Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 61

To Prevent Desertions, Russian Authorities Keep the Passports of the Cuban Mercenaries

They have been given Russian citizenship, but they are not given the document

Photo of a group of Cuban soldiers in Ukraine /Mario Vallejo/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 18 January 2025 / Seduced by a salary of 2,000 dollars per month, a flight from the Island and other benefits, many Cubans did not see the deadly trap that the Russian nationality promised by Vladimir Putin would become to foreigners who signed a contract to fight with his Army against Ukraine. The contract was initially for one year, and the Russian passport has made them citizens with all the rights but also all the obligations, which now means going to war.

“Now they tell us that, as we are Russian citizens, we have to continue fighting until the end of the war,” said Jorge, a pseudonym for a Cuban interviewed by the European edition of Politico. The media, which in September 2023 already published a report with the testimonies of several young Cubans who were hired as fighters for the invasion of Ukraine, has contacted some of them again. All have been stripped of their Cuban passports, and although some do not even have proof of having Russian nationality, the obligation is still there.

“They are using citizenship to capture us. It’s blackmail,” says another who is called “David.” Although his contract ended in July, since October 2023 he has not seen his Cuban passport, which is “safeguarded” by his superiors. He doesn’t have his Russian passport either, also held by his bosses with the argument that it was safer not to carry it with him when he was in Ukraine. At least he knows that it exists. Other Cubans have never seen the promised document, which from the Island seemed like a dream and now implies – in the words of the journalist – “a status that few native Russians would envy.” continue reading

Other Cubans have never seen the promised document, which from the Island seemed like a dream.

“They don’t want to let us go,” adds Manuel, who was one of the first Cubans to enlist and a year and a half later still has not seen his passport. To identify himself, he only has a military document.

“They don’t have any documents,” Ivan Chuviliayev, an activist who helps Russians desert from the front, explains to Politico. “The passports are in the possession of the Ministry of Defense. So they can’t just flee and appeal to their country’s embassy,” he says.

Dara Massicot, defense analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and also consulted for the report, agrees. “Foreign fighters should know that if they sign a contract with the Russian Army or accept a passport from them, they are signing up to fight indefinitely in Ukraine until the Kremlin declares the end of the operation, or they die or are seriously injured,” she says.

Both also doubt that alerting Havana will help. The report considers two options: that the regime is aware of these recruitments and does nothing to prevent them (or even actively cooperates), or that it is against the sending of mercenaries, based on the arrest of 17 people in September 2023, about whose situation, by the way, nothing else has come out. In either of the two cases, they believe that the Cuban Government would not lift a finger for its compatriots, since it would mean confronting an ally essential for its survival.

Cubans are not the only ones who have taken Putin’s bait

Cubans are not the only ones who have taken Putin’s bait. Although there are no figures, Politico highlights that there are numerous fighters from different countries, including Nepal, Ghana, Syria, Sri Lanka and India. They say that India has pressured Russia to “recover” its citizens, while Cuba remains silent.

The media says that this serves Moscow’s geopolitical ambitions and admits that the Cubans interviewed alluded to economic reasons to explain their “free and voluntary” hiring. In addition, everyone believed that they would have low-skilled jobs that would not involve direct participation in the war. “In Cuba, they said they had struggled to make a living as teachers, carpenters, waiters and construction workers. A year of military service, they hoped, would allow them to acquire a new nationality and, with it, a new life.”

“If only I could have dug trenches,” David laments, his voice breaking. “Last year I did what I said I would never do, but it was killing or dying and I have four children to take care of.” The Cuban, in tears, told Politico that the extension of the time he had planned to spend in the Army is what is most undermining his morale. “I made a covenant with God for a year, and He protected me. But not for two or three years. I don’t wish anyone to wake up in the morning facing the choice between suicide or murder.”

Some recruits have been assigned to positions more in the rear guard than others, but all those interviewed by the media have been injured, fortunately not seriously. One of them – also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder – has reported that when the wounds in his right hand were barely healed, his commander told him that he should learn to shoot with his left.

The report also dedicates a paragraph to those who do not return, because although the cases barely are mentioned on social networks or in independent media, they occur, and it is difficult to bring their remains back.

“In at least some cases, Cuban recruits simply seem to vanish into thin air “

“In at least some cases, Cuban recruits simply seem to vanish into thin air. Since neither Havana nor Moscow shows much interest in their fate, and they are off the radar of the human rights groups that help the mobilized Russians, Cuban relatives thousands of kilometers away are often forced to draw their own conclusions.” The article recalls the case of Denis Frank Pacheco Rubio, a recruit from Santa Clara, who possibly died in June, in Siversk (Donetsk), without his family having news.

“Cubans like me fear both Cuba and Russia,” admits David, who managed to flee months ago and lives in a secret place, without documents, waiting to be able to leave the country.

Deserters are exposed to serious sanctions, including death, and the text mentions the case of a recruit who spent six days in a well without food in retaliation, after a colleague escaped. Once the punishment was fulfilled, they let him go, but without a passport. Several days later, he stopped responding to messages. That was in mid-April, and the family hasn’t heard from him again.

Three of the four recruits interviewed by Politico, whose one-year contracts have ended, plan to remain where they are. “All I can do is wait,” one admitted, “and pray to God that one day they will allow me to leave this place. Like a free man.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Options Are Sought To Get Cubans With I-220A Status Out of Legal Limbo

Cuban migrants protested in front of the White House in May 2024 / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 22 January 2025 — Cubans who entered the United States irregularly and received I-220A status have not, for the moment, been mentioned by Donald Trump in his crusade against migration, which includes the cancellation of the CBP One Mobile App and the suspension of Humanitarian Parole. Although they have not yet had their status legalized, they have hope.

The US Will Deploy More Troops and Ships in Florida To Prevent Migration by Sea From Cuba

14ymedio/Agencies, Madrid, 22 January 2025 — The United States Coast Guard announced on Tuesday “immediate actions” in the Strait of Florida to comply with the executive orders of the new president, Donald Trump, against illegal immigration. In a statement, Admiral Kevin Lunday, interim commander of the corps, explained that the number of “ships, aircraft, boats and specialized forces” in the Strait of Florida “to deter and prevent massive maritime migration from Haiti and Cuba” will be increased.

In addition to the maritime border between the Bahamas and southern Florida, the southwest maritime border with Mexico in the Pacific and the maritime border between Texas and Mexico in what they already call “the Gulf of America,” surveillance will also focus around Alaska, Hawaii, the US territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa – the latter three in Oceania – Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The surveillance will also focus on Alaska, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

“Together, in coordination with our colleagues from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, we will detect, deter and intercept illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist activities.” continue reading

The announcement coincided with the dismissal by Donald Trump, this same Tuesday, of Admiral Linda Lee Fagan as commander of the Coast Guard. In a brief statement, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Benjamin Huffman, confirmed that Fagan – the first female head of a branch of the Armed Forces in the United States, appointed to her position by Joe Biden in 2021 – had been relieved of her duties after a “long and illustrious career.”

However, a senior official of the Department of Homeland Security told Reuters anonymously that the admiral’s dismissal was due to “leadership deficiencies, operational failures and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the United States Coast Guard.” According to this same source, one of the reasons was Fagan’s “excessive” attention to the “DEI policies” (diversity, equity and inclusion).

Trump reinstated yesterday in its full scope the “immediate expulsion” of migrants

Trump reinstated yesterday in its full scope the “immediate expulsion” of migrants, a policy that allows the rapid deportation of undocumented migrants without a hearing, which had been eliminated during Biden’s mandate.

Created in 1996, the measure had already been applied during the first Trump Administration (2017-2021) to undocumented migrants who had been in the United States for less than two years. It is again being implemented.

Before the first Trump Administration, immediate expulsion applied only to undocumented people who had entered the United States in the previous 14 days and were within a radius of 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border.

In cases of immediate or accelerated expulsion, due process is minimal and no immigration judge can intervene. Even federal judges do not have the power to hear an appeal. In most cases, the person subject to an immediate expulsion order cannot return to the country for a period of five years.

In cases of immediate or accelerated expulsion, due process is minimal and no immigration judge can intervene

The application of immediate expulsion peaked during the 2013 fiscal year, when 193,000 people were deported under this policy, a figure that accounted for 43% of the total expulsions in that period, according to the US Immigration Council.

This rule is in addition to the series of measures adopted by the Republican Administration against immigration; among others, the elimination by executive order of the right to citizenship by birth in the case of children of parents who are undocumented or have temporary immigration status.

That order, signed by Trump just hours after taking office, has already been the subject of a lawsuit filed by a group of 18 states with Democratic governors, who claim that it is “illegal” and unconstitutional. Opponents point out, in fact, that Amendment 14 of the US Constitution establishes that every person born on American soil automatically obtains nationality, regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Regime Grants Parole to Pedro Albert Sánchez and Releases Félix Navarro

From left to right, activists Pedro Albert Sánchez and Félix Navarro / Collage

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 18 January 2025 — Cuba granted parole to professor and activist Pedro Albert Sánchez, named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He had received a five-year sentence for contempt and public disorder after participating in the July 2021 protests, the NGO Justice 11J reported this Friday. The dissident, who since the end of 2024 had a license to serve his sentence at home because of his state of health – he suffers from cancer and is almost 70 years old – said on social networks that he refused to sign the notification about his conditional liberty.

Sánchez said that an agent visited him on Thursday at his home in the capital to let him know about the change. “It would be accepting that I committed a crime, and that didn’t happen,” he said.

Pedro Albert Sánchez is one of the Cubans declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International (AI), who have been released or have obtained some penal benefit after Washington’s decision to remove the Island from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), José Daniel Ferrer, and activist Donaida Pérez have also been released from prison.

14ymedio confirmed the release of political prisoner Félix Navarro (2nd from Right) from Agüica prison, in Matanzas, this Saturday / OCDH

14ymedio also confirmed the departure from Agüica prison, in Matanzas, this Saturday, of political prisoner Félix Navarro. The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) had already reported that the authorities contacted his wife, Sonia Álvarez, to announce his release. continue reading

“Félix is on his way home,” Annia Zamora, mother of political prisoner Sissi Abascal – sentenced to six years in prison – and close to Navarro’s family, told this newspaper. Zamora also said she had no news of the opponent’s daughter, Sayli Navarro Álvarez or of Abascal, who share a prison, but said she was excited about the release of her “guide” and friend from prison.

Navarro and his daughter were sentenced to nine and eight years in prison, respectively, just for going out to demonstrate on 11J in Matanzas, where he lives.

Brenda Díaz, the trans protester sentenced to 14 years in prison for her participation in the protests of July 11, 2021 and forced to remain in a men’s prison, was also released. In an image shared on social networks by journalist Luz Escobar, Díaz appears with her mother, Ana Mary García, who during her daughter’s years in prison demanded her release and denounced the unfair treatment of the authorities.

Most of the prisoners who have been released participated in the spontaneous demonstrations of 11J, according to the OCDH. The Cuban government has publicized the names of all 553 prisoners but announced that their releases will be progressive. However, it affirmed that 127 Cubans have been released so far. The figure contrasts with the six political prisoners registered by the OCDH.

According to Justicia 11J and Prisoners Defenders, all the beneficiaries were given a conditional release from prison, instead of being pardoned, something that they perceive negatively because the sentence is not extinguished. These two NGOs, as well as the OCDH and Cubalex, regretted that the measure did not include all the political prisoners, in addition to considering the way they were released as a double-edged sword.

In this regard, the vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court (TSP) of Cuba, Maricela Sosa, confirmed that these prisoners have not been pardoned or given amnesty, but, technically, they were released from prison for meeting certain criteria. Also, if they do not fulfill some requirements until the end of their sentence, such as “good behavior,” “they can return to prison.”

Compared to the 553 people that the Cuban authorities are going to release from prison, Prisoners Defenders registered at the end of 2024 a total of 1,161 political prisoners in Cuba. Justice 11J computes the sentenced 11J demonstrators at 549.

This is the first release of prisoners in Cuba since 2019, when the authorities pardoned 2,604 prisoners. The previous release occurred in 2015, when a total of 3,522 prisoners were released as a “humanitarian gesture” before the visit of Pope Francis.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The CBP One ‘App’ That Allowed Cubans To Enter the United States Has Been Canceled

Trump announced in his inaugural address his plans to carry out mass deportations and militarize the border

Migrants in line, October 31, in the Mexican city of Tapachula / EFE / Juan Manuel Blanco

EFE/14ymedio, Washington/Madrid, 20 January 2025 — The CBP One mobile application, which allowed migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti to enter the United States through Mexico, stopped working this Monday, according to the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on its website.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, who took office on Monday, had already advanced in his inaugural speech his plans to carry out mass deportations and militarize the border.

Through CBP One, migrants who were in Mexican territory could fill out a form with their data and request an appointment to present themselves at an entrance post on the southern border.

The announcement on the CBP website, which refers to migrants in transit in Mexico as “undocumented foreigners,” also warned that the “scheduled” appointments have now been canceled.

Through this application, which started working in January 2023, more than 930,000 people presented themselves at the ports of entry

Through this application, which began operating in January 2023, more than 930,000 people presented themselves at the ports of entry for the authorities to process their cases, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In December, the last time official data were published, about 44,000 people entered the United States under this process, although no Cubans. Since the program was established, a total of 110,970 citizens of the Island have accessed US territory through the application, which allocated 1,450 spaces every day for seven ports of entry at the border. continue reading

The program was created by Joe Biden’s government as a strategy to control migration across the border, as well as to stop irregular crossings, although in recent months they have been declining. The collapse in the numbers came after the accusations of fraud reported between last July and August.

On July 6, the program was suspended for Venezuelans and days later for other nationalities, until the necessary changes were introduced. Among the irregularities detected in the system were blank forms, phones that did not work, postal codes that did not exist, social security numbers of dead people, repeated texts in thousands of requests and people who presented their documents more than once.

In August, the delivery of sponsors’ fingerprints and a more thorough review of applicants became mandatory, which reactivated the mechanism. For the US Congress, the program promoted by the Biden Government was a “disaster plagued with fraud.”

The process was in turn harshly criticized by human rights organizations, who pointed out that the application restricted access to asylum on the southern border and forced migrants to wait in Mexico, exposed to the violence of the cartels.

“We will begin the process of returning the millions of foreign criminals back to where they came from”

Among other measures, Trump promised on Monday to invoke the law of “foreign enemies” that was enacted in 1798, declare a national emergency on the southern border of the United States and designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations.

These measures pave the way for Trump to fulfill his electoral promises to carry out the largest campaign of migrant deportations in history and prevent the passage of migrants and asylum seekers on the border with Mexico.

“We will begin the process of returning the millions of foreign criminals back to where they came from,” the Republican said in front of legislators, politicians and businessmen of technology companies who were present during his inauguration at the Capitol.

During his presidential campaign, Trump stigmatized the migrants who arrived in the United States in recent years, calling them “criminals,”
despite the multiple studies that have shown that people born abroad break the law in a lower percentage than those born in the United States.

The Foreign Enemies Act, enacted in 1798, allows the Government to expel outsiders without due process of law and was used during the Government of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) to create internment camps for citizens of Japanese origin in the United States.

“I will send troops to the southern border to end the disastrous invasion of the southern border”

In his speech, Trump promised to use this law so that his government “uses all federal and state forces” to eliminate “the presence of foreign gangs and criminal networks that bring devastation to the United States.”

Regarding the border with Mexico, Trump indicated that he will declare a state of “national emergency” to stop the irregular entry of migrants and restore the policy known as “Stay in Mexico,” established during his previous administration, which forced asylum seekers to wait in the neighboring country while their cases were being processed.

“I will send troops to the southern border to end the disastrous invasion of the southern border,” said the president, adding in turn that he plans to declare the Mexican cartels “terrorist organizations.”

Trump is expected to sign almost a hundred executive orders this afternoon, including several focused on migration management

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Those Released From Prison Remain Hostages of the Cuban Regime

Terrorist groups, such as Hamas, learned from the Cuban dictatorship the art of kidnapping in order to always have prisoners from whom they can profit.

The prisons will always be full of hostages to use for an advantage /EFE

14ymedio, Mario Félix Lleonart Barroso, Washington, 18 January 2025 — The release of prisoners in Cuba in January 2025 as part of a negotiation with the Biden Administration makes me think of the one in October 1980. Then, the United States was swinging between Carter and Reagan, now between Biden and Trump. And in Cuba, as Augusto Monterroso said in his shortest story: “When I woke up, the dinosaur was still there.”

It’s been 45 years. In the United States, presidents and administrations change, and in Cuba the same banana dictatorship remains clinging to power, with its same vices and tricks, specialized in the business of using people as bargaining chips. Terrorist groups like Hamas learned the art of kidnapping from the Cuban dictatorship: always hold hostages to get the best deal.

In 1980, 3,900 political prisoners were released, many of whom had been behind bars since 1959. This was the result of months of negotiations between the Cuban government and the Carter administration. This time they have promised only 553 prisoners, and the swindle of the Cuban Government is evident, accustomed to passing a cat for a hare in one blow, such as releasing renowned prisoners José Daniel Ferrer and Pastor Lorenzo Rosales.

Some had served or were about to complete their sentences; others were already at home under extra-penal license

Some had served or were about to complete their sentences; others were already at home under extra-penal leave and were offered conditional release to be included on the list. This happened with Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez, who, at the risk of returning to prison, did not accept the proposal to exchange his legal status, which for serious health issues allows him to be at home, for a conditional release.

In total, what does 553 mean for the Cuban dictatorship, if those released are still imprisoned under extra-penal licenses or conditional release? Capturing another 553 is mere sport for the regime. continue reading

These supposed amnesties are frequent but are far from really being so. The prisons will always be full of hostages to gain an advantage. More recently there were others, such as the one requested by Pope John Paul II as part of his visit to Cuba in January 1998. Among those released from prison, I had a relative, my maternal uncle, Irelio Barroso, a hero for me, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1994, and who upon the arrival of the Pope declared a hunger strike. If he had not been released from prison he would have died.

Then came the 2010 amnesty with 126 released , after the death of prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and that of 2012 during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, and that of 2014 (53 released) after the announcement of the re-establishment of US-Cuba relations, and that of September 2015 during the visit of Pope Francis.

It’s sad to see how some prisoners are kept as bargaining chips to prolong the negotiations. This is the case for Miguel Díaz Bouza (more than 30 years in prison) and Ernesto Borges Pérez (27 years in prison). They have survived many such amnesties and against all hope have remained in prison.

It’s sad to see how some prisoners are kept as bargaining chips to prolong the negotiations

In some cases, they have also imprisoned nationals of foreign governments as valuable bargaining chips. Thomas White and Mel Bailey were released in the negotiations with Carter in 1980, and Alan Gross in the negotiations with Obama in December 2014.

If a Cuban has to think twice before going out on the street to call for freedom, an American will have to think about it 10 times. The Regime will not hesitate to use them to its advantage in a negotiation.

Nicolás Maduro, an apprentice of the Cuban dictatorship, like guerrilla terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, in recent months has used several Americans to gain an advantage in future negotiations. There are several detention centers full of hostages, such as the fearsome Helicoide prison in Caracas, where the guards have been trained in torture by Cuban soldiers.

One of the most reported cases of foreigners recently kidnapped by Maduro in Venezuela is that of the Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo, who since December 8, 2024 has been a cause for concern for the government of Javier Milei.

It is not surprising then that José Daniel Ferrer, one of the most internationally recognized opponents, was quoted in The New York Times. I would never be grateful for my release if it came in an exchange that was an unclear, unethical, undignified agreement,” he said. “I said verbatim: I prefer death to owing my release to an undignified agreement.”

Ferrer said that the Government of the Island mocked both Biden and the Vatican, which should adopt a firmer stance against human rights violations in Cuba. Similar statements were made in a video on social networks by Luis Robles Elizastigi, another well-known opponent.

I have spoken with several of the released prisoners, whose names I prefer not to mention so that they can remain at home. The reality is that they have not been freed but released from prison. They are still hostages and at any time can be returned to prison until another possible negotiation to buy time, as happened in 1980. And the dinosaur is still there.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cattle Theft Reaches Dizzying Levels in the Province of Las Tunas

Every year, Las Tunas province has the highest rate of cattle theft and illegal slaughter / Newspaper 26

14ymedio, Madrid, 20 January 2025 — Inspections and fines have not been effective against cattle theft, one of the crimes that affect the province of Las Tunas. Crimes against livestock increased by 10% compared to 2023, according to Periódico 26, which does not give the total figure by year. In addition, to show the scope of this crime, the data indicate that “the rate of increase is ten times higher than for all other crimes” in the previous year.

According to the official media, theft is the most common crime of this type, followed by slaughter and robbery with violence, which means that thieves are specializing in defeating the scarce protection that ranchers have.

Periodico 26 defines it as taking advantage of “the carelessness and naivety of the owners,” although the ranchers have mentioned on numerous occasions that they don’t have the resources to buy even such simple elements as barbed wire to protect their animals. In some areas, they have had to organize on their own to guard and take care of their livestock.

Las Tunas, Jobabo and Majibacoa again have the worst statistics, with half the thefts occurring in these three municipalities. The worst areas are Dumoy, Villanueva and Barranca in Las Tunas; Las Margaritas and Calixto in Majibacoa; Mejía in Jobabo; and El Triángulo in Colombia. In some of these places the crimes occurred every two or three days. continue reading

In 2022 there were 5,305 cases that accounted for 70% more than the 3,098 reported in 2021

The province has had dizzying growth in livestock crimes for years, but there are no figures for the last two. In 2022 there were 5,305 cases, 70% more than the 3,098 reported in 2021. Even then the figures were worrying, since it was already twice the 2020 figure of 2,394 crimes.

Periodico 26 takes advantage of the report to take stock of the results of the livestock census carried out in the province. According to the data, there were 1,300 “control actions” on cattle owners that revealed that 1,662 animals “existed only on paper, while another 243 could be seen and touched, but there was no birth document for them.” The newspaper emphasizes that this mismatch makes it clear that there are more unreported thefts and undeclared animals than the law allows.

The authorities imposed 79 fines and 41 warnings for violating the rules. There were also 126 complaints filed for non-compliance with the duty to report, in addition to sanctions for simulation of crimes, falsification of documents and “breach of the duty to preserve property.”

The Delegation of Agriculture in Majibacoa considered that it necessary to take other measures, since the results make it clear that the crimes increase every year. The announced measure, however, does not promise too much, since it consists of carrying out selective inspections of the cattle owners “with the most problems.”

The Jobabo delegation is betting on another idea that doesn’t sound encouraging either: changes in the leadership of cooperatives and base units that they consider incompetent to “face” the situation. At the same time they recognize that “the functioning of the local agrarian commission is also deficient, as well as the work of the specialists and officials,” conclusions that make it clear that the incompetence is shared. Not in vain, the delegation of Las Tunas holds other people responsible: the State registrars of Livestock Control.

The first secretary of the Communist Party in the province, Walter Simón Noris, resorted to a more tearful speech, which did not provide any solution. “Nothing is enough, and we are not forgiven by the children who would have enjoyed the milk of the stolen cows or the families who could have received at subsidized prices the meat of those cattle that, after being illegally slaughtered, end up on the black market,” he scolded.

Continuing, the politician called for more efforts and, despite the description of the officials as incompetent, “the presence of the Party as a representative of the interests of the people.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Distressed Families Say Goodbye to Their Children Summoned for Military Service in Manzanillo, Cuba

Recruits say goodbye to their families from the bus / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Manzanillo (Granma Province), 19 January 2025 — Before the official information was issued about the death of nine young people and four officers in the explosions of January 7 in the Melones military unit in Holguín, other parents, this time in Manzanillo, said goodbye to their children in a forced march towards the Army. From Monday the 13th and for a week, the headquarters of the Combatants Association in the Gulf City became a launch pad for more than a hundred boys who left to fulfill the controversial Active Military Service.

To Yanaisa, her son’s farewell reminds her of her father’s stories about the Army. “He was not an internationalist, but he was often mobilized when I was a child. He told my brother that the Army would make him a real man. Now, with everything that has happened, he hardly talks about it. He just says that he has to know how to take care of himself. I don’t want my son to become a ’man.’ I just want him to get out of there soon,” she explains to 14ymedio.

For 45 days, the young recruits are subjected to basic training and then transferred to the planned regular units, which vary according to the needs of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In Granma Province, after the initial stay in Jiguaní, they are transferred to units such as Managua, in the west, or Los Guineos, in the municipality of Guisa, in the same province. However, the greatest fear of families is not the distance. continue reading

In Granma Province, after the initial stay in Jiguaní, they are transferred to units such as Managua or Los Guineos / 14ymedio

“Being a soldier is not like having a scholarship. There are people who think it’s almost the same but it’s not like that. No one really knows what’s going on there. Now everyone is surprised by the explosions in the tunnels, but they happen everywhere in Cuba. In addition to the mistreatment by most officers, they also spend bad nights, there is hunger… If someone likes it and wants to dedicate themselves to the military then it’s not a problem, but they give the rest of us more work and to a large extent, at least for me, it was a waste of time,” recognizes Rody, who accompanied his family to say goodbye to his cousin.

The resistance of family members and young people themselves to joining the army despite the perks offered them is increasingly evident. “Now they are boarding the bus, but the bad side comes quickly. I try to encourage my sister… but it’s hell” says Rubén, 53, annoyed, to another man sitting next to him in the park while they wait for his nephew’s bus to leave.

“I myself know a guy who came out partly unhinged. It was in the early 90s. We were cleaning the rifles on one of those long tables and one fired a shot because no one had checked the chamber. We weren’t sitting face to face, but in zigzag, but the bullet buzzed near his head. It affected his hearing for a while, but especially his mind. He started thinking about what had happened and almost went crazy. Although it was almost time for them to discharge us, they didn’t discharge him, they just changed his position,” the man recalls.

The resistance of family members and young people themselves to join military service is increasingly evident / 14ymedio

In the past, one of the most attractive options for military service was to be selected as a firefighter. However, after the catastrophe at the Matanzas Supertanker Base and the fire shortly after in the local Fishing Combo, the dangers of that work were exposed.

Rebeca, who does not hide her anger, speaks in front of the group of parents and recruits waiting for the buses: “I don’t care what others say and I told them so. They can call him soft, criminal… What matters to me is that he take care of himself. This is mandatory, but if they send him to do something strange, don’t do it. He can sit on the floor and be imprisoned. I prefer him in prison and alive than in a little box. I don’t even want to think about that. Look at those mothers in Holguín, who have not even been able to bury their children. I’ll die if something like that happens to me!”

In 2022, one year after the 11J protests, the regime declared to the United Nations that “children are not recruited and will not be recruited in Cuba.” The words of the Foreign Ministry official echoed in the minds of many parents, who know that the affirmation and replacement of “Compulsory Military Service” by “General Military Service” or “Active Military Service” are just euphemisms. Under the acronyms hides the forced incorporation into a military entity that is increasingly rejected by the population.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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No Cuban Received US Humanitarian Parole in December and Almost 1,000 Are Waiting for a US Travel Permit

A total of 970 Cubans have not yet been processed to travel to the United States / Mario Vallejo

14ymedio, Havana, January 16, 2025 — In the last two months of 2024, no Cubans arrived in the United States through the Humanitarian Parole Program. Four days after Republican Donald Trump takes over the presidency, the program that came into force in 2023 and authorized travel for 110,970 citizens of the Island seems to be experiencing its sunset. Of that total, 970 people have not yet been processed to travel.

The figures offered by the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are overwhelming: in December 10 Cubans received travel authorization, however, they have not been able to finalize their transfer due to the lack of available commercial flights and logistical problems.

For about two years, the program has facilitated the legal arrival in the US of 531,690 Cubans, Haitians (213,150), Nicaraguans (96,270) and Venezuelans (120,760), but their stay in the country is temporary; that is, they are granted parole for two years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Univision that these migrants “have 24 months to change their permanent status to any other available legal program, including asylum.”

The DHS stressed that “those who are not granted asylum or other immigration benefits will have to leave the United States at the end of their authorized probation period or, generally, will be placed in deportation proceedings after the probation period expires.” continue reading

Among those who were able to travel in December were 10 Venezuelans. In November, 10 Venezuelans, 10 Nicaraguans and 30 Haitians arrived in the United States.

In almost two years the program has favored the legal arrival in the US of 531,690 Cubans, as well as Haitians (213,150), Nicaraguans (96,270) and Venezuelans (120,760)

The decrease in the numbers came after the accusations of fraud reported between last July and August. On July 6, the program was suspended for Venezuelans and, days later, for other nationalities, until introducing the necessary changes to avoid irregularities. Among those detected were blank forms in the system, false phone numbers, postal codes that did not exist, social security numbers of dead people, repeated texts in thousands of applications and people who presented their documents more than once.

In August, the delivery of sponsors’ fingerprints and a more thorough review of applicants became mandatory, which reactivated the mechanism. However, for the US Congress, the program promoted by the Biden Administration is a “disaster plagued by fraud.”

In terms of CBP One application figures, almost 44,000 people were processed at ports of entry in December. From January 2023 to the end of December 2024, more than 936,500 people successfully scheduled appointments, mainly Venezuelans, Cubans and Mexicans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Energy Collapse in Cuba Has Its Origin in Fidel Castro’s Commitment to Generators

The same mistake is now being made with Chinese photovoltaic parks, which are doomed to failure.

14ymedio, Especialista Zea, Havana, 13 January 2025 — When the Island was plunged into the first total blackout last year on October 17, both the population and the technicians of the National Electric Union (SEN) wondered if the collapse could have been avoided. The negative answer, after decades of technological carelessness, has its roots in the so-called Energy Revolution, whose promises of stability were never fulfilled.

In obedience to the penultimate utopian idea of an elderly Fidel Castro, the country was “remotorized” in 2006. The generators, newly installed to cover the demand, briefly supported the National Electrical System (SEN). This solution lasted five years, the same time period as the warranties on the equipment.

One by one, the generators began to present problems. The collapse was coming, and for anyone who had technical knowledge of the matter, it was more than predictable. It was a support technology for a system that – mortally wounded after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Special Period – entered the new century in conditions of maximum precariousness.

The SEN already operated with less than half of its total generation capacity, and the authorities, against all logic, made the generators assume much of the country’s consumption needs. Once the warranties on the equipment expired, without economic means to buy new parts or carry out the essential maintenance, the Energy Revolution followed the same path of failures and improvisations as the other Revolution. continue reading

The obsolescence of many generators and the total loss of others caused the greatest alarm in the western region, the one with the highest demand

All equipment suffers wear and tear. Without maintenance and with sustained operation, any system goes down. While the generators were carrying national demand, the thermoelectric plants – whose condition can be followed every day in the UNE reports – also deteriorated more and more.

The obsolescence of many and the total loss of others caused the greatest alarm in the western region, the one with the highest demand. The typical example is the Otto Parellada, known as Tallapiedra, although the breakdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas has also been emblematic and was the official cause of the collapse of the SEN in October.

Faced with the debacle of its two energy pillars, the authorities created the illusion that the problem – a daily deficit that exceeds 1,000 megawatts (MW) – could be solved by installing solar panels supplied by China. As in 2006, it was possible to predict that the generators would not last long without maintenance or spare parts, and we can now see the failure of the photovoltaic parks coming.

To generate a single MW, between 3,000 and 4,000 optimal quality solar panels are needed. It would be necessary to cover 20,000 square meters of surface to reach that figure and have battery banks – an additional cost that Cuba has not mentioned – so that the stored energy is usable when the hours of sunshine pass, which coincide with those of higher consumption. In the current economic conditions of the country, a project of that caliber is not viable.

It is true that photovoltaic energy is ecological and does not depend on the use of fossil fuels, but it involves constant maintenance of the sites, which the Cuban authorities have shown, historically, unable to sustain.

Improvisation and the lack of long-term planning remain the slogan, despite the fact that without a stable SEN Cuba will not have a functional industry or a break from the blackouts. While the Energy and Mines authorities always allude to a strategy to get out of the quagmire, the reality speaks for itself.

On January 7, for example, the State newspaper Granma announced that China had come to the rescue of 38 diesel generators by sending “aid” in the form of spare parts: “radiators, motors and other necessary components to be able to recover the equipment that is damaged.” However, the repair will not be effective until February, nor will it provide the 58 MW that, in theory, it is capable of generating.

The only possible truce does not come from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, but from the climate, more benevolent in these first two months of the year

The shipment was not enough for all the provinces. Ciego de Ávila, Artemisa and Mayabeque will have to wait for the next aid package to repair their generators. Hua Xin, China’s ambassador to the Island and architect of the rapprochement between the two countries in recent months, assured that his country’s goal is for the SEN to “recover” the 400 MW lost from the deterioration of the equipment.

To what extent does this “aid” solve the Cuban energy problem? Will it end the blackouts? The answer is again negative. The country needs 3,000 MW per day to meet its demand, avoid collapse and put an end to the blackouts. The only possible truce does not come from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, but from the climate, more benevolent in these first two months of the year.

When this period of low temperatures ends and the tropical heat returns, the use of air conditioners and fans will again cause blackouts. The SEN needs fuel and spare parts, two pending issues that the Government has not resolved. The generators that run on fuel oil could also be reactivated and recovered, but everything has a high economic cost that the authorities are not willing to pay.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, but to turn on that light it is necessary for the country to manage to sustain 50% of its generation capacity, while recovering – with maintenance and new equipment – the other half of the SEN.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Of the 127 Prisoners Released by the Cuban Authorities, Only About 50 Are Political Prisoners

Sosa Ravelo clarified last Wednesday that the measure is neither an amnesty nor a pardon / Televisión Cubana

14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2025 — The Cuban government has so far released 127 prisoners of the 553 who, after a negotiation with the Vatican, they promised to release on January 14. The number was provided by Maricela Sosa Ravelo, vice president of the Supreme Court, to the spokesman for the regime, Humberto López, and is much higher than the 50 political prisoners registered up to Friday by the Prisoners Defenders organization. It is expected that there will be a significant number of common prisoners who have been discreet with the news of their release.

Interviewed at the Court’s headquarters, Sosa Ravelo explained that, of the 127 released between Wednesday and Thursday, 121 are on conditional release and six have extracriminal leave. The former are subjected to “a trial period” in which former inmates must meet certain conditions, maintain “good behavior” and be linked to a workplace or school, until the time of the sanction ends.

The six extracriminal licenses, on the other hand, were granted “for illness” and other reasons that prevent the inmate from staying in prison, although Sosa Ravelo did not give more details about the cases.

The six extracriminal licenses were granted “for illness” and other reasons

There have been releases “in all Cuban provinces,” López said. Each person has had a meeting with an enforcement judge who has explained their legal situation during their “trial period.” “The process will continue in the coming days,” López said. The Prosecutor’s Office will have to offer its opinion on each case raised, said Sosa Ravelo, “and it can be favorable or unfavorable.”

Some organizations, such as Justice 11J, doubt the “relatively high number of people” that the Supreme Court claims to have released. The NGO claims that it has documented 39 releases, “all political prisoners.” continue reading

Sosa Ravelo was interviewed for the first time last Wednesday by López himself about the implementation of the measure. In her speech she clarified that it is not an amnesty nor a pardon, since they “entail the total extinction of the sanction,” which will not happen in these cases. If they don’t meet their “obligations,” she warned, they could go back to prison.

Those on the list were prosecuted for “dissimilar” crimes

Those on the list were prosecuted for “dissimilar” crimes. These, she said, are “real crimes such as theft and robbery with force. There are threats, there are injuries, there are disorders. There are also some people who were punished for sedition, but sedition is not a political crime.”

Among those released this Thursday was José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), locked up in the Mar Verde prison, in Santiago de Cuba, since the day of the nationwide protests on 11 July 2021.

Ferrer, in his first speeches, said that he refused to sign a document that was presented to him before his release: “I was kicked out of prison because I do not accept conditional release.” In addition, he said that he would not accept impositions of any kind by the regime, and said he felt “embarrassed for other people” about the agreements that allowed the prisoners to leave.

Another of the most anticipated releases was that of Luis Robles Elizastigui, known as “the young man with the placard” for having protested with a sign on the Havana boulevard of San Rafael, in December 2020. Robles, 20, was serving his sentence in the maximum security prison of the Combinado del Este, in Havana, and he received a brief pass in February last year.

Dariel Cruz García, 23 years old, is on conditional release for participating in the La Güinera protest on July 12, 2021

Dariel Cruz García, 23 years old, is on conditional release for participating in the La Güinera protest on July 12, 2021, and his mother told 14ymedio that she fears for her son’s future: “In this neighborhood anything can happen, because here in Cuba the situation is very bad and they want to put him in jail again.” “If my son had been given total freedom and could leave the country, I would do everything possible to get him out of Cuba as soon as possible, even if it is for Haiti,” she added.

Only through the interviews with Sosa Ravelo has the Cuban regime given the little official information that exists about the released. Humberto López, in fact, has downplayed the impact of the issue and has said that the releases occurred “systematically” in Cuba and that this process is “one more.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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José Daniel Ferrer Challenges His Jailers: ‘You Will Be Prosecuted in the Future’

José Daniel Ferrer, after his release, with his family: his wife, Nelva Ortega, and his children Daniel José and Fátima. / 14ymedio/Courtesy

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 17 January 2025 — The phone has not stopped ringing all afternoon. Yesterday, José Daniel Ferrer was released from the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba, and he has not stopped giving interviews. Finally, I hear his voice on the other end of the line. He has the same firm and kind tone that I remember. Dungeons and mistreatment do not seem to have taken away either his energy or his sanity. We started talking as if just yesterday we had to pause this conversation that I now share with you.

“Right now I feel a bit sad because I have not been able to attend to everybody who has wanted to talk to me,” he acknowledges, overcome by the many phone calls. Leaving prison is an overwhelming experience. The sounds cease to be just the squeaks of the bars and begin to be familiar voices. The light changes and thee are no longer shadows but blinding flashes of light, and one’s body still does not know how to move, although the space is as small your own house. The veteran opponent has experienced those sensations many times, but they still affect him.

Ferrer has been welcomed not only by his relatives and neighbors but also by the blackout. “Now I have a rechargeable lamp because shortly after I arrived the electric power went out.” The Cuba that he has found on this side of the prison walls is a much more economically deteriorated country with fewer hours of electricity. “Even so, despite everything, I have already been able to hug some brothers in the struggle, physically and virtually, through the internet,” says the untiring leader of Unpacu. continue reading

Although the days in captivity were full of bad moments, Ferrer also tells how humor served him to deal with his jailers

Although the days in captivity were full of bad moments, Ferrer also tells how humor served him to deal with his jailers. “I once heard on the Round Table [State TV program] that the Minister of Agriculture wanted to improve egg production with more political and ideological work for the workers in the sector.” When the guards approached him that day, he could not miss the opportunity: ’By now you’ve heard that the chickens have to understand that they must work harder to lay eggs.’ They didn’t even crack a smile.

Every moment of this conversation, the voice of a small child is heard on the other side of the phone. Ferrer’s son, Daniel José, demands the attention of a father with whom he has spent very little time due to the rigors of prison and the isolation to which the political prisoner was subjected. “I’m coming now,” the father tells him, continuing to intersperse sentences about his time behind bars while attending to the little one’s demands. You can imagine him with the cell phone in one hand and a toy in the other, trying to distract his son.

His daughter Fátima, 20 years old, has also arrived from the community of Palmarito to see her father. He has been able to speak with part of his family exiled in the United States and talked to his sister Ana Belkis Ferrer, who during this time kept an updated report on what Ferrer was going through in prison, the denied family visits and the deterioration of his health. “I still need to talk to my brother, my mother and my other children, but I’ll do it, I’ll do it,” he says.

“When I got home I had such a rush of adrenaline that I felt I was 18 years old”

“When I got home I had such a rush of adrenaline that I felt I was 18 years old,” he admits, although he also remembers that he must avoid those bursts of enthusiasm because he has problems with blood pressure and needs to medicate himself with Enalapril to keep it from rising. “The adrenaline has already returned to its place and I’m 54 years old again,” he says. His body, suffering from the confinement, poor diet and lack of sunlight, now sets the tone, marks the pace.

In the book that Commander Huber Matos wrote after leaving prison, where he spent 20 years denouncing the communist drift of the Fidel Castro regime, he describes a scene in which he got up to go to the bathroom and came across, for the first time in two decades, a mirror that showed him his full body. In the pages of Cómo llegó la noche [How the Night Came], the former political prisoner described the surprise of seeing a graying and aged man who looked into his eyes. Ferrer also is now rediscovering his image, specifying the contours that the dungeon blurred, visually recomposing his anatomy.

Despite the mistreatment, for his jailers he had words loaded with future projections on his last day in prison. “The democratization of Cuba is also good for you,” he told them before leaving, with a knowing and ironic wink that the guards did not expect: “Vote for me for the presidency because I know that your salary is not enough and you are going through hard times.”

“I know that you have to deal ‘on the left’ in order to survive,” the opponent continued to explain to them

“I know that you have to deal ’on the left’ in order to survive,” the opponent continued to explain to them, while making with his hand the gesture that in the Cuban streets is used for the act of stealing and diverting resources from the State. In a prison, the boss, the jailers and even the workers lower on the scale take home food and other resources intended for the prisoners in order to support themselves day to day. That truth, as big and solid as the walls of a prison, cannot be denied, so there was a prolonged silence after Ferrer’s words.

“Just go home,” the officers almost begged him before the dissident’s diatribe. An annoying prisoner must be worse than a stone in the shoe for some guards who are not used to being warned that the regime they defend with their weapons and uniforms can fall like a fragile house of cards at any time. The henchmen must believe that their impunity is eternal, because imagining a future in which they are accountable puts them in front of another mirror, that of responsibility.

“The days they were going to beat me up, they took the highest-ranking officer of Mar Verde out of the environment, so that later I could not say that he was aware of that mistreatment,” he recalls. “Yesterday he told me to just go home to my wife and son and stop protesting.” But Ferrer took it calmly and wanted to make it clear that he did not accept any blackmail linked to the release of political prisoners after the talks between the Cuban regime and the Vatican, in parallel with the announcement made by the Biden Administration to remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

“I want my things, my books, my writings, my verses,” the prisoner claimed. “I was writing quatrains. A few days ago I finished the first part of one that was about braggarts, those people who claim to have a courage that they don’t have: ’Juan, in a bar in Havana / under the effect of rum / without a weapon, kills a lion / on the African savannah’.” The night before the release Ferrer had finished the last verse: “Juan, without the drunkenness / just by seeing a mouse / his heart stirs / and the whole of Havana runs.”

“Yesterday he told me to just go home to my wife and son and stop protesting “

“When I got up this Thursday, one of my sources inside the prison warned me that Mar Verde was full of officials from all over Santiago de Cuba. ’There are also some from State Security, and it is being said that you are going free, that they are making preparations’.” Shortly after they informed him that it was a “conditional freedom,” which Ferrer refused: “I do not accept conditions; they can give me all the warnings they want but I’m not complying with them.”

The prisoner sent them a defiant message: “You will be prosecuted in the future and you will be convicted of all this, but I can assure you that you will not have to face the hunger, bedbugs or tuberculosis that we political prisoners have to suffer in Cuba.” Finally “they threw me out of there. They didn’t let me pick up my toothbrush, family photos or my books, nothing.”

Outside, his wife Nelva Ortega Tamayo and their little son were waiting for him. For her he has only words of gratitude. “She has gone through very difficult times while I was in prison: she lost her mother and recently her grandmother also died,” Ferrer adds. “It’s one of the hardest things about being in prison, that helplessness of not being able to be there for loved ones in the most complicated moments to encourage and support them.”

Now, Ferrer plans a visit to Havana, where he has a daughter he hasn’t seen since before the pandemic. The last part of the conversation is to remember our time of meeting as friends. A pizza eaten in company, a hug given in a hurry, a few laughs between personal testimonies. “See you, my brother,” he says in closing, as if we had paused our conversation a few hours before and only resumed it to catch up with the latest details: the news to which anecdotes, future projects and even verses are always added.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Venezuela: Democracy Versus Dictatorship

Maduro and his criminal associates are aware of the wide popular support that González and Machado have earned with their perseverance, boldness and decorum.

Nicolás Maduro during his swearing-in as president of Venezuela on January 10, 2024 / @DiazCanelB/X

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 12 January 2024 — January 10 was a turning point for Venezuela. Regardless of the results of that day, the country will not be the same. The victory of democracy would be an invaluable benefit for everyone, but even if this does not take place, the constant effort and willingness to risk both life and freedom for a just cause are signs of an edifying patriotism.

In the face of an eventual triumph of democracy, which will be an uphill battle, the supporters of the dictatorship will create chaos. Castrochavism does not rest, unless it is absolutely defeated.

The display of dignity and courage of President-elect Edmundo González, María Corina Machado and their allies give impetus to their supporters and makes their enemies tremble. They demonstrate that it is possible to resist and get close to victory, an example that must reinvigorate those of us who suffer from these dictatorships.

Venezuela has historically been one of the protagonists of the continent since the time of the Liberator

After January 10, it is expected that the contenders will assume roles that are even more antagonistic. The confrontation between repression and resistance will become more acute, and I do not think, to the detriment of the country, that the hostility will be switched off and extinguished. continue reading

Both the autocracy led by Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello, and the democratic proposal of elected-president González and María Corina Machado mean that Venezuela is at an unprecedented crossroads for the country itself and for the hemisphere. The country has historically been one of the protagonists of the continent since the time of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator.

The situation of Venezuela is unique. It suffers from a dictatorship that calls for elections, loses them for not having the support of the people and, despite controlling the electoral machinery, cannot appropriate the voting records. Meanwhile, they face an opposition capable of resurrection after being practically deceased, thanks to the electoral feat of González and Machado, who restored the hope of change in the people, a feat almost as important as the restoration of democracy.

All Venezuelans – the opposition, the Government and people in general – are risking their future. The parties have a great responsibility, which is why we must all take sides in the trench we have chosen. We must fight hard; concessions cannot be made, and the factions in conflict must be convinced that there is no second chance.

González and María Corina Machado must be strong in their proposals. There is no room for hesitation or concessions to the enemy. The fight will be very difficult, and they must be prepared to confront the evil of Castrochavism, which, with the loss of power at risk, can resort to its entire criminal arsenal.

Maduro and his criminal associates are aware of the broad popular support that González and Machado have earned with their perseverance, boldness and decorum. They know that if they respect the popular will they must leave the Government, whatever the consequences.

The people elected González and repudiated the continuity of Castrochavism, which has caused vast and profound destruction Venezuela

There is no doubt that González has justice on his side. The people elected him and repudiated the continuity of Castrochavism, which has caused vast and profound destruction in Venezuela, but we should all be aware that good intentions by themselves do not lead to the materialization of our ideals. Many tools are needed, and González has shown he is alert by sending a message to members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, asking them to comply with their constitutional duty and reject any attempt at usurpation of power by the dictator, Nicolás Maduro, alluding to the 1999 Constitution, promoted by the autocrat Hugo Chávez Frías.

Edmundo González has completed an international journey of awareness in democratic countries. He has met with many other leaders who will hopefully tell their diplomatic representatives accredited in Venezuela to accompany him in the presidential ceremony, while María Corina Machado and her supporters have mobilized the people so that they can ratify the vote they cast on July 28.

However, we know that Maduro will not lack puppets, that he will have anti-democratic allies from Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico, among others, which is why freedom is in danger.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Collision of Two Buses Leaves Three Dead and 60 Injured in the Cuban Province of Camagüey

Among the injured are seven children who were transferred to the Pediatric Hospital in the province

One of the buses was carrying workers / Television Camagüey

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 11 January 2025 — The collision of two buses on a road in the Cuban province of Camagüey left three dead and 60 injured this Friday, according to state media reports. Among the injured were seven minors who received care in a pediatric hospital, five in the operating room and two in intermediate therapy, while the adults were attended in the provincial hospital of Camagüey, according to the local station Radio Cadena Agramonte.

Of the five adult patients initially reported as critical, one woman died in the early hours of Saturday, after emergency surgery. Georgina Barrero Gutiérrez, 49 years old, lived in the municipality of Pilón in the province of Granma, according to Dr. Rodolfo Emilio Domínguez Rosabal, director of the care center. Damaris Reyes Rodríguez, 49, from Bayamo in Granma, died later in the morning. Julio Idóneo Torres Reyes, from Havana, 56 years old, died at the scene of the accident.

“The buses involved in the accident were a Transmetro, coming from Songo La Maya, and another bus that was transporting workers,” Televisión Camagüey said on social networks. The first vehicle had left Manzanillo, in Granma, while the other was transporting employees from the keys in Camagüey. According to the preliminary analysis, the workers’ bus violated the right of way of the Transmetro bus. So far, no other details of this massive accident have been revealed, the second of its kind recorded in Camagüey since the beginning of 2025.

On January 2, another accident occurred that caused the death of one person and injured 63 others. A truck driver lost control of the vehicle when traveling on a road towards Santa Cruz del Sur, a town in the province of Camaguey. continue reading

Accidents on Cuban roads decreased by 13% in the first half of 2024

According to data published by the Island’s traffic authorities, accidents on Cuban roads decreased in the first half of 2024 by 13% (543 fewer) compared to the same period last year. The number of deaths and injuries fell by 23% and 5%, respectively.

Among the main causes of these crashes, the authorities have pointed out indisciplines such as not respecting the right of way, not keeping a distance, driving while drunk and losing control of the vehicle.

They also recognize that the poor condition of roads, traffic signs and both state and private vehicles are factors that affect accidents.

Cuba’s road network is in a poor state due to the general lack of maintenance – something that affects the pavement, signage and lighting – and most of the vehicles on the road have been in operation for 40 to 70 years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Activist Jorge Cervantes, Now a Forced Migrant, Is Stranded in Mexico

State Security gave the former Unpacu militant the choice between prison or exile

Cuban activist Jorge Cervantes García was banished by the Cuban regime on September 10 / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 10 January 2025– Cuban activist Jorge Cervantes García, member of the Cuba Primero movement and former militant of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, longs for the Island. From a border point in Mexico, where he has been since the end of last December, he confesses to 14ymedio that he would like to return to his country, but not to “go to a punishment cell simply for the fact of thinking differently and fighting for the freedom of my people.” He misses his children, his wife and his family.

Four months ago, State Security officials went to the punishment cell in the Aguadores prison in Santiago de Cuba, where he had spent six months for an alleged crime classified as “other acts against the security of the State,” to force him into exile, he says. “Cervantes, since what you do on the streets is unbearable, you are going to receive 15 years in prison at the prosecutor’s request,” they told him. Then they gave him the choice between three years in prison or leaving the country.

After consulting with members of his movement, he concluded that “the wisest thing was to accept exile, because very little can be done from a Cuban prison to continue the fight.” The activist was taken out of his cell and escorted to Havana. “They put me on a plane bound for Guyana” on September 10, he says.

His journey, with the United States as the final goal, began in Georgetown. So far, he has crossed 10 countries: Guyana, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, where he is stranded. Despite having an “amparo” [protection], the authorities prevented him from boarding a flight to the U.S. border. The opponent clarifies that he cannot consider himself “a political exile” because he has not yet found a place that will give him refuge and legalize his stay.

The activist was taken out of his cell and escorted to Havana. “I was put on a plane bound for Guyana” on September 10, he says]

Never, in 57 years of life, did Cervantes think he would face migration. He never imagined the long and tiring walks alongside immigrants from China, India, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Africa and Cuba, “people with political, economic and religious motives.” Nor did he imagine the “heartbreaking” stories he would hear in that search for a better future and freedom. continue reading

“Mothers traumatized because their girls or boys were raped in front of them, people who died, elderly people lost in the river currents. I have seen tears in the eyes of doctors and professionals who are part of immigrant caravans and experienced horrors they never imagined,” he says.

From his personal experience, Cervantes says that migration is a phenomenon that “has no solution in sight.” The reality is “that many people are afraid to say that the governments are closely linked to mafias, with criminal organizations engaged in trafficking migrants.”

For the banished opponent, the real mafias, “the most harmful,” are “the government soldiers protected by law who arrest migrants and exploit them, humiliate them, mistreat them and take everything from them to let them pass from one place to another. From country to country you have to pay one, two, three, four times to board a plane, to take a bus. They have all their scams well organized.”

One example is the well-known travel packages advertised online, which offer to “get you out and take you” to any country. “They paint a pretty picture for you to accept and pay. They encourage you to leave by promising a safe way,” but the reality is that they’re going to assault you. “You enter a spider web” where they abandon you, he explains.

For Jorge Cervantes, the real mafias, “the most harmful,” are “the government soldiers who arrest migrants and exploit them” / 14ymedio

Cervantes remembers that in Panama, “after you pass the town of Bajo Chiquito and cross the Darién jungle, there are people who receive you and give you a little bag of food.” The activist warns that while in one place “they help you, in another they hit you.”

According to the opponent, “there are soldiers who know that you are being assaulted and do nothing, because they live off that.” The migrant is treated as “a commodity,” he says.

In the same way, he regrets that “many people talk about how to solve the problem but they don’t really want to do it,” because it’s a business, which has also brought prosperity to some remote areas.

The Cuban activist says that in Necoclí, a Colombian municipality that was practically abandoned, “there are now more than 500 prosperous businesses” because it’s a mandatory stop for irregular migrants in their transit to the United States. Another “place in the middle of nowhere” is Bajo Chiquito,” which he calls a “lost pueblo” in the Darién jungle, where foreigners “bring life, development and well-being.”

Clothed in the Cuban flag, Cervantes trusts that Donald Trump’s government will maintain a firm stance against the Cuban regime, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The opponent, in any case, wants for Cuba what many people enjoy in free, democratic countries. “You can express yourself within being beat up or put in prison. Your children can grow up safe and sound, in schools that educate them, not indoctrinate them.” It hurts him to think of his family and fellow fighters in Cuba, who are “going hungry, with repression, harassment and death.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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