Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 9

Cuba: Acopio Loses Its Monopoly, but the State Retains Partial Control Over the Sale of Agricultural Products

The Government reserves the most profitable sectors, such as tobacco and honey, and maintains control over exports

The obligation ends for farmers to have no choice but to rely on the State company Acopio, with its endless debts and non-payments. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, April 9, 2026 – The commercialization of agricultural production will no longer be a monopoly of the Cuban State company Acopio, as it has been for 40 years. According to the regulation published this Thursday in the Official Gazette, producers will have more freedom to sell directly in the national market, although the State reserves the most profitable sectors and maintains control over exports.

The main novelty is, without a doubt, the recognition of small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes [MSMEs in English]), cooperatives, self-employed workers, and individual producers as possible intermediaries. Thus, Decree 143/2025 and Resolution 16/2026 establish that any economic actor may manage markets, lease State premises, and sell both wholesale and retail goods.

Acopio is now just one more entity, although with considerably greater infrastructure than any private company in the country. As such, it must be able to fulfill contractual obligations regardless of whether it has financial resources or not. If it encounters logistical or financial problems, it is required, like all others, to inform the producers with whom it had contracts, who are then free to market their products with other natural or legal persons. According to this principle, the obligation ends for farmers who have no choice but to turn to the State company, with its endless debts and non-payments.

Producers are now authorized to make direct sales to the national balance, tourism, or mini-industries

Producers are now authorized to make direct sales to the National Balance, tourism, foreign-currency border sales, the national food processing industry, and mini-industries. However, exports continue reading

have several particularities. Although the producer can choose the product and where to sell it, commercialization must be carried out through intermediaries approved for that purpose, presumably due to their specialization.

In addition, there are a number of products that are outside this freedom of sale, as they are considered strategic sectors for the country. The list currently includes tobacco, charcoal, honey, cocoa, and coffee, although under the category “others,” the door remains open to include any that may be considered in the future.

The regulation includes a significant change in contracting committees, an entity that already existed but now, especially with the inclusion of private actors, represents the decentralization of the commercialization system.

These territorial groups will consist of a president, the Governor (at the provincial level) or the Mayor (at the municipal level), and permanent members who are representatives of the Agriculture Delegation, State and private companies, cooperatives, producers, and guests who are representatives of the Bank, Finance and Prices, the National Association of Small Farmers, and the sector’s labor union.

Their role is now decisive, compared to before when it was more deliberative without final decision-making power. They are now responsible for setting prices for non-centralized products, using local costs and market behavior as references. Their functions also include determining production priorities, social consumption and State markets, preparing balances and future estimates, as well as resolving conflicts. According to the latter, if a buyer of a product reports that they do not have funds to purchase what was agreed upon, these committees will determine its new destination “without this implying increased costs for producers or exempting the contract violator from responsibility.”

The new regulation includes some economic control mechanisms, including full banking of operations and the use of the Information System for Agricultural Planning (SIPA)*

Another important body is the public procurement committees, responsible for supplying entities of social consumption such as hospitals, nursing homes, and schools. These committees, which must be established in each center, are chaired by the head of the institution and include an odd-numbered team of its own staff responsible for managing each purchase.

The biggest change is the end of State allocation and the establishment of bidding and competition mechanisms. Each hospital, school, or other entity must issue a call in which any economic actor, whether a State company, cooperative, small business, or individual producer, can submit an offer on equal terms. The committee must evaluate proposals and select the supplier based on the best balance of quality, price, and delivery timing, issuing a formal decision that results in a legal contract and is subject to oversight, theoretically to prevent cases of corruption or favoritism.

The new regulation includes some economic control mechanisms, including the full banking of operations and the use of the SIPA information system to register contracts and transactions, a potential issue due to the distrust citizens feel toward the political and economic system.

*An IT tool adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Spain’s Vima, With Business in Cuba, Doubles Its Revenue Despite the Crisis on the Island

The company sells low-quality products at high prices in the stores of the Cuban military conglomerate Gaesa

State store of Vima and Cimex at Infanta and Santa Marta, Centro Habana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, April 8, 2026 – The Vima Foods group, known in Cuba for its low quality food products, expects revenue of 250 million dollars (216 million euros) in 2026, a figure higher than last year and more than double what it reported in 2024. In a statement distributed to the media this Tuesday, the Spanish company also states that it plans to double those revenues in five years, thanks to the expansion of its businesses in the Americas and its “leap” into European and African markets.

Thus, by 2030 the firm, whose name comes from the combination of the initials of its founder, Víctor Moro Suárez, aims to reach 500 million dollars (432 million euros), driven by “its recent change in visual identity and its positioning as a trusted partner” in what the sector calls the “horeca channel”—an acronym for hotels, restaurants, and catering—and in retail sales “worldwide.”

This year they also plan to become a “comprehensive distribution solution” for Spanish and international brands “with expansion strategies in global markets.” This offer to serve as a “bridge between Spanish production and global demand” is considered by Vima as “a step forward,” supported by “its consolidated infrastructure, its knowledge of local markets, and its network of relationships with operators, supermarkets, and distributors in more than 30 countries.

The company boasts of operating “in more than 10,000 points of sale” and of being “in the main supermarket chains in the Americas”

The company boasts of operating “in more than 10,000 points of sale” and of having a presence “in the main supermarket chains in the Americas such as Walmart, Chedraui, Rey, Éxito, Soriana, and Carrefour.” Likewise, it notes that it supplies “the main hotel chains in the region.”

In its statement, it does not detail how business is distributed among the seven countries where it claims to have distribution centers: Spain, the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, and China, listed in that order. However, according to last year’s figures, the Island is its main market, accounting for nearly half of its business continue reading

volume. At that time, they reported that of the nearly 106 million euros in business volume of the group’s Coruña-based subsidiary, Corporación Alimentaria Vima, 49 million euros corresponded to operations with Cuba, followed by the Dominican Republic with 33 million and Mexico with 15.4 million. This implies a very minor margin, about 9 million euros, for the rest of the world where it claims to operate.

In Cuba, Vima products, ranging from frozen vegetables to prepared foods, including canned vegetables, jams, and grains, are as ubiquitous in stores as they are criticized by buyers. To the poor reputation for quality is added, in the midst of the unprecedented crisis in the country, the high prices at which they are sold in Cimex’s dollarized stores, which belong to the Grupo de Administración Empresarial (Gaesa), the conglomerate of the Armed Forces.

A 1.5-liter bottle of water costs one dollar, double what it costs in a private shop, and rice is 1,000 pesos per kilogram, when it is 600 in small private businesses.

Vima bags have become a clever form of advertising paid for by users of state-run stores. / 14ymedio

Another thing that has proliferated in recent times, not only in Vima’s own establishments but also in other dollar stores, is reusable green bags with the Vima logo. Their price is 40¢ (US), and since there are almost never free plastic bags in these markets, the customer is forced to buy one, a clever form of advertising paid for by users of the state-run stores where the Spanish company sells its goods.

The products of this brand, moreover, are not found in Spanish supermarkets, nor in Mexico City, but one would not guess this from reading its corporate information, where the Island appears to occupy just another space, and not the pillar of the conglomerate.

Vima insists on describing itself as a “family business whose roots are linked to the Galician fishing sector,” despite being little known in that region, while emphasizing its renewed expansionist ambitions. “One of our crucial markets continues to be the Americas, where we already have a very consolidated presence from north to south. However, our vocation is global; we are preparing the ground for large-scale expansion into Europe and Africa,” Víctor Moro Morros-Sarda, vice president of the conglomerate and son of the president and founder, Víctor Moro Suárez, is quoted as saying in the text.

His statements continue, emphasizing the company’s future ambitions: “We want Spanish and international brands to see Vima Foods not only as a distributor, but as a strategic ally. We have the infrastructure, local knowledge in complex markets, and the logistics necessary to bring the quality of our products to any corner of the world.” And they conclude: “Our recent participation in the Alimentaria trade fair has been the turning point to showcase this new identity and our capacity to scale the business exponentially through 2030.”

“We have the infrastructure and logistics necessary to bring the quality of our products to any corner of the world”

Except in this statement, moreover, the Moro family has never hidden its ties to the Island. Moro Morros-Sarda held a lavish wedding in Havana in December 2023, and his father, the son of Víctor Moro Rodríguez, a politician of Spain’s Transition, who died in 2021 and also headed a frozen packaged goods conglomerate, lived for more than 25 years in Cuba, where he was president of the Association of Spanish Businesspeople in the country.

Last year, in a report published by the local press, they highlighted a “new subsidiary” created by the group on the Island, Vima Caribe, intended to channel “all commercial operations into a new branch, a company with 100% foreign capital, responsible for the import, storage, commercialization, and distribution of the group’s products in Cuba.”

It thus became clear that the “collaboration project” between Vima and Gaesa, signed in 2024, went beyond the management of several “dollarized” stores. It involved the legal creation of a new company, which has not been reported by the official Cuban press.

In the same report, Economía Digital provided other details about the ups and downs of Vima Foods’ subsidiaries, not for nothing referring to it as “a highly dispersed conglomerate.” For example, it said that Corporación Alimentaria Vima had “transferred” its corporate employees in Spain to a new company, CS Vima, based in Madrid. It is in the Spanish capital where the head of the conglomerate is registered, that until March 2023 was located in Panama.

That same year, as recorded in the Commercial Registry, the group moved its registered office to Spain and transformed from a public limited company to a limited liability company, something that, above all, further strengthens the family’s control over the company and external investors.

In 2001, its revenues had been, as detailed, 25 million euros. That is, in a quarter century, the business has multiplied nearly tenfold

Even more opaque is the origin and growth of its multimillion-dollar business. The Panama Papers, the publication of the Mossack Fonseca law firm database by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed in 2016 that Vima World, whose name has changed several times since it was founded, appeared among companies registered in tax havens.

In the ICIJ database, it appears as founded in January 1994 in the British Virgin Islands. However, Moro Suárez himself admitted in an interview with the Galician press in 2006 that his empire began in Cuba. When asked by the journalist how he “learned” to manage “one hundred sixty employees who serve twenty million meals worldwide,” the businessman replied: “I found a niche in the Caribbean area, starting from Cuba, and that circumstance led me to organize this group of companies.”

Another earlier report, published in La Voz de Galicia, also confirmed this: “Vima was born in Havana in 1994, to take advantage of the opening of the Cuban market to tourism investment, and become the main distributor to hotels and restaurants.” In 2002, the report stated that Vima World, “a distributor based in Vigo and 100% owned by the Galician Moro family,” was the leader in the sector in Cuba, controlling 15% of food distribution and 25% of supply to hotels. In 2001, its revenues had been, as detailed, 25 million euros. That is, in a quarter century, the business had multiplied nearly tenfold.

How a company could be founded in Cuba, run by a foreigner in the mid-1990s, and reach those figures in just a few years is one of the questions raised about Vima, which began appearing in establishments on the Island precisely at that time, the era of dollarization and the desperation of the Special Period. The answer may lie in that 2006 interview, in which the journalist wrote that, according to what he had been told, Moro Suárez had connections with figures of the regime, including Fidel Castro himself.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Human Rights Group Denounces ‘Violations of Labor Rights’ in Cuba’s Medical Missions

Doctors have experienced “practices of income retention, long working hours, and the assignment of tasks unrelated to healthcare work”

The Inter-American Commission notes “differential treatment and remuneration that could be insufficient” / Cubadebate

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana/Miami, April 7, 2026 – This Tuesday the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) denounced “violations” of a structural nature of “labor, union, and human mobility rights” of professionals participating in Cuba’s medical missions abroad.

The report by this body of the Organization of American States (OAS) coincides with a pressure campaign by the United States on Cuba and, in particular, on its controversial medical missions and other sources of foreign currency.

The document, prepared jointly with the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) of the IACHR, refers to “the existence of structural challenges in terms of decent work in medical missions.”

It includes testimonies from participants in these missions who reported violations related to “differential treatment and working conditions characterized by levels of remuneration that could be insufficient.”

Doctors also face the “absence of contracts or lack of knowledge of working conditions”

The text details that doctors also face the “absence of contracts or lack of knowledge of working conditions, lack of union freedom, as well as working conditions that do not ensure the dignity of the worker.”

Professionals participating in Cuban missions abroad have experienced “practices of income retention, long working hours, and the assignment of tasks unrelated to healthcare work,” the report specifies.

Nevertheless, the IACHR also recognizes the importance of the work of Cuban healthcare personnel in these mechanisms “in the provision of essential services for populations in vulnerable situations.”

The study also notes that the recipient states of these brigades regard them as a form of cooperation that “contributes to strengthening their public systems in contexts where medical care is limited or insufficient.”

In addition, the report says that, despite criticisms of their working conditions, doctors earn a salary in dollars that is better than what they would receive in their own country, and the Cuban Government generates foreign currency (which it says it uses in its own healthcare system).

Havana keeps an average of 85% of the payment from host countries

However, according to Prisoners Defenders, Havana keeps an average of 85% of the payment from host countries, retains doctors’ passports abroad, and penalizes those who leave the mission before the agreed time. continue reading

The 2024 Trafficking in Persons report by the U.S. State Department places Cuba’s income from the export of professional services between 6 and 8 billion dollars.

According to Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), exports of professional services represented more than 40% of the Island’s total external sales between 2018 and 2020.

Cuban medical brigades, established more than six decades ago and with more than 600,000 professionals deployed in 165 countries, according to official figures, have been one of the focal points of U.S. policy toward Cuba under President Donald Trump’s administration in his second term.

In recent months, and under pressure from Washington, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago have suspended their medical cooperation with Cuba or reformed its terms.

The Cuban Government has denied these criticisms of Cuban medical missions and has described Washington’s pressure on Latin American and Caribbean countries as “fierce pressure” and “blackmail.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Bureaucracy and Corruption Hinder the Official Campaign in Favor of Solar Panels in Homes

In addition, the exodus has drastically reduced the number of trained experts authorized to approve these systems

Workers from a small private enterprise carry out solar panel installation work in Havana. / EFE/Capture

14ymedio, Madrid, April 7, 2026 – The controversy has not ceased since Julio César Hernández Santana, head of the Municipal Directorate of Territorial Planning and Urbanism (INOTU) in Matanzas, tried to clarify on local television the regulations for installing solar panels in homes, and a monumental mess ensued.

The official explained the mechanism, expressed in a directive from INOTU, which requires that the citizen begin the process at the Physical Planning offices, from where they will be referred to the community architect to draft a technical project. This preliminary step is essential for safety, as it evaluates the load-bearing capacity of the building and the specific location of the equipment.

Once the property documents and technical certification are submitted, the institution has a period of ten working days to issue official authorization, which costs 68 pesos, although the problem is more closely linked to the architectural project, which ranges between 700 and 1,500 pesos.

The problem is more closely linked to the architectural project, which ranges between 700 and 1,500 pesos

The regulation recognizes roofs, terraces, patios, garages, and porches as areas where panels can be installed, provided they are private spaces and do not harm neighbors. This complicates the situation for multifamily buildings, where residents’ agreement is required and space is scarce. The condition of the buildings is also a significant issue, since damaging the continue reading

waterproofing layers of the roof is possible, with leaks and neighborhood disputes as potential consequences.

In the case of panels already installed, about 33,000 in Matanzas, there is what Hernández called flexible retroactivity, meaning there will be no fines when the regulation comes into force, but the panels must be regularized. Responsibility for safety will fall on the owner, but obtaining authorization will provide protection in case of a complaint if something happens.

Although authorities acknowledge the urgency and necessity, the procedure adds complexity that has not been well received, above all, as they themselves admit, because the crisis on the Island is multisectoral. Families lack the financial resources to buy the expensive panels, and now procedures are added that increase the cost. The conditions of the buildings is often deplorable; transportation is also poor, and staffing is reduced due to the exodus that has occurred on the Island over the past four years. In Matanzas there are barely three community architects, making it almost impossible to process everything within a reasonable time.

Yuni Moliner, the journalist responsible for the controversial interview, was the first to highlight the issue by the title of the report: ORDERING or more BUREAUCRACY? The author notes that “the measure attempts to introduce control in a practice that has grown rapidly and, in many cases, improvised. However, it comes at a time when solar panels are not just an option, but an immediate energy necessity for thousands of families,” and emphasizes that, looking ahead, it provides legal certainty, but in an emergency situation only complicates matters.

One of the most well-founded comments came from energy expert Juan Carlos Subiaut, who raises additional problems beyond the already mentioned lack of human and material resources. Among them he highlights the well-known inefficiency of the institution due to its “ineffectiveness, corruption, voluntary and involuntary loss of documents,” lines, errors, and “other etceteras.” In addition, the specialist considers that it is not consistent with the government’s own policy, which, although it has eliminated tariffs and other taxes and created specific loans, in this case authorities are “quick to create problems for a solution that is, today, imperative.”

Subiaut adds that there are countless problems in cities, ranging from garbage dumps to water leaks and other misuse of resources that “occur under the passive gaze, I won’t say complicit, of that agency, but it has not spoken out about those illegalities.”

Subiaut adds that there are countless problems in cities, ranging from garbage dumps to water leaks and other misuse of resources that “occur under the passive gaze, I won’t say complicit, of that agency

These measures are joined by urban planning and architectural regulations, including those affecting historic centers, which involve additional authorizations from the Office of the Historian, among others, those governing respect for the urban image such as alterations to façades, and compliance with fire safety and discharge regulations.

The debate sparked by these regulations has generated thousands of comments on social media in which many citizens are expressing their discontent, already heightened by the many months of long blackouts with no solution in sight. “You really have to be shameless for this. People are installing panels not because they want to, but because necessity has driven them there,” says one user. “What they should do is provide electric service like all countries in the world do and stop making our lives harder,” adds another.

Experts have also become active and try to explain that the State is right to regulate these issues, but the timing should lead to relaxation or a moratorium, expressing more measured opinions. Meanwhile, Cuba’s Electric Union has again forecast a deficit of 1,840 megawatts for this Tuesday, one day after the Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas went offline again.

The two Turkish floating power plants [‘patanas‘] that were widely discussed this Monday and which, as the government itself has denied, are not more than those already on the Island, will have to wait until mid-April to receive the Russian oil that arrived a week ago and whose refining is yet to begin. The Belgin Sultan, moored in the port of Havana, has a production capacity of just 15 megawatts (MW), while the Erol Bey, located in Regla, contributes 63 MW to the national electrical system, which requires more than 3,000 MW to meet daily nationwide demand.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Widespread Suspicion Over the Official Announcement of the Delivery of Remittances in Dollars in Cuba

Fincimex does not provide details about commissions or the procedure for delivering currency in banknotes at Cadeca offices

14ymedio, Havana, April 7, 2026 – The Financiera de Cimex (Fincimex) announced this Tuesday that remittances can be received in cash dollars through the state-run exchange houses (Cadeca). With several exclamation marks, the corporation, sanctioned by the U.S. and belonging to the conglomerate Grupo de Administración Empresarial (Gaesa) of the Armed Forces, stated on its social media: “Remittances in cash dollars! From anywhere in the world, in minutes! Now, at Cadeca, you can receive your remittances in cash in USD!”

In a phone call to Cadeca’s central office, an employee tells this newspaper that “they are still studying it” and directed them to contact Fincimex “about receiving cash.” The exchange houses, she asserted, have not yet implemented it. We have to wait.”

One would not say the same about Fincimex’s enthusiastic and brief statement. In it, it also indicates that “you could always, at your discretion, deposit them totally or partially into your Clásica account,” referring to the Cimex card, the tool created by Gaesa to capture dollars, which allows payment at gas stations and state stores in Cuba, as well as wholesale services, such as the purchase of cars and imports. continue reading

“Good news is always for you, because if I need cash from the same card they don’t give it to me, plus what they deduct from you for loading it”

If this option is chosen, they say they will offer “discounts and additional advantages,” although these are excluded from gasoline purchases. Asked about this by a user, the financial entity responds that those discounts will be, depending on the business, between 4% and 10%.

The payment of remittances in cash on the Island is nothing new and is done directly at the beneficiary’s home. In fact, companies such as Cubamax, Cuballama, Sendvalu, or Bagalso, recently authorized by the Central Bank, do this, although outside Gaesa and its subsidiaries, which are sanctioned by the United States.

Not only because of that but also because the lack of foreign currency in cash in the country is well documented, hundreds of comments on Fincimex’s post express their suspicions about the new measure. “Good news is always for you, because if I need cash from the same card they don’t give it to me, plus what they deduct from you for loading it,” says Ivan Betancour. The corporation replies by insisting: “It is good news for remittance beneficiaries to access a remittance in USD cash,” to which another commenter retorts: “That must be why the sale of USD in Cadecas is halted. Since January 28 that line hasn’t moved.”

“Now there is cash?” Livan Orelly asks with laughter, ending up in an exchange with Fincimex. “The service is activated based on the Clásica service and its proven capacity for collection,” the state entity assures, and Orelly presses again: “Proven capacity just like gasoline with Clásica and there is no gasoline?”

Users raise all the doubts that any ordinary Cuban might have. When does the service start? How much do they charge in commission? From which countries can those remittances be sent? What will the exact procedure be? are some of them. “The announcement is very incomplete,” summarizes an elderly woman from Centro Habana with a daughter in Spain. “If loading money onto the Clásica is already a headache, with the few places there are, the blackouts, the connection problems, I don’t want to see what it will be like to receive a remittance and put it on the Clásica in the same operation.”

Along the same lines, another Facebook commenter said: “If it’s a pension payment day, it’s pointless, because with the lines, the blackouts, and the crashes of Cadeca’s computer systems, the headache for that kind of action is immense.” Fincimex gave another optimistic response: “It will gradually expand to other networks.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Ingenuity Is the Main Fuel,’ Cuban Authorities Boast in the Face of Thermoelectric Plant Failures

The Cuban regime celebrates the 60th anniversary of Renté, its most obsolete plant, while announcing a new breakdown at Guiteras

Thermoelectric Plant Antonio Maceo, known as Renté, in Santiago de Cuba. / TV Santiago

14ymedio, Havana, April 6, 2026 – This Monday, while Cuba’s Electric Union (UNE) announced the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country’s largest power generator, due to a “boiler puncture,” the official newspaper Granma proudly celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Antonio Maceo Grajales plant, known as Renté, in Santiago de Cuba, a facility whose useful life expired 30 years ago. Since then, the plant has accumulated serious breakdowns and has all three of its only operational units out of service.

Román Pérez Castañeda, general director of the Guiteras plant, reported that the cooling process will take between 30 and 36 hours, and only then will specialists be able to access the area, determine the extent of the damage, and proceed with repairs.

The new breakdown at the Matanzas plant once again places the national electric system (SEN) in a critical situation. At the time it went offline, the plant was generating 170 MW. With this failure, combined with other incidents reported by UNE this Monday, a deficit of 1,845 MW is expected during tonight’s peak hours, for a national demand of 3,020 MW.

Each repair outage has been temporary as the plant fails again shortly after being reconnected to the system

The plant, with more than 36 years of operation, suffers from insufficient maintenance, a shortage of spare parts, and chronic deterioration that authorities have been unable to resolve. Each repair shutdown has been only provisional: the plant breaks down again soon after rejoining the system. Its repeated disconnections have caused most of the nationwide blackouts over the past year and a half. continue reading

It is known that Guiteras was designed, manufactured, and assembled by the French firm Alstom. Starting in 2015, when the U.S. company General Electric acquired the French company, access was lost to a French credit line that had channeled all supplies and spare parts.

Public outrage, reflected in comments on UNE’s Facebook page, emphasizes that the energy crisis, which the Government attributes to the U.S. embargo, existed long before, due to structural failures within the system itself.

Meanwhile, almost mockingly, Granma celebrates that “ingenuity is the main fuel,” listing makeshift solutions to cope with the deterioration of the six-decade-old Renté thermoelectric plant in Santiago de Cuba.

The official tribute, similar to the one paid last year, resembles an industrial survival manual for a plant that has already doubled its expected lifespan and survives amid constant failures. According to UNE’s report this Monday, Unit 5 at Renté is broken down, while Units 3 and 6 are out of service for maintenance.

These incidents add to a long list of failures reported today by the UNE: a breakdown in Unit 3 of the Felton plant, another in Unit 6 of Diez de Octubre, the aforementioned failure at Guiteras, and maintenance shutdowns of Units 5 and 6 at Mariel and Unit 5 at Nuevitas.

In the 1990s, after losing its Soviet suppliers, the plant was modernized with technological assistance from French companies to rehabilitate two of its units

The thermoelectric plant being celebrated for its longevity—called “La Renté,” after the peninsula where it is located—was founded in 1966 with Soviet assistance and designed to generate energy from fossil fuels.

In the 1990s, after losing its Soviet suppliers, the plant was modernized with technological assistance from French companies to rehabilitate two of its 100 MW units and make it operate with domestic crude oil, to avoid importing fuel. The name of the French company and the cost of the operation have never been disclosed.

Although the total capacity of the Antonio Maceo plant has not been reached for decades due to a lack of resources for maintenance and repair, it is still considered essential for sustaining the national grid in the eastern region of the country.

The plant’s general director, Jesús Aguilar Hernández, admits that the passage of time has made it impossible to contribute the 500 MW the plant provided in its best years: “with Units 3, 5, and 6nat maximum capacity, only 285 MW can be reached.” These are the same units currently out of service, according to UNE’s report.

According to Ecured, since 2023 the only operational units at Renté have been 3, 5, and 6, as Unit 1 was retired and Unit 4 was temporarily taken offline.

In statements to Granma, Aguilar boasts that before 1959 “the country was barely electrified,” an ironic reminder in the face of prolonged daily blackouts in today’s Cuba, and that it is a “privilege” for the plant to reach 60 years of operation.

“It constitutes a challenge left to us by previous generations and one we must pass on to future ones,” Aguilar boasts, suggesting the plant’s continued operation, and adds: “More than the equipment, what endures is the quality of its workforce.”

Faced with fuel shortages, lack of spare parts, and frozen imports, Aguilar insists that they “expect nothing from abroad, when solutions can be generated here,” adding, almost as if they were oil alchemists with psychic powers, “The slogan is not only to operate, but to create everything possible, because ingenuity is the main fuel.”

Due to the lack of parts, workers themselves are forced to improvise replacements

Regarding Units 5 and 6, which are currently offline with 5 broken and 6 under maintenance, Ángel Fabars Borlot, electromechanical chief at the Power Plant Maintenance Company (Emce), admits: “Unit 6 is slated for an extended repair, and in Unit 5 we had to deal with a failure in the generator’s hydrogen seals.”

“These are extremely complex tasks because these are enormous machines. The smallest part weighs tons, and tolerances are measured in millimeters,” Fabars Borlot confesses, without explaining how ingenuity will solve such problems.

Given the lack of parts, workers themselves are forced to improvise them. Eduardo Morales García, head of the machining workshop and soon to receive a medal for 40 years of service explains: “When a job comes in, we have to make almost everything: the cutting tool, the bar, the material, even the hacksaw blade to cut the pipes.”

Morales cites as an example the manufacturing of shafts for the water pumps of Unit 5, “a part that used to come from Russia, but we were tasked with making it here.”

Mayra CcCalle Irsula, an industrial maintenance specialist at Renté, an engineer who has dedicated more than 35 years of her life to the plant, stated that the main conditions to “guarantee continuity in generation” are remote work and telework, when possible, and consolidating “operators, kitchen staff, security, and technicians into a single transport system.” She did not explain, however, that these are measures ordered by the Ministry of Labor to avoid layoffs in state companies, due to the unprecedented crisis facing the country, aggravated by the U.S. oil embargo.

Fuel shortages not only shut down machines; they also paralyze transportation, disrupt shifts, and put operations at risk. The lack of personnel, due to transportation problems, slows processes. “The response is slower because we don’t have the necessary number of people,” admits the Emce electromechanical chief.

Maximiliano Guisande Agüero, head of Dynamic Equipment with 56 years at Renté and leader of the repair of the damaged Unit 5, says he is trying to attract and retain young workers through agreements with pre-university schools, polytechnics, and the University of Oriente, involving students in internships and training. This strategy, he says, could help address staff shortages, although for now the results remain uncertain.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Sancti Spíritus, Authorities Guarantee Coffins for All Municipalities

“Today we have about 30 sarcophagi in reserve,” assures the state company to reassure the population, traumatized by the deficiencies of that sector during the covid pandemic and the arbovirosis outbreak

14ymedio, Madrid, April 6, 2026 – The specter of scarcity in the face of death returns to the Island. As already happened in the covid-19 crisis, due to the sudden increase in deaths, the energy emergency Cuba is experiencing puts at risk an element as sensitive as the manufacture and distribution of coffins. Faced with this situation, the Company of Various Productions (Emprova) in Sancti Spíritus has opted to decentralize production so that municipalities do not depend on the scarce fuel.

“At this time, Fomento produces its own and those of Cabaiguán; Trinidad and Yaguajay, their own; Jatibonico, its own and those of La Sierpe; Sancti Spíritus makes those needed in its territory and those of Taguasco,” notes a report published this Monday in the official media Escambray. The initial experience is based on what was learned during the pandemic, when coffins began to be made in Trinidad and in the carpentry workshop of Sancti Spíritus.

“At this time, Fomento produces its own and those of Cabaiguán; Trinidad and Yaguajay, their own; Jatibonico, its own and those of La Sierpe; Sancti Spíritus makes those needed in its territory and those of Taguasco”

The director of the state company, Alberto Rodríguez, told the newspaper that manufacturing itself also suffers from serious problems that are being resolved thanks to private actors. “Before, everything came through national allocation for coffin manufacturing, and today only fabric and wood arrive; the rest we have to find with private suppliers, for example, nails of different sizes,” continue reading

he said.

It is not the only inconvenience, because the forestry company needs energy to saw wood, which causes delays. “But this issue has been handled with considerable responsibility,” he says, without further explanation. “Today we have about 30 sarcophagi in reserve, not counting the daily production that continues to come out,” he reassures.

During the pandemic, the shortage of materials led to diversification of production in very different ways. One of the most striking was the proliferation of white coffins, due to the lack of black fabric, as several funeral home employees in different parts of the Island told this newspaper.

The state Communal Services company had to look for all kinds of products, including wood and cardboard or fabric covering, causing distress among relatives at such a delicate moment. “It was a frame of poor-quality wood, covered in fabric, and the base was very thin cardboard; we were afraid the body would fall out,” said the sister of a deceased person at the time. “As soon as they lowered it into the grave, it opened at one corner; it was a terrible sight.”

The situation led to seeking solutions such as negotiating with a Mexican company, Industrias VEQ, to purchase eco-coffins, which are produced at a much lower price than traditional wooden ones. “With national investment and raw material derived from Tetra Pak products such as milk, juices, and purée, the EcoCoffin is already on the national market, and the entrepreneurs have begun talks with funeral business operators in Cuba, Honduras, and Guatemala for export in the coming months,” one of its executives told the local press.

Last year, with the surge in arbovirosis infections, shortages once again took their toll in death. The lack of hearses, already a very scarce asset on the Island, meant that transport from state companies had to be used to move the deceased, leaving grieving relatives following vehicles from the state telecommunications company Etecsa — which were put into service as hearses — an image as striking as it was painful.

Last December, President Miguel Díaz-Canel presented the new electric vehicles for funeral services, announced last July by the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, who specified that the Government planned to acquire at least 120 units. Of these, 50 were to be for Havana and 50 for five other provinces: 20 to Santiago de Cuba, 10 to Holguín, allocations to Camagüey, and five each to Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With 10%, Cuba Remains at the Back of the Pack in Renewable Energy in Latin America

The continental average is 71%, with Paraguay and Costa Rica at 100%, followed by Uruguay (98%), Brazil (95%), Venezuela (92%), Colombia (91%), and Ecuador (90%)

In 2025, solar imports rose to $117 million, almost 144% more than the previous year. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Madrid, April 6, 2026 – On Monday Cuba’s official press published the transcript of the 42 minutes of the program Cuadrando la Caja, broadcast more than ten days ago, in which several experts sat down to talk about the Island’s “energy matrix change.” It revealed less than a much more concise article today in the Financial Times (FT), which reports the enormous leap China has made in investing in solar energy in Cuba.

If in 2019 Beijing exported photovoltaic panels to the Island worth $16.6 million, in 2024 the amount grew to $48 million. Just one year later, in 2025, the figure rose to $117 million, almost 144% more than the previous year. In addition, batteries, essential for storing energy produced during daylight hours and using it at night, have also grown enormously, increasing from $7.3 million in 2024 to $56 million in 2025. Euan Graham, senior analyst at the energy think tank Ember, told the British outlet that just this January batteries worth about $15 million were imported.

“Just in the last 12 months, the Government successfully installed 1 GW, so they have already reached half of the target” set for 2026, says the expert, who adds that “one gigawatt is a very significant amount in the system, and reaching 2 GW would be truly transformative.”

Euan Graham, senior analyst at the energy think tank Ember, told the British outlet that just this January batteries worth about $15 million were imported

The article, however, asks how the State is financing this enormous investment, since, it says, it is not transparent at all. “The 2026 economic plan indicates that Beijing donated 320 MW of technology. Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz stated that part of the solar technology was paid for with nickel,” the text notes. The same nickel mines, operated in collaboration with the Canadian company Sherritt, have been halted for several weeks due to lack of fuel.

The Financial Times believes that China’s support has a political continue reading

objective, but that even so, Cuba will have to pay for a good portion of it, and that will not be easy, since the required investment is large. And with tourism collapsed, there are few options to obtain foreign currency.

In addition to donations, China has invested in Cuba. The company Shanghai Electric has contributed about $60 million to the Mariel solar park, which has 62 MW and is the Island’s first private project through a partnership with the British firm Hive Energy.

Giles Redpath, its chief executive, highlights the effectiveness of the park, which provides up to 10% of renewable electricity in Cuba. “It is a very important part of the Cuban electrical grid, and right now I’m sure it is their cheapest source of electricity,” he says. But his words also reflect the Island’s usual problems, which are why almost no one wants to invest there.

“The only problem, from our perspective, is that they are not very good at paying. Or, to be more precise, they are very good at depositing money into a Cuban bank account, but then the money cannot be taken out of Cuba.” Hive says it has tried to sell the project, “but obviously, it is difficult to sell a project that has not been paid for.”

“Cuba, as an island, could function entirely on renewable energy. They have achieved fantastic results in solar energy and have good wind resources,” Redpath insists. “They just need to fix the economic problems and the international payments system, and then investment would arrive en masse.”

The FT notes that Chinese and Vietnamese donations of solar panels also include kits for homes, schools, and hospitals, but prices, as this newspaper has reported along with other independent Cuban outlets, are very high. In addition, the official press itself has indicated on more than one occasion that even the loans promoted by the Central Bank do nothing.

“They just need to fix the economic problems and the international payments system, and then investment would arrive en masse”

Ricardo Torres, a Cuban energy expert at American University in Washington, values the significant progress of photovoltaic energy on the Island, but also notes that it represents “a growing portion of a [electricity generation] pie that is getting smaller and smaller. The proportion is magnified by the contraction in other sources,” he points out.

The report is blunt. “Not even the dizzying increase in solar energy imports can offer a quick solution for an economy that 40 years ago was the world’s leading sugar exporter but is now in ruins,” it says.

The same is recalled by University of Texas expert Jorge Piñón, who told the Financial Times that although “every small effort helps, this is a temporary solution, not the ‘engine’ that Cuba needs to emerge from the ‘stone age’ of electricity generation and face the challenge of real economic growth in the 21st century.”

Although the program Cuadrando la Caja has been much more optimistic than all this, they could not avoid acknowledging that Cuba, despite the much-touted efforts to change the energy matrix since 2014, which have existed only on paper for almost 10 years, remains far behind the regional average. The Island, where the contribution has barely reached 10%, is far from the global average of 30%, and light-years away from the 71% that Latin America already had in 2025.

Hydropower has the largest share in the region, according to data from Americas Market Intelligence, with 51.3% in 2022, although wind and solar were already rising rapidly in Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.The leading country in the area is Brazil, which already had 89% renewables three years ago, followed by Colombia (75%) and Chile (55%).

In addition, a 2025 report by the Latin American Energy Organization (Olade) noted that nine countries exceeded the regional average index of 71%, with Paraguay and Costa Rica at 100%, followed by Uruguay (98%), Brazil (95%), Venezuela (92%), Colombia (91%), Ecuador (90%), Belize (77%), and Panama (71%).

Bioenergy, which is also a rapidly growing energy source on the continent, is at risk in Cuba, where the collapse of the sugar harvest is also dragging down the country’s main plant: the Ciro Redondo Bioelectric Plant.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Mexico’s Sembrando Vida Project Donates Another $33 Million to Cuba

There is no official data on the results of this program implemented in the provinces of Mayabeque, Artemisa, and Villa Clara.

The Sembrando Vida program was established in Mayabeque, Artemisa, and Villa Clara. / Amexcid

14ymedio, Havana, April 5, 2026 – Mexico disbursed another 588,000,000 pesos ($32,889,565) for the Sembrando Vida [Sow Life] program in Cuba, announced on the Island in 2022. It claims to have benefited 5,000 farmers through the delivery of seeds and farming equipment, as well as technical support. However, no official data has been published on production in the provinces of Mayabeque, Artemisa, and Villa Clara, where the project was carried out.

Despite this, the second phase of the program insists that “the objective is to promote food self-sufficiency and job creation in rural areas of the Island, using a resource donation scheme under the Mexico Fund trust,” according to the government of Claudia Sheinbaum.

In the same document, the payment of 1,479,600 pesos to the company Dragon Charge is confirmed, a member of the support committees that evaluated the project in Cuba.

According to the Mexican government, “69% of the beneficiaries in Cuba report that their monthly income increased compared to what they had before entering the project,” but there are no documents to certify this.

Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration specified that in 2025, 21,000 people in Central America and the Caribbean benefited. In addition, 150 scholarships were awarded to foreigners from 180 countries called by the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid).

The document does not specify who will receive the funds nor how many farmers and agricultural areas will benefit. The Island is going through a widespread crisis, and the countryside has been particularly hard hit. In December of last year, the agricultural director of the Fernando Echenique Agroindustrial Company, Odisnel Traba Ferrales, denounced the lack continue reading

of the kit that the State previously distributed to producers, which included imported fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, which are essential for certain crops: in this case, rice.

Sembrando Vida nursery on the Island. / Amexcid

The province of Granma, once among the elite rice-producing regions, plans to plant 41,000 hectares of this cereal, out of the 200,000 planned nationwide, but the data does not inspire optimism, as the same official cast doubt on this goal.

Since its inception, the Sembrando Vida project, to which Mexico initially allocated $63.5 million to implement it in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Belize, and Cuba, has faced criticism. According to the information platform Connectas, it shows “the discretionary expulsion of beneficiaries, a lack of transparency in the management of farmers’ savings, and delays in investigations reporting its mismanagement.”

The launch of the first phase on the Island took place in July 2023. A group of farmers received a package with scissors and boots. Felicia Mesa Pérez, one of the beneficiaries, said they were also offered “machinery, chemicals, and grain and vegetable seeds,” without specifying dates.

In December of that same year, the project donated half a dozen tractors to Cuba and inaugurated two nurseries for fruit and timber trees in the municipalities of Artemisa and Mayabeque. The project focused on curbing irregular migration through the implementation of social programs in the Northern Triangle of Central America, made up of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, and Belize.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Jorge Losada, a Popular Figure of Cuban Theater and Television, Dies at 92

The actor faced the final days of his life in precarious conditions, relying on the support of friends for food and medical care

Jorge Losada became one of the most recognizable faces on Cuban television. / Facebook / Jorge Losada

14ymedio, Havana April 5, 2026 – Actor and comedian Jorge Losada Moreno died early Sunday morning in Havana at the age of 92. The news was announced by his friend Luis Lacosta, art director of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), and later confirmed by official media.

Jorge Losada was an emblematic figure of Cuban television, theater, and film. Over a long career spanning more than six decades, he became one of the most recognizable faces of the Island’s audiovisual culture, thanks to his versatility and his humorous character portrayals on Cuban television.

However, the hardship in which he lived during his final years contrasted sharply with the recognition he had achieved through his artistic career. Those close to him had to publicly request assistance due to the lack of resources affecting the actor’s health. The most recent appeal, published on March 13 by Luis Lacosta, lamented: “There is no food to give him, no transportation to take him to the doctor, we have no money left, we have many needs.”

“There is no food to give him, no transportation to take him to the doctor, we have no money left, we have many needs”

Losada began his acting career in the 1950s as a radio declaimer. His theatrical career includes more than 60 productions. As an actor and assistant director at the Havana Lyric Studio, he performed on international stages across Europe and Latin America, working as both an actor and stage director. continue reading

In the 1980s, he joined the Havana Musical Theater, where he was remembered for performances in productions such as Maestra vida, Pedro Navaja, and El caballero de Pogolotti, a role for which he received the Best Theater Actor award from the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in 1987.

In film, Losada debuted in Soy Cuba (1964), directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, followed by titles such as No hay sábado sin sol (1980), Techo de vidrio (1981), and the censored Alicia en el pueblo de Maravillas (1991), among many others.

Despite these difficulties, he tried to remain active: at age 90, he appeared on television in the soap opera ‘Renacer’

On Cuban television, his charisma made him a beloved figure, with roles in productions such as Los abuelos se rebelan, Los papaloteros, and SOS Divorcio.

He was also recognized in Cuba with the Pequeña Pantalla Award (2020) and the Caricato Award (2019).

The digital platform CubaActores mourned his passing and recalled that this year he had been awarded the Maestro de Generaciones Prize, “a recognition that sums up his legacy: actor, mentor, teacher, and a key figure in the history of Cuban acting.”

In his final years, Losada depended on the solidarity of friends to obtain food, medication, blood donations, and basic equipment needed for his care. His health condition had been a source of ongoing concern among colleagues and followers. Despite these difficulties, he tried to remain active: upon turning 90, he participated in the television soap opera Renacer.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Vatican Has Secured the Release of 27 Political Prisoners, Separate From Common Inmates Pardoned by the Cuban Regime

Of the list of 51 agreed upon with the Holy See, 24 still remain to be released.

Released prisoners walk outside La Lima prison in Havana. / EFE/STR

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, April 5, 2026 – The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported this Saturday that the number of political prisoners released by the Cuban government has risen to 27 since the announcement, on March 12, of a process agreed upon with the Vatican that contemplates the release of 51 inmates.

“Of the 51 prisoners the regime said it would release in March, only 27 are political prisoners. To reach the announced 51, 24 political prisoners still remain to be released, since the rest would be common prisoners. In March, 14ymedio confirmed that more than 10 of that group were common inmates,” the NGO stated in a message on social media.

It also clarified that the figures published this Saturday regarding “the release under threats of 51 prisoners in March” should not be confused with “the release/pardon of the 2,010” that the Cuban government announced this Thursday.

The figure reported by Prisoners Defenders refers to the information provided by the Havana government on March 12, when it announced the release of 51 prisoners. These individuals, according to officials, had served “a significant part of their sentence and maintained good behavior in prison.”

These releases are not pardons, but rather a benefit that allows the prisoner to leave the penitentiary even though the sentence has not been completed.

At the time, Cuban authorities framed the decision as part of “a spirit of goodwill and the close, fluid relations between the Cuban State and the Vatican.” continue reading

These releases are not pardons, but a measure that allows inmates to leave prison before completing their sentence, subject to compliance with certain conditions during the remaining time.

Separately, on April 2, the Cuban government announced the pardon of 2,010 prisoners, describing it as a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture of solidarity” in the context of Holy Week celebrations.

The regime has excluded in its statement those convicted of “crimes against authority,” a category that applies to 95% of political prisoners.

In its statement, the regime indicated that those included “feature young people, women, adults over 60, those nearing the end of early-release periods in the final semester and the coming year, as well as foreigners and Cuban citizens residing abroad.”

Cuba closed February with 1,214 people detained for political reasons, according to PD’s latest monthly report, the highest figure recorded since the organization began documenting prison conditions on the Island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Starlink in Cuba: the Banned Antenna That Challenges Etecsa’s Monopoly

If the State guarantees neither electricity nor internet, those who can afford it try to become independent of both at the same time.

The antenna needs to see the sky, but it must not attract the neighborhood’s attention. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Matanzas, Pablo Padilla Cruz, April 5, 2026 – On some rooftops in Havana, Matanzas, or Santa Clara, it’s no longer just water tanks, clotheslines, pigeon coops, and old television antennas that stand out. Now another object is beginning to appear, or rather to hide: the rectangular Starlink dish. In a country where internet access remains expensive, unstable, and vulnerable to blackouts, some Cubans have decided to bypass the ban and set up their own gateway to the world.

The operation begins long before turning on the equipment. The first obstacle is Customs. Marlon -a fictitious name- tells 14ymedio some of the tricks used to evade controls. “An assembled antenna shows up immediately on the scanner,” he explains. “You have to make it unrecognizable: take it apart into pieces, put it inside a television or a computer tower, mix it with cables, tools, and electronic scrap.” Sometimes it works. Other times, the difference between losing everything or leaving the airport depends on finding an official willing to look the other way in exchange for two or three $20 bills folded inside the passport.

Once inside the country, the antenna is assembled in silence. Then it has to be installed in a spot with enough open sky, but without being too exposed to view from the street or a neighbor’s house. After that, it is connected to a backup battery (UPS) or a small solar system to withstand blackouts.

Elon Musk: “It works in Cuba, it’s just not allowed to be sold there”

Damián, a programmer from Matanzas who works for clients abroad, justifies the investment. “With Etecsa [the State telecommunications monopoly] I couldn’t sustain a full meeting. Everything would drop. Now I pay the subscription with help from my brother in Miami. It’s expensive, yes, but it lets me work.” Like him, other professionals have reached the same conclusion: a stable connection is no longer a technological luxury, but a condition for job survival. continue reading

The most visible trigger came on March 16, 2026, when Elon Musk wrote on X a phrase that confirmed what had already been circulating as a clandestine rumor among users on the island: “It works in Cuba, it’s just not allowed to be sold there.” The statement did not change the legal situation, but it did clear up the main technical doubt. Coverage exists. What does not exist is authorization from the Cuban State to market the service or tolerate its open use.

That’s where true Cuban ingenuity begins. Because the signal over Cuba alone is not enough. Ordinary mobile phones are not designed to connect directly to Starlink satellites as a full substitute for a fixed or mobile network. For that, the company’s specific terminal and a router are required to distribute the connection. The option of direct satellite-to-cellphone connection remains limited and does not yet offer the capacity needed to sustain a full workday, a stable video call, or an internet-based business.

The failure of Cuban connectivity is explained not only by Etecsa’s monopoly, but also by the energy collapse

One of the most common tricks is registering the service outside Cuba. Since Starlink does not officially sell on the Island, many users rely on accounts activated in third countries, such as Mexico or the United States. The equipment enters already linked to a roaming plan and is used in Cuban territory through that channel. It is not a stable or guaranteed long-term solution, as it depends on the service’s own rules and authorized markets, but today it sustains a large part of the clandestine installations.

The second trick is camouflage. The antenna needs to see the sky, but must not draw attention. Some people hide it inside fake air-conditioning boxes. Others place it behind walls or paint it cement gray to blend in with the rooftop. Some even put it inside modified plastic structures made of materials that do not block the signal, so that from below it looks like something else.

The third trick has to do with electricity. The failure of Cuban connectivity is explained not only by Etecsa’s monopoly, but also by the energy collapse. A fixed line is of little use when a neighborhood can go hours or more than one day without power. That is why many users connect the antenna and router to lithium batteries, UPS systems, or small solar setups. If the State guarantees neither electricity nor internet, those who can afford it try to become independent of both at the same time.

A single unit can supply a small neighborhood network and turn its owner into an informal Wi-Fi provider. / Facebook / Ventas Santa Clara Cuba

In terms of cost, Starlink is far beyond the average Cuban’s means. While in the United States or Mexico a standard kit may cost between $300 and $450, on the Island that same equipment shoots up on the black market to $1,300-$1,800, a difference driven not by technical improvements, but by import risks, camouflage, bribes, and the possibility of confiscation. On top of that comes the monthly fee: roaming plans, the ones that allow use in a country where the service is not officially sold, range from $90 to $120 per month, although in Cuba many end up paying around $150 to resellers who manage the account from abroad. In practice, users are not paying just for internet, but for the entire chain of illegality and financial dependency that makes it possible to turn on the antenna.

Around this banned technology, a small economic ecosystem has already emerged. There are those who use it to sustain a private business, those who depend on it for remote programming or design work, and those who resell it. A single device can power a small neighborhood network and turn its owner into an informal Wi-Fi provider. Just as people once shared signals from antennas to watch foreign TV channels, now they are starting to share Starlink connections. In practice, it is an invisible small business.

This proliferation explains the authorities’ unease. The Government can confiscate antennas, tighten inspections, and label these devices as contraband technology, but it has not managed to erase demand. Every dish hidden on a rooftop confirms the failure of a monopoly unable to provide a sufficient, stable connection compatible with contemporary economic life.

Starlink alone will not democratize Cuba. It remains expensive, clandestine, and limited to a minority. It almost always depends on money sent from abroad and on a chain of illegalities that keeps it out of reach for most. But each antenna leaves behind a difficult truth to conceal: the demand for connectivity has already outgrown the State’s capacity for control.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Outrage Among State Workers Over Cuban Government’s “Relocation” Offers

Among the few options are standing guard duty and taking on garbage collection

“How are we supposed to relocate if most of our companies are affected by the lack of fuel, electricity, and transportation?” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, April 4, 2026 / “For you to tell me that after five years of university I have to go collect garbage is unbelievable.” The speaker is Miguel, a Cuban worker outraged by the government’s proposal to reassign employees to tasks such as waste collection rather than leave them “idle.” “They can go farm, produce, and collect garbage, those who are strong, healthy, and in optimal condition,” he snaps.

Barely two weeks after the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Jesús Otamendiz Campos, said that job “relocation” was the “number one priority,” complaints have multiplied, and layoffs, especially in tourism, have been massive. “That possibility isn’t for all regions,” says Yudith, from Melilla in the province of Holguín, a community that depends heavily on a sector that has been steadily collapsing over the past five years, culminating in the final blow: the suspension of the vast majority of international flights on February 11 due to a lack of jet fuel.

Most workers in that sector, she says, “were sent home as idle workers without guaranteed pay after that first month.” Ángel, formerly a bartender at a hotel in the heart of Holguín’s tourism hub, says the current situation reminds him of the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. “From working surrounded by people, making cocktails until two or three in the morning, to just watching reels on my phone, because everything here in Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo is closed,” he explains.

“That’s what they said during the COVID-19 pandemic, when companies and organizations did whatever they wanted. They left half the town unemployed.” / 14ymedio

“I’ve seen this movie before,” says Alfredo, also a worker in the sector. “That’s what they said during COVID-19, and companies and institutions did whatever they wanted. They left half the town without jobs,” he says. “How many people lost long-held jobs because of the so-called multi-employment policy, leaving many unprotected? Get ready for season continue reading

two.”

The good intentions expressed by the labor minister, who promised to “guarantee labor and salary protection” to safeguard workers’ rights and those of their families and to reassign as many state employees as possible to avoid layoffs, have remained just that: intentions. In that appearance on the Mesa Redonda program, Otamendiz mentioned alternatives such as remote work, telework, adjusted working hours, and reassignment to tasks like food production, communal services, and educational support amid a shortage of teaching staff.

State media, however, is trying to paint a rosy picture. This Friday, the newspaper Escambray boasted that in Sancti Spíritus more than 11,000 workers “have adopted new forms of employment included in current labor legislation.” Most of them, according to Yaiselín Quesada López, deputy director of the Provincial Labor Directorate, are “workers incorporated into remote work” (more than 2,600), followed by employees with “adjusted working hours” (over 1,440), those in “telework” (nearly 870), and only 460 in “other roles within the same entity”; that is, actually reassigned.

“My daughter hasn’t even received a call from the hotel to find out what she can do.” / 14ymedio

Revealing which sectors have been hardest hit by the crisis, Escambray also notes that the main areas where workers have been “reemployed” are tourism, transportation, the food industry, and construction.

“How are we supposed to relocate if most of our companies are affected by the lack of fuel, electricity, and transportation?” Iván asks skeptically. He points out that in the current context, telework and remote work are practically impossible, since most of these “relocations” are for jobs as guards and watchmen. “No one accepts them because of the low salaries and the risks involved, especially since most workers are near retirement age.” Very few young people, he says, are willing to take on guard duty. Nor does he see “an engineer or any professional working in solid waste collection. That’s a punishment.”

Arlenis, mother of a woman who was completing her mandatory social service in the tourism sector, suggests that managers are not transparent when assigning relocations. Her daughter, a mother of a three-year-old, still has no assignment. “Many managers are applying the rules however they want. Some prioritize years of service, favoring those close to retirement, while young people are the most affected. My daughter hasn’t even been called by the hotel to see what she can do.”

The current crisis has also led private businesses to reduce their working hours or close several days a week.

Years of service, however, are no guarantee of anything, says Lisandra. “My husband was declared idle verbally, without any official document. The first month he got 100% of his salary and nothing more. A worker with 42 years on the job and only four months away from retirement.”

In short, workers feel disappointed and warn of deception by the authorities, who force them to accept offers unrelated to their professional profiles and that are not appealing. “If you don’t accept, the State looks good, and the worker has to figure out how to survive,” Lisandra concludes. “It’s sad that the few workers who still believe in working for the State, from professionals to manual laborers, are being left out.”

The situation is not limited to the state sector. The current crisis has also forced private businesses to reduce hours or close several days a week. This is the case of the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, which has limited its opening to Fridays and Saturdays, compared to four days before. Restaurants like El Cocinero have reduced their staff, while images circulating on social media of others, such as El Sibarita, have gone viral due to the evident lack of customers.

Watch video here.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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El Tostadero, the Cuban Grocery Store That Ended Up Devoured by Garbage

What was once a prosperous establishment in the center of San José de las Lajas is now a ruin overrun by waste and mosquitoes.

The former grocery store El Tostadero looks like a skeleton stranded in the middle of the town. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, San José de Las Lajas, Julio César Contreras, April 3, 2026 – At high noon, when the sun beats down on the street and only the faint sound of a distant engine can be heard, the old grocery store El Tostadero looks like a skeleton stranded in the middle of San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque). Where sacks of rice, cans of oil, and bottles of rum once lined up, piles of garbage now accumulate, growing like a second structure made of torn plastic bags, damp cardboard, and rubble. The scene has become routine for nearby residents, who no longer look at the building with nostalgia but with concern.

Amid the ruins of what was once this emblematic establishment, garbage continues to take over, turning what remains of the building into an improvised dump that no one seems willing to clean up. From the sidewalk, the store’s name can still be read on a peeling wall, as if resisting disappearance. A few meters away, a couple rides by on a scooter, slowing down to avoid potholes, while a skinny dog crosses the corner unhurriedly. The neighborhood goes on with its routine, but the decay of the old shop has become a constant reminder of decline.

“People come here with wheelbarrows, dumping everything from construction debris to toilet paper. It hasn’t been officially declared, but in practice this is a small landfill right in the center of town,” Abelardo, a local resident, tells 14ymedio, watching with resignation the steady flow of people unloading their waste there. The 54-year-old remembers when the store was a gathering point for neighbors, a place where people discussed the day’s news while waiting their turn to buy goods. continue reading

“Little by little they took everything that could be reused. What was once a prosperous private business ended up like this in government hands.”

According to him, once the building was declared at risk of collapse, its quiet dismantling began. First the roof tiles disappeared, then the wooden beams, and later the doors and windows. What the wind didn’t take, necessity did. “Little by little they took everything that could be reused. What was once a prosperous private business ended up like this in government hands,” Abelardo laments, pointing inside, where grass now grows among the remains of floor tiles still visible beneath the dirt.

From the porch of her house directly across from the store, Dignora watches the site with a mix of irritation and fatigue. At 72, she says the biggest problem is not the ruin itself, but what came afterward: mosquitoes, foul odors, and a sense of insecurity. “A swarm of mosquitoes comes out of there every night and keeps us from sitting outside. Sometimes the smell is so strong that I have to close doors and windows,” she explains, pointing to a corner where food scraps and black bags torn open by dogs are piled up.

Sometimes the smell is so strong that I have to close doors and windows,” she explains, pointing to a corner where food scraps and black bags torn open by dogs are piled up. / 14ymedio

The woman admits that, reluctantly, she has also had to throw her own trash there. “I wish there were a nearby dumpster or that a sanitation truck came regularly, but they show up whenever they feel like it, maybe once or twice a month. So I have no choice but to toss my little bag in a corner. Everyone does the same, otherwise we’d be swallowed by filth inside our own homes,” she says, aware of the health risks posed by the improvised dump.

The building’s deterioration is evident from every angle. The walls are cracked, the columns expose rusted rebar, and the roof has almost completely disappeared, leaving the interior open to the sky. Through one opening, the backyard can be seen, now a vacant lot overgrown with tall weeds and strewn with construction debris. The image contrasts sharply with the memories of those who knew the place in its prime, when the aroma of freshly roasted coffee justified the store’s name.

Ernesto, a resident who lives two blocks away, says complaints to authorities have been constant but useless. “It’s been falling apart for more than ten years. My fear is that part of what’s still standing could collapse onto a neighboring house and cause a tragedy. Someone could also get hurt if a section falls while they’re dumping trash,” he warns, looking at the cracks running along one of the side walls.

The makeshift trash dump at the abandoned bodega El Tostadero, in San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque). / 14ymedio

To avoid the risk, he prefers to walk several blocks to Avenida 40, where a functioning garbage container still exists. However, he admits not everyone can make that trip every day. “The People’s Power delegates elected in this neighborhood never did anything to save the store from becoming the ruin it is today,” he says, with a tone mixing frustration and resignation.

Despite the abandonment, the building still occupies an entire corner of the town, like a silent witness to the passage of time and the lack of maintenance. Its structure, though weakened, retains a certain presence, making the contrast between what it was and what it is today even more striking. For many residents, El Tostadero has become a symbol of institutional neglect and the deterioration of public services.

“This is a monument to the lack of respect for heritage, to that virus spreading across the entire country,” Ernesto concludes, watching as the wind lifts papers and dust at the corner. Meanwhile, the name of the old store remains stuck to the wall, a final mark of identity amid the ruins, reminding the people of San José de las Lajas that where there was once commerce and life, abandonment now reigns.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Calls the Friendship Between Moscow and Havana an “Enduring Value”

“It cannot be properly measured in kopeks, dollars, or pesos,” says Sergei Ryabkov.

The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin at the dock of the Supertanker Base in Matanzas. / Facebook / Oliver Zamora Oria

14ymedio/EFE, Madrid/Moscow, April 3, 2026 – The friendship between Russia and Cuba is enduring, declared Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on Friday, stating that Moscow will continue supporting Havana despite U.S. pressure on the Island. “It cannot be properly measured in kopeks, dollars, or pesos. It is an enduring value. We value it highly,” the Russian diplomat emphasized in an interview with the TASS agency.

Both countries, he recalled, have interacted for decades “across the full spectrum of issues aimed at ensuring high human development, the development of science and education, cultural and human exchanges, and the development of the arts.”

“Not to mention our shared history and the solidarity, mutual support, which has always been felt and continues to be felt. And Russia maintains its commitment to this policy, especially at the current difficult stage,” he added. The senior Russian diplomat also reiterated the demand to end U.S. pressure on the Island.

“We insist that Cuba’s security be guaranteed. We demand an end to the blockade of the Island, which is absolutely illegal and illegitimate.”

“We insist that Cuba’s security be guaranteed. We demand an end to the blockade of the Island, which is absolutely illegal and illegitimate. And I am sure that the results Washington hopes to achieve with this blockade will continue to go unrealized,” he said. continue reading

The tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, sanctioned by the United States and the European Union and carrying 100,000 tons of crude oil, arrived Tuesday in Matanzas, marking the first oil shipment to reach the Island in three months, following the oil blockade imposed by the United States at the end of January. “This valuable assistance arrives amid the energy siege imposed by the United States, which seeks to suffocate the Cuban population,” Havana’s Foreign Ministry said on the social network X.

U.S. President Donald Trump had downplayed Moscow’s move to break the blockade imposed by Washington and dismissed the idea that the arrival of crude oil in Cuba would have any impact on the Island’s current situation. “It doesn’t bother me (…) they have a bad regime, they have bad and corrupt leadership, and whether a ship of oil arrives or not, it doesn’t matter,” the president said.

On Thursday, Russia’s Energy Minister, Sergei Tsiviliov, reported that after sending the Anatoly Kolodkin, his government is preparing a second shipment of crude oil to Cuba. “We will not abandon the Cubans,” Tsiviliov told local media at an energy forum held in the city of Kazan.

Cuba requires about 100,000 barrels per day to meet its energy needs, of which around 40,000 come from domestic production, mainly used to keep its outdated thermoelectric plants running. The inability to cover the remaining demand has resulted in long daily blackouts and the near-total paralysis of the economy.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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