Translating Cuba – Page 106 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Just a Few Miles Away From Two US Epidemics, Cuba Keeps Measles at Bay, but Not Obesity

Amid severe food insecurity, the number of Cubans with obesity reached 24%

“Every year more people die from obesity than in traffic accidents.” / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2025 — Doctor Francisco Durán García, national director of Epidemiology, appears on the news every Wednesday to update the situation in Cuba. But this week he had no alarming information to comment on: oropouche virus fever is under control, although it is circulating through seven provinces, and the same is true for dengue fever, which has caused around 2,500 people to be admitted in three provinces, but with only one serious case, in Sancti Spíritus. The current concern is outside the border, with the serious outbreak of measles affecting the US.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases in the world, is spreading across nine states and there are already more than 200 cases. Most of those affected were unvaccinated people. More concerning is that, following the death of an adult in New Mexico on Thursday, two deaths have now been reported.

In that state, ten people are infected, all under 17 years of age. Seven were not vaccinated; the rest probably weren’t either, but their history is not documented.

In New Mexico, ten people are infected, all under 17 years of age. Seven were not vaccinated; the rest probably weren’t either, but their history is not documented.

So far, cases of measles have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas. Last week produced Texas’s first fatal case in 30 years, and 10 others nationwide. continue reading

The New Mexico Department of Health issued a reminder that the only way to avoid measles is through vaccination, and urged residents to protect themselves and their families. An anti-vaccine movement has emerged in the US and is gaining momentum, with more than 20 bills currently under consideration to ease existing regulations.

The situation is such that the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his anti-vaccine stance, has urged the population to get the MMR vaccine, though he hasn’t stopped recommending some useless products, such as vitamin A, to prevent the disease, which has raised alarm among scientists.

In his news report, Francisco Durán recalled that measles has been eradicated in Cuba since 1993, seven years before the United States, and urged citizens not to let down their guard. “To prevent it, a vaccine is given at one year of age and at six years of age, which is a triple vaccine. It’s called the MMR vaccine because it includes mumps, measles and rubella, three diseases that have been eliminated in our country. I take this opportunity, as always, to urge mothers to be vigilant,” he emphasized.

But the program did not address another issue that has captured international attention this week, with the publication of the World Obesity Atlas 2025, which provides data for the island’s authorities to consider.

During a time of severe food insecurity, the number of Cubans with obesity has reached 24% and is expected to increase by 2030. Even worse is the percentage of the population that is overweight –more than half, some 5.53 million, according to the World Obesity Federation.

Cuba’s overweight population percentage is higher than the world average, though it is lower than the continent’s figures, which are alarming in both very rich countries, like the United States—one of the worst in the world—and in very poor ones, like Haiti. Nevertheless, the island’s numbers are disturbing.

Cuba’s overweight population percentage is higher than the world average, though it is below the continent’s figures, which are alarming in both very rich and very poor countries.

Cubans have a 60% to 80% chance of being overweight throughout their adult lives, and looking ahead the picture is worse. By 2030, 2.95 million women and 2.58 million men in Cuba will be overweight or obese, compared to 2.39 million and 2.06 million in those categories in 2015.

But the chance of being obese in Cuba is lower: less than 10% for men and between 10% and 20% for women.

The atlas indicates that in 2021, 3,594 deaths related to overweight and obesity were recorded on the island, primarily due to cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer. In addition, 114,248 people suffered health problems related to a high body mass index (BMI), among which type 2 diabetes stands out, affecting almost half.

The study determined that consumption of sugary drinks is high on the island, between 1 and 2.5 liters per person per week. Furthermore, there is little physical activity. The organization warned the State about its neglect in this matter: in the last five years, the State has conducted no surveys on obesity and overweight, unhealthy diets, or physical activity. Nor has it taken measures to tax sugary drinks.

The Cuban diet is severely impacted by the scarcity of and rising prices for fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables, but also by poor nutritional education and a lack of measures to encourage the consumption of the healthiest foods possible. Instead, in an attempt to satisfy the population, the State has invested in or subsidized processed products containing sugars—or carbohydrates that release them—that worsen health.

“More people die every year from obesity than from traffic accidents,” said the president of the World Obesity Federation on Monday when presenting the report. An epidemic that receives less attention than it should.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Melía’s Cuban Earnings Fall; Iberostar Worries about Tower K’s Bad Image

Spanish hoteliers fear that blackouts and supply shortages will continue into 2025, which “will hamper tourism activity.”

Construction of GAESA’s opulent Tower K went ahead despite all of Cuba’s financial crises. /14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana/Madrid, March 3, 2025 — Havana’s Iberostar Selection Hotel, located in the controversial 42-story, 155-meter-tall Tower K, is now taking reservations. During last night’s citywide blackout, the building on downtown 23rd Street was a beacon of light in the otherwise dark capital. With one of its 594 rooms going for $1,200 to $2,000 a week, including breakfast, the hotel’s opening could hardly have come at a worse time as Cuba’s tourism sector and the country at large hit new lows.

Though official figures on the number of international visitors to Cuba in January are not yet available, predictions are they will be be catastrophic. Dismay is so great that hotel management is genuinely concerned about the poor public image local residents already have of it. A source within Iberostar, the second largest hotel company in Cuba after Melía, told 14ymedio, “People are going to associate the hotel with increased poverty.”

Melía’s own figures provide little room for optimism. The company just published a summary of its 2024 annual audit, which showed that its Cuban operations were far from profitable. It reported a 39% occupancy rate the for first three quarters of last year. It was a meager 37% for the entire year, three percentage points less than in 2023.

https://www.facebook.com/RevistaPanorama/posts/1074831994674822?ref=embed_post

Massive blackout in Havana, where only the recently completed Tower K and the Capitolio still have power.

“2024 began on a positive note, thanks in part to a strong international market that showed great promise, resulting in a good position that met expectations for all of the first quarter and part of the second quarter,” the report states in regards to Cuba, its most disastrous market by all accounts. It is the destination with the lowest occupancy rate, followed by Asia at a continue reading

very distant 52.6% occupancy, though Asia is also the market with the highest growth rate (more than 6%).

Melía raised its room rates in Cuba in 2024. This, along with an increase in the number of rooms, should have allowed it to maintain its earnings. According to the report, the average room rate (ARR) rose 5.6% to 81.20 euros. It is worth remembering that the previous year it went down dramatically (37.2% to 76.90 euros) in an unsuccessful effort to attract customers. Even with the 2024 increase, the Spanish hotel chain does not even come close to its 2022 ARR of 122.5 euros.

“Subsequently, the country’s socio-economic situation became more complex as evidenced most notably by widespread power outages and supply-chain difficulties, which have discouraged tourism activity,” the report notes. “This led to a reduction in the number and frequency of airline flights, which affected travel from markets such as Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom and Argentina. One bright spot, however, has been Customer Direct,* which represents the largest segment. As for tour operators, agreements with several companies have been canceled as have group bookings, which reduced capacity at the destination hotels.”

Melía’s total earnings from the Cuban market was 12.7 million euros, 18% less than the 15.5 million euros from the previous year

Melía’s total earnings from the Cuban market was 12.7 million euros, 18% less than the 15.5 million euros from the previous year. However, with record profits from its worldwide operations this year, the hotel chain can afford to take a wait-and-see approach. Its net revenue was 162 million euros, 24.5% more than the previous year. Additionally, its earnings rose 6.4% to 2.056 billion euros.

The start of the year saw a situation in Cuba similar to that of late 2024, meaning fewer guests and lower room rates. How things play out this year will depend on the solution to the supply and energy shortages as well as how quickly airlines restore canceled routes and increase the number of flights,” the report warns.

One of the indicators that showed a clear decline was the RevPAR (revenue per room), which was only 30.50 euros (2.3% less than the previous year) due to low occupancy. The outlook is even more bleak when other hotels are taken into account. In a report published in November by Cuba Siglo 21, Cuban-born economist Emilio Morales found overall hotel occupancy to be only 25%. This would mean that three quarters of Cuba’s hotel rooms are empty.

And now comes Tourism Day, which will be celebrated on March 4. Government officials, with Prime Minister Manuel Marrero at the helm, celebrated it over the weekend at a Havana restaurant, Ferminia. At the event, Marrero, who served as minister of tourism for many years, posed questions to workers from the tourism sector.

“With the country in the midst a wartime economy, what else can we do that would allow us to revive tourism? How do we break this vicious cycle in which we have problems with service due to a shortage of financial investment? How do we really strengthen the engine of the Cuban economy?” Marrero asked. Among the many (largely impractical) solutions he announced was greater attention to human resources which, he said, would “make a difference in the sector.”

The tourism sector used to provide some the most sought-after jobs in Cuba because, among other things, it gave employees access to foreign currency in the form of comparatively generous tips. Now, however, it suffers from the same labor shortages as other state-run industries. It seems unlikely that the situation will change anytime soon.

*Translator’s note: A feature which allows customers to make reservations directly with with Meliá rather than through travel agencies.

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The ‘MLC’ Is Not Dead in Cuba: New Stores Open in Freely Convertible Currency

La Tienda Panamericana Primera del Cerro in Havana has just been inaugurated under this sales approach

Some products for sale in the Panamericana Primera del Cerro store in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/José Lassa, Havana, 10 March 2025 — The marquee at the entrance is still broken on one side, and the steps in front of the door still show their cracks, but the interior has changed. The Panamericana Primera del Cerro Store in Havana has just been inaugurated under the practice of sales in freely convertible currency (MLC). Before opening to foreign exchange trade, the store, located on Santa Catalina Street at the corner of Vento, was not used after a long stage of deterioration offering scarce goods in national currency.

The place was not used after a long stage of deterioration offering scarce goods in national currency / 14ymedio

“It was a lion’s den every day,” recalls a woman who ran into a neighbor this Monday just before entering the market. Since last Thursday, the shelves no longer display the few products in Cuban pesos that were distributed by the so-called rationed “module.” Instead of the packages, semi-thawed, of chicken thighs, the tasteless El Cocinerito picadillo and the odd bag of detergent, now on the shelves you can see bottles of wine, different tomato sauces and seasonings of the American brand Goya.

Now on the shelves you can see bottles of wine, different tomato sauces and seasonings of the American brand Goya / 14ymedio

When in Primera del Cerro you paid with pesos, the surroundings of the store also looked very different. “There was always a line, and it was a rare day that a fight didn’t break out,” recalls another customer who found out from a friend that you can now buy there only by paying with foreign credit cards or with the Classic and MLC cards issued by Cuban banks. No type of cash is accepted, the clerks clearly clarified as soon as she inquired: no dollar bills and much less Cuban pesos.

No type of cash is accepted: no dollar bills, and much less Cuban pesos / 14ymedio

Unlike other markets that have recently begun to operate in dollars, on the corner of Santa Catalina only foreign currency “in plastic” is accepted, emphasizes a worker. Of course, once they’ve fulfilled this requirement, buyers can choose between several types of canned sardines or tuna from the Spanish brand HiperDino, ranging from $1.45 to $3.85 dollars a can, and Didi condensed milk at $7.50 per kilo or a small jar of Hellmann mayonnaise for $2.85. A large number of sauces from national industries fill a good part of the shelves.

A large number of sauces from national industries fill a good part of the shelves / 14ymedio

For customers with more resources, there are rice cookers, washing machines and even electric ovens. “It is for use when there is electricity,” ironized a young man who entered to explore the new image of what until recently was an empty place with employees without much to do. However, there is still a lot of that past. The floor is broken in several places, the paint is still peeling on the walls, and some of the ceiling lights do not even turn on.

The floor is broken in several places, the paint is still peeling on the walls, and some of the ceiling lights do not even turn on / 14ymedio

The dividing line between one store in MLC and another in cash dollars is also noticeable in those details. If Lincoln and Franklin rule in newly released or carefully repaired spaces, the convertible currency, which only exists in plastic and is quoted at 280 CUP to the dollar in the parallel market, must settle for buildings with broken stairs and demolished gardens.

For customers with more resources, there are rice cookers, washing machines and even electric ovens. / 14ymedio

Translated by Regina Anavy

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February Rumors in Cuba: Kidnappings in Schools and ‘Lack of Control’ in the Castro Leadership

Robberies, corruption of public officials, violence in the streets and consumption of ’chemicals’ continue to dominate Cubans’ conversations on social networks

There was speculation about the origin of the rumor in “processes that may be occurring” in environments “close to the school.” / La Demajagua

14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2025 — Rumors about child kidnappings in several Cuban cities – especially in Cárdenas (Matanzas) and Havana – caused such a stir that the regime’s main spokesman, Humberto López, dedicated a broadcast of his program Hacemos Cuba [We Do Cuba] to denying them. Fear had spread through “chains, messages and audios” with the same warning: “It’s not a lie.”

“A van comes, takes the children; there is a gang of drug traffickers; they take the children to Mexico; there is a person on the corner of the school who grabs the child and takes him away, he has a knife,” said López. An official from the Ministry of Education, in charge of “special activities,” and a member of the national Prosecutor’s Office appeared to give an account of their departments’ investigation into the rumor. “It is totally false,” they agreed.

The rumor circulated insistently in the Havana neighborhood of Mantilla, where a family recorded a video as an emergency call. López accused the parents of “public disorder” aggravated by appearing with their daughter in front of the cameras. “It was a total manipulation,” said the official, who said she is aware of what happens in the “11,000 educational institutions and what is generated there.” continue reading

Lopez accused the parents of “public disorder” aggravated by appearing with their daughter in front of the cameras

In Arroyo Naranjo (Havana), it was said that the main targets of the kidnappers were families who received remittances from abroad and who could pay a ransom in dollars.

Lopez speculated that the rumor might have originated in “processes that may be occurring” in environments “close to the school,” but that have nothing to do with it. The prosecutor went further: spreading rumors of this nature “constitutes a crime.” The “instigators,” the program concluded, invented the rumor “maliciously” and out of nowhere, to damage the population’s trust in the Government.

A considerable part of the rumors collected during February refer to the increase in robberies. In Arroyo Naranjo, a rumor describes the capture, by the neighbors themselves, of a mobile phone thief. The stories of popular captures demonstrate, according to the users who publish them, the inaction of the Police in response to complaints.

One of the variants of the rumors about thefts is those that have to do with the corruption of officers who, in complicity with the thieves, allow the “disappearance” of resources. This is the case of an officer of the Confiscation Department, married to a state miller, who had organized an illegal sale of rice in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río). When they had problems, the police interceded on behalf of her husband with his colleagues.

Several comments claim that tensions are increasing between members of the regime’s leadership.

There are also reports of fraud. A teacher identified by several users as Yemen Royo is dedicated to selling her students review work and other types of exams for 3,000 pesos. Royo works at the Manuel Mendive pre-university in Santiago de Cuba.

Rumors have been multiplying for months about the consumption of el químico [the chemical], insecurity and violence on the streets of the island. In Centro Habana, a user reported that a female doctor, retired years ago, makes a living by begging. On the other hand, a three-year-old child died allegedly due to a lack of oxygen, after arriving at the Antonio Guiteras neighborhood polyclinic in Havana with an asthma attack.

Several comments claim that tensions are increasing among members of the regime’s leadership. One user claims that the “lack of control” of Fidel Castro’s grandson, Sandro Castro – who is said to post “likes” on Donald Trump’s posts – is one of those symptoms of a rupture. Another explains that the protest by activist Carlos Lazo, from Puentes de Amor, about the impossibility of entering Cuban pediatric hospitals, is another sign that the “revolutionary unity” has little time left.

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“I Was a Traitor and Now They Want Us To Go Play,” Aroldis Chapman Refuses To Join the Cuban Team

Players who “deserted or breached contracts” will not reinforce the island, according to ‘Swing Completo’

Cuban Aroldis Chapman has not forgotten that he was called a “worm” and a “traitor” after escaping in 2009. / Instagram/@_thecubanmissile54

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 10 March 2025 — Baseball player Aroldis Chapman, known as the Cuban Missile, rejected the Cuban Baseball Federation’s (FCB) plan to reinforce with exiles the national team that will participate in the VI World Baseball Classic. The pitcher, who fled in 2009 in Rotterdam, Holland, stressed: “I was a traitor, a gusano [worm] and a vendepatria [sell-out] traitor, and now they want us to go play.”

“I think that all those people who are calling up the players who are here and those who are going to the Classic are the first ones who should respect themselves and not be calling up everyone,” he said in an interview with the specialized media outlet Swing Completo.

The Holguín native recalled that after his failed escape attempt in 2008 he was removed from the national team which he was a member of when Cuba won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. “Nobody likes you, nobody wants to talk to you or hang out with you and everyone blames you,” he said.

Chapman commented that because of his final escape in 2009, as happens with all athletes who defect, he had to spend eight years without being able to enter Cuba. “I was the black sheep of all of Holguín and possibly of all of Cuba,” he recalled. continue reading

Aroldis Chapman earned 150 pesos a month on the island. / Instagram/@_thecubanmissile54

The left-handed pitcher earned 150 pesos a month on the island, and was subjected to long training sessions and little food. “I lived day to day,” he told Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols. A year after his escape, the Cincinnati Reds offered him a six-year contract for 30 million dollars. In his first season he threw a fastball at 105.1 mph, a record that no one has been able to surpass to date.

Swing Completo reported that “there are possible agreements between the Cuban team management and athletes who play in the Major Leagues.” Among the names of reinforcements are Yoan Moncada and Andy Ibáñez.

However, the same media outlet specifies that those players who have “deserted, breached contracts, or who have spoken negatively about the communist government of Cuba or denigrated national symbols” are excluded from a possible invitation.

In light of this statement, the following players would not be able to represent the Island in the VI World Classic 2026 for deserting: José Iglesias (2008), Aledmys Díaz (2012), Odrisamer Despaigne (2013), Yadiel Hernández and Vladimir Gutiérrez (2015), Yulieski Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr (2016), Yoelqui Céspedes and Norge Carlos Vera (2019).

Also affected are Andy Rodriguez, Cesar Prieto, Lazaro Blanco, Luis Dani Morales, Brian Chi, Geysel Cepeda, Loidel Chapellí Jr. and Loidel Rodriguez (2021).

In 2023, the FCB reinforced the team that represented the island in the World Classic with exiled players. The so-called Team Asere lost its ticket to the final of the event against the United States and suffered the escape of Iván Prieto, who signed with the Mexican club Piratas de Campeche.

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Undeclared Births and False Death Certificates Lead the Crimes in the Livestock Sector

Mortality has increased visibly, with 2.3% more than in 2023 and a rate of 7.5%, almost double the “permissible”

The Government has admitted the difficulties in importing fodder, preparations and all kinds of supplements for livestock feed / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, March 10, 2025 — Veterinarians are on the pillory after the authorities publicly identified them as cooperating with ranchers in order to issue false death certificates. In fact, there are now several being prosecuted or in prison for this. Along with ranchers, for not declaring births or letting animals die, they are found guilty in a report published this Monday by Escambray, the official newspaper of Sancti Spíritus, which reports the losses in one year at 16,645 animals. Although the total amount is not given, the last provincial yearbook indicates that in 2022 there were 401,162 cattle.

Escambray expresses its indignation over the data uncovered by the “national exercise of control over the possession, use and legality of land and livestock,” which began a year ago and recently ended. There were 11,000 constructive or registration “illegalities,” which is not something minor, says the article, although it does downplay the situation by saying it can be solved with appropriate registration and permits.

The case with cattle is much worse, because it has an impact on the milk thar children and the elderly can drink, and the meat that the population can obtain. According to the report, 10,000 illegalities were committed in this area, of which 72% correspond to “undeclared births and missing cattle.” continue reading

“It cannot be possible that the number of births that were declared, 5,549 exactly, have been concentrated in the term of one month”

Norge Yero, deputy delegate of Agriculture in Sancti Spíritus, warns that the absences are directly proportional to the lack of attention by ranchers to livestock registration. “It cannot be possible that the number of births that were declared, 5,549 exactly, have been concentrated in the space of a month, when the adjustments began to be made and appeared in that period,” he reproaches.

In addition, the mortality increased visibly, with 2.3% more than in 2023 and an index of 7.5%, almost double what is “permissible.” Trinidad, with more than 4,000 deaths, and Sancti Spíritus, with 3,439, are in the lead. The Government has admitted the difficulties in importing fodder, preparations and all kinds of supplements for livestock feed, not to mention what it has had to manufacture. The official press does not hesitate to accuse the ranchers of “abandonment,” as they are also responsible for hunger and management problems that end up causing deaths from “malnutrition.”

“Mortality skyrocketed because of the adjustments that people made to the old figures. There is disorder in the categories of cattle deaths that show the general disorder. We have to put order in them once and for all,” says Juan José Nazco González, delegate of Agriculture, talking about the other deaths that occur due to accidents, real or not.

The managers, Escambray insists, affirm that the data “reveal indiscipline, disorder, crime and lack of control. One of them is the issuance of death certificates of dubious cause or false ones in which veterinary personnel, ranchers, butchers and others are involved.”

The media also points to local authorities and officials for not being more aware of these and other criminal acts that affect the Island’s food crisis. And although Nazco González alleges that measures have been taken, he also adds that “actions remain to be done, and more order, level of demand and discipline are needed,” a discourse that is perpetuated in an apparent assumption of responsibilities and commitments to improve that do not materialize at all.

“We are not tolerating indisciplines and crimes with the death certificates. What we have said on several occasions is demonstrated in one municipality. The death certificates mask illegal butchering, theft and other things,” admits a voice not identified in the media. Escambray reports that there is one veterinarian prosecuted for fraud and several imprisoned for stealing and/or eating animals that were declared dead by other causes. In addition, the case of a professional who certified three deaths on the same date and time in three different places is identified.

The fines, the text states, are “laughable” and are paid with the money obtained from the sale of meat in the informal market, “fueled by the historic lack of this protein in the official market.” So is the usefulness of the “control exercise,” since if systematic surveillance is not followed, “in six months it will be the same as before we started,” says a rancher. The article ends by adding, “We will be worse.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ecotaxis, Cocotaxis and Ecomobiles Only Solve Transportation When They Can Get Fuel

Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus develop new lines of electric vehicles, despite blackouts

Electric tricycles in Las Tunas. / Periódico 26

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus 10 March 2025 — The transportation disaster is a glaring reality for any Cuban and even the official press does not bother to hide it with euphemisms. A note published in Periódico26 this Monday reports it from the first paragraph : “A total of 11 routes must move through the main municipality of Las Tunas, but this reality is far from the truth because due to the high fuel deficit only three to four of them can be covered, a number that does not satisfy the transportation needs of the population.”

Although the brief text reports the availability of electric tricycles (or eco-taxis) and coco-taxis, it does not hide the fact that this solution is only palliative. The provincial delegate for Transport, Reynaldo Reyes Silva, told the official newspaper that there are about 22,000 people who have to move around Las Tunas every day and that the vehicles available for this, including the “alternative means” that he praises in the interview, are insufficient.

“These vehicles transport around 3,000 people throughout the city,” explains the official, who then details the “biggest limitation” related to “the allocation of fuel for internal combustion vehicles (cocotaxis), which reduces the number of journeys.” continue reading

“Even the design has been improved, because at first it was a bit rough”

The hope centers on “the 20 electric tricycles that are in operation and can move 1,800 to 2,000 inhabitants,” that is, less than a tenth of the population of Las Tunas.

And so, he says, they will combine the eco-taxis and coco-taxis routes in a new four-vehicle bus station that will leave from the Mártires de Las Tunas pediatric hospital and, although it will serve the entire population, “its priority will be to transport medical discharges from the health center.”

The perpetual fuel shortage is one of the reasons why the island has opted in recent years for the creation of electric transport, but wherever it has been implemented, at least for now, it is insufficient. Last January, in Sancti Spíritus they boasted of having launched new electric vehicles, manufactured in the same province, which “reported revenues of more than one million pesos and transported more than 70,000 passengers within the main city.”

However, of the 50 planned “ecomobiles” only 21 were finished, and of these, only 5 were working, precisely because of the lack of energy, since they depend on the electrical grid to recharge their batteries. For several months, the province has been among those with the most hours of blackouts.

The people of Sancti Spiritus celebrate the efficiency and price of these electric cars, which have been in service in the province for more than a year. “They have even improved the design, because at first it was a bit rough,” Miguel, a resident of the city, tells this newspaper. He knows from a reliable source that they are using Chinese parts “imported by the military at a very cheap price.”

Hope is centered on “the 20 electric tricycles that are in operation and can move 1,800 to 2,000 residents”

Miguel insists that, as the authorities say, “the service is working well: it only costs 10 pesos and you never have to wait at the stop for more than 15 minutes.”

Another expert explains his “but”: “The problem is the batteries and the method of charging the vans. Where they are being stored there are not enough charging ports.” And he predicts: “The 10 pesos that it costs are not enough to maintain the cost of the service. All of that comes from China and China has to be paid.”

It is not surprising, however, that officialdom is promoting new routes for this type of transport and it is rare to see the vehicles. In Havana, for example, on routes such as Playa, tricycles are “almost ghosts.”

The first Ecotaxis route was inaugurated in the capital in 2020, as a project funded primarily by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to “promote the empowerment of women,” which is why all the drivers hired for it then were women.

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Only the Impoverished Teachers Dare To Eat the Children’s Lunch at the Guerrillero Heroica School

In Cienfuegos, Cuba, parents are concerned about the poor quality of food in schools

At noon, in front of the main door, families gather to pick up the children who are going to have lunch at home / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 9 March 2025 — A discolored broth and a lumpy minced meat are all that is on the metal tray that the students carry to the table. In the cafeteria of the Guerrillero Heroico primary school, in the city of Cienfuegos, lunches provoke aversion among students and concern among parents. The poor quality of the food and the scanty portions are added to the poor practices in its transport and conservation.

Around noon, relatives gather in front of the main door of the school to pick up children from preschool to sixth grade. Most will eat lunch at home and only a few will stay to eat the menu for which they pay seven pesos a month, a subsidized price designed especially for working mothers with two or more children.

However, the semi-boarding feature has ceased to be the guaranteed food ration that eased the domestic life of families with school-aged children, and has become a new burden. “I always have to get him something to add to his lunch, whether it’s a hot dog, a banana, a piece of sausage or a boiled egg,” Yudeisy, mother of a first-grader at the Ignacio Agramonte elementary school, tells 14ymedio.

“Adding something for lunch takes a long time, but now it is less and less worth doing because you practically have to send everything,” the woman says. Her main concern focuses on poor hygiene and the way in which the lunch is transported from the Food Processing Center, located in the Pueblo Griffo neighborhood, to the school cafeteria. “Sometimes it has a chopped-up texture and smells bad.” continue reading

When the food arrives at the school they must wait until the lunch break begins

“My son began to complain that the food was terrible, and then I found out that it is transported one or two hours before from where they prepare it, in horse carts and under the sun.” When it arrives at the school, they must wait until lunchtime begins. High temperatures accelerate its deterioration.

Although it is very difficult for Yudeisy to pick up her son from school and take him home to eat something, she says that even though it’s difficult, she prefers to do it rather than risk the child’s health. “Anyway, he no longer wants to eat what they serve him on the tray because he says it doesn’t taste good, that it’s cold and that many times he doesn’t even know what it is.”

Long blackouts further complicate the situation, as the pumping of water to both the manufacturing center and the school is frequently interrupted. “In addition to drinking water, he has to bring some water to wash his hands before lunch.” Yudeisy’s son’s backpack looks more like “a suitcase for a move” than something a schoolboy would carry. He must take a spoon, a glass, a water bottle and some food to add to the lunch.

Although fresh fruits, greens and vegetables have had a very low presence on Cuban school trays for decades, in recent years nutritional deficiencies have worsened. The authorities of the sector cannot guarantee a protein, rice disappears frequently, and the legumes are replaced by watery broths of dubious nutritional value.

The solution most used by parents in these cases is to take the student home and do without school lunch, but not all families can do it. “When I was a child, parents felt confident that their child was fed, not with a lot but with real food: fish, rice, peas, bread and even some dessert,” recalls a 47-year-old man with a daughter in José Gregorio Martínez primary school.

“When I was in elementary school, back in the 80s, we complained that we were often given ’the three musketeers’ – rice, peas and an egg.” Currently, the father recognizes that a menu with that composition would be “a dream, something that cannot be guaranteed every day, even in many families that have two or three salaries coming in.” From that time of the Soviet subsidy, he also remembers the dining rooms that “smelled of mackerel, and that people left without even eating the custard” for dessert.

The authorities of the sector cannot guarantee the protein, and the rice disappears frequently / 14ymedio

“Now it is convenient for the teachers that we parents come to pick up the children at noon, because there are fewer and fewer classes in the afternoon,” the man explains to this newspaper. “They know that a student who goes home is a student who does not return, and so they don’t have to work in the afternoon. They can use the time to solve personal problems, stand in line or simply wait until leaving time.”

“Since the classroom has no teaching assistant, the teacher finishes her classes before 11:30 am, gives two or three homework assignments and dismisses the kids. She doesn’t even have lunch at school, because she is diabetic and has to comply with a strict diet that looks nothing like the one they serve in the dining room,” he explains.

“Last year I peeked into the dining room because my son had forgotten his water bottle. He had no rice on his tray, not even a meal, only a broth of a murky color with a noodle floating in the middle. That same day I decided that the child was not going to continue having lunch at school,” he adds. “Although it is a sacrifice for us to prepare something at home, at least we still can. There are families that can’t even do that.”

However, with the poverty that has spread to the whole society and also reaches the educational staff, the food that the children reject is not thrown away. “My son’s teacher was happy when I told her that he wasn’t going to have lunch at school for a while,” says Yudeisy. “She carries a plastic container every day that she fills with some of the food that the children refuse. For her, having that tasteless soup, a few pieces of pumpkin and the odd little bit of rice to take home is one of the motivations to get up every day and go to the classroom.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Communist Party Authorities in Granma Say the Mother Detained in Río Cauto is ‘Very Sorry’

The Party secretary and the governor of the province are pictured in total happiness with Mayelín Carrasco

The image was shared on Ortiz’s personal Facebook profile. / Yudelkis Ortiz/Facebook

14ymedio, 9 March 2025, Havana — Yudelkis Ortiz, the secretary of the Communist Party in Granma, who last Friday put an end to the protest by the residents of Río Cauto, published an unusual photo on Saturday. Sitting next to Mayelín Carrasco Álvarez, whose release the protesters were demanding, the leader said that the woman was “very sorry for her way of acting.” Days before, the mother had been arrested for protesting alone against hunger and state neglect.

“Cuba is a State of Rights (sic) and more obedience and respect for legal norms is needed,” the official wrote on her personal Facebook profile. “Demanding a right or several rights does not imply that it has to be done in a way that generates disrespect or disorder in relation to the norms of social coexistence established in the Constitution of the Republic. There are other ways and methods for this,” she added. The governor of the province, Yanetsy Terry Gutiérrez, also appears in the image.

According to Ortiz, Carrasco “has been cannon fodder for haters” and has acknowledged that “the consequences of her actions affect her loved ones the most, especially her children, because we have not seen those who are inciting her anywhere, showing concern for or worried about her situation.” continue reading

According to Ortiz, Carrasco “has been cannon fodder for haters” and has recognized “the consequences of her actions”

The leader also clarified, taking advantage of the March 8th celebration, that she is also a mother. “From that feeling of love we share,” she said.

On March 5, a Facebook post by the Río Cauto government described Carrasco’s attitude as “unacceptable,” especially when “in Cuba we work and fight so that no one is left helpless.” The note claimed that the mother had been offered “five job opportunities as a general assistant in an educational institution and other jobs at the Calisur Shrimp Farming Business Unit (UEB),” but that she had refused to work for the State.

Her partner was also offered a job as a guard and charcoal maker, she adds, but he did not accept either. She continues: “Mayelín’s family was provided with a temporary ’facility’ with walls made of boards and zinc. The DTSS board of directors evaluated the provision of basic resources for her three minors. She was also given a hectare of land belonging to the UBPC of Guamo Viejo, but she never showed up at the Agriculture Delegation to carry out the corresponding procedures.”

According to the same statement, “a family is considered vulnerable when there are no cohabiting persons fit for employment, they are disconnected for justified reasons, their income is insufficient and there are no family members obliged to provide assistance.”

Carrasco Álvarez, 47, climbed onto the platform at Plaza de Río Cauto last Wednesday and shouted her complaints from there

Carrasco Álvarez, 47, climbed onto the platform in Plaza de Río Cauto last Wednesday and shouted her complaints from there. “Where is the Revolution?” she asked, adding that “There is no Revolution because everything has collapsed,” according to a video released by the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, José Daniel Ferrer. Shortly afterward, two men interrupted the protest and forcibly took the woman away.

On Friday, hundreds of residents demanded the woman’s release in the streets of the town of Guamo. “We want Mayelín!” shouted the protesters, who also banged on pots and pans.

After gathering in front of the municipal government, the protesters met with Ortiz and were surrounded by a strong police presence. “The Revolution is not going to take away anything that it has given you. The Revolution was the one that gave you electricity. What was Río Cauto before the triumph of the Revolution? […] There was hardly anything here. Everything that has been built here is thanks to the Revolution,” the official is seen telling the neighbors, who listened to her in silence, in a video shared by profiles close to the government.

The official press played down the importance of the event, describing it as a mere exchange between concerned residents and the authorities. Nor did they mention Carrasco, about whom they made a suggestive clarification on Saturday: “she is in good health.”

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Cuban State Security Releases Félix Navarro and Reiterates the Ban on His Attending Mass

The opposition leader and his wife were intercepted when they were going to church and remained in the police unit until 12 noon.

Former political prisoner Félix Navarro, in an archive image. / Facebook/Juan Antonio Madrazo

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 10 March 2025 — Former Cuban political prisoner Félix Navarro and his wife, Sonia Álvarez, a member of the Ladies in White, were released after being temporarily detained for the second consecutive Sunday, during which time they were repeatedly banned from attending mass.

Navarro told the Spanish news agency EFE by phone that when he and his wife left their home to attend Sunday mass at the Catholic Church, they were arrested by State Security and taken to a police station in Perico, the municipality in the province of Matanzas where they live.

On this occasion they were held from 8:30 to 12:00 local time. They were again given a warning that they could not attend church on Sundays and, as before, they were not fined when they were released. continue reading

They were again given a warning that they could not attend church on Sundays and, as before, they were not fined when they were released.

The situation repeated what happened a week earlier, when at 8:30 in the morning Navarro and Álvarez were arrested by a State Security officer who told the former political prisoner that he was on parole and could not go to church. Both were taken to the police unit in the municipality, where they were held for almost three hours until they were released with a warning, which made what happened yesterday foreseeable.

“Félix managed to send me a message through another person and told me that since yesterday [Saturday] they have no connection on their cell phones and cannot make calls,” Annia Zamora told 14ymedio. Zamora is the mother of Sissi Abascal, a Lady in White convicted of participating in the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’), who is currently in La Bellotex prison in Matanzas.

Last Tuesday, Félix Navarro and Sonia Álvarez had another run-in with the authorities, when the Lady in White was prohibited from wearing that color to see her daughter, Sayli, in the prison where, like Abascal, she is serving her sentence after ’11J’.

This Sunday in Perico, Lázara León and Norma Cabrera, members of the Ladies in White, were also arrested when they were heading to church, according to a complaint made on social media by the leader of that women’s group, Berta Soler.

Navarro, 71, who has a long history in the opposition, was part of the group of 75 opposition members, intellectuals and independent journalists jailed with long sentences in 2003 during the wave of repression known as Black Spring.

Navarro is currently vice president of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC), and is on parole.

He is currently vice president of the Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC), and is on parole after being released from prison as part of the process of releasing 553 people, initiated in mid-January by the Cuban government as a result of negotiations with the United States mediated by the Vatican during the administration of Democrat Joe Biden.

In his case, he was serving a nine-year prison sentence for the crimes of contempt, public disorder and attack, and was arrested along with his daughter following the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021.

This was their third conviction for political reasons, according to Amnesty International (AI), an organization that has recognized both men as prisoners of conscience.

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Cuban Opposition Member Félix Navarro and Lady in White Sonia Álvarez Arrested on Their Way to Sunday Mass

Both opponents were intercepted by members of the political police and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Felix Navarro (l) and his wife, the Lady in White Sonia Alvarez (r). / Collage

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2025 — Former political prisoner Félix Navarro and his wife, the Lady in White Sonia Álvarez, were arrested on Sunday in Perico, Matanzas province, as they were heading to the local Catholic church. The activists are prohibited from attending Sunday mass, as a State Security agent warned them earlier this month .

Around eight in the morning, both opponents were intercepted by members of the political police and their whereabouts are still unknown, according to dissident Ángel Moya. The former prisoner of the Black Spring reported that in the hours before their arrest, the couple’s telephone service had been cut off.

“Felix managed to send me a message with another person and told me that since yesterday they have no connection on their cell phones and cannot make calls”

This would be the second consecutive Sunday that Navarro and Álvarez have been detained on their way to church. On March 2, they were intercepted by State Security agents and taken to a police unit in the municipality, where they were held for almost three hours until they were released.

“There were no fines, but they gave us a warning letter saying that we cannot attend mass on Sundays,” Navarro said continue reading

at the time. The arrest was condemned by the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) in a statement.

“We denounce before the world the systematic repression of the Cuban government against those who think differently and we demand the immediate release of Sonia Álvarez and Félix Navarro,” they stressed.

The organization noted that Navarro is vice president of the CTDC and was part of the group of 75 dissidents, intellectuals and independent journalists sentenced in 2003 during the Black Spring and that, together with Álvarez, he is “a firm voice in the fight for human rights on the Island.”

Navarro, 71, with a long history of dissent, was released from prison on January 18 as part of the process of releasing 553 people from prison, initiated after negotiations with the United States, mediated by the Vatican, during the administration of Democrat Joe Biden.

Navarro, 71, with a long history of dissent, was released from prison on January 18

In his case, he was serving a nine-year prison sentence for the crimes of contempt, public disorder and attack, and was arrested along with his daughter Sayli – who received the same sentence and remains in prison – during the Island-wide anti-government protests of 11 July 2021.

Both have been recognized by Amnesty International (AI) as prisoners of conscience. This was their third conviction “for political reasons,” according to AI.

This Sunday, the Ladies in White Lazara León and her mother Norma Cabrera were also arrested in Perico, on their way to church, according to opposition member Ángel Moya.
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Due to the Risk of Collapse, the Cienfuegos Train Station Closes After Investing 5.3 Million Pesos

The cancellation of itineraries and the closure of the terminal have left travelers and employees without options / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 6 March 2025 — “No entry, danger of collapse,” warned the sign that on February 28 closed the Cienfuegos train terminal indefinitely. For the passengers who arrived at the station and found the doors and windows closed, the notice glued to the wall was an unfortunate surprise. However, Marta, who has worked there for years, believes that the closure is not really news.

The woman clearly remembers when the terminal was closed in 2019, due to serious roof problems. The City Conservator’s Office hired the private design group Redema for the repairs. Three years and 5.3 million pesos later, according to the official press, the terminal reopened its doors, but the result was disappointing.

“When it reopened and the workers returned, I realized that it didn’t have the quality that was so advertised”

“I remember that time very well, because while the repairs lasted I had to look for other work. When they reopened and the workers returned, I realized that it did not have the quality that was so advertised. The roof and plumbing problems continued, to the point that it was now impossible to maintain cleanliness. There was also a lack of implements to ensure the hygiene of the premises,” the worker explains to 14ymedio.

Many people there agree with Marta, some of them cited by the local newspaper, 5 de Septiembre. “Not even two weeks had passed since the work was completed, and leaks were already appearing in the center of the facility when the first downpours arrived,” a resident of the municipality of Palmira told the newspaper.

The repairs initiated in 2019 included replacing the roof tiles, restoring the woodwork, the floors, the platforms, the ticket office and the bathrooms. The benches in the waiting room were also replaced by metal seats. However, “the roof was already falling apart, and from the outside you could see broken tiles, as if absolutely nothing had changed,” says Marta. continue reading

The benches in the waiting room were also replaced by metal seats / 14ymedio

Marta explains that the all-wood construction is now rotten, and the building – founded in 1913 – threatens to collapse at any point. “It is obvious that they didn’t do the work that was needed.”

The 5 de Septiembre report ventures one step further and even asks the authorities to take action on the matter. “The population has no doubt that ’the badly done’ will only get worse, as long as time continues to pass without a committed entity under the tutelage of the UEB Ferrocarriles Cienfuegos getting involved in the matter. There needs to be a decent, definitive epilogue to a heritage building that deserves it, and which currently continues to experience a fatal scheme of hit-and-run repairs.”

Meanwhile, the trains continue to arrive at the closed station, but they are as unstable as the future of the building. “The train bound for Santo Domingo, which originally went six times a week, has been canceling trips due to breakdowns and lack of fuel,” explains the terminal worker.

Another hard blow was suffered by the dozens of people who were traveling in hired vehicles, which were taking travelers on their way to the municipality of Aguada. Many of the travelers had this cheaper way to go from one place to another in Cienfuegos. “The possibility of recovering the train route to Sancti Spíritus had already been lost, and the instability of the vehicle services going to Santa Clara presaged this collapse,” the woman laments.

The cancellation of itineraries, as well as the closure of the terminal, have left travelers without options

The cancellation of itineraries, as well as the closure of the terminal, have left travelers and employees who depended to a lesser or greater extent on the operation of the facility without options. “Obviously, I can’t stay with my arms crossed in my house indefinitely, without earning a centavo, until another new capital repair can be made. The leaders always ask that we develop initiatives to guarantee the maintenance of the premises, but very little can be done when the repair itself is a disaster,” says Marta.

“So right now I am unemployed,” says the woman, who has taken advantage of the moment to give another direction to her life. “The salary of 2,500 pesos was not enough at all, and there is always a risk that with the closure they will fire some of the workers,” she analyzes. The closure, for her, has closed more than one door: “I don’t think I will work for the State again.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Its Annual Report, Sherritt Points Out the Risks of Operating in Cuba

The Canadian company is losing money, according to expert William Pitt, and he fears an intervention by Gaesa in mining management
Blackouts, fuel shortages, natural disasters and the loss of 2,100 workers affect the financial results

Sherritt has bet everything on the expansion of its plant in Moa, Holguín / Sherritt.com

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2025 — The Canadian company Sherritt International has just corrected an omission by the Cuban authorities, who published a balance sheet in February of the country’s mining activities without disclosing the production data for 2024. Now, thanks to the annual report of the multinational, we know that the extraction of nickel and cobalt was, respectively, 30,331 and 2,206 tons.

Although the figures for 2024 were, on paper, better than those of the previous year – 28,672 tons of nickel and 2,876 tons of cobalt – the company has nothing to celebrate. This was explained to 14ymedio by businessman William Pitt, who knows the ins and outs of the mining giant, which he criticizes, along with its Cuban partner, for not presenting its data “in an adequate and precise way.”

To understand why Sherritt had a terrible year, says Pitt, we must take into account that the volume of metal extracted in Cuba is not necessarily processed in its entirety in the company’s plants in Canada or sold, since “the decrease in global demand” must be taken into account. In addition, profitability has been affected by “the cost of power cuts, hurricanes, sick leave and many other reasons.” continue reading

Despite the fact that the amounts extracted in 2024 were higher, Sherritt received 109.9 million dollars, 29% less than in 2023, Pitt summarizes

Despite the fact that the amounts extracted in 2024 were greater, Sherritt received 109.9 million dollars. Aware of these figures, the Ministry of Energy and Mines admitted only to having gone through “an austerity process that slowed down its growth a little.” However, Sherritt’s report spares no negative comments in the description of its activities on the Island. Damages, natural disasters, lack of fuel and basic supplies… the description shows that the word “austerity” falls short in the face of the outlook.

The Altman scale, an index to measure the “future” of the company this year, rated its expected performance at -2.85. “It’s like saying that Sherritt has great opportunities to go bankrupt in the next two years,” Pitt says.

The future is in Moa, according to the report. Sherritt has bet everything on the expansion of its plant in Holguìn and calculates 25 more years of useful life for the deposits. By the end of 2025, it expects to have extracted between 31,000 and 33,000 tons of nickel and 3,300 of cobalt. The extracted metal is transported to Sherritt refineries in Alberta, Canada, and from there it is sold mainly to countries in Europe and Asia, the company explains.

In Moa, Sherritt aspires to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate, an indispensable compound for the electric car industry, especially in the United States. The constant clashes between the Administration of Donald Trump and the Government of Justin Trudeau, immersed in tariff tension, complicate those hopes.

“Nor will Tesla – the company run by Elon Musk, one of Trump’s favorites – use minerals from Cuba in its batteries,” says Pitt. “In addition, the batteries will not use as much cobalt and nickel as lithium.”

An agreement with the Cobalt Exchange allows Sherritt to exploit Cuban mines as compensation for a million-dollar debt, which in 2023 earned the company more than 2,000 tons. Cuba had to split its delivery in the fourth quarter of 2024: it paid $23.7 million in foreign currency and 223 tons in cobalt.

For once, Pitt says, Sherritt “played the game well”: despite the division, it managed to sell 50 of the tons delivered by Cuba and earned almost a million dollars.

The decrease in the price of cobalt in the international market, on the other hand, has been remarkable

“It is impossible to know why there was that fractionation because neither Sherritt nor Cuba has given information about the case; but the logical thing is to assume that it is because Cuba did not have enough foreign currency to make the full payment,” speculates the businessman. The decrease in the price of cobalt in the international market, on the other hand, has been remarkable since it exceeded $90,000 per ton in 2022. A ton is now quoted at just $24,300, a figure that had not decreased to that level since 2016.

One section of the report assures that the company has thoroughly investigated the accidents that caused the death of two of its workers in Moa in 2023. Since that time, it has implemented new security strategies. The result, they say, is that no incident was recorded last year.

However, Pitt says, the exodus of workers has been unstoppable. Sherritt has lost 2,100 workers in Cuba and has had to employ students “without any mining experience” in the workforce.

Two chapters discuss the risks of operating in Cuba: the exchange rate fluctuations of currencies and the growing inflation. In addition, Sherritt accuses the United States of intensifying the embargo and of having laid the foundations for the current economic crisis.

It admits, however, that the economic ups and downs of the Government, the obstacles to extract foreign currency from Cuba, the incidence of hurricanes and the blackouts – whose end they do not foresee – are factors that will affect the development of its activities in the country, as already happened in 2024. “These are changes that are beyond our control,” the report indicates.

There is another variable in the mining equation on the Island: the intervention of Cuba’s military conglomerate Gaesa, which Pitt sees as imminent. The fact that the Cuban regime is once again in the crosshairs of Washington’s sanctions, with Trump’s entry into the White House, has mainly harmed the hierarchy of the Armed Forces, who have lost the million-dollar business of remittances and are looking for new sources from which to “silently extract” money.

Operating in the shadows, Gaesa has placed sectors of the Cuban economy that were the responsibility of the civil government in military hands

Operating in the shadows, Gaesa has placed sectors of the Cuban economy that were the responsibility of the civil government in military hands. This happened with the Cimex corporation and with Cupet (Union Cuba Petróleo), argues Pitt, in addition to Gaviota, the Almest real estate group, the International Financial Bank and many other agencies.

“Sugar and coffee are no longer important,” Pitt points out. In tobacco – which brought more than 400 million dollars into the state coffers (total sales were 827 million, but half went to the Spanish shareholder of Habanos S.A.) – other powerful partners intervene, who will not easily give up their share. Mining is what remains, concludes the businessman. “And not just any mining, only nickel and cobalt mining, because iron, copper and manganese have failed to establish efficient production.”

“An intervention by Gaesa will cost Sherritt a lot,” says Pitt, “because its shares are already at depressing levels, and they will lose all their attraction even for the most adventurous shareholders.” As for the report of the mining giant, enthusiastic even when describimg a disaster, it is a mere “fairy tale” when there is an unquestionable truth: “Sherritt continues to lose money on the Island.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In the Hands of Jorge Dalton, ‘Lichi’ Diego Moves Miami

The filmmaker uses the conversation with his friend as an excuse to create one of the most moving portraits of Havana ever made.

Jorge Dalton and Eliseo Alberto Diego, in a photograph from the director’s personal archive.

14ymedio, Federico Hernandez Aguilar, San Salvador, 8 March 2025 — On February 27th there were tears at Miami Dade College’s Koubek Center. As part of the Cuban film series of the Miami Film Festival, there was a screening of En un rincón del alma [In One Corner of the Soul], a documentary that allows us to recover, in the final stages of his life, the endearing words of the talented writer Eliseo ’Lichi’ Alberto Diego, in the house in Mexico City where he died on 31 July 2011, at the age of 59.

The large audience erupted in applause and moans, victims of the same emotional impact that the film causes wherever it is shown. Why? Because Jorge Dalton, the director, also the son of a great poet, makes the conversation with his friend Lichi a wonderful excuse to create one of the most moving portraits ever made of Havana, that luminous melting pot of ambiguities and wonders, lyricism and contradictions, which make it unique as a city and as a human experience.

The Salvadoran writer Jorge Ávalos, one of the most penetrating art critics in Central America, has written that En un rincón del alma “is constructed as an elegy in two voices: two friends meet and talk about the Cuba they knew and, in doing so, allow us to witness a hard-won wisdom.”

Nothing more and nothing less could be expected from Eliseo Alberto, born in 1951 into a family of artists and writers founded by the prodigious Eliseo Diego (1920-1994), his father, and the discreet editor Bella García-Marruz (1921-2006), Fina’s sister. Both belonging to the Orígenes group, perhaps the best artistic collective of the last century in Cuba, their son Lichi not only kept beautiful memories of his famous family, but also evoked a literary and cultural environment that, apart from ceasing to exist, has never been able to be emulated. continue reading

The friendship between Lichi and Jorge began at that time. Although they were not from the same generation, they quickly became friends.

“My film begins,” says Jorge Dalton, the youngest son of the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton (1935-1975), “with a sequence shot that exactly reproduces my entrance into that wonderful house and into the world that each of its inhabitants represented. Eliseo, dad, was like an English lord, an extraordinary man with a monumental body of work. Someone for whom I placed two red roses inside his coffin when he died in Mexico. I seem to be seeing him when he said to me: “Speedy González, pour me another whiskey before it’s too late.”

The friendship between Lichi and Jorge began at that time. Although they were not from the same generation, they quickly bonded without any pretentiousness, as they shared a penchant for wandering and easy laughter.

“I even had the privilege,” Dalton says, “of living with him for a while in Mexico, when he lived in an apartment on Pacifico Street in Coyoacán. Despite coming from a refined literary background, Lichi was also a man who loved the streets and good wine; he had a sketchy profile, he loved the night as much as he loved women, just like my father, whom I define as a cat on the roof. Lichi also had a great sense of humor, and was at the same time sad, melancholic, like all lovers, with a heart always on the verge of bursting. I think that all the Diegos suffered from that melancholy, like a dagger ready to kill them. My film colleague, Ernesto Fundora, says that Eliseo Alberto knew how to balance high culture and popular culture very well.”

In December 2009, Jorge Dalton and his wife Susy Caula were on a trip to Mexico and visited Lichi. During the conversation, the novelist asked his friend to film him, as he wanted to make a documentary with the title of one of his famous books: Informe contra mí mismo [Report Against Myself]. Taken by surprise, Jorge, who only had a small home camera with him, asked for time to write a formal proposal. But one thing led to another and on the very last day of that year they spent the whole time recording Lichi, whose anecdotes and reflections make the film come together from beginning to end.

Back in San Salvador, Jorge and Susy received a call from their friend telling them that he was suffering from kidney failure. “Then,” says Dalton, “at the end of 2010 we visited him again and I was shocked to see him so deteriorated. Even so, he wanted to continue talking in front of the camera, aware of his imminent departure from this world. I filmed him a little, but I refused to let him appear in that physical state. A few months later he died. Then Susy convinced me to discard the idea of donating that long conversation with Lichi to a cultural entity and that we should do something with it instead.”

“But I do not rule out,” says Jorge Dalton, “that one day it could be exhibited there, as it should be.”

This is how, in 2016, En un rincón del alma was completed , classified by international critics as one of the most outstanding documentaries made about Cuba in the last half century. At the same time, of course, it is among the 200 Cuban films that are banned on the island.

“But I do not rule out,” says Jorge Dalton, “that one day it may be exhibited there, as it should be. Not only because Eliseo Alberto deserves it, but because Cubans should get to know better this writer who loved his country so much. He has been one of the most beloved people born on the island, a unique being whose tender friendship was one of the best gifts that life has given me. I still have not been able to recover from his loss.”

For now, Lichi Diego and Jorge Dalton have received their ovation in Miami, where many share with them that nostalgia — painful and poetic at the same time — for the fascinating Cuba of bustling and joyful culture, of literary exuberance without boundaries. But the day of reunion will come. The time of embrace will come.

Note: The documentary is available online and, in small format, below.

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Artemisa Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Vietnam’s Envoy and Its Investment Projects in Cuba

Hanoi has seven companies in the Mariel free zone and proposes to get involved in agricultural development, fishing and energy

Vietnam has signed several agreements with the Island to invest in rice planting / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, 7 March 2025 — It is not clear what Vietnam is looking for on the Island, but the failure of its largest agricultural project, due to Cuban mismanagement, has not slowed down its intention to do business there. Last Thursday, Le Quang Long, the Vietnamese ambassador to Cuba, was received by Artemisa Province authorities. He expressed Vietnam’s desire to participate in Cuba’s development in agriculture, fishing, tourism and renewable energies.

The authorities of the province rolled out “the red carpet” and said they were willing to “receive Vietnamese investors and companies,” said the VietnamPlus newspaper, paraphrasing the governor of the territory Ricardo Concepción Rodríguez.

Vietnam’s intentions, in addition to the usual incursions into cultivations of rice, corn, soybean and aquaculture crops, are also to invest in other more lucrative businesses: mining and the construction of solar parks, which until now has been controlled by China, Cuba’s largest partner.

The Vietnamese ambassador “promised support for cooperation between the Cuban province of Artemisa and Vietnamese localities,” especially the province of Binh Duong, the country’s media highlighted. Likewise, the diplomat urged his country’s companies that are installed in Cuba, such as AgriVMA, Viglacera and the fertilizer producer Anh Kiet, to expand “collaboration and investments in the province of Artemisa.” continue reading

The Vietnamese ambassador “promised support for cooperation between the Cuban province of Artemisa and Vietnamese localities”

In September 2024, the President of Vietnam, To Lam, visited the Mariel Special Development Zone, where seven companies from his country are located. It is the second largest number of companies of a single nation in that free zone, VietnamPlus said at the time, which highlighted the interest of the country in having a presence in the enclave.

In the case of AgriVMA, three months ago an experimental rice planting program began in the municipality of Los Palacios, in Pinar del Río, which this month gave its first results. The harvest of the first 16 hectares, of 1,000 planted with the CT16 grain variety, was valued by VietnamPlus as a sample of “efficient cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba in agriculture.”

Indeed, the plantation had a yield of 7.2 tons of rice per hectare, more than the Vietnamese had predicted. To achieve this, AgriVMA deployed a whole project to support Cuban farmers with training, supplies, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and agricultural machinery. All this was in order to comply, as the president of the company told the ambassador on a visit to the fields, with the aid agreement signed by both Governments in 2024.

The gain for Hanoi, once again, was not clear, but the project has increased its goals for this coming May. “It is expected that 1,100 hectares of rice grown by the company itself will produce more than 10 tons of grain per hectare in the May harvest, higher than the figure of three tons recorded in most Cuban fields that do not yet have Vietnamese varieties and techniques,” said Vietnam’s media.

“We will carry out an exchange on the techniques applied in the field, and we will provide technical attention to ensure success”

A Vietnamese company, whose name was not disclosed, was also the first foreign entity since 1959 to receive land in usufruct from the Cuban State. It is, initially, the concession of 308 hectares to plant rice on a farm in the south of the province of Pinar del Río, and the official press reported that the experience is unprecedented.

Thanks to AgriVMA, Havana also managed to recover the planting of rice in La Sierpe, in Sancti Spíritus, which had been abandoned after 20 years of disappointments by technicians from Vietnam. The firm arrived in Cuba with an initial investment of 21 million dollars at the beginning of 2023, and – although its business is mainly focused on animal feed and livestock – it expanded to the rice sector.

“We will carry out an exchange on the techniques applied in the field, and we will provide technical attention to ensure success,” said a manager, who assured that the company’s intention is to continue later with the usual seed, planting 15,000 hectares throughout the Island from November, when the cold-weather campaign begins. “This harvest, like the previous one, will be donated to the Cuban homeland,” she added.

This Wednesday, Cambodia presented itself as another partner for Cuba in the matter of rice. Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the experiment of planting short-cycle varieties of the grain.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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