Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 21

Cuba Celebrates the Day of the Power Plant Worker After a Deficit of 800 MW

The UNE claimed that there was a breakdown in a patana — a floating generator — but the newspaper Trabajadores attributed the failure of the generator to the lack of fuel. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 15 January 2024 — Power plant workers celebrated their day this Sunday with a lot to do. In unit 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, from Felton (Mayarí, Holguín), synchronization had to be achieved to reduce Saturday’s scandalous deficit, when at least 800 MW were missing in peak hours. And the reason is still unknown.

That day there were breakdowns in unit 5 of the thermal power plant of Mariel, unit 1 of Santa Cruz, unit 5 of Diez de Octubre, and unit 5 of Renté, in addition to the two of Felton. To that should be added two more units in maintenance, unit 8 of Mariel and unit 3 of Cienfuegos. Although the entry of two more sections was expected (in Renté and Nuevitas), an unforeseen event happened with three engines of the patana (floating generator) of Melones and several other generators.

If you look back, five days ago all the plants were working, and there was a reserve of more than 400 MW. Today, five days later, almost all the plants have broken down

“At 09:04 pm there was an internal failure in the patanas of Santiago that triggered service exits of the 110 kV lines of the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, and at 10:25 pm service was restored. The root cause of the failure in the patana is being determined for its subsequent service,” said the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) in a statement. continue reading

While this version appeared as official, the newspaper Trabajadores explained that the paralysis of the patana was due to the “lack of fuel.” “The UNE and all its infrastructure are a real disaster. If you look back, five days ago all the plants were working and there was a reserve of more than 400 MW, and today, five days later, almost all the plants are in breakdown, and there’s a deficit of more than 800 MW. It’s like a case of Tras la Huella (Follow the Crime),” said a customer, referring to a detective show on Cuban television.

On Sunday, things had improved and a lack of 227 MW in peak hours was expected, attributed to the “deficit in the distributed generation.” Thus, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, tried to breathe encouragement into the workers in his area. “Our congratulations, recognition and gratitude to the women and men of the electricity sector. Linemen, operators, technicians, managers, from the anonymous to the most visible, who every day, in difficult conditions, make the power continue to reach all of Cuba. We will win!” he wrote on his social networks.

On social networks, the opinions varied. “The electricity and the blackouts reach all of Cuba,” a user responded on Facebook. There were many that encouraged the employees, who, even in the most difficult conditions and with very poor salaries, have little responsibility for the mismanagement of the country, but many customers lost patience. “Every 20 minutes the current goes out here in Santiago, what a joke,” someone responded to the dozens of posts published on the electricity company’s networks to celebrate the day.

All the provinces had their celebratory events, their delivery of symbols and even their chants for the selfless workers, who are fewer and fewer every day

All the provinces had their celebratory events, their delivery of symbols and even their chants for the selfless workers, who are fewer every day. Last Saturday, the technical director of the UNE, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, gave an interview to the official press in which he declared his pride for dedicating himself to the profession and thanked the dedication of the employees. “And so, to the more than 50,000 workers, each one deserves recognition, and I am one of them. Simply put, I don’t see myself doing anything else but working in electricity.”

It is not yet known how many workers left the sector in 2023, but the worst is feared after more than 15,000 left their jobs between 2021 and 2022. Two years ago, 8,089 workers quit in the first nine months, and it was expected that there would be 10,000 by the end of the year. In 2021, 6,612 power plant workers left their jobs. Many of them did it to leave the country, but there were also a large number who left to look for a job that paid better.

In 2023, the average salary of a power plant worker was between 4,000 and 8,000 Cuban pesos a month. As announced by Pedro Alberto Sánchez Torres, general director of the Fuel Oil Generator Generation and Maintenance Company, in 2023 salaries rose by about 3,000 pesos on average. This is the approximate cost of a carton of 30 eggs in the informal market.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: The Dollar Breaks a New Record on the Black Market at 275 Pesos

For most people on the Island, the informal market is where they stock up on dollars. (14ymedio)

EFE (via 14ymedio) Havana,15 January 2024 — The US dollar set a new record in Cuba on Monday by trading at 275 pesos on the informal foreign exchange market, which deepens the strong depreciation of the local currency since the economic reform of 2021.

This new maximum – recorded by the independent media El Toque – comes after the announcement, in mid-December, of a large macroeconomic adjustment program by the Cuban Government.

Among the measures announced, such as the 500% increase in the price of gasoline and diesel, is the implementation of a new official exchange rate

Among the measures announced, such as the increase of 500% in the price of gasoline and diesel, is the implementation of a new official exchange rate, which since 2021 stands at 24 pesos per dollar (1.045% lower than the informal rate) for companies and 120 for individuals (129% lower than on the black market).

A few days after Prime Minister Manuel Marrero announced the plan in Parliament, the informal rate registered a slight drop to reach 265 pesos per dollar. But in 2024 it has risen again to the levels prior to the announcement, until it broke the record this Monday. continue reading

The need to import 80% of what the country consumes, the strong migratory pressure and the uncertainty due to the serious crisis are some of the main factors that explain the current partial dollarization of the Cuban economy and the consequent depreciation of the Cuban peso.

The Government has recognized on several occasions the failures in the design and implementation of the 2021 reform, called the OrderingTask,* which has not met the objectives of ending the monetary duality of the Island, which used the national currency and the convertible peso (CUC), equivalent to the dollar.

In state exchange offices only up to 100 units of the US currency are sold per person per day

Many people stock up on dollars in the informal market due to restrictions on buying them at state exchange offices, where only up to 100 units of the US currency are sold per person per day, and only if there is availability.

The El Toque index – harshly criticized by the Government for stirring up “speculation” – takes as a reference about 2,000 daily ads for the sale of foreign exchange on several Cuban websites to establish its reference exchange rate, according to this independent media.

In the absence of another type of official indicator, this index has become the benchmark on the street and for economists who study the situation in the country.

*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task is a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency, which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Delay in Grinding the Sugar Heralds Another Calamitous Harvest in Cuba

The late start of the grinding, the inefficient repairs, the weather conditions and the lack of inputs for the machinery mean that the industry is not functioning. (Adelante)

14ymedio, Madrid, 13 January 2024 — The 2023-2024 sugar harvest has just begun in Cuba, but the regime cannot hide that, once again, it will end in a debacle. None of the Ciego de Ávila sugar mills, for example, have begun to grind. In an article published this Friday, the newspaper Invasor says that the delay is due to “different inconveniences,” without giving details, and adds that “compliance with the economic-productive indicators of the territory is in danger.”

At the end of November, the official press announced that of the 25 sugar mills that would be used in the current campaign, only two – Ciro Redondo, in Ciego de Ávila, and November 10, in Artemisa – due to repairs, would begin to grind late, on January 10 and in February, respectively. The others would begin in December. But this has not come to pass.

In Sancti Spíritus, according to an extensive article published on Wednesday by Escambray, they had “an unstable start,” in the words of Antonio Viamontes Perdomo, director of the Melanio Hernández sugar mill, where, they say, the collective “is performing magic to fulfill the plan.” continue reading

The Melanio Hernández sugar mill started six days later than expected, on December 26, but two days later it stopped because of the “cold” brought by the rains

The milling started six days later than planned, on December 26, but, two days later, it stopped because of the “cold” brought by the rains. After resuming its work on January 2, it was only operational for four days, because “we had to stop again to fix a crack in the supply pipes to the boiler.”

Viamontes Perdomo unraveled to the provincial newspaper his litany of problems: “When you stop for many hours everything is complicated because the industrial process uses sugary materials that determine timing and conditions; we do not yet have the bagasse [fibrous residue from the sugarcane stalk] to provide all the steam needed; there is moisture in the fields; there are 13 combine harvesters that have not been incorporated due to the lack of fuel, and those that are working suffer breakdowns. Because of all that, it is very difficult to get concrete data on the industry’s efficiency, but the workers do what is necessary to stabilize the sugar harvest.

Escambray reports that this year only 40% of the planned cane has been planted (1,984 acres of the 4,992 announced). Despite this, the article ends optimistically: “An unstable beginning doesn’t always end badly.”

Las Tunas, for its part, is also late. As reported by the regime, in this eastern province the Antonio Guiteras sugar mill hasn’t yet started. It’s waiting for the coming visit of “a commission designated to accredit the readiness of the system to start grinding.”

In the same territory, it was not until last Sunday that the Majibacoa sugar mill started up, and it is planned to produce 61,500 tons of sugar. As if that were not enough, in the first few days only 66% of the mill’s capacity was ground, according to its director, David Puig Brito, who also pointed out “an interruption as a result of failures in the supply pump of the boilers.”

Las Tunas is also late. The Antonio Guiteras sugar mill has not yet started and is waiting for the coming visit of “a commission designated to accredit the readiness of the system to start grinding

“It’s terrible to start the harvest so late and then have cane coming from Puerto Padre, Menéndez and Yara, in Granma Province,” a local source tells this newspaper. “Having to bring cane from so far away lowers the output a lot.”

In Villa Clara, the official newspaper Vanguardia reports that the harvest has started “in difficult conditions, with material limitations and organizational deficiencies.” In an article published this Thursday, the newspaper mentioned the visit of the first secretary of the Communist Party in the province, Osnay Miguel Colina, to the three sugar mills in Villa Clara that are working. He warned of “deficiencies” and “emphasized the need to have an efficient harvest, despite the limitations of resources and the delays, given the late start of the three mills due to lack of inputs.”

What is happening and will happen with the sugar this season, however, is no surprise. Already in September, the authorities of Sancti Spíritus predicted a harvest even worse than the previous year, because the cane had barely been planted. In June, in that province, only 30% of the harvest plan of the more than 123,553 acres available had been met.

In 2022-2023, the harvest reached only 350,000 tons, according to an official report at the time, compared to 473,720 in 2021-2022, which had meant a disaster. The result of that campaign barely exceeded half of what was expected – 911,000 tons – and was not enough to cover domestic demand, 500,000 tons, or export commitments, 411,000 tons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Colombia Counts on Cuba’s Vote in Its Attempt To Regain the Venue for the Pan American Games

Press conference led by Gustavo Petro, along with several sports managers, after his meeting about the Pan Americans. (Presidency of Colombia)

14ymedio, Havana, 13 January 2023 — The participation of the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation (Fepcube) in the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series is subject to “not singing the National Anthem or using the flag” of Cuba, nor the name “Fepcube Patria y Vida” during the event that is scheduled from January 26 to February 1 at the Edgar Rentería stadium in Barranquilla (Colombia), journalist Yordano Carmona said on his social networks.

“The use of these symbols,” he warned the governing body of Colombian sport, “would be interpreted as a clear violation of Cuba’s constitutional and sports rights.”

Carmona asked if the participation of the Independent Cuban team, Pelota Cubana USA, in the Intercontinental Series was in jeopardy? The Ministry of Sports “has neither a voice nor a vote” in the organization of a “private tournament” such as the series organized by Team Rentería USA, owned by the former U.S. Major League player, Edgar Rentería, and his brother Edinson. continue reading

The Ministry of Sports of Colombia has decided to support the Government of Cuba by rejecting this team of exiles

However, the Ministry of Sports of Colombia has decided to offer its support to the Government of Cuba by rejecting this team of exiles, and this is due to its attempt to recover the venue for the Pan American Games in Barranquilla 2027, which it lost due to the non-payment of 8,000,000 dollars, for “the right of organization” and “the granting of media rights.”

Prior to the trip of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to Chile, to meet with Neven Ilic, president of the Pan American Sports Organization (Panam Sports) – in charge of designating the venue for the Pan American Games – “somehow the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder) has put pressure (on Colombia),” Carmona denounced.

“It will take the vote of the countries of the area to resume the Pan American Games,” the journalist anticipated about the event in which Peru and Paraguay have also shown interest. “Somehow Cuba has already started with that blackmail,” noting that “they (Colombia) will need that support.”

The Colombian Ministry of Sports deauthorized, on January 9, the event of Team Rentería USA, specifying that “it is not 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 athletes see no impediment to complying with the prohibition of using national symbols in exchange for participating

The athletes see no impediment to complying with the prohibition of using national symbols in exchange for participating. “If we have to have a minute of silence, we will do it. If we have to kneel on the floor, we will do it. This is a Cuban exile team. We don’t need either the flag or the anthem; we carry them in our hearts,” stressed Yunel Escobar, a member of the Patria y Vida group, at the end of this Thursday’s training at Miami Dade College.

Days before, Escobar expressed to journalist Francys Romero the “honor” he felt when he was playing with the (Cuban) baseball players who are outside the country and “representing the political prisoners and the people who died at sea, who have suffered the Cuban dictatorship”

In the Fepcube Patria y Vida team are Aledmys Díaz, Alay Lago, Albert Lara, Alex de Goti, Alejandro Rivero, Josuán Hernández, Lázaro Rivera, Luis Avilés Junior, Rangerl Ravelo, Yandy Díaz and Yuli Gurriel. Among the catchers are Edgar Quero, JC Escarra and Harold Vázquez. The outfielders are Henry Urrutia, Lourdes Gurriel Junior, Peter O´Brien, Leonys Martín, Andy Martín, Jorge Soler and Sergio Barthelemy.

Among the pitchers are Aroldis Chapman, Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez, Daysbel Hernández, Odrisamer Despaigne, Jorge Martínez, Yoanner Negrín, Jesús Balaguer, Pedro Echemendía, William Gastón, Raidel Orta, Yuniesky Maya, Yordan Nodal, Yusniel Padrón and Edilberto Oropesa.

The series will be developed with six guest teams from countries such as Curaçao, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Colombia, who will be represented by Caimanes de Barranquilla, the last champion of the Colombian League.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Electricity Thefts and Blackouts Go Hand in Hand in Cuba

Most of the frauds for electricity theft are carried out with the participation of workers of the Electric Union. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 13 January 2024 — Camila, 52 years old, checks the number on the meter up to three times a day. She leaves her apartment in the Wajay neighborhood in Havana, reaches the common area where all the devices of the five-storey building and dozens of apartments are located and takes a photo of the number shown on the screen before returning home. Four weeks ago she dropped out from a mechanism to steal electricity in complicity with an employee of the Electric Union (EU).

“When you get out of this business they punish you,” she tells 14ymedio. “I had been paying “on the left” [the informal market] for two years to get a much lower reading, but I am no longer interested in continuing. Now they are going after electricity frauds, and I don’t want to get stuck in this.” Another reason not to continue with illegal payments in exchange for a receipt with lower wattage: “My two children have emigrated, and my husband and I no longer consume so much electricity.”

For more than three years, Camila was one of the many Cubans who, in collaboration with UNE workers, received an electricity bill well below the amount of energy she actually used. “It wasn’t so much to save money, because at the end of the day I was paying; it was so I wouldn’t be noted as a high consumer,” she says. “My husband has an official position, and it is not convenient for him to get a very high reading.” continue reading

Time passed, and the couple decided to drop out of the fraud, but they fear that the employee involved in the agreement will penalize them. “When you tell him that you don’t want to continue, the next few months a high reading will arrive. It is how they can make you return to the contract and throw you to the inspectors, who suddenly see a strange increase in consumption.”

“A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it”

Others, like Ismael, 34, entered the list of energy offenders without knowing it. “My mother and I moved from Central Havana to a larger house with a patio in the Cotorro,” he explains. “A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it.”

Ismael says that it has nothing to do with the illegal installation of the cable. “It was left by the previous owners of the house; we didn’t even know that it existed.” But the fine came anyway. “The oversight cost me 8,000 Cuban pesos, and I did well, because in this neighborhood there are people who have had to pay more. Mine wasn’t so serious because I showed the papers for the permuta (house swap), and they saw that I had been in this house for a short time.”

Like Camila, every now and then Ismael checks his meter because he fears, this time, that some nearby neighbor will “create a bridge” and steal the electricity that he now pays for watt by watt. The crystal case, the numbers that fall as the energy passes to the house and the figure that he writes down with discipline in a notebook keep him attentive. But he warns that “in this area there are many who steal electricity by agreement with the UNE workers than those who do it on their own.”

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed – citing the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy – that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023. “What is being stolen from the country by electrical fraud is almost as big as what is generated by the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, one of those with the largest generation capacity on the Island.”

The complaint came from an announcement that this Saturday there will be blackouts throughout the Island, especially in the “peak hours of night,” due to a deficit of 821 megawatts in the generation. The UNE reported that unit 5 of the thermoelectric plant of Mariel, the 1 of Santa Cruz, the 5 of Diez de octubre, the 1 and the 2 of the Felton and the 5 of the Renté were damaged, a series of key points in the electrical network throughout the country.

Determined to show the “human face” of the UNE official, the official press interviewed the technical director of the company, Lázaro Guerra, who offers a daily report on the situation in front of the cameras of the island’s information system. Graduated from the pre-university vocational Lenin school, from Havana, and with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Guerra was also a leader of the Union of Young Communists.

The official took advantage of the interview to exalt the “exceptional work” of the UNE and said that he had experienced situations of extreme difficulty as a manager. “The most tense moments in my career have come when the system has crashed. This has happened on some occasions due to the passage of cyclones and, in others, due to different causes.”

However, the most memorable line of the interview was his answer to the question of why he was “so serious” on Cuban Television: “I don’t think I can announce a blackout with a smile; I don’t think I can do it.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Week Without Water in the Cuban Province of Sancti Spiritus Due to a ‘Dangerous Leak’

The authorities assure that they have two water trucks ready to supply hospitals and schools. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, January 10, 2024 — A leak in a water pipe in Sancti Spíritus that broke last Thursday leaves the residents of the municipality of Cabaiguán and the capital city without drinking water. The authorities of the province, who initially declared that the supply would be stabilized in two days, no longer know how to explain the delay in the repair to the neighbors, who have been without service for a week.

“Days ago they said that there was a break in the Macaguabo aqueduct, which feeds the northern part of the city, and that they were going to do work to repair it that would take up to two days,” Noelia, 37, tells 14ymedio.

“We were without water for a couple of days and suddenly it arrived, and we all assumed that the pipe had been repaired”

“We were without water for a couple of days and suddenly it arrived, and we all assumed that the pipe had been repaired. However, the water had little force, and many people couldn’t save much, as was my case, and when it turned off again we were left without reserves,” she said.

According to Noelia, as the days go by the situation becomes more desperate, and the small water storage tanks have begun to run out. “In my house things are tight. The tank was only half full when the water came, and now my children are tired of me telling them to save, that there is no water.” continue reading

But her situation, she admits, is not the worst: “I know people who are going to the factories to get water, who have their own reserve in wells, tanks or cisterns. Another friend of mine has been taking a bath at work these days because at home the water is for cooking and drinking.”

The patience of the residents is exhausted, she says, and the last update from the authorities declared that they still do not know “at what time the work can be finished, because the pipe is being welded and it will take a long time.”

A few days ago, interviewed by Radio Cabaiguán, Alexei Hidalgo Leiva, director of Aqueduct and Sewerage in the municipality, explained that “on January 4, pumping at the Manaquita reservoir was stopped to suppress two large leaks: one at the entrance of pump three and the other at the exit of the pumping station.” The one at the exit could be repaired, but the one at the pump, he said, could not be finished due to the bad condition of the pipe. “When we started the work on the leak, we discovered that the pipe is rotten. It could not be welded, and it caused that section of the pipe to deteriorate more.”

Since then, the situation only got worse, because the province did not have the pipes and other materials necessary to do the repairs

Since then, the situation only got worse, because the province did not have the pipes and other materials necessary to do the repairs. “We had to close the outlet valve of the dam, because if that pipe goes, it would end up flooding the pumping station, where there is 440 volt electricity, pumps, operators and personnel. It is an imminent danger for the workers there, so the leak has been going on for days,” added Hidalgo, who couldn’t give a tentative date for the completion of the work.

At the moment, he said, in an attempt to give relief to the population, “we have the fuel and two water trucks activated to cover hospitals and state centers, including schools and childcare centers.” However, the Macaguabo Water Plant provides water for 62% of the population in the province.

The umpteenth promise of repair was offered this Tuesday by the official press. “It is expected to finish around 9:30 or 10:00 tonight, Tuesday,” Escambray announced. The reality is different. This Wednesday Sancti Spíritus continues with its reservoir closed while the Aqueduct and Sewerage company says that its workers have spent the last 48 hours repairing the leak.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Theft of Seeds Leaves Five Cuban Provinces Without Onions and Cabbages

The robbery occurred on August 28 in the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2024 — About 5.75 quintals [1 quintal=220 pounds] of onion seeds of the Caribbean 71 variety and 40 pounds of cabbage seeds were stolen last August from the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. The official press, which revealed the event five months later, does so with its usual objective: to warn State workers that cases of corruption will not be tolerated. The eight involved, meanwhile, are awaiting trial and several years in prison, he emphasizes.

The local newspaper Escambray was precise in the profile of the thieves. “They had a bad social conduct, prone to the commission of criminal acts, and two of them had a criminal record for robbery with force.” Two others were the custodians of the refrigerator.

To steal the “very important booty,” six men entered the entity on August 28, cut the fence with a hacksaw, accessed the number nine refrigerated chamber and broke into a small vault that contained “onion seeds and other quality vegetables that would be used in the current cold season.” “They had bet on the expertise of two former workers of the entity, who acted as guides of the crime,” the media said. continue reading

They had bet on the expertise of two former workers of the entity, who acted as guides of the crime,” the media said

The penalties imposed on the custodians for “the crime of non-compliance with the duty to preserve the property of the State” and on the rest, accused of robbery with force – which is punished in the current code with seven to 15 years of deprivation of liberty – will not be slight. Their greatest transgression, the authorities say, was to steal what belongs to the population. For the time being, the six thieves remain in pre-trial detention, and the ’security agents’ were allowed bail.

“In truth, we feel very concerned, and I’m not talking only about monetary value, but about the fact that the producers were left without seeds, and in the end the population pays the price,” said Orestes Ramírez, director of the Base Business Unit Semillas Sancti Spíritus.

Another situation, however, influences the fact that there is no need to plant this season. “A large number of acres couldn’t be planted in the country, because the onion seed couldn’t be imported this year, given the limitations that we all know, and the Caribe 71 seed was going to be used,” he explained.

The seeds were reserved for the provinces of Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Granma, Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila

As for the seeds, which were reserved for the provinces of Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Granma, Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila, the Ministry of the Interior said it had recovered 5.34 quintals of the onion seeds and 26 packages of cabbage seeds. However, the potential planting of these products could not be carried out.

“The seeds were found in the weeds of a farm where they had hidden them without taking into account the refrigeration measures, so, once returned to the corresponding entities and the laboratory analyses done, it was determined that they had lost germination ability, which brought with it an impact of 1,508,204 pesos to the country’s economy,” Escambray reported.

Weeks ago, in December, the official press dusted off the file of a crime committed in 2020 in Sancti Spíritus. The punishment of the officials who facilitated the theft of more than 23,775 gallons of soy yogurt from the UEB Pasteurizadora contains the same moral as the article on the theft of seeds: the State will not tolerate outrageous behavior in its institutions.

On that occasion, among senior managers of the companies involved, including drivers and warehousemen, 15 people were prosecuted and several of them are currently in prison. The robbery occurred on August 28 in the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Will Pay Farmers More for Potatoes

A pound of potatoes in Havana reached 300 pesos this Tuesday and 200 pesos in Holguín. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 January 2024 — The Cuban State will pay more money to farmers this year for every quintal (220 pounds) of potato it buys, a measure whose real benefit – in light of inflation and the difficulty of obtaining agricultural inputs – is difficult to calculate. What will remain stable in 2024, according to the resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette, is the price of potatoes in the retail market, which will continue to cost 11 pesos per pound.

Potatoes harvested with national seed will be paid at 1,204 pesos per quintal (26,175 pesos per ton), while the one grown with imported seed will cost 839 pesos per quintal (18,240 pesos per ton), the authorities reported. The cause: “the increase in prices of the essential inputs for potato production.”

The State cannot afford the luxury of generating “losses” or granting subsidies to producers

The State cannot afford the luxury of generating “losses” or granting subsidies to producers, it adds, so it empowers the Ministry to modify the prices which Acopio – the State Procurement and Distribution Agency – pays for food from the farmers. “The margin for the wholesale marketing of the potato will be shared between the parties by mutual agreement,” says the resolution, repeating the measure of past years. continue reading

This Wednesday, the Ministry’s website published a comment on the resolution in which it recalled its forecasts for the 2023-2024 potato harvest. The goal, they explained, is to plant 12,998 acres of potatoes to obtain an “estimated production” of 107,014 tons. Of the projected acreage, 2,224 will have national seed, and the rest will have imported seed.

“The country’s yields in the last five campaigns exceeded 21.53 tons, considering all the origins of the seed to be planted and the destinations of the production,” says the text, adding that in 40 years, since 1983, 29,564 acres of potatoes have been planted in Cuba.

In 2023, the price of potatoes in the retail market doubled, as it did in the previous year. Until then, a potato cost five pesos; through another resolution, the ministry argued that the increase in production costs forced drastic measures to be taken.

Potatoes harvested with national seed were then paid at 19,261.64 pesos per ton, while those obtained with imported seed had a lower cost, 15,174.52 pesos per ton.

In 2001, the record of 373,682 tons of potatoes was reached in Cuba, high quantities that were maintained for several years

In 2001, the record of 373,682 tons of potatoes was reached in Cuba, high quantities that were maintained for several years until, in 2010, the sale was liberalized. However, in 2015 bad data were recorded, with a harvest of 123,000 tons, which forced the Government to import potatoes to cover demand, mainly from the Netherlands and Canada. In 2017, potatoes returned to rationing, although those bad figures from the middle of the previous decade can be considered even enviable today.

Meanwhile, the black market is unfazed. A pound of potatoes in Havana reached 300 pesos and 200 pesos in Holguín on Tuesday, according to this newspaper. Even so, it is difficult to find the tuber, and, if the buyer succeeds, he encounters small, blackened and wet lumps, “as if the potatoes had been frozen.” This new variety, which the pushcart vendors sell on the street, is called “potato seed” by the people of Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival Will Receive Up To 92 Artists From the United States

The Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival will be celebrated in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 10 January 2024 — The 39th edition of the Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival, which will be held from January 21 to 28, will receive hundreds of international artists, including 92 from the United States, its organizers reported on Tuesday.

With the slogan “Pa’que flujazz,” the most important event of the genre in the country – in which more than 60 groups will participate – will be dedicated this year to the 50 year artistic career of the Cuban Joaquín Betancourt.

Likewise, the festival will be held, as usual, both in Havana, with 184 performances, and in Santiago de Cuba, with 74. continue reading

With the slogan “Pa’que flujazz,” the most important event of the genre in the country will be dedicated this year to the 50 year artistic career of the Cuban Joaquín Betancourt

Among the most important international figures who will participate is the American saxophonist and composer Ted Nash; the Mexican arranger Arturo O’Farrill and the American pianist Aaron Goldberg.

“It has grown so much (the Jazz Plaza), that we can say that it is a festival larger than ourselves, and the number of prominent musicians from different countries gives a measure of how, in 2024, Cuba continues to be a center for jazz,” Bobby Carcassés, first president of the Festival, told EFE.

One of this edition’s novelties will be the union of dance and jazz, with two shows. One will feature both Ted Nash and the Cuban collectives Acosta Danza and Malpaso, while at the closing of the Festival, the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca will perform together with the National Ballet of Cuba, featuring the director and first dancer, Viengsay Valdés, and the Muñequitos de Matanzas, exponents of the rumba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Two Thieves Rob the Owner of a Private Business in Holguin and Kill Him With a Machete

Frómeta had a vehicle repair and sales business, in addition to a café. (Facebook/Pedro Frometa)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — Pedro Luis Frómeta, owner of a private business in Holguín, was murdered at his home in the course of a violent robbery in the early hours of Sunday. A source close to the family told 14ymedio that the victim was taken to the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General Hospital at 3:00 am, bleeding and with fatal injuries caused by a machete.

According to Hortensia, a woman from Holguin who was in the Guard Corps and heard about what happened from Frómeta’s family, the altercation must have occurred between 12:00 and 2:00 am on Sunday morning. “It seems that Frómeta heard noises, his dog was barking , and he got up to see what was happening. He encountered two thieves, and while he struggled with them, his wife attempted to ask for help by phone.”

One of the criminals took the phone away and locked her in a room, says Hortensia

One of the criminals took the phone away and locked her in a room, says Hortensia. “It seems that there was another phone inside, because she managed to call and ask for help. Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, the thieves had already escaped and Frómeta was dead.”

The holguinera explains that the thieves managed to take several items, although she did not give details, and that the victim was left disfigured, with a “cut ear and and his head slashed down the middle.” “He bled to death,” she says and adds that the robbery could have been motivated by “people who knew that he had money.” continue reading

Other versions, such as the one disseminated by YouTuber Niover Licea, indicate that Frómeta had just sold a vehicle and the thieves were looking for the money, so they could be people who knew about it. He also stressed that the victim had been stabbed seven times and that the assailants did not take any objects from the house.

Hortensia, on the other hand, has not heard “anything about a car,” but agrees that the thieves “went after the money” of Frómeta, who was dedicated to the repair of vehicles for sale in addition to running a café in his home. “He had a very nice house on the outskirts of Holguín, before you come to a military unit and very close to the cabaret El Nocturno,” she explains.

“Frómeta lived very well, and his house had good security: padlocks, alarms and, I think, even cameras. The thieves managed to dodge all that,” says Hortensia.

The age of the victim, as well as the name of the business he owned are not known, although some posts on social networks suggest that he was 57 years old.

That is not the only case of violence that has occurred in Holguín. Just yesterday, a woman was assaulted in the cemetery in the city center

“That is not the only case of violence that has occurred in Holguín. Just yesterday, a woman was assaulted in the cemetery in the city center at 9:00 am. The criminals were on a motorbike,” says Hortensia. As she explains, gangs have recently been created in the city of “young boys who go on electric motorcycles assaulting people. They are organizing,” she regrets.

This Sunday in Holguín, a young man was robbed of a motorcycle near the tobacco factory. According to the victim’s wife, who reported it on social networks, three men threatened him with a knife in order to steal his vehicle. “One had a tattooed cross on his face,” she said.

Last December, in a speech to Parliament, Juan Carlos Poey, Minister of the Interior, warned that “in the adverse scenario” of the Island, it is very likely that “crime will evolve to a higher level of organization,” more complex than gangs or small networks of traffickers.

The leader assured that the police would be prepared to face any situation. However, the work of the authorities to stop the wave of violent crimes in recent years makes many doubt: “If they aren’t protecting us now, what can we expect later?”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Jamaica Prosecutes 10 Cuban Rafters Who Landed in a Luxury Hotel

The group of Cuban rafters have been detained since January 4 in Jamaica. (The Gleaner/Leon Jackson)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — A group of 10 Cuban rafters has been detained since January 4 in Jamaica for illegally entering the country. The migrants are waiting for a second hearing, next Thursday, before the Duncans Parish Court. In the first hearing, they pleaded “not guilty” before Judge Paula Hall, according to the newspaper The Gleaner.

The rafters, with support from interpreter Kimberly Watt, said that on December 29 they left the Island on a raft with the intention of reaching Florida. However, the bad weather damaged the raft and forced them to disembark at the Excellence Resort.

According to the Jamaican Embassy in Cuba, the inhabitants of the Island require a tourist visa, which costs 30 euros. continue reading

The rafters, with the support of interpreter Kimberly Watt, said that on December 29 they left the Island on a raft with the intention of reaching Florida

Since March 2023, Jamaica has required a visa for every Cuban who transits the country. The measure was taken in the face of the lack of control of people from the Island, who took advantage of the passage through Kingston to travel to Nicaragua and from there continue their journey to the United States.

Officials of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency confirmed to The Gleaner that “hundreds of Cubans traveled from the Island in the last three years to secure passage to Central and North America.”

The Government of Cuba maintains a close relationship with Jamaica. Last November, the Cuban Ophthalmological Care Program resumed with the sending of 18 specialists, after its suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic. These health workers joined the nine who arrived in July 2023 and are working in the Kingston public hospital.

Cuba’s ambassador to Jamaica, Fermín Quiñones, highlighted in May the bilateral relationship between the two countries in both health and education. Despite the fact that there is a considerable deficit of teachers in Cuba, agreements are maintained for the sending of teachers to Honduras, Mexico and Jamaica.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, Even the Ration Books Are Scarce Due to Lack of Paper

Tamara Castillo, State director of Commerce in Matanzas, said that the delivery of the documents “will be assumed on a transitory basis.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — For the third consecutive year, the distribution of the ration books in Cuba is delayed. The reason is the same again: the lack of paper to make them. In some neighborhoods of Havana, the distribution has been intermittent. In Luyanó, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, they have arrived, but in other areas, such as Cayo Hueso, in Central Havana, they have not.

They had already warned Olga in December, when, after losing the document on the street, she had to go and renew it from her corresponding Office of the Consumer Registry. “The employee told me not to worry because they weren’t going to give out the books anyway,” the old woman tells 14ymedio. “She didn’t know if it was going to be in January, in February or if it would actually happen, because they were ’very late.’”

In Nuevo Vedado, a municipality of the Plaza de la Revolución, the ration store clerk told his customers that “it will arrive next month.” Meanwhile, they are writing down the orders on the January sheet of the 2023 ration book. “For the little they give, there is plenty of paper,” Roberto, a resident of the place, protests with sarcasm.

Although the panorama is similar in other provinces – they have not given out the ration books in Sancti Spíritus, in Mayabeque, in Villa Clara, in continue reading

Santiago de Cuba or in Holguín, to mention some examples that this newspaper has been able to confirm – only the government of Matanzas has pronounced itself on the matter.

The solution proposed by the officials while they replenish stocks is the one proposed by the ration store clerk of Nuevo Vedado, which coincides with last year’s proposal and that of the previous year

“From the State Directorate of Commerce in Matanzas it is reported that financial limitations caused a delay in the import of the raw material for the fabrication of the ration books, which resulted in too much of a delay in their printing and distribution to make the changes for the 2024 ration books,” the agency acknowledged this Sunday on Facebook.

Tamara Castillo, State director of Commerce in Matanzas, said that the delivery of the documents “will be assumed on a transitory basis” and explained that “once the books for 2024 have been delivered to consumers, the retail establishment must update the annotations in them from the sales made previously,” a process that must be completed before this coming March 30.

The lack of “raw material” for fabricating the ration books has already stopped being surprising, but this year, the uncertainty about rationing lingers on. Among the economic measures announced for 2024 in the second ordinary session of the National Assembly last December, although without a specific date, was the end of the universal subsidy to the basic food basket.

“It’s not fair that those who have a lot receive the same as those who have very little. Today we subsidize the same thing to an old pensioner as to the owners of large private businesses who have a lot of money,” argued the Prime Minister of the Island, Manuel Marrero.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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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