The Alleged Murderer of ‘Snow White’, a Well-Known Cuban Drag Queen, Is Arrested

After the first investigations, the authorities confirmed that the cause of death was a stab wound to the lung.  (Luis Alberto Castillo/Facebbok)

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14ymedio, Havana, 16 December 2023 — Rudy, a Cuban drag queen known in the LGBTI community as Blancanieves, (Snow White) was murdered this Thursday by his partner, who was arrested shortly after by the Police. The crime, which could be classified as femicide when the details are known, occurred in the town of Santiago de las Vegas, in the province of Havana, where the victim lived with Yordano, who caused her violent death with a knife.

After the first investigations, the authorities confirmed that the cause of death was a stab wound to the lung. According to Cubanet, the testimony of a neighbor states that Blancanieves and Yordano returned home in the early morning hours and had a heated argument while the former’s cries for help could be heard. However, no one came to offer help because they claim that the couple often had heated fights.

On Friday morning, upon noticing a suspicious attitude on the part of Yordano, who said that Blancanieves had gone on a trip, the neighbors decided to go to the house, where they found the body and immediately called the Police. When the aggressor returned to the scene, they detained him and handed him over to the authorities, according to this same version of the events.

No one came to offer help because they claim that the couple repeatedly had heated fights.

Last June, 14ymedio published a story about the murder of a 30-year-old trans woman, Samira Lescar, known as La Loba, at the hands of her ex-partner, who refused to leave the relationship. La Loba died from the four stab wounds that were inflicted on her, one of which fell directly on her heart. continue reading

In November, the platforms also reported a violent attack against a transsexual woman in Cárdenas, an event that Alas Tensas then considered an attempted trans-feminicide. It was Roxana Suárez, 22 years old, who suffered several skull fractures and had to be transferred to the Faustino Pérez hospital in Matanzas in serious condition.

The work of feminist groups and their dissemination in independent media has contributed to making visible the cases of sexist murders and of women who have disappeared in recent years.

This Saturday, Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba included in their registry of femicides the murder of Yamilet de Jesús Domínguez Torres from Holguín, a case that 14ymedio reported last December 13. After verifying the manner of her death, they indicated that her body was found buried under the floor of her own house after being reported missing on November 24.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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’s Decline: Where There Were Rolex, Towels Remain

If clients could access the Riviera House before, with its mix of neoclassical and baroque styles and its employees in suits and ties, now sales take place at the door and in a hurry. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 5 October 2023 — A woman carries a large wad of bills in her hand. She doesn’t bother to protect the thousands of Cuban pesos because, what was once a large sum of money, today barely becomes a few purchases. Adjacent to the peculiar façade, a dozen people lined up this Thursday in front of the former Casa Riviera, an exclusive store on Galiano #456 in Centro Habana, which once sold Rolex watches and jewelry, but which has now been rented to a small private company that offers sheets, cloth wipes for cleaning floors and towels.

A few meters before reaching the store, the symbols of its former class can be distinguished. The imposing entrance gate, the small stained-glass windows decorated with flowery frames where the expensive jewels used to be displayed. The rough stone columns support the entrance hall that used to have beautiful granite floors and today shows impersonal modern slabs, of poor quality and full of holes.

“My place is after the man in the blue shirt,” exclaimed an elderly woman who pledges to have “seized the rhythm” of the MSME* [small private business]. “They sell a little cheaper than elsewhere, so many people come here to buy in quantities and take them away to resell”, she explains to 14ymedio. After years of being closed due to problems with sewage pipes and lack of supplies, the old Riviera began to be managed by individuals a few weeks ago. continue reading

If previously its customers could access the property, with its mix of neoclassical and baroque styles and its employees in suits and ties, now selling takes place at the door and with haste

A bedsheet with two pillow cases, made with a high percentage of polyester and at 1,300 pesos, ($54.60) is displayed at the entrance counter. If before clients could access the property, with its mix of neoclassical and baroque style, and its employees in suits and ties, now selling takes place at the door and in a hurry. “Come on, whose turn is it?” the saleswoman tried to speed up the line, somewhat overwhelmed by the questions from those crowding the counter. Behind her, the interior of the legendary watch and jewelry store was still visible, with its light marbles, its elaborate capitals and a narrow staircase that gave way to the majestic mezzanine.

“Give me ten towels!” A customer shouted and her voice echoed through the walls of the business that initially operated under the Abislaimán e Hijos brand, the exclusive distributor of Rolex watches in Cuba. “Don’t crowd together, I can’t even breathe that way!” the employee demanded when the line got out of control and overwhelmed her. The majority of those who stood in line were humble people, who are willing to get up early to make a few pesos difference on the resale of merchandise.

A bed sheet with two pillow cases, with a high percentage of polyester priced at 1,300 pesos, is displayed at the entrance counter. (14ymedio)

Casa Riviera was not the only business of Julio Abislaimán Fade’s family. His daughter Alicia and her husband Manuel Hernández managed the also exclusive Chantilly jewelry store in a central location on San Rafael Street in Havana. When the confiscations began after Fidel Castro came to power, the clan of businessmen packed their bags and went to Puerto Rico. There, they registered the company as Chantilly Joyeros and, although a good part of the descendants of those Cuban emigrants moved to the United States, the Abislaimán Joyas firm, niece of the Casa Riviera in Havana, still operates in ”La Isla del Encanto” (Puerto Rico).

“If you don’t get organized, the sale will have to stop”, an anxious saleswoman shouted this Thursday, unable to control the customers’ disorder. Next to her, two of the armored glass and bronze-framed windows, which more than half a century ago showed the shiny Rolexes, this morning had a rusty hook for hanging pillowcases and kitchen rags.

*Translator’s note: Literally, “Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise.” The expectation is that it is also privately managed, but in Cuba this may include owners/managers who are connected to the regime.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Instead of a Day of Mourning in Cuba, a Conga Carnival a Few Blocks From the Fatal Lamparilla Building Collapse

Conga Carnival on Obispo y Villegas Streets, in Old Havana, a few blocks from the collapsed building on Lamparilla where people died. (14ymedio)

14ymedio biggerJuan Diego Rodríguez, Havana | 5 October 2023 — “Farewell, oh, oh, farewell.” The conga troupe going up and down Obispo Street this Thursday in Old Havana was the same one that every day, accompanied by stilt walkers, playing drums and singing, cheer up the tourists, always plentiful in the historic center of the capital. The difference is that today is not like every day nor is Obispo Street just any place.

Today is just one day after a building collapsed on Lamparilla Street, taking with it three lives, those of firefighters Yoandra Suárez López and Luis Alejandro Llerena Martínez, and that of an elderly man, Ramón Páez Frómeta.  And Obispo Street, where the conga is parading this Thursday, is just two blocks from the site of the tragedy, walking a little down Villegas Street.

Obispo Street, where the conga is parading this Thursday, is just two blocks from the site of the tragedy, walking a little down Villegas Street

“The dead man to the hole and the living man to the chicken”*, an onlooker exclaimed under her breath as she saw the musicians passing by, dressed in bright colors. “I’m not saying that they declare National Day of Mourning, but at least have a little respect and say: “hey, no conga today,” the lady continued.

In the corners adjacent to the collapsed building, located on Lamparilla, between Aguacate and Villegas, a strong police operation continues this Thursday, although they lifted the one at La Plaza del Cristo. When she saw the number of agents, the woman on Obispo Street said: “The only thing they are interested in is that tourists do not come to the collapse and take photos of what this place is really like.”

 *Translator’s note: El Viejo al hoyo y el hombre al pollo.  Popular Cuban phrase meaning someone dies and life goes on.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Dream of a Proletarian Home in Cuba Sinks in San Miguel del Padron

The potholes in the streets filled with water, and the mud reached the deteriorated sidewalks in the Workers’ Neighborhood of San Miguel del Padrón, in Havana. (14ymedio)

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14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 20 September 2023 — Electrical storm this Tuesday night in Havana only aggravated what is already “a normal state of things” in the Barrio Obrero of San Miguel del Padrón, in Havana. The potholes in the streets filled with water, mud reached the deteriorated sidewalks and garbage that had not been collected for weeks floated and was scattered throughout the area. Winds cut off the electrical service, which only returned this Wednesday at mid-morning.

Located in the Rocafort Popular Council, the Barrio Obrero is experiencing the worst moment that its residents remember. “This has been abandoned”, says Ramiro, who lives in one of the three-story buildings that were built on the site in the 1980s. At that time, the neighborhood was projected as part of “Havana of the Future”, with modern and affordable apartments for workers of the several nearby industries. But many of those factories no longer exist and the infrastructure around the buildings has remained in the engineers’ plans.

Around the buildings, neighbors have expanded their houses’ space, and improvised structures and parking areas made of tin with lightweight covers also abound everywhere. The initial workers who received those apartments are today the grandparents of young people who have no opportunity to rent or buy their own roof, except by emigrating.

“You walk and walk and there is nowhere to buy anything”, complained a young woman who came to the place to look at a house for sale, one of the many offered on classified sites “with everything inside” continue reading

“You walk and walk and there is nowhere to buy anything,” complained a young woman who came to the place to look at a house for sale, one of the many that are being offered through classified sites “with everything inside.” The houses, small but comfortable, sell for $5,000, with furniture and appliances included, a clear symptom of the desperation of owners to auction off the property as soon as possible, probably to leave the country.

The potential buyer, however, came back to her senses “as soon as she saw the panorama of this working-class Neighborhood,” she lamented. A good part of the trees that provided shade for walkers have been cut down or have fallen during a hurricane. At night “you can’t even see your hands,” Ramiro warns, and “to buy food you have to leave here because what is available is little and expensive,” he adds.

“Boys meet in La Herradura park because there is nothing else to do on weekends,” a mother of two teenagers tells 14ymedio. “Not even taxi drivers want to drive here after a certain hour, because they say it’s a dangerous area,” explains the woman. Not much remains of that Barrio Obrero neighborhood with smiling and hardworking proletarians, in the style of images of socialist realism. Now it is a place which the majority of its residents want to leave, as soon as possible, towards another Havana municipality, or to the other side of the Straits of Florida.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Decline of Lawton, the Cuban Capital’s Industrial and Prosperous Neighborhood

Beyond the railroad bordering the distillery, Lawton’s rum industry suffered the same fate. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Nelson García, Havana, 16 September 2023 — Ruins attest to Lawton’s former splendor: abandoned factories, buildings reduced to rubble and the famous “Scandinavian castles”, on the verge of collapsing. For the neighbors, the deterioration of the neighborhood, located in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, until becoming one of the most dangerous places in Havana, has a start date: 1959.

Omar, who has lived in Lawton since the Special Period, points out an inhospitable area on the corner of F and 12 Street. “The fish processing plant used to be there,” he tells 14ymedio. “Packages of lobsters, shrimp and many other seafood came out of that place”.

If the grass grows now and the garbage accumulates, the main complaint is because of poor planning by the Government. “In 1980, the processing plant ceased to exist and was converted into workshops of the Metal and Electrical Construction Company (COMELEC),” he says. The plan came to nothing after the fall of the Soviet Union, and after being closed for a while, it was decreed that everything be demolished.

“They said they were going to build houses for the workers”, recalls Omar, who used to work at COMELEC. “Thirty years have gone by: Where are they?”

The most obvious sign of decay is found in what remains of the neighborhood’s three famous “European” chalets. (14ymedio)

Not far from the processing plant stands the tower of the old Havana distillery, built during the sugar boom of 1945. “The factory produced various types of alcohol until, once nationalized, the mechanism that channeled the hot water kept breaking down, causing the liquid to overflow from the boilers and begin to accumulate around the factory”, he explains. “First came the unpleasant smells and then the mosquitoes. It didn’t take long for this to fill with ditches and swamps until, eventually, they closed the distillery”. continue reading

Beyond the railroad bordering the distillery, Lawton’s rum industry suffered the same fate. “Everything is extinct here,” Omar summarizes.

The paint factory that the American company Sherwin Williams installed in Lawton – right next to the distillery – was confiscated by Fidel Castro’s Government in 1960 and first reassigned to the Electric Company, and then to the Geysel Power Plant.

Rigo, age 56 and a former worker at the also dismantled Lawton slaughterhouse, highlights the contrast between Geysel’s “painted and cared-for” building and the premises that once served as a paint warehouse. “The neglect is such that several trees have grown”, he says. A skeleton of beams and columns, as well as a series of rusty tanks, rises in what was once the Siporex prefabricated block industry.

“The only thing that works in Lawton, and barely, is the Siré Cookie Factory,” he says, alluding to one of the first industries in the neighborhood, built by Cuban Mariano Siré in 1927, and also expropriated by Castro.

A series of rusty tanks rises in what was once the Siporex prefabricated block industry. (14ymedio)

One of the most emblematic cases of Lawton’s decay is that of the Antonio Maceo slaughterhouse, which became, after its abandonment in 2000, a mecca for illegal dog fighting and drug dealing. Several families have settled in the other rooms and offices, and even after two decades, they have not managed to overcome their two main problems: crime and constant threats of eviction.

Ramón, 69, remembers perfectly the decline of Lawton’s three bus depots: “There is only one left and it is practically a cemetery”, he concludes. The neighborhood also lost its fertilizer plant, and two other oxygen and acetylene plants, closed since the 1960s due to the Castro “phenomenon,” he says.

But the most obvious sign of decay is found in what remains of the three famous “European” chalets in the neighborhood, built at the beginning of the 20th century, although details of their construction or their former owners are not known. One of them served as a restaurant, supplied by meat from the slaughterhouse; another was a school, which was soon closed. During the Special Period, the Government located several families there, who modified the structure of two of the “little castles”, while the third is in a state of collapse.

“They used to be the symbol of Lawton,” says Ramón. “Now they are like the rest of the neighborhood: withered and forgotten.”

Skeleton of beams and columns from the old Siporex factory. (14ymedio)

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

‘Cachita’ Goes for a Walk Through Havana Under the Watchful Eye of the Political Police

This is the second procession after the suspensions of public activities forced by the pandemic. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana | 8 September 2023 — With more needs but equal enthusiasm, Havana residents gathered this Friday at the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre Church on the corner of Manrique and Salud, in Centro Habana. Inflation and mass exodus have marked the day dedicated to Cachita*, the Patroness Saint of Cuba, in modest and heavily monitored celebrations.

“I managed to buy a small bouquet of sunflowers for 500 pesos, but I was lucky because most are between 700 and 1,500”, an elderly woman told 14ymedio.  She came to Mass in the central church that every September 8 pays tribute to “the mother of all Cubans”.

From Avenida Galiano, metal fences and several police officers controlled the passage to the Havana temple where thousands of people attend every September 8 to pay tribute. This year the date has coincided with a deep economic crisis, which has cut back on the offerings left on the altar at the entrance of the church.

Outside the temple, dozens of people waited for the image of Cachitato emerge to follow it in a procession through Zanja, Galiano and Reina streets and finally back to Manrique. A route in which flower petals are thrown from the balconies and the Cuban State Security tightly controls the passage of the devotees.

“I managed to buy a small bouquet of sunflowers for 500 pesos, but I was lucky because most are between 700 and 1,500”

After half past five in the afternoon the image of the Virgin appeared through the door of the church and was received with songs, applause and raised hands holding mobile phones trying to capture the moment. A vehicle with loudspeakers was waiting for Cachita and people alternately dressed in yellow and white clothes in the crowd, symbols of the Virgin who, in African religions, is syncretized with Oshun. continue reading

“What I want is for you to bring me luck on the journey I have to undertake,” repeated a young woman to the image, one of the first devotees with a sunflower in her hand, as soon as she descended the stairs of the temple. “I already set your yellow candle for you and now I need you to accompany me on the road. Little Virgin, go with me”, she repeated.

The crowd’s passage was guarded by the evident presence of State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes. This is the second procession after the suspensions of public activities forced by the pandemic and comes at a time of great popular unrest due to inflation, lack of cash and mass departures from the Island.

“My daughter is crossing right now through Nicaragua,” says Nieves, a 62-year-old Havana native who has been left in charge of her two granddaughters. “Our Virgin of Charity knows about that, she accompanies the rafters and everyone who leaves here, so I come to ask you to guide my daughter until she reaches her goal”.

Next to Nieves, two teenagers pointed their phones at the image of the Virgin. The Instagram and Tik Tok generation also mark a day where many had empty hands where before there were candles, bouquets of flowers or images. The crisis has turned this procession into a moment for minimalism. Some didn’t even get to the procession and were content with the photos.

At her house in Lawton, Mercedes de la Caridad preferred to wait for a couple of friends to send her the images of the procession. “With what it costs me for a round trip by car, I buy candles, candy and flowers for Cachita to put here”, she says. Next to the image of the saint, a sweet meringue, cascarilla and honey close the syncretism with which Mercedes lives her religiosity.

“The sunflowers have been very small this year”, laments a seller of flowers and other religious supplies who has a small table on Salud Street. “I buy from others and what has arrived in Havana is all like this, small and expensive. People complain, but for us the prices have risen a lot too. It is not a whim; it is what a sunflower is worth right now”.

“What I want is for you to bring me luck on the journey I have to undertake”

On the corners, agents in plainclothes stood out from the surroundings. Among the ruling party’s fears through the last two years is that the procession will become the scene of some demand for the release of political prisoners, which, since the protests of July 11, 2021, have increased to more than a thousand.

For the rest, from the beginning, the day has been influenced by complaints. The director of the Daughters of Charity in Cuba, Nadieska Almeida, published a text this Thursday on Facebook in which she summarized her wishes: “I want a free people. I want a government in dialogue. I want inclusion in this Cuba house. I want possibilities for everyone. “I want to dream again”.

“Where do we look when what surrounds us is hunger, abandonment, permanent flight from a country where it’s increasingly difficult to breathe? How can we stay here by choice? How can we find meaning in this senselessness?” questioned the religious nun, one of the most critical Catholic voices in Cuba.

Father Alberto Reyes, a priest, also described the current moment harshly, and extended his request to the Virgin to “help us get rid of so many omnipresent written, broadcast, televised… official lies, so much institutionalized falsehoods, so much sham that only serves to feed social paralysis”.

Dominican Priest Léster Rafael Zayas, for his part, asked his parishioners if Cubans had done “something wrong” to deserve that, in Cuba, “something has broken definitively.” He lamented the thousands of “fewer voices” in Cuba, after leaving on “planes that leave for Nicaragua… on a one-way trip: the backpacks of those who travel say so”. “What have we done wrong that young people do not feel proud of being Cuban?” He questioned. His response: “To silently approve with our lowered heads what is not right. What we have done wrong is to let fear overcome us, and lies take over all areas of our lives.”

Furthermore, he alluded to “young Cubans, who prefer to go to fight in Ukraine to obtain Russian nationality”. “What do we have to do with the Russians?” He added, criticizing those who let themselves be carried away by the “slogans”.

At this Friday’s mass at the Church of the Charity, Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, cardinal and current Archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana, was present. With his sparse, uncharismatic style, the priest limited himself to asking for the blessing of the Virgin for everyone and starting the procession immediately after.

The rest of the way was mixed with emotion, pleas and attentive looks from the police. For those who could not be in the procession in Havana, there was the possibility of following the mass at the National Sanctuary of La Virgen de La Caridad del Cobre, in Santiago de Cuba, starting at 8:45 pm this Friday. On the same television schedule where religion was stigmatized for decades, this Friday, Cachita will be able to be seen.

*Translator’s note: Nickname often used in Cuba for “Caridad,” the word for “charity.”

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

To Replace Milk and Yogurt, Cuban Children Receive a Syrup with Additives that are Harmful to Health

In Baracoa, the local soft drink factory bottles 3,000 two-liter jars of syrup daily. (TVSolvision/YouTube/Capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 31 August 2023– Cuban children between the ages of seven and 13 have begun to receive syrup instead of the milk and yogurt that the state used to sell on a rationed basis. Although the authorities have been discreet with the announcement of the change, the official press has alluded to the manufacture and sale of the product, which contains several highly dangerous additives.

According to the label, the syrup, which has already begun to be distributed in two-liter bottles throughout the country, is made with substances that are harmful, especially for children. This is the case of dye E-102 (tartrazine), the preservative E-211 (sodium benzoate) and the sweetener E-952 (cyclamate) considered toxic by world health organizations. Acids E-330 and E-338, which are suspect as to their chemical origin, are also added.

The shortage of sugar is one of the problems faced by the production of the liquid on the Island. “In Ciego de Ávila, it has been replaced by neotame,” a powerful sweetener, one of the workers at the vinegar, soft drinks and syrup factory in that province explains to 14ymedio. “Each kilogram of neotame replaces 4.2 tons of refined sugar,” he details.

“Flavors, which are the concentration of syrup without sugar, have also been sold. At home, consumers have to prepare a glass of water with sugar and add the syrup,” he explains. The liquid – which can be strawberry, orange, tangerine or pineapple – contains various substances, in addition to the sweetener, which are “manufactured from essential oils purchased outside of Cuba.” continue reading

“Flavors, in the form of a concentration of syrup without sugar, have also been sold. At home, consumers have to prepare a glass of water with sugar and add the syrup”

In Baracoa, Guantánamo, the local soft drink factory packages 3,000 two-liter tubes of syrup daily to “replace” the dairy products that “are no longer distributed” to the children of the province. The workers of the factory, which has occasional blackouts, assure that if there are power cuts “they will have to run the work schedule” and continue the process manually. The authorities, affirm the directors of the factory, “have guaranteed the raw materials,” but the syrup has had to be made with raw sugar in the absence of refined.

The debacle of the basic food basket has been worsening in recent months and has already reached products intended for children. Even in Sancti Spíritus, one of the provinces that had a stable supply of milk, the delivery of the product to those who had medical diets was suspended in March. Instead, they began handing out flavored milk.

A month earlier, the authorities recognized that the supply in the province was “intermittent” due to delays in deliveries from ranchers, who faced a notable drought in addition to the lack of raw materials and funds for their work.

State production of cow’s milk has plummeted in Cuba, with a 95.2% drop between 1989 and 2020, while the private sector showed a growth of 105.9%. However, it is not enough to compensate for the collapse of national plants, which is why milk production in Cuba has fallen 59.3% in the last 21 years when it went from producing more than 1.12 million tons to 455,300.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Creative Cuisine of Cuban Grandmothers in the Face of General Scarcity

Cuban cuisine, opulent in other times, now functions with scarce food and improvised recipes. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 29 August 2023 — The walls of Havana creak with the rain and Idalia’s breeze.  While the radio predicts that everything is in order, jets of water slip between the tiles and drip, relentless, coating the walls. However, what most worries Aurelia, 61 years old and fond of cooking, is what she is going to eat at home while the storm lasts.

In her building in Centro Habana, several retirees like her tried to equip themselves — with very little luck — so they wouldn’t have to go outside in the rain. The result of the hunt is lean: a pound of ground chicken, a bottle of El Cocinero oil, and rice.

 Neighbors trade small amounts of rice, flour or eggs to contribute to the completion of a whole meal

Pedro, one of Aurelia’s old friends, recalled that Cubadebate had a gastronomy section and that it might give them an idea to bite the bullet and invent a banquet. Sabor y Tradición, the column by gourmet cook Silvia Gómez Fariñas, has everyone taking offense against the “official Cuban recipe book”: sausage, guava jelly, beef burger, mango chutney, breaded chicken with peanuts, fried vegetables, etc., not to mention the wacky instructions for the hacked shark, the fish in green sauce and malarrabia.*

“We will have to make do with the creative cuisine of the revolutionary grandmothers,” Aurelia proposes ironically, among the insults of the others to the opulent menu of Cubadebate. Phone in hand, she starts calling other neighbors and “negotiating.” continue reading

Ernesto, who lives on the first floor, will lend her a few handfuls of powdered egg. “Let’s do the same deal as the other day,” Aurelia proposes, reminding him that, in exchange for the egg, he got some croquettes she had prepared. Using the same tactic, a call to her neighbor Sandra guarantees her a small bunch of chives and two or three spices.

The oil begins to get hot, Ernesto prepares a salad, someone else the rice, and Aurelia throws the picadillo into the pot

The kitchen counter begins to look less squalid, and Aurelia gets down to work. At the last minute, a packet of flour appears. “I sold the cigarettes from the bodega [the ration store] and got this a few days ago,” says Pedro. As if she were making an act of contrition, she confessed to her friends that she was saving the flour to make some sweets, but since the eggs are not available through the ration book, it’s better to use them and that’s it. “You only live once,” she concludes, while the downpour continues beating on the windows of the house.

The oil begins to get hot, Ernesto prepares a salad, someone else the rice, and Aurelia throws the picadillo into the pot. Disappointed, she notes the meat shrinking as it makes contact with the metal. Shortly after, already at the table, everyone devours Aurelia’s picadillo with white rice. “It won’t be Cubadebate’s hacked shark, but it is what it is,” she says.

The coffee – a bit watery – rounds off the meal. The weather begins to clear over Havana. Someone opens a window to let the fresh air in, but Aurelia asks that they close it: the neighborhood dump, located a few meters below her window, must be at its peak.  She is right, whoever looks out the window will see a horde of flies swarming over the garbage. “With so much trash, it’s best not to talk too much,” she warns. “If you’re not careful, flies will get into your mouth.”

*Translator’s note: Malarrabia (insanity or bad case of hydrophobia) is a typical Cuban dessert made with several fruits and vegetables and syrup.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Bureaucracy of Death in Cuba, a Nightmare for Families of the Deceased

With its doors closed and an empty outdoor entrance, the funeral home remains abandoned and without hope of resuming its functions. (14ymedia)

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 July 2023 — The residents of the Luyanó neighborhood in Havana have been without funeral services for two and a half years. Complaints have already begun to materialize in posts and comments on social media. However, with its doors closed and an empty outdoor entrance, the funeral home remains abandoned and without hope of resuming its functions.

“The deceased are sent to San Miguel del Padrón or La Víbora,” a neighbor — who witnesses how, and how often, someone comes by the premises to ask about the restart of services — tells this newspaper.

“Since the pandemic began, they announced that they would no longer be accepting deceased. But the pandemic is over and the funeral home is still completely closed,” she laments.

In funeral homes in other neighborhoods of the capital, the situation is very reminiscent of the times when health restrictions prevented more than two people from attending a burial. The explanation?  The transportation crisis. “It is very difficult to go to a wake at a funeral home that is not the one in your neighborhood, if you have no transportation. People are very limited, especially older people. Now everyone has to settle for offering their condolences to the family, while the mourners are left practically alone in the room with the deceased.” continue reading

In funeral homes in other neighborhoods of the capital, the situation is very reminiscent of the times when sanitary restrictions prevented more than two people from attending a funeral

A Facebook post by a group of Luyanó residents questioned the measure of having the memorial services for the deceased held in other centers, if the neighborhood has its own funeral home. “They always have a different problem. When the bathrooms are backed up, leaks appear; they must be repaired, painted, or the cafeteria has no water. It’s all a lie,” commented an enraged user.

“It is our funeral home, where we have always watched over our relatives, friends and all our people from Luyanó, why can’t we have this funeral service available?” lamented another Internet user.

It is not the first time that the population has complained about the lack of funeral services on the Island. From corpses that must wait hours –sometimes days– for a hearse to transport them, to the shortage of coffins to bury them, the bureaucracy of death in Cuba becomes increasingly suffocating for those who must deal with it.

In the Sancti Spíritus province, the construction of a crematorium has been expected for at least two years. With an investment of just 5 million pesos, the project could ease the burden of the relatives who transport their deceased to Ciego de Ávila or Villa Clara to comply with the wishes of the deceased to be cremated.

However, so far, the project has seen two location changes, several complaints from architects and no facility has been built.

“This is about advanced technology that requires two gas burners: one at the bottom, which is where the first cremation of the deceased is carried out, and a second, located in the tower where the gases that can rise into the atmosphere can be burned, so that only vapor comes out,” Yoel Aquiles Martínez, director of the province’s Provincial Unit of Necrological Services, told the Escambray newspaper.

Now everyone has to settle for sending their condolences to the family, while the mourners are left practically alone in the wake room with the deceased

The crematorium would also provide incineration services for medical and biological waste derived from hospital care, such as surgical remains and chemical and biological products. The managers do not say, however, what has been the fate of this waste so far.

The facility, initially projected to be built in an area chosen by specialists and architects on the border with Jatibonico, is now planned to be built 300 meters from the La Rosita residential area, because this would reduce construction costs.

Although the director of Public Health in the province has already authorized the new location, it has been rejected by the Hygiene area, which alleges that the expulsion of toxic gases derived from the cremation processes could harm the health of the residents of the area.

While Sancti Spíritus remains one of the four Cuban provinces that lacks a crematorium, institutions extend the timing with their internal confrontations.  However, official sources, once again, point to the embargo as the culprit.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Will Be Without Hot Dogs until August

Maintenance work at the Sancti Spíritus factory forced the production of sausages to stop. (Escambray)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 15 July 2023 — Hot dogs, the great lifeline of the Cuban family table, will decrease in stores in the coming weeks after the temporary closing at the Sancti Spíritus sausage factory, the only one of its kind in Cuba. The industry stopped the engines in order to carry out “extensive” maintenance, which will last until the beginning of August, the director of the Business Unit, Luis Ignacio Sariol Maceda, told the Escambray provincial newspaper this Friday.

The official explained that since the inauguration of the plant, in 2019, machinery imported from Italy had not received maintenance and the deterioration was already reflected in production volumes. Initially, the technology had a capacity to produce eight tons, a figure that had been reduced to just two due to “technical problems”.

This problem had already been exposed in September 2022, when the plant managers indicated that they barely worked part-time due to the lack of spare parts for the machinery. The official press then assured that the necessary parts to restore capacity to factory levels had already been imported and that the only thing left to do was “resolve” the supply of meat in the face of the livestock debacle.

Nine months later, Sariol Maceda has indicated that they already have the “advice of Italian specialists” to review the production line of one of the foods most in demand by Cubans. The official explained that they have allocated 500,000 euros to obtain most of the pieces, “many of which are already in the UEB Perros Calientes de Sancti Spíritus itself and the rest are in the process of arrival”. The importing of the cooling shower and the purchase of special bearings for the vacuum pump are still pending. continue reading

Although national production depends on a single factory, American brands and, to a lesser extent, Brazilian brands, enter the market

The shutdown of this plant represents a hard blow to Cubans’ diet, who largely depend on this sausage, which can be obtained at relatively affordable prices. Nor does it require special conditions for its conservation, apart from refrigeration, and it can be prepared using several recipes.

Although national production depends on a single factory, American and Brazilian brands enter the markets, the latter ones to a lesser extent. The latest presentations shipped from the US are more similar to sausages, in larger packages of up to three kilograms. However, they are only available in networks of freely convertible currency (MLC) stores, or online sales sites designed for Cubans residing abroad to buy food for their relatives on the Island.

We are hoping that no setbacks occur, added the director, so that the repair schedule is not interrupted and the plant is reactivated at the end of July or the first days of August. To date, the work on the refrigeration system has been completed and the materials have been changed to meet the temperature requirements in the sausage manufacturing process.

At the moment, the factory is dedicated to the preparation of other foods, including salami and 60 tons of ground beef per month destined for medical and children’s diets and for the rationed ‘family baskets’.

The plant is the great meat consumer in Sancti Spíritus, leaving popular markets and even informal commerce without supply. However, due to the fall in the sector, they have sought raw materials to manufacture sausages, previously made with pork, minced chicken or beef. Last September, they detailed that the formula for this sausage includes 50% of these types of meat, plus 50% starch and water.

Translated by Norma Whiting
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Closes the Semester with More Than 2,300 Protests in all Provinces

The residents of the town of Guatemala, in the municipality of Mayarí (Holguín), took to the streets to demand the restoration of the water service. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 7 July 2023 — The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) counted a total of 414 public protests on the island in June. In total, there are 2,337 demonstrations in the first half of 2023. The index for June, which constitutes an increase of 60.46 % compared to the same month of the previous year, also exceeded the average of 384.6 monthly protests for the first records of the year, and increased by 22 events compared to May.

In Havana, a province designated by the Observatory as the most active territory, 172 “rebellious expressions” were found (ten more than the previous month), among which the Miami-based organization includes a musical staging of Los Misérables, on June 25 at the Martí Theater in the capital. However, although the work includes a song to freedom, it was not a demonstration, as reported by this newspaper.

The platform also assures that the conflicts spread throughout the 15 Cuban provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, this being a sign of widespread disagreement with the state administration and “the abandonment of the population by the Government”. continue reading

Of the more than 400 events, 229 –55.3% of the total– were related to economic and social rights

Of the more than 400 events, 229 –55.3% of the total– were related to economic and social rights, 95 were generated by citizen insecurity and the rise in violence (robbery, begging, femicides), 44 were related to food insecurity and another 47 to deficiencies in health, water and electricity services.

The report includes, as an example, the complaints of the population after the heavy rains in the eastern part of the country due to landslides and power cuts, the so-called “downed rudders” strike in Havana –when the government tried to limit the prices of private carriers despite the scarcity of fuel and its high price in the informal market– and the “empty pallets” strike by vendors in agricultural markets in Sancti Spíritus.

For their part, protests related to civil and political rights totaled 188 events (45.4% of the total). Of these, 124 were triggered by repressive actions against opponents, independent journalists, and activists.

The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, registered in its monthly report at least 291 repressive actions in the month of July

The Observatory registered within this category, in addition to the staging of Les Misérables, the protest of the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers for the unauthorized transmission on Cuban Television of Fito’s Havana, by director Juan Pin Vilar.

Another organization, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights, recorded in its monthly report at least 291 repressive actions in the month of July on the island. Nearly 80 were arbitrary arrests, according to the platform, and 211 were carried out against the civilian population, among them those that include common prisoners and relatives of opponents and activists.

The figure for June, grouped with the rest of the reports for the first five months of the year also written by the platform, documents a total of 1,940 government repression events in the first half of 2023 alone.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Other Cuba: Luxury, Good Taste and Outrageous Prices from the Hand of a Successful Italian

The new Home Deli store in El Vedado, Havana, is a magnet. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez and Olea Gallardo, Havana, 26 June 2023 — The new Home Deli food store on Calle 12, between 21 and 23 in the heart of El Vedado, Havana, was inaugurated at the beginning of June and is not like the ones you usually see in Cuba. Clean and stocked, decorated with a certain European “rustic” style, it became a magnet days after it officially opened its doors. The emotion waned when checking the prices of the products, almost all imported.

A bag of bread, with six pieces costs 800 pesos, a small bag with washed and cut lettuce, 70 pesos, and 2,100 pesos for a small cheese. The cost of the meat was stratospheric: 20 pork skewers for 1,400 pesos, 4,500 pesos per kilogram of beef, 2,000 for chicken breast, 2,000 for ground beef, 3,000 for Italian sausage.

The powdered milk bag, similar to the one sold in other places, looked repackaged, unbranded, and cost 1,900 pesos for a kilogram and 950 pesos for half a kilo. As a curiosity, they had “artisan” pasta for sale, pumpkin and moringa, at 450 pesos a bag.

Home Deli looks clean, stocked, and decorated in a certain European “rustic” style. (14ymedio)

Promoted as a store specializing in Italian products, they offer Arioli oil (3,600 pesos a liter), Balocco and Mulino Bianco biscuits, De Nigris vinegar, De Cecco pasta, Lavazza coffee or Scotti rice. Also, other import labels, such as the Spanish Vima or Carbonell and the Japanese Kikkoman.

The store employees, all young and good-looking, are lavish with attention and kindness towards any possible client, although they do not stop watching the slightest movement and discourage taking photographs with a severe gesture. continue reading

Most of those who entered the store, dazzled by the variety and quality of the products, left discouraged after a tour of the shelves. “It’s very pretty and well put on, but this is the most expensive market I’ve seen so far,” said one woman as she left empty-handed.

Arioli brand olive oil is 3,600 pesos per liter. (14ymedio)

However, the law of supply and demand is implacable even in Cuba: if they set those prices, it is because someone pays them. This newspaper is aware that Home Deli has a large clientele among diplomats stationed in Cuba, in addition to emigrants who, through pages such as Katapulk or TSO, buy food for their relatives in the country in hard currency.

Those who can shop at the store are happy, despite the costs. “It’s the only place where I can get the products that a true Italian recipe requires,” says Lucía, a Cuban who lives in Milan and is on vacation in Cuba visiting her parents.

In addition, she praises her loyal clientele, “they make really tasty and unique spinach tarts in Cuba, not to mention the desserts. It’s not like other private companies, who live by reselling products.”

Homemade pumpkin and moringa pasta sold at Home Deli for 450 pesos a bag. (14ymedio)

The success of Home Deli has been amazing. Not only does it have that new store in El Vedado, but another in the municipality of Playa (19 avenue between 74 and 76) and a third in Cerro (318 Daoiz street, between Colón and Pizarro). In addition, they have a point of sale at the 3rd and 70 market. An efficient home delivery system makes it as modern a business as any in a country where the free market rules.

The company, however, does not only operate with that brand. Directed by the Cuban Diana Sainz and her husband, the Italian Andrea Gallina, as they appear on their social networks, is registered under the name of Mercadiana in the list of micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) and with the purpose of “gastronomic services”. In Italy, they have the company Gainz SRL, a name that combines the surnames of Gains the owners and that at the time is the provider of Home Deli.

Café Bohemia, adjacent to Estancia Bohemia, is a meeting place for cultural officials. (14ymedio)

Together, they also run the Café Bohemia and the adjacent hotel, Estancia Bohemia, in Old Havana, as well as the Paseo 206 Boutique Hotel and the café on the ground floor, Ecléctico, in El Vedado. It is not uncommon to see them in one of these places, serving the clientele with exquisite treatment, as this newspaper has verified.

“The word standard does not exist for us,” Gallina declared for a report published in “OnCuba” about his establishment on Paseo 206, which they define as “a place with its own stamp, born from the combination of both cultures” and “a warm hug between Cuba and Italy”, and where luxury and good taste are evident.

The same is observed in Estancia Bohemia (San Ignacio 364), where a one-night stay costs 187 dollars, according to the reservation pages. The Café Bohemia is, moreover, a meeting place for culture officials, ostensibly from the Office of the Havana Historian, according to its own publications on networks.

Since they began to proliferate in the streets of Havana, more than a year ago, private businesses generate, in the first instance, mistrust. The fact that some of these (MSMEs) operate in state premises without any type of announcement or public tender, only increases suspicion.

Diana Sáenz, at her Café Bohemia. (14ymedio)

If we add to this the agreements between Cuba and Russia, the last of which were ratified last month at a business forum between the two countries in Havana and which show that Moscow wants to play a leading role in the imminent economic opening of the Island, doubts are difficult to dispel.

On the other hand, especially in all private and successful businesses in the country, since self-employment was allowed, they always raise questions: “They don’t let just anyone do this, what influential figure will be behind it?”

It is not uncommon to see both Diana Sáenz and Andrea Gallina serving their premises with exquisite kindness, (14ymedio)

In the case of Home Deli, its owners have never hidden themselves, on the contrary, they boast of their achievements both in their networks and in business forums and even official media. “Diana is a Cuban entrepreneur who has established important guidelines in the leisure and food sector in Cuba,” they extol in an Instagram post.

The firm has given sensible capitalist advice: “Mercadiana, a food marketing and production MSME, emphasized the need to eliminate bureaucracy when managing business procedures, as well as a review the high tax amounts that go with how prominent they are, since it could jeopardize the survival of companies”, indicated as an example Cuba en Resumen last year.

However, Diana Sainz has not said why she suddenly decided to change the surname that she inherited from her father, Ricardo Sáenz, one of the founders of the Prensa Latina agency and the Bohemia magazine.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Endless Ordeal of Retirees in Matanzas, Cuba, to Collect their Pensions

Those affected are elderly people, many of them already with health problems. (Girón)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 17 May 2023 — The lack of workers is once again in the news on the Island. On this occasion, the protagonist is the shortage of professionals in the Post Offices, causing serious problems in the collection of pensions, according to the Matanzas newspaper Girón on Tuesday. The official media initially attributes the chaos to an employee who has been sick long-term and whom it has been impossible to replace permanently, but the branch director hints that the problem is not isolated.

“There is a shortage of workers, that is why we, the managers, are moving to make the corresponding payments. The solution depends on who we can hire”, says Ismary Hernández, director of the Post Office Unit in the Versalles neighborhood, in the city of Matanzas, to which the office of the old Medical Center belongs. The more than 200 retirees attached to this headquarters denounce that they have not been able to collect in a timely manner for months, as have the 130 people who receive social assistance at the same location.

Those affected are elderly people, many of them already with health problems, and who bitterly lament the difficulties it means for them to stand in line for days. Because the worst thing, they agree, is when the money runs out and the office closes, leaving them unpaid.

“There is a shortage of workers, that is why we, the managers, are moving to make the corresponding payments. The solution depends on who we can hire”

 “It’s been happening for months,” says an 89-year-old retiree interviewed by the outlet. They show up at 10 or 11 in the morning. It’s not right to keep old people, including me, waiting here for so many hours. Yesterday at one in the afternoon they said the money had run out. We had to leave and come back today to stand in line again, when the compañera arrived at 11:30 to make the payments,” he says. continue reading

All the testimonies coincide in pointing out the negligence and bad manners with which the workers, when they are there, treat the pensioners. “It’s illogical for all in this town to come here at six-odd in the morning to stand in line, and it’s already 11:30 and no one shows up, not even to give us an explanation. Is it that, when someone retires, he no longer deserves consideration, doesn’t have value?” laments a retiree who worked for 49 years during his life.

“I have never gone through so much work to get paid as I do now. We are here without having breakfast, without eating anything”, protests another who, at 76, feels relieved for not being among the oldest and tells that an 89-year-old friend had to be helped by her children when she collapsed while waiting in line.

“They calmly tell you: ‘We ran out of money’, another says “I’m leaving.” Those who are working go home, and often the little old people don’t even have enough for a soda.  “It’s a lack of respect to us” protests another one.

Having managers there has allowed things to go better this month, although everyone knows that it is not the solution. “This month was better, everyone was paid on time and the payment was quite fast”, says Hernández. “What happens is, and this has been explained to the clients on another occasion, that she, as an employee, has other responsibilities. Within these functions, she has been interspersing the payment to the assisted-retirees,” Bárbaro Ortega Araujo told Girón Ediesky, deputy director of the Post Office in Matanzas.

The service requires, he adds, some training, but not only that, you have to be selective because of the large amounts of money that are handled

Yaneysi Remón Suárez, the company’s Director of Operations, maintains that she has requested personnel from the Ministry of Labor, but “so far no one has appeared.” The service requires, she adds, some training and, not only that, you have to be selective because of the large amounts of money they handle. “In greater quantity as a result of the Ordering Task and these salary increases. The institution manages millions of pesos,” she argues.

Correos moves even more money than a bank on a given day,” she adds, but the salaries that are offered are not very attractive. The official states that a postman currently earns 2,600 pesos. “Anyone in another entity – such as a bank, Etecsa, new economic players – earns much more than a postman, who spends eight hours in the sun, pedaling and offering the service,” she explains.

As if that were not enough, there are no tires for bicycles, which makes traveling to deliver the mail impossible.

There are no short-term solutions either, acknowledge the managers. The official who has been multiplying her duties for three months must help with the payments, and although they affirm that “the negotiations do not stop” and that they are trying to increase salaries, one of the most advanced proposals is to mobilize those in the military service.

“When the borders were closed and the large avalanche of packages from international parcels ceased and people opted for shipments by sea, the Ministry of the Armed Forces helped us. We made a contract with them, with young men who were serving in the Military Service. We are calling for that too to resume,” Ortega Araujo states.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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 Trotskyist Solution for Cuba

What sensible Cuban, after sixty-odd years of all kinds of Marxism, with all kinds of “making do” Marxist measures, by all kinds of Marxist leaders, would ask for “more Marxism”. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Jorge Hernández Fonseca, Miami, 15 May 2023 — I have just finished reading in the independent Cuban press a piece of news that fills me with astonishment because of its peculiarity: some communists (Trotskyists) criticizing the Cuban communist dictatorship (which they call “the government”) for its poor performance at the head of the country, which could provoke, they say, a “capitalist military coup”, asking for a return to pure Marxism. Very good diagnosis (the military coup that will come to return to capitalism), but a solution that is, more than wrong, catastrophic!

What sensible Cuban, after sixty-odd years of all kinds of Marxism, with all kinds of “resolving” Marxist measures, by all kinds of Marxist leaders, would ask for “more Marxism?” Enough of Marxist experiments, none of them work. Who can assure us that the Trotskyist who wrote such an outrage is going to do something different from what was done before, by Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, Díaz-Canel1, Nicolás Maduro2, Daniel Ortega3, Nicolae Ceausescu4, Pol Pot5 and a long list of detestable unsuccessful Marxists?

The problem, dear Trotskyists, is that Marxism is wrong. Communist China already demonstrated this by going to capitalism, although it continues with the “dictatorship (against) the proletariat”, but without a long-term future, because Marxism-Leninism establishes that the dictatorship is so that “capitalism does not return”. Once capitalism returns (as in China) what purpose does the dictatorship serve?

Capitalism is the “cream of the crop” that human society, in long years of trial and error, has developed to produce goods and services.

Capitalism is the “cream of the crop” that human society, in long years of trial and error, has developed in order to produce goods and services. This is because in every society, just as there are exceptional athletes, singers with golden voices, or sensational artists, there are people whose innate ability is to know how to generate employment and income, investing time and capital (which makes them rich) so that the economy grows. The capital generated by these entrepreneurs is not in a chest under the beds of each one of them. It is in a bank, available to all of society that requests capital to set up other businesses. That is capitalism. Of course, this money is not available for anyone to ask for so they don’t have to work.

There is good faith in the Trotskyists who are opposed to Castroism, but please, do not make us suffer more by asking for “real Marxism”.  I know that there is fear of capitalism because there have been selfish and ambitious capitalists. The wrong human factor is common to socialists and capitalists. There are also egotistical communists. I, for one, (and all the people of Cuba) have suffered the sacrifice of our personal future from Fidel Castro’s selfishness, just to satisfy his Amazonian ego.

1Díaz-Canel, current Cuban president appointed in 2019
2Nicolás Maduro, current Venezuelan president since 2013
3Daniel Ortega, current Nicaraguan president since 2007
4Nicolas Ceausescu, Romanian president 1974-1989
5Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge 1963-1997.  Revolutionary, dictator and Politician who ruled Cambodia 1976-1979

Translated by Norma Whiting

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.

Food Consumption in Cuba Has Fallen by 66.9 Percent in 2022 due to Inflation

The resounding drop in consumption is reflected even more strongly in foods such as bread, rice or sugar. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 1 May 2023 — According to Cuban economist Pedro Monreal, official retail trade data on the island for 2022 offer a “devastating” panorama and remove “any vision of an alleged economic recovery underway”. The expert has analyzed the collection from the sale of food discounting inflation and the result could not be more discouraging: the drop is two-thirds compared to the previous year, a 2021 that was not exactly a good year.

Monreal focuses exclusively in a thread of messages published this Monday on Twitter on food sales, and he does so precisely because, as he explains, “they are ‘inelastic’ goods, which in the language of economists means that demand tends not to be affected significantly due to price variations”, since people cannot stop eating and continue to buy, albeit in smaller quantities, whatever the price of the products.

“A two-thirds annual drop in ‘real’ retail food sales is no small matter […] and reveals an important dimension of the brutal ‘adjustment’ of consumption and aggregate purchasing power in Cuba”

At first sight and without discounting inflation, pasta, fish products, bread and a few other items seem to obey the “inelasticity” rule, since sales of the first item (pasta) have risen 85.5%, the second 14.8% and the third 2.9% in 2022, compared to the previous year. On the other hand, consumption of other products has suffered declines of up to 25.8% in the case of sugar or, even worse, 28.4% for milk derivatives. continue reading

The reality, however, is different and much more worrisome. When official inflation of 63% registered in 2022 is taken into account, we see that the value of pasta sales, which seemed to be in good health, have collapsed 31.4%, and this indicates an equivalent fall of real consumption by Cuban families. This resounding drop in consumption is reflected even more strongly in other foods: fish products (-57.5%), bread (-61.9%), rice (-63%), meat products (-69.8%), sugar (-72.5%) and milk derivatives (-73.5%).

“A two-thirds annual drop in ‘real’ retail food sales is no small matter […] and reveals an important dimension of the brutal ‘adjustment’ of consumption and aggregate purchasing power in Cuba, with the cost of adjustment focused on workers and retirees”, concludes Monreal.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORKThe 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.