Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 55

Seven Cuban Doctors Will Return to the Island After the End of Their Contract in Mexico

The specialists arrived in the country in 2022, after being originally hired for one year, although their stay was extended for two

An image of the Cuban doctors who arrived in 2022 in the state of Campeche (Mexico) / Heraldo Carmelita

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, July 28, 2024 –In October, seven Cuban doctors will stop work in hospitals located in the Mexican state of Campeche. According to Eva Baeza Fuentes, president of the board of trustees of the María del Socorro Quiroga Aguilar general hospital, the doctors were informed of their return to the Island, and there is “uncertainty” among them because they do not know if they will return to Mexico.

Baeza Fuentes confirmed to the newspaper Por Esto! that two gynecology specialists, an internist, a surgeon and an intensive care specialist will leave the hospital where she works. An anonymous source specified that “the Cubans arrived in October 2022 with a one-year contract, which included a six-month period of leave; however, their stay was extended for another year, which ends in October 2024.” This does not rule out that it is only a change of headquarters.

Among the Cuban specialists who arrived at the María del Socorro Quiroga Aguilar general hospital in 2022 are Misleidy Bárbara Labrada Cedeño, Yisell Muñiz Cárdenas, Liliana Castro Goulet, Elizabet Valdés Hernández and Manuel de Jesús Molina Sánchez. continue reading

The governor of the state of Campeche, Layda Sansores, when receiving Cuban specialists in 2022 / Layda Sansores

These health workers are part of the group of the first 600 hired by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. For each of these professionals, the Island received, according to the agreement, $2,042 per specialist and $1,722 per general practitioner. The money was managed by the Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos, S.A. In the agreement with Mexico it was specified that this first stage was for one year, “with the possibility of extending the agreement.”

Of that money, Cuban doctors receive only “a stipend for their needs,” meaning that their “salary stays in Cuba,” denounced a specialist in February 2023. Of the amount paid by the López Obrador Administration that should be allocated for the doctors’ salaries , the Government of the Island receives the most. Organizations such as Prisoners Defenders have questioned the Government of Mexico for hiring Cuban professionals in “conditions of slavery.”

Baeza Fuentes said that in addition to the specialists at the Socorro Quiroga Aguilar hospital, a Cuban neurosurgeon who is working at the Escárcega Hospital and a surgeon established in Ciudad del Carmén will also leave.

According to Governor Layda Sansores, 51 Cuban specialists arrived in the state of Campeche. A group of 109 were sent to Nayarit and another 52 to Guerrero. The rest are in Baja California Sur (51), Chiapas (12), Colima (86), Michoacán (71), Hidalgo (39), Oaxaca (68), Quintana Roo (31), Sonora (60), Tamaulipas (15), Tlaxcala (105), Veracruz (25), Yucatán (3) and Zacatecas (28).

On July 16, the Government of Mexico announced the hiring of another 2,700 doctors from the Island. They will join the 950 who are now in the country

On July 16, the Government of Mexico announced the hiring of another 2,700 doctors from the Island. They will join the 950 that are now in Mexican territory, distributed in 23 states.

The Cuban doctors are part of Imss-Bienestar, the free health organization created in 2022 by the Government of the self-styled Fourth Transformation, headed by López Obrador, replacing the Seguro Popular, in power until that time.

A source confirmed to 14ymedio last Friday that a new group of health workers arrived in Mexico and were transferred to the state of Veracruz. These doctors are part of the 1,200 that were contracted last May.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Minister of Transport Describes an Alarming Situation for the Roads in Cuba

The problem is due, among other reasons, to the fact that only 13 of the 25 asphalt plants are functioning

According to Rodríguez Dávila, even the prioritized repair plans fell through / Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila

14ymedio, Havana, July 27, 2024 –In Cuba there are “quality problems in road repairs, and a lack of discipline and organization in interventions.” The euphemisms to disguise the unfortunate state of Cuban roads – and the neglect of the technicians -, analyzed this Thursday by the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, was accompanied by alarming numbers: Of the 1,109,298 square meters of road affected by potholes, only 247,359 have been repaired. The data is just the tip of the iceberg in a triumphalist report – although detailed – of the situation, which promises a second part. Along with the usual complaints about the U.S. embargo and the fuel shortage, Rodríguez Dávila also implies that the State lacks money to carry out the planned repairs.

Of the 127 kilometers of provincial and municipal roads that they had planned to repair in the first half of the year, they have only completed 69. The numbers are “far below real needs,” Rodríguez Dávila explained, resorting to a new euphemism.

The minister admitted that there is not enough budget on the Island for the purchase of specialized equipment

The minister admitted that there is not enough budget on the Island for the purchase of specialized equipment, or for the indispensable spare parts. In addition, he complained about the “instability” both in the allocation and the availability of physical fuel, to start the machinery and solve logistical needs. continue reading

The origin of the problem is that of the 25 hot and cold asphalt concrete plants that operate in Cuba, there are 12 “paralyzed by breaks.” The result is damaged roads, which only received 10% of the hot concrete they need and 14% of the cold.

According to Rodríguez Dávila, even the prioritized repair plans fell through: only 8.3% of the roads that lead to the Island’s airports – and which are essential routes for the transport of tourists – were repaired with the asphalt mixture. The same failures are verified on the National Highway (whose repair is at 15%), the Central Highway (11%), the one that leads to the Special Economic Development Zone of Mariel (10.3%) and the one that leads to the Cayería Norte (18%).

The repair of bridges, many of them about to collapse, remained at 21%. Other roads, especially at the provincial and municipal levels, suffer “significant delays.”

The repair of bridges, many of them about to collapse, stayed at 21%

Rodríguez Dávila could only be proud of the “maintenance and repair of the tunnels of the capital,” in particular the tunnel of the Bay of Habana, and promised that soon those of Línea and 5th Avenue will be repaired.

The urgency is now to seek “better financial support” from the Government and to obtain “fuel and materials,” he said. He explained that many repairs now depend on provincial governments, which lack “completion of the number of positions”: a third euphemism that points out the lack of local leaders, a phenomenon that with the immigration stampede and the emergence of MSMEs, has become recurrent.

Active on social networks and on Cuban Television, Rodríguez Dávila’s face has become one of the most recognized in the Council of Ministers. His Facebook profile covers the ministry’s operations on a daily basis, in particular the development of one of its initiatives: a kind of “revolution of electric tricycles,” with which, he explains, he plans to alleviate the situation of urban public transport. The Achilles heel of the plan are the blackouts, which give no respite to state or private carriers.

Santiago de Cuba, a province that had not joined the tricycle fever, received its first ten this Saturday, which were paraded on July 26 before the first secretary of the Party, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Court Will Review the Sentence Against Four Young Cubans Issued by a Judge Arrested in the United States

In Florida, Melody González Pedraza will have to prove, after a first failed attempt, that she is eligible for political asylum

Several human rights organizations have demanded the release of the young people sentenced by judge Melody González Pedraza / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, July 27, 2024 — The Provincial Court of Villa Clara will review on August 9 the sentence issued in Cuba by former judge Melody González Pedraza — who is now imprisoned in a detention center for migrants in Broward, Florida — against four young people accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a vehicle and other police property in 2022. González Pedraza, who has a history of collaboration with the regime from her position in the Municipal Court of Encrucijada, will face a legal process in the United States, where she arrived and applied for political asylum last May, after she was denied humanitarian parole. The former judge will have to prove, after a first failed attempt, that she is eligible for international protection.

González Pedraza sentenced Andy Gabriel González Fuentes, Eddy Daniel Rodríguez Pérez, Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza and Adain Barreiro Pérez, whose families have never stopped protesting over the former judge’s attempt to enter American territory and have denounced her links with the regime.

González Pedraza alleged in an interview that she had acted according to instructions “from above”

In turn, González Pedraza alleged in an interview with Diario de Cuba that she had acted according to instructions “from above,” although the evidence against the young people was not conclusive. Now, their families are appealing Sentence 4/2024, signed by the former judge, a process that will take place in the Chamber of Crimes against State Security in the Provincial Court, according to Martí Noticias. continue reading

The appeal document, published by this newspaper, indicates that the hearing will be held at 9:00 am “with the reproduction of all the evidence that was carried out in the trial of first instance,” which will be submitted for review.

Captain Miguel Martínez, First Lieutenant Ricardo Domínguez, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Luis Alfonso and a person identified as Ramón Benítez will testify as new witnesses – all members of the Police and State Security.

At the beginning of July, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid, Spain, asked for the acquittal of the young people after González Pedraza’s statements and her application for asylum in the United States. The conviction handed down by the former judge, said OCDH, is based only on the retraction of the confession by one of the accused and on testimonies provided by officials of the Ministry of the Interior.

“They gave me precise indications; I decided that the defense lawyers had presented important evidence”

“They gave me precise indications; I decided that the defense lawyers had presented important evidence, especially witnesses. But the order I received was that the evidence of the Prosecutor’s Office was sufficient and had more value. We had to keep them in pre-trial detention and punish them,” the former official said in her interview with Diario de Cuba.

OCDH presented “new reasons for acquittal and revocation of the sentences,” since “it is evident that it was not lawful and just to pronounce a criminal sentence.” The organization prepared a report, with six recommendations, addressed to the appointed lawyers of the sentencing of the Municipal Court of Encrucijada and the members of the Governing Council of the Provincial Court of Villa Clara, among other agencies.

“There was a violation of guarantees and fundamental rights to the detriment of those convicted, as well as the absence of a crime and the serious judicial misconduct of convicting them without a sufficient minimum of evidence. We believe that there are sufficient elements for imminent freedom measures to be adopted in favor of the appellants, as a definitive measure in justice,” explained the OCDH.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Surveillance, Reluctance and the Omnipresent Garbage Overshadow the Celebration of July 26 in Cuba

“They put a policeman every ten meters around the block where the Party’s hotel is located”

Overflowing garbage on the corner of Consulate and Trocadero, next to what was once José Lezama Lima’s home, in Central Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García/Juan Diego Rodríguez, Sancti Spíritus, 26 July 2024 — This Friday there is no rebellion but much reluctance and indifference to the most important anniversary of the regime. Cubans will not feel like celebrating, but the Police and Security remain as active as ever and have demonstrated it, not only in Sancti Spíritus – the site of the regime’s celebration – but also in other cities of the Island. July 26 has become National Surveillance Day.

Pablo lives a few blocks from the place where Miguel Díaz-Canel and the other hierarchs of the regime are staying, who held a kind of vigil this Thursday for the anniversary. Pablo witnessed a “strong operation” that began in the afternoon. “They put a policeman every ten meters around the block where the Party’s hotel is located,” he tells 14ymedio.

The secured area occupied 500 meters, estimates Pablo, who also saw agents in the vicinity. “We feel very well cared for in the neighborhood,” he says, sarcastically, referring to how the neighbors had to ask for permission to enter and leave the perimeter. “They asked us where we were going and other details,” he explains. continue reading

“They,” says Pablo, alluding to the main leaders of the country, “arrived around 5:00 pm.” The meals were not made there. They had lunch at the Cayería Norte, according to one of his neighbors, a hotel worker who saw how the traffic in the area was interrupted for the entourage to pass.

Raúl Castro and Ramiro Valdés Mesa participated in the event, and the official press reported that 5,000 people had been summoned

“The Party’s hotel is not a big deal,” Pablo clarifies, “but they always stay there by protocol. The building was fixed and painted recently. New lamps and fence, repairs in the pool, and more comfort inside.”

At the event, for which the official press reported that 5,000 people and 140 foreign “friends of Cuba” were summoned, there were Raúl Castro and Ramiro Valdés Mesa, two of the few survivors of the group that, led by Fidel Castro, failed to take the second most important military barracks in the country. Castro transformed that defeat into a propaganda machine that, 71 years later, is still active although agonizing.

Like last year, the leaders again waited for dawn in between long speeches and the play of lights projected onto the plaza. It was Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa who was in charge of the celebration, which focused on Raúl Castro and the U.S. embargo. Less proactive than his government colleagues, Valdés Mesa said that Cubans will have to work “without waiting for miracles.”

This Friday, in the Cuban streets, no one expected a party or, even less, a miracle. On Obispo boulevard in Havana, only three people celebrated July 26. With the appearance of state workers or agents dressed in plainclothes, they walked the street again and again wearing red sweaters. On the back, a sentence on the fabric: “Nothing is impossible for those who fight. Fidel.”

In Havana there was little festive spirit, but there was a lot of garbage that no one will take care of “in greeting” to the anniversary. One of the most formidable trash dumps in Havana is on Trocadero Street, next to the battered house – today a museum – of the Cuban writer José Lezama Lima. Enthusiastic about the Castro Revolution in his first months, Lezama wrote a small text about July 26 in which he affirms that the date “brings happiness” to Cubans. This Friday, however, it has only brought garbage. And continuity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Fifty Academics Demand That LASA Condemn the Repression in Cuba of Alina Bárbara López

It is the second time in eight months that the association has spoken out in support of the teacher

Alina Bárbara López Hernández during an interview in April 2023. (EFE)

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, July 5, 2024 — On Thursday, more than 50 academics from the Association of Latin American Studies (LASA) urged the executive committee of that group to publicly condemn the “political repression” in Cuba after the allegations of police violence against the critical intellectuals Alina Bárbara López and Jenny Pantoja. It would be the second time that the Association, historically considered favorable to the Cuban regime, has raised its voice for the professor.

Among the signatories are Mexican professors and researchers Alejandro Monsiváis and Carlos Torrealba, the Cuban American economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, the Brazilian sociologist María Hermínia Tavares, the Cuban economists Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas, brother of the former Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas.

The text, advanced by the independent website CubaXCuba (CXC), calls for LASA’s condemnation of “the political repression in Cuba, intensified during the last year and increased,” against López, historian, editor and member of the group, and against the anthropologist Pantoja.

Among the signatories are Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Omar Everleny, Pavel Vidal and Pedro Monreal, as well as the historian Rafael Rojas

Regarding López’s case, subscribers point out that since October 2022, “she has suffered persecution and various violations of her rights to free movement, thought and expression, among others. continue reading

In addition, they say that the renowned academic “has been a victim of practices that qualify as torture, and cruel, inhumane and harmful treatment to human dignity. Just for writing, expressing her critical ideas about Cuban reality and civic formation, and demonstrating peacefully.”

In a recounting of the situations that the 58-year-old historian has confronted with the local authorities, the last two refer to physical aggressions that have caused her bodily injuries.”

“The harassment has intensified,” they argue, pointing out that both events occurred when she was trying to travel to Havana – on April 18 and June 18 – after which she was taken by the political police to a police station in the city of Matanzas, where she lives.

Specifically, the academics urge the LASA council to reiterate “its position in defense of the freedom of expression,” “condemn the political persecution” against López and Pantoja, and any other person, and express their solidarity with both intellectuals for their “unjust prosecution.”

In December 2023, LASA, after weeks of doubt, took the step that its members expected to “condemn political repression in Cuba” in general terms, although the pronouncement then also came “in particular” for López Hernández, who had been found guilty of a crime of disobedience in November.

This fact was unprecedented since the organization was historically linked to the regime. In 2015, 14ymedio published a column by Manuel Cuesta Morúa, who was satisfied with the “turn towards ideological plurality” that the association had made. In his opinion, the process began in 2011, when it started to “open up to criticism of the leftists in power from the intellectual left.”

In December 2023, LASA, after weeks of doubt, took the step that its members were waiting for to “condemn political repression in Cuba” in general terms

However, in May 2021, a large group of at least 300 people signed an open letter criticizing LASA’s lukewarm statement in the face of the repression against the imprisoned artist, activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and several other Cubans. In addition, some of its members refused to continue being part of LASA.

That week, in a public statement, more than 200 writers and artists denounced the “police violence” against López and Pantoja during the arrests.

According to the account of both intellectuals, the police arrested them when they were going from Matanzas to Havana to protest. They were beaten, thrown to the floor, and forcibly put into a patrol car and taken to a police station, where they were held for hours.

López, who is co-director of CubaxCuba, has been arrested on several occasions in recent months for making symbolic protests. As a result of these actions, she was sentenced at the end of last year to pay a fine for the crime of disobedience.

The intellectual has declared herself in “contempt” of the sentence and refused to pay the fine, aware that this can lead her to jail, as she has written in different articles on social networks.

The NGO Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, said that the trial, “without guarantees,” had “political motivations” and sought only to “repress the exercise of the fundamental rights” of López, whom it described as a “victim of conscience.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Loss of 50 Percent of Its Income From Foreign Currency, the ‘Cuban System’ Has Collapsed

Cuba Siglo XXI publishes a report signed by economist Emilio Morales

While Cuba received only 2.4 million tourists in 2023, a neighboring country, the Dominican Republic, exceeded 10 million / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, July 25, 2024 — In three key points – the collapse of medical service exports, the fall in remittances and the debacle of tourism – economist Emilio Morales deciphers the collapse of the “Cuban system.” In the most recent report of the organization Cuba Siglo 21, based in Madrid, the researcher says that there has been a drop of more than 50% in the Government’s main sources of foreign currency, which will “reach the 71st anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks with a country in “countdown.” Published this Thursday, the report documents how one of the most powerful foreign exchange inflows that Cuba had – the export of medical services – fell by 78% since 2013, when it generated 10.42 billion dollars for the Regime.

According to the report to Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, in 2023, Cuba lost 63.939 billion pesos, which, with the official exchange rate of 24 to 1, is equivalent to a loss of 2.664 billion dollars for the Island. The largest part of these revenues corresponds to medical services, managed by Gaesa, the economic arm of the Army, through the company Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos and the Banco Financiero Internacional y de Antex S.A, another company designed to handle contracts for the Cuban doctors in the exterior, says Morales.

Historical data on the income stream from the export of medical services, 2008-2023 / Havana Consulting Group

“Gaesa has pocketed no less than 69.8 billion dollars of the 108.5 billion it has collected from doctors’ salaries” between 2008 and 2023, summarizes the economist, who supports his conclusion with a graph. That money “never returned to the reconstruction of hospitals, acquisition of equipment and medical supplies, or to improve the conditions of patient care.” continue reading

The Government, in fact, invested only 1.7 billion dollars in Public Health in 2023, a figure that contrasts with the 24.2 billion invested in the construction of hotels. On the other hand, remittances also decreased in 2023. The entry into the country of 1.972 billion dollars represented a fall of 2.31% compared to 2022, and 46% compared to 2019. The cause – which Morales has referred to on more than one occasion – is not a mystery to anyone: the massive stampede after 11 July 2021 and the economic crisis of recent years. In addition, those who emigrate, instead of sending money to those who stay, prefer to take them out of the country as soon as possible.

Morales summarizes the data recently offered by Cuban economist Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, who estimates that between 2022 and 2023, 1.79 million people left Cuba. With that exodus, remittances also fell. “In 2023, it is estimated that the exiled and excluded Cuban diaspora spent between 1.8 and 2.2 billion dollars to take out of the country the 200,287 Cubans who emigrated to the United States, and tens of thousands of others who are still on the way,” he analyzes.

Remittances to Cuba, 2014-2023. Data in millions of dollars / Havana Consulting Group

As for tourism, Morales analyzes its failure after the pandemic, in an international context characterized by the recovery of visitor levels. While Cuba received only 2.4 million tourists in 2023, a neighboring country, the Dominican Republic, exceeded 10 million. The regime has opted for Russian tourism, which, however, “has not compensated for the loss of European tourism, affected by Cuba’s support for Russia in the war against Ukraine,” explains the economist. To illustrate the debacle, Morales points out that the five main European countries – Italy, France, Germany, Spain and England – sent 67.45% fewer travelers to the Island. Cubans living abroad, indispensable for tourism, also decreased their number in 2023 by 42% compared to 2019: only 358,480 were c0unted.

The problem also has a political dimension, which is that both the Communist Party and the government structures in the country have been left without relief by the mass exodus, even of their own cadres. The Supreme Court, as recognized by the government, has only 69% of the judges it needs to operate in the country.

Arrival of tourists in Cuba, 2007-2023 / Havana Consulting Group

Morales blames Gaesa for the mismanagement of the country’s resources and says it has led a war against the MSMEs to limit their field of action and decrease their control. It is, clearly, a “dysfunctional” system, he says, which is pointed out even by Cuba’s allies, who no longer dare to launch a “large-scale economic rescue,” given the resistance to the change in leadership at the head of Cuban power. In a comatose state and grasping at partial and last-minute solutions, the Cuban Government – says the economist – has its days numbered.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Creole Lime, Another Item Missing From Cuban Tables

Like any scarce and desired product, in Cuba the lime has gone to the foreign currency stores or to nourish exports / Facebook

14ymedio, Mercedes García/Natalia López Moya, Sancti Spíritus/Havana, July 7, 2024 — No, lime is not the basis of everything but it is an essential ingredient in many recipes of Cuban cuisine and cocktails. The Creole mojo that is put on the cassava, the marinade that is plastered on the pork before cooking and the mojito that is inseparable from bars and celebrations need that acidic flavor that stings your eyes and awakens the soul.

However, Persian lime, or lemon as it is also called, has become in the last decade an elusive guest at the tables and bars on this Island. Counting on it to prepare a dish could end in defiance and frustration. To alleviate its absence, all kinds of subterfuges have emerged, from replacing it with vinegar in some preparations to making use of that artificial imposture that comes in a bottle and is called “lemon juice.”

In the last 12 months, in the Plaza Boulevard market in the city of Sancti Spíritus, the most appreciated citrus has made it clear that no one can take it for granted. From November 2023 until last April, it was absent from shelves, and in the last year, according to the weekly compilation done by this newspaper, its price went from 100 pesos per pound to the current 250 pesos. continue reading

When it was most needed, the lime was not there. It was not on Plaza Boulevard when customers arrived searching like crazy for something to marinate the pork for the Christmas holidays, or to throw over a salad on the night of December 31. Nor did it appear for the lemonade on Three Kings Day.

On February 14, couples had to settle for other less traditional cocktails or drink a mojito with “plastic lemon,” as they call those extracts supposedly made from citrus but that look more like a product synthesized in the laboratory than something taken from a fruit that was once hanging from a bush.

The luckiest made do on those dates with some hard lime rind, dark green and with very little juice that would serve more to break a window than to season a dish. That rickety and dry version has generated several culinary methods to try to get some liquid out of them. From immersing them in hot water before cutting and squeezing them, to placing them on the floor and, squeezed tightly under the foot, rolling them on the surface so that their interior softens and produces something.

However, almost always those methods are so disappointing that you end up throwing the lime in the trash between swear words and curses, most of them dedicated to those who manage the Cuban fields, to the terrible policies implemented in agriculture and to an official “wise man” who, without blushing, considered the lime as “the basis of everything.”

From those heights of the Government, they blame the frequent disappearances of the lime and also the plummeting supply of oranges, grapes and mandarins on the negative impacts of pests, hurricanes and the U.S. ‘blockade’*. Of those citrus productions, which exceeded one million tons three decades ago, currently only the memory remains. If in 1990 the land destined for its cultivation reached 145,000 hectares, by 2020 it was barely 11,907.

Like any scarce and desired product, in Cuba the lime has gone to the foreign exchange trade or to nourish exports rather than humiliate itself by ending up on local tables. In the digital portals that sell to emigrants to supply their families on the Island, the product can be found more frequently and stably, but yes, at a price of around five dollars a pound.

Also, the very vain limes travel rather than remaining in the homeland. In September 2020, the official press announced that a farmer from Mayabeque had become the first private producer in Cuba who managed to export limes to Spain through the company Frutas Selectas.

Meanwhile, some online shops, which sell in foreign currency, began to offer limes from Panama, Mexico and the United States in the catalog of goods that Cuban exiles use to buy for their parents, grandparents or children who have stayed on the Island. As if national consumers could no longer aspire to the citrus that sprouts from their land and should be content with foreigners buying it for them.

As good news, in the forums where opinions are exchanged about these virtual stores, a criterion is repeated again and again: “Those Mexican limes are good, they have juice and you don’t have to hit them or put them in hot water.” The cassava mojo is guaranteed in this way for certain Cuban tables, but the limes can no longer be called “creole.”

*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in February of the same year, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Given the Low Quality of Food in Cuba, the Spanish Hotel Company Meliá Will Import Its Products

The regime’s proposal to buy from farmers did not prosper due to the shortage of products

In 2017 Iberostar received a permit to create a joint import business with the Cuban Caribbean Hotel Logistics / Trip Advisor

14ymedio, Havana, July 24, 2024 — The Cuban Government’s inability to meet the demand for the most basic products also affects its trading partners. The large hotel companies installed on the Island have had to import, for years, part of the products they provide in their facilities. Since the escalation of the crisis after the pandemic, however, companies went from importing in order to “maintain luxury” to importing out of necessity.

The last to join the list was Meliá, which at the beginning of this year announced that it would create, with the permission of the State, its own import company. It was not until this Wednesday, however, that it revealed Mesol’s specific purpose: to supply its hotels with linen, sports and artistic equipment, kitchen utensils and even food, beverages and cleaning items.

The transport, distribution and storage of the products are also borne by the company, which for now has its main supplier in Spain but is looking for other suppliers in Latin America and the Caribbean, where invoices will be less expensive. continue reading

The “appropriate purchase and delivery flows,” the statement adds, will help maintain the quality of the service

The “appropriate purchase and delivery flows,” the statement adds, will help maintain the quality of the service, diminished by the lack of variety in the food, the low quality of the meals and the defective cleanliness, common complaints among those staying on the Island.

Other companies have taken similar measures. At the beginning of last year, when the Indian MGM Muthu Hotels reached 7,000 rooms on the Island, its adviser explained a plan to keep all the facilities supplied. “We are going to have two importers in Cuba to bring in products, not only beverages, but everything. It can be furniture and fittings, everything. We are already creating two companies for this,” he said in January, and in May, an importer from Portugal was already a reality.

“We have a trading company to import all kinds of supplies from Portugal. We are growing little by little, sin prisa pero sin pausa* — without haste but without pause,” he added.

In 2022, the Government granted Canadian Blue Diamond a license – accompanied by the exclusive management of 11 complexes in Cayo Largo del Sur – to bring in the necessary supplies to maintain them. Nutella, butter and ketchup, not very available in Cuba, were some of the products promised by the vice president of Sunwing Travel Group, owner of the hotel. “The right to import and to be able to control quality is a great thing,” he said.

“Importing cannot be the solution; the country must be able to provide domestic products to hotels”

That same year Granma published an article criticizing the hotels that imported much of the products they needed in their daily management, including food, when, it said, they could get them in Cuba. “Importation cannot be the solution, the country must be able to provide hotels with domestic products and thus ensure attention to the growing arrival of visitors, which favors economic chains,” it complained.

The text tried to explain the successful association between hotel companies and the producers of the locales where they are installed but forgot to point out that the contracts are always made through the Ministry of Agriculture, which lowers payments to the farmers and discourages them, at the same time that it fails to comply with its commitments and is unreliable in its business dealings with the hotels. companies.

In 2017, Iberostar received a permit to create a joint import business with the Cuban Logística Hotelera del Caribe (LHC). The Spanish chain did not clarify what it intended to import but explained that the company, located in the Special Development Zone of Mariel, would be dedicated to the wholesale trade of products for the hospitality industry and that Iberostar would not be the only beneficiary.

With tourism stalled in numbers similar to those of last year, in addition to the discredit that the Island has suffered internationally for its political and economic situation, companies like Meliá have decided to take the reins and try to improve the statistics of their hotels on their own. In 2023, Cuba was the only one of its destinations where revenues fell and hotel occupancy was lower than expected.

*Translator’s note: Sin prisa pero sin pausa — without haste but without pause — became a signature phrase of Raul Castro in reference to ‘fixing’ the problems of Cuba, after he assumed the presidency on the death of his brother, Fidel.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Children Are Baptized and One Week Later They Leave, Complains the Catholic Church in Cuba

The anointing of the sick is the only sacrament that is increasing, another reflection of the demographic situation on the island

The priests do not offer official figures for baptized people on the Island. / Reynaldo La O /Havana Times

14ymedio, Havana, July 24, 2024 — The Catholic priest Ariel Suárez, secretary of the Cuban Episcopal Conference – and, in practice, its spokesman – said during an interview in Spain that in a parish like his, the sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity in Havana, 300 children can be baptized every month. The figure is not impossible, although optimistic, in a country weighed down by migratory stampede and low birth rate, according to the religious authorities of several Cuban dioceses interviewed by 14ymedio. In the parishes of the most important cities of Matanzas – Varadero, Cárdenas and Matanzas – they are far from that number, according to a source from their bishopric: about 15 children a month in Cárdenas and about 20 per priest, if he has to attend several parishes.

In Camajuaní, where several years ago dozens of children were baptized every Saturday, the current number is between 4 or 6 children each month. A member of the diocesan administration of Santa Clara explains to this newspaper that it is normal for families “to baptize the children and then leave the country one week later.”

In Camajuaní, where several years ago dozens of children were baptized every Saturday, the current number is between 4 or 6 children every month

Apparently, he says, they believe that the ritual provides some kind of protection or luck during the trip, or they have the superstition that it will facilitate the exit procedures. As for the data offered by Suárez, he says, “it could be real for that parish, because it is a sanctuary in the middle of Central Havana, although it seems too high.” continue reading

“In each diocese there are sacramental statistics. They are done every year. It must be borne in mind that each parish in Cuba is very different. In the city of Santa Clara, for example, the number of baptisms in a sanctuary like Buenviaje or in the cathedral is not the same as in the churches of La Pastora and Carmen,” he explains.

The decline in rituals is not only for baptisms: “There are few births, fewer baptisms, a lot of emigration, fewer confirmations – another sacrament -and there are also fewer religious marriages,” he summarizes. There is only an abundance of what is known as the “anointing of the sick” – formerly called extreme unction – because the “old people are left behind.”

In the archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba – where mountain communities abound – a source in the archdiocese tells 14ymedio that priests do not usually compile monthly statistics, only an annual figure that he did not reveal. He admitted, of course, that it tends to decrease. “People are attending Church because they are desperate,” he explains. “Many of the baptisms are just a number.”

During his interview, Suárez sounded amazed that “after so many years, of a social system that promulgated atheism with such force” and given the current circumstances, baptisms continue to be held in Cuba. “The parents of those children are young,” he added, and “they do not have a Christian foundation,” but – despite the indoctrination of the regime – they do not look at the Catholic Church with “hostility or indifference.”

The priest said he was aware of the migratory crisis, in which “Cubans of all ages leave, not only young people. Of course, the departure of young people is felt more in a nation, because they are supposed to be the ones who have projects and dreams for the future of a country and of the Church itself,” he said.

“People are attending Church because they are desperate,” he explains. “Many of the baptisms are just a number”

In addition, he made it clear that the Church in Cuba considers itself “vulnerable,” and he listed what, in his opinion, it has to lose: the “small but significant” education centers, nursing homes and care spaces for the sick, the elderly and the alcoholics.

In a context of extreme coldness in Church-State relations, Suárez has become a spokesman for an increasingly lethargic Episcopal Conference. Cuban bishops have not published a joint document that contains criticism of the Government or descriptions of the country’s situation for months. Last April, Suárez – interviewed by the American network NBC – again reminded the authorities that the Church was ready to have a conversation about the freedom of political prisoners.

In the protests of last March 17 – and in the previous ones – Suárez said that the pain “turned into a scream,” which was “listened to” and “accepted” by “all the authorities of the country.” At least everyone has agreed to consider that the cry reflected anguish, reflected despair, and that it was obviously asking for a different situation from what was being experienced,” he said, referring to the demonstrations in the city of Santiago de Cuba.

A source from the archdiocese of Havana told this newspaper that what Suárez expressed “is a subtle message” that the bishops send to the regime to say that the Church can mediate “despite the sorrows.” However, he acknowledged that “at the diocesan level, the tension with the Party’s Religious Affairs Offices is worse than ever.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Sancti Spíritus Authorities Ramp Up the Pressure To Fill the Seats for the July 26 Ceremonies

Plaza de la Revolución Mayor General Serafín Sánchez Valdivia de Sancti Spíritus, this Wednesday / Escambray

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, July 24, 2024 — “Not a hand raised,” is how the attendees at a meeting of an entity linked to the Ministry of Agriculture in the city of Sancti Spíritus reacted on Monday when its directors inquired about the willingness to participate in the official event on July 26. The justifications for evading the commitment ranged from the obligation to care for children and the elderly to anxiety over the Oropouche virus.

“We were summoned to the auditorium to organize everything this Friday,” an employee who prefers to remain anonymous tells 14ymedio. “They told us that our company had been assigned ten chairs for the event, and they read us some organizational details, such as that you have to be in the Plaza [Mayor General Serafín Sánchez Valdivia] at one in the morning, and you can’t carry anything in your hands – no bags, no backpacks or water bottles.”

After reading the requirements, the managers of the company inquired about the willingness of the workers to attend, but the first response was “silence, not a sound; people were just looking at the floor.” The Ministry worker explains that the leaders of the Communist Party and the Union then began to summon the employees one by one, but they all had a justification for not participating.

“There are people who have small children and can’t leave them alone, and I also have co-workers who care for elderly parents and, although they have family who can help, can’t come that early in the morning,” he tells this newspaper. “Others said they had just gotten over Covid or Oropouche and can’t be outside at dawn.” continue reading

“Others said they had just gotten over Covid or Oropouche and can’t be outside at dawn”

The practice of going to the celebration very early, when the sun is just coming up, is the official act of remembrance for the assault on the Moncada barracks, on 26 July 1953. This was encouraged by Raúl Castro after assuming power in August 2006, when the convalescence of his brother, Fidel Castro, was announced. The rigors of the summer heat and the advanced age of many of the officials participating in the commemoration influenced that decision.

Over the years, the time to arrive has also been advanced due to the security protocols that surround an event attended by the highest leaders of the Communist Party, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament. After the massive popular protests of 11 July 2021, those controls became stricter, and the presence of metal detectors at access points has also been added.

The concept of the event has also changed significantly over time. The massive standing rallies have given way to a smaller number of seated audiences. State entities, educational centers and the military sector receive quotas to join the commemoration, with the prior commitment of each participant, and transport is included if they live far away and are on the list when they arrive.

“There will be a reserve group on the library staircase in case some of those who said they were coming don’t show up,” says a cooperative member from the Taguasco area who is among those summoned in that municipality. “There is a lot of discomfort around here, and people have not shown too much enthusiasm about signing up to go,” he admits.

“There is talk of about farm-by-farm inspections to find out what has happened with the crops.”

The annoyance of the Taguasco farmers, as in the rest of the province, comes from the behavior of the state-owned Acopio, which in recent weeks has lowered the purchase price for several agricultural products. Among the most affected are corn, pumpkin and sweet potato, whose deliveries to the State have also fallen significantly. “There is talk of farm-by-farm inspections to find out what has happened to the crops,” he says.

However, farmers are among those who will attend the commemoration, and “beginning at midnight they must meet at a certain point to get a ride.” A transport organized by the cooperative will allow them to go to Sancti Spíritus and “visit the family after it’s all over.” With the critical situation that transport is experiencing due to the lack of fuel, any ride “is welcome,” but he does not have many expectations.

The farmer doesn’t expect the speakers to say anything important about the economy. For decades, the July 26 celebration was the stage chosen by Fidel Castro to communicate the measures with the greatest impact on Cuban society, such as the dollarization of the economy in 1993. In the midst of the current crisis and the mass exodus, however, no surprises are expected next Friday in Sancti Spíritus.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Health and Education Workers Are Among the Lowest Paid in Cuba

The private sector is growing to the detriment of state-owned companies, which have ceased to be the economic engine

Education is the fourth lowest paid sector on the Island, at just 3,932 pesos per month / Invasor

14ymedio, Madrid, July 24, 2024 — Despite the obstinacy of the authorities in qualifying the socialist enterprise as the “main mover of the Cuban economy,” the data are stubborn: the only sector in which employment is growing is the private sector. In 2023, there were 13% fewer public workers than in 2020 (from 3,094,300 to 2,688,400), while in the non-state sector there were 4.4% more (from 1,549,300 to 1,618,500). In total, the workforce decreased by 7.2% in the last three years, from a total of 4,643,700 workers to 4,306,900.

The improvement is attributable to the MSMEs, since cooperatives decrease by 7.5%, and within the private businesses, self-employment also decreased, representing almost half, which is a 4% decrease compared to four years ago. The workers of these companies in 2023 numbered a little more than 548,000, which was the year they increased by 16%, three percentage points more than for 2021 and 2022.

The data, published in the employment and wages section of the 2023 Yearbook of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), make it clear that the loss of workers in the state sector is much higher than the decrease in the number of people who work in Cuba. And it is not surprising if we look at the average monthly salaries, which are dramatic. continue reading

In 2023, there were 13% fewer public workers than in 2020 (from 3,094,300 to 2,688,400)

In 2023, a Cuban worker earned an average of 4,648 pesos a month, less than what three kilos of powdered milk costs today with the capped prices, or seven kilos of chicken meat. Cuban economist Omar Everleny Pérez estimated last March that the cost of a monthly shopping basket in Cuba, with a selection of 17 basic products in moderate quantities at the prices recorded by ONEI, was around 10,000 pesos.

The situation is more serious if you take into account that the data include joint ventures, where workers earn much more than in state-owned companies. This is, in all likelihood, one of the factors that pushes wages up the most if it is distinguished by sectors. The highest is that of mines and quarries, which pay 7,717 pesos on average. Considering that many of these employees earn more through the joint venture with Canadian Sherritt, it is to be expected that others will not want to work for the State, where they would receive a miserable salary.

The second sector in the table (7,041 pesos), supply workers (water, gas and electricity) benefit – some of them – from being hired by the Cuban-Canadian Energas joint venture. As for electricity, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) promises salaries of up to 9,000 and 12,000 pesos, confirmed by 14ymedio, during a job fair organized by the state company, desperate to hire staff to solve one of the most serious problems for the stability of the Government: the blackouts.

Next come construction employees (6,260 pesos), business and real estate services (6,102), financial negotiating (5,926), fishing (5,842) and science (5,739). We have to go through various other activities to reach the lower area of the table, which begins with health workers.

The situation is more serious if we take into account that the data include joint ventures, where workers earn much more than in state-owned companies

The most honored employment on the Island, with a recognized international prestige, pays tiny salaries, with an average of 4,222 pesos, which is incomprehensible even taking into account that the sector includes doctors, in addition to assistants and social services personnel. There are only four worst-paid activities: commerce (the leader, with 3,760 pesos per month), municipal (3,813), culture and sports (3,961) and the other jewel in the crown, education, the fourth worst-paid sector on the Island, with just 3,932 pesos, which buys little more than, for example, a single five-pound pork loin.

Also noteworthy is the fact that the staff of hotels and restaurants, in which so much money is invested, barely earn 4,564 pesos per month, although those who are in contact with foreign tourists live mostly from tips.

The demographic issue is not trivial either. By age, it is alarming to note that 50% of the total number of workers are in the 40 to 59 age group. These are 2,150,200 employees out of the 4,306,900 total, but to this are added those included in the group of ages 30 to 39, which are 23.7% (1,022,700). Meanwhile, young people (from 20 to 29) account for a small 15%, little more than those over 60 (10%). The remaining 1.3% is for the almost 40,000 young people aged 17 to 20, figures that confirm the aging of the Cuban workforce.

Consequently, public spending on pensions in 2023 amounted to 38,604,900,000 pesos, of which almost 37 billion were received for reasons of age, disability or death (95.7%), 7,000,000 for partial disability and 1,656,100,000 for maternity (4.3%).

Also noteworthy is the fact that the staff of hotels and restaurants, in which so much money is invested, barely earn 4,564 pesos a month

Despite the fall in population — last Friday the Government acknowledged a population of fewer than 10 million at the end of 2023 — the number of social security beneficiaries has increased by more than 5% compared to 2020. According to the Cuban demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos, who has carried out an independent study that lowers the Cuban population to 8.62 million people, between 2022 and 2023 alone, the Island lost 18% of its inhabitants. However, according to ONEI, there are 3% more pension beneficiaries, the umpteenth figure consistent with the migration of young people.

In addition, the workers who leave Cuba to look for decent wages must contribute to the maintenance of the 1.57 million pensioners of the Island, since the average amount of this benefit is only 2,075 pesos, barely enough for one kilo of detergent with the capped prices.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘In Cuba, the Only Ones Left Are Those Without Family, Without Resources and Without Possibilities’

Many elderly Cubans survive by reselling any type of product / B. Atkinson

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 22 July 2024 — Josefa was a master cigar roller her whole life in Cienfuegos. Old and black, the Cienfueguera knows that she takes on more than she can, since her niece, her only family, emigrated two years ago. “She constantly was saying that she wanted to leave and in the end, she sold her little place and went to Nicaragua,” she says.

The niece didn’t help her very much, but she kept her company and gave her something to eat when she could. Two years ago, Josefa also had more energy to do “a little work.” Now she is dedicated to reselling what she finds in the garbage dumps or on some corner that can be of use.

Josefa can also be seen sitting in the doorways in front of the Prado. Like her, several men and women of different ages have “taken” the central area of the city, and there they ask for alms, sell what they can and even spend the night on the benches and sidewalks. Beyond the loneliness, the common trait between the old cigar roller and those who accompany her on her way is old age and hunger.

Beyond the loneliness, the common trait between the old cigar roller and those who accompany her on her way is old age and hunger

“My family lived in Santa Isabel de las Lajas. In 1958 we were very poor, but there was always a plate of food to give to someone. Now, however, I have to take what appears when it appears,” confesses the woman, who says her years in the cigar factory, the workers union and being on duty in the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) were a waste of time. “People sacrificed a lot to comply, and in the end it was useless.” continue reading

Ten million people live in Cuba, or a little less, as the authorities reported this week. The country has not completed a census for more than a decade, but the tired and old faces of the Island, who have seen the youngest run off and scatter, do not go unnoticed. There are about 10 million people left who have turned the desire to leave into one more need, among the many they experience from day to day.

Humberto’s situation is similar to that of Josefa. A few months ago, of his three grandchildren, the only one left in Cuba ended up leaving for the US under the Humanitarian Parole program. A few years earlier, his own brother left for Mexico, and now his son is preparing the paperwork for Spanish citizenship. “It’s one loss after another. And those of us who have nowhere to go, or are too old to go anywhere, are being left behind,” he acknowledges.

Humberto has thought about doing the same as his son and preparing citizenship papers with him, but one thought stops him: “What is Tony going to do with an old man in Spain or anywhere? In those countries, if you can’t work, you’re a hindrance. It’s better to wait until he does well and can invite me to visit him, if I haven’t died,” he confesses.

“In those countries, if you can’t work, you’re a hindrance. It’s better to wait until he does well and can invite me to visit him, if I haven’t died”

Tony, his son, “is a very good industrial engineer,” says the Cienfueguero. “He graduated with honors and has worked all his life in that profession, but now there is no industry and the salaries aren’t enough. His two daughters also went to Miami. What does he have left here?” he asks.

Humberto and Josefa have seen relatives, neighbors and co-workers disappear over the years. “In Cuba there has always been migration, but never as great as now,” adds Josefa, whose neighbors, a family of six, emigrated last month. “One day I didn’t see them anymore, and when I asked another neighbor she told me they had left with the parole, the six of them!” she recalls.

There are few people left on the Island and more and more homeless. “Whoever has a good profession is looking for a scholarship or a job; whoever has money buys a ticket to Nicaragua, and anyone who has a family also leaves sooner or later. Here there are only left people without family, without resources and without possibilities. And the desperation of knowing that everyone is leaving except you also worries those of us who remain,” Humberto adds. “Without children, without youth or talents, this will soon be an Island of miserable old people.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Independent Journalist Carlos Michel Morales Is Sentenced to Eight Months of House Arrest

Two hunger strikes have left the activist’s weight at 39 kilos (86 pounds), according to nearby sources

Images of Carlos Michael Morales after returning home, where he is under house arrest. / Facebook / La Tijera]

14ymedio, Madrid, 23 July 2024 — Independent journalist and political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales has been sentenced to eight months of house arrest in a trial that was finally held on Monday, July 22. The activist, who has carried out two hunger strikes in protest against his situation, has made public several images in which one can see the physical deterioration he suffered during that time. The Facebook profile La Tijera affirms that his current weight is just 39 kilos (86 pounds).

Morales spent two years and 10 months in prison for demonstrating on 11 July 2021 in the anti-government protests in Caibarién, Villa Clara. After his release, last March, he was arrested again on May 4 for an alleged crime of disobedience.

The order says that Morales was summoned on two occasions for an interview, on April 3 and 15, but attended neither of them, claiming that they had technical defects. Despite the fact that the authorities admitted rulings in that regard, Morales remained in prison. In addition, his lawyer requested a habeas corpus that was not accepted. continue reading

The order of the Prosecutor’s Office indicated that Morales was investigated for “executing counterrevolutionary actions” in general, and in particular for “making false allegations against the main leaders”

The order of the Prosecutor’s Office indicated that Morales was investigated for “executing counterrevolutionary actions” in general, and in particular for “making false complaints against the main Cuban leaders from his Facebook account.”

While waiting for the resolution of the habeas corpus, Morales began a first hunger strike that made him feel discomfort in his chest, so he asked for medical assistance that was denied. According to his relatives, the head of the unit hit him, and he had to be transferred to a hospital.

On June 19, the independent journalist began another hunger strike that he ended when he learned of the date scheduled for his trial, initially on July 19. According to Baptist pastor Mario Félix Lleonart, Morales gave the news from the prison room of the Provincial Hospital of Villa Clara.

The doctor told him at that time, according to Lleonart, that he would not authorize him to attend the trial in the state he was in, but that, due to the many “irregularities and violations” of the process, he wanted to give Morales “the opportunity to attend because he is hoping to be released.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Innocence of the Cuban Deputies

They have been unanimously raising their hands to approve everything the Government proposes for almost half a century.

Deputies, during a session / National Assembly

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 23 July 2024 — I should have entitled this commentary “the lack of guilt of the deputies,” so as not to confuse the meaning of innocence with “ignorance.” The deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) are ridiculed by comparing them to a choir of trained seals that only knows how to applaud in exchange for crumbs. They have earned it, for almost half a century raising their hands unanimously to approve everything that the Government presents for their consideration.

The ministers go to the forum of Parliament to present their reports and proposals, knowing that the most daring will engender a discussion about some punctuation mark or propose a synonym more in line with the hidden intentions that the shrewd deputy guesses behind the big print of the law.

The fox that has been placed in the position of guardian of the hen house is not guilty, just as the ice that has been thrown into the oven to heat a broiler is not to blame. Ice and fox are innocent; the fault lies in the selection system and, ultimately, in those who designed the system.

Don’t ever believe that the issue has already been explained too many times. continue reading

To become a deputy in Cuba, not only do you have to travel a hazardous path, but you also have to meet a long list of requirements

To become a deputy in Cuba, you not only have to travel a hazardous path, but you also have to meet a long list of requirements that have nothing to do with the personal growth that everyone proposes.

The candidacy to occupy seats in Parliament is fed by two sources: half of the 471 seats will be filled with constituency delegates; the other, with “prominent personalities from politics, culture, science, sports and society.”

The first is a screening of the more than 15,000 constituency delegates throughout the country. That is, choosing 235 out of 15,000, which gives the Candidacy Commission a negligible margin of error. In the second source the margin is even smaller, because there is no recognized figure that indicates how many people are available for the selection.

It has already been repeated many times that the so-called “diversity” of this National Assembly is reduced to the factors of age, race, occupational profiles and a few brushstrokes of religion or gender, but it is enough to verify that more than 90% of the deputies belong to the Communist Party or to the Union of Young Communists to understand that a train will enter the tunnel under Havana Bay* before a dissident can walk through the doors of Parliament.

They didn’t get to those positions by presenting a program or trying to promote a proposal. They got there through their rigorously scrutinized biography

They didn’t get to those positions by presenting a program or trying to promote a proposal. Their biographies were rigorously scrutinized and verified by the organs of State Security. The docility of those chosen ones had nothing to do with their convictions, but rather with their obedience to the leader. That is the reason why Raúl Castro’s presence is essential, because it is enough to observe how he applauds or nods to know how to vote.

If one day the General is not there, or better, if one day he doesn’t exist and the miracle of a discussion happens, let’s say between Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in which both hold divergent opinions on some essential or even banal issue, it is most likely that the abstentions will abound.

Because the real miracle will happen when they can debate two sides of an issue and two tendencies can emerge that could be considered radical, moderate, conservative or novel, or anything else that can be imagined.

If there is something missing in Cuba, it is the alternative paths outside the dictates of the Communist Party. In 65 years, we have left behind, with no possible return, shortcuts and avenues through which the nation could have advanced.

Right now, faced with the terrifying idea of a future that threatens us, we see a mass of obedient deputies unanimously approving the whim of continuing on the path to the precipice. Can you blame them for their blindness and cowardice? That is why they were placed in that position, that is where their innocence lies.

*Translator’s note: There are no tracks in the tunnel.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Chinese Rice and Venezuelan Sardines Are in the ‘Gift’ Module To Be Distributed in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, on July 26

As usual on this date, the Island receives visitors who bring donations

Cubans will receive two kilograms of rice, one of sugar, one more of pasta and two cans of sardines / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, July 22, 2024 — Spaghetti, sardines, rice and sugar make up the “extra” that the residents of Sancti Spíritus will receive this week. According to the local press, a total of 190,816 food modules will be distributed with these products, a “gift” from the Ministry of Internal Trade for being the host province of the July 26 celebration. The small parcels distributed to the people consist of two kilograms of rice, one of sugar, another of pasta and two cans of sardines. All the food in the packages comes from donations made by friendly countries of the regime such as China and Venezuela, an official employee who has had access to the modules and who asks for anonymity confirmed to 14ymedio.

“The rice is of Chinese origin, very good quality; they grow a lot of it,” she explains. “The sardines, you know, are the little ones that you have to add a thousand things to in order to get rid of the strong taste,” the woman says about the fish brought from Venezuela.

The people fear that some products have expired

Even more than the squalid ration of sardines, this worker fears that the cans are expired. It wouldn’t be the first time, she says: “They don’t have an expiration date anywhere. I looked for it. Formerly, in past modules, I found it, and they were old .” continue reading

Escambray said that the arrival of a total of 48 containers is expected, and once “all the products are completed” the modules will begin to be distributed, “which will happen this week, as expected.” We are already working on assembling the modules and preparing for the distribution so that it reaches the population as quickly as possible,” the director of the Wholesale Food Company in the territory, Eliosbel Martínez Hernández, told the provincial newspaper.

Sancti Spíritus will receive up to 48 containers with food to make up the modules / Yasma Jauriga/Facebook

As usual on this date, the Island receives donations from different pro-Regime organizations around the world. An example is the ton of powdered milk collected in Bolivia for Cuban children as part of the campaign designed by the Solidarity Movement with the Island, under the slogan “your contribution counts,” as published on Saturday by the Prensa Latina agency.

Visitors also arrive and are usually taken on tours of the “sacred sites” of the Revolution

The July 26 celebration also brings visitors, who are taken on tours of the “sacred sites” of the Revolution. This year, for example, the number of Americans who visit Cuba as “friends in solidarity,” like the Venceremos Brigade, reached 103 people, according to figures from the organization itself.

They don’t come empty-handed: they carry donations of all kinds that they have collected for months, ranging from food – such as bags of beans and rice – and medicines, to school supplies like pencils and notebooks.

The Venceremos Brigade arrived in Holguín from Miami this Sunday. Most of them come from California, New York and Florida, where the brigade has more presence, especially in university environments. This year’s group is larger than in 2023, when 71 arrived, or in 2022, when 75 were reported. This type of brigade does not come only from the United States, but also from other parts of the world such as Brazil and Europe.

“They will be conducting exchanges with communities and visiting historic sites to pay tribute to Antonio Maceo and Fidel Castro. They will also be doing community work, which is what characterizes the Venceremos Brigade. Its origins were, precisely, to help the people of Cuba when they needed it most,” Leima Martínez, North American director of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP)*, told the television channel Caribe Alterno.

Following the official script, visitors attribute the Cuban population’s everyday problems – food shortages and blackouts – exclusively to the U.S. blockade**. “I disagree with the blockade and want to witness in my own way how a social system different from the American one works. I hope to meet people from this country and do hard work, to help in what is needed,” Samaiyah Patrick, a young man who makes his first trip to the Island, told the official press.

Translator’s notes:

*Both the Venceremos Brigade and ICAP are members of the National Network on Cuba, a source of agents of influence for the Regime.

**There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in February of the same year, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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