The event is organized by the National Council of Plastic Arts and the Ministry of Culture / EFE
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, June 6, 2024 — The event will be held from June 14 to 28, its organizers reported this Thursday at a press conference. The theme of this event will be the Fight against Neo-Fascism and will have political cartoonists from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela and France. The event, organized by the National Council of Plastic Arts and the Ministry of Culture, will feature graphic exhibitions, conversations, workshops and film screenings in cinemas in the capital.
According to the organizers, the biennial seeks to “explore in a playful way the impact of globalization and the phenomena associated with it, from a perspective of political humor.”
Cuba has been repeatedly criticized by NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for limiting freedom of expression in general and, in particular, limiting its enjoyment on the internet (Decree 370) and on the part of its artists (Decree 349).
“There are always limits to humor,” regardless of “each of the spaces where it is expressed”
In May 2022, the Cuban Parliament also approved a new Criminal Code that, among other matters, includes sanctions of up to three years for those who insult senior public officials. continue reading
Cuba published, this Wednesday, in the Official Gazette its first Social Communication Law, which prohibits, among other things, the dissemination of information that can “destabilize the socialist state” both in the media and in “cyberspace.”
EFE asked in the presentation of the biennial about the possibility of creating political satire of the Government or the leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba, as happens in other countries in the region.
In this regard, Arístides Hernández, winner of the National Humor Award 2020 and part of the committee that selected the works exhibited at the event, said at the press conference that “there are always limits in humor,” regardless of “each of the spaces where it is expressed.”
“In Islamic countries it is impossible to paint a caricature against the prophet Muhammad, and in the case of Cuba there are limits in humor in relation to the historical figures of the Revolution. That type of satire does not appear in the media here or, in the case of Spain, with the kings,” he argued.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Sugar, rice, cooking oil and coffee from the basic family basket top the list of what was stolen, worth two million pesos
The authorities recognize that many of these establishments are in poor condition and without bars on the doors to protect them / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 6 June 2024 — One hundred bodegas (ration stores) in Las Tunas were looted by thieves in 2023. So far this year, there have been eighteen. The authorities of the province expressed alarm about the events to the official press this Wednesday but did not hesitate to focus on the material losses and damages to the State, although it is the population that clearly suffers the most.
According to Periódico 26, of all the robberies that occurred last year in state entities in the province, the “booty” of the bodegas represents 84.7%, with two million pesos of reported losses. “Of the products, 43,900 pounds of brown sugar and 2,900 pounds of refined; 30,000 pounds of rice; 244 gallons of cooking oil; 1,000 packages of coffee; and 1,180 pounds of beans, preserves and peas fell into the wrong hands,” the newspaper listed, complaining that the residents had to see it disappear from the basic family basket “in one stroke.”
The most affected municipality was Puerto Padre, with 30 robbed bodegas and more than a half-million pesos in losses, a quarter of the total in the province.
“How have the thieves been able to act with impunity, to the extent that there are some stores that have been robbed several times?” asks Periódico 26, and it immediately offers the answer. According to reports from the Ministry of the Interior in the province, thefts occur between two and six in the morning, usually in premises with precarious security (bars on the continue reading
windows, night guards) and with poor lighting, problems that it is up to the Directorate of Internal Trade to solve.
The provincial director of the ministry, Raymel Espinosa Saborit, told the newspaper that of the 692 bodegas in the province, about 100 are in poor condition and “lack security provisions,” and about half, 377, do not have guards hired by Commerce.
Espinosa explained that an analysis is currently being carried out in the province’s staff to offer custodian positions
Delving into this last point, Espinosa explained that an analysis is currently being carried out in the province’s workforce to offer guard positions to the bodegas that need it. However, offering the job is not a guarantee of anything. “We have a positive example: the municipality of Colombia is the only one that has its own guards in its 44 bodegas. Parallel to that reality is the problem that few people want to work as guards, so it is useless to offer employment,” he argues.
Likewise, in one of the cases of robbery counted by the authorities, the thieves took advantage of the fact that the guard left his post, to loot the El Sazón bodega last March. “They carried off two bags of rice, 3,000 boxes of cigars and some carbonated soft drinks. Of course, the guard was dismissed,” the new bodega administrator, Yoel Rey González, who has been in the position for barely a month, told the media.
A similar fate befell the administrator of the La Roca bodega, who was replaced by Malena Reynaldo on March 4, ten days after the place suffered a robbery. “They took everything: rice, sugar, oil, cigars, rum. Even the display bags that had sand for weight. The store was completely empty, and the neighbor’s camera recorded everything,” says the woman, who still returns occasionally at night with her husband to make sure that everything is okay.
Reynaldo is the mother of two girls, and her house, like that of her co-worker, is far from the establishment, so it is difficult for her, after a working day, to also take care of security due to the lack of a guard. Her effort goes even further: “The unit was very vulnerable, without any custodian or security. The two of us who work here paid to put bars on the doors and bought a new lock and key. All that cost 28,000 pesos that we paid with the contribution of some neighbors, and the window is still missing,” says the woman.
Periódico 26 criticizes the fact that the worker must pay out of her own pocket to keep the merchandise safe
For its part, Periódico 26 criticizes the fact that the worker must pay out of her own pocket to keep the merchandise safe and also has to go check the bodega from time to time. “In our inquiries we learned that they do it because, if there is a robbery, ’they are held responsible’. Of course, that is a misconception,” says the newspaper, but it’s obvious that the predecessors of Reynaldo and Rey were dismissed after the robberies.
With an attitude unusual for the official press, the newspaper even proposes solutions for the most urgent problems. “The poor lighting is a difficulty that could be eradicated, perhaps, from a joint effort with the Electric Company. Given the lack of lighting, why not move some of those lamps to the front of the bodegas, the most important economic objective of a community?” it proposes, but this time it’s the constant blackouts that are not taken into account.
As for security, “filling the guard positions is the mission of the Directorate of Commerce, and if there are no people willing to assume them, they must go to the specialized protection services,” the newspaper adds.
However, the final “scolding” is aimed at the residents of the province: “These bodegas belong to the Cuban State, but their goods belong to the population, so we are facing everyone’s problem. Hence, living with the lack of vigilance is inadmissible,” it argues.
“Robbing an establishment of this caliber doesn’t just happen by arriving and taking something in five minutes. It takes time and transport; therefore, it seems science fiction that no one hears or sees anything, especially when most of the robberies are committed in the urban area, with housing in the vicinity,” it adds.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The Cuban opponent, Yuri Valle Roca, is arrested by the Cuban police / EFE
14ymedio, Havana, 5 June 2025 — Cuban journalist and opponent Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca arrived this morning in Miami with his wife, Eralidis Frómeta, after being forced out by the Cuban regime, ending the three years that the reporter had been in prison. “I received with deep emotion the news of the arrival in Miami of my friend and Cuban political prisoner Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca. After almost three years of unjust imprisonment, Yuri is finally free, although under the painful context of exile. I am filled with hope and relief,” wrote Normando Hernández, general director of the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP).
Valle Roca obtained humanitarian parole through his wife at the United States embassy in Havana, a condition imposed by the Government to release him in exchange for exile.
Valle Roca obtained humanitarian parole through his wife at the United States embassy in Havana, a condition imposed by the Government to release him in exchange for exile
“The arrival of Valle Roca in Miami marks the end of a painful chapter and the hope of a new beginning. His release is a reminder of the importance of surveillance and international pressure in the fight for human rights and freedom of expression. We celebrate his freedom, and the fight for justice, human rights, freedom and democracy in Cuba continues,” ICLEP stated on its website. continue reading
Valle Roca was scheduled to land in Miami at 10:35 on Wednesday on an American Airlines flight that was delayed.
The journalist, arrested in June 2021, was sentenced 13 months and later to five years in prison for the crimes of “enemy propaganda of a continuous nature and resistance.”
Valle Roca, 62, is the nephew of opposition leader Vladimiro Roca, who died last year, and the grandson of communist leader Blas Roca Calderío. In the time he has been imprisoned, the reporter has suffered the 15 types of torture described by the Madrid-based organization Prisoners Defenders (PD), which presented a document to the UN denouncing patterns of ill-treatment in Cuban prisons.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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It is Sunday number 89 of the repression of the group since they resumed their activities in 2022, after the pandemic
María García Álvarez and Yudaxis Pérez Meneses were arrested in Colón this Sunday. / Yudaxis Pérez
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, June 4, 2024 — On Monday, the Ladies in White denounced the temporary detention of 12 people in Havana and in Matanzas a day earlier, making it the 89th Sunday with acts of repression recorded since 2022, when they returned to their activities after the pandemic. The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, and her husband, former political prisoner Ángel Moya, reported the arrests on social networks.
They also reported the arrest of 10 members of the Ladies in White in the towns of Cárdenas, Colón, Perico and Unión de Reyes, all in Matanzas.
Soler and Moya reported that, as on previous Sundays, they were arrested when leaving the headquarters of the Ladies in White, located in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, and later taken separately to the police units of the municipalities of Cotorro and Guanabacoa. continue reading
Both were released on Monday morning, after the authorities imposed fines on them, according to Moya.
The Ladies in White movement was created by a group of women, relatives of 75 dissidents and independent journalists who were arrested and sentenced in March 2003 to long prison sentences after a wave of repression by the Cuban Government known as the Black Spring.
The wives, mothers and other relatives of those prisoners began a series of Sunday marches to ask for their release and became a symbol of dissent.
In 2005, the Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience from the European Parliament. The EU and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the wave of arrests, classifying them as political, but the Cuban authorities alleged that the women were “counter-revolutionaries” who tried to attack national sovereignty under orders of the United States.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban announcers Ángel Luis Fernández and Yasel Porto / Facebook/DPorto Sports LLC
14ymedio, Havana, 4 June 2024 — The Cuban sports narrator and commentator Ángel Luis Fernández has been in Miami for days. “He was able to meet his parents and his eldest son again after a long period of not being able to be with them,” confirmed journalist Yasel Porto.
Fernández arrived through humanitarian parole, which as of May has favored 95,000 Cubans since its entry into force in January 2023. Fernández, a star of Cuban Television, will join the team of commentators that will attend the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, as he did in London 2012 and Tokyo 2020. With 25 years of experience and a consolidated place on the Tele Rebelde channel commenting on soccer, baseball, volleyball, basketball, wrestling and boxing games, this habanero “made the decision to start a new life in the United States,” Porto said.
Through the Dporto Sport LLC Facebook account, Porto recalled that his colleague Fernández “also developed a career as a presenter in cultural spaces within Cuba, in the “Gato Tuerto and Rosalía de Castro,” in addition to recently covering the funeral of the singer Juana Bacallao. continue reading
Cuban narrator Ángel Andrés Hernández Vargas arrived in the United States in May of this year / Facebook/DPorto Sports LLC
“With him (Fernández) I had the opportunity to work from the very beginning of both on the sports station Coco and then on the Havana Channel, being my first systematic appearance on television thanks, precisely, to his support for me to start my path beyond radio,” Porto said.
Fernández joins the long list of recognized announcers who have left the Island. On May 4, Porto himself reported the arrival in the United States of Ángel Andrés (“Andy”)Hernández Vargas. The “iconic” figure of the Coco radio station and especially of the Industriales team, “was claimed by one of his two sons living in Miami.”
Vargas had already retired, but fans remember him for his narrations of the Lions’ games and especially for the matches that led the capital team to win the title in the National Series in 1996, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2010.
Yasel Porto is another of the sports commentators who left the Island. In 2020 he was expelled from Televisión Cubana and its branch RTV Comercial for his criticism of national baseball, which was in crisis. “My poor compliance with the editorial policy of these media was the cause put forward by the managers of these channels,” he said in a letter he published on his social networks and in Swing Completo.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Residents regret that what the official press calls “social impact works” is not the reality
“Everything has been done to sell an image of Sancti Spíritus as perfect, but in reality the cultural life of the city is very bad” / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, June 4, 2024 — The residents of Sancti Spíritus don’t cease to be amazed. Anyone would think, reading the provincial press, that the 510th anniversary of the founding of the city – with the name of Villa del Espíritu Santo – has brought complete renovation to its Historic Center. According to an article published this Monday in Escambray, they have concluded, on the occasion of the anniversary, “works of social impact, along with actions of conservation and maintenance of more than a hundred buildings,” as well as “filling potholes and beautifying the main arteries.”
Alicia, 40, destroys this idyllic version: “Everything has been based on painting and repairing facades. There is no cultural resuscitation, no new recreational offers, none of that has happened. Everything has been done to sell an image of the city as perfect, but in reality the cultural life of the city is very, very bad.”
According to the official newspaper, “some facades and the eaves of heritage buildings were retouched with paint; the church of Maceo took on new colors, and in a second stage, three of the city’s fountains will benefit.”
“The change of the eaves is because they were falling,” says Alicia / 14ymedio
The same text says that the works include “the opening of new premises, changes for central establishments and the remodeling of properties in poor condition. The work will begin this Monday and will include the two convention centers of Independencia Street and Etecsa, the El Neri bakery-sweet shop, the remodeling of the Julio Antonio Mella primary school and the Combinado Deportivo, the Casa Museo Serafín Sánchez and the florist adjacent to the funeral home, among others.” The only leisure continue reading
establishments there, Alicia complains, “are new private bars that cost an arm and a leg, where a simple beer can cost up to 800 pesos after midnight.”
La Plaza Market, in Sancti Spíritus, with the roof visibly damaged / 14ymedio
She dismantles the regime’s hullabaloo bit by bit: “The change of the eaves is because they were falling; what they are remodeling on Independencia Street is a meeting room that has always been a meeting room. I don’t know what that Etecsa convention center is, I never heard of it, but it’s not going to provide any benefit to anyone either.” As for El Neri, she says, “the roof fell and that’s why they have to fix it. They are not making it new nor have they changed its corporate purpose. They put a roof on it again and slapped a little paint on, but it’s still the same bakery that sells bread from the ration store.”
The authorities announced that there will be works ready for “a second stage” / 14ymedio
In the same way, they “put paint” on the Julio Antonio Mella school. “Combinado Deportivo?” she asks. “What is that?” About the Casa Museo Serafín Sánchez, she says: “I think that in my 40 years I have entered only once and it is always the same. There are always the same bugs dissected and tied with a wire.” Regarding the florist, “the same: they changed the granite counter, which was ugly, for a new one that is still ugly but it’s new. They also put paint on everything and changed the ceiling above, where they have a loft, but it’s still the same florist shop.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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In a letter, to which this newspaper had access, six rapporteurs ask for explanations about the police repression and the judicial processes derived from the protests of 11J
Arrests during the 11J protests. (Capture
14ymedio, Madrid, June 3, 2024 — Six UN rapporteurs have urged Cuba to explain alleged human rights violations linked to police repression and judicial processes arising from the protests of 11 July 2021, the largest in decades on the Island.
In a letter sent to Miguel Díaz-Canel, to which 14ymedio had access, four rapporteurs and two representatives of portfolio working groups linked to human rights talk about “concerns” and request explanations from Havana.
The 16-page letter is dated April 3 and explains that after 60 days the document would be published with the answers provided by the Government of Cuba. As of now moment, the UN website has not included any response from Havana.
“We would like to urge the Government of your Excellency to take all necessary measures to protect the rights and freedoms of the aforementioned persons and to investigate, prosecute and impose appropriate sanctions on any person responsible for the alleged violations,” the rapporteurs write. continue reading
They also urge Díaz-Canel “to take effective measures to prevent such events, if they have occurred, from being repeated
They also urge Díaz-Canel “to take effective measures to prevent such events, if they have occurred, from being repeated.”
They argue that, if the allegations were confirmed, “numerous international human rights norms and standards enshrined, among others, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance” would have been violated.
The rapporteurs indicate that the letter is based on “sufficiently reliable” information so that the matter receives “immediate attention,” although they add that they do not want to “prejudge the veracity” of the contribution that triggered this special procedure.
That is why they call on the Cuban Government to respond in general to the “allegations” presented and, in particular, to explain how the Cuban legal system – from the election of judges and lawyers to the investigative and judicial process – is “compatible” with the country’s human rights obligations.
They also ask for a description of the “measures” adopted so that “the legislation complies with the international human rights obligations assumed” by Cuba and to guarantee the rights of peaceful assembly, association and expression “without fear” of imprisonment.
The letter includes a summary of the information that triggered the procedure, which speaks of “hundreds of thousands” of demonstrators on 11 July 2021, the violent dissolution of the marches and the arrest of between 5,000 and 8,000 people in the following days.
That story also refers to the fact that “thousands” of Cubans did not have a “fair trial” or enjoy due process,” that judges, prosecutors and lawyers in Cuba cannot act independently of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and that defense lawyers often work at a disadvantage.
That account also refers to the fact that “thousands” of Cubans did not have a “fair trial” or enjoy “due process,” and that judges, prosecutors and lawyers in Cuba cannot act independently
The NGO Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, indicated in a separate statement that the letter from the rapporteurs is a “direct and unambiguous response” to the complaint it delivered to the UN in July 2023.
The president of Prisoners Defenders, Javier Larrondo, expressed his “deep gratitude” to the rapporteurs and his intention to continue working to “eradicate the procedural framework of violation of the rights of all defendants, convicts and political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba.”
The document is signed by the special rapporteurs on the independence of magistrates and lawyers, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The letter is also signed by the vice president of communications of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the president-rapporteur of the Working Group on Forced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The July 2021 protests were a political and social watershed in Cuba. Since then, Prisoners Defenders has registered about 1,500 prisoners for political reasons, while the NGO Justice 11J has collected 1,905 people arrested, of which 800 are still in prison.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Melody González Pedraza presided over the Villa Clara court that sentenced four young people to prison on May 8
The Audiencia of Villa Clara, Pedraza’s work center and headquarters of the provincial court that judged the demonstrators / Portal of the Citizen of Santa Clara
14ymedio, Madrid, May 31, 2024 — Cuban judge Melody González Pedraza, who among other sentences gave four years in prison for attack, has been detained in Florida awaiting a judicial resolution after requesting asylum. According to Martí Noticias this Friday, the magistrate arrived at Tampa International Airport on Thursday after receiving humanitarian parole.
Upon arrival, the immigration authorities denied her entry into the United States because of her history in Cuba, but she invoked political asylum, according to her sponsor, Roberto Castellón. One of the cases that González Pedraza judged as president of the Popular Municipal Court of Encrucijada, in Villa Clara, detailed by Martí Noticias, was that of four young people accused of throwing Molotov cocktails against a jeep and homes of the heads of the Police and State Security of the same Villa Clara municipality on November 18, 2022.
The judgment was handed down with a sentence on May 8, 2024. For this reason, she was included by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba on its list of repressors. According to the text, to which Martí Noticias had access, she imposed, for the crime of attack, four years in prison on Andy Gabriel González Fuentes, Eddy Daniel Rodríguez Pérez and Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza, and three years on Adain Barreiro Pérez.
Judge Melody González Pedraza, in the image shared by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba / FDHC
Rodríguez Pérez’s mother, Marisol Rodríguez Millán, says that it was a “rigged trial” and told Martí Noticias that her son, now in prison, had been granted U.S. humanitarian parole. “She gave the boys four years, taking away my son’s privilege of being able to go to the United States. However, for her, a revolutionary judge, who has put so many boys in prison unjustly, she was granted parole and given freedom,” she complained to the American media. continue reading
Ana Iris Pedraza Balero, mother of Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza, also complained about the possibility of the judge being granted political asylum on American territory: “I think it should not be granted, because she used her position to commit the greatest and most atrocious injustices in the world. Take the case of these four boys: she abused her position, abused her power, and now she wants to live freely and to the fullest, without paying for anything she did.”
“She gave the boys four years, taking away my son’s privilege of being able to go to the United States.”
Rodríguez Pérez’s mother, Marisol Rodríguez Millán, says the trial was “rigged ” and told Martí Noticias that her son, now in prison, had been granted U.S. humanitarian parole. “She gave the boys four years, taking away my son’s privilege of being able to go to the United States because he had been granted humanitarian parole. However, for her, such a revolutionary judge, who has put so many boys in prison unjustly, she was granted parole and given freedom,” she complained to the American media.
Ana Iris Pedraza Balero, mother of Luis Ernesto Medina Pedraza, also complained about the possibility of the judge being granted political asylum on American territory: “I think it should not be granted, because she used her position to commit the greatest and most atrocious injustices in the world. Take the case of these four boys: she abused her position, she abused her power, and now she wants to live freely and to the fullest, without paying for anything she did.”
Having submitted her asylum application, González Pedraza has two possibilities, Martí Noticias said: to be transferred to an immigration center or be released until she appears in court to defend her case. “In either case, the asylum seeker will have to appear before a judge and prove that she has legitimate grounds for persecution in Cuba. The judge can believe her and grant her asylum or he can order her expeditious deportation to Cuba,” a specialist lawyer explained to the American media.
For his part, the judge’s sponsor considers her arrest unfair. “They have done irreparable damage by including her in the database of Cuban repressors,” he told Martí Noticias. She is a Christian woman who only did her job.” Indeed.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba asks the authorities to look for the boat, whose location is unknown, where 19 people with hardly any drinking water are holding out
Melisa Odaisi Peraza Cabrera in the photograph disseminated to locate her. / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, June 3, 2024 — Melisa Odaisi Peraza Cabrera, 24, who has been missing since May 14, is part of a group of 19 Cuban rafters lost on the high seas. The feminist organization Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba asked the authorities for help this Sunday after the young woman communicated her situation to her family. Peraza Cabrera, a resident of Cárdenas (Matanzas), was last seen in mid-May, when she left her house to meet a man she had met through her social networks. The young woman has three children, two twin girls of four years and four months and a boy of two.
Her family heard from her on May 27, after several attempts to contact her, thanks to an acquaintance who saw her on Ayestarán Street, in Havana
Her family heard from her on May 27, after several attempts to contact her, thanks to an acquaintance who saw her on Ayestarán Street, in Havana, walking with two men. At that time, they told the authorities, as well as feminist organizations, that they feared she was a victim of some kind of violence.
To locate her, they provided a photo, as well as the complete description of the young woman, and asked anyone who saw her to contact two family members by phone or to call the Police. continue reading
Hours later, the feminist organization Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba sent word that Peraza Cabrera had called her family to tell them that she was leaving the Island with a group of six women and 12 men who were somewhere on the coast of Artemisa or Mayabeque.
“Neither she nor anyone in the group could send the geolocation because they barely had coverage or battery. They have little water left. And we have lost contact since 3:12 pm in Cuba. We ask the authorities to mobilize without delay to find them,” the association said in a Facebook post that it urged users to share.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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With 33 votes in favor and three abstentions, Proposition No. of Law went ahead this Wednesday in the commission of international cooperation for development
A few packages of powdered milk in an establishment in Havana / EFE
14ymedio, Havana, 30 May 2024 — The international cooperation commission for development of the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved on Monday a Proposition No. of Law (PNL)* presented by the socialist Sumar coalition to “contribute to overcoming the shortage of milk destined for children in Cuba.” The proposal, which was approved with 33 votes in favor and three abstentions, urges the Government to allocate funds through the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID) “to strengthen food aid programs to Cuba, especially those aimed at meeting the current needs of powdered milk for the child population, in coordination with the World Food Program (WFP).”
It proposes to study the “possibilities of cooperation with the Government of Cuba to launch a program that contemplates the creation of powdered milk supply channels
In addition, it proposes to study the “possibilities of cooperation with the Government of Cuba to launch a program that contemplates the creation of powdered milk supply channels,” in which public administrations or companies in the dairy sector could participate.
In defense of the PNL presented by Sumar, the deputy of the Socialist Party, Alba Soldevilla Novials, recalled that last January the Government of Cuba requested “urgent help” from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to “facilitate the shipment of powdered milk” to the Island. The response was quick and “it has begun to send a kilogram of powdered milk per month for Cuban girls and boys under seven years old” in Pinar del Río and Havana. continue reading
The regime tried last March, through a text published in the official press, to minimize the dust raised by the news, stating that the request was part of a practice of the bilateral relationship, long-standing cooperation and the actions identified within the Country Strategic Plan for Cuba until 2024.
However, the shipment of 144 metric tons of milk powder, which temporarily covers the needs of 48,000 Cuban children, “is not enough to guarantee the longer-term supply,” Soldevilla stressed.
With the precedent that Spain is a “country with dairy surpluses,” Soldevilla said that the Government of Pedro Sánchez could “study collaboration formulas” for the long term.
The shipment of 144 tons of milk powder temporarily covers the needs of 48,000 Cuban children
For his part, José Francisco Alcaraz, representative of Vox, specified that the initiative showed that “communist dictatorships in the world are not able to feed their citizens nor their children and, obviously, they threaten freedom.”
Alcaraz said that the socialist support statement lacked “a condemnation of the regime and the lack of freedom,” in addition to “the request that political prisoners be released.”
The parliamentarian recalled, without giving his name, that a “counselor of the communist party took advantage of this good initiative,” but the money was not for the purposes intended. In view of this, he suggested ensuring that these funds “are destined entirely to the Cuban population”
The deputy pointed out that it is important to help the children of Cuba, although he specified to the socialist bloc that “there are more than half a million children in Spain with malnutrition and a 33% risk of poverty.”
The PLNs are not binding in the Spanish legal system, although they serve to establish positions of the chamber, in this case within a committee and not the Plenary.
*Note: A proposition of law is a statement suggesting an action that may have legal implications.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
According to a rumor, Rodríguez Castro was the owner of at least one part of a drug trafficking network in Matanzas
14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 22 May 2024 — El químico (the chemical), the fashionable synthetic drug in Havana, slowly takes over the Cuban underworld. The possibility that Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, El Cangrejo (The Crab), grandson and bodyguard of Raúl Castro, is the man behind its manufacture and traffic – in increasingly vast networks – was one of the rumors that circulated in April and that the collaborators of 14ymedio and Yucabyte registered on the Island.
The consumption of el químico among young people has left deplorable scenes, documented in several recordings on social networks. In several of them, symptoms of paranoia, dislocation and violence are noticeable in drugged people. Some have tried to injure themselves. A rumor insists that more than 20 young people are under medical surveillance in Havana for their addiction and – according to a health official who did not identify himself – there are no supplies to treat them.
The authorities have recognized that el químico is increasingly circulating on the Island, although they have not given details about its composition and have accused emigrants of being the ones who contribute to the entry of drugs into the country. The silence has generated the suspicion that some member of the upper elite, such as Rodríguez Castro, pulls the strings of its distribution or takes advantage of his position to import it from some allied country of the Island, such as China or Russia.
Several users say that El Cangrejo was alarmed by a police operation that dismantled several distribution sources of the “el químico”
Several users say that El Cangrejo was alarmed by a police operation that dismantled several distribution centers of el químico in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas. According to a rumor, Rodríguez Castro was the owner of at least part of the network, whose merchandise was confiscated from two brothers who, allegedly, acted as his front men. continue reading
The erosion of the leadership of power on the Island and the tensions between the “historicos” and the new leaders has been another of the most frequent issues among the rumors of the week. Several users said in April that Ramiro Valdés was dying after suffering “convulsions and fainting” – although there was also talk of poisoning – during a political event. Valdés’s is one of the most “announced” deaths in recent months, even above that of Raúl Castro.
The latter did not lack a “death notice” in April, about which — a rumor alleged — Miguel Díaz-Canel received a call to leave a visit to San José de las Lajas, in Mayabeque, and “run” to Havana to plan Castro’s funeral. Despite his advanced age, the soldier has continued to appear on television, which appeases — at least for a few weeks — the rumors about his death.
One of the rumors that reached the most notoriety last month was the emigration of part of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero’s family
One of the rumors that reached the most notoriety last month was the emigration of the family of the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero. His ex-wife, a user points out, lives in the United States, while his son resides in Spain and manages a small luxury hotel in Havana. In addition, several independent media reported the arrival of two of his nieces in the United States.
The situation of poverty and shortages hit rock bottom when it was revealed that a clandestine factory in the La Güinera neighborhood, in Havana, had produced and sold packages of picadillo, made of minced dog meat. The bag was sold for 50 pesos, packaged with the El Cocinerito brand, and was supposed to be distributed in several private and state stores. The authorities initially stated that the information was false, but a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture ended up confirming that “unscrupulous people” had carried out the “killing of dogs” in Mayabeque, whose meat was turned into the picadillo.
As every month, there are recurring rumors about crime, violence and insecurity on the streets of the Island. Most denounce the disappearance of minors, assaults with knives – such as the stabbing of a rapist – the discovery of human remains in public places and the execution, by the people themselves, of thieves captured in the middle of the act. For posterity remained, in April, a symbol of the boredom of Cubans for these situations: a woman who unsuccessfully denounced her husband for machista violence sewed her mouth shut after being ignored by the Police.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
Ailen Tartabull, mother of an eight-year-old boy, was murdered at her home
Her death represents the 18th femicide on the Island, so far in 2024, according to 14ymedio / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana, May 29, 2024 — Machista violence claimed two new victims in Cuba on Tuesday at the hands of the same aggressor. According to several reports on social networks by residents of Cienfuegos, Ailen Tartabull, mother of an eight-year-old boy, was murdered at home by her husband, identified as Adrián Cruz, who later went to a ration store where he killed Víctor Manuel Ojeda Alpízar.
The death of the woman represents the 18th femicide on the Island so far in 2024, according to the count of 14ymedio. According to Irma Broek, Ojeda Alpízar, “alleged lover” of Tartabull, worked at the bodega (ration store) and was “lovingly called El Chino.”
The comments in that post by Broek, as well as in other posts, such as that of a user named Saúl Manuel, say that the victims were very well-liked. “That unfortunately left great suffering for the families of the victims, children who were left alone when they most needed their father and mother,” lamented Javier Pérez Macías. “I had the pleasure of meeting the victim, Víctor Manuel Ojeda Alpízar. He was my friend, a good guy who only thought about giving everything to his son and helping others.” continue reading
According to Irma Broek, Ojeda Alpízar, Tartabull’s “alleged lover,” worked in the ration store and “was affectionately called ’El Chino’
About the aggressor, who fled the place and is a fugitive, the same sources claim that he had served a sentence in prison in the past for serious assaults against Tartabull.
The most recent femicide before this one had been recorded just a week ago. María Emilia Savigne Borjas, 38 years old and a mother of three children, was murdered in Santiago de Cuba, in the middle of the street, as confirmed by the platform Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba.
This attack is the last in a wave of sexist violence that began on January 2, with the death of Diana Rosa Cervantes, in Camagüey. In addition, there were three attempts at femicide registered by Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba.
During a congress of the Federation of Cuban Women in 2023, President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that in 2023, the Island tripled the number of people convicted of machista murders compared to the 2022 record. He reported that 93 percent of the penalties were for more than 20 years in prison, and in five cases it was life imprisonment.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The Ministry of Public Health issues a statement after numerous complaints from Santiago de Cuba
The samples were analyzed by the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine / Minsap
14ymedio, Madrid, 27 May 2024 — After numerous complaints on social networks from the east of Cuba, the Ministry of Public Health admitted the presence on the Island of Oropouche fever. In a statement issued on Monday, it reports the discovery of the virus in two municipalities of Santiago de Cuba, the capital city, and in Songo La Maya. Without detailing how many cases there are and ignoring the numerous complaints made on social networks, the health authorities say that the virus was detected “through follow-up and surveillance actions of non-specific febrile syndromes.” The samples were analyzed by the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine.
“Sometimes, the most severe symptoms include vomiting and bleeding with small red spots on the skin, nosebleeds or bleeding gums”
This Sunday, the reporter, a U.S. resident, again reported: “The disease causes a condition similar to dengue. It is characterized by the sudden appearance of symptoms, including high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pains. In some cases, there are rashes on the skin. Sometimes, the most severe symptoms include vomiting and bleeding with small red spots on the skin, nosebleeds or bleeding gums. Occasionally meningitis or encephalitis may occur.”
Similarly, he mentioned the Oropouche virus as a possible cause, since “it is hitting the countries of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, and it cannot be ruled out that some person or doctors who are working in these countries have entered the Island sick.” continue reading
In its statement on Monday, the Ministry of Health indicates that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) had reported the presence of the disease, transmitted by mosquitoes and gnats, in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, in addition to Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.
In the same way, he tries to reassure the population, confirming the symptoms of fever, headaches, muscle and joint pains, vomiting and diarrhea, but adding: “Associated with the virus, no serious, critical or death cases have been reported.” As it is a virus, they say, there is no specific treatment, only “general measures to relieve symptoms.”
In addition, they report that “entomo-epidemiological actions are being carried out to cut the chain of transmission and achieve the control of the disease in the shortest possible time.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
In addition to that of Ariatna Gámez, on May 28 there was another femicide in Cienfuegos, that of Ailen Tartabull, allegedly attacked by her husband
Alas Tensas says that the aggressor of Ariatna Gámez already had a history of ’machista’ violence / Facebook / Ariatna Quintana
14ymedio, Madrid, May 31, 2024 — The murder of Ariatna Gámez Quintana, 32 years old, allegedly perpetrated by her partner this Tuesday in Holguín, brings to two the number of deaths from machista violence on the Island on the same day. Also on May 28, there was a femicide in Cienfuegos, that of Ailen Tartabull, allegedly attacked by her husband in an event in which Víctor Manuel Ojeda Alpízar, who was was working in the ration store where the events occurred, also lost his life.
According to the Alas Tensas Observatory, the aggressor of Ariatna Gámez, father of her two minor children, already had a history of machista violence, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. The authorities are looking for him for the crime he allegedly committed in front of the victim’s four children. “Our condolences to your family and our recommendation to activate a security protocol for people who survive Ariadna,” demanded the feminist association.
There are fewer details about an alleged femicide in Santiago de Cuba, that of Isaira Despaigne, 34, between May 14 and 15
There are fewer details about an alleged femicide in Santiago de Cuba, that of Isaira Despaigne, 34, between May 14 and 15. The deceased had three children, but more information about the circumstances of her death is not known. continue reading
The observatories Alas Tensas (Tense Wings) and Yo Sí Te Creo (Yes I Believe You) in Cuba already count 22 femicides so far this year, although the count made by 14ymedio totals 20, since the deaths of two elderly women last March are not considered by this newspaper to be of a machista nature. In addition, the organizations warn that there are six cases that need further investigation to determine if they are murders by machista violence, three of them in Havana, two in Santiago de Cuba and one in Esperanza, Villa Clara.
Last week there was also another femicide in Santiago de Cuba, that of María Emilia Savigne Borjas, 38 years old and a mother of three, attacked in the middle of the street. The cases have only multiplied since the first victim this year of this type of violence in 2024, Diana Rosa Cervantes, was reported on January 2.
The authorities are still unable to contain a swell that is growing to the extent that social networks contribute to the dissemination of cases. However, it is also likely that many deaths will not be recorded, and the official records arrive late and badly, despite the fact that Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself urged a resolution to the situation a year ago.
The announcement of the creation of an official observatory and a “real-time” record that still does not work have not contributed to mitigating the murders, while feminist associations demand a comprehensive law against machista violence that, in addition to making statistics public and criminalizing femicide, includes preventive measures.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
The project seeks to reduce the costs of livestock inputs and look for sustainable alternatives to current agricultural production systems
The Canary Institute has imported 4,000 cuttings of four varieties of cassava from the Cuban center that are grown at the Finca El Pico del Icia / Government of the Canary Islands
Europa Press (via 14ymedio), Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 31 May 2024 — Researchers from the Canary Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA), the Research Institute of Food and Tropical Fruits of Cuba (INIVIT) and the University Without Borders Association (USF) are carrying out a study for the development in the Canary archipelago of animal feed alternatives based on new varieties of cassava, which aims to diversify livestock feed production from the use of this reserve root.
This initiative also aims to reduce the costs of livestock inputs, an activity that has been greatly affected by the increase in cereal prices due to the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, among other conditions of the international context, which reduces livestock profitability, and to seek sustainable alternatives to current agricultural production systems aimed at mitigating and reducing the effects of climate change.
Thus, within the framework of the project, which began in June 2023, ICIA replicates the tests carried out by INIVIT on the use of the cassava root, once converted into flour as a substitute for cereal in animal feed, and of the aerial part of the plant as fodder.
With this objective, the Canarian institute has imported 4,o00 cuttings of four varieties of this tuber from the Cuban center that are grown at the Finca El Pico del Icia, in Tejina (Tenerife), to see their adaptation to the Canary Islands and their yields, in order to subsequently check the results of using this plant material in the feeding of local livestock of the Canary Islands archipelago, the Ministry reports. continue reading
The Canarian institute has imported 4,000 cuttings of four varieties of cassava from the Cuban center that are grown at the Finca El Pico del Icia, in Tejina
In this way, cassava’s agronomic aptitude and performance, its economic and technical viability for the manufacture of feed will be studied, and the formulation of balanced and complete diets using cassava and other ingredients will be evaluated.
Finally, palatability and consumption tests will be carried out in different species with evaluation of the final livestock products: milk, cheese, meat and eggs.
To do this, Cuban scientists, specialists in the management of these varieties, support the different processes.
ICIA president Janira Gutiérrez explained that the experimental cultivation of cassava in the Canary Islands will contribute to generating new knowledge about more viable and sustainable alternatives in animal fodder for the Canarian primary sector, whose result could be a product that would be added sustainably to animal feed. She also stressed that diversification is presented as a key strategy to manage risks in agricultural production in small systems such as the archipelago, allowing acceptable levels of productivity to be achieved even in unfavorable conditions.
Cuban scientists, specialists in the management of these varieties, support the different processes
“In addition, these works promote cooperation in scientific research, knowledge and technological development in agricultural matters with the benefits that this entails for all the parties involved,” she added.
The study will be continued throughout 2025, when the results will be evaluated in different species of local livestock. By the end of 2024, the first results will be published on the yield and agronomic management of the crop.
This project is based on the work carried out by INOVIT on high production, quality and resistant cassava varieties, the promotion and advice on their cultivation for human and animal feed, and the development of the processing industry.
In this sense, the level of specialization is a reference for knowledge of this crop inside and outside the country, as well as the application of results in the industry, to which is added the extensive experience of ICIA in applied research in both plant and animal production, feed and fodder.
The consul general of Cuba in the Canary Islands, Elsa Agramonte, visited the Finca El Pico del Icia in December, where this project is developed, accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty of the Government of the Canary Islands, Narvay Quintero, the president of ICIA, Janira Gutiérrez, and the vice-rector for Internationalization and Cooperation of the University of La Laguna (Ull), Inma González, and researchers from this program.
Also, in the month of April, researchers from ICIA and the USF traveled to Cuba to participate in different work meetings and learn first-hand about the research and studies carried out by INIVIT on cassava and other tubers and reserve roots.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, June 6, 2024 — The event will be held from June 14 to 28, its organizers reported this Thursday at a press conference. The theme of this event will be the Fight against Neo-Fascism and will have political cartoonists from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela and France. The event, organized by the National Council of Plastic Arts and the Ministry of Culture, will feature graphic exhibitions, conversations, workshops and film screenings in cinemas in the capital.
