The Cuban Police Intimidate Young People to Force Them to Delete Content on Their Social Networks

The tweeter Ariel González celebrating his return home after being forced by State Security to give explanations for the use of a hashtag on his social networks. (YoUsoMiNasobuco [I wear my mask])
14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, August 6, 2021 – Ariel González Falcón, one of the main promoters of the #SOSCuba label, has been forced to delete all messages tagged with that “call for help” after State Security detained him on Wednesday for about two hours in a police station where he was taken without a summons. The medical student affirms that he is trying to ask for healthcare aid and denies the insinuations of the authorities, who link the hashtag with a request for military intervention on the Island.

“I make these tweets to try to join forces and help get medications to the people who need them,” he said in a video posted on his Twitter account YoUsoMiNasobuco (I wear my mask). During the days before, González had invited others to share the hashtag in their publications. “This tweet is cited with #SOSCuba and is discussed with #SOSCuba. Let’s make a useful chain,” he asked.

“They were not intended to help or promote any military intervention in my country, much less to call people to an uprising,” adds the young man, who places himself on the sidelines of political issues and “campaigns.”

His case is not the only one. Youtuber Daguito Valdés, creator of the channel Yo hablo Fútbol (I speak football), also had to go before State Security. The young man, summoned this Thursday for an interrogation continue reading

at a police station in Pinar del Río, told 14ymedio that he was “questioned” about his publications on his social networks outside of sports and what they have to do with the Cuban reality.

Saily González, founder and director of the first coworking space for entrepreneurs in Cuba, is also among those who support the use of the label as a wake-up call to the world. “It’s not an empty hashtag. The world has to recognize our pain: There are no medicines. There is no capacity in the hospitals. They can cut our internet at any time because they are making the situation visible and arrest us. The Cuban government doesn’t care about us #SOSCuba,” she wrote.

On Tuesday, on the State television program Razones de Cuba (Cuba’s Reasons), the ruling party returned to its theory that the hashtag SOSCuba was launched in New York, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, in a press conference a few days after 11J (July 11).

“They used agents paid by the U.S. Government who have committed illegal acts here in Cuba to try to obstruct the pronouncement of the United Nations General Assembly against the blockade,” said the foreign minister.

He added that since July 5, the “media laboratory that operates from Florida launched the Twitter campaign for humanitarian intervention in Cuba.” For the Minister, it is an aggression by the U.S. Government, which “today does not need missiles, does not need marines, and has an enormous capacity for unconventional warfare.”

According to Razones de Cuba, the United States uses the “cyberwarfare system to undermine the unity of the people.” The program used as illustrative content, publications from independent media and captures of tweets from computer scientist Norges Rodríguez, founder of the Yucabyte site, who also used the hashtag on his social networks.

More than a week ago, Rolando Arias Peñas and Luis César Rodríguez from Holguin were threatened in their homes by two agents of the political police. Both share on their social networks, constantly, content from independent Cuban media censored on the island, and denunciations of the regime’s repression against activists and journalists. In addition, they define themselves as “anti-communists” who advocate for freedom of the Island.

On July 23, Yoan de la Cruz was arrested; on 11J he made the first live broadcast through Facebook of the first protests in San Antonio de los Baños. Several friends and family denounced his arrest and demanded the release of the young man, whom they described as “brave.” “With a cell phone and a few megabytes, he taught the whole world that in San Antonio de los Baños there is a small town, but full of brave people like him.”

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.

In the First Six Months of 2021 More Cubans Arrived in Mexico than in the Entire Previous Year

Cuba continues in third place by country, only surpassed by Honduras (26,557) and Haiti (13,255). (New Digital Life)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Lorey Saman, Mexico, August 4, 2021 — Refugee applications by Cubans in Mexico continue to grow strongly and already exceed last year’s figures. In the first six months of 2021, there were 6,446 petitions, compared to 5,778 during all of 2020.

According to the latest statistics published by the National Refugees Commission of Mexico (COMAR), Cuba continues in third place by country, only surpassed by Honduras (26,557) and Haiti (13,255), and  followed by nationals from El Salvador, with 4,402 requests, and in fifth place by Venezuelans, with 3,558.

In the last eight years, 3,361 Cubans have been granted asylum, with a considerable increase in recent months. In the first six months of 2021 alone, 1,739 were approved. Thousands of Cuban nationals who initiate the procedure with COMAR don’t finish it, since their objective is to obtain a humanitarian visa to be able to transit through the country toward the northern border, cross into the United States, and request asylum there.

In any case, every day the number of Cubans who decide to live in Mexico grows. The latest report from continue reading

the National Migration Institute (INM) indicates that between January and June, 10,995 processed their legal stay in the country or renewed their residence.

In the last six months of 2020, the 8,258 Cubans who applied at the Migration offices were surpassed only by 14,344 from Venezuela and 9,472 from Colombia.

On the southern border, due to the increase in the migratory flow, delays in refugee processing have been reported. In mid-July and following the announcement made by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to provide humanitarian aid to the Island, Cubans stranded in Tapachula requested that their immigration applications be expedited and that they be granted humanitarian visas.

“The action of the Mexican government to help Cuba is very good, but I think it should start with the thousands of Cubans who are stranded on the southern border without a document to continue on or to remain legally in Mexico,” Carlos Quesada, a Cuban, told a reporter for the El Heraldo Chiapas newspaper.

Another Cuban migrant, Imarais Restrepo, told the paper that she has been in Chiapas for two years and was denied political asylum, but is again trying to obtain it. She also asked the Mexican president for his intervention to speed up the procedures: “I think it will now be easier to obtain our documents in order for us to have more peace of mind in this country.”

On the other hand, on the border with the United States the irregular entry of immigrants is complicated. The Biden Administration officially resumed rapid deportations last Friday by sending undocumented immigrants by air to their countries of origin in Central America.

The Department of Homeland Security reported that the “expedited removal process is a legal means of safely managing our border, and is a step toward our broader goal of safe and orderly immigration processing.”

A day earlier, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced a strategy to address migration from Central America, which, in addition to combating corruption and violence in the region, has the support of other governments and U.S. companies.

The plan focuses on Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, countries that make up the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, where the largest flow of migrants seeking to reach U.S. soil comes from. Harris admitted that her country’s commitment “has often been inconsistent” and in recent years engagement in the region had been “significantly pulled back.”

Meanwhile, immigrants who manage to enter the United States illegally could be vaccinated against Covid-19. As reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, the government is studying immunization only for those temporarily in the custody of the U.S. authorities.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Colombian Authorities Intercept 18 Cubans in the Gulf of Uraba

The interception occurred at night, a time when navigation is not allowed in the Urabá Sea. (Colombian Navy)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Lorey Saman, Mexico, August 6, 2021 — The Colombian National Navy intercepted a boat carrying 18 undocumented Cubans in the Gulf of Urabá, in the north of the country, El Tiempo newspaper reported this Friday. This area of the Caribbean Sea, which connects towns such as Necoclí and Capurganá, is a necessary route for migrants seeking to cross into Panama through the Darien jungle on their way to the United States.

The authorities reported that a total of 19 migrants were on board, including two minors and one identified as a Chilean national. The interception took place at night, during hours when navigation is prohibited on the Urabá Sea.

Upon noticing the Navy’s presence, the boat moved away from the area until it landed on the coast of Punta Yarumal, in the town of Turbo, the authorities said. “Three subjects managed to flee, while the migrants were transported to the Urabá Coast Guard Station, where they received food and medical attention.” continue reading

The Navy confirmed that shortly afterwards the foreigners were turned over to the immigration authorities, and the boat in which they were transported was seized.

The Colombian government has reinforced operations in the Gulf of Urabá after the migration crisis in the municipality of Necoclí, where more than 10,000 migrants remain stranded, including Haitians, Cubans, Africans, Venezuelans, and Asians. Four Coast Guard units and two ships were reassigned to the area to control the flow of illegal boats that transport migrants, El Tiempo reports.

The director of Colombia Migration, Juan Francisco Espinosa, confirmed via Twitter that “there is a reinforcement” of operations by the Navy and the Police due to the crisis and that “a process of strengthening the military presence is being developed” on the border with Panama to “avoid the illegal entry of migrants.”

Espinosa also reported that in the coming days they will set up a permanent office in Necoclí to serve the migrant population transiting through that municipality on their journey to the United States, and announced a meeting for this Friday between foreign ministers of the region.

Meanwhile, in Necoclí the crisis due to the presence of thousands of migrants is worsening. Espinosa warned the press that there is a health alert among this group of foreigners for a possible “measles outbreak.”

“The Ministry of Health is developing strategies to reinforce its presence in that area, where we were notified that unfortunately an outbreak of measles and other diseases could be occurring,” the official explained.

Days ago, the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office had indicated that weather factors caused a delay in the departures of the Necoclí boats to Capurganá, the last point before the migrants ventured through the Darien jungle, bordering Panama. The authorities also believe that the increase in the migratory flow is due to border roadblocks and quarantines in several countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed the departure of many of these people.

Months ago, the average flow was up to 400 migrants two or three days a week, but for three weeks, the boats (with a capacity of 50 to 60 passengers) have more than doubled the weekly number.

The border between Panama and Colombia, both through the dangerous Darien jungle and by sea, is crossed by thousands of undocumented migrants from various countries around the world. Illegal boats are frequently intercepted in the Gulf of Urabá as a result of operations against illegal traffic coordinated by several countries.

But many of these vessels manage to evade military controls, as some Cubans stranded for weeks in Necoclí told 14ymedio during the previous crisis in January and February. According to their reports, the government boats, which provide transportation service in the area, charged 65 dollars per person, while the coyotes asked 400.

This journey is very dangerous and some lose their lives along the way, such as Cubans Edelvis Martínez Aguilar and Dunieski Eliades Lastre Sedeño, who in 2016 hired two Colombian boatmen to take them to Panama. The traffickers sexually assaulted Martínez, and then murdered both her and Lastre by slitting their throats. The Colombians were extradited to the United States and sentenced to 45 and 50 years in prison for murder and human trafficking.

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.

Otero Alcantara’s Lawyer Visited Him in Prison and Will Ask for a Change of Measures

Otero Alcántara was arrested on Sunday July 11 and is accused of “assault”, “resistance” and “contempt”. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2021 — The artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who as of this Thursday has been detained for 26 days, received a visit from his lawyer Clemente Morgado in the maximum security prison of Guanajay, in the province of Artemisa. This Friday, the lawyer will present a request for a change of conditions so he can have a “clear and substantive” conversation with the leader of the San Isidro Movement.

“Luis is in good health and in good spirits, but he is naturally concerned about his legal situation,” the art curator Claudia Genlui, who accompanied the lawyer to prison, explained on her social media. “He asked that I convey to ’Luisma’ that he is not alone, that he has the support of all the people who love him. He knows it; he trusts us as we trust him,” she said.

She also said that, before Otero Alcántara could say goodbye to the lawyer, he was handcuffed and that seconds before being transferred from the room where they were meeting he looked at her and shouted: “Tell Maykel [Castillo Osorbo] and Esteban [Rodríguez] that we are connected. Homeland and life!”

Genlui has spoken several times with the artist by phone and he has always expressed concern continue reading

for those arrested as a result of the July 11 protests as well as for his friends, Osorbo, a protest rapper, and Rodríguez, an independent journalist.

Otero Alcántara was arrested that same Sunday, July 11, and is accused of “assault,” “resistance” and “contempt” for the events that occurred outside the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement on April 4. They are the same crimes charged against Osorbo, imprisoned since May 18. Both cases, Genlui informed 14ymedio, are in the same file, number 24.

Genlui points out that the demonstration organized that April 4 on Damas Street, in Old Havana, was “where they sang ‘Díaz-Canel singao’ [motherfucker] when they were about to open the exhibition dedicated to children at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement.”

From that day, the iconic image spread of Osorbo with his wife tied to his wrist after escaping the arrest of the political police. The harassment by both branches of State Security has not stopped since then.

On April 25, Otero Alcántara went on a hunger and thirst strike to demand that his rights be respected, after a month-long police siege at his home. The political police had also destroyed many of his works. After several days of fasting, on May 2 he was taken from his home against his will and taken to the Calixto García hospital, where, without official explanation, he was detained for 29 days.

Then on May 21, Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and urged President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and other Cuban authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally.

Currently, the United Nations Working Group against Arbitrary Detention is examining the case of Otero Alcántara.

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 Cuban Prosecutor’s Office Denies There Were Forced Disappearances on July 11

Two agents subdue one of the protesters on July 11, in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2021 — Of the 62 people who have been tried for their participation in the July 11 demonstrations, 53 were sanctioned for public disorder and others for “resistance, contempt, instigation to commit a crime and damage,” according to the official data offered this Wednesday by Joselin Sánchez Hidalgo, Magistrate of the People’s Supreme Court, and Director of Supervision and Attention to the Population, to Cubadebate.

The statement focuses on praising the supposed guarantees of the Cuban judicial system, which the testimonies belie, and makes clear the annoyance that the accusations of “forced disappearances” have generated among the authorities.

According to the official version, those who ended up in court did so for their “aggressive, violent, and damaging” conduct, and the crimes for which they were tried carry penalties of one year in prison, a fine of 300 pesos or both. “In the case of the most violent or serious events that occurred on July 11, they are still under investigation and therefore have not reached the Court,” adds Sánchez Hidalgo.

This official confirmed the difficulties of escaping the weight of the regime’s laws by indicating that only one of all the accused was acquitted. Other details offered continue reading

by the judge were the appearance in oral trial of 22 of the defendants assisted by a lawyer, and the appeals filed against the sentences, a total of 45 of which 40 have already been assigned a lawyer.

Pointing to presumed recidivism or previous misconduct, the official emphasized that 21 of those sanctioned were on probation or serving “subsidiary” penalties not including imprisonment. “When the investigative actions were carried out, it was determined that they had breached the obligations imposed by the law and that the benefit of the subsidiary sanction was revoked.”

On July 24 (the last time the Supreme Court offered data on processes related to July 11) 59 people had been tried, so the number has risen by only three. The statement spends numerous paragraphs talking about the rights that the law establishes, although it does not mention the discretion with which they are applied.

For example, Sánchez Hidalgo spoke of the right to a lawyer to assist any defendant, as well as the right to provide evidence in their defense, testify, or abstain and appeal the sentence. But the facts and a multitude of testimonies reveal that State Security pressures families to waive these guarantees that exist on paper, even advising them not to seek legal advice with the warning that it may count against them.

“We can assure you that the oral trials held by the court against 62 defendants have been carried out with strict adherence to these guarantees established by the Criminal Procedure Law and also endorsed in the Constitution of the Republic,” the judge claims, without addressing what happens in practice.

In addition to insisting on the right to have a lawyer, which the law grants, he insisted that otherwise the rule provides a public defender for those who wish to have the services of one. But it is rare for this type of defense to confront the authorities.

Dixán Fuentes Guzmán, chief prosecutor of the Directorate of Attention to Citizens of the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic (FGR), has also spoken with the official newspaper to reinforce the presumed guarantees of the system. According to his version, all those who have filed a complaint in relation to the arrests related to the July 11 demonstrations will have an answer within the required period.

“This is how our Constitution defines it, since addressing and solving the problems posed by citizens and doing it with quality, also has to do with the essence of the socialism that we build. And there is no efficient socialism if we do not have a group of institutions that protect the rights of the people,” he said.

The prosecutor indicated that the judicial system must work more to avoid errors, but at the same time justified the correct action of the justice system. Between January and July, the FGR served 47,000 people and received more than 9,000 complaints, a fact that, in his opinion, is a sign of the confidence that Cubans have in their institutions. “Nobody asks an institution for something if they don’t trust it,” he defended.

With respect to the July 11 demonstrations, 215 people were processed, of whom 47 filed complaints. The official distinguishes that some of these were requests for information by relatives of the detainees, the most common being about the place to which they were taken after their arrest.

“Is this forced disappearance? No. People didn’t know at first where they were being detained, and the prosecutors have the responsibility of verifying that the Ministry of the Interior has complied with the provisions established by law of communicating immediately to the next of kin the place of detention and the reasons,” he said.

Also, he explained, it is common for families to complain of the inconvenience of the place where the detainee is, the way in which the arrest took place – which very frequently includes violence – and the precautionary measures imposed, in addition to questions about arresting people who were just filming, as was the case of Yoan de la Cruz, who broadcast the first protest of San Antonio de los Baños, among others.

Sánchez said that it is very common for the Prosecutor’s Office to review a sentence and modify it when evidence is provided, and also that minors who have reached the age of 16 can be charged because they are subject to criminal accountability, as provided by law.

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.

Cuba: Incorrect Resolutions. Means of Buying Time

The stands in state agricultural markets in Cuba are frequently largely empty. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, August 2, 2021 — In difficult times, anything is possible. Including privately leasing state-owned vehicles that aren’t being used [Resolución 207/2021, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic number 68]. So the Cuban communist regime, faced with the most serious economic crisis since “Special Period” times, has decided to adopt a series of legal norms to “overcome some of the obstacles that prevent the agile and efficient functioning of the economy.” They’re late, they know it, but just like that, they all jump into a pool in which there is less and less water. The path of failure is served. Let’s see why.

I’m referring, first of all, to Resolution 320 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP) published in the Official Gazette No. 68 Extraordinary, of July 30, 2021, which proclaims the generic objective of stimulating the increase in agricultural production.

In the end, after a half-dozen experiments in the commercial sphere, the regime has realized that the agricultural problem is in the sphere of production. But it refuses to recognize the origin of the disaster and goes back to its old ways, with patches like this Resolution which, instead of fixing the problems, may end up continue reading

enlarging them.

In fact, this rule is intended to put an end to the failure of a previous one, Resolution 18 of the MFP, of February 15, 2021, which established that, in price agreements with non-state forms of management, they took into account the maximum prices set by the provincial councils and the municipal administrations, establishing the famous “price cap” according to which they could not exceed two times the price in agricultural products.

What do they do now? Well, just the opposite, in order to reverse the economic aberration of the capped prices. As they have seen that this policy is the origin of scarcity and lack of supply by producers, who see their efforts as not cost-effective, well nothing, with the new rule they abolish the price caps, and with this they again point out that the objective is to improve marketing policy, while not losing the repressive reference “without prejudice to continuing to confront abusive and speculative prices.”

So Resolution 320 annuls what is established for maximum stockpile and wholesale prices of agricultural products, but, and here comes the technical error of the rule, “only those that are destined for social consumption, medical diets and those designated to the Family Care System (malanga, taro, plaintain, banana, and sweet potato).”

At this point it’s worth asking why they’re removing price caps for only these agricultural products, and not for all in general? Is it becuse in this case the government wants to buy cheaper from its suppliers, because it has less money, and with this decision it’s sending a signal that it cares very little about what happens to the rest of the consumers?

It is true that the state budget is running out, and there are fewer and fewer resources for subsidies, but does this mean that the prices of services associated with social consumption, etc., are going to be aligned with market prices perhaps?

The MFP says on its website that the measure aims to “create better conditions for price coordination and contracting with producers, both for social consumption and for sale in the retail market, since it recognizes the current costs to starting from the economic limitations of the country are due to the tightening of the blockade, the effects of covid-19, and the global economic crisis,” but other consumers who can exert pressure on demand (such as those who buy products for processing), are left out.

What communists should learn is that the market is a comprehensive resource allocation instrument that works efficiently when all decisions are within its purview. Fragmenting the market and pointing out who can assign via supply and demand, and who cannot, because they must do so from political power, is a serious mistake that has very negative consequences in terms of relative prices, profits and income and costs. And the worst may not yet have come.

In addition to Resolution 320 that eliminates the capped prices of products intended for certain social consumption, in the same Gazette, the Ministry of Finance and Prices issued Resolutions 321 and 323. By means of the the first, authorized entities are exempted from paying customs tax to provide the import service to non-state forms of management, for the importation of inputs and raw materials that they contract for the exercise of their activities, until December 31, 2021. Are these the entities of the “Malmierca model,” or can they also be the self-employed who dedicate themselves to these tasks? Is this measure going to apply to both?

The measure is somewhat complex and will oblige those who engage in these activities to declare which products they bring in from abroad are consigned for sale in the market, with special reference to those inputs and raw materials destined for agricultural production, not applying to finished products. Once again the authorities generate confusion with this measure, by not clearly defining who is exempted from paying customs tax and who is not, and especially why.

The rule establishes in its wording that its objective “is to reduce costs and stimulate the production of goods and the provision of services by non-state forms of management, which will benefit other actors in the economy and the population.” If they really wanted to achieve this, what would be advisable is tax relief on all goods from abroad. The patches only go so far.

For its part, Resolution 323 exempts from the payment of taxes on personal income and on sales to natural persons who carry out “garage sales,” in accordance with the regulation published a few days ago by the Ministry of Internal Trade. The rule says that “the tax treatment for these sales is established taking into consideration that they do not have a systematic nature, and are intended to boost trade and diversify product offerings to the population.” That garage sales can help the Cuban economy work better is a limited-scope idea whose results will not take long to verify.

Finally, Resolution 322 of the MFP, published in the Official Gazette No. 69 Extraordinary, of July 30, 2021, exempts natural persons from paying customs duties for the non-commercial importation of equipment that takes advantage of renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency, their essential parts and pieces, complying with the provisions of the Minister of Energy and Mines.

The equipment that benefits from this measure — solar heaters, photovoltaic pumps, small wind turbines, geomembrane biodigesters, biogas motor pumps, solar lighting, and solar air conditioning systems, as well as the essential parts and pieces of this equipment — are not part of the non-commercial import value authorized for natural persons, and must be presented to Customs separately from the rest of the imported articles.

Through this measure, it is intended to encourage the importation of this equipment, with the aim of diversifying the development of renewable energy sources and increasing their participation in the country’s electricity generation matrix. Are we perhaps facing a bullish rally of non-renewable energies? Permit me to smile.

On a more serious note. With a state deficit above 20% of GDP and all sources of income down due to the serious economic crisis, is the regime in a position to accept lower tax revenues from tax bases with supposedly increasing activity? Where’s the catch?

[1] Resolución 207/2021, publicada en la Gaceta Oficial de la República número 68

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.

Padura: ‘Cuba’s Problems Must be Resolved Among Cubans’

Padura at his home in Mantilla, the Havana neighborhood that saw him grow up, also as a writer. (EFE)

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Lorena Cantó, Havana, August 2, 2021 — The Cuban writer Leonardo Padura, winner of the 2015 Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature, considers his novels “some of the most radical documents that could have been written” about a Cuba today in turmoil, whose problems “must be resolved among Cubans.”

“I believe that my novels, that were written and many of them published in Cuba, such as The Man Who Loved Dogs, Heretics, and A Novel of my Life, are among the most radical documents that could have been written and said about this country. And that gives me much peace of mind,” says the author in an interview with EFE.

At his family home in the Havana neighborhood of Mantilla, three weeks after thousands of people took to the country’s streets to protest shortages and demand freedom, Padura reflects on the extreme polarization that the island is experiencing, which he hopes “can be resolved among Cubans,” including those in exile.

“I frequently receive attacks from one extreme or the other, because continue reading

I try to be fair and speak of truths about which there is a certain consensus. You already know that truth is not absolute; what is absolute is the lie. And in none of my texts, whether in my novels or my journalistic works, do I need the lie to talk about Cuba,” he says.

And it is also correct to say that “when someone wants to criticize Cuba they don’t have to exaggerate, they only have to tell the truth.”

“I’m at peace with myself. I can’t satisfy all points of view. I don’t want to place myself at any extreme; I’m very afraid of fundamentalisms and extremes because they start from the position that their argument is the only possible argument, and I think there is always more than one argument and you should have a dialogue between these arguments,” he says.

Padura was surprised by the protests while he was watching the Eurocup. “Suddenly they cut the transmission and the president (Miguel Díaz-Canel) spoke and I found out what was happening.”

A short time later, the authorities blocked access to the Internet, and the information that came in was confusing and “very distorted, very partial, very aggressive in some cases, and it was hard to find out what was happening,” he said.

His first feeling, which he described the week after the demonstrations in a text published on the La Joven Cuba platform, “was that a scream had come forth from the innermost parts of a society that demanded other ways of managing life in a general sense, and from there entering the economic, the social, the political …”

The unjustified delay in the economic reforms engendered “something that is apparent”: the growth of inequalities and poverty — reflected in the novel The Transparency of Time.

In this context Padura mentions very poor slums in Havana in which “you realize that this is not the country for which we have worked, for which we have dreamed, for which so many sacrifices have been made. We must find solutions for those people . . .”

The demonstrations, in his opinion, channeled the weariness of waiting for a prosperity that never comes, and evidenced the isolation of those in power from the feelings of the citizens.

“So much so that I think they were surprised by that demonstration, because it wasn’t just that people standing in a line started shouting something, it was that in many parts of the country people came out to demand things, to demand freedom for example, and it’s very serious when the people shout demanding freedom.”

The writer is concerned that this feeling “is not being understood and processed in the best way, because there is a social magma in which there are these intolerances and extremes that we spoke of at the beginning, which may be the ones that prevail, and that would be the worst.”

“The violent responses are simply not the cure the country needs; the country is not the same as it was up until 15 days ago. It’s a different country and you have to handle it in a different way,” he says.

He also points out that what happened was already in the making, as demonstrated by the gathering of young artists on November 27 in front of the Cuban Ministry of Culture.

“There they spoke of the need for a dialogue that in the end was met with a few words and very few solutions. And when people ask for freedom of expression, of thought, of opinion, they are asking for something that belongs to them, something that I believe cannot be denied them in any system in any country,” the author emphasizes.

Regarding all those young people who protested on July 11, Padura warns that the “less desirable” alternative is for them to be marginalized or “even imprisoned for their social or political viewpoint” and the prolonged “bleeding” suffered by the Island because many — among them the most educated — end up leaving.

The author, who in 1996 became the first “independent writer” in Cuba, believes that what is happening now will be reflected in his literature, although “maybe not directly.”

I’ve tried to practice my independence and my freedom for many years. I think that for any creator the need for freedom of expression and thought is fundamental,” although with limits regarding “homophobia, xenophobia, the attitudes that are in some way fascist.”

“In addition, life is too short for us to be limiting ourselves in as many things as we have to limit ourselves under the existing social contract,” he concludes.

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 Change in Cuba Has No Turning Back

Cuban musician Pavel Urkiza. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Madrid, July 31, 2021 — The singer, composer and music producer Pavel Urkiza was born in Kiev (Ukraine), but right away, when he was three months old, he was taken to Havana where he grew up. His parents, both engineers, were part of the first Cuban student brigade in the Soviet Union. You glimpse the pain when he says that he met his mother when he was five years old: his mother’s family took over caring for the child and sent the woman back to the USSR, to “fulfill the mission of the Revolution.” Urkiza, over time, learned to forgive her: “She melted down, she had a mental disorder.”

This conversation reached his familial twists and turns unintentionally, because what 14ymedio wanted to talk about with Urkiza – a complete musician, founder of Gema and Pavel, the cult duo that put to music the harsh early 90s in Cuba with its opposites of the New Trova and the slogans – was his latest song release, Todo Por Ti (Everything for You), which he sings along with Daymé Arocena and which extols the historic July 11 demonstrations.

Yaiza Santos:  Did you have any of “Todo Por Ti” composed before July 11, or did it come to you at that moment?

Pavel Urkiza: I composed it the following day. I had already done two things in November: the first, “A Drop of Truth,” in homage to the San Isidro Movement and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara; and the second, “The National Whistle,” as a result of the call they sent out to whistle every day at nine at night. This was inspired by a film of Fernando Pérez titled “Life is to Whistle” (1998), in which, curiously, a character decrees the happiness of all Cubans for 2020. And that is very strong, because things really did begin to move a little more in 2020, with people like Luis Manuel Otero and Maykel Osorbo, people for whom, as Carlos Manuel Álvarez says, the Revolution was made and whom the Revolution abandoned, relegated, and marginalized.

On July 12 I spoke with Eliécer Jiménez-Almeida, a tremendously talented brother, and we said “we have to do something.” I composed the song and decided to write to Daymé Arocena, who lives in Toronto now, and she answered me almost crying, very emotional. Her husband, Pablo Dewin, also a visual artist, filmed Daymé, and Eliécer did the editing. He had the idea of doing it in a square format, so that it would be easier to watch on cell phones. The mixing and mastering of the song was done by my Madrid brother Javier Monteverde in the studio where I worked when I lived in Spain. And that’s how the theme arose. On July 21st at 7 in the morning it was already launched on the social networks.

Yaiza Santos:  And it was immediately answered by Abel Prieto . . .

Pavel Urkiza: More than that, he posted it on Casa de las Américas. That’s strong! That means it hurt. He begins like this [reads]: “Yesterday the song Todo Por Ti by Pavel Urquiza and Daymé Arocena was released on YouTube. Insignificant as a work of art, they want it to work as political propaganda. They used images of ’the people’ for the video clip when they attack a patrol car and policemen who, most of the time, retreat from aggressions by the people.” The guy is lost, he is ridiculous. I read it and continue reading

decided to reply to him on Facebook as well.
Yaiza Santos: If something exposes these reactions in the regime, it’s because the music has made them very nervous …

Pavel Urkiza: From Patria y Vida [Homeland and Life]. That was the first and it is an indisputable theme. It simply changed the motto, and showed that “homeland or death” has become obsolete and forgotten . . . Later many things have come out, but they seem to me rude, very aggressive — “Díaz-Canel singao” [motherfucker] and such. And the message that I want is another, more sophisticated one, you understand? In addition, Daymé Arocena right now is one of the Cuban artists with the most reach — young, with light, but she also comes from that place that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo come from, persons of the people who will no longer give more. That’s also why it hurt them, because this song is on another level.

If you read Abel Prieto’s reasoning, everything is with questions. In my answer I say to him: “I find it curious that you — I am treating you as ’usted’ [using the formal ’you’ in Spanish] — question the song with questions. Do you doubt its arguments?” Yotuel Romero has been called “hustler” and “mercenary,” but Abel Prieto knows that he can’t say “mercenary” or “hustler” to me, because I know very well how the leaders in Cuba live. So I tell him: “I know that you go to Cimeq [the Surgical Medical Research Center], to the 43 clinic [the Kohly Clinic, only for high-ranking State officials] . . . I’ll tell you about things I know, because I come from a powerful family in Cuba, my mother’s family.”

My uncle replaced Che Guevara when he stepped down as Minister of Industry, my other uncle was head of Fidel Castro’s bodyguard at the beginning of the Revolution, my aunt was a colonel in the Ministry of the Interior . . . People I have nothing in common with and they stayed at my house in Cuba, anyway . . . Abel Prieto knew my grandmother well, the actress Raquel Revuelta, who became Vice Minister of Culture.

Yaiza Santos: Music is such an important factor in the change in Cuba, and nobody saw it coming.

Pavel Urkiza: As I said in my message to Abel Prieto, freedom also conquers with the cutting edge of ideas, and that is what the songs are doing.

Yaiza Santos: You’ve brought up your family history.

Pavel Urkiza: I come from privilege. My maternal family was from the old communists. My maternal grandmother, the one who raised me, was born in 1903 and did not baptize her children. And my grandfather, Fidel Domenech, who did not know the Revolution, was also an old communist [from the Communist Party of Cuba, founded in 1925]. Many of them were linked to the Revolution, but they came into conflict with the process, and there are many communists whom Fidel himself removed from political life.

Yaiza Santos:  When did you become aware and how did you decide to say: “I don’t want this, I’m leaving Cuba”?

Pavel Urkiza: At 17 years old, when the Mariel thing happened, I had already begun to question many things. The acts of repudiation that were carried out in Cuba against those who wanted to leave . . . People died there, it was a fascist thing. But I didn’t know the world, I hadn’t gone out. The first time I left Cuba was in 1985, to Czechoslovakia. Later, when you enter university [he studied Industrial Economics in Havana], you begin to see another world, to have a more critical sense.

My own grandmother Raquel was a very critical person, and she had a great communist friend, with whom she had many conversations that I listened to. They said they were corrupt, that this was not socialism. In fact, in 1987 my grandmother directed a play, Public Opinion, written by a Romanian [Aurel Baranga], which was a complete questioning of the socialist system. She was a highly respected woman in Cuba and she could do it. When homosexuals were persecuted, she took many out of UMAP [the labor camps called Military Production Aid Units] and put them in her theater group. I owe a lot to her in the sense of looking at reality with a critical eye and with an artistic eye as well.

Yaiza Santos:  What about the rest of your relatives, did you question them?

Pavel Urkiza: With my aunt the colonel, above all, that she raised me and that she was blind. One day I went out to the street naked and began to write on the wall “down with the dictatorship,” and my aunt, imagine this, followed after me, erasing what I had written . . . In the 80s I also began to read Milan Kundera, for example, covered with brown paper, hidden, and when perestroika came, they got out of hand. Those Novedades de Moscow and Sputnik magazines, which nobody was interested in because they were the same crap, continued to arrive in Cuba and with perestroika we began to read them and we began to understand, to question a pile of things and to realize that what we were experiencing was a total failure.

I also had an episode of repression. One day I went with the pianist Omar Sosa to a hotel to visit a musician who played, and the police arrived, put us in a patrol car and locked us in a cell. That’s nothing, of course. There are people who have suffered really deep, really harsh repression, like María Elena Cruz Varela. As I say, I’ve been privileged; I was gradually realizing through my friends, through people who were visiting their homes, seeing how they lived, and I began to really ask myself whether this revolution was a great sham. By ’92 I was already ’green’.

Yaiza Santos:  In that year, you left for Spain — also thanks to your grandmother Raquel — not to return.

Pavel Urkiza: I went out with the group Teatro Estudio de Cuba, to the celebrations of the fifth centennial of the discovery of America. The theater group also helpd me a lot, because artists tend to be more critical of reality and have access to certain reading and other types of music, things that begin to open your mind to realize that you’re living in a bubble, deceived by a system that makes you believe that this is the best thing in the world. And I came to the Spain of ’92, which was great.

Yaiza Santos:  What impression did the Spanish opinion of Cuba make on you at that time?

Pavel Urkiza: They were super defenders of the Revolution, and we somehow tried to make them see what the reality was like. In fact, I think that many began to see it differently, decided to travel to Cuba and realized that there really is something wrong there. Many were disappointed and others were not, among them great friends of mine. But that’s fine with me, everything is tolerable. That’s the great thing about a democracy: you can think what you want and so can I and we can debate and respect each other. All well and good, and the one more people vote for wins the election, that’s the way it is. As the U.S. Constitution says, “We the people,” we are the ones who tell the Government what to do, the Government doesn’t tell us.

Yaiza Santos:  And why did you go to the United States?

Pavel Urkiza: Well, I married an American, a love story that didn’t work out in the end, but here I stayed. After living in Washington, I came to Miami because it has social capital and it has a good climate. It’s a place where we Cubans feel at home, and it is really a very cosmopolitan city. The world’s view of Miami is quite stigmatized: the mafia thing and all that is something that belongs to the past. In fact, in the city of Miami the Democrats win.

I think the United States in general is a stigmatized country. Even living in Spain you despise it a little. Because you grow up with that! When you start to live the experience, you say, “Wait, I have to think for myself.” And I believe that the United States has many virtues. It is a country of laws, there is greatness here.

And I’ll tell you something: I always had leftist tendencies, obviously, and when I was in Spain I already began to say that I was a humanist, but now I feel that I’m an anarchist-humanist-libertarian. The left has disappointed me a lot. There is a whole strategy there that has nothing to do with real desire to change for the good of the people. I already wrote a song about it in La Ruta de las almas (The Route of Souls) — Resurrection – which says “free me from everything I have learned, return me to the point of nothingness, to the total absence of accumulated life.” I’ve had to rebuild myself, but from my own vision, not from the one they put in me there.

Yaiza Santos:  How do you see Cuba from now on, after July 11? Is change coming?

Pavel Urkiza: This has no turning back, it has no turning back. It may take another five years, but it will come about. People are not going to stay calm anymore. As that woman said in one of the videos of the protests, that she is also an old woman, do you think that this old woman is a criminal? This is how I will remember July 11 all my life: the moment when the people of Cuba took off the cloak of silence.

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.

Che Guevara Goes from Defeat to Defeat

The defaced mural is located in the National University of Comahue, in the province of Neuquén, Argentina. (Agustin Antonetti / Twitter)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 30, 2021 – “They tremble, freedom advances.” The phrase appeared this Friday on the face of Ernesto “Che” Guevara painted on a mural at the National University of Comahue, in the province of Neuquén, Argentina. The young human rights activist Agustin Antonetti shared on his Twitter account an image of the graffiti, which also contained the word “Genocide” and the phrase “More Hayek, less Marx.”

The Argentine, who studies International Relations at the Inter-American Open University of Rosario and frequently criticizes the human rights violations committed by the Cuban regime, wanted to record in his publication the meaning of what happened: “A great change is taking place in young people and it shows.”

“We are seeing a gigantic change in the mentality of young people in Latin America, although in many universities they are pressured by professors not to speak; now is the time for us to accompany them and promote them. A change has already begun and there will be no turning back,” Antonetti, who is also coordinator of the Youth Group of the Freedom Foundation, added in the Twitter thread.

Antonetti is one of the human rights activists who has most echoed continue reading

the denunciations of the repression carried out by the Cuban regime against the July 11 protesters. On the same social network, he has shared the many reactions of Cubans both inside and outside the island, of governments and organizations, and in addition he has issued alerts about the hundreds of detainees and “disappeared” after the protests.

Also in Argentina, a group of young people from the group “Alternative” that belongs to the Faculty of Political Sciences of the National University of Rosario, is promoting an initiative to revoke the title of “illustrious citizen of Rosario” to Che Guevara. “Out with the dictator,” they argue via the citizengo.org platform and also affirm that they support “the fight of the Cuban people for freedom.”

The promoters of the initiative note that while in Cuba “there is no free expression, basic goods are scarce, and 51% of the population lives in poverty, in Argentina the authoritarian leaders who plunged Cuba into this chaos are honored and worshiped.”

Meanwhile in Spain, the Zaragoza city council approved this week, in an extraordinary session, that “Che Guevara” Street be renamed after Ana María Suárez (a Zaragozan victim of the 2017 jihadist attack in Catalonia), and that “Guevara” Park take the name of the Paralympic athlete Teresa Perales.

The announcement was made during the debate on a motion of the Popular Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (Cs), in charge of the municipal government, to condemn the Cuban regime’s repression against civil society demonstrations and to defend a transition towards democracy on the island.

A week earlier, in Galicia, more than fifty people gathered in front of the statue of Che Guevara located in a roundabout in Oleiros to demand the removal of this figure, and freedom for Cuba. The attendees, assembled by the Patria y Vida platform, where the Association of Victims of Castroism is located, exhibited Cuban, Spanish, and Venezuelan flags, as well as banners that read SOS Cuba, and also chanted slogans such as Viva Cuba libre, We want freedom! and Homeland and Life.

In Mexico, after the 11J (11 July) protests, several politicians resumed the debate to remove the sculpture in the capital that portrays Fidel Castro and Che Guevara seated together.

“It must be withdrawn. Last year the PAN (National Action Party) presented a resolution to withdraw it because the two characters were human rights violators, and are responsible for the misery in which the Cuban people find themselves. They are dictators that led a people to be prisoners of the elite that controls power and the economy,” said the deputy of the Congress of Mexico City, América Rangel.

Another member of PAN, Diego Garrido, spoke with Rangel, and agreed, according to Sé Uno, that the Cuban regime is repressive and that it violates the human rights of its own people. “They’ve kept their people in extreme poverty, in conditions of misery. Hundreds of people flee the island every year, so it is absurd that they have statues to commemorate these characters.”

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.

Cigarettes Return to the Rationed Market in All Cuban Provinces

On the informal market a pack of the Criollos brand can cost up to 50 pesos each. (Mercado Libre)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 29, 2021 – What was announced last June as an exceptional measure just for the capital, became the norm for the entire country this past Thursday: the sale of cigarettes will be rationed. This was reported by Tribuna de La Habana, which said that it has gotten to this point “due to problems with the availability of raw material.”

This shortage caused the Tabacuba Group to deliver “24 million fewer packs of cigarettes for one month,” according to information from the Ministry of Internal Trade.

The Minister of Commerce, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, explained to the official press that, although this is not a product that is part of the regulated family basket, its sale will be controlled due to “a monthly supply deficit of 37 million packs” in order to “prevent hoarding.”

The minister asserted that there are families, none of whose members smoke, who nevertheless continue reading

buy cigarettes, which “affects” those who do smoke. Just like, though a bottle of wine is not a regulated product, the wine shops ask whether the buyer is the consumer of that product or not. Díaz insisted that as production from the factories and from Brascuba [the Brazilian/Cuban joint venture] decreased, prices in the market rose “due to speculation and hoarding;” so it was decided to regulate the sale of this product “as a containment measure.”

In the informal market a pack of the Criollos brand can cost up to 50 pesos each.

Díaz pointed out that though cigarettes are covered by the ration book “this does not mean that this is a product of the regulated family basket.”

The General Director of Merchandise Sales of the Ministry of Internal Trade, Francisco Silva Herrera, reiterated that the “interruptions in production” are due to difficulties “with the arrival of raw materials in Cuba.” He explained that for that reason the volume of cigarettes available for sale doesn’t meet 100% of the country’s demand, and pointed out that so far this month they have received only 34% of what the plan called for.

Silva Herrera said that, depending on the available supply in some provinces, they are going to limit sales to “a tiny amount” of packs per person, sometimes limiting them to people over age 19, or by family.

For months, Cubans have faced the dilemma of acquiring packs of cigarettes on the black market or buying them in stores which only take payment in foreign currencies (MLC). In the capital’s state-owned shops and cafes, the shortage gets worse every day and huge lines form.

“I buy in quantity. I pay 750 pesos for the H. Upmann wheel, which gives you 10 packs, otherwise it’s impossible to always have it on hand, because there are days when no matter how far you walk, you won’t find cigarettes of any kind for sale on the street,” Leonardo Felipe, a 26-year-old man told 14ymedio.

Added to the dilemma of not finding the desired cigarettes is the complaint of many smokers about the poor quality of the product. The flavors have changed, and sometimes the cigarettes come incompletely filled, or with little glue, so the filter separates from the rest.

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.

In Cuba, the Number of Those Vaccinated is More Than 50% Higher Than Those Infected, Well Above the World Average

CECMED (Center for State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices) noted that Abdala (a COVID-19 vaccine developed by CIGB, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Cuba) presented “an adequate safety profile.” (ACN)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, July 29, 2021 – “One underestimates this about Covid. I walk stumbling like this, with short steps, falling on both sides.” Caridad, a resident of Centro Habana, fell ill with Covid-19 just after receiving her first dose of Abdala, the only Cuban vaccine candidate approved for emergency use by CECMED.

Its developer, the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) established its effectiveness at 100% “in the face of severe disease and death,” but insisted that the vaccine did not stop contagion and it was essential to maintain prevention measures, such as is being done in the rest of the world. Despite that warning, the data is worse than expected.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, to date 3,484,672 people have received at least one dose “of one of the Cuban vaccine candidates” (the official reports do not specify whether Soberana 02 or Abdala), of which 2,954,759 have also received the second and 2,460,919, the third. That is, 20% of the population has received the complete vaccination schedule.

But what is more worrying is continue reading

the number of people who have already been vaccinated. At the national level, the authorities give assurances that “work is being done” to “establish how many of the sick people have been vaccinated with all three doses in order to be able to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine,” but they have only provided figures from Havana.

This Saturday, Emilio Delgado Iznaga, provincial director of Health, announced that of the documented infections “96% were symptomatic and 73% were already vaccinated.” This supposes an increase compared to the previous day, when the Havana Tribune calculated that of the total confirmed, 71.7% “appear vaccinated” (although it was around 56% vaccinated with the three doses).

Cuban immunologist Eduardo López-Collazo, director of the Research Institute of Hospital La Paz, in Madrid, hypothesizes that those who have received a dose have become confident and relaxed their safety measures for avoiding contagion. “As we already know, none of the vaccines is completely sterilizing, that is, they do not completely cut the contagion, but rather reduce the possibility of suffering from the disease,” he recalls.

However, after studying the “few data” that the authorities provide, he raises another possibility: that the vaccines are not effective against the new variants.

This would be consistent with the fact that the trajectory of the island’s case curve has skyrocketed at the same time that the Beta and Delta variants of the virus have expanded (the Delta is considered more contagious and aggressive).

Delta has come to complicate the situation of the pandemic even in areas with the highest vaccination rates, as the authorities discussed ten days ago during a Roundtable program on Cuban TV aimed at analyzing the usefulness of Soberana 02 and Abdala in the face of new variants.

Although investigations are ongoing, Dr. Verena Muzio González, director of Clinical Research at CIGB, said that correct immunity is achieved only with the complete regimen (three doses in Cuba) and that you have to wait at least two weeks for the immune system to generate the appropriate antibodies to defend itself against the most serious forms of the disease.

The data are comparable to other countries, but it is difficult to find similar examples in which the percentage of infected is so high among those vaccinated. In Spain, where more than half of the population (26 million people) are already immunized, only 5.5% of those infected were fully vaccinated (11.4% among those who received a single dose). In addition, although the country is experiencing a fifth wave that is beginning to cause worry, most infections occur among young people (who are not yet vaccinated) and the average age of those hospitalized has dropped dramatically to below 50.

In the United States, where immunization has lagged and the most contagious variants are spreading, “more than 97% of people hospitalized for COVID-19 are not vaccinated,” according to a New York Times report.

The closest case to the Cuban situation is that of the United Kingdom, where according to an investigation conducted by the Financial Times, the number of positive cases among those vaccinated with a complete schedule has shot up to almost half in recent weeks. However, the director of the study, Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at Kings College, clarified to the local press, “although the figures seem worrying, it is important to note that vaccines have greatly reduced severe infections and that Covid for the post-vaccinated is a much milder illness for most people. ”

Spector did not go into assessing whether the rise in the contagious vaccinated has to do with the expansion of the Delta variant. British health authorities worry that good weather, and the lifting of the latest restrictions on July 19, may shoot up the number of cases in the summer.

Several reports have come to this newspaper, of people who have contracted the disease while being vaccinated with one or two doses of the compound. On case is that of Yoel, from the Havana neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, who lost the sense of smell and taste after his second dose with Abdala, the second week of July, and is still awaiting the results of a PCR Covid test.

Although some are beginning to fear that it was the vaccine itself that caused the disease, this is scientifically impossible in the case of protein subunit vaccines, which this vaccine is.

“It is not possible for this vaccine to cause the disease because it is made with a harmless protein from the virus; they are not injecting an attenuated virus or anything like that,” explains Dr. López-Collazo.

Last week, a team from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO) office in Cuba visited the National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC) to learn more about the efficacy results of the Cuban vaccine candidates.

That day, Vicente Vérez, the director of the Finlay Vaccination Institute, was optimistic about next month, since at the end of August, 14 days will have passed since the application of the last dose to the general population of Havana, which will allow knowing more data.

As he explained, the British medical journal The Lancet is reviewing a study by Soberana that would shed some light on the opaque and controversial Cuban vaccines. So far, there are no public results of clinical trials of Cuban vaccine candidates, nor are there any articles in scientific journals, except for two on Soberana 02 about a preclinical trial on mice.

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.

Cubans Can Now Import Solar Panels Without Paying Duty

The new provision will allow electric self-sufficiency to Cubans who can install a solar panel on their homes. (wikimedia.org)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 29, 2021 — In the midst of a pressing electricity shortage, the Cuban government has taken a step demanded by the population to authorize the duty-free import of photovoltaic systems, including parts and pieces of panels that generate energy by direct transformation of sunlight into electricity.

The resolution, published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette, allows the populace to purchase these products abroad as long as the purposes are not commercial. That is, Cubans who generate electricity must dump the surplus of their personal consumption into the National Electric System so that it may be distributed among the rest of users.

The document specifies that the panels, the inverter, the support structures, the electric boards, the cabinets for parts, and the grounding system are considered essential parts and pieces, therefore they are exempt from customs payment. continue reading

The rest of the components — direct and alternating current buffers, batteries for energy storage, electric conduit, battery charge regulator, and system components and electrical accessories for assembly — are considered common use and are subject to the usual tax rates.

The Gazette establishes that the person who acquires the panel will be responsible for the system and its maintenance, in addition to re-contracting the service to the Electric Utility, which must certify that the requirements for installation are met and verify the meter for energy measurement.

The tax exemptions have been approved, argues the text, “with the aim of increasing participation of renewable energy sources on the electric power generation grid.”

In 2019, through Decree Law 345, the sale of surplus electricity generated by private producers from this type of source was authorized, but the provision did not modify the state monopoly of the Electricity Union, the only one authorized to buy, distribute, and commercialize energy of private origin.

The Cuban Electricity Union (UNE) specified that an average household on the island needs around 185 kWh per month. To cover these needs, 5 solar panels of 260 watts are necessary.

The importation of tax-free solar panels was in high demand by those who are eager to supply their own electricity, an increasingly precarious good on the Island. Depending on the power, the rates (before the Tarea Ordenamiento* [Ordering Task] took effect) ranged from 200 to 1,000 pesos for panels generating from 900 watts to 15 kilowatts.

In March, the authorities began to pitch the idea of bonuses or exemptions for those who wanted to import panels. But the blackouts, which have increased this summer, when municipalities throughout the Island have seen their number of hours of electricity regulated, and the historical protests in more than 40 cities on the island, may have accelerated the decision.

To date, the panels available in Cuba were sold through the state virtual store Bazar Virtual, where 270-watt installations could be found, at a cost of $2,549.

Most of the solar panels on the Island, due to the high cost involved, are in the hands of the State and have been donated by China. The announcements by two companies — Spanish and German — that wanted to install these devices in several Cuban provinces, came to nothing, and the telephone number of one of them is no longer in service.

Solar energy is one of the government’s biggest bets for taking advantage of a natural resource that Cuba has in abundance, but the main problem continues to be the investment necessary to build a solar park.

Before the pandemic, the Island had planned to build 65 facilities of this type, and another 15 were under development, in order to increase the currently installed power by 42 gigawatts, which accounts for barely 1.15% of national consumption.

*The so-called ’Ordering Task” — Tarea ordenamiento — is a collection of measures that includes eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and others. 

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 Spanish Consulate in Cuba Suspends August 2 Passport Appointments

The Consulate of Spain issued the information through a tweet, without explaining the reason for the suspension of its computer system nor answering questions from users. (exterior.gob.es)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 30, 2020 — The Consulate General of Spain in Havana warned this Thursday that its computer system will not be operational on August 2 and asked all those who have appointments for that day to reschedule “through the new centers” to renew a passport or obtain one for the first time.

The diplomatic office issued the information through a tweet, without explaining the reason for the suspension of its computer system or answering questions from users. For example, one of them asked if the appointments to sign up in the Consular Registry have also been canceled, and another, “when do they plan to activate the appointments for those registered in 2021 for their first passport?”

Last spring, the Spanish Consulate suspended its services for a few days due to an employee’s close contact with someone who was Covid-19 positive.

Cuba has the third-largest community of Spaniards living abroad–about 200,000 according to the 2019 census–after Argentina and Venezuela, due in part to the passage of the Historical Memory Law in 2007 by the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The law allowed the nationalization of at least 80,000 Cubans of Spanish descent.

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.

Lawyers Group Denounces the Exploitation of Cuban Healthcare Workers in Uruguay

For years Uruguay has been a place highly sought after by Cuban doctors to go on an official mission, due to its social stability. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, July 28, 2021 — The Alliance for Global Freedom (GLA) filed a complaint this Monday with the Attorney General of Uruguay in which it denounces the continuous exploitation and forced labor to which the Cuban medical brigades are subjected in that country.

The lawyers’ group alleges that the island’s health workers “are compensated at such a minimal rate that the work they carry out in the South American nation is considered slave labor.”

“The personnel of the medical brigade are subjected to long hours of work without fair wages, and are pressured to participate, for fear of reprisals by the Cuban state if they do not comply,” the Alliance alleged in a statement published on its website.

“We continue to fight for human rights and appeal to the republican culture and respect for human rights in this country,” said lawyer Sabrina Peláez Iglesias, a member continue reading

of the GLA in Uruguay.

The organization, headquartered in Washington DC, has been seeking for the last two years “records and information on Uruguay’s cooperation agreement with Cuba.” Among other actions, Peláez also filed a complaint with the National Institute of Human Rights and Uruguay’s Ombudsman in July 2020.

According to the statement, currently about 30 health workers, most of them ophthalmologists, make up the mission, and unlike Uruguayans and other professionals, Cubans do not have to certify their postgraduate degrees with the Ministry of Public Health to practice.

The Governments maintain two health agreements: the first began in 2007 and includes ophthalmological services, and the second, finalized a year later, covers orthopedic care for people with disabilities. Both have been renewed to date.

The second bilateral agreement, extended in 2018, set a cost for Uruguay of 174,000 dollars per year, of which $124,000 is paid directly to Havana and $31,000 is designated as stipends for professionals and technicians on the Island, as well as their national and international transportation, accommodations, and other expenses, according to an investigation by the Cuba Archive.

But it was only recently divulged that the first agreement required that Montevideo spend 250,000 dollars a year on Cuban collaborators, including a monthly stipend of $800 for each one, but the contract did not clarify the amount that Havana received for the services.

The preparation of Cuban doctors has been questioned in several countries where they have worked under agreements with the Cuban Government. In 2019, the press reported that nine specialists from the Island had deserted and that they tried to accredit their degrees in Uruguay, but six of them did not pass the exam and the others did not receive a final definitive qualification.

When these facts became known, suspicions among Uruguayan professionals increased, among them the members of the Uruguayan Association of Ophthalmology. Its president, Andrea Merrone, stressed that they are not opposed to foreign doctors coming to the country, but she insisted on knowing if the professionals “have sufficient qualifications” to practice.

For years Uruguay has been a place highly sought after by Cuban doctors to go on an official mission, due to its social stability. The selection of professionals who travel to that country is made within Cuba and the brigades rotate every two years.

In July of last year, the Alliance for Global Freedom presented a demand to the Uruguayan Government for disclosure of the records related to the hiring of Cuban health workers. Their demand was mainly focused on the bilateral agreements on the service at the José Martí Hospital for exchanging funds and making commercial arrangements.

It is not the first time that the conditions in which Cuban doctors are forced to work in the missions have been denounced. Organizations such as Cuban Prisoners Defenders (CPD) have carried out various actions to expose the medical missions as the Cuban government’s “great capitalist slave business.”

In August 2020, CPD filed a complaint with the United Nations and the International Criminal Court on behalf of 622 Cuban doctors who have been on missions abroad. In its report, the Madrid-based NGO warned that these professionals are forced to participate in “conditions of slavery” with long working hours and restrictions on their freedom.

In most cases, the Cuban government takes away their passports in order to keep a hold on them, and pays them between just 10% to 25% of the salary it charges to recipient countries, arguing that Havana needs money to finance the Health system.

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.

11th of July: Day of National Dignity / Jeovany Jimenez Vega

“Citizen Zero,” Jeovany Jimenez Vega, 20 July 2021 — Throughout last week a hornet’s nest buzzed in my temples and I didn’t have a minute’s rest from ruminating on so much news and thinking about my long-suffering Cuba. I was moved to the core by that flood of people that swept away in a few hours more than six decades of indoctrination and terror until, for three days, in more than fifty cities, the most perfidious and best structured dictatorship in this hemisphere was pushed back. This was already an indisputable victory for my people, and, whether it admits it or not, the most devastating political defeat for the dictatorship in more than six decades.

That day my people carried out their vindication before History. Just as past generations had their Yara and their Baire, their Baraguá and their Palo Seco; just as they dethroned a tyrant in the 30s, and later rose up in the mountains or resisted with stoic heroism in the cities during the Revolution of 1959, before being betrayed by the Castros. This July 11, our people recovered for our homeland its lost dignity. Each of these milestones in history was the pride of their respective generation, as from now on that memorable day in July will be our pride.

There is no reason for disappointment here, worthy patriot, because on that jubilant day the great winner was, without a doubt, the Cuban people! It does not matter what Castroism claims to have seen. What millions of Cubans starred in and the world saw that glorious DAY OF NATIONAL DIGNITY – let’s call it by name now – was a dictatorship on the defensive against a rebellious people who responded without fear of the henchmen, pushing back a repressive machinery, well-tuned and honed for more than half a century with the same public treasure that it had stolen from them. During those days we saw for the first time terror on the face of the stunned regime, which could not continue reading

contain us, and which reacted with irrational violence, just confirming how much it fears us.

Today’s scenario, a week after the uprising, was totally predictable. It is not to be expected that a regime founded on six decades of social indoctrination and systematic terror will be struck down at the first blow. Was this the dream of millions of Cubans? Of course! But in real life, with such a consolidated totalitarianism, which Castroism typifies, it never happens that way. There are plenty of examples to prove it, and ours is not exactly the exception.

But there was no cry of defeat on July 11, but rather the opposite. In reality, Cuban, you were defeated every time that you kept complicitly silent in the face of some clear injustice; every time you apathetically raised your hand in some absurd assembly to approve decisions made by others that harmed you as a worker or as a common citizen; every time you waved little flags in a parade ordered by those who disrespect you so much, and you dug your own grave by thus strengthening this merciless despotism that today pounces vengefully, like a hungry beast, on your brothers.

In reality, Cuban, you were defeated when you went abroad on humiliating work missions, under oppressive contracts, knowing that they would enslave you miserably and rob you until they were satisfied, succumbing to the pretext of poverty that today finally launched us into the streets. You were defeated when you did not defend your honorable neighbor from the “acts of repudiation” of the communist mobs, or when you militated without conviction in the antics that the ruling party calls “civil society” only to display it to the world as a cynical insignia. In sum, you have suffered thousands of daily defeats over long decades every time you paid some tribute to that paralyzing fear that turned you into the shame of yourself, into a shadow without dignity, at the mercy of the powerful and the thieves.

But that changed forever on July 11, brave Cuban, because the true weapon of Castroism was never its rifles, or its tanks, or its riot troops, or its wasps of whatever color they paint them: its main weapon was always that fear rooted in your brain like a cancer. That and no other has always been the definitive weapon of Castroism!

The same one that this people, becoming millions, snatched from them when the time of the Homeland arrived, and of which it will be deprived forever. From now on, without your fear, the dictatorship is doomed to be extinguished. But though the beast may be stunned, it is definitely not dead. That is why the two phrases are the order of the day: PASSIVE RESISTANCE – do not cooperate at all with your oppressors; and ACTIVE SOLIDARITY – organize and relentlessly support the liberation of all brothers imprisoned during the raising of that DAY OF NATIONAL DIGNITY.

Let us not allow this huge tide of people to dissipate into a bland emotional clamor, for very little is achieved with useless catharsis. This war could be cruel; it is destined to be difficult and to have many battles; it may be long; it must be fought on all fronts and it can never be conceived as a short-term sprint, but rather as a commendable long-distance race, a demanding marathon, where our people will have to use all their forces, and the Civic Resistance will be called to be the most decisive key.

But regardless of what happens from now on, we have one certainty left: as of this July 11, nothing else will be the same, because now we will be freer, since freedom — like its antithesis, slavery — is an intangible state of mind more than a visible external condition. The freedom that you just tasted is a state of grace that lives in you, Cuban who hears me, and depends more on the nobility of your heart than on the thickness of your chains.

Translated by Tomás A.