Translator: Norma Whiting – Translating Cuba

Cuban Tax Authorities Close 15 ‘MSMEs’ and Punish 323 Self-employed Workers for ‘Irregularities”

Diplomarket is suspected of being closed, like others, for tax evasion

So far this year, 24 alleged cases have been reported to the ONAT in Havana, nine of which have ended in complaints / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 10 July 2024 — The Cuban State does not know how much money it fails to receive due to tax evasion, although only until June it had already identified more than 162 million pesos, which, without a doubt, falls short. This Wednesday, the official press dedicated two dense articles to characterize this type of crime, thanks to which it is known that until the end of March, 210 reports of complaints were issued, of which 117 have been analyzed.

There are, however, only six final sentences: two in Ciego de Ávila, two in Camagüey, one in Santiago de Cuba and another in Holguín. “We are still dissatisfied and, above all, we have to be more agile when working on these procedures”, said Belkis Pino Hernández, first deputy head of the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT).

Among the details provided by ONAT, one stands out that could be the one that led to the closure of Diplomarket a month later, known as the Cuban Costco, supposedly intervened by the authorities at the end of June, who arrested the owner, Frank Cuspinera, and his wife for “tax evasion, currency trafficking and money laundering.”

Pino Hernández said that at the end of May there were already 15 MSMEs closed due to “accounting irregularities.” Some of these cases can lead to tax evasion crimes. “The MSME that does not keep its accounting in order and, in addition, does not correctly pay its tax obligations, demonstrates an intention to evade, so we have the right to proceed with the complaint,” she said. Also, up to the same date, the authorization of 323 self-employed workers was withdrawn – temporarily or permanently – and 2,253 bank accounts of physical persons were seized.

The ‘MSME’ that does not keep its accounting well and, in addition, does not correctly pay its tax obligations, demonstrates an intention to evade

In Cubadebate, tax authorities dedicate ample space to detailing the types of evasion, which in Cuba tend to be the under-declaration of income, the omission of income obtained outside the country by a business or the use of third parties to “hide the existence of several businesses, split the tax base and hide the concentration of wealth”, something that Cuban law does not permit.

They also detail some evasion methods that set off alarms in ONAT. One of them is the lack of accounting records or an automated system for this. It is common, said Judith Navarro Ricardo, a specialist in the organization, for self-employed workers not to declare all their employees, as well as to declare lower salaries to reduce taxes and contributions to Social Security.

Other techniques of some MSME owners are more refined “who use self-employed workers, who have three months of exemption to make imports that are not for them, but for the MSME. There, we see a fraudulent way of paying less.” The same happens in the artistic sector, where there is a one-year payment exemption for recent graduates, which allows tricks, such as making transactions through their accounts to avoid paying taxes.

There are, the expert counted, at least 600 MSMEs that reported losses in which “accounting mismanagement” occurred, including “the accounting of equipment purchases as direct expenses instead of inventories, which artificially decreases the company’s profits.”

The focus has been placed on Havana, the province with the most taxpayers, where an estimate of the figures has been made. Yoandra Cruz Dovale, director of ONAT in the capital, explains that there are around 860 cases per month of inconsistencies between the data provided by companies as salaries and by workers as personal income.

“If we compare this number with the number of registered self-employed workers, around 121,000, we would be inferring that 0.7% are possible under reporters. However, if we review the contribution not made to the State budget, in 2023,148 million pesos were recovered by these reviews, an amount that is the expenditure budget for one month of a medium-sized municipality”, she said.

In 2023, 104 intensive inspections were carried out in Havana, in which 241 million evaded pesos were determined

But not all non-payments detected are crimes of tax evasion. “At the end of May, more than 80,000 control actions had been carried out, determining debts in the amount of 819 million pesos,” Pino Hernández told the State newspaper Granma, referring to the total number of cases in the country.

The official highlighted that when a non-payment is determined, the taxpayer can correct the error or omission and pay the money under the “principle of opportunity.” Only if there was intentionality is it evasion and goes to trial. In this sense, he cites as an example a private company that “did not include in the calculation the stimulation paid to workers, which led to the determination of the debt, with the corresponding surcharge and fine,” however, it was exempt from a process since it was considered proven that it was a misinterpretation of the tax regulations.

Fiscal problems have led to 8,764 people being banned from leaving Cuba, although it is unknown what percentage they represent of the total number of regulated people – another fact hidden – for “political” reasons.

Finally, the authorities have provided data on the presentation of the personal income tax return, which this year improved, since only 0.8% of taxpayers (4,744) failed to comply with their obligation, the majority in Havana, Villa Clara, Matanzas and Camagüey. Meanwhile, in the agricultural sector, compliance was 100%.

Regarding the profit tax, only 34 taxpayers did not declare (0.2%) and in the dividend tax, 116 partners (1.5%) failed to do so, the majority from the province of Granma.

In Cuba there are currently just over 1,109,000 taxpayers, the majority of them physical persons (1,074,000), of which 527,000 are self-employed; and 35,448 legal entities, of which 9,084 are MSMEs.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Layers of Paint and Hype in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba to Celebrate July 26th

The residents, meanwhile, only hope that the city buildings will benefit from the paraphernalia of the event.

Newly painted pharmacy in Sancti Spíritus due to the events of July 26 / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes Garcia, Sancti Spíritus, 4 July 2024 — Even in the midst of the most painful crisis that the Revolution has faced, the Cuban regime insists on remembering its “rebellious lineage” every year by granting one province primacy in the events for July 26. Since last June 14, Sancti Spíritus has held the headquarters, an “acknowledgement” that Cubans see more as an opportunity to renovate the city than to honor the assailants of the Moncada barracks.

The authorities “put their foot down” – as Ramiro Valdés recommended in the province days ago – and, since the announcement that the central event of the anniversary will take place in Sancti Spiritus, the problems seem to have disappeared. 100% of its taxpayers paid their taxes in 2023, infant mortality in the first half of this year is – suspiciously – the second lowest in the country, and Construction, one of the worst sectors on the Island, advances thanks to mini-industries.

That is, at least, the Sancti Spíritus that the official press is selling, decked out to receive senior government officials and, with luck, Raúl Castro himself.

The entrance road to the province was also paved / Escambray

From the interior of its streets, however, a different reality is felt. The 10 kilometers of asphalt that were dedicated to repairing the province’s roads are all focused on a single section: the road that connects the municipality of Cabaiguán and the capital city, and that also connects with the National Highway. That is, a brand-new tar carpet through which the ministers and officials will enter the city for the event.

The same has happened with the facades of state restaurants, such as Dinos Pizza, to which they added umbrellas and seats in the doorway, but inside, the bottles on display are empty and the prices do not drop below 200 pesos.

They added chairs and umbrellas to Dinos Pizza, but the rest remains the same / 14ymedio

Other “beneficiaries” of state paraphernalia have been pharmacies and bodegas (the ration stores). Those closest to the center and, of course, to the routes that the officials will take, boast blue, pink and red colors on their facades that still smell of fresh paint. The leaks from the interior and the shortage of products, however, have not changed. “Paint, a lot of paint. But no supplies,” a resident of Garaita, one of the “retouched” establishments, complained to 14ymedio.

Many state establishments, some of them on the boulevard, remain closed to preserve the touches until the 26th, when their doors will open with offers of food and entertainment that the people of Sancti Spiritus have not had at their disposal for a long time, and which is doubtful will be kept after the festivities.

Some grocery stores have their facades painted again, but they are still without food / 14ymedio

The local press has also not been shy about granting a certain “joy” to the “people of Sancti Spiritus,” alleging that the Central Committee of the Party has granted a great “honor” to the province for “the work that its cadres, management structures, workers and people in general, as an expression of the popular will to move the country forward in the midst of a particularly complex economic situation.”

Many leisure and gastronomy venues remain closed / 14ymedio

To commemorate the distinction, on the same day of the announcement, local leaders celebrated the event with the people of Sancti Spiritus, who “spontaneously” carried drums and Cuban flags.

For the Sancti Spíritus residents, however, being the venue for the July 26 events is only equivalent to avoiding blackouts for a few days or finally seeing public transportation working. For the rest, the arrangements seem few and superficial compared to those obtained by other provinces in previous years.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Cuban Government Describes as Ineffective and Harmful the 30% Profit Cap on Sales from the Private Sector to the State

Economist Pedro Monreal points out that this measure “entails the risk of corrupt markets.”

The sale of imported flour by private parties has, on many occasions, allowed the state sector to have bread. / Escambray

14ymedio, Madrid, 28 June 2024 — Cuba’s private sector will be able to obtain a maximum profit of 30% on the goods and services it sells to the State as of July 1. This Thursday, the Cuban Government made public a resolution – dated Tuesday – in which this limit is established with the objective of “containing the expenses of state entities in their economic relations with non-state forms of management.” The measure is, as economist Pedro Monreal summarizes, a variant of “price caps,” which not only have not shown their effectiveness, but can even be harmful.

“State entities, in the process of economic contracting with non-state methods of management for the acquisition of goods and services, agree on prices and rates whose maximum profit rate does not exceed thirty percent (30%) of the total of costs and expenses, as well as the amount corresponding to the application of taxes on Sales and Services,” details the resolution published in the Official Gazette.

The text, which emphasizes the containment of inflation as its goal, urges lower-level administrations (provincial and municipal) to approve the maximum prices and rates of the goods and services they select based on the needs of each territory.

Private sector retail sales account for just 4.1% of those of the country as a whole. Although it is not known what part of them end up at the state sector

The impact of the measure, provided it works, would be more than limited. As Monreal points out, private sector retail sales account for only 4.1% of those of the country as a whole. Although it is not known what part of these sales ends up in the state sector, the percentage is too negligible to have any type of significant consequence. continue reading

“In addition to the fact that the base of ‘savings’ in state expenditures by limiting the rate of profit on non-state sales acquired by state entities does not appear to be very large, experience indicates that ‘price caps’ are not effective to reduce inflation,” the expert indicates.

The Cuban economist insists that the way to contain inflation, which has not stopped growing exponentially since the entry into force of the so-called Ordering Task (2021), is expense reduction. The largest State budget items go to Health (19%) and Education (17%), but both are essential for the Government, in addition to being “problematic” – Monreal describes – for society, which is why the specialist suggests the cuts in the next largest sector, Public Administration and Defense (16%).

“Prices must essentially be fashioned in the market (even in regulated markets). Replacing this function of the market with ‘powers’ of local officials not only restricts market prices, but also entails the risk of ‘corruption markets’, Monreal concludes in an X thread in which he has recorded his analysis of measures.

Replacing that market function with ‘powers’ of local officials not only restricts market prices, but also risks ‘markets of corruption’

The publication of the information in Cubadebate has generated an avalanche of comments in a few hours in which, in general terms, distrust is perceived regarding the measure. “With knowledge of the facts, it will mean a new brake on many activities. For example, tourism, which, in order to be able to provide services relies on many private companies. Imagine now, with the crisis of ITH [marketing company for the sector] not being able to supply its clients and, starting July 1, applying that measure, are we prepared?” a reader points out.

Others have seen, immediately, how corruption is going to run rampant. “Profit rate = Income – (costs + expenses). In other words, a high price can be perfectly justified by saying that the costs or expenses were high; no one can control that for an individual. We are kicking as we drown.”

Some readers point out that the measure is correct or that the 30% profit is already too much and the margins should be tightened even more, comments that are appreciated by the Ministry of Finance and Prices itself, which intervenes in the debate. However, a large group of users agree that the Government is insisting on a path that has never been successful.

“Although the price cap is considered counterproductive by many economists, practice has demonstrated its inefficiency in the best of cases, plus its counterproductive effect in the majority of cases. So, here we are, continuing to stumble over the same stone. Tripping over a stone is not bad if you do it for the first time, but in Cuba we do it so many times that we end up falling in love with them.”

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While Cubans Suffer from Floods, Authorities Speak of ‘Revolutionary Surveillance’

Senior civil and military officials meet in Havana to prepare “the war of all the people”

Neighbors have been busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invade their streets after the floods / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 24 June 2024 — The threat of another rainy day looms over the Cuban capital this Monday. Only the Eastern side of the Island is breathing with some relief, since at 3 in the morning the Meteorological Institute announced that this Monday will be “cloudy in a large part of the country, with some showers, rains and thunderstorms from late morning in the western half. In the afternoon, rainfall will spread to the rest of the national territory, becoming copious in the west and center. The rains can be heavy in some locations.”

It will rain over already wet surfaces, literally. In Havana the weekend has been devastating for the hundreds of people who have lived staring at the ceiling, hoping it wouldn’t fall on them, as has happened to about twenty families who have partially or totally lost their homes due to rainfall in recent days. The highest point of the situation occurred on Saturday, when, in just three hours, between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, 56 millimeters (2.2 inches) of water accumulated at Casablanca Station in Havana.

The most affected municipalities were Diez de Octubre, Old Havana, Centro Habana, Boyeros and Plaza de la Revolución, where residents were busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invaded their streets and that, carried by the water, prevented drainage through sewers, causing water accumulation. Mosquitoes, happy in the humidity, were added to the waste, spreading arboviruses to the fearing population, who did not give up in their efforts to unclog the streets despite the authorities asking them for “prudence and discipline.” continue reading

Liván Izquierdo Alonso asked for caution and called for “common sense and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets”

“Multiple images were posted on social networks, essentially in the profiles of Havana residents on Facebook and X (previously known as Twitter), where the population can be seen in the streets, in waters above their waists, just like cars whose tires cannot be seen because they remain under the precipitated water,” said Tribuna de La Habana.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, First Secretary of the Communist Party in the province, asked for caution and called for “sanity, and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets with the clear presence of downed cables.” His agenda that day, while the population entered the waters to clean up the disaster, had consisted of supervising the Territorial Defense Day in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, together with his deputy, Yanet Hernández Pérez, who is also Havana’s governor.

On the front lines, Major General Ernest Feijóo Eiró, head of the Western Army, called for “maintaining daily production and services, internal order: revolutionary surveillance in the neighborhood’s labor groups, all as an indispensable part of all the people’s war”.

The three, along with other military personnel, carried out the day’s program as if nothing else was going on. The official press describes a tour in which “places that have the essential potential to guarantee food for the population in circumstances determined by defense against an enemy attack were visited.” They also went to the April 19^th polyclinic to “verify health professionals’ preparation to care for citizens who were injured by an enemy attack in the territory.” Not a word, however, about whether the necessary means are available for this. They also went to a school and the polygon “in which they witnessed a demonstration of skills for direct confrontation with those who try to invade this territory.”

The Havana authorities carried out the day’s program as if nothing was happening / Tribuna de La Habana

Feijóo Eiró spoke with the president of the Municipal Defense Council, Rolandis Rogríguez González, about the importance of “taking advantage of the reserves of experience in officers who are retired and have the necessary qualities,” while Izquierdo Alonso was interested in the “potential of a local organopónico”* and about crops, and spoke with authority about how to produce to feed the population. In addition, he said that “the functions of the different government structures must be preserved, permanently, every day, in coordination with the Defense Zones. This is where the concept of war of the entire people lies,” he stressed.

The surreal scene, recorded by the official press with as much detail and urgency as was lacking when talking about the building collapses, was answered with a more than premonitory comment. “It would be necessary for Defense Day to also be allocated to the collection of solid waste in the streets. The corner of Oquendo and Salud in Centro Habana has not collected the garbage for more than a week, it is impossible to live with the flies, mosquitoes and stench inside homes, even with everything closed,” warned a woman who identified herself as Karen Boffill, an affected neighbor.

Barely an hour later the strong storm began, which aggravated the situation of the previous days, and the unrest of Havana residents was visible on the networks due to the lack of opportunity of some authorities, who seemed more distracted in the “strategic conception defined by the Commander in Chief Fidel as All the People’s War” than in the rain and its consequences. “They have people wasting their time with a supposed war. War is what they have against the miserable people, and it’s now that rice for the month of June’s miserable ration book is arriving. Don’t fool people anymore and get to work, because that’s where they’re spending all your money”, said a resident of La Lisa.

“They’re still doing it. What war? We have the war right here, inside. Enough already about war. What needs to be done is start producing the land, planting sugar cane, which is what makes money”, another one cried. “The military is the one who has to prepare,” continued one user. They have to guarantee citizens security: from an attack from outside and the assurance of peace for the citizens. “They should do that, and not keep appropriating hotels and chain stores.”

Not a single word came from Cuba’s Presidency to those affected by the rains. This weekend, Miguel Díaz-Canel left two messages on X, one this Sunday, congratulating Cuban women engineers and another that same Saturday, to instruct the population of Unión de Reyes, Matanzas, where he was on an official tour, to work with the spirit of commitment to move forward.

Popular superstition has linked Díaz-Canel, since the beginning of his mandate, with bad luck. His arrival was preceded by the partial collapse, on Friday night, of a home on General Betancourt de Alacranes Street, in Unión de Reyes. A few hours later, another building fell on the other side of Matanzas, in Colón. Nothing strange for a province in which only the Varadero tourist resort is free of ruins. None of this appeared in the official press.

*Translator’s note: Organopónicos or organoponics Cuban-originated system of urban agriculture using organic gardens.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Lilo Vilaplana Talks About his Film ‘Plantadas’: “Doing Historical Justice Comforts Me”

The film can be seen in Cuba using the link sent through friends

Former political prisoner Alicia del Busto (left) during filming, with actresses Jennifer Rodríguez and Rachell Vallori, and Lilo Vilaplana / Courtesy / Alfredo de Armas

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 15 June 2024 — In a narrow, dirty and crowded cell, several prisoners support each other so as not to lose their sanity or their lives. The guards bring a beaten woman to the dungeon and the prisoners receive her with words of encouragement, despite the situation in which they find themselves. The scene, from the film Plantadas*, shows the importance of solidarity in the Cuban political prison system and delves into a portion of national history silenced by official discourse.

Lilo Vilaplana speaks with 14ymedio about his work, which is a shock against oblivion and a tribute to those women who warned, very early on, of the authoritarian drift of Fidel Castro’s regime.

14ymedio/Escobar: How difficult was it to process all the hours of interviews with former Cuban political prisoners and concentrate them into two hours of film?

Vilaplana: It was like putting together a puzzle so that the final product reflected the story told by each of them. Plantadas is not a documentary, nor a docudrama, but we start from real stories to create an entertaining plot that has three female characters, with their dramatic lines, representing the thousands of political prisoners in Cuba’s prisons since 1959 for disagreeing with a system that was implemented with blood, terror, betrayals and lies. The work we did with the writer Ángel Santiesteban was precisely to create those plots and subplots. Arranging the action based on the initial stories was a difficult challenge and required many hours of work.

14ymedio/Escobar: Did you encounter any reluctance on the part of the interviewees to tell their story?

Vilaplana: Some did not want to speak, because they did not want to open that wound. I understand them, there are painful stories, many were not able to have children, there were others whose children were told by the communists that their mothers were imprisoned because they did not want to be with them. There were scores of tortures, humiliations and difficulties caused by their imprisonments. continue reading

Some did not want to speak, because they did not want to open that wound. I understand them, there are painful stories, many were not able to have children

Currently, several of those who did not initially give us their stories, after watching the film, have begun to accompany us to activities to offer their testimony to the public. The first one to tell us her story was América Quesada, who was not able to see the finished film, because she died a few days before filming began. From the money that she had raised up to that point for the film, we gave her family the sum necessary for her cremation, because she was having financial difficulties.

14ymedio/Escobar: In the reconstruction of the locations, especially in the outdoor scenes and those inside the prisons, it seems that a contrast was sought between light and shadow, between clarity and gloom.

Vilaplana: Each space has a specific mood. It is something that we were very clear about from the beginning. The light, the sound, the camera shots, the art of each space was worked with very few resources, but with great accuracy and care. We were clear that there must be a marked difference in these environments.

14ymedio/Escobar: Among the protagonists are several faces of the Cuban women who have recently emigrated to the United States, who were indoctrinated while in Cuba to view political prisoners as mercenaries. Was it difficult for them to embody those prisoners?

Vilaplana: It was a very interesting mix of actresses and actors with experience and long exiles, and others who have been in the diaspora for some time. Among them were several newcomers who, until recently, had starred in films with the ICAIC [Cuban Art Institute and Cinematographic Industry]. It was very interesting, because they adapted.

Everyone knew the movie Plantados. They had seen it in Cuba and here, they met with many of those male prisoners and also with the female political prisoners. They asked them for advice, they asked them questions, and that way they learned the story firsthand, that is a luxury for any actor. They were able to understand the events that occurred in Cuba and regretted so many years of useless indoctrination.

14ymedio/Escobar: Every film project has that moment when it seems like it’s not going to go ahead. Did Plantadas have that too?

Vilaplana: No, Plantadas did not go through that process. Those involved in the project trusted that it would be done, we had the support of a few politicians, some businessmen, townspeople and exiles who contributed what they had so that the movie could be achieved. They also gave us food, offered a location and donated vintage objects, proposed to build whatever was necessary or positioned their vintage cars, depending on the project. Vilaplana Films made available production elements to the film, many costumes, set pieces, prop weapons and filming equipment for free, to lower costs and be able to finish the film with the little money raised. We didn’t have the budget of Plantados, but we already had the experience of that first film.

I anticipate that another film with Cuba’s prison’s theme is coming, because we are working on a new project

14ymedio/Escobar: Are you worried about being pigeonholed as the director who addresses the Cuban political prison?

Vilaplana: It doesn’t worry me, because my work refutes that statement. I have many different titles in my career. I have been a director of internationally successful drug trafficking series such as El Capo (I directed four periods), Perseguidos, La Mariposa and Dueños del Paraíso. As director, I have also participated in other international series such as Lynch, Mentes en Shock, Sin Retorno, Tiempo Finaland Zona Rosa. I have directed soap operas: La Dama de Troya, Por Amor, Un Sueño Llamado Salsa, The Past Doesn’t Forgive, You Will Love Me in the Rain, La Traicionera and Portraits… among many others. In addition, I have been the director of short films such as La Muerte del Gato, La Casa Vacía, Los Ponedores, to which were added series of docudramas in the style of Arrepentidos, Siguiendo el Rastro, Expediente, Unidad Investigativa and Leyendas del Exilio.

I anticipate that another film is coming with the theme of Cuban prisons, because we are working on a new project to tell what happened in the concentration camps that the communists called UMAP [Military Production Assistance Units]. We have won several awards with many of our productions.

14ymedio/Escobar: They say that making films is very similar to the work of a craftsman. Where do you start to shape a film?

Vilaplana: Creation has unsuspected paths and one process is never similar to the other. Sometimes you have the movie and other times the movie looks for you. Plantadas was a dream that Reinol Rodriguez and I had, together with my son, Camilo Vilaplana, as director. We made it come true, with a great production team, technicians, artists and an exile who has supported this process by appropriating a piece that deals with human rights abuse.

14ymedio/Escobar: Just a few days ago, activist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca arrived in Miami. He was taken to the Havana airport, forcing his departure practically from prison. It seems that 60 years later, for opponents in Cuba the options remain the same: prison or exile. Doesn’t that discourage you?

Vilaplana: That is what the Castro Regime wants, to discourage the fight. But we will always be facing the dictatorship, with the hope that, one day, this nightmare will end. I will never be part of works that discourage struggle. Knowing that men like Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, José Daniel Ferrer and so many female political prisoners do not give up, gives hope.

14ymedio/Escobar: What are you going to do with all those hours of interviews with political prisoners that were conducted to bring into line the Plantadas story? Is there a documentary coming?

Vilaplana: For now, the Plantados and Plantadas interviews will all be at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora. I want all those who want access to this treasure to have it. If with my films I manage to evoke these dark stages of the Castro dictatorship in Cuba so that it is never repeated again, and for that reason alone, it will have been worth making these historical films.

If with my films I manage to remember these dark stages of the Castro dictatorship in Cuba so that it is never repeated again, and for that reason alone, it will have been worth it.

14ymedio/Escobar: It is one thing to reach the Cuban public and another to reach viewers who are further removed from the Cuban reality. How has the film fared in festivals and platforms?

Vilaplana: Reaching the Cuban public is important, but reaching the world is a challenge. The movie Plantados, for example, always packs the theaters when it is shown. But it is absolutely curious how the Castro regime manages to have tokens and accomplices who try to prevent these issues from reaching festivals and platforms where they almost always claim that if it is a “politics issue” they are not interested.

“Politics” refers to when The Castro Regime is denounced. If it is a product financed by tyranny, they accept it and change the terms. I don’t understand how such a macabre system has so many accomplices. In any case, a lot of work has been done and we have won four awards at different festivals, in addition to being on the billboards of cinemas in Miami and many cities in the United States for 10 weeks. Plantadas has also been screened in Puerto Rico and in several countries such as Canada, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, The Bahamas and others. Now, thanks to the work of our VIP 2000 distributors, we are on the largest Spanish language streaming platform, and in the first week it placed among the four most viewed films, competing with the big productions from Hollywood and other strong countries in the market. Plantadas is available throughout Latin America and the US on the VIX platform and has already been dubbed into English. We are working with platforms in Europe to continue spreading this message.

14ymedio/Escobar: Within Cuba, watching Plantadas has become an act that practically has to be carried out in secret. What efforts have been made to reach the public in Cuba?

Vilaplana: The public in Cuba has its own link to see the film, and we have several friends who distribute it. I also send it to everyone who asks me for it. Sometimes groups get together and show it and discuss the film.

14ymedio/Escobar: The Yara Cinema, La Rampa, the Chaplin or the Payret? In which of these rooms do you think Plantadas will be screened for the first time in Havana?

Vilaplana: Plantadas is going to be screened in a free Cuba and will one day be studied in Cuban universities, just like Plantados, because history is the memory of the people and the political prisoners who have given years of their lives confined for their homeland to be free, democratic and prosperous must be remembered, as their sacrifice deserves. Carrying out historical justice comforts me and alleviates the pain of this family separation, of the many who’ve been shot, killed and murdered because of a system that should never have been installed in Cuba.

*Translator’s note: Plantadas [literally ‘planted’] refers to female political prisoners who resist, refusing to conform to the demands of their jailers. Brief history of plantados [male political prisoners who resist] here.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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A River of Sewage Water Surrounds a Polyclinic in Havana

The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors

Down the slope, a dark river with greenish parts carries waste from the Public Health department / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 June 2024 — Where there was hygiene, sewage remains. Those who walk in front of the Héroes del Moncada University Polyclinic on 23 Street, between A and B, in El Vedado, Havana, have been repeating the same ritual for days: go down the sidewalk, take risks among traffic on the avenue and avoid a spill through which flows waste from the health center’s bathrooms. The place intended to preserve health is, paradoxically, a source of potential infections for neighbors.

“At first, the stench didn’t let us live, but now I don’t even feel it,” admits a neighbor from A, where a dark river with greenish chunks drains downhill, carrying waste from the Public Health Department. “Children can no longer play on the sidewalk, and in many houses, people have had to put damp blankets with bleach by the door to clean their shoes before entering.” The grass in the nearest flowerbeds has grown “fed” by the sewage and a trash can seems about to float in the dark lake that has formed around it.

The disgusting current knows no limits or locks. It passes under the stately fence that surrounds the polyclinic, extends along the most important avenue of the modern center of Havana and sticks to the wheels of the shopping carts of those who await in line at the nearby rationed market warehouse. Everyone who passes by takes away something of its essence, be it part of the stench, some fragment of waste carried by the current, or the look of disgust on their face. continue reading

“At first the plague didn’t let us live, but now I don’t even feel it anymore” / 14ymedio

“In the mornings, people who come to get their blood drawn for some lab analysis line up right here”, says another resident nearby. “There are pregnant women, children, people with chronic illnesses and old people who can barely lift their feet to walk and they carry all of that stuff stuck to their shoes. Anyone who falls into those waters will come out with an infection, for sure.”

The property’s employees are also at risk. In the morning, they dodge the stinky puddles to get to their jobs and in the afternoons, they gain momentum again and jump so as not to take the detritus home.

On the bright green façade of the building, a sign warns that it is a University Polyclinic, a reference location for training new doctors in direct patient care. In addition to preparing them for clinical diagnoses, the place is designed to train them to practice the profession in the midst of hygienic and epidemiological chaos.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Thieves and Bureaucrats Make Life Impossible for Cuban Ranchers

Faced with permanent harassment on his farm in Cárdenas, Ernesto is almost thinking of selling his animals and abandoning the country

If you start to do the math, Ernesto has dedicated almost 20 years to a fa that is not actually his / Radio 26

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 5 June 2024 — Ernesto has had Spanish nationality since 2008 and in recent years he has traveled to Spain a few times, but he always returns. In Cuba, specifically in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he manages a livestock farm in which he also cultivates some land with vegetables which would be very difficult for him to part with. Until now, as a producer, he had been able to get by – although he acknowledges that “it has not been easy” – but the situation that the peasants are experiencing has led him to consider selling his animals and permanently leaving the country.

continue reading

Faced with the dilemma between complying with the rules or surviving and saving their business, many ranchers end up making deals outside what is legal / 14ymedio

Ernesto interrupts the conversation for a moment to answer a phone call. He is contacted by a seller who has obtained fencing wire for 1,200 pesos per meter. “Who supports those prices doing everything through the state channel?” But they are expenses that he must incur, since his animals could end up in the hands of an illegal slaughterer.

“This is getting as dark as a pitch. In all these years I have been robbed twice and the worst thing is that, when it happens, the authorities blame the farmers for not having the land fenced and letting the cattle roam. But if you are going to cut wood to build a fence, the Agroforestry Company delays your permit or denies it. If you file a report for theft, the Police are likely never find the criminals,” claims the guajiro.

If you start to do the math, Ernesto has dedicated almost 20 years to a farm that is not actually his, since the land belongs to the State, and the State can take it from him at any time. “I am exposed to shortages and problems of all kinds, including thieves who constantly try to do their own thing. I have grown tired of meetings that solve nothing and bureaucrats who live off the sacrifice of others,” he says. “Sometimes they make me feel like getting rid of all this and going to another country. That would be my biggest sacrifice.”

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Cuba Breaks the World Record for Simultaneous Dancers in a Casino Wheel

The judges evaluated this event held on ‘Cuban Son Day’ / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, 6 May 2024 — Cuba broke the world record this Sunday by bringing together the largest number of people simultaneously dancing casino style and surpassing the number of choreographic wheels, dancing in unison to the beat and cadence of the son, a musical genre with origins and tradition in Cuba.

More than 1,500 people successfully passed the casino dancing test for nine minutes in squares and parks in the provincial capitals and municipalities throughout the country, according to preliminary data from the judges who evaluated this event held on Cuban Son Day.

The international project ‘Returning to the Son Dancing Casino’- coordinated through the Ministry of Culture – led to this initiative which finally met the goal of replacing Venezuela in the world record of popular and sports dances that country has held since 2022. continue reading

La Piragua, an emblematic site for the Havana dancers, was the epicenter of the capital’s event that brought together hundreds of casino dancers

La Piragua*, an emblematic site for Havana dancers, was the epicenter of the capital’s event that brought together hundreds of casino dancers (casineros) with a white and blue dress code.

The months-long preparations for the casino dancers represented long hours of rehearsals, visits to dance academies, as well as training of the people in charge of their organization.

The dance competitions were also recorded. From the west: Artemisa, Pinar del Río and Matanzas, from the eastern side: Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Guantánamo and Granma, and the central cities of Cienfuegos and Camagüey.

The casino arose spontaneously in Cuba at the end of the 50’s during the last century as a form of entertainment for the couples dancing together or in a collective circle with a mixture of steps, variants and figures from an entire chain of Cuban ballroom dances that preceded it, such as urban Havana son and chachachá.

The casino emerged spontaneously in Cuba at the end of the 50’s during the last century as a form of entertainment for couples dancing together or in a collective circle

The casino wheel appeared when couples began to interact with one another, even swapping partners during the dance, made up of two or more duets that perform choreographic evolutions under the orders of a leader.

It was danced for the first time on the circular floor of Havana’s Club Casino Deportivo, and that is where the name of this style of social dance comes from, which has maintained its popularity and preference among Cubans, and the reason it is considered a contender to form part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

The international boom of this dance since the late 70s was a determining factor in the spread of casino dancing outside Cuba’s borders, where it has thousands of followers in the Americas, the Caribbean and other areas of the world where it is recognized as “Cuban salsa”.

*Translator’s note: La Piragua is a large plaza-type open space along Havana’s Malecon overlooked by the Hotel Nacional.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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More Than Half the Fishing Boats in Las Tunas Are Docked For Lack of Spare Parts

Only 8 of the 23 boats Las Tunas counts on are in operation due to the lack of spare parts to start engines and batteries.

Las Tunas fishing fleet problems have resulted in the city’s shortage of seafood products / Radio Habana, Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 4 May 2024 — Of the 23 boats that make up the fishing fleet in Las Tunas, only eight are currently working, that is, 65% of the available boats are out of service due to not having enough spare parts to start motors and batteries.

This was revealed by the investment specialist of the state company, Xiomara Concepción, in an interview with Periódico 26, where it explained that the lack of fisheries in the city has resulted, among other things, in a shortage of seafood in the local commercial network.

The shortage of fish in Las Tunas is a reality that, for some years, can be corroborated by the supply shortages of derived foods such as croquettes, sausages and minced meat. The situation has forced suppliers to obtain their fish from neighboring provinces such as Holguín and Camagüey, according reports.

Last March, the Government permanently eliminated the obligation to sign a contract with a company authorized for marketing, which was an obstacle for non-state fishermen to obtain a license.

However, in the little more than a year and a half since the resolution, which also does not consider lobster among its plans, no positive effects have been seen, and in places like Las Tunas the absence of boats adds to the deficit. continue reading

According to data from the Ministry of the Food Industry, fish consumption fell in Cuba from an annual average of 18 kilograms per person thirty years ago to around 3.8 kilograms in 2022. So far, the figures corresponding to 2023 have not been made public, but nothing indicates that they will be any better.

Fishermen from Las Tunas struggle to do their work due to lack of resources / Periódico 26

Faced with this panorama, Yordan Rueda Paz, technical director of Pescatun – the fish marketing company in the province – explained to the Cuban News Agency that an investment exceeding 16,370,000 pesos is already being prepared to strengthen the Las Tunas fishing industry, which is also working to obtain engines and other equipment for the fleet.

The project includes the creation and rehabilitation of centers for young fry, the ‘dynamization’ of the industry and obtaining resources for the capture during 2024 for the Empresa Pesquera de Las Tunas [Las Tunas Fishing Enterprise] , commonly referred to as Pescatun.

“During the next few days, we must complete the assembly of the electrical and hydraulic networks and the false ceiling”

According to the official media, this is not the only project to boost food production in the area. There are others linked to the agricultural sector that are being developed in the province of Las Tunas, and through these projects tractors, irrigation systems and other material resources have been received.

The digital newspaper also reports on the training of private and state producers to dedicate the acquired machinery to the most appropriate uses, and convert them into food, grains, fruits, vegetables, meats and other items destined for the population.

Diametrically opposed to the situation in Las Tunas are the results of the Santa Cruz del Sur Fishing Company, in Camagüey, which on November 6 was proud of having captured the 250 tons of lobster of its annual plan and is continuing in search of more seafood to exceed the plan targets.

To this industry, destined mostly for export and hotel food, the regime allocates the resources that it says it does not have when it comes to fishing for national consumption.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Cuba Establishes an Electronic Visa to Try to Revitalize Tourism that is Not Recovering

• In the first trimester of the year, only a quarter of the international travelers expected for 2024 arrived, far from the 32% needed to meet projections.

• The United States has denied 300,000 electronic visas to European citizens for having visited Cuba before.

Marrero opened the FitCuba event, in which the Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, was also present / Invasor

14ymedio, Madrid, 3 May 2024 — Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced the establishment of an electronic visa that will replace the traditional tourist card as of May 6. The document, whose purpose is to facilitate international visits to Cuba, is called E-visa and can be obtained on a website created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“With the electronic visa, tour operators and end users will be able to manage their application in a simplified way from any device connected to the Internet,” said the executive this Thursday at the inauguration of the International Tourism Fair, FitCuba 2024. Its 42nd edition is being celebrated in Jardines del Rey (Ciego de Ávila).

Marrero opened the event, at which the minister of the sector, Juan Carlos García Granda, was also present, as well as the governor of Ávila, Alfre Menéndez Pérez, and the regional director for the Americas of UN Tourism, Gustavo Santos, who offered the support of the organization for the consolidation of the sector’s recovery in Cuba, which has yet to be completed. continue reading

On April 19, the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) provided the official number of tourists who arrived in Cuba in the first quarter of the year. The number was 809,238 international travelers, just 56,807 more than the previous year during the same period. This figure threatens to wreck, once again, the authorities’ annual aspirations of 3,200,000 tourists this year, since the number represents only 25.2% of the objective. In 2023, as of April, 21.4% of the projected 3.5 million had been achieved and the final figure was only 2.4 million.

Cuban economist Pedro Monreal already warned at that time that Cuba needs to achieve around 32% of the forecasts in the first trimester if the goal is to be met

Cuban economist Pedro Monreal already warned at that time that Cuba needs to achieve around 32% of the forecasts in the first trimester if the goal is to be met.

This Thursday, Marrero did not hesitate to blame the United States for the debacle, to which he attributes a “subversive and diversionary policy, aimed at destroying our Revolution, which makes the management and conduct of recovery and development plans difficult.” Cuban authorities have made it their most recent objective to overturn the US rule that prevents tourists who have visited Cuba or any other country on the list of sponsors of terrorism from entering its territory with ESTA (an electronic document that exempts travelers from several countries from visa requirements).

“We are the only country in the world in which US citizens, the main issuing market to the Caribbean, are prohibited by law from traveling freely to Cuba as tourists. Also, as part of the extraterritorial application of the blockade, 300,000 electronic visas were denied to European citizens for having visited Cuba before”, claimed Marrero, citing data published this week by the American press. The measure does not prevent entry into the country, although it does require a tourist visa to be processed, which means more processing time and expenses for the applicant.

The prime minister also referred to the cancellation of the route to Buenos Aires due to the refusal of the Argentine company that supplied fuel to Cubana de Aviación to continue supplying it.

Marrero had, however, good news in store for that day. According to what he revealed, the Spanish Justice System definitively closed the case opened in Mallorca against Meliá Hotels Internacional, the Gaviota group and the Cuban State.

“We recently learned of the definitive victory in the lawsuit against the Meliá Hotel chain, the Gaviota tourism group and the Cuban State in Mallorca, Spain. “Justice triumphed!” wrote the leader on his X account.

“We recently learned of the definitive victory in the lawsuit against the Meliá Hotel chain, the Gaviota tourism group and the Cuban State in Mallorca, Spain. Justice triumphed!”

The lawsuit, which has been open since 2019 and has had countless twists and turns, was filed by the Sánchez Hill family, residing in the United States, who requested compensation of about 10 million euros for the lands located in the current province of Holguín, which were expropriated by Fidel Castro in 1960 and from which Meliá benefits by managing several hotels built there by the Cuban military.

The CEO of Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer – who has been banned from entering the US since 2020 due to the Helms-Burton law – told Cuban Television News this Thursday that he is proud that, for the third time, the Spanish justice system has granted them the point in the lawsuit. “Our commitment to Cuba is unconditional and we have been demonstrating it since 1989,” said the businessman.

Meliá, which manages almost 40 hotels in Cuba, announced a new investment: the Gran Marena Cayo Coco, which will open under the name Meliá Costa Rey and is owned by the Gran Caribe Hotel Group. The Balearic hotel company will manage this establishment, which was the last hotel that operated with a 5-star category under the Accor brand in Cuba, as Pullman Cayo Coco.

FitCuba 2024, which will receive more than 600 participants from airlines, tour operators, travel agencies, hoteliers, transporters and related professionals and will run starting from this Thursday until Sunday, May 5, awarded Meliá, Iberostar and Blue Diamond hotel chains for “their support for the development of the leisure industry.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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La Cuevita, Where Capitalism Works in Cuba

The sale of medicines and the purchase of foreign currency, all informal, happens in full view of the police and despite the operatives

“Policemen have to solve their problems too, that’s why they are in La Cuevita buying their things” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 14 April 2024 – The market known as La Cuevita, in San Miguel del Padrón, on the outskirts of Havana, is not larger than the one that spreads under 100 and Boyeros in the capital, but it does have a greater impact. “The stall space for the self-employed is small, but the informal sales around them are huge, and that is where the majority of buyers go.”

Nelly, who accompanied 14ymedio on a visit to La Cuevita this Friday, lives in Ciego de Ávila, but comes by every month. Before, she used to work as a mule going back and forth to Haiti, but with the uptick in violence in that country, she has changed it to the markets of Havana. She’s not the only one. “We all arrive with suitcases and then we return to our provinces to sell things there.”

“It’s like arriving at the bus station, you know?” says Raniel, who has come to La Cuevita to buy medicine. In legally established self-employed stores, you can find jewelry, watches, clothing, caps or glasses, but it’s the informal sellers who display an infinite arsenal of items of all kinds. Among them, medicines stand out especially.

“They arrive and stand in the hallway, spread a box full of medicines and stand there to sell them,” explains Raniel, who prefers to buy in La Cuevita than on online sales sites, where they are more expensive. It is easy to see that most of them are imported, that is, brought from outside by mules, but quite a few of them are Cuban-made, which indicates that they come from the state market. “Cuban enalapril* costs 250 pesos per blister here, and in Revolico it costs between 300 and 350 pesos.” And in the pharmacy? “Do not even mention the pharmacy! Enalapril is among the missing”, says Raniel. continue reading

Anti-inflammatories, analgesics, diclofenac with paracetamol, antibiotics of all kinds… Anyone would say, visiting these stands, that in Cuba there is no problem with the shortage of medicines that chronically afflicts the health system.

Other striking stands are those for purchasing currency. As with medicines, as if it were a legal activity, huge signs indicate the exchange rate: the euro at 350 pesos, the dollar at 345, and the freely convertible currency (MLC), at 270. “People arrive and, just as if it were a Cadeca [Exchange place], take out their fulas** or take out their euros and sell them there, without hiding anything,” says Nelly, who is no longer so surprised by the activity. And the Police? Because, on paper, this illegality carries high fines. “They have to bribe the inspectors, because there are operatives every day, but they just remain very calm”.

As if it were a legal activity, huge signs in La Cuevita indicate the exchange rate / 14ymedio

During the tour, this newspaper was able to verify, in fact, that there are numerous agents moving through the corridors. “The police have to solve their problems too, that’s why they are here buying their things,” argues Nelly. In the time that she has been dedicated to reselling in the province, she has never been fined, but she has a friend who has not been so lucky. “She already has 8,000 pesos in fines, but she comes back, comes back and comes back, because it is true that we have no other way to make a living in this country.”

If you are in La Cuevita for long enough, you can also see that many surrounding houses are used as warehouses, also informal. It is in these places where small appliances abound, such as pressure cookers, induction cookers and fans.

It is difficult to make your way through the aisles due to the number of people there, who, between jostling, mix with those who shout merchandise: liquid detergent, soap, toothpaste, chicken, oil, medicines, spaghetti, elbows, potatoes… “Even packaged coffee like the one from the bodega [ration store],” says Raniel, who is convinced that many of these are products ‘diverted’ from the state market.

“Informal sales are huge, and that’s where most buyers go” / 14ymedio

The boy takes care of himself among the overwhelming crowd: “Here you take out your wallet, you pay and in the process of putting it in your pocket they take it from you.”

La Cuevita is a place known by Havana residents since the 80s, although it did not begin to gain splendor until the immigration reform of 2013, which allowed Cubans to leave and enter the Island more easily.

But it was with the established rule of eliminating tariffs on food and medicine, after the demonstrations of 11 July 2021, that the market has become crowded.

A mirror seller approaches: “If you buy me the large and medium one, I’ll give you a small one,” he offers, as if he were at a capitalist street market. “There is a very big economic life,” Raniel concedes. “Here people come to fight, to make a living.” And he jokes: “It’s as if capitalism existed in Cuba.”Translator’s notes:

*Enalapril: ACE inhibitor taken to lower blood pressure
**fulas: Cuban slang meaning US Dollars

Translator: Norma Whiting
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Havana’s May Day Rally Moves to the Anti-Imperialist Platform, a Venue One-Fifth the Size of the Plaza of the Revolution

The main event of the International Workers’ Day will not be held at the Plaza de la Revolución to save on fuel

The Anti-imperialist Platform, which is completing remodeling works that began in 2019, is just over 13,000 square meters. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Madrid, 15 April 2024 — The celebration of May 1, international workers’ day, once again dispenses with what was its usual venue for decades and moves to the Anti-imperialist Platform in Havana. The news was given by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, general secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Union (CTC) this Sunday, who pointed out fuel savings as the reason for moving the event.

He indicated that, “There, we will ratify that the Cuban working class will continue to pay particular attention to everything related to the recovery of the economy, efficiently taking advantage of the resources we have to increase the supply of goods and services, as a way to rescue the purchasing power of salaries and pensions.”

The leader of the CTC, also a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party, explained that the intention this year is to celebrate the date “with gatherings in squares, towns and work centers that do not require massive use of transportation”. For this central event in Havana, the authorities are counting on the assistance of 200,000 workers and their families, residents of the municipalities of Plaza, Old Havana, Centro Habana, Cerro and the closest areas of Playa. continue reading

The CTC leader explained that the intention this year is to celebrate the date “with gatherings in squares, towns and work centers that do not require massive use of transportation.”

“This is another scenario in which we have demonstrated the spirit of unity, rebellion and struggle of the Cuban Revolution,” he stressed in relation to the location of an event which, in most countries of the world, serves for workers to demand from Governments the labor rights that they do not yet enjoy.

This is the second consecutive year in which the authorities renounce the traditional celebration at the Plaza de la Revolución for economic reasons, after last year’s event transformed into a march along the Malecón and small events in other municipalities and cities. On that occasion, Guilarte de Nacimiento attributed it to “the complex economic situation (…) and, in particular, the limitations of fuel assurance.”

A year ago, the leader called to “reformulate the celebration, maintaining its commemoration, but in conditions of rationality and maximum austerity”, but it is not the only problem that is resolved with these changes. The Anti-imperialist Plaform’s size is just over 13,000 square meters, compared to the 72,000 square meters of the Plaza de la Revolución, one of the largest in the world. Reducing the stage to a fifth of its former size makes it possible to overshadow the lackluster nature of an event in which there are fewer and fewer attendees, despite that the vast majority have been transported to the capital.

In 2016, about 600,000 people attended the event, according to official data, of which 200,000 (the same total number expected for 2024) were self-employed. Even in 2018 there were about 800,000 participants.

But just a year later, the event had visibly deflated and the cancellation of bus routes used to carry the marchers did not go down well with the population. On that occasion, to make matters worse, there was not even a speech: Díaz-Canel, already President, did not speak; nor Raúl Castro, dressed in a military uniform and saluting; nor even Guilarte de Nacimiento, head of the only union allowed in the country. The only thing that was heard was a speech by the deceased Fidel Castro played through a loudspeaker.

The arrival of the pandemic forced the day’s celebration to be suspended in 2020 and 2021, until its return in 2022, when an attempt was made to recover its lost brilliance without achieving much, despite having mobilized all the buses, which Cubans had not seen in months.

For this year’s event, Guilarte de Nacimiento foresees “a moment of reaffirmation of the unrestricted support of the vast majority of the people for their social project”

For this year’s event, Guilarte de Nacimiento foresees “a moment of reaffirmation of the unrestricted support of the vast majority of the people for their social project.” In addition, he wants it to be used to “denounce the criminal nature of the [US] blockade*, the main obstacle to Cuba’s economic and social development.”

The Anti-Imperialist Platform, where an event in support of Palestine was also recently held, is about to wrap up remodeling works that have been dragging since 2019. The renovations have undergone a myriad of calamities, among them, a shortage of cement. Last week, TV’s Canal Caribe dedicated a brief report explaining that the project is in its final phase, after native plants have been added and having completed the last modifications, though the exact day of the project’s completion is not known.

*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the US embargo. Originally imposed in 1962, the embargo, although modified from time to time, is still in force.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Hard Life of a Cuban ‘Mule’ to Supply her Business

María travels to Guyana, Russia, Peru, Colombia or Venezuela to sell Cuban products and buy as cheaply as possible for her store in Camajuaní

Cubans who travel to Caracas look for shops that offer good prices / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Camajauní (Villa Clara Province, Cuba), 13 April 2024 — At age 42, María does not allow herself to waste one second. She gets up at 7:30 am, prepares breakfast for her children and runs to open her store, “L & B”, on Camajuaní Boulevard. With the trips she makes as a mule to different countries – bringing clothes, shoes and perfumes to Cuba and carrying rum, tobacco and wines to other destinations – she has managed to set up a business that she tries to keep well stocked.

Her years of experience as an entrepreneur have earned her a reputation as one of the best business people in the area and she has gained a fairly loyal clientele, who trusts her to purchase quality products.

Before her apparent success, however, María had to make many sacrifices and work very hard. A few years ago, she found the opportunity to travel to several countries and buy wholesale merchandise to resell in Camajuaní. This idea came accompanied by her desire to start her own business, and she had to save every penny for months to pay for tickets and have money for purchases.

In the La Hoyada market you can buy cheap clothes such as overalls, coats and shorts for 5 dollars each / 14ymedio

After going once to Guyana (in 2017), twice to Russia (in 2018), three times to Peru (in 2019) and two more times to Colombia (in 2022), this year she left for Venezuela with a detailed list of what she was looking for: blouses, pants, shirts, perfumes, appliances and everything that is difficult to find in Cuba or is in high demand. continue reading

Through Facebook groups she found accommodations for the four nights she was in Caracas and, although the place was not in very good condition, she decided to stay with a Cuban residing in Venezuela who rents rooms and offers an affordable rate.

At 20 dollars a night for a room, the price also covered breakfast, lunch, and shuttle service to and from the airport was available to her. However, those days she had to take the nine-kilometer journey by buseta, the Venezuelan bus, to go to the stores.

María knows that on this type of trip she must moderate her expenses and not waste money, since the increase in the price of the dollar in Cuba reduces the economic benefit that the merchandise she acquires gives her. However, she always looks for attractive items that are not on her list and that might interest her clients.

In Caracas, she explored shops and markets in search of the best deals, which are not difficult to find. The shops that offer good prices, and where Cubans go, are often managed by Chileans, Colombians, Chinese, Turks and Arabs. Each seller has their own trick, and travelers like María create their own map of the places that can be approached and which ones will try to overcharge.

At the La Hoyada market, for example, she can buy cheap clothes: overalls, coats and shorts for $5 each, or three sweaters for $10. On Sabana Grande Boulevard, however, it is better to buy shoes. There you can find brands popular among young people, such as Jordan, New Balance, Nike and Adidas at bargain prices, between 15 and 35 dollars, while the originals can cost up to 200 dollars.

Those days, María had to travel nine kilometers from the stores to the rental at her expense in a ‘buseta’ / 14ymedio

One goes to Arab stores in search of fragrances. Perfumes that are popular among customers, and that are highly valued in Cuba, can be found for up to a dollar. On the other hand, in Chinese stores it is better to buy cosmetics and jewelry.

In the streets surrounding the Cemetery Market there are also many different things to buy: sets of sheets for 8 dollars, mixers for 15, Reina-brand pots for 50, fans for 12, hair dryers for 10, irons for 20, and they are sold by Turkish merchants.

After the last search, and after loading the merchandise into two 23-kilogram suitcases, María does not know if she will ever repeat the journey again. The trip back to Cuba is full of anxiety and stress, especially when passing through the eyes of airport officials and customs restrictions. At times, she recounts, she has been mistreated, or, in addition they have made her lose part of the merchandise.

Once the controls have been cleared comes the “hardest” part: selling the products in Camajuaní. Arranging the goods on display, making calculations and examining the goods – which sometimes arrive in poor condition – do not always guarantee success. María knows that she competes with mipymes (MSMEs) and other Camajuaní merchants who, like her, travel and sell for a living.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Cuban Regime Erases ‘Barbarroja’ from State Security History

Manuel Piñeiro died in strange circumstances while preparing his autobiography

Comandante Manuel Piñeiro, known as ‘Barbarroja’ / La Pupila Asombrada

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, 26 March 2024, Havana — This Tuesday, not a single official newspaper alluded, in the eulogies dedicated to the anniversary of State Security, to its most famous founder, Commander Manuel Piñeiro, known as Barbarroja. On the other hand, there are many tributes to the “true heroes of silence” – such as centenarian Julio Camacho Aguilera and Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, two incombustibles – and reports of numerous awards to active agents in various provinces.

This was the case of a group of ten G2 officers in Sancti Spíritus who received medals for their work as “outstanding combatants” in surveillance at the local level. Of those decorated, only three colonels “with high responsibilities” in State Security allowed themselves to be photographed and identified. In a speech by Julio Jiménez, from the provincial bureau of the Communist Party, there were quotes from Fidel and Raúl Castro, in addition to Ramiro Valdés, but Piñeiro was also omitted.

Crossed out of official history and having died in suspicious circumstances – an alleged accident while driving his own car– in 1998, Fidel Castro’s spy chief also did not find his place in the delirious history of the regime’s counterintelligence published by Cubadebate and the official state newspaper Granma, which seeks its antecedents in none other than the War of Independence of 1895. Back then, a certain “agent Luis” received instructions from José Martí to develop “original methods” to outwit Spanish intelligence.

Having the Military Leader leave the Sierra Maestra unharmed was “the most important mission” of a group of agents who, in the long run, constituted the Rebel Intelligence.

After multiple historical ramblings – which also turned Julio Antonio Mella and Carlos Baliño, among others, into spies – Cubadebate insists that State Security meant, in its origins, the security of one man: (Fidel) Castro. That the leader left the Sierra Maestra unharmed was “the most important mission” of a group of agents who, in the long run, constituted the Rebel Intelligence and its “peasant observation service,” in charge of interrogating guajiros (rural farmers) suspected of collaborating with Fulgencio Batista. continue reading

Although Barbarroja – who was part of the column led by Fidel Castro himself and then by his brother Raúl – had a leading role, before and after 1959, in the creation of Cuban espionage bodies, the regime’s role in the infiltration of Batista’s troops.

The Cubadebate text alludes to other “protagonists” of the State Security foundation, such as René de los Santos Ponce, Camilo Cienfuegos – to whom it attributes the dismantling of Batista’s espionage bodies – and Ramiro Valdés, Prime Minister of the Interior, of whom Piñeiro was vice minister.

The regime describes Havana’s Columbia Camp as an “idyllic residence surrounded by trees” where Castro’s spies set up their headquarters, later moved to the centrally located Fifth Avenue in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana, under the command of Colomé Ibarra.

After multiple historical ramblings, Cubadebate insists that State Security meant, in its origins, the security of one man: (Fidel) Castro

In the eyes of Granma, the Army and State Security are “twin brothers” of the regime, “under the direct attention of Fidel and Raúl.” It asserts that 108 Cuban spies have died in the exercise of their profession and that thousands more have neutralized “terrorist plans” and “subversive activities” within the Island.

The writing concludes with a warning. State Security currently remains “vigilant”, especially on social networks and “especially” around young people. Infiltrators, alleges Granma, quoting Fidel Castro, “have the very bitter task of passing themselves off as counterrevolutionaries to serve the Revolution.”

This past February 8, Cuban Television very discreetly premiered a documentary by Rebeca Chávez dedicated to Piñeiro. The audiovisual piece, titled I’m Still Barbarroja, was not published – as is usual with the content of its programming – by the Educational Channel on YouTube.

Chávez, to whom Cuban counterintelligence has previously offered unpublished recordings (those of the self-incrimination of poet Heberto Padilla, for example), used fragments of an interview that Barbarroja gave to CNN in 1997, shortly before he died. The material describes Piñeiro’s role in the kidnapping of several US Marines – the so-called Anti-Aircraft Operation of 1958 – and alludes to the time he received training from the KGB, under the false name of Celestino Martínez, in the Soviet Union.

State Security continues “keeping a close watch” currently, above all on social networks and “especially” near young people.

Videos of the former head of the Departmento América of the Communist Party had not appeared on national television since 2023, when cultural commissioner Iroel Sánchez tried to rehabilitate him on his program La Pupila Asombrada for the 25th anniversary of his death. His biographical sketch published by the official encyclopedia Ecured – another Sánchez project – suggests that he stepped away from political life in 1997 to undertake “with great intensity and enthusiasm” an autobiography that has never been published.

The son of wealthy Galicians – his father was the manager of the Bacardí Rum Factory – he studied at Columbia University, in New York, and collaborated with Castro from the beginning of the July 26 Movement. Bloodthirsty during the trials against former officers of Batista’s Army, starting in the 1960s he took to sowing guerrilla movements throughout Latin America and Africa, devised from Havana.

He was close to senior officials of the German Stasi and the Soviet KGB, whose structure inspired the Cuban State Security. The official version of his death states that he “crashed into a tree while driving to his house, in the middle of an episode of diabetes.” The “loss of consciousness” occurred while he was returning from a reception at the Mexican Embassy in Havana, although Ecured omits the party, and insists that he had previously participated “in a tribute and commemoration” to the second Eastern Front.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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A Small Town Shelters a Woman Who Stands up to the Cuban Regime

González Martínez, a hairdresser by profession, is not new to this, but she is noticing a recent change among those around her. / Yasmary González Martínez/Facebook

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 21 March 2024 — A State Security agent on a motorcycle arrived at the small town of Las Tosas, 11 kilometers from Sancti Spíritus, to ask what was happening. The reason? A simple blue house appeared full of huge white graffiti that made the text stand out even more.

“Miguel Díaz-Canel, get out of Cuba”, “Down with the dictatorship”, “No to Cuban communism”, “Freedom”, “No more hunger”, “No more blackouts”, “Freedom for Cuba”. There is barely a gap in the façade and at the entrance to the home of Yasmary González Martínez, who did not hesitate to take her photograph drawing with her fingers the symbolic L for ‘libertad’, with which activists demand freedom.

“Last night,” she told 14ymedio this Wednesday, “a State Security agent came on a motorcycle. He threatened me, the same as always. He said to remove the posters painted on the walls of my house and we argued. The neighbors, upon hearing my voice, came out to ask me what was happening and the guy left.”

González Martínez, a hairdresser by profession, is not new to this, but she is noticing a recent change among those around her. “My neighbors comment that I am right, although they do not express it themselves,” she explains to this newspaper. “So far, they have not carried out acts of repudiation*. My neighbors are not willing to do that, since when State Security comes to my house, they go out into the street, and, if they as much as touch me, my neighbors will defend me.” continue reading

The Sancti Spiritus resident argues that she painted the walls of her house to express that she is not “afraid of the dictatorship, that there is a future.”

According to González, the Cuban government “plays with the people’s pain” and is not interested in their survival. “The hatred that this misgovernment has sown in the heart of every Cuban is so great that we want them to leave power,” she maintains.

The Sancti Spiritus resident argues that she painted the walls of her house to express that she is not “afraid of the dictatorship, that there is a future.” She says that she is tired of children being poorly fed, that the elderly do not have medicines and that there are political prisoners. “We want no more brothers killed by Cuba’s implanted communism, it is time to break the chains that have bound us for more than 60 years,” she cries.

González has compromised her own house to give precise voice to the people of Sancti Spiritus, but her poster is not the only one against the Government found in Cuba in recent days. One of the ones that has achieved the most popularity is the one that appeared on the beach El Tenis, on the viaduct in the city of Matanzas, on which you could read “Díaz-Canel singao**”.

For this type of graffiti against Díaz-Canel or the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), there have been arrests and prison sentences in Cuba recently. This is the case of Yasmany González Valdés, who was prosecuted in February for enemy propaganda and for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requested 6 years in prison, of the eight that this type of crime can entail. In his case, the activist acknowledged being the author of several posters in Havana that simply read, “No to the PCC (Communist Party of Cuba).”

Translator’s notes
* More examples of “acts of repudiation” can be seen here.
**This epithet rhymes; ‘singao’ is commonly translated as ‘motherfucker’.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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