14ymedio, Havana, 22 October 2024 — Vehículos Eléctricos del Caribe (Vedca), a Chinese-Cuban joint venture based in Havana, presented the medallists and coaches who took part in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – and the Paralympics – with a batch of electric motorbikes. The reward for so much “sacrifice and abnegation” is ironic: it comes in the middle of a national blackout.
The president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (Inder), Osvaldo Vento, thanked China for the “gesture” and claimed that the motorbikes – which have been proving to be dangerous and unsuitable for the tropics for months – will help mitigate the transport crisis that affects athletes as much as other Cubans.
The information was reported by the Xinhua news agency, but the official press on the island did not report on the ceremony to accept the Chinese “gift”, which took place on 18 October. A video released by Xinhua shows that diplomatic personnel from the Asian giant – including the ambassador himself, Hua Xin – as well as Vedca executives and representatives of Inder took part in the ceremony.
Winner of bronze in Paris, boxer Arlen Lopez said he was “surprised” by his motorbike and welcomed Beijing’s “show of support” for Cuban sport. Vento, with rhetoric also in tune with the country’s electrical disconnection, assured that he accepts Chinese “support” at a “time when dreams and aspirations can be obscured by challenges”. He promised that, in future, athletes would be “provided with resources” that would allow them to “train more efficiently and focus on achieving new and important goals”.
For Hua Xin, the motorbikes represent the “historic ties of cooperation between the two nations” and he welcomed the fact that a group of Cuban coaches travelled to China to train Chinese boxers. It paid off: China won three gold medals and two silver medals in boxing, a sport which is one of the island’s specialities.
Also at the event were Yarisleidis Cirilo, bronze medallist in canoeing in Paris, and double Paralympic long jump champion Robiel Yankiel Sol. The athletes were given the keys to LT 4202A1 and LT 4202 motorbikes, priced between 1,200 and 1,600 dollars, according to the costs listed on Vedca’s Facebook profile.
A month after the Olympics ended, the Cuban medallists received cakes, syrup, rum, balloons and applause from the leaders and “the people”. The delegation had protagonists – Mijaín López, Erislandy Álvarez, Yusneylis Guzmán López, Luis Alberto Orta Sánchez, Gabriel Rosillo, Milaimys Marín, Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys, Rafael Alba and Arlen López – whose gifts fell far short of what their emigrated colleagues received.
The shortages gave rise to regrettable episodes, such as the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 mobile phone given to triple jumper Andy Hechavarría for his participation in Paris. He was asking $900 for the phone, which had logos referring to the event. After a few hours, the Holguín native claimed in a Facebook post that “a neighbour had hacked” into his account. “He put my photo and everything. That means that he got into my profile to steal photos of me and information, because, look, none of those publications appear on my current account,” he claimed.
For its part, Vedca was established in 2019 through an international economic partnership contract between the Chinese company Tianjin Dongxing and the Cuban company Minerva. According to the official media Cubadebate, it operates with a workforce of 60 workers, including engineers, technicians, sheet/metal workers, welders and electricians, who assemble nine models of motorbikes – including the three-wheeled LT4 203 – and two models of tricycles: the C-400 with a load capacity of 400 kilograms and the C-800A with a capacity of 800 kilograms.
According to the company’s sales promotion manager, Deans Daniel Rodriguez Arias, so far this year the company has earned $2,043,000 for its products. “By 2024, it should get to around six million. By 2025, we project a turnover of over eight million. Sales in shops abroad with delivery to Cuba, for example, should generate external revenues of more than one million dollars, which is also a contribution to the country,” he calculated.
Translated by GH
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