An 11-Month-Old Baby Thrown From a Fourth Floor in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Was Not Seriously Injured

Her uncle, a 15-year-old schizophrenic teenager, threw her into the void during an attack

The child , from the municipality of Jatibonico, arrived with minor injuries considering the height from which she fell. / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 March 2025 — The official press on Tuesday gave its version of the events that led to the admission to the Sancti Spíritus pediatric hospital of an 11-month-old baby thrown from a fourth floor by a relative. The child, from the municipality of Jatibonico, arrived with minor injuries considering the height from which she fell, and her discharge from the hospital is imminent.

In an interview conducted by Radio Sancti Spíritus and reproduced by Cubadebate, the intensive care physician who treated the girl, Fran Felipe Martín, said he was “impressed” after the “rescue” of the girl last Friday, because she did not have significant injuries, but “just a scratch on the neck.” “The entire critical care commission was activated… but we were informed that there was no serious injury. Nevertheless, she was admitted,” he added.

There is no word on the person responsible for the girl’s fall. According to social media and solidarity groups in Jatibonico who reported the incident, it was her uncle, a 15-year-old teenager, who threw Nathaly – she is identified by that name by several profiles – out of the window of his building during an attack. He was also admitted to the same hospital, in the mental health ward. continue reading

With the current shortage of medicines in Cuba, these types of episodes are not rare.

Given the current shortage of medicines in Cuba and the country’s overall crisis, these types of episodes caused by neurological decompensation are not uncommon.

After several tests, including X-rays and ultrasounds, “nothing was found,” not even fractures or damage to the skull. According to Martin, the girl is eating and behaving normally. “There was nothing wrong with her, but we had never seen anything like this: that an 11-month-old child could fall from a fourth floor and not have any injuries seemed impossible to us.”

“It is always said that a child is not a small adult and, although children can withstand certain traumas, the fact that this baby did not suffer serious injuries after such a shocking fall is something that we have really never seen before in our experience,” he said.

Although the headlines use the word “thrown” to describe what happened to the baby, the Radio Sancti Spíritus journalist constantly questions whether she was “really” thrown. “We have had many accidents,” said the doctor, always from a second or third floor, and older, but he also did not confirm the intentionality of the act. “We have never seen that.”

“The news went viral on social media,” said Radio Sancti Spíritus. “It shocked public opinion.” The station – and occasionally the local newspaper Escambray – pays attention to the work of doctors in the province and publishes reports of equally “miraculous” stories due to the talent of Cuban health workers.

Titles such as From Anguish to Hope or The Story of Jorgito, a Child Who Survived Severe Pneumonia –always with the warning of “sensitive images of the surgical intervention”– are examples of this kind of subgenre that has been developing for months in the official media.

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K-Mart, the First South Korean Shop in Cuba Since Renewed Diplomatic Relations

 The new ’minimarket’ sells imported oriental products, as well as everyday items

A K-Mart shop assistant tells ’14ymedio’ that the store has been bustling with customers since it opened. /14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 29 January 2025 — Since the beginning of this year, this new shop in Havana has become a meeting point for lovers of Korean culture. K-Mart is the first shop with South Korean products in Cuba, opening amid warming ties between the two nations.

The opening of the private shop, at the intersection of 27th and J streets in El Vedado, coincided with the opening of the South Korean Embassy in Cuba in the middle of this month, almost a year after the two countries re-established diplomatic relations, broken since 1959.

K-Mart offers a varied selection of South Korean products, including ramen, soju, tea, instant coffee, juices and energy drinks. A rarity in Cuba, despite the shop’s tiny space, it has a wide range of foods for sale, crammed on shelves, filling the display cases and piled up on the counter.

The corner where K-Mart stands is in an area that has had several popular private businesses since the 1990s.

The small entrance attracts the locals. The “Open” sign is lit from Monday to Saturday from eight in the morning until six in the evening. K-Mart’s excellent location , close to 23rd Street, the heart of Havana’s Vedado district, is part of an area that since the 1990s has had several very popular private businesses and is just a few metres away from La Colina University. continue reading

Prices reflect the country’s inflation, with payments accepted in Cuban pesos, either in cash or by bank transfer. A pack of biscuits sells for around 1,260 pesos, while Miami-imported Bustelo coffee goes for 2,000. Korean staples aren’t far behind—Ramen Shin is priced at 1,400 pesos, and the spicy Buldak variety at 1,500.

On Wednesday, some people just came in to look, at a box of chicken broth for 1,920 pesos or bottles of wine, from 1,200 to 3,500 pesos. I can eat something different that I could never have tried without leaving Cuba,” said one customer as he poured himself a glass of iced tea, in the shop’s small refreshment corner.

The small K-Mart entrance attracts the locals. / 14ymedio

Alongside Korean brands, are many imported products from the United States, Mexico and Panama, including one-kilo packets of rice for 450 pesos, sugar for 900 and a knob of mayonnaise for 1,200, which some customers exclaimed at when they worked out that a small purchase in the shop could be well over the average Cuban salary of just over 4,000 pesos a month.

One of the K-Mart shop assistants told 14ymedio that it has been bustling with customers since it opened. Most customers are young people, students from the nearby universities, locals, and people who have heard that a shop like this has opened in Havana. The Torre K hotel, about to open nearby in February, could potentially provide more customers for the shop.

On Wednesday, a young fan of the South Korean music group BTS said “I never thought to find a place like this in Cuba, there are posters of my idols, decorative items from K-dramas and, of course, Korean food that I only dreamed of tasting. You often see K-pop star and Korean series posters on the wall at K-Marts, which have lately been very popular on the island.

K-Mart offers a varied selection of South Korean products, including ramen, soju, tea, instant coffee, juices and energy drinks. / 14ymedio

Pavel Kim, Professor Kim, who teaches Korean language classes at the Asian Museum, is in charge of serving customers at K-Mart, and preparing the coffee or ramen to consume on the premises. “It’s a good opportunity for Cubans to get to know more about South Korea, not only through food, but also to learn about their lifestyle and traditions,” he said enthusiastically.

The establishment is also supported by the private shop MYOM:I, which specialises in the sale of Korean cosmetics and skin care products, and by the Cuba-Korea Cultural Exchange Association, which helps several local businesses import products from the Asian nation.

With their support, well-stocked shelves, and a carefully designed layout, K-Mart feels like a world apart. Stepping inside, shoppers find no faded portraits of military men—only faces of music idols. It’s a dimension without decay or shortages, where the register rings up hundreds or thousands of pesos in seconds—almost as fast as a good ramen goes down.

Translated by GH

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Forced Landing of El Avión, Another Cuban Restaurant Closed Due to Lack of Food

Part of the old and useless fleet of the state-owned Cubana de Aviación, the ‘ship’ was equipped to serve 24 diners

It was inaugurated as a gastronomic restaurant at the beginning of 2013 / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 4 March 2025 — Two years after completing the interior of the Russian-operated Antonov (An-24), all that remains are a deserted esplanade and a custodian, which indicates that it is closed, without any reopening date set.

Inaugurated as a gastronomic restaurant in early 2013, El Avión began its journey by causing a real stir. Its arrival on the Central Highway to its final location caused great fright among the people of Sancti Spíritus, who believed that it had crashed. That beginning was an omen of the random path that it would take later.

Part of the old and useless fleet of the state-owned Cubana de Aviación, the small plane was renovated to serve 24 diners. To reinforce the idea of a flight, customers were received in a replica of an air terminal, a cubicle where the “captain” took their orders before they entered the “plane.” While waiting to board, they could have a cocktail and feel that they were future travelers in a waiting room.

Once inside the An-24, “passengers” could sample the main dishes and imagine that the plane, designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union, had taken off and was now lost among the clouds heading to a remote destination. For many of the customers who arrived it was the first time they had been on an aircraft, although it was still anchored to the ground. After dining, the continue reading

service staff announced that it was time to deplane to make way for the next customers.

“Like everything in this country, it started more or less well, but when it had been opened a few months, I came for my birthday and the food was already terrible,” said a man born in the province who, after visiting the nearby agricultural fair, decided to go see “the little plane,” as many called it. “I ordered a dish with shrimp, because they specialized in fish and seafood, but it was inedible. The tomato sauce they added didn’t taste good; it was full of chunks.”

However, the man recalls that “it was a different place and the children loved to come.” For many “it was a way to fulfill their dream of being on a plane. Here there are many people who have not even left this province, let alone flown from one place to another.” Nor do the nearby facilities that served to support the restaurant, such as the bathroom and the supposed terminal, provide service. A Cuban flag painted on the side of the Antonov has been fading with the rain, the sun and the passage of time, that same accumulation of years and neglect that once prevented it from leaving the ground and that now make it impossible to survive as a restaurant.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Contemplates, for the First Time, Granting Land in Usufruct to Foreigners

“We know of many cases of people living in the country who are interested in accessing this possibility,” said the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Government has already given land in usufruct to foreign companies / ACN

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 4 March 2025 — The Cuban Government is considering granting land in usufruct to foreign companies and individuals with permanent residence on the Island, in a new measure to increase agricultural production, which is going through a deep crisis.

The Ministry of Agriculture advanced the step this Tuesday at a press conference, by presenting a draft law on ownership, possession and use of land. It explained that the regulation seeks to “increase agricultural production” and to “recognize all economic actors.”

The text, 60 pages, will enter a discussion phase until May 1 and will be presented to the National Assembly of People’s Power for approval in December.

The text will enter a discussion phase until May 1 and will be presented to the National Assembly of People’s Power for approval in December

Cuba has already delivered land in usufruct to foreign companies, although under a “legal vacuum,” Mayra Cruz, Legal Director of the Ministry of Agriculture, clarified at a press conference.

“The fundamental change comes from giving recognition. The current decree law on the delivery of land in usufruct does not speak of foreign legal entities in any way. How has the delivery of land to these subjects been resolved legally? From the Constitution, but there is a gap on this issue in continue reading

agrarian legislation,” she said .

Last January, the Cuban state press reported that a Vietnamese company became the first foreign firm since 1959 to receive land to cultivate on the Island.

The company, according to the official newspaper Granma, obtained 308 hectares to plant rice on a farm in the south of Pinar del Río province.

“We know many cases of foreigners who live in the country who are interested in the possibility of having land in usufruct. They have had to request it from their wives, a child, a Cuban relative. This proposal incorporates the possibility that, as with other goods – cars, homes -, they can acquire it in their name,” Cruz said.

“The current decree law on the delivery of land in usufruct does not talk about foreign legal entities in any way”

Boris Titov, president of the Cuba-Russia Business Council, had already said in May 2023 that the Island offered Russian businessmen the right to use land for a period of 30 years, an unprecedented concession from the regime.

“They are giving us preferential treatment; the path is paved,” said the Kremlin adviser during the inauguration of the bilateral business economic forum held in Havana, according to Reuters.

For Titov, the conditions proposed by the Cuban government affect ” the long-term lease of land, the tax-free import of agricultural machinery, the granting of the right to transfer profits in foreign currency and much more. Of course, we are also waiting for the reduction of bureaucratic barriers.”

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.

Bullies in the Oval Office

The weak links will be torn out in any geostrategic chain woven in Washington.

“The two highest political officials of the strongest country in the world harassing Ukraine’s president with accusations and finger pointing.” / CNN

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Federico Hernández Aguilar, San Salvador, 3 March 2025 — In what some authors call “high politics” or “great politics” – and what others of us prefer to call “politics with a capital P” – there are certain unwritten rules that world leaders must be careful to observe. While several of these implicit rules are rules of substance, there are also rules of form. There may even be circumstances in which substance and form intermingle, leading to bizarre situations with unpredictable outcomes. A few days ago, the whole world witnessed, in the mythical Oval Office of the White House no less, the unprecedented, astonishing, grotesque outcome of the unforgivable neglect of those elementary rules of courtesy and good manners that give politics its greatness.

The president and vice-president of the United States, the biggest global power, were hosting a meeting prior to the signing of an agreement that, according to the leaked press reports, was clearly unfavourable to Ukraine, as it obliged it to return non-refundable money and to allow the exploitation of its mineral wealth, without in return the certainty of minimum security guarantees against the Russian onslaught.

Volodymir Zelensky had rightly warned that such conditions were unacceptable, and Donald Trump had already, among other things, called the Ukrainian president a “dictator”. It is against this tense backdrop, let us not forget, that the meeting we are now discussing was to take place, and which will go down in history as a terrible example of political negotiation. continue reading

In this tense atmosphere, it should not be forgotten, the meeting that we are now commenting on was to take place, and which will go down in history as a terrible example of political negotiation.

When JD Vance spoke of “diplomacy”, it was natural that Zelensky wanted to know what the young vice-president meant by this concept, because it had become clear that this sort of capitulation proposed by Trump did not constitute a “diplomatic” effort for the Ukrainian leader, even less so in the face of a counterpart, Russia, which reneges on signed agreements to exchange prisoners.

This was what the guest respectfully reminded Vance. But it was then that the vice president responded with a rhetorical phrase in poor taste – he said he was referring to “the kind of diplomacy that will put an end to the destruction of your country” – raising his voice to stop Zelensky’s reaction and demanded a respect that his government had not previously shown to a nation that had been the victim of an invasion.

The rest of the conference was disgraceful by any standards: the two highest political officials of the world’s strongest country harassing the Ukrainian president with insults and finger pointing, in a scene that only very fanatical Trumpists would find worthy of the place, the subject matter and the official positions of those assembled there.

Trump’s reckless claim, accusing Zelensky of playing “with World War III”, borders on the surreal. Since when can a country under attack be singled out for starting a planetary conflict? For his part, Ukraine’s leader kept his voice in check, avoided losing his temper but, very importantly, now did he allow himself to be cornered, maintaining a posture of dignity that has been celebrated by the whole of Europe.

It is clear that the US president does not want to enter into moral obligations with Ukraine. The opportunity to ’negotiate’ was therefore perhaps lost for Zelensky beforehand. What this diplomatic fiasco in the White House did demonstrate is that Trump, apart from being (and we already knew this) no champion of democratic ideals, will be deadly aggressive towards those who lack any room to manoeuvre in his eyes. Weak links will be ripped out of any geo-strategic chain concocted in Washington.

What this diplomatic fiasco in the White House did demonstrate is that Trump, apart from being (and we already knew this) no champion of democratic ideals, will be deadly aggressive towards those who lack any room to manoeuvre in his eyes

But even believing they are doing the right thing by leaving Ukraine at Putin’s mercy, Trump and Vance are throwing more than political and military support to a particular Eastern European nation into the pot. The havoc their decision creates (whether prepared in advance or not) has enormous geopolitical effects and an obvious consequence within the US.

The escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war is bad news even for the White House. This powder keg, if it grows in size, will also shatter the credibility of Trump, who had promised to end the conflict on his first day in office. Hence the importance of the bad negotiating manners exhibited at that press conference: Washington will not be able to blame anyone for its failure and its tragic repercussions.

As a direct result, Donald Trump’s popularity among Americans will suffer in the same proportion. It was already doing so before the 28 February incident; now, after the obvious attempt to encircle Zelensky with two barbs, those numbers are likely to fall even further. And what will the White House do to fix this mess? Will it continue with its implausible tendency to open fronts and make enemies everywhere, risking much more than volatile poll numbers, or will it finally understand that politics with a capital P is also nourished by skill, good manners and even a certain amount of nobility?

Translated by GH

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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.

Ulises and Arminda, Retirees and Professional ‘Coleros’ at the ATMs in Cienfuegos, Cuba

The elderly save others long waits under the sun or rain and charge them 1,000 pesos for their service

Early mornings on the boulevard can be dangerous, especially when you can’t even see your hands due to the blackout / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 2 March 2025 –14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 2 March 2025 — They are just shadows in the middle of the dim light in front of the branch of the Banco Popular de Ahorro on the boulevard of the city of Cienfuegos. Every night they are there to stand in line so that, the next morning, they can withdraw cash from the ATMs. Sometimes the long hours of waiting end in frustration because of a power cut, lack of money, a technical breakdown or some other mishap.

“Anyone may think that we are fleeing the blackouts and enjoying a little cool air, but the reality is that we are standing in line for our customers,” says Ulises, an old man whose face is already part of the urban landscape on that stretch of the street. “This is a great sacrifice, and most of us are retired. I come every three days, and the people interested in my service contact me very early.”

Although Ulises has been retired for several years, he has had to look for a job as a custodian for a nearby State building to earn extra income. His potential customers look for him there during the day, and once he withdraws the cash from the ATM they give the elderly man 1,000 pesos for his service. A real roulette marked by chance if you take into account the continuous blackouts and technical problems that affect the city’s banking network.

Faced with such a difficult task, a group of coleros — people who stand in line for others — has been created that guarantees, at least, that those who can pay for their services do not have to spend a morning outdoors. “People complain that we take the first places in line, but what we do is a job, an continue reading

occupation that helps other people who can’t spend all night like this,” adds the pensioner.

“We almost all know each other, and if someone has a problem and has to go home for a while, we’ll take care of their place in line”

The man lists what kind of people require his work. “There are families with small children who cannot leave them alone, people who take care of the bedridden who can’t leave, others who are in charge of an elderly person and have to collect the pension but cannot spend a lot of time in line at the ATM. Anyway, they need cash but they don’t want to be here all this time.”

The coleros watch each other’s backs. Early mornings on the boulevard can be dangerous, especially when you can’t even see your hands due to the blackout, something that happens more and more frequently in a city that suffers up to more than 20 hours without electricity every day. “We almost all know each other. If someone has a problem and has to go home for a while, we will take care of their place in line.” Solidarity is vital for a job that is prohibited and does not enjoy a good reputation among the users of the branch.

“The first places in line are always in the hands of the coleros; you definitely can’t go to that bank,” says a young engineer who has given up taking out cash from the branch, the closest to her home. “I try to do everything I can through electronic transfers but not all businesses accept them, and you always end up needing cash.”

She says that customers have repeatedly complained to the bank’s management about the difficulties in accessing the ATMs. The complaints are not only directed against the coleros, but also against those who try to use a single place in line to extract money from several cards. “You are fifth in line, and you think you’re going to get there, but the person in front of you does five transactions and it’s all over.”

Based on the complaints, the branch managers have imposed a rule that each customer can only withdraw money from one card. The device also has a limit on the number of bills for each operation that restricts the quantities. “You can only withdraw 5,000 pesos in each operation, but the cash they put in the AT is so little that sometimes they recharge it at nine in the morning, and by eleven it’s empty.”

The young woman has chosen to mobilize her family to be in at least three lines at the same time

The young woman has chosen to mobilize her family to be in at least three lines at the same time. “My husband is in the branch on Argüelles Street, my mother in the San Carlos bank, and I am in this one on the boulevard, but sometimes we don’t even manage to get money.” In her opinion, the coleros who have been in front of the office since dawn are only the result of a bigger problem: “The lack of money and the fact that everything costs a lot, hundreds and thousands, and they don’t want to accept the smallest bills.”

One of the most experienced coleras on the boulevard is Arminda, 68 years old and with a pension of 1,500 pesos per month. “I have spent early mornings without sleeping; I have been bitten by mosquitoes, and I have even experienced some scares, just so a bank employee can come out and say that they aren’t putting money in the ATM that day, or the power goes off just when it is time to open to the public.”

Her main goal is to stay in business, despite the risks and frustrations, in order to buy, in the informal market, the medicines and food needed by her daughter, a young woman with mobility problems who can barely get out of bed. “If the power goes off just as the ATM starts, then I have to stay there under the sun so as not to lose my place in line, until the blackout is over.”

Insects, the early morning cold and the noon heat are not the only things that make Arminda uncomfortable. “Bank employees come out, stop the line and put in three or four cards to get money for their friends or people who pay them for it,” she complains. The old woman says that every day there is a different fight; people get very aggressive because, of course, money is a delicate matter.”

Last week Arminda was somewhat lucky because she stood in three lines during the early morning. She managed to withdraw cash for her customers in about two days. But she knows that in the fragile business of guaranteeing a position in the front of the line, nothing is assured. Her occupation is as unstable and elusive as those bills with the face of Céspedes (100 pesos) or Frank País (200 pesos).

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.

Collecting a Pension in Manzanillo Is a Real Obstacle Course for Retired Cubans

“I worked like a beast and now I look like a beggar, following officials month after month to get paid what they owe me,” complains Orestes

When the collection dates approach, the place is filled with retirees who wait patiently, sometimes all night, to receive their pensions / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Carlos A. Rodríguez, Manzanillo, Granma Province, 25 February 2025 — 14ymedio, Carlos A. Rodríguez, Manzanillo, Granma Province, 25 February 2025 — When he worked for the State, Orestes was happy when the payment dates were approaching. However, since he has been retired, the end of the month makes him worried at the prospect of banks without electricity and ATMs without cash in Manzanillo (Granma province). The obstacle course exhausts him before he even sets foot in the street to receive his pension.

Retirement, he says, is not a gift or a work of charity from the State. It is remuneration for the years he worked, for his contribution to society, which belongs to him. Orestes knows this very well, and that’s why he’s indignant that he has to go on an odyssey to receive his pension. “I worked like a beast and now I’m a beggar, going after the officials month after month so they pay me what they owe,” complains the manzanillero from outside the Post Office where he receives his pension.

When the collection dates approach, the place is filled with retirees who wait patiently, sometimes all night, to be paid their pensions. Orestes himself has experienced the despair of standing in line, which he almost always has to do for several days to finally obtain a few thousand pesos.

Orestes himself has experienced the despair of standing in line, which he must almost always do for several days to finally obtain a few thousand pesos / 14ymedio

At almost 70 years old, Orestes hides a catheter under his shirt and belt, just as he hides his everyday hunger and fatigue. He almost never has money to buy a snack, but even if he did, he couldn’t afford it. He spends every peso he receives each month on food and medicine. If it weren’t for the fact that he has no other option, he says, he would think that the hardships he goes through to get his pension are not worth it. continue reading

“This time I was lucky and can get paid on the third day. I almost always have to come four or five times because the power goes out, the connection goes out or there is no cash. Every day I dedicate to this – he laments – is a lost day.”

Orestes remembers the time when postmen brought the pensions to the homes of retirees, but with the lack of staff and “bancarización” [banking reform] now even that doesn’t happen. “Today they opened the Post Office around nine because there was no power, and at eleven they had to stop because they only had 1,000 peso bills. There were more than 50 people left, and we had to wait until a girl showed up with a money box and smaller bills,” he explains, still not being able to enter.

The situation is repeated at each of the collection points in the municipality / 14ymedio

The people in line complained, he says, but calmed down when the payments restarted, although the anguish did not disappear. Now, he claims, “they fear the imminent blackout after so much delay.”

On the same days and in the same line, Orestes has met many retirees like himself, and he has seen and heard everything: a woman fainted from fatigue in line; a housewife who does not have enough money even though she receives 7,000 pesos and remittances; people who, to collect their pension, must leave their sick relatives alone for hours.

The list goes on, and the situation is repeated at each of the collection points in the municipality

Being in the same line on the same days, Orestes has come to meet many retirees like him, and he has seen and heard everything / 14ymedio

In bank branches such as Bandec’s, the “desperate people,” the retirees who lengthen the line, sleep there the night before to try to collect. That, warns Orestes, “is if the cashiers have cash and the electricity does not go out.”

The discomfort, notes Orestes, spreads quickly in the lines, as the retirees are exhausted by the ordeal they suffer to collect their meager pension. “I gave my youth and my life to this process. I never thought I would regret it, but it’s one disappointment after another,” he says, throwing up his arms in despair.

Above all, he remembers the years he was an employee of the State: “I worked in Minas del Frío, lived there and was a bricklayer in the construction of the Camilo Cienfuegos School City, in the Caney de las Mercedes in the Sierra. That’s why I was proud when I heard people talking about the leaders and the military as the historic generation of the Revolution. I am also the historic generation! Without me and others like me they wouldn’t have built this shit!”

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 Crisis of Medical Oxygen Continues To Suffocate Cuban Patients

With so many chronic patients without an official supply, the demand for oxygen in informal trading networks has also skyrocketed.

The problem also affects hospitals where restrictions affect people admitted. / Prensa Latina

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 21 February 2025 — Technical problems at Cuba’s main plant for producing medicinal oxygen have been prolonged and are threatening thousands of patients. Until a few weeks ago, the main problem was with chronically ill patients who needed oxygen at home. Now, the shortage has spread to polyclinics and hospitals, according to several testimonies compiled by 14ymedio.

At the Angel Machaco Ameijeiras polyclinic in Guanabacoa, Havana, on Friday there was only one oxygen tank, and the line of patients, referred from other hospitals, was long. “I brought my son with severe shortness of breath and although children have priority, they couldn’t treat him because there is no mouthpiece,” the boy’s mother explained to this newspaper. “What was left of the tank wasn’t enough for even four more people, the nurse told me, and there were three times that many waiting.”

The woman decided to travel to other municipalities, but in several clinics she found the same answer: “There are none.” Finally, they recommended that she go to a care center in the municipality of Cotorro where they recently received a donation of an oxygen concentrator. “They were only providing service to children because they say they cannot cover all the adult patients who arrive.” continue reading

“The remaining supply was not enough for four more people, the nurse told me, and there were three times that number waiting.”

The OxiCuba SA plant, located in the municipality of Cotorro, has barely produced anything since last December, plagued by technical problems and a lack of investment. From this plant, the gas is sent to different destinations, especially to the Guanabacoa industrial plant where it is bottled and distributed to patients who need it. The plant’s service phone has not answered customer calls for days.

At the Reinaldo Pi Mirabal polyclinic in San Miguel del Padrón, oxygen has also been restricted to child patients only this week. The same is happening at the Mario Escalona polyclinic in Habana del Este and others located in more central municipalities. The problem is also affecting hospitals where the restrictions affect those admitted.

“In January they warned that the factory that fills the tanks in Guanabacoa was broken,” says the companion of a patient who has been admitted for weeks at the Dr. Miguel Enríquez Hospital, La Benéfica. “The little that has arrived is reserved for those who are more seriously ill, but I have seen people have tremendous scares, because they start to run out of air at night and there is nothing for all this.”

Even the health centres in El Vedado are not spared from the debacle. This Tuesday at the Borrás-Marfan Pediatric Hospital on Calle 17, there was only one oxygen tank left and the line to use it could take up to three hours. “All the others were empty,” complains Niurka, 41 years old and mother of a chronic asthmatic daughter. The woman, who also suffers from the disease, says that last weekend she had an attack and went to the Emergency Corps at Calixto García.

“There was no oxygen at all. The doctor who treated me, a foreign student, told me that many surgeries were paralyzed because there is not even enough to give to patients in the operating rooms.” Until a few months ago, Niurka had to carry salbutamol, bought on the black market, to be able to apply sprays that help her get through the crisis. “Now it seems that we will have to carry the oxygen and later even the chair to sit on.”

“There was no oxygen, the doctor who treated me, a foreign student, told me that many surgeries were paralyzed because there is not even enough to give to patients in the operating rooms.”

Antonio Quintana Bonachea, a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and resident of the municipality of Cotorro, has not received a new oxygen cylinder since last December. Tired of calling the service number demanding a response, he has had to ask for help from his followers on the Facebook page where he talks and discusses life in Cuba.

“Fortunately, an exiled follower found out about my need and sent me an oxygen concentrator that his late mother used. I just received it and I am looking for information on how to use it correctly. It is a help that I am very grateful for due to the instability of the service,” he tells this newspaper.

With so many chronic patients without an official supply, the demand for oxygen in informal trading networks has also skyrocketed. In just a few weeks, prices have gone up. “I’m selling a large oxygen tank, full and with all the accessories for 50,000 pesos,” reads one of the many Facebook groups for buying and selling in Havana. After a few minutes, the ad had accumulated a dozen messages asking for information to search for the product. “Sold, I don’t have any more,” the seller posted shortly after.

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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.

With Blackouts and No Teachers in the Schools, Cuban Education Has Become ‘Optional’

Severalschools have reduced their hours and only offer classes in the mornings or from Monday to Thursday.

Elementary school children arriving at school /14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, March 2, 2025 — Dayma has not sent her daughter to school on Fridays in the municipality of Placetas, Villa Clara, where she is in third grade. According to 14ymedio, it is not because the girl is sick or because there is a new “complication,” but because the primary school itself has established that school days are only from Monday to Thursday.

She doesn’t know if the order came “from above,” but since the announcement, her life has turned upside down. “Every week I have to juggle to see who stays with her because if I stop working, we don’t eat. And at ten years old, I can’t leave her alone,” says the mother.

Hiring someone to pick her up from school and take care of her until she gets home from work is not an option either. The service is not cheap, and, with her daughter’s frequent outings at noon – when classes are suspended – it becomes more expensive.

On top of this, she argues, she works in the provincial capital, Santa Clara, which makes it difficult for her to take care of her daughter during working hours. Although she has tried to look for a job in Placetas, for now she cannot leave her only source of income.

Dayma confesses to this newspaper that she is “distraught” with the operation of the school: “I don’t know of any other programs, but my daughter barely has classes.” continue reading

According to the mother, the girl has not had a steady teacher since the school year began

According to the mother, the girl has not had a steady teacher since the school year began, and, due to the lack of staff, many subjects “have been left hanging.” “The other day I took her a little late because I had a medical shift, and when I got to the classroom there were only two children, of the 20 in the group. The parents had not sent the rest of them,” she says worriedly

In addition, the primary school has not had a director for at least two years. The teacher who held the position got sick and gives orders from her home, but she is never at the school “nor does she have the authority to demand anything if she herself does not go.” On several occasions, attempts have been made to “cover the gap,” says Dayma, but no other worker will step forward: “No one wants to get into that mess.”

“I know that things are difficult with the blackouts, lack of food and the situation of the teachers, who have their own problems. Sometimes I don’t want to send my daughter to school, because I feel it’s a waste of time and they only go hungry without doing any work. If things continue like this, they won’t learn anything,” she admits, and adds that even in Santa Clara many of her co-workers have complained about the same thing.

Carmen, a resident of the Luyanó neighborhood, in Havana, has a similar experience. Mother of a seventh-grade teenager, she has had to manage so that her son, at home, learns what they don’t teach him in school.

At the rate they’re going, the woman believes that only the most intelligent and those “with parents who force them to study” will be able to graduate

“At the beginning of the course they said that they would teach all day, but my son only goes in the mornings and often returns at ten or eleven saying that the teacher wasn’t there or that a shift was suspended,” she says. Other times, she points out, “they go in the morning and the teachers don’t come, so they leave them there for three hours, fulfilling a schedule, but without giving classes,” she complains.

Following the death of Jonathan Oliva, the 12-year-old boy who drowned during the floods last Monday in the capital, the schools of the municipality have tightened the measures, says Carmen. “Now they require the boys to also go in the afternoon, but they are not doing anything. In the end, without teachers and resources, they will not be able to maintain that system,” she predicts.

At the rate they’re going, the woman believes that only the most intelligent and “those with parents who force them to study” will be able to graduate. The most backward, she says, have no chance: “If they pass the year it’s because the school approved them so as not to have a bad record.”

Alarmed by the situation in the schools, both mothers agree that education on the island is far from demanding and controlled. “At any time you can meet a group of pre-university boys, or of any classroom , on the street. And it’s not that they ran away, but because they were released when classes were suspended,” Dayma criticizes.

If before these situations were only seen on days when the energy crisis forced the closure of schools and certain workplaces – as the Government did two weeks ago – now, the mother says, “it seems that education in Cuba is optional.”

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.

If You Don’t Live Near a Private Bakery, You Won’t Get Breakfast or a Snack in Matanzas, Cuba

State-owned companies have not received flour in the last three weeks to make bread for the rationed market

Iván Castro Rodríguez, director of the Food Company, confirmed to local media the lack of flour in the Matanzas territory. / Castro Rodríguez/TV Yumurí

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 27 February 2025 — The Provincial Food Company in Matanzas has only confirmed what had been the main topic on the streets of the city for more than three weeks. When the state entity announced on Tuesday that there was no flour to make the rationed bread for the market, the supply of the food had fallen dramatically and its price had skyrocketed.

“This official information was expected because the bread situation is critical in this province. No one is safe, there are problems in the municipalities and problems here in the city,” a resident of the Versalles neighborhood told 14ymedio. He went to the area around the Parque de la Libertad on Wednesday in search of bread.

The day before, Iván Castro Rodríguez, director of the Food Company, confirmed to local media the lack of flour in Matanzas territory. The official added that, despite the fact that “different efforts” had been made to resolve the situation, up to that moment they had not been successful.

“This official information was expected because the bread situation is critical in this province. No one is safe, there are problems in the municipalities and problems here in the city.”

Initially, the news excluded the collapse, but in reality the city has been suffering from such problems for almost a month and in the last week the state bakeries have not been able to guarantee the daily ration. “They sell it one day yes and one day no, sometimes two or three days go by when there is none,” explains Ramona, a retired resident of the Peñas Altas continue reading

neighborhood.

“Those of us who are having the worst time with all this are those of us who live furthest from the MSMEs,” says the woman. “Most of the street vendors who come here resell the bread that the workers at the state bakeries give them to sell on the street.” If there is no flour in the official establishments, the network of merchants who walk or cycle through the streets collapses.

“We are committed to restarting full production as soon as the flour arrives,” said Castro Rodriguez, but the Matanzas residents are preparing for a long absence of the product. “This is going to take a long time and that is why they have made this announcement now, to silence people because there is a lot of popular discontent,” Ramona said.

“A bag of soft bread, if you can find it, now costs between 300 and 350 pesos in private shops, and medium-sized loaves of bread are already going for 150 pesos,” complains the pensioner. “The further away you live from the few MSMEs that still produce bread, the more expensive it is.” The lack of the product affects not only breakfast at home and school snacks, but also affects other daily meals.

“It’s not just that it’s more expensive, it’s that we can’t guarantee having it, so we have to make do with what we have.”

“With rice being so expensive, in my house what we often eat at night is bread with something,” explains a mother who came to pick up her son outside a primary school at midday on Wednesday. “Bread is a support because it goes with everything, you can put anything in it.”

In the city center, tourists are not immune to the bread shortage. A restaurant near the boulevard has replaced the bread that accompanied one of its most popular starters with plantain chips. “It’s not just that it’s more expensive, it’s that we can’t guarantee to have it, so we have to make do with what we have,” explained an employee to a customer who was surprised when he saw some slices of fried plantain next to the cheese and ham chips. Other menu items, such as the Cuban sandwich and the hamburger, were also not “coming out” due to the lack of bread.

On a nearby corner, a vendor selling bread and cookies barely lasted a few minutes between hawking his wares and emptying the box he was carrying on his bicycle. When there is no bread, alarm bells go off and in Matanzas people sense that if the star of the snacks, breakfasts and starters is absent, it is because “things are bad, really bad,” according to Ramona.

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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 Chinese Solar Parks Arrive, the Turkish ‘Patanas’ Leave and the Blackouts Continue

 20 photovoltaic plants are needed to replace the more than 400 MW lost with the closure of five floating power plants

The ’Suheyla Sultan’ floating power plant in the port of Havana, this Friday / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 28 February 2025 — With great enthusiasm the Cuban authorities boasted a week ago of having synchronized the first photovoltaic park in Havana, named Escuela de Enfermería, to the national electrical system (SEN), which will provide the country with 35,000 megawatt-hours (MW/h) per year. They plan to install 55 photovoltaic parks with Chinese technology before the end of this year, and this Friday, the Cuban authorities announced the inauguration of the second one. It is named Alcalde Mayor, is located in Cienfuegos and has the same generation capacity as the first of 21.87 megawatts (MW).

A report in the newspaper 5 de Septiembre reiterates what Cubadebate said about the synchronization of the park in Havana, that the operation of the Alcalde Mayor, in the municipality of Abreus, Cienfuegos, will allow an annual saving of 8,500 tons of diesel. Also, it is anticipated that in the coming months the province will have two other facilities of the same type: La Yuca, also in Abreus, and Mal Tiempo, in Cruces, with the same capacity, which will be added to another 18 MW already operational and from smaller parks.

However, the speed with which progress is being made in what the regime has called “a change of energy matrix” by betting on solar energy with the help of China, does not seem to be enough to end the blackouts on the Island, neither in the short nor in the medium term. Above all, it does not take into account something to which the Government has given minimum publicity: the departure of the Turkish floating power plants from Cuban ports. continue reading

The loss of floating power plants, says Piñón, “puts the reliability of the SEN at risk this summer”

Sold at the time to public opinion as an energy solution, there were eight of those patanas in the country, but today there are only three , all of them in Havana, as announced by the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, in December. One of them, the Belgin Sultan – which suffered a fire five months ago that left two workers dead and another six injured – is simply a service ship, so, for electricity generation purposes, there are only two, which produce when they have fuel for their engines. The Suheyla Sultan, has a capacity of 240 MW, in Tallapiedra/Melones, and the Erol Bey, provides 63 MW, in Regla.

When the Cuban government ran out of money to pay the rent to the Turkish company Karadeniz, the other floating power plants, reports the energy specialist of the University of Texas, Jorge Piñón, went to Ecuador (Erin Sultan), Guyana (Ela Sultan and Baris Bay) and the Dominican Republic (Esra Sultan and Irem Sultan). “It would take 20 solar parks of
those that are currently being installed (of about 20 MW each) to cover the loss of more than 400 MW of generation of the five patanas that have left Cuba,” Piñón explains to 14ymedio.

The expert recalls that, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (Onei), the contribution to the SEN of these floating units “was important in the total generation of the National Electric Union (UNE).” Specifically, 2,591 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2022, 14% of the total, and almost double in 2023, 4,494 GWh, 23% of the total.

The loss of floating power plants, says Piñón, “puts the reliability of the SEN at risk this summer,” the season of highest energy demand in Cuba.

Alcalde Mayor photovoltaic park, inaugurated this Friday in Abreus, Cienfuegos / 5 de Septiembre

Although the specialist says he recognizes and applauds that the Escuela de Enfermería “was built on schedule,” he believes that the objectives of the Cuban regime for this 2025 “are pharaonic.”

Enumerating the details of the government plan – from January to June, 27 solar installations with 590 MW of power, and from July to December, 28 with 610 MW of power; that is, 55 at the end of the year with 1,200 MW – Piñón calculates that this means completing in just twelve months 60% of the goal established for 2030, 92 parks with 2,000 MW of power.

“I wish them good luck. Perhaps they learned from the booklet that the Chinese read to Díaz-Canel and from his lessons,” says the expert, referring to the trip that the Cuban president made in November 2022 to China. Díaz-Canel himself then let drop the conditions set by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, by declaring: “Our commitment must be fulfilled well; we must do things well, take advantage of opportunities, be efficient, not waste resources, and ensure that investments have an adequate return. We must be increasingly serious and more effective also in the projects we propose to continue expanding cooperation.”

In this regard, Piñón, who has 30 years of experience in the private energy sector, emphasizes: “The biggest obstacle Cuba has in finishing its projects is its lack of project management, not the embargo, nor the lack of financing or technology. Management, management and management.”

Thus, according to the specialist, the decision of US President Donald Trump to revoke Chevron’s license to produce and export oil from Venezuela can paradoxically benefit Cuba.

Chevron contributed to the increase in Venezuelan crude oil production, which reached almost one million barrels a day (bpd) last December, far from the three million bpd of 25 years ago but more than double that in 2020. Piñón believes that the state oil company Pdvsa will try to maintain current production to avoid the closure of wells – the process of reactivating them is very expensive – and, therefore, will have more crude oil available for Cuba. “It is very possible that, in the coming months, Pdvsa will return to the average of 55,000 bpd, as in 2023.”

On the other hand, the other major fuel supplier to Havana, Mexico, will probably have to reduce its deliveries of crude oil and gasoline – it is not clear whether they are donations or barter for the shipment of Cuban doctors – to reduce the debt of the state-owned Pemex. This Wednesday, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies voted an amendment to the Hydrocarbon Income Law to reduce the tax burden of the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), according to the Spanish agency EFE.

The initiative, supported by the official majority, establishes a new tax regime called Oil Law for Wellbeing, with the aim of remediating the finances of the state company and promoting its competitiveness in the energy sector.

Meanwhile, the electricity deficit expected this Friday once again exceeds 1,500 MW, the usual in recent weeks. For a demand of 3,250 MW there is an availability of 1,695 MW, and a real affectation of 1,695 MW is expected late evening during peak hours. It is lower than the maximum recorded on Thursday, 1,719 MW, which is dangerously close to the 1,800 MW that, last September, caused the SEN to collapse.

In the UNE statement today, there is no mention of the Turkish patanas. This newspaper verified that of the 12 engines of the Suheyla Sultan, three are off, since its chimneys do not emit smoke, probably due to lack of fuel. The Regla floating power plant is working, although it could not be verified if all eight of its engines were on.

The report does offer, again, an inventory of all the broken or in-maintenance plants: unit 5 of the Mariel CTE, the 1 and 2 of Santa Cruz, the 5 of Nuevitas, the 3 and 4 of Cienfuegos, the 5 of the Renté and units 1 and 2 of Felton.

The Government’s hopes for this weekend reside in the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric power plant, in Felton, in Mayarí (Holguín). The official press has announced that the recovery of block 1, which stopped unexpectedly on February 11, is imminent, but it has not yet happened.

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.

Donald Trump’s Authoritarian Threat

Contemporary autocrats prefer to manipulate rather than abolish elections / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Karel J. Leyva, Montreal (Canada), 1 March 2025 — When we think of the imposition of an authoritarian regime, the image that usually comes to mind is that of an army seizing power, leaders overthrown and freedoms immediately suspended. In today’s world, however, authoritarianism is less and less imposed abruptly. The preferred style of autocratic leaders is to gradually erode democratic institutions. This allows them to concentrate more and more power while maintaining a democratic façade.

As Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt show in their book How Democracies Die, contemporary autocrats prefer to manipulate rather than abolish elections, to control parliaments rather than shut them down, to favour the press that supports them while silencing the press that denounces them. Oxford political scientist Nancy Bermeo describes this phenomenon as “autocratic coups”, to distinguish it from traditional “coups d’état”.

The evidence is everywhere. Viktor Orbán (the same man whom Trump proudly pointed to as an example of the support he has among foreign leaders, praising him as “one of the most respected men” and celebrating his intelligence) has turned Hungary into a full-blown autocratic regime. Erdoğan has manipulated elections, purged institutions and imprisoned journalists in Turkey.

Vladimir Putin, the great poisoner, has stung the opposition in Russia in every conceivable way, while continuing to hold elections. Chávez and Maduro in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua, Duterte in the Philippines, Modi in India and Bukele (the “coolest dictator”) in El Salvador have employed continue reading

similar tactics: capture of the judiciary, pressure and harassment of journalists, illegal surveillance mechanisms, and persecution of critics.

Whatever techniques each chooses (some poison, others imprison or exile), the result is always the same: a gradual weakening of democracy and a docile state at the service of one man, or a political elite.

Donald Trump has shown tendencies that align with several of the tactics used by these authoritarian leaders

Donald Trump has shown tendencies that align with several of the tactics used by these authoritarian leaders, albeit in a context where institutions are incomparably stronger and have so far offered resistance. Like Maduro after the 2015 parliamentary elections, Trump has sought to undermine the legitimacy of electoral processes. His refusal to accept defeat in 2020, his insistence on electoral fraud without evidence, and his attempt to reverse the results reflect tactics of political manipulation. Added to this is his central role in the assault on the Capitol on 6 January 2021, an unprecedented and direct attack on the heart of American democracy.

Most recently, in July 2024, at a rally in Florida, Trump declared that, if re-elected, in four years, there would be no need to vote again: “We will have fixed it so well that you won’t need to vote,” he told a crowd of Christians. Remember dictator Fidel Castro’s “elections for what?” Well, that.

Trump has not only expressed his intention to use the state apparatus to punish his critics, he has begun to do so. In his first days in office, he has used his power as commander-in-chief to attack his enemies inside and outside the government. He has announced the restructuring of the Kennedy Center’s board, appointing himself as chairman of the board, with the aim of reshaping the cultural arena and security policies to suit his agenda.

In an attempt to control institutional memory and government transparency, Trump removed the national archivist, a traditionally non-partisan figure, thus weakening institutional oversight and facilitating the consolidation of his unaccountable power. For the time being, it is his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who assumes the position, while the guardian of former Republican president Nixon’s legacy, Jim Byron, has been appointed Senior Advisor at the National Archives. This position gives him a role in the management and oversight of historical and government documents, which has raised concerns about possible interventions in their preservation and public access.

Not only that, Trump has vowed to use the Justice Department against his opponents, which is characteristic of dictators like Chávez, Maduro and Ortega. He has expressed his desire to prosecute critics and opponents, including journalists and members of the deep state. Like Duterte or Modi, Trump has used aggressive and polarising rhetoric, presenting himself as the defender of the “real people” against corrupt elites, immigrants and political opponents.

Trump has vowed to use the Justice Department against his opponents, which is characteristic of dictators like Chávez, Maduro and Ortega.

And what about his attitude towards the press, the cornerstone of any democracy? Well, Trump has tried to undermine its credibility, calling it the “enemy of the people” while celebrating only media that fawn over him. He is unlikely to gain control of the press like Orbán or Putin, but like them he has encouraged disinformation and media polarisation. Suffice it to think that during his first presidency Donald Trump made more than 30,500 false or misleading claims, according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker analysis. Most recently, he has vetoed the Associated Press (AP) news agency from his press conferences and from access to the Oval Office and Air Force One.

Not only that: he has just taken direct control of the press pool covering the president, displacing the White House Correspondents’ Association. In other words, he will now be able to select which journalists have access and which do not. This has obviously set off alarm bells about press freedom and reflects a common pattern of authoritarian leaders: silencing and punishing the press that criticises them. To put it another way, only media that support their narrative will be allowed to ask questions or report from the White House.

His strategy of media control has been documented by Maria Marron in Misogyny and Media in the Age of Trump. The book shows that Trump has followed the same pattern as modern autocrats: discrediting truthful information while flooding the public space with propaganda. His social media presence and his use of inflammatory speeches have enabled the radicalisation of his base. Politics seems to be reduced to unconditional loyalty to his figurehead. Only authoritarian leaders make loyalty an absolute requirement.

None of this should come as a surprise. After all, political science studies have shown Donald Trump’s authoritarian profile, as well as that of many of his white voters. To mention just one example, a study by Jonathan Knuckey and Komysha Hassan showed that authoritarianism was a determining factor in support for Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Using data from the American National Election Studies, the authors found that white voters with authoritarian tendencies were significantly more likely to support him, regardless of their educational level. The article concludes that Trump’s campaign not only activated authoritarianism as a key criterion in the voting decision, but did so like no other campaign that has been studied.

Now, if there is one thing authoritarian leaders share wholeheartedly, it is the use of fear as a political weapon, something viscerally antithetical to liberal democracy. Liberal democracies may take different forms, but they all require individuals to be able to live without fear of government. It is precisely fear that has allowed dictatorships like Cuba’s to violate rights, destroy the dignity of citizens, divide them into loyalists and enemies, and even condemn them to misery. Fear paralyses, demoralises, outrages.

If there is one thing authoritarian leaders share wholeheartedly, it is the use of fear as a political weapon, something viscerally antithetical to liberal democracy.

The truth is that many Latinos who voted for Trump now not only regret it, but live in a permanent state of terror. Their family members are at risk of raids, expedited deportations and even confinement in Guantánamo without due process, measures that are more reminiscent of totalitarian regimes than liberal democracies. They live in fear of going out on the streets, going to the markets or working in the strawberry fields. Note that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, which criminalises Latinos, has direct consequences on the perception of the Latino community by so-called “real Americans”. Those with nativist instincts do not know whether the person in front of them has papers or not, so they discriminate or harass them equally.

In addition, a part of its Latino electorate has been affected by the elimination of Humanitarian Parole, [SEE ALSO] which allowed reunification with family members who were given a chance to escape totalitarian regimes. More than a few fear for their fate. And this is not to mention the fear that some are afraid to speak out publicly against Trump, and even feel compelled to praise him, in order to avoid criticism from the fanatics who once applauded Fidel Castro and now applaud Trump, no matter how much damage and suffering results from the narcissism and megalomania of both.

But it is not just immigrants that are affected by fear. The American scientific community has been under attack with funding cuts and censorship. Feeling anxious and distressed, some have begun to turn to their Canadian colleagues for help. Clinics and community health centres have closed and essential educational programmes have been defunded. Federal employees describe a climate of “fear” and “chaos” as they face a barrage of executive orders from Donald Trump and threats to their jobs from the Office of Personnel Management, now controlled by billionaire Elon Musk.

As The New York Times warns in its editorial Standing Up to Donald Trump’s Fear Tactics, Trump has used fear as a tool to intimidate opponents and deter resistance in Congress, the judiciary, the business sector, higher education and the media. His aim is to make the cost of challenging him intolerable and thus reduce the limits on his power. Is this not, after all, the aspiration of every authoritarian leader?

The question is not whether Trump will try to consolidate his power, but whether democratic institutions will be able to resist his advance.

Many Americans, used to living in a system where, regardless of the party in power, they always felt exempt from the fear so characteristic of dictatorships, no longer feel safe. The question is not whether Trump will try to consolidate his power through authoritarian strategies, but whether America’s democratic institutions will be able to resist his advance.

And, as with that barn wall in Animal Farm, the rules may continue to change bit by bit, until, when citizens finally realise, the democracy they thought they were protecting will be gone and MAGA will by then be an acronym for Make Authoritarianism Great Again.

Translated by GH

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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.

Police Guard the Tribute to the Child Who Died During the Havana Floods

  • The 12-year-old boy lived on Fábrica Street in Luyanó, where dozens of neighbors gathered to show their condolences to the family.
  • The provincial government maintains that it cleaned the sewers, despite evidence to the contrary
Jonathan Oliva was 13 years old and was returning from school when he was sucked into a sewer. / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 25 February 2025 — Jonathan Oliva, 12 years old, was sucked into a sewer on Monday, February 24, in the Luyanó neighborhood, during the floods that occurred in Havana, and was found lifeless on Tuesday afternoon. The news was confirmed by the official reporter Lázaro Manuel Alonso, who specified that he lived on Fábrica Street, between Herrera and Santa Felicia, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre.

Heavy rains combined with poor sanitation caused sewers to collapse in several places, despite authorities claiming late in the afternoon that they had carried out “preventive work.”

Jonathan Oliva, also known as Papito, the son of Roly and Yami, was returning from school “when he found himself in the middle of a flood on his way home,” according to Radio Caribe. “Without realizing it, he was fatally sucked into the sewer. In a matter of seconds it was too late.”

Following article: 1 March 2025:

Police Guard the Tribute to the Child Who Died During the Havana Floods

Most of the people who came to the park were teenagers. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 1 March 2025 — The call for the farewell began to circulate on social media and WhatsApp on Thursday: “The tribute will be tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in the Fábrica park in honor of Jonathan. Everyone needs to bring a candle or a flower to fill the staircase,” repeated the messages about the ceremony to say goodbye to Jonathan Oliva, the 12-year-old boy who drowned on Monday after being sucked into a sewer in Havana.

On Friday at the time of the gathering, dozens of teenagers and neighbors gathered in the park on Fábrica Street, in the Luyanó neighborhood, the same one where Oliva’s family lives, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre.

Some children are carrying flowers in their hands. At first there were few people with candles, because they are quite expensive, one of the residents who was in the park told this newspaper: “They cost 100 pesos each.”

Among the groups of teenagers and children, comments about the tribute were also heard: “I brought a rose. A flower for another flower.” / 14ymedio

Among the groups of teenagers and children, comments about the tribute were also heard: “I brought a rose. A flower for another flower,” said a girl while showing the offering to her group of friends.

The gathering did not go unnoticed by the regime, especially after the official responsibility was pointed out for their not carrying out the cleaning of the sewers in time, to avoid flooding, and for not having suspended school that day despite the warning from Civil Defense of severe local storms.

Starting at least by 4:00 p.m., several plainclothes officers and others from the motorcycle police were patrolling the park. According to what 14ymedio confirmed during its visit to the site, at least four police cars and two State Security vehicles were in the area, in addition to several security officers sitting on park benches or standing on corners.

Since at least 4:00 p.m., several plainclothes officers and others from the motorized police patrolled the park. / 14ymedio

The otherwise quiet tribute ended in the evening with teenagers lighting candles and placing flowers in Fábrica Park.

Oliva’s body was found in Havana Bay a day after he disappeared. That same Tuesday, his family held a funeral and a religious ceremony at their home, where they took the boy’s coffin.

Dozens of neighbors gathered around the house , closely watched by a strong police operation. From inside Oliva’s home, according to what 14ymedio was able to verify, cries and screams could be heard.

The buses that normally pass by the house had also been diverted and the presence of uniformed officers and State Security agents was visible in the area. “The atmosphere is quite tense, people are silent because there is a lot of pain in the neighborhood,” an elderly woman who did not know the boy personally, but who went to the family home to offer her condolences, told this newspaper.

This Friday, the pain was still palpable in the spontaneous tribute that the residents of Luyanó paid to the child.
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The Disaster of Cuban Sport Is on Display at the International Sports Fair

The sports fair exhibits the balls, rackets, nets and bats that the athletes of the Island lack

On Thursday, the last day of the event, the Fair opened to all types of public, not just athletes. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 1 March 2025 — A young man with patched-up sneakers, doing a pirouette to land between old mats and jute sacks: this and many other images sum up the divorce between the International Sports Fair in Cuba and reality. The event concluded this week at the Coliseo de Ciudad Deportiva, in Havana, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of coaches and athletes who have been demanding supplies for months for decent training.

For many of those present – most of them linked to the world of sport – the Fair was “a circus” designed to promote the sector’s links with MSMEs or with foreign companies dedicated to the sale of sporting goods. Rogelio, a former coach interviewed on site by 14ymedio , illustrates this with an example.

“In my province, when a small business was interested in making the clothing for the athletes of the Eide (Sports Initiation School), the answer was negative. So, what Fair are they talking about?” he asks.

Housed in several pavilions inside the Coliseum, some 92 entities participated in the Fair. / 14ymedio

On Thursday, the last day of the event, the Fair opened to all types of people, not just athletes. Recreational activities were held, with music, food sales, an agricultural fair, domino tables and even a promotional entertainer. Success was limited and people, listless, tried to keep up with the pace demanded by the entertainer under the midday sun.

Several barefoot children also ran around the Ciudad Deportiva tracks.

At the bottom of the coverage by Jit, the official specialized media that reported on the event, a user asked the question: “What is on display at this Fair? The disaster of Cuban sport?” The reader underlined the incoherence of celebrating with great fanfare a sector where every level, from the student to the professional, suffers a “clear deterioration.”

Several barefoot children also ran around the Ciudad Deportiva tracks. / 14ymedio

Packed into several pavilions inside the Coliseum, some 92 entities – 15 foreign and the rest national – participated in the Fair. Of the Cubans, 26 continue reading

were private companies with a stand dedicated to exhibiting their products. The greatest interest was not in the sale of sports equipment, but rather in a small/medium-sized company that sold honey.

Another attraction was the presence of glories of sport on the island, such as Javier Sotomayor – recently involved in a financial scandal with the Cuban treasury from which he has tried to disassociate himself – who posed for the cameras of his admirers.

The Inder (National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation) Marketing and Importing Company displayed balls, rackets, nets and bats that its athletes do not have. From the state-owned Acopio are fruits and vegetables that have not reached the provincial Eide canteens for years. In other booths, sports shirts and suits were sold for between 3,000 and 5,000 Cuban pesos.

Next to the Ciudad Deportiva fairgrounds, another ironic image: that of the Cuban National Circus, another symbol of what propaganda once presented as an “achievement” of the Revolution.

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Nicaraguan Freemasonry Follows in the Footsteps of the Cuban by Bending to the Ortega Regime

It is a small fraternity, but the Sandinista leaders want to dismantle it

Nicaraguan Freemasonry has not had an easy history / Grand Lodge of Nicaragua / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 2 March 2025 — Cuba is not the only country where the relationship between Freemasonry and the Government is problematic. In Nicaragua, where the regime of Daniel Ortega has withdrawn the legal identity of more than 5,600 organizations, including Freemasonry, the fraternity has begun a laborious rapprochement with the Government. Its strategy: bend, allow former Sandinista politicians to occupy high positions and criticize the Freemasons who ask for “full democracy” for the continent.

The last episode of the controversy occurred on February 17, when the Inter-American Masonic Confederation (CMI) – a historic coalition of 94 fraternal organizations in 26 countries – met with the secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS) to discuss the deterioration of democracy in the region.

Rather than ingratiating themselves with Ortega, an ally of Nicolás Maduro and defender of his legitimacy after the 2024 elections, the highest Masonic authorities in Nicaragua expressed their indignation and resigned “unilaterally and irrevocably” from their membership in the IAMC.

“Breaking with the CMI is very serious: Nicaraguan Freemasonry has just harmed itself.” This is the assessment of Hiram, a Mason based in Managua who talks with 14ymedio about the schism, the State infiltration in Freemasonry and the regional situation – including the Cuban ups and downs – of the fraternity.

“Every Freemasonry is like a country: the Grand Master is the president; he has a secretary, chancellor, provincial and municipal lodges that are like departments and ministries. To break with the CMI is to isolate yourself, even for a small masonry.” continue reading

According to Hiram, Nicaraguan Freemasonry, burdened by exile, has fewer than 200 members. “And of those, many continue to leave.” The figure is minimal when compared to that of regional Masonic powers, such as Cuba, which currently has about 20,000 initiates and which, almost 10 years ago, had more than 27,000.

The letter of the Nicaraguan Masons, spread through internal channels of the fraternity, was initialed by the leaders of the Grand Lodge and the 33 degree Supreme Council – the two highest authorities in the country – and the Chapter of Freemasons of the Royal Arch, another high institution.

They protested against the “dangerous” meeting of the CMI with Luis Almagro, secretary of the OAS, “an organization that has long lost regional credibility.” According to the text, the CMI carried out an illegal and anti-Masonic act by asking the OAS “to intervene in the sovereign Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

Maduro is the “constituted authority,” they argued, and not recognizing him shows a “lack of vision,” encouraged by the OAS. This organization, in turn, serves “the imperial interests of the United States of America,” they insisted, unravelling in concrete insults against the “tentacles” of Donald Trump’s Administration.

The decision was made to “cut all ties” and abandon its membership status. Indeed, the Grand Lodge of Nicaragua is no longer on the official membership list of the CMI, although the Nicaraguan flag remains on the logo.

In reality, the Open Letter to the Society – published by the CMI on its social networks and signed in Washington on February 14 – was limited to demanding “unity, action and commitment” towards Venezuela. They demanded “dialogue and joint action” from the Masons and the OAS to guarantee the restoration of democracy in the country.

None of the Nicaraguan or Venezuelan Masons signed the letter. Nor did any Cuban Mason.

“The CMI letter was born in the heat of the Venezuelan elections, in July of last year,” Hiram explains. “Venezuela’s Freemasons – some opponents of Maduro and others not – were going to demonstrate against the result, and the CMI asked them not to risk it and to write their own statement. At that time the Nicaraguan Masons also protested.”

In 2023, Ortega declared that Nicaragua was leaving the OAS, which the Foreign Ministry called “an interference organization of the decadent unipolar and hegemonic government” of the United States. Relations with the organization had been soured since 2018, when the regime repressed popular protests and imprisoned hundreds of demonstrators.

“What do the Masons demonstrate in this whole story? Why do they ingratiate themselves with the dictatorship?” asks Hiram

“What do the Masons demonstrate in this whole story? Why do they ingratiate themselves with the dictatorship?” asks Hiram. “The Government doesn’t care about Freemasonry. Last year, both the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council were left without legal identity. Despite that, those who go along with it, including several former Sandinista politicians, are all trying to get closer to Ortega.”

Nicaraguan Freemasonry has not had an easy history. Many Freemasons, Hiram reflects, continue to talk about “Somoza’s Masonic betrayal of Sandino.” Both leaders, the revolutionary Augusto César Sandino – who died in an ambush in 1934 – and Anastasio Somoza, dictator for several terms, were Freemasons.

It was the National Guard, led by Somoza, that was responsible for Sandino’s death. Since a Mason is forbidden to kill another Mason, Sandino’s death violated the ethics of the order. “That’s why the Government has always alluded to Somoza’s ’masonic betrayal’ of Sandino,” says Hiram. It is a symbolic stain on the order that Ortega’s propaganda has been able to take advantage of.

“In my opinion, the Government has never launched a large-scale infiltration of Freemasonry,” he says. “But there are senior officials, such as the signatories of that letter, who try to hijack it for the Government. There are the historical toads (snitchers). There are few opponents left, but there are some of Ortega’s boot lickers. They want to convert the Lodge into a [political] party.

“But there are high officials, like the signatories of that letter, who try to hijack it for the Government”

The recent crisis of Cuban Freemasonry – still active – after the theft of 19,000 dollars from the office of the Grand Master, who tried at all costs to remain in power, was commented on in the Nicaraguan lodges. “We said, What is happening in Cuba? Why did a Grand Master leave the country in 2023? Why was that money lost? It was embarrassing, it seems incredible. But there was never a larger debate, just hallway comments,” says Hiram.

Due to its secret character in the 19th century, Freemasonry contributed to forging independence movements and fighting against dictatorships on the continent. Aware of that organizational power, regimes such as the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan have done everything possible to dismantle it, or at least keep it at bay.

For Hiram, this libertarian sense is the DNA of the fraternity, which has been immune to all dictatorships, both external and internal.

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.