Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 67

About 1,300 Holguin Residents Cannot Leave Cuba Because of Debts to the State

In the eastern province, 97% of the 314 MSMEs did not pay tax, for a total of 50.3 million pesos

So far this year, 24 suspected cases were reported in the Havana National Office of Tax Administration (Onat), of which nine ended in complaints / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 27, 2024 — Although non-compliance with tax obligations in Cuba is well known, the high figures in Holguín, disseminated this Wednesday by the provincial director of the National Office of Tax Administration (Onat), Jorge Félix Pérez Marrero, are still surprising. The official places at 1,300 the number of Cubans in Holguin who cannot leave the country because of their debts to the State. There are fewer in Sancti Spíritus, only 200 according to the official newspaper Escambray.

The numbers are heartbreaking in the eastern province, where 97% of the 314 businesses obliged to pay evaded taxes, a total of 50.3 million pesos that did not end up in a timely manner in State coffers. In the same situation are the self-employed workers, who presently owe 31.5 million. In total, there are 38,302 self-employed workers of whom 8,120 were inspected: 97.7% of them had defrauded the State, although Onat makes it clear that when a tax investigation is opened it is because there are already indications, based mainly on the cross-checking of data.

The largest volume of debts – 70 million – corresponds to a small group of 36 taxpayers, who have “high import volumes.” The supervision work achieved the collection of 79 million pesos, obtained from “firm actions on 745 debtors,” while more than 100 fines of 615,900 pesos were imposed after carrying out checks on 239 taxpayers with irregularities in their tax bank accounts. continue reading

Most of that extra collection is due to the end of the tax exemption for newly created ’MSMEs’

Despite these data, Holguín has raised significantly more than what was planned, since the goal was to contribute 3.5 billion pesos to the State budget at the end of October, and the amount is already 826 above, that is, 4,326. Most of that extra collection is due to the end of the tax exemption for newly created MSMEs*.

The measure was advanced in December 2023, when the Government – seeking to increase collection to reduce the deficit and increase income – talked about approving a package that included the elimination of the exemption from the 10% tax on wholesale marketing for MSMEs. The realization came in August, with the group of 19 rules that added another tax requirement to the previous one: private individuals would no longer be exempt from paying personal income tax for the dividends from their first year of operations.

As a result, 543 MSMEs have begun to pay taxes in Holguín, totaling 609 million pesos. They are joined by the 162 who already paid, from the total of 256 unpaid that were detected in the Onat inspections.

The province’s fiscal deficit is above 2.6 billion pesos, so officials consider that any effort is small when it comes to raising as much as possible. “The confrontation with tax evasion and the under-declaration of income goes beyond an obligation. It is a necessity, not only because of the financial resources that are rescued and put in function of social expenses, but because it slows down the environment of impunity and disorder that some try to impose,” Pérez Marrero told the official press.

Yosvanis Meneses Torres, the Onat manager interviewed, stated that tax evasion can lead to penalties of deprivation of liberty, as is the case for two men who are awaiting trial and a third who has already been sentenced to three years of correctional work with internment. In addition, according to the specialist, there are six other cases in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office for “ignoring” their tax obligations. In Holguín there are 66,000 registered taxpayers.

Meneses Torres explained to the State newspaper Granma that when starting a proceeding three circumstances can occur: that the information is “defining,” that it is necessary to talk to the taxpayer to clarify the accounts, or that a third party is required to clarify a certain situation. “For example, this is done when State entities, for services provided or assets created, pay high sums to private individuals, but with indications that they contributed below what corresponded to them.”

The manager points out that they have detected that some companies declare stable sales at the same time that imports increase

The manager points out that they have detected that some companies declare stable sales at the same time that imports increase. “It may be that prices increase and demand decreases, but this is not presently the case. Even with a price increase, food maintains demand, and that gives a higher level of income,” he explains, in reference to one of Onat’s alarm signals.

The director confirms that in the context of inspections, private individuals have appeared who declare a loss. When asked if this situation can be interpreted as a camouflage to evade tax, he says it is being closely followed.

Meneses Torres also explains that some MSMEs declare losses during inspections but denies that it is necessarily due to attempts to evade tax. “Many MSMEs and self-employed workers have not done a correct study of suppliers and buyers. Perhaps initially, some of these economic actors will register losses by combining the effect of the acquisition of goods with the creation of infrastructures,” he concedes.

Granma’s article addresses with Dayamí Roger Hernández, first deputy director of the Holguin Onat, the differences among the defaulters who comply within the same month, although not voluntarily, and the debtors who do not pay at the end of the term and are penalized with a fine and surcharge. To the latter, in a new policy that has turned out to be “necessary” due to the increase in MSMEs (currently 560 in the province), a preventive embargo can be applied until they comply. So far this year, that decision has affected 150 taxpayers.

The penalty for evaders can entail five years of deprivation of liberty, which is extended to between seven and 15 years in the most serious cases, when there are additional crimes such as belonging to an organized network. In these cases, where there have been fraudulent actions to evade payments, paying off the debt does not exempt them from the criminal process.

“It cannot be overlooked that in the context of imposing order and ending illegality, the purpose of educating people in the fulfillment of duties and, with it, making them grow in civility is always present,” the article concludes. It does not address, however, a problem that is the root cause alleged by many Cubans when it comes to tax evasion.

Behind the lack of citizens’ conscience when it comes to complying with the State are the distrust in institutions, the lack of transparency when explaining what public money is used for – the authorities limit themselves to offering percentages of the large budget items, without breaking it down by ministries – and the discomfort generated by the high amounts that are allocated to activities that are currently unproductive, such as the construction of hotels, among others.

*MSMEs – Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (’mipymes’ in Spanish)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Florida, Agencies That Ship to Cuba Fill Up With Customers ‘Before Trump Arrives’

Alarm spreads among Cuban migrants due to the unfounded fear that the president-elect will restrict parcels

“It looked like a line in Havana, with people waiting inside and outside, standing and sitting on the sidewalk,” outside the Cubamax agency / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Alejandro Mena Ortiz, Miami, November 27, 2024 — Ramón had to wait more than four hours this Tuesday before being able to send a package to his family in Cuba from the Cubamax office in Miramar, in Broward, Florida. “It’s on fire, down hill without brakes,” he heard someone say after two hours. “It was the first time I saw it like that. It looked like a line in Havana, with people waiting inside and outside, standing and sitting on the sidewalk,” the young man, who emigrated to the United States three years ago via Nicaragua, explains to 14ymedio.

“There were people coming from other neighborhoods,” he continues. “A lady, for example, arrived from Miami Lakes, because, she argued, “the Cubamax of Hialeah can’t cope and the lines are worse than those here.” Inside the office, the space was large – 12 chairs plus the three customers who could be served at the same time. There was, Ramón continues, “a real mountain of packages everywhere. They filled the waiting room, because there was no more place to put them.”

It is common that every year at this time agencies such as Cubamax, Cuballama and Cuba Encarga have more customers, because Christmas is approaching. However, the reason in Broward this Tuesday was different. When Ramón was finally able to ask the employees, they replied: “Many people come and say that they have to take advantage now, because when Trump arrives in January, he will surely remove the shipments of packages and foreign exchange to Cuba.” continue reading

“The packages filled the waiting room, because there was no more place to put them”

The workers were somewhat outraged by this false news, the young man says. It is true that the president-elect has promised to tighten migration policies from the first day of his mandate on January 20, but he has said nothing about shipments. “People are very sick in the head, letting themselves be guided by TikTok videos,” said one of the employees. “Trump is not going to take anything away, and if he restricts packages, they’ll find a way to send them through a third country, even if it’s more expensive.”

On the other hand, one item is beginning to have success in these offices: power generators. In Cubamax, for example, they have an offer of 99 cents a pound when sending this type of device, only on Wednesdays. “I don’t understand how people keep sending them when it’s a hassle in Cuba to find fuel to get them going,” said María, a Cuban from Pinar del Río.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ciego De Ávila, Cuba, Foresees the Fiasco of the Present Sugar Harvest and Anticipates Future Failure

The province has planted only 24% of the planned amount of land

Ciego de Ávila planned to produce 30,500 tons of sugar / Invasor

14ymedio, Havana, 28 November 2024 — With a run-down and ancient group of 15 sugar mills at their disposal, the Cuban authorities declared last Monday the start of the 2024-2025 milling throughout the country. In Ciego de Ávila, however, it is not the present sugar campaign that worries the workers, who already foresee the failure of the future harvest. According to the local press, there has been a delay in the planting, and the amount of land worked is minimal. Of the 7,541 hectares projected, only 24%, or 1,801, have been planted.

“The lack of diesel has been the fundamental cause” for the delay, Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa told Invasor, after visiting the region. According to the newspaper, the next few weeks will be “vital,” but the figures are too similar to the 23% of the October campaign.

The numbers — “lean” as the newspaper describes them — do not promise the glorious recovery of the sugar industry that the State has been announcing for years. On the contrary, the debacle seems more irreversible than ever.

“It was impossible to take advantage of the Ciro Redondo Sugar Company land. The raw material for the mill, the “Colossus,” inactive in the last campaign, along with the continual lack of fuel and organizational problems in the Enrique Varona,* also threatened the success,” says Invasor. continue reading

At the moment the province is focusing on quickly planting 180 hectares in the final stretch of the year

At the moment, says the media, the province is focusing on quickly planting 180 hectares in the final stretch of the year, 50 of them for the Ciro Redondo mill, the only one that joined the Avila campaign this year.

Invasor has been announcing the slow pace of the expected Ciego de Ávila harvest for months. For the production of molasses, for example, which should have begun 15 days before the harvest, the sugar factories had not yet finished creating “the conditions.”

However, the scenario described at the beginning of November was less worrying than now. The authorities then predicted 444,854 tons of milled cane to produce 30,500 tons of sugar, and said that the preparation of the machinery had advanced to a reassuring 75% and transport to 94%. Even in the bioelectric plant, which produces energy from the bagasse derived from the harvest, “Chinese investors” explained that there would be no problems in connecting it to the plant.

The planting, however, was still stagnant at the same 24% that Invasor criticized a few days later. Before, in October, expectations were even higher, and the province expected to plant all the available land with cane before December 31. Since then, only 66 hectares have been planted.

In other provinces the panorama is not very different. In Las Tunas, where the plan is to reach 45,000 tons of sugar, workers have been forced to extend the work “up to 10 and 12 hours a day to meet the repair schedule, affected, among other causes, by the late arrival of some resources, electrical interruptions, the potential threats of Hurricane Oscar and the rains,” explains Periódico 26 in an article published on November 19.

“There we find men who have been working continuously for almost 10 hours”

“There we find men who have been working continuously for almost 10 hours, and their overalls, hands and faces carry stains of grease and sweat as symbols of the arduous day. Stains that do not hide the joy of knowing they are essential,” romanticizes the local newspaper.

At the national level, and based on past campaigns, the authorities do not expect good results either. “A very complex harvest is coming,” William Licourt González, general secretary of the sugar workers’ union, said in October, before calling on the entire sector to work. On that occasion he also announced that 15 mills would be in charge of grinding, compared to 25 a year earlier and the 161 active on the Island in 1959.

The sugar industry, once a jewel in the crown of the regime, this year reached its most critical point. The Government has not only been forced to cease most of its important sugar contracts, such as the one it had with China, but also this 2024, for the first time, the Island imported more sugar than it exported.

At the domestic level, sugar has become priceless for Cubans, who find it increasingly difficult to find and with very high prices. This week, in the Plaza Boulevar market in Sancti Spíritus, a pound reached 550 pesos.

*Translator’s note: The Enrique Varona sugar mill has its own railway transport system.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Chucho Valdés Considers Himself Exiled and Again Denies Having Approved the Execution of Three Cubans

The Cuban pianist was interviewed by Juan Manuel Cao on América TeVé

Chucho Valdés this Saturday on Cao’s program / Screen capture

14ymedio, Madrid, 25 November 2024 — At 83, the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés has been trying to detach himself from the Cuban regime for more than a decade, although never with as much effort as since he supported the anti-government demonstrators in 2021. “It makes me very sad what my people are suffering, including my family. It hurts a lot to see the subhuman conditions in which they subsist. Enough of deception and lies. International humanitarian aid is essential,” he wrote that day.

It did not take long for those who recognized his courage to respond, but so did those who reminded him of the episode for which he will never be forgiven among many exiles who doubt the artist’s honesty: his signature on the letter in 2003 that almost thirty Cuban artists and intellectuals signed supporting the shooting of three young people who tried to hijack the Regla ferry to escape to the United States.

This Saturday, the artist was on the program A Fondo, presented by Juan Manuel Cao on América TeVé, where he vindicated himself as an exile and again strongly denied having signed the letter.

“It’s one thing that they put your name in a newspaper for no reason and try to sully your prestige and career in such a disgraceful way. And it’s another that there is a doubt, that there is a doubt”

“Never, never,” insisted the musician, asked by the journalist. “It’s one thing that they put your name in a newspaper for no reason and try to sully your prestige and career in such a disgraceful way. And it’s another that there is a doubt, that there is a doubt,” he lamented. continue reading

Valdés explained that not only would he be unable to support something like that, but that he was not even on the Island when the events occurred. “I was here, in Miami, when all that happened. I was on tour in the United States, on the spring tour I always do, it was in March or April. And I find out, here in Miami, when I was in a hotel with a friend of mine named Raúl Artiles, and he tells me that I’m in a photo and that my name is there. I was destroyed, because it’s very sad that they use you,” he says.

The artist assures that of all the things that have been said about him, this is the worst that has happened in his life, because he cannot erase the doubt that remains in many people, although he did say he was “calm” with respect to his family and friends, who “know it never happened.” The pianist is the son of another piano legend on the Island, Bebo Valdés, exiled since the Revolution destroyed his work in the Cuban music scene. Having lived in Mexico, the United States, Spain and Sweden – where he settled in 1963 and remarried – he died in 2013, after having returned to stunning success and performing with his son, who this Saturday agreed when Cao said he was exiled.

“Yes, yes, I live in Broward,” said the artist, referring to the county of East Florida where he has his main home, although he also spends time in Malaga, where his father had a residence, after becoming famous with the help of film director and music producer Fernando Trueba. Both, in fact, participated in the multi-award-winning documentary on Latin Jazz Calle 54, which the Madrid filmmaker shot in New York in 2000 and which featured other Cuban artists.

“There is no respect for the Constitution, which is the greatest mistake that a country can make, and they have abused and created horrors for many years”

Many missed the presence in the film of Arturo Sandoval, who later recorded an album called Calle 54: Music for Friends. He also spoke on Cao’s program this Saturday and referred to the matter.

“It’s very sad, very sad. That is the result of a hateful dictatorship that uses everything and everyone at its convenience. In Cuba the law does not exist; absolutely nothing is respected. There is no respect for the Constitution, which is the greatest mistake that a country can make, and they have abused and created horrors for many years,” he said before joking and showing his affection and respect for his friend, Chucho Valdés, who closed the program by playing, as in the opening.

Silvio Rodríguez, although more lukewarm, also distanced himself years ago from having signed the letter of support for the shootings. “I never supported those executions. And I’m sure none of the signatories of that letter did,” he said in 2020, almost on par with Valdés. Too late, for some.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban film ‘Natural Phenomena’ and the Chilean ‘Black Island’ are Awarded in Geneva

Natural Phenomena tells the story of Vilma, a young nurse who lives in the late 80s on an isolated farm in a Cuban town

A scene from the Cuban movie ’Natural Phenomena’ / endac.org

EFE (via 14ymedio), Geneva, 24 November 2024 — The Cuban film Natural Phenomena, by Cuban Marcos Antonio Díaz Sosa and Isla Negra, by Chilean director Jorge Riquelme Serrano, were awarded at the Latin American Film Festival in Geneva, which ends its 26th edition this Sunday.

Always sensitive to social cinema that treats human rights from different perspectives, the jury awarded Isla Negra for being a “bold and moving work that addresses a theme that is still very little treated, that of the exile of entire populations because of the exploitation of their lands,” said the organization.

Riquelme closes with this production, premiered exclusively at the festival, a trilogy that began in 2016 with Camaleón, his debut film, and continued in 2019 with Algunas bestias.

With the Young Jury Award for Natural Phenomena, Díaz Sosa’s debut as a director, the festival joins the voices of those who oppose the Cuban regime, “a dictatorship that keeps its people in a dramatic situation and exercises arbitrary and uneducated censorship against artistic creation and critical thinking.” continue reading

“The work captivates with its representation of a strong and determined woman, who faces personal and social challenges while seeking to emancipate herself in a context that limits the possibilities”

“The work captivates with its representation of a strong and determined woman, who faces personal and social challenges while seeking to emancipate herself in a context that limits the possibilities,” said the jury, composed of eleven high school students from Geneva accompanied by the Argentine director Pablo Briones.

Natural phenomena tells the story of Vilma, a young nurse who lives in the late eighties on an isolated farm in a Cuban town

The 10-day festival was attended, among others, by the Spanish director Fernando Trueba, whose penultimate film, the animated documentary They Shot the Pianist, was screened this Saturday at the Grütli cinema that hosts the festival.

Filmar, one of the biggest events in Spanish cinema outside Spanish-speaking countries, showed 39 feature films from 15 Latin American countries.

Directed since 2017 by Vania Aillon, the festival has had, as in previous editions, a special love for social cinema, with a good number of films dedicated to issues such as the environment, freedom of expression, the situation of minorities and indigenous peoples, and the fight for equality.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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José Daniel Ferrer Is ‘Very Thin, Brutally Beaten and With a Wound on His Face’

The opponent was transferred and hospitalized in Boniato prison after being assaulted by prison staff, says his family

Ferrer was one of the prisoners of the Black Spring of 2003 / Facebook / Ana Belkis Ferrer

14ymedio, Havana, November 24, 2024 — The opponent and leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu) José Daniel Ferrer was seen last Thursday in the hospital of the Boniato prison, in Santiago de Cuba, “very thin, brutally beaten and with a wound on his face,” said the sister of the political prisoner, Ana Belkis Ferrer. The news that the activist had been transferred and returned to the Mar Verde prison, where he was originally locked up, because he needed medical attention, put his relatives on alert, and they stood in front of the prison on Friday to demand proof of life.

According to the opponent’s sister, Ferrer’s transfer to Boniato was reported by “a person who was able to see him on Thursday at the Boniato hospital, a place where very few people were allowed to prevent him from being seen.” This was later confirmed by the prison authorities of Santiago de Cuba. Aside from that news, little else is known about the political prisoner’s condition.

According to the relatives, the complaint of the “beating” and the transfer were also reported by other political prisoners, who claim that the opponent had been attacked by prison staff and transferred to another prison with better medical facilities. The family also said that Ferrer has been admitted to Room A of the Boniato Prison infirmary for three days and that his health was already deteriorated. continue reading

Ferrer’s wife, Nelva Ismarays Ortega, stood in front of the Mar Verde prison with two of the activist’s children

After Ferrer’s wife, Nelva Ismarays Ortega, stood in front of the Mar Verde prison with two of the activist’s children – including a five-year-old – several organizations and activists began a campaign to demand that the prison authorities allow family members to see the opponent.

“Early on we demanded to be able to see my husband and the prison authorities denied us that right. Around three in the afternoon they let us, from a distance, see a car with several officers and a person dressed in white getting out. Supposedly, that was my husband. Until we are face to face with him we can’t say for sure,” Ortega said in a video on social networks that was taken in the vicinity of the prison.

“We don’t want photos, we don’t want a video, we don’t want a message, we don’t want to see him at a distance. We want to see him face to face to tell us what happened. We will continue to demand proof of life and freedom for Ferrer and all political prisoners,” she added.

Ortega also said that the leader of the Unpacu has been imprisoned since August 2021, and in the last year and nine months, the prison has prevented any kind of contact between him and his family, denying them family visits, conjugal visits and phone calls. “They are violating these rights,” denounced Ortega, who considers that, in these circumstances, her husband “is missing.”

“We want to corroborate whether what happened to Ferrer and his transfer to Boniato is true or not,” Ortega added

“We want to corroborate whether what happened to Ferrer and his transfer to Boniato is true or not,” Ortega added. “If nothing has happened, why don’t they tell us? We have the right to be told where he is and in what condition. The only person who can tell us is my husband, José Daniel Ferrer García.”

Several organizations and NGOs have shown solidarity with Ferrer’s family and have joined the demand for proof of life. Even the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, said he was “outraged” at the news that José Daniel Ferrer is hospitalized after having received a “brutal beating.”

“We call on the Government of Cuba to allow immediate access for his family and to release him, along with the nearly 1,000 political prisoners unjustly detained in Cuba,” Nichols posted on his X account.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Human Rights Commission Expresses Concern After the Allegations of Violence Against José Daniel Ferrer

The organization, based in Washington, says that it is the State’s obligation to ensure the integrity of prisoners

The exact state of Ferrer’s health is unknown, at least one week after he suffered an assault / Ana Belkis Ferrer García

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 26, 2024 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) showed its “concern” on Monday after allegations of assault by the prison authorities of the opponent and political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer.

The organization, based in Washington, expressed on social networks its “concern about the complaints of physical violence by prison authorities against José Daniel Ferrer” and stressed that the dissident is “deprived of liberty in the context of the protests of July 11, 2021” and is a “beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the IACHR.”

The commission also recalled in general terms that “the State must guarantee the personal integrity of persons deprived of liberty and avoid torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

“The State must guarantee the personal integrity of persons deprived of liberty and avoid torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”

Last week, family members, human rights NGOs and Cuban dissident organizations denounced that Ferrer, considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International (AI), was hospitalized after receiving a “brutal beating” from the prison staff where he is imprisoned. continue reading

His relatives explained that other prisoners, for political reasons, had transmitted this information to them. Several NGOs, including AI and Prisoners Defenders, validated the story, as well as different opposition groups. For its part, the United States Government was “outraged” by the complaint.

According to the sources that informed the family, Ferrer was assaulted and couldn’t be properly treated in the infirmary of the Mar Verde penitentiary center (Santiago de Cuba), where he is serving his sentence. He was then transferred to the Boniato prison, which supposedly has a better medical center.

They added that he had been admitted to Room A of the prison infirmary for three days. No details are known about his state of health, which according to relatives had deteriorated significantly in the last months, with different health issues now added to previous ones related to his stays in prison.

A minor government media reported that the information about the beating “lacks foundation” and that Ferrer was in a “favorable” condition

The Cuban government has not reported on the matter, nor has the official press. A minor government media said that the information about the beating “lacks foundation” and that Ferrer was in a “favorable” condition.

Ferrer has been in prison since 11 July 2021, when he was arrested for joining the anti-government demonstrations that were taking place that day in different parts of the country in the largest protest in Cuba in decades.

The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba had already been in prison previously for political reasons. He was one of the 75 intellectuals, journalists and opponents imprisoned in the 2003 repressive wave known as the Black Spring. In 2011 he was released but was subsequently arrested on several occasions.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With a Hotel Occupancy of 25 Percent, Cuba’s Tourism Revenues Fell by Almost 62 Percent in Five Years

“Despite an investment of more than 24 billion dollars, the results show an alarming decline,” says Cuba Siglo 21

The report says that several tour operators and airlines have left Cuba, as is the case of the German giant TUI / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 25, 2024 — The most recent report on tourism in Cuba signed by the consultant Emilio Morales, published by the organization Cuba Siglo 21 this Monday and based on the information published in the independent press, especially 14ymedio, fully summarizes the catastrophic situation of the sector that the regime’s propaganda sells as the main engine of the economy. “Despite an investment of more than 24 billion dollars in the last 15 years,” says the text, without explaining where the Government obtained those funds, “the current results show an alarming decline in key indicators such as the arrival of tourists, hotel occupancy and the sector’s income.”

On this last point, the report says that income has decreased by 61.82% in the last five years, from 3,185 million dollars in 2019 to just 1,216 million in 2023. From January to October of this year, there were 1,718,636 foreign visitors in total, although the official figure, as collected by this newspaper a few days ago, is actually 1,844,917 tourists (128,256 fewer than in the same period of 2023).

The number provided by Cuba Siglo 21 – slightly lower than that offered by the National Office of Statistics and Information until September – 1,719,145 travelers – supposes, in any case, “a drop of 48.23% compared to the same period in 2019 (before the pandemic), when 3,563,494 tourists arrived.”

Another of the sector’s “setbacks” listed in the report is the “infrastructure crisis”

As for the hotel occupancy rate, the report states that it is 25%, “leaving a significant number of underutilized facilities.” The name of Gaesa also turns off the tourism industry. Morales points to the conglomerate of the Armed Forces as the main culprit of the situation. “The Business continue reading

Administration Group S.A. (Gaesa), with decisive control over finances and economic decisions, has prioritized excessive investments in tourism to the detriment of strategic sectors such as energy, transport and agriculture,” he says.

Another of the sector’s “setbacks” is the “infrastructure crisis,” which, with “constant blackouts, shortages of drinking water and urban deterioration, decreases the attractiveness of the country as a tourist destination.” In addition there are the epidemics such as dengue fever, the accumulation of garbage and the precariousness of the healthcare system.

“Everything indicates that Cuba as a tourist destination is beginning to disappear from the offerings of international tour operators”

Also discouraging travel to Cuba, the list continues, are the “increase in crime,” the “decrease of staff” – more than 10,000 “qualified” workers in the sector have emigrated in the last three years, says Morales – and the “failed foreign policies.” The consultant refers to the “support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine,” which “has alienated key European markets” – an unconvincing argument in this case – and to the regime’s “alliance with international terrorist actors,” which “keeps it on that short list of countries associated with that scourge.”

In the midst of this dark panorama, tour operators and airlines have left Cuba, as is the case of the German giant TUI, which, as this newspaper published, suspended its flights from Amsterdam to Varadero last May due to lack of passengers. Also – this time without quoting 14ymedio, which first published the report – Canada issued a third travel alert warning tourists about the dengue epidemic, which joined two previous alerts about the increase in violence and the shortage of basic necessities.

“Everything indicates that Cuba as a tourist destination begins to disappear from the offerings of international tour operators,” says Morales, in contrast to other Caribbean destinations – such as the Dominican Republic – “which are registering sustained growth, expanding their infrastructures and improving their services.”

The recovery of the sector, in short, requires “profound structural changes,” which include solving the energy and health crises, improving transport and security, and “offering economic and political freedoms that attract foreign investment and the trust of the Cuban exile.” Without these reforms, the report concludes, “the tourism industry will continue to decline, leaving Cuba lagging behind its regional competitors.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Despite Failure in the Premier 12, Cuba Places Players Abroad and Pockets $190,000

Raymond Figueredo and Frank Luis Medina will play in Venezuela, while Pavel Hernández will play in Nicaragua

The Island team got a total of $180,000 for participating in the event and another $10,000 for their victory against the Australian team / Jit

14ymedio, Havana, November 25, 2024 — The compensation of $190,000 for participation in the Premier 12 tournament barely alleviates the failure of the Cuban team in the competition. That amount is trivial compared to what was received by the first three: $1,610,000 to Japan, $750,000 to Korea and $500,000 to Mexico.

Three other players, on the other hand, will play from now on outside the Island: Raymond Figueredo and Frank Luis Medina in Venezuela and Pavel Hernández in Nicaragua. Journalist Yussef Díaz confirmed on his social networks the arrival of the first two players to the Tigres de Aragua, a team that is in the penultimate place of the Venezuelan championship.

The managers gave a vote of confidence to Figueredo, despite the fact that in the Premier 12 he only pitched in the game against Japan. The athlete had a depressing performance against the Japanese. In two innings he allowed two runs and had to carry the weight of defeat.

The record of the Habanero refers to his championship title with Parma Clima of Italy, in 2024, where he achieved seven victories and two defeats. In 17 games he allowed 19 runs and struck out 45 rivals. On the Island he continue reading

won a runner-up with Artemisa and a third place in his time with Industriales in the II Elite League.

The managers gave a vote of confidence to Figueredo, despite the fact that in the Premier 12 he only pitched in the game against Japan

Meanwhile, Frank Luis Medina, who was injured in the last preparation match, was included in the negotiation. His departure from the Island represents a balm for this pinareño. Despite the fact that both players are capable of throwing pitches of 90 miles per hour, “control is the main enemy of their performances,” warned the specialized magazine Swing Completo.

However, Figueredo and Medina were included in the Venezuelan team because the first option to strengthen the team of openers, the American Alex Sanabia, “had visa problems,” revealed the newspaper El Emergente.

The Cuban Baseball Federation also managed to place Pavel Hernández. According to journalist Francys Romero, the player will join the Nicaraguan champion team, Gigantes de Rivas.

Hernández, who played with the Mexican team Rieleros de Aguascalientes and before in the Venezuelan club Samanes de Aragua, did not have a prominent place in the Premier 12. His best performance was in the 63rd National Baseball Series, when on May 7 at the Latin American stadium he had zero hits and zero runs against the Holguín team.

In addition to this, Cuba received 190,000 dollars from the Premier 12. This makes a total of 180,000 dollars for participating in the event and another 10,000 for Cuba’s victory against the Australian team.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the ‘Parole’ in Hand, Crossing the Rio Grande Is No Longer an Odyssey

A Cuban relates his experience of the orderly admission of migrants on the border between Mexico and Texas

A group of migrants on U.S. soil being processed by the authorities after illegally entering the country / EFE

14ymedio, Lorey Saman, Eagle Pass (Texas), November 24, 2024 — “What is your date of birth?” the American officer with Latin features and in Spanish mixed with English, a legacy of her Hispanic family, asked firmly. “I don’t know,” the Guatemalan whispered, barely understanding what she was asking. “You don’t know the date you were born?” the woman asked. “No. It’s what my document says there.” The man tried to save himself but could not dodge the successive questions of the agent, who arranged her glasses to take a good look at him.

That was the first scare I experienced when, after five in the morning on November 5, I crossed the bridge that divides Mexico and the United States between Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass (Texas) to enter the U.S. with an appointment from CBP One (Customs and Border Protection Office). Below, the Rio Bravo [‘Rio Grande’ in the US] roars between the whirlpools, illuminated from shore to shore. In one part, you can cross freely; in the other, a fence with barbed wire forms other whirlpools and prevents passage. It’s needless to say which side is in the south and which is in the north.

I arrived in Piedras Negras two days before my appointment. I was worried about the rumors of drug trafficking around the border. Luckily, I got one of the quietest points, according to what I read and heard on networks and from acquaintances. However, some migrants did not have the same good luck.

A Venezuelan was robbed in the middle of the street, before arriving at the hotel where most of the applicants were staying, and a Honduran was assaulted and lost all the documents that would prove to the Mexican authorities that he had an appointment for that day in Eagle Pass. It was striking that they let him through, but not without first warning him that if he did not appear on the CBP list, he would be returned and prosecuted for fraud. It was not necessary: he was one of the first to be called by the U.S. authorities. continue reading

We formed a line after 3:00 am in front of the Mexico Customs parking lot in Piedras Negras

We formed a line after 3:00 am in front of the Mexico Customs parking lot in Piedras Negras. There were supposed to be 30 migrants, and only 26 arrived, including seven children. In Eagle Pass they do not process more than 60 appointments per day. Half enter at 5:00 am and the rest at 1:00 pm.

We had to bring five pesos to go through the turnstile on the Mexican side. We began to walk on the right side of the avenue that connects the two countries; that stretch of sidewalk was fenced. From there I could see the Rio Bravo. A very long, slow freight train passed on the railway bridge that was seen in many videos during the exodus of 2021 and 2022. The migrants crossed there, they said, because the water wasn’t as deep. In the middle of the Rio Bravo you could see a small islet, a piece of land where migrants stopped to pluck up their courage to continue their fearful steps toward the American dream.

The CBP agents arrived punctually at the dividing line. We were lined up in the order in which we were called, and, without delaying the process, they took us to their facilities 600 meters away. At that moment we already had our cell phones inside our luggage and couldn’t use them. In the building they took a photo, DNA samples and examined us in an infirmary. We went to another room for another photo and fingerprints. Those who were being processed had to state their date of birth in “the chronological order that is used in the United States,” clarified the CBP agent, which made the Guatemalan nervous: “Here in the United States we say month, day and year,” explained the woman, about 28 years old and who, apparently, was in a bad mood.

Finally, the Guatemalan’s fingerprints were taken, and he was sent to the next room, as happened with everyone. We sat in groups at three tables. At mine there were three Cubans (along with me, a couple from Holguín), the Venezuelan who was robbed as soon as he arrived in Piedras Negras, a Honduran who helped the Venezuelan after being assaulted, a Salvadoran and two Guatemalans. We filled out a form to confirm our data and put down the reason for entering the United States. Many wrote a paragraph; I put only two words: “political asylum.”

The man from El Salvador was my age, 40 years old. Since we were face to face, he was the one I talked to the most. He told me about Nayib Bukele, whom he supported at first but now hates, because, he says, he is a dictator and a white-collar thief. All of the Salvadorian’s brothers are in the U.S., and two of them have gone to the border to receive him. Of all of present, he showed the least concern. He dressed very differently from the rest of the migrants; he had a place to go; he felt confident; and he spoke very good English, he told me.

A 32-year-old Guatemalan mother, exhausted, sat on my left; everything she had experienced in her life made her appear 45. She spent the whole year working outside her home in Guatemala City. Her daughter, just six years old, is being raised by her parents, and she sacrificed herself for the little one. Every time she mentioned her girl, whom she wants to bring to the U.S. when she can, her eyes lit up. I know that look well: it’s one of emigration and pain for departure, for being away from loved ones.

Latin American migrants on Mexican soil ready to cross the Rio Grande to the U.S. / EFE

To the right of the Salvadoran, in front of me, was the other Guatemalan, who intended to work cleaning houses or at whatever job he could do to get ahead. He is 28 years old. He left his parents, his brothers and an adored cat that is now in the care of his a niece. He did not miss a chance to mention God, pray and tell me that in the migrant camp in Guadalajara, where he arrived after a long trek from the south, he spent 36 days with a group that had CBP appointments. This was the same number of days it took for my appointment to arrive. The young woman confided that they all fasted and asked a lot from God; then she began to pray and we all shut up.

I could not talk to the Cuban couple, the Venezuelan and the Honduran. They called them apart and processed them in the first room; they were the last to be called. The CBP agents who processed us next were nicer. There were seven, and each one attended from three to seven migrants; families were processed by a single officer.

After three hours they offered us a small breakfast: a burrito, candy and water. By then four of the seven children who accompanied the group were sleeping on mats in the living room. Tired, many put their heads on the tables and even snored. They again called the Guatemalan who couldn’t read. They asked him several questions. We all got nervous; nobody could understand what he was saying. More agents surrounded him, saying it was to help. The man had misplaced the address at which he was supposed to arrive in the United States, and due to his illiterate condition, he was actually being aided by the staff. Finally they called him for some signatures and in 15 minutes gave him his file. He was the first to leave those desperate walls. He said goodbye to everyone shortly after 10 in the morning

They didn’t ask anyone present about “credible fear” during the interviews. The agent who attended me, along with the Salvadoran and another Honduran, asked me only what I did for work in Mexico and how long I had been there. We were all called little by little, and before 12 pm we were out with our respective paroles. From the Cuban couple, the first to come out was the girl, who was given an entry permit for one year and a month; the husband received a permit for two years and two months. I got a one-year parole. The three of us were relieved: it’s enough time to invoke the Cuban Adjustment Law.

Some of us, without planning it, got together outside the CBP property to blow off some steam]]

Some of us, without planning it, got together outside the CBP building to blow off some steam, and then we began to walk towards a shelter that was a kilometer away to try to spend the night and see what they could offer us. We didn’t make it. On the way we were approached by a Mexican woman who was advising migrants. She took us to her office and charged 50 dollars each for an employee to transport the group to San Antonio. That city has the closest airport to Eagle Pass, and we had to get there to fly to our final destinations, except the Salvadoran who was picked up by his brothers and remained in Texas.

On the way to San Antonio I was able to talk to the Cuban couple. They spent six months in Mexico and were going to Florida just like me. She was 30 years old; he was 34, and they were now overtaken with fatigue. They left us at a shelter in San Antonio around five in the afternoon. My flight was at 10 am the next day, and theirs was at 2 pm. We met several times at that air terminal and also at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where the three of us made a stopover for a few hours. We told each other our stories, laughed and were silent remembering what we had left behind. They called many relatives in Cuba and friends who stayed in Mexico in the hope of entering before Donald Trump assumes the Presidency next January. At 7 pm, I took a plane to my final destination. It was my first flight within this country, and, surely, it will not be my last.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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In Villa Clara, Cuba, With Hard Work and an Excellent Peanut Harvest, Braulio Barely Made 675 Dollars

The farmer had to hire several people to do the threshing by hand / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Rosalía (Villa Clara province), 23 November 2024 — To plant peanuts, without which Villa Clara’s famous turrones* would not exist, three things are needed: experience, technique and luck. Braulio, a 62-year-old farmer from the Rosalía sugar workers’ town in Camajuaní, certainly has the first two. The third is harder to come by. Nevertheless, this year he decided to take a chance and sank twenty-five pots into the ground instead of the usual three. His neighbors, with the usual wisdom of the Cuban countryside, foresaw a good harvest and even better sales.

In October, the radio began giving news of Cyclone Oscar, and Braulio’s life got complicated.

Even for an expert in the cultivation of peanuts like him, the rules of the game had changed. The plant depends on the level of humidity. It is sown in the rainy months, and the furrow needs to be wet, but not too wet. Otherwise, the plant will rot. The downpours that the hurricane brought put Braulio face to face with that risk, and he had to counterattack quickly.

He hired four locals for a few days to speed up the harvest, paying them 600 pesos for the morning shift and another 600 for the afternoon. For the rice and beans – which he also had to collect – he paid a similar amount or made a payment in kind. After the downpours, the peanuts showed unequivocal signs of maturity: yellow flowers with dark spots. continue reading

Once the plants were uprooted, they had to dried / 14ymedio

Once the plants were uprooted, they had to be dried, an almost impossible mission until Hurricane Oscar departed from Cuban shores. Some peanut pods had begun to germinate. For Braulio, it was the sign that he had to start threshing. He promised each guajiro 150 pesos for each can of peanuts that they managed to collect. The work was not easy: it was necessary to separate the healthy pods from those that had already sprouted or rotted.

The threshing is done by hitting the peanuts in a tank or on a canvas, but in the face of urgency, Braulio had to hire several people to do the process by hand, pot by pot. When the sun finally came out, they stretched the canvas on the lawn of the farm and let the pods dry for three days.

The result was satisfactory: 210 cans of peanuts in good condition; about 190 to sell and the rest for sowing next year. “Last year there were few farmers planting peanuts,” says Braulio. “A can was worth up to 2,000 pesos because there was little availability in the area, and the turrones demanded it. Five or six buyers a month came looking and couldn’t find them.”

After the harvest, Alberto, a friend of Braulio who makes turrones and lives in Zulueta – a town in neighboring Remedios – went to his farm to buy his peanuts. He left with the 190 cans that Braulio had planned to sell, at 1,500 pesos each.

The predictions of his colleagues in Rosalía were not wrong. With the sale he earned 285,000 pesos. He subtracted 49,500 pesos for the payment of workers and 14,000 for herbicides, insecticides and other supplies. The net profit brought by the harvest was 221,500 pesos, much more than in previous years, but on the informal foreign exchange market, this exceptional performance is equivalent to just $675 for an entire harvest.

From Braulio’s furrow to Alberto’s factory, the route of turrones in Villa Clara is one of the most traditional in Cuba / 14ymedio

From the furrow of Braulio to Alberto’s factory, the route of the turrones in Villa Clara is one of the most traditional in Cuba. The peanuts are cleaned and ground by hand – Alberto designed a peeling machine -, and the resulting dough is sold to the confectioners of the province. In Santa Clara, for example, one of the most successful businesses is that of Orelvis Bormey, whose original motto for his Casa del Maní, located a few blocks from Vidal Park, left no doubt of its quality: “unshelled and peeled.”

With a novel advertising and distribution system, in addition to deals with the State to export, Bormey and his wife, Jenny Correa, have been producing peanut butter for more than a decade. They also owned one of the 315 pioneering businesses that became private enterprises in 2021.

Although the activity in networks of the Casa del Maní decreased considerably after the pandemic, they then received their raw material from state cooperatives of Encrucijada. That year they came to have three points of sale in Santa Clara and Encrucijada, and their products were sold at Abel Santamaría International Airport and in several hotels in the central region.

Already at that time – after having made a first shipment of their turrones to Italy – they regretted that the lack of agricultural inputs complicated the acquisition of raw material and that they would have to resort to coconut, cheaper, to maintain diversity in their catalog.

Last June, at the Expocaribe fair in Santiago de Cuba, Correa was still looking for international customers. “Entrepreneurs with very particular interests have approached us,” he said with enthusiasm, “but without clear results.” Contradicting its founding motto, Bormey presented among its products “unshelled roasted peanuts.”

*Translator’s note: Turrones are similar to nougat confections but use sugar instead of honey.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, a Pound of Pork Reaches 1,000 Pesos a Few Weeks Before the Christmas Holidays

The price of meat has always worked as a thermometer to measure the state of the domestic economy.

The rise in the price of pork comes to a large extent from the fall in national production / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 24 November 2024 — It became so common on Cuban tables that someone proposed to remove from the national shield the Cuban tocororo, that bird that few have seen, to replace it with a good chubby pig. Pork was our Thanksgiving turkey, our Mother’s Day delicacy, our Christmas dish and our December 31 dinner. Nobody questioned the crown ingredient of festivities, the protein of family meals and the protagonist of the boxes that were sold in street stalls.

But Don Cochino has changed and is no longer seen on solemn occasions. This week, in the 19 and B market of El Vedado, Havana, the price of a pound of pork reached 1,000 pesos, twice as much as a year ago. For their part, the offers with skin, fat and bone are up to 900 and for ribs with little to bite you must pay 850. That increase, a few weeks before the New Year’s Eve celebrations, augurs a Christmas without chicharrones or masitas fritas [fried pork chunks] in many homes.

“Here I have 5,000 pesos, and this is not enough for two meals for the four people in my house,” lamented a woman in front of the butcher counter. Shortly before, she had managed to discreetly get 20 dollars from an informal money changer at the entrance. “With what’s left of my money, which is not even 2,000 pesos, I am going to buy some tomatoes and a cabbage,” she sighed.

If in November 2023 a pound of pork reached 500 pesos, which made many Cubans raise their eyebrows and clutch their wallets, the beginning of this year behaved like a launch pad that boosted the price, which in April exceeded 1,200 pesos. By May, it seemed that the rise was beginning to slow down, but in the last quarter of the year it gained height again. continue reading

This week, in the 19 and B market, the price of a pound of pork reached 1,000 pesos, twice as much as a year ago / 14ymedio

The price of pork has always functioned as a thermometer to measure the state of the Cuban domestic economy. While a few decades ago the calculation separated families according to the part of the animal they managed to eat, now it has only two categories: those who cannot afford to sink their tooth into a piece of pork and those who still manage to pay for the meat of what was called “the national mammal.”

“When I was a child my family was poor, my mother worked in the gas company and my father was a driver on Route 22, but in my house they bought steaks, legs, liver and even heart,” recalls Alejandro, a resident in Old Havana who this Thursday tried to buy a pork shoulder in a market on Monte Street. “I couldn’t. When the butcher weighed the piece, it was above 10,000 pesos, crazy.”

“My dad, in the 80s, guaranteed with his salary that we would not miss the year-end pork,” he recalls. Alejandro’s family, without having a high income, was among those who could afford to roast a medium-sized leg for New Year’s Eve. “There were some neighbors who had very few resources and bought fat, necks or even ears, but no one was left without their little piece of pork.”

Now, Alejandro, his wife and their three children have been on the other side of the measurement. The line that divides those who can afford a piece of pig, whatever part of the animal, has thrown them into the area of those who must be content with savoring the memories. “The smell of pork can’t be hidden. When you fry chicharrones it’s like when you cook shrimp, lobster or squid: everyone in the neighborhood knows what you’re doing,” says this 51-year-old from Havana.

“When that smell comes from a house on my block, everyone draws their own conclusions: that family has money and lots of it, because pork is very expensive.” Alejandro does not rule out that some even open the windows and leave the door of the living room open so that the aroma floods the neighborhood and exhibits their purchasing power.

“A plate of pork now says more about your pocketbook than a gold chain,” he jokes. “Look, if you go out on the street with a piece of fried pork hanging around your neck it will cause more of a stir than if you wore an 18-carat gold chain.” In his opinion, the rise in the price of pork is largely due to the fall in national production and the arrival on the market of a product imported mainly from the United States.

“The breeding cycle was broken a few years ago when many females were slaughtered due to a lack of feed”

In the area of Alquízar, current province of Artemisa and former land of pig-breeding to nourish the voracious appetite of the habaneros, “the guajiros no longer want to dedicate themselves to this business,” confirms Mildred, who together with her husband supplied pork loins, with or without skin, with or without bone, to numerous residents of Nuevo Vedado, in the Cuban capital. “There is no feed for the animals,” she says.

“The breeding cycle was broken a few year ago when many females were slaughtered due to a lack of feed. Now people raise pigs for their own consumption and to sell a few animals. The Cuban pig that is currently bred cannot compete with the one that comes from the U.S., neither in size nor quality of meat, and much less in presentation.”

An American pork loin, from the Smithfield brand, is sold in private shops at a price of 1,100 pesos per pound, but “it is clean, very well packaged and with very little fat,” says Mildred. The lean pieces, the sanitary check stamps and the “Made in USA” sign attract more than “the legs full of flies hanging from the hooks of the agromarkets.”

“Most farmers have to slaughter the animal early in the morning to sell it the same day because there is no way to transport refrigerated pieces,” she points out. “In addition, here the pigs are stunted because they hardly let them grow. The lack of food accelerates the slaughter and does not allow them to be fattened. Before you could fatten up three pigs; now you can’t even bring one to a decent size.”

Mildred’s family, however, has saved their leg for the end of the year. “My brother bought it for me. He left a couple of months ago and is now in Tapachula, waiting for the appointment to enter the United States and working as a welder.” The piece that will delight the family on December 31 comes from Brazil. “We are crossing our fingers that there is no other big blackout because we have it frozen.”

If the national electrical system collapses again and the pork for December spoils, no one can predict how much a pound of pork will cost. The animal has already earned a place on the national coat of arms of the dreamed-about Cuba. In that coat of arms, the chubby animal frolics in an idyllic field with a lonely palm. On its head a key in the middle of two pieces of land is the symbol of an Island, in a strategic commercial and political position, that no one inhabits.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Russian Deputy Puts the Installation of Missiles in Cuba and Venezuela Back on the Table

Alexei Zhuravlev believes that this is the best way to respond to the West for assisting Ukraine in the war

Alexei Zhuravlev, first vice president of the Duma’s Defense Committee / AGN Moscow

14ymedio, Havana, 22 November 2024 — The first vice president of the Russian Defense Committee, Alexei Zhuravlev, proposed this Friday that the Kremlin place missiles in Cuba and Venezuela to “attack the United States.” It is not the first time that the Duma deputy suggests returning to the tension of the October Crisis in 1962, but this time he does so in relation to the aid that the West provides to Ukraine. “This would be an appropriate response,” he says.

In conversation with the Russian news media NEWS, Zhuravlev explained that Moscow’s response to Kiev “is already underway, and with considerable success; we are moving forward and we will continue to move forward until they understand that Ukraine must simply capitulate.” However, the deputy believes that a forceful warning to Ukraine’s allies is necessary.

“The answer can be the following: supply medium and short-range missiles to Venezuela and Cuba,” repeated the parliamentarian, whose vision of Moscow’s “partners” has the militaristic and utilitarian tang of relations with the disappeared USSR. The intention remains, however, to respond to the “Ukrainian attacks with British Storm Shadow long-range missiles on continue reading

Russian territory.”

He also recalled that the United States gave Poland an anti-missile system and that the country, bordering Ukraine and Belarus, “can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles” that could easily reach Russian territory.

“Likewise, it is necessary to supply Venezuela and Cuba with similar means, such as air defense”

“Likewise, it is necessary to provide Venezuela and Cuba with similar means, such as air defense, with the capacity to launch missile attacks on the territory of the United States,” he reaffirmed.

Just a few days ago, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukrainian forces to use long-range tactical missiles to attack Russian targets. In response, Moscow modified its military doctrine, which now contemplates the use of nuclear weapons in case of attacks that compromise the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus.

Zhuravlev is not the only one in favor of the militarization of Venezuela and Cuba by Russia. Last July, legislator Sergei Mironov, leader of the Just Russia coalition and close to Vladimir Putin, suggested a similar deployment. The politician, a member of the Lower House of Parliament, said that installing weapons on the Island is one of the Kremlin’s many options if it wants to respond to Western support for Ukraine.

Mironov explained that if Russia sends missiles to Cuba, it could give a signal to the United States, whose missiles were used in Ukrainian attacks against Russian targets in Crimea. “The possible use of a base in Cuba, which was recently visited by Russian ships transporting hypersonic weapons abroad, is just one of many options,” he said in a statement at the time.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin has revitalized some old alliances

Months earlier, in January, Zhuravlev had already made another of these proposals, which in that case involved nuclear weapons

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin has revitalized some old alliances that have been on ice since the Soviet era. In Cuba, this relationship has included a series of military exchanges, as well as the visit of a Russian naval flotilla in June, headed by a nuclear-powered submarine.

When the Russian flotilla entered the capital’s pier at the beginning of June, the Kazan submarine and the Admiral Gorshkov frigate were carrying missiles of various types: Zircon hypersonic, Kalibr cruiser and Onyx anti-ship. On their way to Havana, the ships passed very close to Florida and carried out exercises with “high-precision missiles” in the Atlantic, which set off alarms in the United States, which also deployed a flotilla in the area and sent a nuclear-powered submarine to the naval base of Guantánamo.

Nor is Cuba conflicted about presenting itself to its allies as a key military point in the region. Last December, the Cuban Army allowed a reporter from the Russian channel Zvezda to record part of its underground arsenal that includes war tanks, missile launchers, Russian Ural-4320 trucks and Chinese Howo trucks.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The United States Is ‘Outraged’ by Allegations That José Daniel Ferrer Was Beaten in Prison

They demand proof of life from the Cuban regime for political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer

José Daniel Ferrer, leader of Unpacu, imprisoned in Santiago de Cuba, in a file image / Screen capture

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 22 November 2024 — The United States said on Thursday that it was “outraged” at the complaints of family members, human rights NGOs and Cuban dissident organizations that claim that the opponent and political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer has been hospitalized after receiving a “brutal beating.”

“Indignant to hear the reports that José Daniel Ferrer was beaten in prison and transferred to another facility,” said Brian Nichols, in charge of Latin America at the Department of State, in his X account.

“We call on the Government of Cuba to allow immediate access to his family and to release him, along with the nearly 1,000 political prisoners unjustly detained in Cuba,” it added.

Ferrer’s sister reported this Wednesday that she was aware of the situation thanks to the testimony of a prisoner in Boniato prison, in Santiago de Cuba, which has a hospital where Ferrer was taken from Mar Verde prison, in the same province, where he has been serving a sentence since 2021.

According to the sources, Ferrer was seriously assaulted, and not being able to be properly treated in the Mar Verde infirmary, had to be transferred. continue reading

The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu) has allegedly been admitted to Room A of the infirmary of the Boniato prison for three days, although no details are known about his state of health, which, according to his relatives, had deteriorated significantly in recent months from existing conditions related to his stays in prison.

The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba denounced “this act of violence, which shows the systematic dehumanization of conditions in Cuban prisons.”

The Cuban Democratic Directory, based in Miami, held responsible “the communist regime of Cuba in its entirety, especially the hitmen of the dictatorship who serve as prison officers. We demand proof of life for José Daniel Ferrer, his freedom and freedom for all political prisoners in Cuba,” adds the statement of the exile group.

Cuban civil society organizations and individuals asked last August that political prisoner of conscience José Daniel Ferrer García be proposed for the Sakharov Prize, awarded by the European Parliament.

Cuban civil society organizations and individuals asked last August that the political prisoner of conscience José Daniel Ferrer García be proposed for the Sakhorov Prize

According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, based in Madrid, the petition was signed by a “coalition of human rights organizations” with the aim of achieving the “protection and safeguarding” of Ferrer, whose physical and psychological integrity is at “extreme risk.”

On 11 July 2021, Ferrer was arrested along with his son, for participating in popular protests against the Regime, when he was under house arrest after a four-year sentence imposed on him for “corruption” in 2019.

Since then, he has remained in Mar Verde, where he has been subjected to “ill-treatment and violations of UN recommendations on the treatment of prisoners.”

In December 2022, he began a hunger strike in prison, and since March 2023, he has not received family or conjugal visits and is in an isolated cell with hardly any light.

His last known visitors were the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García Ibáñez, and the priest Camilo de la Paz, in charge of the Pastoral Penitentiary of the diocese, on September 7. According to his wife, Nelva Ortega Tamayo, they found him in a “not entirely good” state of health, although he was strong in spirit.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Exemption of Tariffs on Agricultural Inputs, the Cuban Government Continues Its Patchwork Policy

The private sector does not have the necessary foreign currency to import fertilizers or seeds

The new resolutions aim to make some products cheaper, such as fertilizers and other inputs necessary for cultivation / Granma

14ymedio, Madrid, 22 November 2024 — The Government has approved two resolutions with which it intends to stimulate food production through discounts and tax exemptions on the import of raw materials and inputs. The measures, which affect both the private and state sectors, comes “at a very necessary time, due to serious agricultural effects due to recent weather events,” said the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale.

It is actually one more step in the direction taken in December 2023, which was highly criticized by several experts for placing the emphasis on tariffs without taking into account the inability of private companies to obtain the necessary foreign currency to finance imports. “Cuba’s agricultural crisis will not be solved by any tariff. In the short term, it requires raw materials and intermediate goods that should be imported mainly by the State,” economist Pedro Monreal wrote at the time.

The minister’s comments to justify the new measures indicate that the Government has not taken the advice of independent experts into account. The official stressed that the decision will not only reduce import costs but will also provide the “possibility of establishing partnerships to recover production lines” and will have a “favorable impact on prices with an increase in supply, especially food.” However, there is a deadline: December 31, 2025, since the measures are “subject to the study of their real impact.”

Resolution 329 automatically exempts 191 products from the payment of import tariffs, detailed in an appendix. These are mainly pesticides, fertilizers, raw materials and inputs from production processes. Among them are grain seeds of all kinds, veterinary medicines for ranchers, continue reading

chemical and mineral fertilizers, and insecticides.

Resolution 329 automatically exempts 191 products from import tariffs, detailed in an appendix

In addition, there is a multitude of tools for the field – shovels, saws, wire – and tires for agricultural machinery, and there is a large collection of items for packaging and distribution ranging from bags to cardboard, paper and pallets.

In the long list, some products for food preparation such as oils of different types and flours stand out. At the end of 2023, when the Government announced that 2024 national manufacturing would be encouraged with tariff subsidies of 50% for the import of intermediate products and 50% penalties for finished products, the ministers themselves admitted the complexity of establishing some limits. For example, flour, which could be “final” if sold to the consumer, could be “intermediate” if used in the production of breads and pastries.

Also striking is the inclusion of three groups linked to the sugar sector, such as cane and beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in a solid state; other sugars, syrups and honey substitutes; and molasses from the extraction or refining of sugar. This section contains 20 by-products and reveals, on one hand, the dependence of Cubans on a substance the World Health Organization considers “unnecessary from a nutritional point of view” and harmful to health, in particular because of its close link to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

It also reveals what has been evident for a long time. Cuba urgently needs to import the product due to the destruction of its previously powerful sugar industry. In 2023, for the first time, more money was allocated to buying sugar abroad than was obtained by selling it.

According to Regueiro Ale, there are more than 3,000 tariff items, and for the moment, these 191 are automatically exempt, although “the economic actor receiving the goods” must present a quarterly report with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of its profit, in which it must include the price reduction achieved. Ministry and Customs will have the responsibility of evaluating the result of the exemption.

“The economic actor receiving the goods” must present a quarterly report with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of its profit, in which it must include the price reduction achieved”

Resolution 328, for its part, is complementary to the one described above, since it provides for a 50% bonus for items that, also intended for the production of food and agriculture, do not appear in the previous list, which means that the reduction of the tax rate is not automatic but must be requested.

In this case, the documents detailed in the resolution must be sent, which essentially include the identification and billing data of the company, the international sales contract, the quantity of merchandise, its value and the justification for what the cargo is intended for, among others. They will be reviewed and must be sent within 15 days, but the time to correct errors is also extended. In case any document is missing, the applicant is required – interrupting the processing time – to send what is needed within seven days.

Minister Regueiro Ale explained that this resolution aims to improve the previous rule, approved in January, by which tariffs were reduced by 50% on intermediate products, but without documentation and deadline specifications. To date, “the tax sacrifice,” he said, “amounts to about 25 million pesos, especially among non-state economic actors, most of whom have requested this permission.”

The automatic exemption of almost 200 by-products will allow, on the other hand, relieving the bureaucratic burden on both parties and reduce import times. However, the Government is still not considering the possibility of freely trading with the outside world without a state intermediary, one of the main demands of the sector.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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