.”
Among the signers of the document, in addition to the PD, are opposition political organizations such as the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) [Consejo para la Transición Democrática en Cuba], Ferrer’s Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the Cuban Women’s Network [la Red Femenina de Cuba], and the Roots of Hopes Association in Spain [Asociación Raíces de Esperanza en España].
The signers believe that the arrests of “these two peaceful pro-democracy activists” occurred in a context of “intensifying authoritarianism by the Cuban regime, and just hours after the funeral of the same pope with whom the regime had agreed to their release.”
These actions further demonstrate that the 230 releases did not represent a gesture of openness
“These actions further demonstrate that the 230 releases, carried out under ignominious and unacceptable home-imprisonment conditions, did not represent a gesture of openness, but rather the opposite. The wave of repression and the hundreds of short-term arbitrary detentions continue reading
demonstrate an even deeper regression by the regime,” according to the statement.
Ferrer and Navarro, who have been active in the opposition for decades, were released last January, following an agreement between Havana and Washington brokered by the Vatican in which Cuba agreed to release 553 inmates and the US agreed to remove the island from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.
Last Tuesday, the People’s Supreme Court revoked the releases of Ferrer and Navarro, alleging that they “failed to comply with the law during the probationary period they were serving.”
The Supreme Court charged the dissidents, stating that “they are people who publicly call, in their social and digital environments, for disorder and contempt of the authorities, and maintain public ties with the chargé d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Cuba.”
Navarro, 72 years old and with health problems, was serving a nine-year sentence for the crimes of public disorder, contempt, and assault.
According to the court, their arrests are based on two reasons: in Navarro’s case, because he left his municipality seven times without the judge’s permission, and, in Ferrer’s case, because the leader of UNPACU twice failed to appear before the judge.
In response, the signers contend that the arrests of both dissidents “do not constitute isolated events,” as “they are part of a systematic policy of repression against dissident and/or plural voices.”
Navarro, 72, who is in poor health, was serving a nine-year sentence for public disorder, contempt, and assault. Ferrer, 54, is serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence for unlawful deprivation of liberty, and assault.
Both were among the 75 opposition members arrested and sentenced during the Black Spring of 2003.
Translated by Tomás A.
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The organization explained that seven new names were added to its list and the same number were released from prison
Prisoners Defenders reported that its registry includes 222 people accused of sedition, when in most cases they participated in peaceful protests. / Wilber Aguilera Bravo/Facebook
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, March 13, 2025 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported this Thursday that at the end of February, it had registered 1,150 political prisoners in Cuba, the same number as its previous monthly report.
The Madrid-based organization explained that seven new names had entered its list and the same number had been released from prison after fully serving the sentence or measure imposed.
PD, one of the main sources of information on the registry of political prisoners in Cuba, still maintains 230 individuals on its list who were released between January and February, arguing that their sentences have not been served, but rather that they are on conditional release. continue reading
These individuals were released following the Cuban government’s decision to release 553 inmates convicted of “various crimes” after Washington removed Havana from the list of countries that promote terrorism.
There are 715 individuals “with serious medical conditions and 61 prisoners with serious mental health disorders, all of them without adequate medical or psychiatric treatment”
The Cuban government, which never publicly linked the list and the releases, announced two days ago that it had concluded the process “successfully.”
The measure was described as a “fraud” by Prisoners Defenders and criticized by several human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Justicia 11J, Cubalex, and the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH).
The monthly report by PD indicates that its registry includes 715 people “with serious medical conditions and 61 prisoners with serious mental health disorders, all of whom lack adequate medical or psychiatric treatment.”
It explained that 33 minors remain on the list, of whom 29 are serving sentences and four are being prosecuted “with precautionary measures without any judicial protection.” The minimum age for imprisonment in Cuba is 16.
Prisoners Defenders reported that its registry includes 222 people accused of sedition, when in most cases they participated in peaceful protests. It added that 219 “have already been sentenced to an average of ten years of imprisonment each” (including 15 minors).
The NGO also highlighted the treatment suffered by the 121 women included on its list.
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Amid severe food insecurity, the number of Cubans with obesity reached 24%
“Every year more people die from obesity than in traffic accidents.” / EFE
14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2025 — Doctor Francisco Durán García, national director of Epidemiology, appears on the news every Wednesday to update the situation in Cuba. But this week he had no alarming information to comment on: oropouche virus fever is under control, although it is circulating through seven provinces, and the same is true for dengue fever, which has caused around 2,500 people to be admitted in three provinces, but with only one serious case, in Sancti Spíritus. The current concern is outside the border, with the serious outbreak of measles affecting the US.
Measles, one of the most contagious diseases in the world, is spreading across nine states and there are already more than 200 cases. Most of those affected were unvaccinated people. More concerning is that, following the death of an adult in New Mexico on Thursday, two deaths have now been reported.
In that state, ten people are infected, all under 17 years of age. Seven were not vaccinated; the rest probably weren’t either, but their history is not documented.
In New Mexico, ten people are infected, all under 17 years of age. Seven were not vaccinated; the rest probably weren’t either, but their history is not documented.
So far, cases of measles have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas. Last week produced Texas’s first fatal case in 30 years, and 10 others nationwide. continue reading
The New Mexico Department of Health issued a reminder that the only way to avoid measles is through vaccination, and urged residents to protect themselves and their families. An anti-vaccine movement has emerged in the US and is gaining momentum, with more than 20 bills currently under consideration to ease existing regulations.
The situation is such that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his anti-vaccine stance, has urged the population to get the MMR vaccine, though he hasn’t stopped recommending some useless products, such as vitamin A, to prevent the disease, which has raised alarm among scientists.
In his news report, Francisco Durán recalled that measles has been eradicated in Cuba since 1993, seven years before the United States, and urged citizens not to let down their guard. “To prevent it, a vaccine is given at one year of age and at six years of age, which is a triple vaccine. It’s called the MMR vaccine because it includes mumps, measles and rubella, three diseases that have been eliminated in our country. I take this opportunity, as always, to urge mothers to be vigilant,” he emphasized.
But the program did not address another issue that has captured international attention this week, with the publication of the World Obesity Atlas 2025, which provides data for the island’s authorities to consider.
During a time of severe food insecurity, the number of Cubans with obesity has reached 24% and is expected to increase by 2030. Even worse is the percentage of the population that is overweight –more than half, some 5.53 million, according to the World Obesity Federation.
Cuba’s overweight population percentage is higher than the world average, though it is lower than the continent’s figures, which are alarming in both very rich countries, like the United States—one of the worst in the world—and in very poor ones, like Haiti. Nevertheless, the island’s numbers are disturbing.
Cuba’s overweight population percentage is higher than the world average, though it is below the continent’s figures, which are alarming in both very rich and very poor countries.
Cubans have a 60% to 80% chance of being overweight throughout their adult lives, and looking ahead the picture is worse. By 2030, 2.95 million women and 2.58 million men in Cuba will be overweight or obese, compared to 2.39 million and 2.06 million in those categories in 2015.
But the chance of being obese in Cuba is lower: less than 10% for men and between 10% and 20% for women.
The atlas indicates that in 2021, 3,594 deaths related to overweight and obesity were recorded on the island, primarily due to cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer. In addition, 114,248 people suffered health problems related to a high body mass index (BMI), among which type 2 diabetes stands out, affecting almost half.
The study determined that consumption of sugary drinks is high on the island, between 1 and 2.5 liters per person per week. Furthermore, there is little physical activity. The organization warned the State about its neglect in this matter: in the last five years, the State has conducted no surveys on obesity and overweight, unhealthy diets, or physical activity. Nor has it taken measures to tax sugary drinks.
The Cuban diet is severely impacted by the scarcity of and rising prices for fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables, but also by poor nutritional education and a lack of measures to encourage the consumption of the healthiest foods possible. Instead, in an attempt to satisfy the population, the State has invested in or subsidized processed products containing sugars—or carbohydrates that release them—that worsen health.
“More people die every year from obesity than from traffic accidents,” said the president of the World Obesity Federation on Monday when presenting the report. An epidemic that receives less attention than it should.
Translated by Tomás A.
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The most serious situation is in the José Ramón Cepero, in Ciego de Ávila, and the San Luis, in Pinar del Río.
José Ramón Cepero Stadium, in Ciego de Avila. / Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo
14ymedio/Swing Completo [Full Swing], Havana, 11 February 2025 — One month before the start of the Elite League season on the Island, the vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), Omar Venegas Echemendía, acknowledged his concern about the poor condition of the playing fields of six stadiums hosting the event, which are located in Havana, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Pinar del Río and Ciego de Ávila.
“We have to take a closer look in order to rehabilitate them,” he told Jit, the official sports media outlet. The immediate task focuses on “delivering clay, restoring the grass, and working on other aspects such as repairing the safety padding, and painting the stadiums inside and out,” he said.
According to Full Swing, the specialized media outlet, the most pressing situation was found at José Ramón Cepero Stadium in Ciego de Ávila. The authorities found that the facility at the Tigres team’s home field lacks padding to protect the players, and some is located in the wrong places. “The condition of the benches is another critical problem, because they are very far below the standard of quality they should have. The whole situation is extremely worrying and covers almost all areas,” the sports website reported.
Venegas Echemendía acknowledged the situation, and added that the lights also present problems, although “they are already working on securing investments for the lighting towers, because a good set of lights is necessary.”
The Captain San Luis stadium in Pinar del Rio also presented some problems. / Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo
Guillermo Rodríguez, the journalist from Radio Rebelde, shared images from the tour of several stadiums on his networks. At Captain San Luis Stadium in Pinar del Rio, which he visited on February 1, “the 20-second clocks don’t work, there’s a lack of clay in the infield area, the [batter’s] box needs to be filled, the clubhouse (where the batting cage is located) needs to be illuminated, and the interior and exterior areas need paint.”
Latinoamericano Stadium in Havana also needs improvements. During the tour on February 5, work was underway on the dugouts and bullpens, which the journalist Rodríguez reported had to be ready by last Friday.
Meanwhile, at the Mártires de Barbados stadium, the journalist said, “we have to work to improve the quality of the field, especially the grass, and increase the level of clay.”
Making some improvements at Latinoamericano Stadium in Havana./ Facebook/Guillermo Rodriguez Hidalgo
During the tour, the vice president of Inder gave assurances that he had spoken with the Islazul chain, in charge of tending to the Elite League, “in order that they provide the stipulated food for the athletes, the best accommodation conditions, and to strengthen the supervision of the organizing committee.”
The problems of the sports facilities on the Island were aggravated by Hurricane Rafael. Last November, the authorities confirmed damages in 48 sports facilities in Artemisa. The most significant was the fall of the lighting towers in 26th of July Stadium. That property also reported damage to the roof of the electronic scoreboard.
The roof of the Cazadores team headquarters was another of the sites affected by the hurricane. At the time, internet users reported apparent damage in four other stadiums: Jesús Suárez Gayol, Julio Pérez, Tricontinental, and Luis Campos. They noted that even before the cyclone struck, several sports facilities lacked adequate maintenance.
Translated by Tomás A.
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Cubalex, 2 February 2025 — Yankiel Justiz Despaigne, a 36-year-old inmate, died on January 30 from tuberculosis, in the Melena del Sur prison, located in the province of Mayabeque.
According to information received by Cubalex, Justiz Despaigne died in his cell without receiving timely medical care, despite the fact that tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable disease if detected in time.
His death adds to a long list of deaths in custody in Cuba, where prison conditions and lack of adequate medical care have resulted in an alarming pattern of human rights violations.
Medical negligence in Cuban prisons is a systemic practice that results in preventable deaths. Among the most frequent irregularities are:
– Minimization or neglect of symptoms reported by detainees
– Delays or refusals in the administration of medical treatments
– Inadequate or non-existent responses to health emergencies
Prison conditions which aggravate the health crisis
Prison conditions in Cuba further increase the vulnerability of prisoners. Overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, and shortage of drinking water seriously affect the health of people deprived of liberty. The lack of hygiene, adequate ventilation, and poor nutrition not only deteriorate their physical condition, but also amplify the spread of diseases, turning prisons into high-risk environments.
This case exposes a structural crisis within the Cuban prison system, where the lack of medical care, coupled with inhumane prison conditions, represents a constant threat to the lives of people in state custody.
Cubalex has documented multiple cases of deaths in custody as a result of medical negligence and deplorable conditions of confinement. Between January 2022 and January 2024, 56 deaths in state custody were recorded, of whom 34 were prison inmates. 19 of these deaths were directly attributed to the denial of medical care and resulting health problems. For more information on the patterns identified, see our report.
report-https://cubalex.org/report/muerte-en-custodia-en-cuba-un-
While some congratulate him for his courage and clarity, others go so far as to call him a “traitor.”
José Daniel Ferrer during his interview with “El Toque” on January 24th /El Toque
14ymedio, Madrid, 3 February 2025 — Controversy has reached José Daniel Ferrer more than a week after an interview with the independent media El Toque, when he spoke out in favor of a process of reconciliation with the Cuban regime, if it decided to initiate it. “The question is to resolve, in a non-violent way, as soon as possible, the serious suffering of an entire nation,” argues the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), released from prison on January 16.
The opposition leader, one of the most significant members of the Cuban dissidence, imprisoned many times in recent years, talks for an hour and a half with Eloy Viera about his last imprisonment, the harsh living conditions in Mar Verde, the Santiago de Cuba prison where he was isolated for much of the last few years and where visits are prohibited. But he also devotes many minutes to addressing the political situation on the island and possible solutions.
Ferrer, who cites his beliefs numerous times when referring to forgiveness, admits at one point that he would be willing to personally renounce the prosecution of some people who have harmed him if that means agreeing to a peaceful transition, as long as it is the regime that takes the initiative. continue reading
“If they decide, even though they’re coming to it late, to begin a rapid transition process here in Cuba, then I would agree that this process should begin”
“If they decide, even though they’re coming to it late, to begin a rapid transition process here in Cuba, then I would agree that this process should begin, and we should reconcile and move Cuba forward. And I am going to forget about the guy who kicked me, and that those who criticize me and attack me possibly did not spend 12 years in prison under these conditions,” the dissident advises, aware that his words will not be liked by a large sector of the population who, in his opinion, speak from the comfort of not having experienced deprivation of liberty, physical abuse, and attacks on their relatives.
Ferrer continues comparing this eventual process with that of other countries in which dialogue was necessary with the hierarchy of a dictatorship, and cites Poland and Chile among them.
“Didn’t Lech Walesa negotiate with Jaruzelski, the man who declared martial law, brought tanks onto the streets, and was responsible for the deaths of peaceful protesters and workers in Poland? Didn’t they end up agreeing on an entire process? Didn’t Solidarity come to power with the
support of the people? Why aren’t we going to choose that path in Cuba?” he asks. Ferrer recalls that many of those who oppose dialogue lack the strength of a mass of followers supporting them, and insists that the dissidents must remain strong and united.
“The only way to get to that point is for us to unite, to understand each other, to implement truly useful strategies and tactics to achieve the political strength necessary to have a movement like the one Gandhi had in India, which led the English to grant them independence, or like the one Solidarity had in Poland, which led the Poles to abandon communism, or like the one that occurred in Chile, which led Pinochet to the plebiscite that he lost, even though by a narrow margin, he lost. There was a risk that he would win and follow on with his regime but he lost,” he continues, in the most controversial minute and a half of the interview.
“Whatever is ethical and moral in order to solve the problem of Cuba. The unworthy, the most unworthy thing in all of this is to cling to the idea that I want to tear them down, that I hate them and that I want them dead, which is not Christian, it is not healthy, it is not characteristic of someone who has good mental and moral health to be hating, even those who are the most criminal, the most abusive, those who have done me the most harm,” he concludes.
“Whatever is ethical and moral in order to solve the problem of Cuba. The unworthy, the most unworthy thing in all of this is to cling to the idea that I want to tear them down, that I hate them”
The interview was broadcast on the 24th live from the Facebook page of El Toque, at which time it received the approval of a great majority of those who followed it. Many even pointed out his moral strength because, in the midst of the suffering that he has endured over the years, he is capable of forgiving and putting the interests of the nation before personal interests.
But on Saturday, a doctor exiled in Spain, Lucio Enriquez Nodarse, published on his social media an excerpt of the interview in which Ferrer indicated his willingness to accept a dialogue if the regime asks for it. “And what is this? Reconciliation with murderers? We don’t want them to be killed! We want them to be tried!”
His post has received a flood of comments, from those who believe that he has been “brainwashed, given substances that create confusion, and is just reiterating whatever he has been hearing,” to those who insinuate that he has already made some kind of deal with the authorities. “Do you believe he really went somewhere where what they have said actually happened? The truth is, he would have to have very good genes to come out so physically vigorous. I have seen them come out exhausted, you can see quite a difference between one and the other,” says another user.
Requests for military intervention flood the comments on that post, where friends of Dr. Enriquez have exchanged accusations with those who have asked for respect for such a long-standing opponent of the regime. “I think Ferrer has more clarity than all of us put together . . . What a shame Lucio, that far from understanding a person who has suffered much more than most under that dictatorship, you are now labeling it betrayal. My take is the opposite — admiration for a man who has recently spent more years in prison than out of it, who has been beaten on many occasions yet has room for forgiveness, and who has complete clarity, whose objective is to end once and for all the suffering of the people and not cling to hatred,” says an exile in Canada, who also received numerous criticisms.
José Daniel Ferrer is one of the prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003, when he received a death sentence commuted to 25 years in prison. Eight years later he was released thanks to the efforts of the Vatican and the mediation of Spain. Since then, he has remained at the head of Unpacu, which has caused him countless problems with State Security. On 11 July 2021, he was arrested before being able to join the massive demonstrations of that day and he remained there until January 16, subjected to all kinds of mistreatment and harassment. He is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, which has claimed him as a symbol of many others punished for their opposition to the regime.
Translated by Tomás A.
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“Don’t even think about having a Cuban girlfriend, because she’ll leave you speechless and cackling.”
Renting a room or apartment to foreigners with temporary residence ranges from 250 to 500 dollars a month. / EFE
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 1 February 2025 — From a balcony in El Vedado, Joao Henrique, a 28-year-old Brazilian native from San Salvador de Bahía, points to the building where he should be staying every night. “My scholarship is there, but the conditions are not good, so my parents helped me rent this place.” The house where he lives while pursuing a postgraduate degree in a medical specialty is more comfortable and safe than the state shelter, but it has strict rules.
For 300 dollars a month, the Brazilian student has a room to sleep in, a well-equipped kitchen, a bathroom, a balcony, and a living room. The small apartment is the result of the division of a larger house, so the owners live on the other side of the wall. “I can’t receive visitors, much less have parties,” he explains. “It’s a safe place, but the owners have warned me not to bring Cuban friends over, because then they can’t guarantee that things won’t get lost,” he explains to 14ymedio.
Tourism, which has fallen by almost 50% since the start of the pandemic, has pushed some homeowners to rent their spaces long-term to foreign students. Unlike nightly rates, which can exceed $30, renting a room or apartment to foreigners with temporary residence ranges from $250 to $500 per month, depending on the conditions and location of the home.
The most attractive spaces combine comfort, security, and proximity to the hospitals
The most attractive spaces combine comfort, security, and proximity to the hospitals where students do their internships, or to the facilities where they take classes. Foreign scholarship students are more highly valued than Cuban tenants, because they can pay more and do not accumulate any “right” over the property. But foreign students are often unaware of the characteristics of certain neighborhoods, and have a harder time reading the warning signs of a possible scam or danger. continue reading
From rooms inside a house where they share their daily life with the family, to comfortable independent apartments that include hot water and air conditioning, the variety of options fits everyone’s budget. “This place is close to the hospital where I do my internship, and is also quite central, so though I pay a little more, it’s very practical for me,” explains Joao Henrique.
As part of an agreement with Havana, Brasilia has financed the transfer to the Island of students who are paid for their plane tickets, classes in each specialty, and accommodations. The Brazilian was placed in the Comandante Ramón Paz Borroto Student Residence on the corner of 25th Street and G Street, in Havana’s Vedado. But Joao Henrique only spent the first month there after arriving on the island. “There are many problems with the water supply, and I was robbed twice in my room,” he explains.
“This apartment has better conditions, but it saddens me that my friends can’t visit me. I would like the owners to be less present in my life, and to have a little more privacy,” he admits. “Cubans have a very bad opinion of each other. The lady of the house warns me every week not to even think about having a Cuban girlfriend because she will leave me ’featherless and cackling,’” he says, imitating a Havana accent.
The owners of Joao Henrique’s apartment have a license to rent rooms to foreigners, something that many owners who do the same thing don’t have. “I was in a house where they told me I couldn’t greet the neighbors so they wouldn’t notice I wasn’t Cuban,” he recalls. “That place was cheaper, but one day the owner told me I had to leave because they had fined her thousands of pesos for renting without a license.”
The owners of Joao Henrique’s apartment have a license to rent rooms to foreigners
Others, far from home, prefer to live more closely with a local family. This is the case with Claudia, a German geography student who came from Bremen desiring to “get to know Cuban life.” The young woman took a break from her university and enrolled for a semester at La Colina. There she met a Havana student who offered to rent her a room in her house.
For 250 dollars a month, Claudia got a room in Centro Habana, about a ten-minute walk from her classroom. “I learn a lot by living with a family, but sometimes everything is very complicated. The house only has one bathroom, the kitchen is small, and when I go to the market and buy food there is only one refrigerator to store it in, so it runs out very quickly,” she says.
“I can’t bring visitors, but the girl who rents me a room and I go out a lot together. She has shown me many parts of Havana and introduced me to her friends.” What she misses most about her life in Bremen is “being able to eat vegetables more often, and having more privacy in my room, which has a door that I can’t even close from the inside.” She sums up her experience as “a crash course in Cuban life.” She says she hasn’t been able to learn much geography: “The teachers are absent a lot and sometimes classes are cancelled without explanation.”
The European Claudia and the Brazilian Joao Henrique don’t confront the roadblocks facing African students, who have to deal with prejudices and racism on the Island. For them, the rules can be much stricter.
Manuel, from Angola, and Nicolas Suminwa, from South Africa, have had to learn (by stumbling) to avoid these obstacles. Both have been living in Havana for a couple of years while studying medicine. “They give me a stipend to finance my transportation, my accommodation, and the food I need,” explains the South African, originally from Pretoria. “What I can afford is the cheap spaces, because here in Cuba life is very expensive.”
For 200 dollars a month, Suminwa rented a room with a bathroom in a large house in the El Cerro neighborhood
For 200 dollars a month, Suminwa rented a room with a bathroom in a large house in the El Cerro neighborhood that other compatriots recommended to him. “It’s quite safe, but in one room, which is not very big, I have to have everything: an electric pot for cooking, a table to study on, the bed, and my belongings.” When he returns from his next vacation he will have to rent something bigger. “It’s not going to be easy because when I read an ad, I call, and they tell me that the apartment is vacant, but when I go to see it they tell me that it’s already occupied.”
Suminwa believes that there are many prejudices against African students. “They put more restrictions on us than on others. I’ve spoken with Mexican, Colombian, and colleagues from other countries who are also studying medicine here, and this does not happen to them as much as it does to me.” The South African has experienced things that would be comical if they were not so lacerating to human dignity. “One day the owner of the house unlocked the door to my room because he heard laughter and thought I had sneaked in a secret guest, but it was something I was watching on television.”
Manuel, a 27-year-old Angolan who claims to have earned “a diploma in understanding Cubans,” has experienced similar stories. Now, after many bad moments, he has been able to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Nuevo Vedado for 300 dollars, together with his girlfriend, who is from Luanda like him. The house, owned by a family that recently emigrated to the United States through the Humanitarian Parole Program, is well-equipped and affords privacy.
“The owner’s mother comes by all the time to check if everything is okay,” says Manuel. “We have a washing machine, there is sometimes a lack of water but there is a tank to store it in, and the building is quiet enough.” But the list of prohibitions contains some things that the Angolan knows very well: “no loud music, no parties, and no Cuban visitors.”
Translated by Tomás A.
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Municipal authorities acknowledge that the problem has no solution at the moment and express their concern about the coming months of drought
Two neighbors from the Jesús María neighborhood, in Sancti Spíritus, attach a hose to capture water from a leak. / Capture/Escambray
14ymedio, Olea Gallardo, Havana, 31 January 2025 – Several streets in the Jesús María neighborhood of Sancti Spíritus have been without water for three years. This time the complaint is not being made, as is usual in Cuba, by anonymous users on social networks or independent media, but by the official newspaper Escambray. Last Friday on its video newscast, VisionEs, it showed one of its reporters, Elsa Ramos, visiting the place she had gone six months earlier, and found that the situation was the same: still no water service.
One of the neighbors interviewed explained to the journalist the strategies they use to get water. “We’re going to put the pump in now, we put in the cables and the hose and a man there lends us a little tube, and we connect the pump there and get the water,” he said. “Because here on this block, from this corner to La Gloria, nobody has gotten even a drop of water for three or four years.”
Another resident confirmed: “It’s been more than three years since the water came in here, without any explanation offered. It’s impossible that this pipe here has water, that one over there has water, all the pipes in the block have water, and that this little section here does not have water. I don’t know how that is, it doesn’t make sense.”
A third resident hedged: “Since the construction of Reparto 26, the area around this neighborhood has been greatly affected.” There is water at her doorstep – “It’s a small stream, with little force, but with luck, there is no shortage,” the reporter noted. But this caused other neighbors to point out that it took from “early morning until all hours” to fill containers.
In her report, Elsa Ramos confronted “the government’s representation,” Ariel Muñoz Hidalgo, deputy mayor of Transportation and Energy for Sancti Spíritus, and Yusmeiky Mendoza Muro, director of the state Aquaduct and Sewage Company for the same city.
Asked about the reason why some parts of the neighborhood have water and others do not, Muñoz Hidalgo pointed to the “continuous increase in illegal connections to the hydraulic networks.” The reporter pointed out: “There are illegal connections because they don’t have water.” The official agreed and added, “because they don’t have water or because they have made new constructions.” continue reading
Thus, she attributed a good part of the problem to the increase in the population “without a projection, without an increase in the hydraulic systems as well.” The deputy mayor assured that they have a pumping system “with new pumps, with good water distribution capacities,” but that it could not be used “one hundred percent” because, he explained again, about the leaks, which prevent good pressure in all places.
Tank leaking water on the roof next to a house in Jesús María that does not have the service. / Capture/Escambray
The reporter persisted in asking why one segment in the heart of Jesús María does not have water while the surrounding streets do. The official replied that the street she referred to, Guillermón Moncada, is “very old.” But he didn’t go into detail about the reasons, and in fact, blamed the residents who get water by their own means: “We say it is illegal because it is not approved to do so, but people do it in search of the benefit of the resource.”
When the journalist asked Yusmeiky Mendoza Muro if Aquaduct has a solution and within what time frame, the company manager admitted: “No.” He and the deputy mayor enumerated numerous problems: a shortage of hoses, materials, fuel, and personnel. “We have almost no plumbers,” Mendoza Muro added.
Sealing the leaks and repairing the tanks on the houses are the next solutions that Muñoz Hidalgo promised, but at the same time, he warned that the situation will worsen in the coming months. “At this stage we do have to say that it is much more complex for us because we are already entering the dry season,” the official said, explaining that there are areas that are supplied by the Yayabo River, “which is losing all its capacity.”
“From early February,” he continued, “they will activate the groups to confront the drought and will draw up a calendar for the distribution of water in tanker trucks.” Then Elsa Ramos scolded him that, according to the residents, the tanker trucks don’t comply with the delivery schedules.
“That will always depend on the amount of fuel we have, the availability of tanker trucks we have, the neighborhoods that are growing,” answered Muñoz Hidalgo.
“In order not to create false expectations, will this segment of Jesús Mar continue to be thirsty?” the journalist pressed. Despite all the disasters previously enumerated, the director of the Aqueduct responded emphatically: “No, no, no.” Ramos asked again: “When will we be able to quench this thirst? Are we talking about months, years, centuries?” “No, no, months,” the official answered. The reporter replied that she would return in a while to check on the progress.
Just then, from the roof of a house, a woman didn’t miss the opportunity to point out “the contradiction” that the water tank on a neighboring roof was leaking drinking water. The official responded in a lowered voice: “That’s because of indiscipline.”
Translated by Tomás A.
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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.
Raidel Martínez, with the Cuban national team / Facebook
14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 16 January 2025 — Almost a month after Cuban pitcher Raidel Martínez signed a historic contract with the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), his new team, the Yomiuri Giants, will include him in the so-called Group S, a selection of the most important players on the squad, who get to decide their own training regimen.
The decision, reported this Wednesday by the official newspaper Jit, means that the players who make up the group will be responsible for their own practices and will decide what kinds of exercises they will do to get in shape, without planning by the club’s management.
“Normally, in the demanding world of Japanese baseball, both the team’s director and coaches determine the players’ work schedule during practice, including the exercises they do,” the media outlet explained.
This initiative, according to the newspaper report, “reveals enormous confidence and respect for the club’s most veteran players, a space that Raidel has earned on his own merit.” For the outlet Swing Completo (Full Swing), it is also “a recognition of the awards that the closer achieved and his quality in the box.” continue reading
This initiative, according to the newspaper report, “reveals enormous confidence and respect for the club’s most veteran players
Martínez is one of the best closers in the Japanese league. In his last season with the Chunichi Dragons he had a dream campaign. He set a personal record of 43 saved games, which was also the best mark in the entire league. He competed in a total of 60 games, in which he completed 58.0 innings while allowing only seven earned runs, for an ERA of 1.09. The Pinar del Río native also had 59 strikeouts, gave up 12 walks, and had a WHIP of 0.81. Finally, he allowed only 35 hits, including one home run.
All total, in seven seasons with his former team, he recorded 166 saves, with an ERA of 1.71, in addition to 353 strikeouts in 310.2 innings pitched.
In seven seasons with his former team, he recorded 166 saves, with an ERA of 1.71
The new contract that the closer signed with the Yomiuri Giants for 32.5 million dollars for four seasons is also one of the most lucrative for the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), which will pocket 20% of the amount, some 6.5 million dollars, more than 1.6 million dollars per season.
Although Raidel Martínez’s contract is “a historic agreement,” according to journalist Francys Romero, as it surpassed the $26 million received by Mexican Roberto Osuna or Cuban Liván Moinelo, the expert opines that the closer from Pinar del Río “would have obtained offers of between $50 and $70 million if he had entered the Major League market” in the United States.
In addition to Martínez and Moinelo, other Cubans with deals in the Japanese league are Carlos Monier, Frank Abel Álvarez, Cristian Rodríguez, Darío Sarduy and Ariel Martínez. There are also two other players with such contracts in Mexico, six in Italy, and four more in Canada.
Translated by Tomás A.
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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 last flight on the Zurich to Havana route will depart February 27th. / Edelweiss/Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, January 26, 2025 — Gravely wounded in recent years, Cuba’s tourism industry is facing a new problem: airlines rerouting flights that they previously flew to the Island, but now prefer to land at its largest Caribbean competitor, the Dominican Republic.
That happened this week. David Collado, Minister of Tourism of the Dominican Republic, told the press during the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) under way in Spain, that Swiss airline Edelweiss is redirecting several of its Cuban routes.
“We signed agreements with several different operators and airlines today, and tomorrow we will continue signing with Iberia, Air Europa, and Edelweiss, bringing five additional flights to the Dominican Republic, flights that had gone to Cuba and are being transferred to the Dominican Republic,” said the minister, who affirmed that his country has made a successful effort to secure new air routes and commercial partners.
“Today, Air Transat and Air Canada informed us that they will also increase the number of flights from Canada as well, Collado added.”
The rerouting of flights came a few days after Edelweiss announced the suspension of its route from Zurich to Havana, which will make its last flight on February 27, the company explained to 14ymedio. continue reading
The Swiss media outlet Twenty Minutes, which initially reported the suspension of the routes, stated that “the decision is based, on the one hand, on decrease in demand and, on the other, on the current conditions of the José Martí International Airport in Havana. An on-site review conducted by Edelweiss has revealed difficulties in guaranteeing stable and reliable long-haul operations in the long term.”
The company pledged to refund the price of tickets to those who had purchased tickets after the deadline.
A month earlier, the German company Condor also announced the suspension of its flights to the Island for the summer season for the first time since 1990 (other than during the pandemic). The company served three destinations: Havana, Holguín, and Varadero.
Since Cuba was added to the list of states that sponsor terrorism, European citizens visiting the Island can no longer benefit from the ESTA visa waiver program for entering the United States, which, in the opinion of the Cuban Government, had damaged its destination in the European market.
The company pledged to refund the price of tickets to those who had purchased tickets after the deadline.
Travelers from Spain, previously an important market for Cuba, showed the most worrying drop: Up to November in 2024, Spain contributed 26.8% fewer travelers than in the first eleven months of 2023. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Cuban Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, arrived at Fitur stressing that his Government is working in the face of “difficult, complicated scenarios” in the tourism sector.
The promise of the Ministry of Transport to repair airports has also not been carried out. Last July, Minister of Transport Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila said that planned improvements at José Martí Airport in Havana (a new air conditioning system and facilities expansion) for terminal 3, dedicated to commercial flights, had never happened. “In reality, that airport has been at its limit for a long time. We have tried to make investments, and the Havana airport is the one that receives more than 50% of passenger arrivals,” he lamented then.
Translated by Tomas A.
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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.
Cubalex, 29 April 2021 — The Provincial Court of Las Tunas has accepted the special Habeas Corpus petition, presented through legal assistance from Cubalex, in favor of the activists Taimir García, Adrián Góngora and Damián Hechavarría, detained on April 21 after peacefully demonstrating in that eastern city. The court required the police to present the detainees at a public hearing.
The public hearing, which seeks to clarify the facts, will take place on April 29, at 2:00 p.m., at the courthouse.
Cubalex applauds Jorge Luis García Fajardo, Annia Naomi Cortés, Jesús Canales Romero and Luis Fernández Reyna, judges of the judicial body, for working with the independence that their positions require, to comply with the provisions of the law and guarantee due process in this case.
Criminal Court Division One continue reading
Writ Granting Hearing in Habeas Corpus Proceeding
President – Gerardo Peña Canales
Judges – Jorge Luis García Fajardo, Annia Naomi Cortés, Jesús Canales Romero, Luis Fernández Reyna
In Las Tunas on April 28, 2021
Granting a petition for habeas corpus presented by citizen Holmis Rivas Carmenate in favor of the detainees Taimir García Meriño, Adrián Miguel Góngora Santiesteban and Damián Hechavarría Labrada against the detention carried out by officers of the National Revolutionary Police
Judge Gerardo Peña Canales presiding –
As a result of the proceedings, the Court finds that a habeas corpus procedure has been filed on behalf of the detainees Taimir García Meriño, Adrián Miguel Góngora Santiesteban and Damián Hechavarría Labrada which requests that a hearing be held, seeking their immediate release on the grounds that their arrest and subsequent transfer to the Provincial Investigation Unit of Las Tunas is arbitrary.
Considering that the petition is exercised in the manner prescribed in article 467 et seq. of the Criminal Procedure Law, conforming as required, and according to what is pertinent.
The Court Agrees:
To schedule the date, time and place to hold a hearing for a habeas corpus proceeding.
Requiring the Provincial Instructor who handles the process to present the detainees Taimir García Meriño, Adrián Góngora Santiesteban, and Damián Hechavarría Labrada, to hold the hearing that will be held on April 29, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. in the Provincial Court of Las Tunas, having to submit a written form stating when and the reason for the arrest of these people, the crime charged, the dictated resolutions in effect and the other arguments considered in respect to the denounced violations by the person who presents the process, who must be served with a copy
In the more than 10 years that our organization has been assisting its clients in filing this legal remedy, this is the first time that a court has complied with the country’s rules and respected international standards. We believe that this first step could create a precedent for justice and respect for human rights.
The habeas corpus petition was filed in Court the day after the activists were arrested, when they protested a fine imposed on Hechavarría for selling medicinal plants. The event was broadcast live on Góngora’s Facebook profile and disseminated on social media with expressions of support for the activists. Hours later the altercation was covered on the Cuban TV Newscast. Humberto López described them as “criminals with terrible social behavior” and said that they would be turned over to the authorities.
Cubalex denounces such behavior as violating the principle of presumption of innocence. “When they report it [like this], all the judicial officials begin to prejudge it,” explains lawyer Giselle Morfi.
“In addition, most of the time, due to the inefficiency of the Central Criminal Registry, they don’t prepare a timely update of the record of prior offenses and they also bring that up without it being correct.”
The specialist adds that it also lends itself to confusion and parallel trials regarding prior criminal records because they impose fines that do not leave a record and people assume it is true, and their criminal history expands many times, without having it. “This goes against another important principle, which is the social reintegration of the arrested person. How can someone, who has been portrayed under a high-magnification lens as a criminal, return to their pre-broadcast state, even if they are tried and acquitted? It is unethical for press professionals to participate in this,” concludes the lawyer.
With some 30 habeas corpus proceedings presented by Cubalex to the country’s courts from January through March 2021, this is not the first time that a Court has granted the petition, recognized in Article 96 of the Cuban Constitution and enacted in the Criminal Procedure Law. On February 3, activist Hanoi Morán Dime was released after the Provincial Court of Havana considered the habeas corpus petition drawn up by Cubalex. But on that occasion the judges did not clarify the circumstances of the request or hold a public hearing, as required.
The situation that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is going through is the result of the unequal relationship between the power of the State and that of the citizen who expresses disagreement with government decisions and demands respect for and the guarantee of fundamental rights.
The State abuses its power, and one example of this is that on May 2, after being on a hunger and thirst strike for a week, Otero Alcántara’s home was raided and he was forcibly transferred to the “General Calixto García” University Hospital, where he has been forced to abandon his strike, based on the medical treatment that was imposed on him, contrary to the Declaration of Malta, which the government claims to respect.
Previously, the State itself had denied on more than one occasion that the strike was real. The denial remains when they allege that Otero has a state of “self-reported voluntary starvation” and, paradoxically, has been confined and incommunicado for 9 days, under the supervision of a “multidisciplinary team that guarantees the recovery of his state of health.” The last note from the Provincial Health Directorate, the only source of partial information available, insists that he has recovered calories and that continue reading
a dermatologist gave him “a treatment,” without explaining which treatment and the reason for it.
The institution violated his right to medical self-determination, by not allowing him to voluntarily choose his admission, treatment, and the doctors who would attend him, functionaries of the State: Dr. Carlos Alberto Martínez Blanco, director of the hospital, deputy to the National Assembly and member of the Council of State, and Dr. Ifrán Martínez Gálvez, deputy director of the hospital, who represents himself as head of the specialized team that attends him personally, and even walks with the patient through the hospital complex, on camera. They also violated his right to informational self-determination when they disseminated the medical results from his clinical record through official media, presumably without his consent.
Currently, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remains incommunicado and only the official version is known without being able to verify with him or his relatives who have had closer contact, because the government refuses to provide detailed information to the press, to his friends, and to the San Isidro Movement that represents Luis Manuel. Meanwhile, lack of transparency continues to reign in Cuba and the principle of maximum disclosure is violated, by preventing access to information, contrary to international standards for the protection of human rights.
Translated by Tomás A.
*Ed. note: We currently are ’catching up’ on translations of Cubalex and reaching back to earlier months. Please note the dates on these posts. Thank you.
Cubalex, Laritza Diversent, 2 September 2021 — It is irresponsible (as a professional and as a teacher) for the “Doctor of Legal Sciences” Mayda Goite Pierre to give her opinion on things she doesn’t know about or hasn’t even studied. If silence is bad, a cover-up is worse; her opinions misinform the public and confuse her students.
Ms. Goite, at least take the trouble to read the International Convention against Forced Disappearance that the Cuban State signed and ratified, and is therefore obligated (erga omnes) to follow.
Elements of forced disappearance
1. Deprivation of liberty
2. Direct intervention by state agents or others, with their consent and protection
3. Refusal to acknowledge the arrest and/or to reveal the fate or the whereabouts of the person concerned
MININT (Ministry of the Interior) agents have been committing crimes of forced disappearance before and after 11J (11 July).
Continuous or permanent nature of the enforced disappearance: continue reading
The act of disappearance and its execution
1. It begins with the deprivation of liberty of the person and the subsequent lack of information about the fate of the person;
2. It lasts as long as the person’s whereabouts are not known and the person’s identity is determined with certainty.
Once committed, the crime can be prolonged continuously or permanently until the moment when the fate or the whereabouts of the victim is established.
Forced disappearance is an illegal act that generates multiple and continuous violations of fundamental rights:
not to be arbitrarily detained,
not to be subjected to torture,
to life and to the recognition of legal personality.
Victims who suffer forced disappearance are treated contrary to inherent human dignity while in state custody.
Forced disappearance places the victim in a state of complete defenselessness and involves related crimes: the detained person is in a serious situation of vulnerability and risk of suffering irreparable damage to life and personal integrity due to the mere fact of prolonged separation and coercive isolation, which represents cruel and inhuman treatment.
Although the presentation of a Habeas Corpus petition obliges the courts to carry out judicial supervision of the actions of agents of the PNR (National Revolutionary Police) and State Security, under the guarantee of due process, there are legal obstacles and judicial practices that render this remedy ineffective.
Mrs. Goite, take the trouble to study the records that have been filed in the Provincial Court (I’m sure that you do have access) related to the requests to initiate this procedure and you will find a series of legal obstacles that make the Habeas Corpus petition ineffective, especially because they do not meet the standards that guarantee the protection of people against torture, ill-treatment, and forced disappearances, for the following reasons:
1. The law requires the petitioner for Habeas Corpus to designate “the place where the person is being deprived of it [liberty]; and the [government] authority or its agent, or the official who is maintaining” the deprivation of liberty against the person in whose favor the order of liberty is being requested. This requirement leaves people unprotected against possible forced disappearances, rendering the remedy ineffective.
2. The Criminal Procedure Law does not provide for the possibility of initiating a Habeas Corpus proceeding if a “provisional sentence or arrest warrant” was issued in the process, which makes this remedy ineffective against arbitrary detentions.
If you follow my recommendation, you will also find judicial practices in the processing of this remedy that violate the fundamental principles that govern the judicial function, those which show the dependence on and complicity of judges with the agents of the Ministry of Interior, whom they are biased in favor of, to the detriment of the fundamental rights of detained persons.
When responding to the petitions presented, the acting judges:
1. Limit themselves to verifying that the documentation required by criminal procedural legislation was presented in the proceedings, without verifying the information provided in the request, and they only accept as valid the version of the authorities responsible for the arrest.
2. They never pronounce on the reasons for detention, violence, or use of force in arrests, incommunicado detention, forced disappearance and the right of access to defense, and they rarely report on transfers and places of detention where the person is held.
3. They almost never agree to hold an oral hearing, which is mandatory, and so they do not check for themselves the whereabouts and condition of the detained person.
4. Most of the time, they declare the petition inadequate and “improper”, arguing that the arrest took place “with all the procedural guarantees and within the established legal bounds.”
Lack of judicial control in the domestic context:
Judges evade their responsibility regarding judicial control of the actions of law enforcement officials and thereby:
1. They do not comply with the application of the law and fundamental principles of rights that govern the judicial function.
2. They favor arbitrariness, abuses of power, and violations of fundamental constitutional rights, especially the right to liberty and personal security.
3. They limit access to justice and fail to comply with the State’s international obligations regarding the prosecution of international crimes such as torture and forced disappearance, which are currently not included in [Cuban] criminal law, despite the fact that Cuba is a party to the respective international treaties.
There can be no doubt that the judges who have heard and denied the habeas corpus petitions presented as a result of 11J, are necessary cooperators in the serious human rights violations committed by agents of the Ministry of the Interior under orders from the political group that controls the State and Government, in order to guarantee their permanence in power, without political alternatives.
Cubalex, 12 May 2021 [please note date*] — Cubalex monitored acts of harassment against civil society from May 3rd to 9th, as well as government measures taken in the context of the pandemic and events of shortages of products and basic goods. This report also breaks down the selective internet outages that activists and dissidents have suffered, and highlights the threats, attacks, and violations of rights from the official press.
In one week, our organization documented some 15 people who were victims of home confinement. Most of them were surrounded throughout the week to prevent them from reaching the Calixto García hospital where the authorities are keeping Luis Manuel Otero incommunicado. In addition there were also 20 arrests mainly related to the status of Luis Manuel and the impossibility of accessing him.
We also recorded two incidents of violence against women activists at the hands of the police or public officials. In the case of Carolina Barrero, she was stripped and beaten by women agents in the presence of a male officer. Also in Havana, the activist Yeilis Cruz reported having been beaten by the member of the Party’s Central Committee, Humberto López, when she was filming him on the public street. The activist is currently being detained in the 100th and Aldabó prison in Havana, accused of an assault.
*Ed. note: We currently are ’catching up’ on translations of Cubalex and reaching back to earlier months. Please note the dates on these posts. Thank you.
14ymedio, Havana, 5 May 2025 — Last Friday, Border Patrol detained a Cuban migrant who acted “as if nothing had happened” at a New Mexico checkpoint. The migrant, whose identity has been withheld, had been issued a permanent removal order under Section 8 USC 1253 of the Immigration and Nationality Act for failing to appear for immigration appointments, according to Chief Warrant Officer Michael Banks.
not to be arbitrarily detained,
