Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 20

Cuban Authorities Announce Price Increases of More Than 500 Percent for Regular Gasoline and Diesel

Fuel prices will go up on February 1st. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 9 January 2024 — Fuel on the Island will quintuple in price starting February 1st. But Cubans, always thinking ahead, are more afraid of the dangers to come. These include even larger price increases on the black market and shortages at service centers, especially for those paying in Cuban pesos (CUP) rather than hard currency (MLC).

Vladimir Regueiro Ale, Vicente da la O Levy and Tania Danay Vives Alfonso — the respective heads of the ministries of Finance, Prices, Energy and Mines, and the deputy CFO of Cimex — sat down for a television interview on Monday to explain some of the most widely feared changes that were announced as part of a series of economic reform measures. These include increases in the prices of fuel, electricity and natural gas. In the case of fuel, the price will rise from 25 to 132 pesos, an increase of 528%.

Similarly, the price of premium gasoline will go from 30 pesos a liter to 156 (or 1.30 dollars at the official exchange rate) while premium diesel will go from the current price of 27.5 pesos to 150 (1.25 dollars). The price has yet to reach 200 pesos, a source with Cuba Petroleo told 14ymedio last week, but, continue reading

for now at least, the increases will be about 520% and 546% repectively.

Inflation in the month of February is certain. There will be a 428% increase in the wholesale price of regular gasoline, which will impact other prices and fees

Increases in retail prices will be less significant. Regular gas will go from the current price of 16.46 pesos to 24.30 pesos. Meanwhile the price of premium will go from 17.37 to 26.00 pesos and diesel from 15.12 to 28.00. The overall effect will be an increase in February’s consumer price index (CPI), says economist Pedro Monreal on his X account. “Inflation in the month of February is certain. There will be a 428% increase in the wholesale price of regular gasoline, which will impact other prices and fees. Until now, higher fuel costs have never had an impact on the CPI,” he points out.

However, the factor that most worries the public it seems, judging from comments made on information websites and social media, is not so much the high prices themselves but their potential impacts. The government has based its decision on the need to increase foreign reserves in order to replenish supplies. To achieve this, it is creating a network of twenty-eight service stations that will only accept payment in dollars.

The idea has little novelty. On the contrary, it has brought to the minds of citizens the moment when, during the Special Period — after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its subsidies to Cuba — dollar stores and their national equivalent, the CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso), were created, which marked the border between those who had access to that currency and could buy better products and those who did not have it and had to settle for the undersuppied stores in pesos. The situation was later replicated with the shops in freely convertible currency (MLC), and now it reaches the gas stations.

“Having in the same gas station the sale in foreign currency and national currency will only generate greater corruption and enrichment than the current one, which is already enough, among those who work in stations and the supply chain, because they will easily say that they have no fuel in CUP to force people to pay in foreign currency,” writes a reader of Cubadebate.

“I can imagine the dialogue,” another jokes.

“There is no fuel for CUP.”

“I don’t have MLC on my card. How can I do it?”

“Easy, give me 270 for each MLC and I’ll give you my card.”

The problem is that the clerk then pays with his card in CUP because the user has no idea if there is fuel in CUP and no one finds out.”

Vives Alfonso explained that the new gas stations in dollars are not just for tourists but for anyone who has a means of payment regardless of nationality. The accepted cards will be Visa, Mastercard, MIR (a Russian card), prepaid issued by Bandec, the ICE card, the Traveler card and the new Classic card, which will be purposely issued by the exchange houses soon. In no case will cash payments be accepted.

The Minister of Energy and Mines explained that so far Cubans are subsidizing tourists, since when they arrive in the country they buy 120 pesos with a dollar, but gasoline is at the official exchange of 24 pesos for a dollar. “There we can see the subsidy to tourism, to the foreigner, to that person who pays for gasoline at 1.30 dollars and here pays for it for at 30 pesos,” he said.

De la O Levy gave several data about the situation of fuel on the Island and the cost of acquiring it. In 2023, 203,000 tons of gasoline were imported (almost twice as much as in 2021), but the need is 360,000. “The enemy has blocked our access to fuel and there is no doubt about that,” he said. “A relentless persecution of fuel, ships, crossings, partners and allies has been applied… day after day,” he insisted.

Cuba requires about 1.8 billion dollars to be able to cover its annual needs, but last year it was only able to cover a third: 600 million dollars for 609,000 tons

The minister said that the majority of gasoline goes to the private sector, compared to diesel, which mostly goes to industries and transport, and whose imports were also small. Cuba requires about 1.8 billion dollars to be able to cover the annual needs, but last year it was only able to cover a third: 600 million dollars for 609,000 tons.

The new measures, he said, will “gradually achieve a stable supply,” although he let drop the worst fear by stating that “a good provision in both chains of service centers cannot be guaranteed from the first day of implementation.”

One of the sectors most affected by the changes is transport, which will have to reflect the increases by increasing costs, although for the moment no details have been offered for discussion. In the case of the industry, the increases are planned and will be supported with the budgets, but on a new episode of State TV’s Round Table program the officials warned of new announcements about the means of transport without a date in sight, “where it will be possible to explain rate by rate per service.”

Both private and state centers will be able to obtain the fuel at wholesale prices, they said.

In the coming days there will be campaigns for preparing workers and informing users in the service centers, and “there will be signage that shows the customer how to easily acquire the fuel by any of these means of payment. If there is a problem with any of them, there are other ways; at no time will the service be paralyzed because there is no connection or because it is not possible at that time to make a payment,” said the Cimex official.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Colombia Cannot Prevent Exiled Cuban Baseball Players From Playing Because It Is a ‘Private Event’

The Cuban Professional Baseball Federation announced its team last October at a press conference in Miami. (Fepcube)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 10, 2024 — The Cuban Government has embarked on a diplomatic struggle against a private competition and has enrolled in the task its ally, the Colombian Government, whose Ministry of Sport issued a statement on Tuesday in which it detaches itself from the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series, which begins in Barranquilla on January 26 with the participation of FepCube, the Cuban-American team founded in Miami last year.

The Ministry reported yesterday in a joint statement with the Colombian Olympic Committee that the organizer of the event “of a private and invitational nature” is Team Rentería USA, so the tournament “is not continue reading

organized by the Colombian Baseball Federation, nor is it part of the events of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, the only organization endorsed by the International Olympic Committee.”

The statement indicates that Team Rentería USA sent a proposal to the Ministry to contribute to its financing, but the project was rejected for not having complied with the formal requirements

The statement indicates that Team Rentería USA sent a proposal to the Ministry to contribute to its financing, but the project was rejected for not having complied with the formal requirements. According to the Colombian rule, for this type of public-private collaboration to exist, plans must be submitted to the national sports federations, something that was not done in this case.

So far, the arguments of the Colombian Government are limited to the facts, but they end up taking a step to the political by ruling on the possibility that FepCube can compete using “the name, representation and national symbols of the Republic of Cuba, without the respective authorization of the competent body of the country.”

The response specifies that “they reject the actions and demonstrations of the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation” in its claim to make use of those elements “without having the recognition of the Colombian Government” or its sports authorities.

“The use of these symbols would be interpreted as a clear violation of the constitutional and sports rights of the Republic of Cuba,” says the statement, which concludes by making an exclusive and legitimate recognition of the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation.”

The document has been disseminated by the official Cuban press, both sports and national, “because of its importance,” the media point out. The ruling party itself is confirmed as well as the main promoter of an event to which it is giving prominence precisely when it tries to detract from it.

The tournament will be the presentation of the FepCube team – if nothing prevents it – made up of exiled Cuban baseball players and competing with the nickname Patria y Vida

Team Rentería is a private company, founded in Colombia in 1989, in order to organize, market and develop professional baseball in the country. In its 35 years of life it has promoted different tournaments and events at the national level or with teams and private sports entities from Latin American countries and other parts of the world.

In the case of the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series, heir to the Latin American Series that was played between 2013 and 2020, players from countries such as Japan and South Korea are now incorporated and will compete with Colombians, Americans, Curaçaoans and Cuban Americans until the first of February.

The tournament will introduce the FepCube team – if nothing prevents it – made up of exiled Cuban players and competing with the nickname Patria y Vida. The Cuban Government, visibly upset, has decided to deploy a campaign against the private group whom it has called “a monstrosity” and has not hesitated to carry out a diplomatic offensive, leading Colombia to pronounce on what should be a brief league between voluntarily associated entities.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mother of an ’11J’ Political Prisoner Stands Up To Demand That Her Son Be Taken to a Hospital

Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón is “planted” outside prison 1580 in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón in Havana. (Cortesía)

14ymedio, Havana, January 10, 2024 — Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón, mother of political prisoner Brusnelvis Cabrera Gutiérrez, has planted herself outside prison 1580 in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón in Havana. The woman demands medical attention for her son — sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in the protests of 11 July 2021 — who has felt sick for weeks.

Gutiérrez Padrón refuses to move from the place until her son is transferred to a hospital center, since the young man feels depressed and has lost a lot of weight, according to what she told the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights. “Even if I’m alone, I’m not leaving until they take him to a hospital,” the woman said.

Brusnelvis Cabrera Gutiérrez, 24 years old, was transferred to the maximum security prison last August. “That prison is also called ’the dryer’ because everyone there is very skinny and hungry. In all prisons in Cuba there is 99.9% hunger, but in that one you suffer 100%,” the mother told this newspaper.

The change of prison occurred several days after the young man refused to eat or wear the prison uniform in the Combinado prison of east Havana. The mother saw the move with suspicion: “I don’t expect anything good from the dictatorship. The dictatorship doesn’t give anything good and we don’t want it,” she told 14ymedio at the time. “I see that it is a prison with many continue reading

complications. There is nothing favorable in this transfer.”

Cabrera Gutiérrez was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly demonstrating in the popular protests of 11 July 2021

Cabrera Gutiérrez was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly demonstrating in the popular protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’), a participation that both the young man and his family emphatically deny. Last year, his sentence was reduced to 10 years after an annulment verdict.

Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón has been one of the mothers of the 11J prisoners who has maintained a constant complaint in public spaces and social networks. In July 2022, the day of the first anniversary of the protests, she was detained for a few hours for wearing white.

Gutiérrez Padrón also alleges that the evidence against her son is spurious. During the first trial, which took place in March last year, the image of a young man on a motorcycle who, with the movement of his arm, summoned the demonstrators, was enough for the Court to condemn him, despite the fact that the mother has insistently refuted that he was her son: “The boy in the photo has no tattoos on his arm and my son is full of tattoos”

Now, Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón is carrying out a new battle, and this time she is demonstrating outside the prison.

The concept of “planting yourself” began to be used in Cuba from 1959, when the first political prisoners were convicted after Fidel Castro came to power. Many of those inmates, the plantados, refused to accept rehabilitation in prison, to wear the prison uniform and to perform forced labor. For the relatives of the inmates, the concept means protesting and remaining intransigent until the prison authorities improve the prisoner’s situation or release him.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Former Cuban Soldiers Call for ‘Overthrowing the Current Mafia Regime’

The Military Objectors of Conscience ask their former colleagues not to obey their superiors. (EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 8, 2024 — The Military Objectors of Conscience (MOC), founded in 2021 by former Cuban officers in exile, says that the Communist Party does not actually govern in Cuba, but rather a “new oligarchic class” – formed by the Castro Espín and Gaesa family, through the control of national wealth – that only defends their own interests and against whom “rebellion is a current constitutional right.”

In a statement released this Sunday, the group affirms that the Cuban people are suffering “the totalitarian dictatorship of a mafia, a parasitic and irresponsible oligarchy that only defends their own interests.” The MOC believes that the military surrounding the Castro clan controls 70% of the country’s wealth and 95% of the financial transactions, abandoning the population and its basic needs, such as food, health, housing, education and security.

This network, they say, believes that Raúl Castro will die this year and is preparing to liquidate any “potential leader” who stands in the way of their maintaining control of the country

This network, they say, believes that Raúl Castro will die this year and is preparing to liquidate any “potential leader” who stands in the way of their maintaining control of the country. “In 2024 there is the possibility of a new dawn for our homeland or an even darker stage than what we have now,” highlights the statement, which warns that neither the repression after the anti-government protests of 11 July 2021, known as ’11J’, nor the stimulation of emigration will be able to contain a new social explosion. continue reading

“The army must protect the population with their weapons, not shoot at it,” the soldiers urge their former comrades, and they point out that Military Counterintelligence will attempt to organize a purge “to take out of the middle those who, due to their historical trajectory, prestige, level of information and/or command of troops, can interfere with their purposes.”

The MOC addresses the active Cuban military and appeals to them not to obey their superiors if they follow orders from that “oligarchic caste” and not from the citizenry.

“There is no ’order and command’ owed to those superiors in rank who call for attacking the people. Helping to get this group of thieves out of power is a merit, not a betrayal,” they insist.

The text appeals to the Constitution of 2019, which in Article 4 calls on citizens to use all means “including armed struggle, when no other recourse is possible, against anyone who tries to overthrow the established political, social and economic order,” and it asks the population to speak out against the institutions.

The group affirms that it is not asking for a “military coup, but for actions within the Law.”

We do not want violence or call for it, but the way in which the change occurs will depend on the oppressors, not the oppressed. They can choose the Czechoslovakia and Poland way or that of Romania

“We do not want violence or call for it, but the way in which the change occurs will depend on the oppressors, not the oppressed. They can choose the Czechoslovakia and Poland way or that of Romania,” the statement adds. In the case of Romania, the dictator Nicolás Ceaucescu and his wife were shot on Christmas Day after a citizen rebellion in 1989.

“It is legitimate for the Cuban military and the citizenry to constitute a National Salvation Committee and invoke Article 4 of the virtually defunct Communist Constitution of 2019 to overthrow the current mafia regime and put an end to the long night of totalitarianism in Cuba,” the text continues.

According to the MOC, when the current regime is removed, a commission will prepare free elections and draft a new constitution that must be validated in a referendum by the Cuban people. The political prisoners will be released, and full freedom and economic initiatives will be promoted for all Cubans without exclusions.” Food recovery, health, protection of the vulnerable and other urgent tasks will depend on them.

“Liberation from the totalitarian regime will allow the country to develop with the most modern technologies and thus finally incorporate Cuban society into the new era of information of the 21st century,” concludes the text, ending with the phrase “Homeland and Life.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Child Beggars, a Growing Problem in the Cuban City of Holguin

Children enter and leave a private business during the day and at night. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, January 6, 2024 — The youngest is called El Gatico [The Kitten] because he can sneak through any hole, jumps over walls and appears in the most unexpected places. She responds to the name of Rosita, and from the age of five she has been asking for money on the streets of Holguín. She and other children have formed a group who wander in the cafes, bars and restaurants.

In the private Bolas Bar, located in the popular neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo, they move between the tables, get on top of the customers begging them to share some of their food or, instead, to slip some bills in their hands. Rare is the day when these children with emaciated bodies and worn clothes, undermined by malnutrition, do not appear in the area.

Despite their young ages, which range from six to 14 years old, the children who make up this group sleep many nights on the street. Their parents, some alcoholics, others ill with HIV and all very poor, urge them to look outside their homes for everything that can help them survive on a day-to-day basis. Food, money, some clothes torn from a clothesline or a light bulb stolen from a doorway: everything works for them.

Sometimes, those who are there eating and drinking give them a soft drink. (14ymedio)

“This is one of the most critical cases in Holguín, and the State does nothing about it despite the reports we have made,” says Marcia, a social worker who investigated the situation of the children and presented a report on their vulnerability. “These children have been in this situation for years; the girl has been begging on the street since she was five years old. At first they were with an adult, but now that she is 11, she goes alone.” continue reading

“Someone passed through Pueblo Nuevo and took a photo of Rosita sleeping on the street after midnight. She goes to elementary school, but in the afternoons and evenings she dedicates herself to begging. Many times she goes barefoot because she doesn’t even have shoes,” says the social worker. “In these days when the temperatures dropped, they were without coats, with very few clothes.”

Several complaints to the local authorities have ended in evasive and bureaucratic responses. “Once they fined Rosita’s mother, but that’s not what needs to be done. She is also a victim. What is needed is to help that family, support them and get that girl and everyone else off the streets before a tragedy occurs,” the woman points out.

Several complaints to the local authorities have ended in evasive and bureaucratic responses

As the days go by, some try to help by buying the children in the group some food or giving them some Cuban pesos, but the fear of the majority is that “their numbers are increasing,” says a neighbor of Pueblo Nuevo. “The one you see there has already formed his own group of children to ask for money; before he belonged to the one his brother created,” he explains to this newspaper. “That other one is not from this neighborhood but arrived and now sleeps in the doorways.”

Children between six and 14 years old are in this situation of begging. (14ymedio)

“They don’t want people to take photos because they obviously don’t want to be identified. They climb the balconies of the buildings. The Directorate of Attention to Minors of the Ministry of the Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office know about these cases, because the social workers have denounced this a lot, and both the Communist Party and the local government are aware,” says Marcia.

“The life that Rosita and El Gatico are leading, in addition to the other children, is known to everyone, but there’s a lot of talk and little action,” she says bitterly. Between the walls, wine red, of the Bolas Bar, a little one stretches his hand and asks for a soft drink from a customer who is eating there with his family. After receiving a bottle of lemon soda, the child takes a long drink and runs away.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Six Former Cuban Intelligence Commanders Warn About the Actions of the Cuba’s Agents in the World

The spy Ana Belén Montes, when she was awarded by the then director of the CIA, George Tenet. (Capture)

14ymedio, Madrid, 29 December 2023 — The Cuban regime is a “threat” to security not only for citizens within the Island but for all democracies. This warning comes from six former dissident officers of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior in a letter that they made public this Friday through the organization Cuba Archive on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Revolution.

Signed by Orlando Brito, José Cohen, Rafael del Pino, Enrique García, Alcibíades Hidalgo and Máximo Omar Ruiz, former senior commanders of the Security Forces, who defected and went into exile between 1987 and 2011, the missive warns that the Cuban intelligence services have a large number of agents spread all over the planet “whose alleged loyalties do not arouse suspicion” and that they aim to “serve the interests of the Cuban dictatorship.”

“They operate within their governments, parliaments, media, universities, churches, cultural institutions, companies and other sectors of society, even at the highest levels,” they say, based on the fact that, as former officers of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Government and the Communist Party of Cuba, they know “from the inside their objectives and methodologies.”

Thus, they point out that what happened in recent years with the spies Víctor Manuel Rocha – arrested just this December; Ana Belén Montes – just released after serving two decades in prison; and Kendall Myers – who was an official of the State Department, is only the “tip of the iceberg.” “They are not isolated cases or relics of the Cold War, as some have declared; on continue reading

the contrary, they are the result of a work of decades whose exponential returns are difficult to imagine,” they say.

For these former soldiers, that of the Cuban regime is an “aggressive job” whose main task is to go against the United States and “defeat democracies and their values

For these former soldiers, that of the Cuban regime is an “aggressive job” whose main task is to go against the United States and “defeat democracies and their values.” To do this, “it has a gigantic state apparatus dedicated to disinformation, propaganda and influence supported by virtually all government officials, including diplomats, journalists, academics and artists” that “receives a priority allocation of resources regardless of the great needs suffered by the people.”

The signatories ask the United States to examine “carefully” the impact caused by Rocha “in his long career as an agent of Cuba,” in addition to urging educational institutions to “objectively teach the history of communism and the Cuban Revolution, the impact of Cuban internationalism and the advance of Marxism.”

Among the measures they urge all democratic governments in the world to take to counteract the actions of Cuban Intelligence are “controlling the number of Cuban diplomats accredited in their national territory, as well as their access and geographical projection” and “establishing appropriate controls to deny visas and entries through border points to senior Cuban officials and repressors.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At Just 12 Years Old, the Youngest Baseball Player in the Gurriel Family Leaves Cuba for the United States

Luis Enrique Gurriel, cousin of the players Lourdes Jr. and Yuli Gurriel, has been in the Dominican Republic for a few days after leaving Cuba.

14ymedio, Havana, January 9, 2024 — The chances of the youngest of the Gurriel dynasty, at only 12 years old, of being hired by a Major League team are focused on the 2027-2028 Draft, according to At Bat. However, the talent scouts could first incorporate him into one of the training schools. “He has physical and technical potential,” said journalist Francys Romero. “Several experts believe that his skill with the bat is the most developed right now. He is a player who must continue to increase his athletic biotype.”

Romero also pointed out that the players who leave the Island are getting younger and younger. “From the last Cuba U-12 team (February 2023), five 12-year-old players have left the country.” Before Luis Enrique Gurriel Jr. there were Mario Serra, Kendry Abreu, Gabriel Tito Mustelier and Yondel Sajoni Cárdenas.

During his stay on the Island, Gurriel Jr. was part of the Granma team that participated in the Little Leagues in the summer. In the U-12 World Cup in Aguascalientes (Mexico), he recorded a batting average of .412, with two home runs and four runs.

Last year, the exit trend was marked by the U-15 athletes. Of the players who represented the Island in Mexico in 2022, only Yordan Rodríguez, Yaidel Ruíz and Maikol Rodríguez remain. The list of those who are looking for a better future outside is made up of Alejandro Cruz, Alex Santiago, Pedro Danguillecourt, Jaider Suárez, Dulieski Ferrán, Ernest Machado, continue reading

Yosniel Menéndez, Roberto Peña, Segian Pérez, Alejandro Prieto, Danel Reyes, Ronald Terrero, Jonathan Valle, Yunior Villavicencio, Cristian Zamora and Mailon Batista.

Edislandy Monteagudo salió de la Isla con destino a México, desde donde buscará llegar a las Grandes Ligas de EE UU. (X/@francysromeroFR) — Edislandy Monteagudo left the Island bound for Mexico, from where he will seek to reach the US Major Leagues. (X/@francysromeroFR)

In December of last year, pitcher Edislandy Monteagudo also emigrated. This 21-year-old athlete, originally from Isla de la Juventud, settled in Mexico, where he will undergo an appropriate training to present himself to Major League organizations.

With the Pirates of the Island Monteagudo received an opportunity to play in some games of the 62 National Series, for an average of 3.1 innings. Among his characteristics, his power as a pitcher stands out.

At 6 feet 8 inches, he is able to throw a straight line of 92-93 miles, which could increase with a more specialized professional training that contributes to improving his throwing mechanics.

In 2023, more than 100 players emigrated from Cuba, in all categories and ages.

This Monday it was confirmed that after several months in Mexico, the former baseball player, Gerardo Miranda, arrived in the United States. On the Island he joined the teams of Havana and Artemisa. “His father Gerardo, a prominent outfielder of the 80s and 90s, still lives in Cuba,” Francys Romero said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Will Pay 180 Percent More for Interprovincial Transport Beginning in March

More than 70% of passengers will continue to pay the fares that exist today, said the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2024 — Cubans have seen the new announcements on Tuesday linked to the large package of economic adjustments with which the Government seeks to “correct distortions.” The measures detailed on State TV’s Round Table program include an increase in interprovincial transport, as of March 1, which exceeds, in several cases, 180% of the current rate.

The Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, and the Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices, Lourdes Rodríguez Ruiz, presented the changes in prices for passenger transport that fundamentally affect buses and trains that travel between provinces, in addition to maritime transport to the Isle of Youth and air connections.

Rodríguez Dávila clarified that all the rates are updated, although “the modification is not in most cases transferred to the prices paid by the population,” but “some prices have had to be transferred to the final customer.” The reason for the increase is that it is not possible to financially maintain the current rates “because of the amount that the budget has to contribute to be able to cover that difference.” continue reading

The cost of fuel and the repair and replacements costs of the deteriorated buses require having a capital that, “with rates at a loss,” cannot be covered, the official acknowledged

The cost of fuel and the repair and replacement costs of the deteriorated buses requires capital that, “with rates at a loss,” cannot be covered, the official acknowledged. “The budget has to contribute more than 2 billion pesos a year to cover that difference between the price and the rate.”

The head of the branch stressed that the official will is to maintain the prices of urban, suburban, intercity and easy access rural transport as well as rural transport and boats that are difficult to access, and these move “the bulk of the population daily to go to work, to school.”

“Buses will continue to cost 2 pesos in Havana and 1 peso in the provinces,” Rodríguez Dávila emphasized, referring to urban transport, a service that has been impaired in recent years with the loss of routes, a reduction in the fleet of vehicles and the deterioration of those that are still circulating. “All local train fares are maintained,” he added.

However, the hardest blow comes for interprovincial bus trips. While now a passenger pays 255 pesos for a ticket from Havana to Santiago de Cuba, with the new adjustments the route will cost 717. From Havana to Guantánamo, the easternmost province of the Island, the ticket changes from 280 to 786 pesos. In each of these cases, the increase exceeds 180% of the current rate.

“All rates remain below 1,000 pesos,” said Rodríguez Dávila, who assured that “interprovincial services do not represent even 1% of the total mass of passengers that move in our transport service structure,” a fact that shows the crisis that the sector is experiencing.

The rates also go up for train travel. “The service without air conditioning to Santiago de Cuba, which is one of the longest sections, cost 95 pesos, and now it will cost 670 pesos. It used to cost 132 pesos for the air-conditioned car from Havana to Santiago de Cuba; now it will cost 820 pesos,” the minister said.

The announcements on the Round Table program were accompanied by statements that they are working to improve the situation of passenger mobility and to “advance in the development that our people want.” However, during 2023, the transportation sector barely managed to “stop the deterioration,” Rodríguez Dávila said.

As part of the adjustment package, a rise in fuel, electricity and gas prices had already been announced on Monday. In the case of the first, the price goes from 25 pesos to 132, an increase of 528%

As part of the adjustment package, a rise in fuel, electricity and gas prices had already been announced on Monday. In the case of fuel, the price goes from 25 pesos to 132, an increase of 528%. Electricity and propane will cost 25% more beginning March 1, when, according to the Government, a new tariff designed to “correct distortions” that the state budget has carried for years, becomes effective.

The increase in the price of electricity will affect those who spend more than 500 kilowatts per kilowatt hour (kWh), and all those who receive propane tanks will pay 225 pesos, 45 more than the current 180.

These measures occur in the midst of what President Miguel Díaz-Canel has described as a “war economy,” but always within the system. Officials have justified these widespread increases with the same argument: the State can no longer pay for everything, so those who have the most ability to pay must do it; otherwise, it will fall on everyone.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Activist Ienelis Delgado Cue, Released After Nine Months in Prison for ‘Contempt’

Ienelis Delgado Cué, ’Mambisa Agramontina’, in the video in which she reported her release. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 29 December 2023 — Ienelis Delgado Cué, known on social networks as Mambisa Agramontina, was released this Friday after serving nine months in prison, for the crime of contempt, in the Kilo 5 women’s penitentiary center, in Camagüey, as confirmed by independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada. The reporter specified that his release occurred from a labor camp known as El Anoncillo, to which she had recently been transferred.

“I stand firm in my principles despite all the repression I suffered. I will continue to fight for the release of the political prisoners who are still many in prison,” Delgado Cué said in a video she disseminated on social networks. “Here I am more willing than ever to continue fighting for freedom, because now I felt it and lived it. I know what a political prisoner is going through in Cuba.”

“Here I am more willing than ever to continue fighting for freedom, because now I felt it and lived it. I know what a political prisoner is going through in Cuba”

“Nine months of unjust imprisonment,” said Tan Estrada, classifying the time that Delgado Cué was in prison after the Popular Municipal Court of Camagüey condemned her. The activist was arrested last April for having shown on social networks her support for Aniette González, who published photos of her body covered with the Cuban flag and was sentenced to four years of deprivation of liberty for insulting patriotic symbols. continue reading

Delgado Cué, who had already been fined in October 2022 with 3,000 pesos for “not attending a police summons,” spent the days after the arrest of her friend posting messages of support and asking for justice for her cause and that of other political prisoners. On April 4, State Security detained her in her home in Camagüey, accusing her of having offended an officer, from where she was transferred to the Villa María Luisa detention center and, later, to Kilo 5.

Lawyer Laritza Diversent then pointed out that the young woman had to serve five months in prison, since she was already “four months in preventive detention.” Cubalex, the organization led by Diversent, had placed Delgado Cué on the list of more than 100 women political prisoners in Cuba.

During the trial against Delgado Cué, Tan Estrada and journalist Henry Constantín were arrested when they tried to cover the oral hearing.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Aguas de la Habana Surrenders in Nuevo Vedado and the Neighbors Take It Easy

They chose to put the table in the shade, and the middle of the street was the only shady place they could find. (14ymedio)

Natalia López Moya, Havana, January 02, 2024 — In the first days of January the noise of nearby Rancho Boyeros Avenue calms down, but the clacking of dominoes echoes in the neighborhood. The neighbors of Marino Street on the corner of Santa Ana, in Nuevo Vedado, take advantage of the holidays to put out the table and look for their double nine. This 2024, although diminished by emigration, they have greater reasons to get outside: after months in which an excavation prevented transit through their block, now the hole has been filled by Aguas de La Habana, although the work is a mess.

“At least we didn’t have to spend Christmas with all this full of water and mosquitoes,” acknowledges Amanda, one of the neighbors who, for more than three months, saw how the excavation was emptied of workers and became “a lagoon.” State employees repaired a leaking pipe that gets its water from the Palatino water treatment plant, built at the end of the 19th century in the municipality of Cerro.

The break in the pipe left a part of the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución without water, and, despite the triumphant official deadlines, the work lasted until December. “We were climbing the walls; on this block there is pizza business, a privately-owned business and several rental houses. All in the red because when people got to the corner they were scared looking at that hole full of water,” another neighbor confirms to this newspaper. continue reading

After months in which an excavation prevented traffic through the block, now the hole has been filled by Aguas de La Habana. (14ymedio)

Nobody knows if the breakage of the pipe was finally solved, or if, overcome by the magnitude of the damage, the workers of Aguas de La Habana only covered the hole to placate the nearby residents. “After weeks when nothing happened, one day they arrived in the morning and began to throw in dirt, but the brigades never showed up to cover it with asphalt so this now looks like a country town.”

For years, the neighbors of Marino Street had been complaining about the deterioration of the road that passed over the pipeline. The street had been sinking for a long time, and many warned of its possible collapse. In mid-2023, a pothole became so alarming that residents chose to put up a warning sign on their own, trying to avoid a misfortune.

To attract attention, they reported that many of the officials of the nearby Ministry of Agriculture parked their vehicles on that street and also evoked the imperatives of the nearby Panataxi base, the fleet of “yellows” destined to transport tourists from José Martí International Airport to Havana. Not to mention the adjoining exit point for ambulances.

The urgency didn’t much matter. Aguas de La Habana took its time and much more. This January, between red signs of “do not pass,” stones extracted from the substrate that mimicked a Martian landscape and frustration for so many months sunk in the mud and waiting, the neighbors of Marino Street decided to try their luck. They chose to set the table in a shady area, but the shade was in the street. A few meters away, the poorly-packed, soft earth warned of the danger: below the surface, nothing has been solved.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Spanish Airline Plus Ultra Strengthens Its Presence in Cuba With a Route Between Warsaw and Varadero

A total of 268 passengers arrived from Warsaw to Varadero on the flight that inaugurates the new Plus Ultra route. (Facebook/Ministry of Tourism)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 9, 2024 — The Spanish airline Plus Ultra has just inaugurated a route between Poland and Cuba. The Island’s own Ministry of Tourism boasted, this Tuesday, of the first of the flights that, from now on, will connect Warsaw and Varadero every week.

In a Facebook post, the ministry published images of the 268 passengers who arrived at the Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport in Matanzas and were received by an entourage of senior officials headed by the branch delegate in the province, Nastia Valdés López.

Polish travelers, according to a note in the newspaper Girón, will arrive every Monday “until the month of March,” through the Rainbow Tours agency, also based in Spain.

In this regard, the words of Rolando Marichal Pineda, director of the state-owned Cubanacán in Matanzas, reported by the official press, show the Government’s desire to encourage a sector that, after the pandemic, has still not recovered: “The largest sun and beach destination in the Caribbean nation continues as an essential destination, and the visits of familiarization groups from the tour operator Rainbow guarantee a greater continue reading

arrival of European visitors to the largest of the Antilles.”

President Miguel Díaz-Canel made his last official international trips on Plus Ultra, due to the lack of Cubana de Aviación aircraft

The official also said he expected that, with this new route “and the follow-up to the activities of the also Polish airline Lot Polish,” visitors from Poland will increase, “and the operations will be extended like the previous year, with flights where all the customers are from Rainbow Tours.”

With this flight, Plus Ultra consolidates its commercial ties with the Island more and more every day. President Miguel Díaz-Canel made his last official international trips on Plus Ultra, due to the lack of Cubana de Aviación aircraft.

The airline, involved in controversy for having been rescued by the Spanish Government despite having hardly any passengers and reporting losses since 2015, is rebounding with force after the complaints about alleged irregularities in the loan granted by the SEPI (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales) were archived.

After launching a new website and a renewed mobile app, it has just announced a promotion of flights between Spain and Latin America (Colombia, Peru and Venezuela) at half price, both in business and economy class, with no baggage charges.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Political Police Arrest Cuban Opponent Oscar Biscet in Havana

Oscar Elías Biscet, Cuban opponent. (University of Miami)

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, January 9, 2024 — Cuban opponent Oscar Elías Biscet, founder of the Emilia Project that seeks to restore democracy in Cuba, was arrested on Monday near his home in the Lawton neighborhood, in Havana, according to his wife, Elsa Morejón.

“At 8:00 am Oscar planned to go to a meeting with a group of activists in El Vedado to take stock of the project’s work for the tenth anniversary of its founding. When he left the house, Patrol Car 091 was already waiting for him with two uniformed and two civilian agents,” Morejón told 14ymedio.

According to Biscet’s wife, the agents “waited for him to walk down Milagros Street and get away from the house.” “They do that because they know that I record them,” she explains. The activist was finally arrested two blocks away, on the corner of Milagros and 8th, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre. “The neighbors warned me of the arrest, and I saw the police walking down the street with him,” she adds. continue reading

The activist was finally arrested two blocks away, on the corner of Milagros and 8th, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre

Asked if she knows the whereabouts of Biscet, Morejón says that she doesn’t. “The police’s methodology has always been to come to the house, and if Oscar is there they arrest him, because they know he’s going to leave. I looked out on the balcony and told him that the patrol was there, but he told me that he had to leave, that he was not going to be a prisoner in his own home and had to keep his word and attend the meeting,” she said.

Morejón tried to communicate with the rest of the activists to find out if they had also been arrested, but at the moment she cannot access the Internet. “I can’t post on social networks, I only have WhatsApp occasionally.”

She did, however, manage to contact the wife of José Elías González Agüero, in whose house the meeting would take place. “He told me that the ground floor of his building was surrounded by police officers who did not let anyone in or leave. Everyone who approaches the house is arrested,” says Morejón. “I don’t know if other activists have been arrested or not.”

Lawyer Marcell Felipe, leader of Inspire America – an organization dedicated to “inspiring freedom” in Cuba and the American continent – told the EFE agency that all the phones of the leaders of the Emilia Project are cut off, and they have not been able to find out anything about Biscet’s fate. The opponent, who is a doctor by profession, has been imprisoned on numerous occasions and was one of the 75 sentenced to more than 20 years in prison in the Black Spring of 2003.

Biscet was released in March 2011 in a process of release of political prisoners carried out by the Cuban regime

Biscet was released in March 2011 in a process of release of political prisoners carried out by the Cuban regime with the mediation of the Catholic Church and the Spanish Government.

The Emilia Project, according to its website, is named after one of the Cuban heroines, Emilia Teurbe Tolón, the first Cuban woman banished for political reasons. She embroidered the first Cuban flag with the star and the blue and white stripes that became the national flag.

“Those of us who subscribe to this document, inspired by its patriotic example, propose to carry out this project whose essential objectives are fundamental human rights, democracy and the freedom of the Cuban people,” says the website.

In 2017 Oscar Elías Biscet was awarded by the Hispanic Leadership Institute of the US Congress, and in 2007 he received the Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Government Is Also Raising the Prices of Electricity and Fuel To Penalize Cubans ‘Who Use the Most’

In practice, the price of fuel will go up in in March and for electricity at the beginning of April. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2024 — According to the Government, electricity and fuel will cost Cubans 25% more beginning March 1, when a new tariff, designed to “correct distortions” in the state budget, becomes effective. The price increase will affect those who use more than 500 kilowatts per hour (kWh) of electricity and all those who receive propane tanks, who will pay 225 pesos, 45 more than the current 180.

During their appearance this Monday on the television program Mesa Redonda, the ministers of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, and of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, alleged that their goal is not to ruin the pockets of Cubans but to find a “fair” system to penalize “those who use the most” and, by the way, to revive the state coffers.

In practice, fuel will rise in price in March, but the increased charge for electricity will not be until the beginning of April.

In the case of propane, the ministers admitted that the argument of “saving” does not explain the increase in the price to the 1,700,000 customers who receive it today, but that in any case the additional cost will contribute to “eliminating the subsidy on imports” and transfer it to points of sale throughout the country. continue reading

In the case of propane, the ministers admitted that the argument of “savings” does not explain the increase in price to the 1,700,000 customers who receive it today

De la O Levy insisted that for several years they have been studying how to make the “high consumers” pay more, which in 2023 were 107,570 customers of the 4,078,909 that make up the residential sector. The senior official tried to reassure viewers with a fact: only 2.7% of the members of this sector consume more than 500 kWh on a regular basis, although in July and August the figure “increases to 217,000 customers,” 5.4% of consumers.

The non-residential sector – 39% of the country’s consumers, according to the minister – is easier to control. “We have put up with it,” he celebrated, alluding to the constant inspections and energy restrictions that his office has directed throughout the country.

“It’s not to harm anyone,” he said. “We know that we have reserves to achieve savings in our homes, which without decreasing the standard of living can be adjusted to 500 kWh or be very close to that. There are customers who exceed 500 kWh in July and August but then not in the rest of the year.”

The minister explained that customers who use 600 kWh with the current rate pay about 2,451 pesos, but beginning in March they will have to pay 2,681. The increase is only 230 pesos, he clarified, because the additional cost only applies to the kWh that exceed 500, subject to the penalty.

He continued: “If I use 700 kWh today, I would pay 3,396 pesos; with the new rate it would be 3,862 pesos, an increase of 13%. For a consumer of 1,800 kWh, the cost grows by 22%. He currently pays 14,901, while in the future he would pay 18,355 pesos,” and so on.

During the program, both ministers offered data on the circumstances that, in their opinion, make the increase in prices indispensable

The increase in the price of gas will “unload” the state Union Cuba-Oil (Cupet) of about 280 million pesos that it had to request from the State for transport and other expenses, claimed Regueiro Ale. “It is not precisely the savings that is encouraged, but we do manage to recover the reduction of subsidies in that value chain, because the company (Cupet) can recognize the costs and expenses it has been incurring,” he said.

A network of social workers has identified “vulnerable people and nuclei,” who will not be able to “face” the new prices and for which measures are “being studied,” such as granting “subsidies to people who really require differentiated attention according to their capacity, their purchasing power.”

During the program, both ministers offered data on the circumstances that, in their opinion, make the increase in prices indispensable. First of all is the fact that 2023 was a record year of electricity consumption, which reached 64.5 gigawatts per hour in July.

In addition, in 2023, 2,300,000 household appliances entered Cuba, fewer than in 2022 – 3,430,000 devices – but much more than in 2021, when 2,240,000 arrived. The Island has half a million electric motorcycles, “which are mostly charged from the electrical system and not from renewable energy sources because we don’t yet have those possibilities,” they reported.

De la O Levy also said that inspectors are detecting more and more electricity fraud, and the deficit of meters in the country facilitates the increase in illegalities

De la O Levy also said that inspectors are detecting more and more electrical fraud, and the deficit of meters that the country is going through facilitates the increase in illegalities, he lamented. “The other thing is the fraud from manipulating the meter, diverting the circuit from the house or getting the direct connection outside the meter. We are having a strong battle to end that. We are going through 226,000 frauds detected in the last period, and we know that fraud is being committed because we are reading it in the difference between the energy that is generated and the energy that is charged. There are commercial losses, but the difference is that these being stolen from us. What they steal is almost what the Guiteras plant generates,” he explained.

The increase in electricity and gas prices follows that of fuel – which the ministers also reported on Monday – the cost of which will be quintupled beginning February 1.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Avalanche of Petitions From Argentina and Cuba To Apply for Spanish Nationality

Volunteers work on the digitization of the parish records transferred to the new headquarters of the Diocesan Historical Archive of Palencia. (EFE/Almudena Álvarez)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Almudena Álvarez, Palencia (Spain), January 9, 2024 — Dozens of petitions arrive every week to the Bishopric of Palencia, from different parts of Argentina and Cuba, to request the necessary documentation that proves the Spanish ancestry of the applicants so they can initiate the necessary procedures to acquire Spanish nationality.

This is one of the numerous utilities of the Diocesan Archive of Palencia, recently digitized in a database with 1.7 million records from 27,000 sacramental books containing data from parishioners dating back to the 16th century.

Since the Law of Democratic Memory was approved, which allows the great-grandchildren of Spaniards of origin to apply for nationality without having to wait for the parent, grandson or granddaughter of Spanish origin to obtain it in advance, the ecclesiastical records have received an avalanche of petitions.

“During the days of Christmas that we have been closed, more than fifty have accumulated,” says its director, Dionisio Antolín

Dozens of petitions arrive at the Diocesan Archive of Palencia every week. “During the days of Christmas that we have been closed, more than fifty have accumulated,” says its director, Dionisio Antolín, who emphasizes continue reading

that there are many descendants of emigrants, mainly Argentines and Cubans, who look for their roots in the ecclesiastical records to request Spanish nationality.

Through these searches, not only do they get a paper to apply for nationality, but in many cases ties are strengthened, because “the children and grandchildren of emigrants are finding relatives, cousins that in many cases they did not know they had,” he added.

Applying for Spanish nationality and tracing the family tree to find your roots going back to 1540 is possible thanks to the records of the church, which for centuries has counted every birth, marriage and death in each town in Spain.

In Palencia, 27,000 sacramental books containing data about millions of people have now been safely transferred to a new facility.

The Diocese Archive of Palencia has just moved. Until now it was located in the episcopal palace, but the risk posed by obsolete installations for the integrity of the documents that were kept there encouraged the Diocese to transfer them to another place that would ensure their conservation and consultation.

This move contained the history of the men and women who had lived in the province of Palencia since 1540, when some experienced parishes began to make the first records

This Tuesday, the apostolic bishop-administrator of Palencia, Manuel Herrero, and the director of the archive, Dionisio Antolín, inaugurated the new headquarters on San Marcos Street, in the facilities of the Major Seminary, which until recently occupied the Digital Space of the Junta de Castilla y León.

This move contained the history of the men and women who lived in the province of Palencia from 1540, when some experienced parishes began to make the first records, since these were not mandatory until 1563 with the Council of Trent.

They encompass a huge number of documents, and the data allow the tracing between the past and the present by reading the birth and baptism certificates, death certificates, marriages, confirmations and all the sacraments that the parishioners received.

These books provide a testimony of the inhabitants of the province, “to know who they married, the children they had, who were the godparents,” explained Dionisio Antolín, but also to trace the family tree of any family since 1540.

“They are sacramental books that make us aware of the lives of the men and women of the province over the centuries,” Antolín insisted, appealing to the pride of having a human heritage “that should interest us all and that must be preserved.”

“We know that they were important data to avoid blood marriages at a time when someone born in a town often lived, married and died in the same place”

“We have to know that they were important data to avoid blood marriages at a time when someone born in a town often lived, married and died in the same place. They also bring us closer to epidemics that decimated the population in many towns.”

As the director of the archive explains, a total of 12,000 folders have been moved from the old facilities located in the Bishopric.

Each folder can contain one to five books, although some are so large that they do not fit into a single one. “We can say that there will be around 27,000 sacramental books of baptism, marriage and death mainly,” he said.

But in addition to these sacramental books, the ecclesiastical records preserve other parish books such as those about accounts, the factories, the brotherhoods, the minutes and the papal bulls that construct the history of each town and city.

Because, as Antolín points out, the history of a territory is not only made of great feats but is also supported by the lives of the men and women who inhabited them, and the ecclesiastical records and parish books are full of data that contribute to reconstructing that past.

So far, about 5,000 books have been digitized, and 1,700,000 records have been incorporated

Now, the entire file is being digitized and indexed, a huge task to which 92 volunteers dedicate hours and hours. Their quiet work has allowed, for example, Dionisio Antolín himself to be able to dive into the history of his last name and go back to 1570 in the history of his family in his hometown, Villanueva del Río.

And it will allow anyone interested to do the same by searching a database that grows every day. At the moment, about 5,000 books have been digitized, and 1,700,000 records have been incorporated.

“Each record includes the name and surnames of a person, the names of their parents, their date of birth, baptism, their godparents, maternal and paternal grandparents….” And between 1,700 and 2,000 records are being incorporated every day, he added.

In addition, before long, this database will be accessible through a website without having to search the computers located in the main room of the new archive.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Lies Are the Foundation of Castro Totalitarianism

The José Martí monument in the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery. The first big lie was to link Jose Martí with the insurrectional process and the subsequent dictatorship that was imposed. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, January 7, 2024 — The totalitarian Castro regime was constituted and established based on a network of lies and myths that have been reconstructed for generations, always maintaining a false epic and honor that do not correspond to the historical truth, creating a narrative of heroic victimization that confused and made it possible to manipulate large sectors of the population for decades.

The first big lie was to link Jose Martí with the insurrectional process and the subsequent dictatorship that was imposed. Martí was a passionately free man, and freedom was the foundation of his luminous thought.

It is completely false to see the heroism of the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro in the attack on the Moncada barracks. The missing dictator-in-chief never entered the military bastion, and his heir attacked the Palace of Justice. Both were later arrested without presenting resistance, although they were armed. continue reading

It is illusory to describe the arrival of the Granma yacht on the Cuban coast as a “landing”. In reality, it was a shipwreck, another great mistake of Fidel Castro, which showed, like the failed attack on the Moncada barracks, the strategic incapacity of someone who resorted to extreme violence with the sole purpose of projecting himself as a national figure.

The terrible preparation of the two operations testifies, without a doubt, that Fidel only sought popularity by killing those who disagreed with him. He tried, by their deaths, to procure followers.

The dictatorship has tried to match the heroic feat of the Mambisa invasion led by General Máximo Gómez and Lieutenant General Antonio Maceo with the incursion commanded by the serial killers Ernesto Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, two absolutely different events in purposes and results.

The modest guerrilla activities commanded by the sadly famous brothers in the mountains of the province of Oriente have been magnified.

There is no doubt that in the eastern mountains they fought against the Army of the Republic, but not to the extent that official propaganda has disseminated, with the sole objective of giving undeserved laurels to the evil brothers and their unconditional supporters: Guevara, Cienfuegos and the unscrupulous hitman Ramiro Valdés.

Another farce is the vaunted attack on the armored train, a term that intimidates but that in reality was not as protected as the propaganda says. In addition, the personnel it was transporting were not combat personnel but engineers and other soldiers who had the mission of repairing the tracks, without ignoring that the train, according to numerous complaints, was economically negotiated with the military chief in charge of it.

The control of information, in addition to the moral shooting of organizations and people, prevented the population from accessing investigations that allowed them to balance the knowledge of the past.

The control of information, in addition to the moral shooting of organizations and people, prevented the population from accessing investigations that would allow it to balance the knowledge of the past

A notable example is that the Castro dictatorship has always promoted the July 26 Movement as if it had been the only organization that dignifiedly fought the military regime of Fulgencio Batista, when in reality there were several that fought against the general, such as the Segundo Frente Nacional del Escambray, the Organización Auténtica and the Directorio Revolucionario, among others.

Another great lie on which totalitarianism was based was that 20,000 people lost their lives during the insurrectionary process. This false information came from Bohemia magazine – at the time under the direction of its founder, Miguel Ángel Quevedo – and from one of the greatest pimps disguised as a journalist – totalitarianism has had many – Enrique de la Osa.

The true figure was made public by Colonel and historian Ramon Barquín, head of the Conspiracy of the Cigars, a military faction that opposed General Batista in 1956, who was imprisoned for attempting a military coup against the regime of March 10.

According to Colonel Barquín, author of several books on the history of Cuba, including The Day Fidel Castro Seized Cuba, the death toll of both forces amounts to 2,495, a remarkable number of lives lost, but very far from the official figure of the regime.

In these 65 years the lies have been many, the destruction of Cuba, almost absolute.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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