Moses and the Newspaper

A National Humor Award that everyone applauds and no one discusses

Moisés Rodríguez, National Humor Prize 2025. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 6 April 2025 — For those of us who, in one way or another, participated in the young humor movement that emerged in Cuba in the 1980s, the Matanzas group La Seña del Humor represented that high point we always strived to reach, no matter if we actually got there or at least were close. Those older people we saw in the members of La Seña were our paradigm, proof that, among us, cultured figures could be popular without the need for banal mockery or the costumbrismo — the traditional heritage — that looked to the past and shunned the present.

Few forget that festival they organized in Matanzas, which, based on camping, helped steer our work with the vitality provided by confronting multiple forms of humor, almost all of them questioning a reality that seemed unquestionable. From that event at the Teatro Sauto, I remember seeing Pepe Pelayo and his group live, at their peak, and forever recording two unique moments: the monologue of the guy cutting his nails, delivered by Pelayo himself and Aramís Quintero, and the epic son performance of the aptly named cultured music performed by these cultured Matanzas natives.

He played a unique character: that of a musician who barely participated in the presentation, and who therefore spent his time reading a newspaper.

Moisés Rodríguez, one of the few remaining members of the legendary group in Cuba, played a unique character: a musician who barely participated in the performance, spending his time reading a newspaper. I mentioned this to the editor of La Seña a few days ago, and here is his reply:

“The act that closed our shows was Roberto Roberto and his group Bakán. That’s where Moisés el Roberto came from when he worked with his friend Lázaro Hernández, since they were both named Roberto. It was a typical orchestra with two guitars, bass, keyboard, violin, drums-timpani, conga drum, harpsichord and güiro, and minor percussion. We all worked together because Aramís interviewed Roberto Roberto (that was me), but Moisés was left out, as he was incapable of playing a musical instrument. So I had the continue reading

idea for him to sit to the side of the group playing a huge band bass drum. Since he only did this once or twice in each act—when a gag was over or there was a change of rhythm—Moisés had nothing to do. He himself had the idea of ​​opening a newspaper and starting to read. He would take out a banana and eat it, or start brushing his teeth with a toothbrush, or put on deodorant… The group played classic songs, for example, Fur Elise by Beethoven, and it changed to Cuban son, or Ravel’s Bolero, which changed to a typical bolero, or a Brahms-merengue… and so on.”

I had written to the director of La Seña upon learning that Moisés Rodríguez had been awarded the 2025 National Humor Award for compelling reasons given by the jury: “For the significance of his work as part of the iconic group La Seña del Humor de Matanzas, for many the genesis of an entire movement in the 1980s later called ’new type of humor,’ and considering that La Seña marks a before and after in group work on the Cuban humor scene, defined by many as tropical Les Luthiers for the quality and versatility of their work, being a national reference for an entire generation of stage comedians in the 1980s and early 1990s, based on his work as a soloist, his presence on radio and television as an art curator, writer, and pedagogue.”

“For many, he is also the literature professor who brought his wisdom mixed with humor to the classroom, with his unforgettable lectures, which were short humorous scenes.”

Ulises Rodríguez Febles, a playwright and researcher from Matanzas, spoke in the White Room of Matanzas about Moisés and what he represented and represents for the national comedy scene, about “his body and gesture work, the work of his voice: playing with the phrase to support the joke, and sharply bringing his stories to laughter, from the deepest part of their essence: irony, absurdity, Creole cheekiness, playfulness, unexpected twists, the relationship between the body—the hands, the fingers, the hair…—and the delivery of the text. A sure shot to the spectator, to unleash laughter.”

He also said: “For many, he is also the literature professor who brought his wisdom mixed with humor to the classroom, with his unforgettable classes, which were short humorous sketches. He is the art critic, the curator, and the painter of abstract works, with whom he seems to be another Moses without ceasing to be one; the heir to a Martí and Christian tradition that is in his family roots, of which he is proud and which continues to beat within him. When we pay tribute to Moisés Rodríguez Cabrera, we are paying tribute to La Seña del Humor de Matanzas, the group that transformed Cuban stage humor and offered it a contemporary perspective, the group that became a symbol of the city and offered Cuban humor a different aesthetic connotation, a fusion of Creole and universal legitimacy, which served and serves as a reference in the history of contemporary humor, embracing tradition and modernity, the Cuban humorous heritage, and the confluences of our identity in music, literature, the visual, and the stage. And in that synthesis of intellect and grace, there is Moses.”

Pelayo, from Chile, congratulated him with a video. “We have been friends, partners, accomplices, henchmen, allies, colleagues, teammates, brothers for almost sixty years. I am one of the people alive, outside of your immediate family, who knows and loves you the most, and also, like you, I dedicated my life to humor. Therefore, I dare to affirm, with great certainty, that you were born a comedian, grew up a comedian, developed as a comedian, and reached the pinnacle of acting. You are the man with the greatest comedic talent I have ever known, and I have known too much. This award was a debt that Cuba owed you, that Cuban culture owed you, and not to mention Matanzas. In addition to being an excellent comedian, you are one of the most noble, sincere, humble, and helpful people in the entire universe.”

To me, who did not want to miss that moment, and was able to embrace him like no one else, among so many colleagues from the eighties who accompanied him in the evening, it occurs to me to think that Moisés, in that anthological issue with the newspaper, was simply reading that one day a tribute would be paid to his modesty and to the wisdom of those who accompanied him in that Matanzas monument that was and is La Seña.

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Russians Aspire To ‘Increase Investment Projects’ While Cubans See Only ‘Obstacles’

Delegations from both countries in a session of the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission / Cubadebate

14ymedio bigger 14ymedio, Havana, April 6, 2025 — On one side of the long table, the Cuban delegation, chaired by Ricardo Cabrisas and several key ministers; on the other, the Russians, clinging to their headphones and consulting data on modern Mac computers. The photo published this Saturday by Cubadebate – in which Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Chernichenko smiles with satisfaction – is that of two countries in total synchrony.

“The exchange highlighted the intensity of our strategic links and the existing opportunities to continue consolidating bilateral relations in all areas,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel insisted in a publication on X.

The reality, however, is that once again the Kremlin offers and Havana takes, a dynamic that Chernichenko himself recently criticized, despite signing 13 agreements beneficial to the Cuban regime this Friday.

The information published about the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission, which met for the 22nd time this week, is diverse and incomplete, but it reveals important data about the bilateral agenda. The first thing is that Moscow, according to Chernichenko, gave Cuba a “state loan” of 60 million dollars in the form of 100,000 tons of Russian oil that continue reading

arrived in February, aboard the Akademik Gubkin.

That credit is part of a Kremlin plan that, according to the Russian side, aims to “minimize the consequences of the energy crisis”

That credit is part of a Kremlin plan that, according to the Russians, aims to “minimize the consequences of the energy crisis that Cuba has been experiencing since last year,” which, however, has not prevented four widespread blackouts in the last six months. There are three Russian companies, they said, evaluating the Cuban electricity debacle through “integral reviews.”

Last January, an investment by the Kremlin financed the start-up of the exploitation of several oil wells in Boca de Jaruco. The process – given the low quality of Cuban crude oil – is extremely cumbersome and unprofitable, but Chernichenko expressed his hope that these facilities, directed by the Russian oil company, Zarubezhneft, will allow Cuba “to obtain oil and reduce its dependence on the import of this fuel” (national crude oil cannot be refined on the Island and is used only for thermoelectric plants).

The high-ranking official also stated that about 160,000 Russian tourists had arrived in Cuba in 2024, “which coincides with the record of 2023.” The figure does not coincide with what was proclaimed by the Cuban authorities, who had raised the number of visitors from Russia to 185,800, a “record” that exceeded 184,000 in 2023.

The number provided by Chernichenko casts even more doubt on the credibility of Cuban statistics and removes reasons for optimism this year. The number has fallen by almost 50% in January and February: from 43,859 Russian visitors last year to 22,306 this year.

Moscow has focused on the transport sector, with several Russian companies having just participated in the sector’s international fair held this week in Havana. “Soon,” Chernichenko said, they will send 50 Moskvitch cars to the Island to operate as taxis in the capital.

The Russians also promised to “resume” the shipment of vehicles (last year they sent 180 spare vehicles and parts). Now, in addition, they will open an assembly complex between UAZ – the legendary Russian brand – and a Cuban company. There are other minor projections in the field of wheat milling, the impoverished sugar sector and the construction of at least one hotel only for Russians.

The high Russian official highlighted that he had stayed in the Northern Keys of Ciego de Ávila, to experience “Cuban nature” firsthand

The request that Chernichenko made to parliamentary leader Esteban Lazo in Moscow, a week ago, was repeated personally before Cabrisas. “We aspire to increase investment projects,” he stated. However, everything has remained in projections, promises and invitations to more meetings. The senior Russian official highlighted that he had stayed at the Northern Keys of Ciego de Ávila, to experience “Cuban nature” firsthand.

The only quote that Cubadebate picked up from Cabrisas, architect of the rapprochement with Moscow, says everything about Havana’s vagueness and lack of will: “The obstacles we face are clear.” Neither Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, who was later photographed with Chernichenko and Cabrisas, nor President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who met with the Kremlin envoy this Friday, had a voice or vote in the meeting.

There is another trip on the horizon: Díaz-Canel’s to Moscow next month, at the invitation of Vladimir Putin himself – as Chernichenko stressed – to attend the parade for the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany. At that time, the president will pose again with other Putin satellites, such as the Belarusian Aleksandr Lukashenko, the longest-serving dictator in Europe.

“Respect, trust and transparency” is the mantra that, according to its organizers, governs the meetings between the Kremlin and Havana. The three values have been more than denied by reality: Cuba seems not to have much respect for its creditor, nor does Russia have confidence in its “favorite partner,” and neither of the two Governments is transparent about where their alliance is going.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Seven Years in Prison for ‘Sabotage’ Given to an Employee Who Stole 30 Liters of Diesel in Ciego De Ávila

The worker attempted to cover up the theft by pouring water into the tank of a generator that eventually failed during a blackout.

The theft occurred in the Ciego 1 generator unit /Granma

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2025 — The Cuban press has become a fan of the thriller. This week, along with the catalog of exemplary trials for drug trafficking, it published a case of “sabotage” against the Ministry of the Interior, which it describes as “extremely serious.” The crime, for which an operator of a generator unit in Ciego de Ávila was sentenced to seven years in prison, was the theft of “30 liters of diesel” in 2024.

Following the custom of the state press, Invasor does not offer the exact date of the trial but reports that the theft occurred before April 29 last year, when, in an audit of the Ciego 1 generator unit, the authorities noticed the lack of fuel. “Perhaps overcome by nervousness,” he says, the worker poured water into the tank to cover up the theft.

The media does not explain why, despite having noticed the lack, the apparent replacement of fuel was not investigated. But it didn’t happen until a blackout – “which is part of everyday life” – forced the generator to enter the national electrical system around 10:00 pm on Monday. With water in the tank, “after about 20 minutes the Ciego 1 slowed down and stopped working,” it reports dramatically. continue reading

The number of problems that were triggered from the failure of the generator is what led a worker of “impeccable and outstanding social and labor behavior” to appear in criminal court against the Security of the State of Camagüey and not in a civil court.

With the blackout, the Ministry of the Interior communications center was disconnected, as was the territory’s surveillance cameras

With the blackout, the Ministry of Interior communications center was disconnected, as was the surveillance cameras of the territory, “the flow of information in the province and the nation,” and the telephone services of the police and firefighters. It also caused “an economic impact on the Telecommunications company (Etecsa) of 5.74 pesos for the value of the two filters that it was necessary to replace to restore the unit,” emphasizes Invasor.

The court asked for seven years in prison for the worker, with the right to request a cassation appeal to reduce the sentence, and the “blue jug” he used to pour water into the generator was confiscated.

The media reports the confession of the accused: “It was the time when the electricity went out every day, and I thought they were going to blame me for that. I got nervous, and the solution that I came up with was to pour in liters of water so that when they measured… My intention was never to harm anything; I am quite sorry and quite ashamed, because I am not a person who commits a crime, much less one who commits sabotage.”

The career of the employee, who had worked in Ciego 1 for 10 years, and the fact that he had no criminal record were mitigating

The career of the employee, who had worked in Ciego 1 for 10 years, and the fact that he had no criminal record were mitigating, Invasor clarifies. But “the seriousness and harmfulness of the acts committed” determined that he was charged, in addition to theft, with sabotage. “The crime of sabotage affects the public good and the internal security of the State,” the Prosecutor’s Office argued.

The energy crisis on the Island, impossible to detach from the shortage of fuel, has prompted the State to launch a hunt against those who steal the product. Last February, 14ymedio reported the arrest of the mayor of Manzanillo (Granma), along with other officials, for doing business under the table with oil destined for services and state companies.

However, the case of Osvaldo Antonio Incencio Piñeiro, contrary to that of the accused of Ciego 1, was carried out with the utmost discretion because he was a leader. “Everything was done behind closed doors in the offices of the municipal Communist Party and the government,” a source close to the investigation told this newspaper.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Former High-Ranking PCC Official, Who Arrived in the United States With Humanitarian Parole, Self-Deports to Cuba

Misael Enamorado Dager returned to the island with his family after arriving in the United States approximately a year ago through the humanitarian parole program.

Misael Enamorado Dager served as first secretary of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba between 2001 and 2009 / Facebook

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2025 — Misael Enamorado Dager, former first secretary of the Communist Party (PCC) in Santiago de Cuba, self-deported from the United States to Cuba at the end of last March, as confirmed on his digital site by journalist Mario J. Penton. The former official returned to the Island with his family after arriving in the United States a year ago through the Humanitarian Parole Program.

Enamorado, who was also part of the Central Committee of the PCC, was harshly criticized for his initial link with the Havana regime and his subsequent departure to the United States. “The former communist leader made the voluntary decision to return to Cuba after receiving multiple legal notifications and an increase in public scrutiny,” Pentón explains.

Pressures on Enamorado became more intense after Republican Congressman Carlos Giménez included his name on a list of 100 Cuban repressors who were to be deported to the Island. In a letter sent to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the Republican said these individuals represented “a threat to national security.”

These agents of the Cuban regime must be identified, investigated and deported immediately, stressed the congressman. Giménez was born in Cuba and become one of the most recognized faces against the Castro regime in southern Florida as mayor of Miami-Dade county between 2011 and 2020.

Enamorado, who was also part of the Central Committee of the PCC, was harshly criticized for his initial link with the Havana regime

In the time he spent in the United States, Enamorado could not obtain permanent residence (green card) despite having taken advantage of the Cuban Adjustment Law. His past as a collaborator of the Cuban regime was continue reading

an insurmountable obstacle to legalizing his situation in Houston, Texas, where he lived.

The former official held the position of secretary of the PCC in Santiago de Cuba from 1995 to 2009, and in 1997 he was promoted to the Political Bureau. In 2009 he moved to Havana and was part of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the party organization, until he was dismissed in 2013 by order of Raúl Castro.

According to Pentón, the Enamorado family owns a luxurious residence that they rent to tourists in Cuba, “presumably a personal gift from the Castro family,” a detail that further fueled his rejection by Cuban exiles.

The voluntary return of Enamorado to the Island sets a precedent that could be followed by other former officials of the Cuban regime who are currently in the United States. Among them are members of Cuban State Security and prosecutors linked to trials against opponents.

The former official held the position of secretary of the PCC in Santiago de Cuba from 1995 to 2009, and in 1997 he was promoted to the Political Bureau

In August of last year, the former first secretary of the Communist Party in Cienfuegos, Manuel Menéndez Castellanos, arrived in Miami. After accumulating merits on the Island, where his political career and affiliation to the regime top a substantial list of positions and distinctions – including that of “coordinator of the Coordination and Support Team of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro” – the official decided to spend his retirement in the United States, where part of his family resides.

Many before him have tried to achieve the “American dream” and have done so with impunity, as happened with Yurquis Companioni, a counterintelligence agent in Sancti Spíritus. In other cases, they have clashed with the US justice system. This happened to Liván Fuentes Álvares, former president of the National Assembly on the Isle of Youth, who – after the procedure was approved and he was about to travel to the United States – was denied humanitarian parole.

More recently known was the case of Judge Melody González, who sentenced four young people from Villa Clara to prison – without evidence and by order of State Security, according to her own statements – for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails at regime officials. González is now facing a legal process in the United States, where she arrived requesting political asylum last May, after being denied entry with the humanitarian parole she had obtained. The former judge, currently detained at the Broward Transitional Center, in Florida, will have to prove, after a first failed attempt, that she is eligible for international protection.

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.

Nicaragua, the Insatiable Dictatorship

President Daniel Ortega and his co-dictator Rosario Murillo are two insatiable autocrats, individuals who do not respect limits when it is necessary to satisfy their hunger for power.

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo and President Daniel Ortega. / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 6 April 2025 — It must be repeated ad nauseam: both Daniel Ortega and his co-dictator Rosario Murillo are insatiable autocrats. Men who respect no boundaries when it’s time to satisfy their hunger for power.

It is well known that Castro-Chavism is sustained by bayonets, although at present they are sitting on AK-47s, supplied by Vladimir Putin, the close friend of all autocrats.

Co-dictator Daniel Ortega has legitimized a practice we are all familiar with, consisting of the subordination of the powers of the State—legislative, judicial, electoral, oversight and supervision, regional and municipal—to the Executive Branch, an aberration enshrined by the apocryphal National Assembly of Nicaragua, composed of lackeys of the supreme couple, and who, as always, voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

With this dictatorial disposition, public powers disappear, democracy ceases to exist, and precarious citizen participation is completely extinguished by the decision of two despots and the complicity of their servants.

In reality, both Ortega and his co-ruler are faithful admirers of the worst scum in the world, including Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and, of course, Fidel Castro, the man behind the cancers of Castro-Chavism, who was the direct diabolical architect of the Nicaraguan regime. continue reading

In reality, both Ortega and his co-ruler are faithful admirers of the worst scum in the world: Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and, of course, Fidel Castro

The reform to Nicaragua’s perpetually violated Constitution establishes the well-known positions of co-presidents, a condition that already existed in the country. It also extends the term of office for positions that are supposed to be elected.

In my opinion, the Nicaraguan regime, while seeking to resemble the totalitarian dictatorship established in Cuba by the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro as much as possible, seeks to lend legitimacy to all its actions and is also not immune to the habits of military dictatorships, such as its vocation to make its enemies disappear or to exile them. Although, in all honesty, the two greatest similarities between Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua are their immense capacity for repression and their cruelty in imprisoning their adversaries, generating an environment of citizen defenselessness that paralyzes communities.

One such scheme was recently denounced by the human rights organization Nunca Más, made up of exiled people in Costa Rica. According to this organization, the dictatorship has imposed a policy of forced disappearance on its opponents, as has happened with at least a dozen of them who were arrested several months ago.

The Castros and Ortegas like legitimacy, pretending to be democrats who respect the will of the people. Hence this latest reform to the Constitution — which proclaimed that socialism in Cuba was irrevocable — just as Castroism did in Cuba after the success of the Varela Project, proposed in 2002 by the Christian Liberation Movement led by the martyr Oswaldo Paya Sardiñas.

However, the co-dictators aren’t sleeping well. It’s April, the seventh anniversary of the popular protests in which Ortega’s henchmen killed nearly 400 people.

For the benefit of Rubén Darío’s people, international bodies continue to denounce the crimes of the Ortega regime. Recently, at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Lesly Guerrero, a representative of the Center for Justice and International Law, said that the reforms have allowed the executive branch, headed by two “co-presidents,” to consolidate total control over the legislative, judicial, and electoral branches. She added: “These modifications not only eliminate institutional checks and balances, but also establish a system of government where repression and authoritarianism are presented with a veneer of legality.”

Furthermore, the co-dictators’ arrogance is boundless, a fact demonstrated by the country’s withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council, following the request by the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua to sue the Central American country before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for depriving Nicaraguans of their nationality.

Everything seems to indicate that Nicaragua and Venezuela are seeking to establish regimes similar to Cuba’s. They want to impose a closed society in which any vestige of freedom and respect for human dignity disappears.

Nevertheless, the co-dictators aren’t sleeping well. It’s April, the seventh anniversary of the popular protests in which Ortega’s henchmen killed nearly 400 people (325 according to the OAS-CIDH).

The blood of all these martyrs is on the hands of Ortega and Murillo, and blood stains, as the writer Jose Antonio Albertini affirms in one of his novels.

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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.

‘Let There Be Light!: And the Light… (Went Out)’

The Garden of Passions, a museum of odds and ends created by a Cuban barber turned diplomat and spy

Wise sayings, reflections, commentary, fragments, doubts: all written upon a sheet of tin. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, José Lassa/Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 29 March 2025 – “An interesting and different kind of museum, created from throwaway objects transformed into beautiful sculptures that transmit messages full of moral lessons”. EcuRed’s [’Cuba’s Wikipedia’] perhaps rather simple definition, is, in a way, less eloquent than the unofficial names for the place it describes: The Museum of Junk, or Garden of the Passions. Also, we have: The Scrap Metal Gallery, or Gallo’s [’Cockerel’s’] Henhouse, along with many other variations on the name for the place created by Héctor Pascual Gallo, in the Alamar neighbourhood of Havana.

What’s significant is that EcuRed doesn’t even tell its readers who Gallo was – they have deleted the page which described the man who informed Fidel Castro – or at least so the legend goes – where Cuban exiles were going to land during the Bay of Pigs invasion. Born in eastern Havana in 1924, he was a barber, a diplomat, a spy and an artist, and he died in 2020.

After a whole lifetime – or several lifetimes, as he used to say – Gallo turned up in Alamar and began, aged over 80, a career in culture. One enormous and somewhat ghostly portrait of him is hung above the terrace inside the Garden. Another, signed by the Belgian artist Denis Meyer in 2019, is similarly fantasmagorical. Both represent Gallo as a sort of god of the place. And, in effect, it is his moral lessons – his passions – which populate the place.

A portrait signed by Belgian artist Denis Meyer in 2019 decorates the entrance. / 14ymedio

“I love white coffee more than anything else. Anything? Yes!”, says one of his commandments. “It’s good to know how to, and to be able to feed yourself”; “With time, beauty fades, but charm is accentuated”; “Putting something off doesn’t resolve it”; “Doing silly things doesn’t make you silly, unless it’s for more than 24 times a second (I was free for a minute)”. Wisdom, reflections, commentary, fragments, doubts: all written on bits of tin or wood and accompanied by arrows to keep you reading.

The most important thing about the Garden, however, is that it has the power to silence. In the land of rubbish tips, Gallo is the great organiser of rubbish, to which he attributes meaning, and history. The history of Cuba, no less. A mountain of cash registers, destroyed by rust, is the best symbol of the economic sinking of the country. A kind of Nganga cauldron, complete with forks and shells, recalls the incurable hunger of the Cuban people. One sign reads: “A verb most often used: resolve it. An expression most often heard: it’s not easy”.

A mountain of cash registers, destroyed by rust, is the best symbol of the economic sinking of the country. / 14ymedio

Picturesque and with an overall rusty brown hue, the Garden bursts its way into the daily life of Alamar. It’s impossible not to see it or hold an opinion about Gallo and his legend. No one knows exactly what to call the place, says Gertrudis, who lives close to the building with the giant portrait of the artist.

“They used to call it the Park of Junk. Perhaps it was after Gallo died that they named it Garden of the Passions. People know this street as Junk Street and everyone knows where it is”, she explains.

Ricardo, another person who grew up amongst Gallo’s trash, confirmed Gertrudis’s geographic reference: “Yes, they’d say ’Junk Street’. It’s part of his garden, where he turned all of his rubbish into a kind of love. Rubbish into Art. His granddaughter was at school with me actually. This part here is the old stock. Then it gets more organised as more objects were found. He was a journalist as well. A supercool old guy”.

’Brut Art’ by Cubans such as Gallo is currently on exhibition in a museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. / 14ymedio

For Gertrudis, a teacher who has lived in Alamar for years but has never actually been inside the Garden, the installation is connected with the so-called ’brut’ or ’deviant’ art movement. In fact, a number of works by Cubans who identify themselves as practitioners of this movement (one which might be defined as art created by people who aren’t, strictly speaking, artists), among them various works by Gallo, are being shown in Lausanne, Switzerland, this month.

“I find this kind of art quite interesting”, says Gertrudis. “I don’t know to what extent the people who create it have any artistic training, but yeah, it seems a pretty genuine movement to me. The materials they use are almost always re-used or recycled”.

On the question of what the Garden actually represents, its neighbours sum it up in one expression: “Daily objects which hold in themselves a sense of art”. / 14ymedio

On the question of what the Garden actually represents, Gertrudis sums it up in one expression: “Daily objects which hold in themselves a sense of art”. “Gallo transformed a space which, in itself, is quite boring. Alamar as a place is rather monotonous at times, and the idea of breaking with this physicality, with this architecturally ordered space – where, above all, there aren’t even any parks or other outstanding places either – is a great proposition, and its courage is rooted precisely in this”.

“Let there be light!: And the light… (went out)”, wrote Gallo on a signboard from 1993. More than 30 years have passed and the work appears just as fresh now as it did in the Special Period. At that time, forgotten by the regime which he had served, and apparently under Castro’s radar, Gallo made a place of creation out of poverty itself.

The goal is: to survive in this life, and in the next. “The difference between Goya and Gallo is just spelling”, says one of his aphorisms. “One is immortal, and the other is unmortal”.

Forgotten by the regime which he had served, and apparently under Castro’s radar, Gallo made a place of creation out of poverty itself. / 14ymedio

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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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 Garbage Has Destroyed Guanabacoa’s Great Treasure, Its Waters and Springs

In the midst of disaster and plague, a graffiti: “I am Fidel. Thank you for the country you left us.”

The scene of the garbage is so depressing that Yuliet prefers to keep the window closed, day and night. / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, José Lassa / Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 6 April 2025 — What appeared first? The “I am Fidel” sign on a battered wall in Guanabacoa or the garbage dump located next to it? The hand that painted the slogan, popularized by the regime after the leader’s death in 2016, perhaps didn’t suspect that a rubbish pile and Castro could converge on that corner of the Havana municipality. Blurry, another message completes the irony: “Thank you for the country you left us.”

Guanabacoa is full of such signs, next to a pile of garbage or a sewage ditch. In some scenes, the vultures—with their wings spread out in a cross, like a child’s game—are exploring the waste or pecking at cans in the stream.

“Please dispose of waste in the water,” reads another sign near the Santa Rita Baths, once one of Havana’s most popular spas. One wonders whether such an absurd request had actually been erased by the damp on the wall. Thirty-nine-year-old Yuliet’s window overlooks one of the tributaries that lead to the place. The stench, at any time of day, is unbearable.

Graffiti — “I Am Fidel” — and trash in Guanabacoa, Havana. / 14ymedio

It’s enough to glance over it to see how the vultures and rats scratch among the puddles. The panorama is so depressing that Yuliet prefers to keep the window closed, day and night. “I keep it closed not only because of the smell, which in the end we get used to, but because the mosquitos are coming out of the toilet.”

Water, once clean and abundant, characterized Guanabacoa since time immemorial. Both the native people who gave the settlement its name and the settlers who arrived later decided that its baths and streams were the area’s greatest treasure. Before the Revolution, 11 of Cuba’s 27 water continue reading

bottling plants were located in Guanabacoa.

With its main resource contaminated beyond words, what was once its strength is now its weakness. Every stream, every well, every creek is an existing or potential source of disease. Garbage is taking over the land from Loma de la Cruz to Baños de Santa Rita, from the fields to the very center of the city.

A glance is enough to see how the vultures and rats dig through the puddles. / 14ymedio

“I love you, Yanisleidy,” reads the umpteenth graffiti next to a garbage dump. Fidel isn’t immune to the stench, but neither are declarations of love. The dump doesn’t believe in ideologies or feelings, and moves along with the increasingly turbid current that surrounds the hamlets and hills.

“People here don’t just go out and throw out the trash,” laments Juan, who arrived in the Mambí neighborhood from Las Tunas a decade ago. “They throw bags or whatever out the window, and it accumulates there until a good rain falls and washes away all the garbage.”

It’s a macabre sport that, with each “throw,” costs the city what little sanitation it has left. In defense of the residents, Juan claims the nearest trash container is six blocks away. “I used to use it,” he corrects himself: “It’s not there anymore. One day the Municipal Police came and took it away.”

In the residents’ minds there are two option: burn the trash or throw it in the stream, with the second considered ‘more hygienic.’ A cloudburst is the city’s only remaining ‘cleaning agent.’ When the rains come, the vultures hide under the trees, the rats drown or find a crack, and the trash floats away.

Guanabacoa is full of signs like this — ‘Please don’t throw the trash in the water’ — next to a pile of garbage or a sewage ditch. / 14ymedio

Caridad knows better than anyone that the downpour can wash away debris, but it’s deadly for those with low-lying yards. Less than a meter above the river level, the back of her house becomes a pool of rot when the current overflows. “It’s impossible to explain everything to my husband and I had to take out the patio,” she says.

“Some doctors came here to the neighborhood once, tested a couple of families, and left. No one else has come to check on our hygiene,” she says. Throughout the city, the feeling of helplessness is similar, fueled by the problems of drinking water shortages affecting all of Cuba.

The stench, at any time, is unbearable. / 14ymedio

A zinc sheet acts as a dike against the river. It doesn’t stop the dirty water or the diseases it brings, but at least it prevents the stink bombs from crossing the line into Caridad’s house.

When the rain subsides, she and her husband pile up the waste that has washed up on the patio. Loose or in bags, like the “paper boat” the children also play with, they throw all the rotten stuff back into the river. It’s a vicious cycle and also, the woman admits, a kind of revenge against the trash. Now it’ll be someone else’s problem.

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Forced Into Exile, Luz, Carolina, Yanelys, Anamelys and Katia Reinvent Themselves Outside of Cuba

Interrogations, threats, arbitrary arrests, internet shutdowns and police repression were the price they paid for their criticism.

Escobar was warned that she could not return frequently, only if it was “very urgently needed.” / Luz Escobar

14ymedio biggerEFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 April 2025 — Carolina, Yanelys, Luz, Anamelys, and Katia are just five names on the list of Cuban women forced into exile in recent years for their dissent, from mere criticism to political activism to independent journalism.

“I didn’t leave Cuba of my own free will, they sent me out,” says art historian and activist Carolina Barrero, who tells EFE that “the repression intensified throughout 2021,” following the ’27N’ demonstration on November 27 of the previous year in front of the Ministry of Culture demanding freedom of expression and work.

“The surveillance was constant: I lived under constant suspicion, in a state of constant harassment. They charged me with criminal offenses for exercising fundamental rights,” recalls Barrero, who now heads the NGO Ciudadanía y Libertad.

“The surveillance was constant: I lived under constant suspicion, in a state of constant harassment.”

She insists she suffered “systematic persecution by State Security,” intelligence, and domestic counterintelligence. “I was detained multiple times, subjected to prolonged house arrest without a court order, and threatened with imprisonment if I continued my work of reporting and organizing peaceful demonstrations,” she says.

In February 2022, she says, she received the “ultimatum”: “Leave the country or face criminal prosecution, with the explicit threat of extending reprisals to third parties such as mothers of political prisoners, fellow activists…”

Another woman, curator Yanelys Núñez tells EFE that the “institutional violence” against her began in 2016, when she was expelled from her job for creating the work The Museum of Dissidence in Cuba with the artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, currently in prison for insulting the symbols of the homeland, contempt, and public disorder.

The situation worsened two years later, due to the promotion of the dissident artist group the San Isidro Movement, explains Núñez from continue reading

Madrid, where she arrived in 2019. She recalls “threats to family and friends, arbitrary arrests, police and telephone surveillance, the ban on cultural events,” as well as “physical, verbal, and psychological harassment and violence.”

“The experience of being politically persecuted simply for defending your right to exist, for defending human rights, is terrible,” laments Núñez, who currently coordinates the independent Observatory of Gender Alas Tensas.

“The motive for the persecution I suffered is that Cuba has been under a dictatorship for more than 60 years, and all defenders are criminalized.”

“The motive for the persecution I suffered is that Cuba has been under a dictatorship for more than 60 years, and all defenders are criminalized,” says Núñez, adding: “I am not the first to have suffered this political violence in the country for wanting to participate in public and political life.”

Journalist Luz Escobar decided to work outside the official media. Because she worked at 14ymedio, “State Security put all the pressure they could on me to leave journalism in Cuba. But when they implicated my daughters in the repressive scheme, I decided to go into exile,” she told EFE.

“At first, they summoned me to the police, where they interrogated me to stop working. They insisted, but when I told them no, they changed their tactics and the tone of their threats: ’You’re doing things wrong, and if you continue, you’ll go to jail.’ All because reporting is a crime in Cuba,” she explains.

“After November 27th (27N), they saw me as an activist, and the repression multiplied: interrogations, threats, arbitrary arrests, internet shutdowns—all of this happened weekly,” she says. Escobar, whose father is also a freelance journalist, adds that even the day she was at the airport about to leave for Spain, she was warned that she couldn’t return frequently, only if it was “very urgent.”

“I spent weeks without being able to leave the house because security and the police were always downstairs trying to arrest me.”

Curator Anamelys Ramos, a member of the San Isidro Movement, did not leave Cuba due to pressure, although she admits she was “under brutal harassment.” “I spent weeks without being able to leave the house because security and the police were always downstairs trying to arrest me,” she told EFE.

After the Island-wide July 11 protests, the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades, she left for Mexico to study for a doctorate in Anthropology. In February 2022, when she tried to return, the “biggest outrage” occurred. “They wouldn’t even let me board the American Airlines plane because Cuba sent a notification to the airline that I wouldn’t be admitted into the country. By not letting me return, I was left in legal limbo and without a home or job,” she laments.

“I’ve always been in the spotlight of State Security,” communicator Katia Sánchez tells EFE. More than five years ago, she created La Penúltima Casa, the country’s first digital communication blog to help people use online platforms professionally.

She then created the El Pitch podcast, for entrepreneurs, in a country where the communications sector is restricted for the self-employed. As the project grew, so did the harassment from State Security, she laments. At first, it was “friendly,” with questions about her contacts and sources of funding, but it ended with “interrogations and threats that led to the closure of the project in Cuba.”

This communicator spent years “looking for loopholes to break through” to keep her project going, but “all of that ends up being bigger than starting a business.” Moving to the United States was the solution she found to keep her project afloat.

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ICE Detains in the US a ‘Marielito’ Who Fled Cuba 45 Years Ago

José Francisco García had been trying to obtain US citizenship for a decade.

The shrimp boat El Dorado arriving in Key West loaded with marielitos, in April 1980. / Florida Memory

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2025 — José Francisco García Rodríguez, 73, who arrived in the United States during the Mariel boatlift—the seaborne stampede of more than 125,000 Cubans in 1980—has been detained since March 31 at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana. His family fears the deportation of a man who fled Fidel Castro nearly half a century ago.

García Rodríguez was detained while at a Circle K store. Two weeks earlier, according to his stepdaughter, Christian Cooper Riggs, the Cuban expressed concern about being arrested and sent to Cuba. However, she did not specify whether the migrant had a green card.

In a video posted on social media, Riggs criticized the fact that immigration in the US “is a problem that can be solved with a scalpel. Not a machete.” She emphasized that the arrest of an elderly man with a heart condition, who is also the primary caregiver for his wife, who suffers from dementia, is not a solution to anything.

“I understand we have an immigration problem. I really do,” the woman acknowledged, also admitting that the country “can’t accommodate all the people who cross its borders and that there are some really bad people who have to be confronted.”

Riggs said García Rodríguez arrived in the US like thousands of migrants, with only the clothes on his back and no English. “He fought, made mistakes, and paid for them.” For 43 years, he has been an exemplary father and has worked between 40 and 60 hours a week. “He pays taxes and contributes to Social Security, which he has never collected,” she argued. continue reading

He tried for a decade to obtain citizenship, but gave up three years ago when lawyers suggested it was better to keep a low profile.

He tried for a decade to obtain citizenship, but gave up three years ago when lawyers suggested it was better to keep a low profile.

ICE detention centers are operating at capacity. According to the agency’s most recent data, updated as of March 27, there were 47,304 people in custody in federal, state, and private facilities. The system’s capacity has been strained by the increase in raids and targeted operations.

President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations has been joined by a new approach that will require greater collaboration from the state prison system to locate and detain immigrants on parole, even for minor offenses.

In an interview with EFE, immigration attorneys in Utah denounced the poor practices of ICE in that state since last December, when parole officers began directly arresting immigrants as they showed up for their scheduled appointments, even for minor offenses.

“The practice is dishonest,” attorney Adam Crayk told the Salt Lake Tribune, alleging that officers “ask immigrants to report, and then ICE detains them.”

For their part, attorneys Chris Keen and Orlando Luna stated that this situation has undermined the confidence of both immigrants and their legal advocates in the U.S. judicial system.

https://www.facebook.com/23443429/videos/1763270351233043/?ref=embed_video&t=0

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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.

A Cuban-American Congressman Asks That Remittances and All Trips to the Island Be Banned

“China is prepared to capitalize on its diplomatic, economic, and military initiatives with Cuba’s support,” says the head of the Southern Command.

Republican Congressman for Florida Carlos Giménez / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 3 April 2025 — Cuba-born US congressman Carlos Giménez sent a letter to Donald Trump’s government on Wednesday to formally request that all trips to the Island be banned and all remittances be eliminated, with humanitarian exceptions approved by the State Department. “I have sent the formal request to the White House to eliminate all remittances and all flights to the murderous dictatorship in Cuba,” the politician, a Republican member of the House of Representatives for Florida, wrote on his social networks.

And he argued: “President Trump has been the best ally that the people of Cuba have had, and now it is time to eliminate all the channels of income that the regime has to continue repressing and massacring our people.” In his letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, Giménez states that the Cuban regime “is listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, shelters fugitive criminals from US justice and represents a clear threat to the security of the United States and our citizens.”

This, he explains, is “of great importance” for the Cuban-American community, which, he says, received the tightening of restrictions on travel and remittances during Donald Trump’s first term as “a very necessary measure to limit the regime’s access to resources and foreign exchange to continue exploiting and oppressing the Cuban people.” continue reading

“President Trump has been the best ally that the people of Cuba have had, and now it is time to eliminate all the income channels of the regime”

The congressman also applauds the recent measures of “prohibiting the arrival of boats from Cuba,” although what was approved consists of enabling the Coast Guard to inspect any ship that reaches the US coast that had the Island as one of its last five destinations. And he urges the secretary: “we need to do more.”

Since Trump assumed the presidency two and a half months ago, Giménez has shown himself to be one of the most active supporters of tightening the policy towards the Island. On March 20, he sent the Department of Internal Security a list with the names of more than 100 people whom he asked to investigate and deport for having alleged links to the Castro regime.

Giménez represents a district with a large Cuban population in particular and Hispanic in general in South Florida and was mayor of Miami-Dade County between 2011 and 2020. He concluded his message this Thursday with a warning to the regime: “The time has come. You have little left.”

Also this Thursday, Martí Noticias reported Giménez’s speech in a
hearing before the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives in which national security challenges were evaluated. To the Republican’s question of whether Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were a threat to the security of the United States and, if so, how serious it would be, the head of the Southern Command, Alvin Holsey, replied that the Island remains a “very challenging” threat, but that they have aircraft and ships to “block those maneuvers.”

The congressman also asked him if he considered Cuba to be “the head of the snake,” by facilitating the presence of Russia, Iran and China in Latin America, to which the officer replied in the affirmative.

“The time has come. You have little left”

“Instead of addressing the economic disaster that [Cuba] created with its failed policies, it is strengthening its ties with US adversaries,” said Holsey: “Cuba’s evil actions weaken our relations in the region, encourage irregular migration and threaten the security of the United States.”

Likewise, he said that “China is prepared to capitalize on its diplomatic, economic and military initiatives with the support of Cuba” and added that Havana receives telecommunications infrastructure built by Huawei, TP-Link and ZTE, “used to spy on its population and discourage political dissent.”

Cuba serves, he said, as a place “for the collection of intelligence and the deployment of force by our adversaries, which is particularly worrying given its proximity to the United States.”

In the same hearing, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson referred to Vladimir Putin’s “resurrection of the failed Soviet Union,” which includes “maintaining the few murderous allies they have in the world,” starting with Cuba.

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 Cuban Regime Celebrates That Trump Has Not Included It on the List of Global Tariffs

Russia, North Korea and Greenland are also not included, while the rest will be charged between 10% and 54%, although Mexico and Canada will have special treatment.

Experts predict a significant disruption in the global economy / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2025 — “This time Cuba is not on the list of countries penalized by the United States. It is perhaps the only punitive list of the imperial government which doesn’t include Cuba. Is this a miracle?” Cubadebate wonders this Thursday, in a celebratory tone, in the face of the news that the Island – along with Russia, Belarus and North Korea – will not be affected by the imposition of Donald Trump’s tariffs on almost all countries of the globe.

At the moment, no senior Cuban official – including Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez – has reacted to the news.

According to a senior White House official interviewed anonymously by The New York Times, the regimes excluded by Trump already have “extremely high tariffs,” which are a death blow for any “significant” commercial possibility.

This Wednesday, Trump held up a poster with a list of countries and announced global tariffs of 10% to 49%, as reciprocity for countries that, he considers, pose a trade obstacle for American products.

The highest tariffs are for Vietnam and China – the economic enemy par excellence of the United States – with 46% and 34%, respectively, followed by India, with 26%, and the European Union, with 20%. Vietnam, where continue reading

Chinese factories moved to avoid U.S. tariffs, was only surpassed in the region by Cambodia (49%) and Laos (48%). The three are key partners of China.

Washington’s allies are not spared either, since Taiwan is punished with 32%, South Korea with 25%, Japan with 24% and Israel with 17%. The Taiwanese Government described the new tariffs on Thursday as “deeply irrational” and stated that it will present a formal protest to Washington.

On the other hand, Latin Americans are saved with 10%, except Venezuela (15%) and Nicaragua (18%). This Saturday the base tariff of 10% will come into force, and, on April 9, the additional tariffs by country.

According to Trump, these restrictions will pressure companies to move their factories to the United States

According to Trump, these restrictions will pressure companies to move their factories to the United States and will generate jobs. For the experts and the affected governments, however, the news could not be more catastrophic, and they foresee a significant disruption in the world economy.

Reactions across the planet have been virtually unanimous. China declared its “firm opposition” to Trump and promised reprisals. “The encumbrances ignore the rules of international trade and seriously undermine the rights and legitimate interests of the parties involved,” said a trade official. The country already had tariffs of 20%, so that imports from China will total 54% from this month.

Beijing declared that the White House violates the “balance of interests” in which both countries have been working for decades and described the measure as “intimidation.” At the beginning of March, China responded to the United States with reciprocal tariffs on its agricultural products.

Japan reacted similarly, and its Minister of Economy warned that the interest of Japanese investors in the US will fall after Trump’s announcement. Yoji Muto stated that the North American country will be the first loser in this scenario, since Tokyo is one of its main business partners and thousands of Americans are employees of Japanese companies, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Europe claims to have prepared a “solid plan of firm countermeasures.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stressed that the bloc is interested in a “negotiated solution,” but said that Washington had left no other option to the European Union. “Today, no one needs this: neither the United States nor Europe,” she said.

“Tariffs are taxes that will be paid by the people. Food and medications will be more expensive for Americans. Tariffs will only boost inflation. Exactly the opposite of what we want to achieve. American factories will pay more for components produced in Europe. This will cost jobs,” she added.

Central America, a region that exports bananas, coffee, tobacco, textiles and other goods to the United States, will receive tariffs of 10%, except Nicaragua, which will have an 18% tariff. These governments have reacted cautiously and asked for “more information” before giving an opinion, although Guatemala considers the measure a violation of its rights.

The reactions in South America have varied in their criticism of Washington. Brazil – with exports to the US of 40 billion dollars in oil, planes and coffee – for example, has already approved a trade retaliation bill, while other governments “are studying” the impact that tariffs will have on their economy.

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, said that Trump had made “a big mistake for believing that raising tariffs on imports in general can increase U.S. production, wealth and employment.” As for Chile, its president, Gabriel Boric, celebrated the fact that its main exportable product – copper – is exempt from tariffs.

Venezuela has mocked the news, despite the fact that it will have tariffs of 15% imposed, the highest in the region after Nicaragua and Guyana

Venezuela has mocked the news, despite the fact that it will have tariffs of 15% imposed – the highest in the region after Nicaragua and Guyana (37%) – and the president of its Parliament, Diosdado Cabello, said that Trump intended to impose tariffs “even on Mars.”

In the US business sector itself, there are reactions of concern and uncertainty. The Business Round Table, which brings together executive directors of large companies, said that the measures will have a direct impact on factories and their employees. “The damage to the U.S. economy will increase the longer tariffs are maintained and could be exacerbated by retaliatory measures,” they added. They also foresee a significant increase in prices.

The two great absentees from Trump’s list – in addition to the authoritarian regimes – have been Mexico and Canada, neighbors of the United States with whom the Republican has maintained a commercial tension since the beginning of his mandate. Nor does Greenland appear, an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark and which Trump intends to annex to the United States.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had met with her cabinet to reinforce the Mexico Plan, an initiative for the economic restructuring of the country. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs preserve “important elements” of the bilateral relationship. However, he promised to be on guard against tariffs on steel, aluminum and other metals.

One of the mining giants of that country, Sherritt International, has a close relationship with Cuba, where it exploits nickel and cobalt deposits.

Copper and gold, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, wooden articles, energy and minerals not available in the United States are excluded from the tariffs, along with other products subject to the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico. These exclusions are based on a section of U.S. federal law for cases of war and national defense, and the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which empowers federal departments and agencies to request the Department of Commerce to investigate the national security implications of certain imports.

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.

‘We’re Going To Be More Surgical, More Effective’ To Bring About Change in Cuba, Says Trump’s Envoy

Mauricio Claver-Carone believes that banning travel and remittances are “old tools.”

Mauricio Claver-Carone, during the conversation this Thursday at Miami-Dade College. / Screenshot

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 4 April 2025 — The United States special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, stated this Thursday that the Donald Trump administration will exert more pressure on the Cuban military and intelligence apparatus, and estimated that the economic pressure applied to date on the island’s regime has been insufficient. “We are going to be more surgical, more effective,” he said at an event in Spanish, held at Miami-Dade College alongside Aaron Rosen, president of the Miami Global Affairs Council, and reported by local media.

Asked about the letter sent to the White House by Republican Congressman Carlos Giménez, in which he called for a ban on travel and remittances to the island, Claver-Carone opined that, while it’s a proposal that “comes from a very good place,” it involves “old tools.” “I think we can be more creative,” he affirmed, insisting that “the Cuban government must understand that our tools and President Trump’s willingness in this regard are different from what they’ve seen in the past.”

“The sanctions themselves are based on old laws that sometimes have no side effects,” he explained, unlike in Venezuela, where “the instruments are much more targeted, effective, have side effects, and are therefore more powerful.”

There is, he said, “a historic opportunity for political opening, for a transition.”

During the current president’s first term (2016-2020), he stated, “we ran out of time to focus on the economic pillars, particularly the regime’s military and intelligence services.” The first objective, he asserted, was “to repair the damage left by the Biden administration.”

He declined to comment, however, on the draft measure, revealed by The New York Times on March 14, to include Cuba on a red list of whose citizens would be banned from entering the United States. “I neither affirm nor deny,” he said, “that’s still being discussed, I have nothing to add.”

During the conversation, the official unreservedly defended the current president’s tightening of immigration policy, whose intentions, he asserted, differ from those of previous administrations. There is, he said, “a historic opportunity for political openness, for a transition.”

He especially supported the deportation of members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group to Venezuela, as part of a “broader strategy” to pressure Nicolás Maduro’s regime. He compared the latter’s strategy to that of Fidel Castro in 1980, when he released criminals from Cuban prisons, who were among the 125,000 Cubans who reached the shores of Florida during the Mariel boatlift. He added that unlike other presidents, who weren’t decisive enough to expel them, “President Trump is decisive.”

Trump, despite ongoing global crises such as the war in Ukraine, “remains very focused on Venezuela.”

Regarding criticism of widespread deportations and the equating of all Venezuelan migrants with criminals, he stated: “We understand that there are challenges, and it’s painful. There is short-term pain.” Expanding, he argued that “another thing that all these regimes and dictators have also learned, starting with Cuba, is that the easiest way to achieve totalitarian control is if you don’t like it, you leave.” It happened in Venezuela and it’s happening in Nicaragua, he said.

Claver-Carone noted that Trump, despite ongoing global crises such as the war in Ukraine, “remains very focused on Venezuela” and that they will work toward the goal of making it a democratic country.

He also justified the “pain” the measures could cause to the Cuban and Venezuelan people: “Either it’s short-term pain for long-term benefits, or there will be long-term pain for no benefits. In the short term, there are things that may seem annoying or disruptive. But honestly, if you don’t do them, they don’t work. So we have to go all in, go big, or go home.”

As a member of the Cuban-American community, he urged: “If you don’t want to spend 60 years in exile, then stop that process now, make the short-term sacrifices now, because otherwise, you won’t get anywhere.”

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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.

Transsexuals Aligned With the Cuban Regime Also Suffer Medical and Social Scarcities

They have been led for years by Verde Gil Jiménez, a young trans man from Santa Clara.

Trans people “suffer humiliation in their homes, schools, and workplaces” / Facebook/Cuban Trans Male Group

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2025 — A small group of 70 Cuban transgender men has the approval of the government and, more importantly, the protection of Mariela Castro. They have been led for years by Verde Gil Jiménez, a young trans man from Santa Clara who travels to Havana weekly—he doesn’t explain how he navigates the transportation crisis—to organize them, and whose pro-regime activism has opened all doors for him.

Despite this, Gil gave an interview to Alma Mater magazine this Tuesday in which he details the difficulties of the group, which has had to self-organize to solve its problems: the lack of medicines, medical care, and public space. Furthermore, their voice has been “traditionally mediated by institutional policies and cultural taboos.”

The Alma Mater report publishes a series of photos of the “jaba” [bag] given to him by the group members: along with sweaters and stickers, there is also a package of testosterone: 250 grams in five intramuscular injection vials. Boxes of this drug—essential for physical transition—with signs in Portuguese and likely originating in Brazil, were on sale in Revolico last February for $44.

The ‘Alma Mater’ report publishes a series of photos with the “bag” given to him by the members of the group.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the group hasn’t recovered. At that time, Gil says, not only did they lack specialist consultations—”they were paralyzed”—but “hormones were unavailable in pharmacies, and access to gender-affirming surgeries was practically impossible.” Some also saw their health conditions worsen due to the after-effects of the pandemic itself.

Seeking to gain visibility, the group saw the National Center for Sexual Education (Cenesex), run by Raúl Castro’s daughter, as a way to legitimize their activism. It’s one of the few centers allowed in the country, and not without “mandates” from above. When they wrote to the Ministry of Public Health with their “demands,” they already had Mariela Castro’s approval.

Now, when all initiatives—even those aligned with the regime—are viewed with suspicion, the group is more of a “mutual support” society, both for its more than 70 registered members and for those who prefer to remain discreet and not join the official figure. Registration is done via WhatsApp or Facebook, or by speaking in person with a member.

Gil alludes to “various avenues of aid,” but suggests they rely more on themselves and the support of foreign collaborators than on their allies in the government. In addition to Cenesex and other state entities, they are now working with the Father Félix Varela Cultural Center—run by the Catholic Church—and its Liberating Masculinities initiative.

Gil alludes to “different avenues of aid,” but implies that they depend more on themselves and on the support of foreign collaborators than on their allies in the Government.

Other organizations, such as the Christian Student Movement—a pro-regime movement founded in 1960—and the Metropolitan Community Church, which has played a pivotal role in LGBTI rights in the US, also work with the group, which is “thriving in a resource-constrained environment.”

Despite their frequent trips to the capital, Gil says the fuel crisis is taking its toll. “We’ve designed our activities to be both in-person and virtual, recognizing that many colleagues are from the eastern and central parts of the country and can’t travel to Havana, where most of the meetings take place,” he says.

Larian Arias, who shares the group’s leadership with Gil, believes that in Cuba, transgender people are “constantly rendered invisible” at the institutional level. To the challenges his colleague points out, he adds “access to medication, regular medical care, greater information about trans identities , and more inclusive general education.”

In another article, published in 2023 in the same magazine, Gil warned of other problems facing the trans community. He admitted that he had not personally experienced many “episodes of transphobia,” but asserted that there was “a lot of domestic violence” against transgender people in Cuba. “They suffer humiliation in their homes, in educational and work settings. It’s even difficult for them to find stable work,” he asserted.

Just this week, the Translúcidos group—another support network for the trans community, not supported by the government—reported that the board of directors of Havana’s Napoleonic Museum had canceled several activities they had planned to hold at the institution. They also demanded that they remove “all promotion and association of trans people with the Museum’s name from social media.”

In his 2023 interview, Gil alluded to these kinds of obstacles with state institutions.

“This action is not only disrespectful to the trans community, but also reflects a discriminatory and transphobic attitude that has no place in our Cuban society,” they stated, without detailing the reasons for the cancellation. “We will take all appropriate action to ensure that this act does not go unpunished.”

In his 2023 interview, Gil alluded to these kinds of obstacles with state institutions. However, he focused on the practical side of the group’s problems, although he blamed the blockade for all the problems: “The shortage of medicines interrupts or prevents hormone therapy, and it’s difficult to maintain the transition process without stability. The informal market isn’t an option either; the products are often adulterated and sold at expensive prices. I would have to invest a month’s salary to buy one ampoule, which only covers four weeks, and the treatment is for life.”

If nothing is ordinary in the lives of Cuban trans people, Verde Gil’s life is even less so. A resident of Santa Clara, with a Spanish father and a Cuban mother, he graduated in Social Communication from the Central University of Las Villas. Since then, he has unconditionally supported Miguel Díaz-Canel as an activist and has participated in pro-government sit-ins, such as the 2021 Red Handkerchiefs protest in Havana’s Central Park, in response to the Civic March called by the Archipiélago platform.

Gil then asserted that he wasn’t there “to respond to Yunior [García Aguilera, one of the Archipiélago organizers and forced into exile days later], nor to go to Vedado or the Malecón if he marches there.” The sit-in was followed by a period of repression and exile of opposition activists.

Verde’s father, Mariano Gil, traveled to Cuba in 1994 “for love of the Revolution,” as he has said in several interviews . He won the favor of Fidel Castro by giving him one of his paintings, and in 2015, he opened a tourist establishment next to the Armored Train, derailed by Che Guevara’s guerrillas in Santa Clara and transformed into a monument. Filled with objects related to both the regime and the Republic, and with prices unaffordable for the people of Santa Clara, Gil could not have given the place any other name than Café Revolución.
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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.

A Comrade Has Died

The regime is trying to recuperate painter Hugo Consuegra, a member of the Eleven and a critic of Fidel Castro.

The drawing “A Comrade Has Died #2” by Hugo Consuegra, at the National Museum of Fine Arts. / Telegram/MNBA

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 29 March 2025 — What happened in Cuba that made Hugo Consuegra have to wait six decades between his last solo exhibition and the one recently organized in Havana? He was 35 then, wore a jacket or a guayabera, perhaps smoked—there is no art without smoke—and hadn’t left the country. Now he’s a ghost, a fairly young ghost because he died in 2003, but no more than that. The specter of an exiled painter, who cultivated abstraction and to whom critics barely dedicate a place in any enumeration.

Thirty-five years passed between this man’s birth in 1929 and his last exhibition in Havana; 60 between that show and the one still housed at the National Museum of Fine Arts; and more than 20 between his death and this page. In those hiatuses, time disrupted everything. A revolution was waged and perverted, millions were exiled, art also experienced its small revolts, but they dissolved. An entire country dissolved.

Consuegra appears in Havana like a ghost among ghosts, to bear witness to that great upheaval.

Consuegra appears in Havana like a ghost among ghosts, bearing witness to this profound upheaval. The titles of his 41 pieces—15 of them drawings that are almost stains—become echoes of the story he lived and heard from his exile in New York. It is an act of complete sincerity that the exhibition that attempts to recover him is called (Des)Arraigos (Roots ).

Very disturbing was the intervention of the museum’s director, Jorge Fernández, for whom Consuegra is a phenomenon that predates our era: B.C., before Castro. An animal that belongs to the “complex decade” of the 1950s, “which is being revalued.” He claims that two of his works were left out, and one is dying to know why. Fernández is bothered by titles like Bienvenidos al infierno (Welcome to Hell ), with the solidity of a punch, or by his idea of ​​”protest paintings” in 1966, when he returned to figuration as a warning gesture against the regime. continue reading

In Rey Obsecado [Headstrong King], a small drawing from 1959, a strange figure raises his fists as if on a platform. You don’t have to think long to guess who it is. A Compañero Has Died #1 , from 1962, represents the shadow of a hanged militant. In #2, the deceased is on the ground, and from his chest—or rather, from his entrails—emerges a stain that could be his soul, the soul of a communist terrified by his immortality. And finally… the negation of the negation : the supreme tongue-twister of Marxism completes the theorem.

The artist showed that he wasn’t going to be faithful to any canon. Abstract Expressionism, yes, but in his own way.

Consuegra, of course, is much more complex than his ideology. A member of the “controversial group”—once again, the museum’s political correctness takes over—of Los Once [The Eleven], the artist demonstrated that he wasn’t going to be faithful to any canon. Abstract Expressionism, yes, but in his own way. His autobiography, Elapso tempore [Time Lapse], published by Ediciones Universal in Miami and which Fernández confesses to having read almost secretly, is already quite difficult to obtain.

A native of Havana, trained as an architect and pianist, and recipient of dozens of awards, Consuegra’s works can be found in such unconventional venues as the orthodox Casa de las Américas and the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington DC. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes had quite a few of his pieces in storage, but hadn’t given them prominence—how dare they?—until now, at the initiative of curator Yahima Rodríguez.

“Too many creators have been turned, at best, into non-people on the Island.”

One of the scholars, Armando Álvarez Bravo, summarized the Revolution’s war against Consuegra in an anthology paragraph: “Too many creators have been converted, at best, into non-persons on the Island; they have been erased from official records and, if exiled, have had to suffer, in addition to their expulsion into outer darkness, the antagonistic weight of the complicit academic, cultural, political, and media machinery sympathetic to Castroism or in its service. A machinery that, in addition to denying true values, has exalted too many mediocre people.”

Go see Hugo Consuegra now that you can. I’m not talking to the happy ghosts who, like me, are no longer there, but to those who can afford to pay 30 pesos—a Judas figure!—to see the umpteenth exhumation of a dead comrade take place in Cuba .

’El ahorcado’ is back in town. / Xavier Carbonell

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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.

For a Monthly Salary Equivalent to $15, Díaz-Canel Demands ‘Quality’ From Cuban Teachers

The coverage of teaching positions was at 84.4% in 2024, which represents approximately 26,871 vacant positions throughout the country.

In the midst of the economic crisis, education has become a secondary issue for the government. / Invasor

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2025 — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wants Cuban teachers to return to school, to be better trained, to learn languages, and to teach “quality” classes. The problem, the same reason teachers fail to meet any of these expectations, is the lack of incentives and a monthly salary of less than 6,000 pesos, about $15. However, the president offered no assistance to teachers, much less the hope of paying them better salaries.

During a working meeting of the Ministry of Education held this Tuesday in Havana, the president praised “the wisdom of Cuban teachers” and asserted that educational institutions and the government are working to ensure that “they participate more in decision-making, so that they feel heard, recognized, and taken into account.”

The praise, however, could not obscure the critical situation of education on the island. According to data presented during the meeting, at the end of 2024 teaching positions were filled at 84.4%. In percentage terms, the number does not seem serious, but in terms of the number of teachers, some 26,871 positions remain vacant nationwide. In pedagogical institutes and vocational pre-university schools for the exact sciences, occupancy is even lower, at 76% and 79%, respectively. continue reading

The praise, however, could not obscure the critical situation of education on the island.

The authorities did note that the state of education is truly precarious, especially in pre-university, junior high, and elementary science schools, although they did not provide specific data. The provinces with the worst teacher coverage rates are Havana, Matanzas, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, and Holguín.

Education Minister Naima Trujillo Barreto defended certain “discrete advances” in the quality of secondary education and teacher training—some 100,000 teachers took advanced training courses and 5,000 enrolled in English courses. She also said that staff had been rehired, although the method used was to attract retired teachers, not those who had left the classroom to pursue private sector employment.

Thanks to “the measures implemented during 2024,” she said, referring to the salary increases for certain professionals (including teachers) last year, it was also possible to maintain a good portion of the positions that were already filled. Although she acknowledged that “the completion of the workforce and its stability continue to be a concern.”

Regarding plans for 2025, Trujillo asserted that her ministry is focused on “perfecting”—another of the government’s favorite terms—the education system, providing “comprehensive care” to teachers, and ensuring “quality.” Concrete measures to achieve this were overlooked, although she explained that a budget increase is being considered, depending on “the difficult conditions in the country.”

In any case, Díaz-Canel’s request to “improve teacher care, both materially and spiritually” rest on the usual voluntarism.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero also made a similar statement: “We cannot allow a single child to drop out of school due to financial difficulties or distance from school. This is our responsibility, and local authorities must take responsibility for it,” he emphasized, leaving the responsibility in the hands of the provincial education departments.

“We trust in the creativity and capacity demonstrated by the workers of the Education system to seek new solutions, based on commitment and dedication, to guarantee the training of new generations, which is required for the development of our society,” he concluded.

The concrete measures to achieve this were overlooked, although he explained that a budget increase is being considered.

Identifying students in vulnerable situations, combating drug use in schools, providing care for children without parental support, and promoting the childcare program—”which has had a huge impact on working mothers and fathers”—were other proposals that fell flat.

In the midst of the economic crisis, education has become a secondary issue for the government, which even reduced its investment in the sector by approximately 400 million pesos in 2024 compared to the previous year. Added to the health sector, another supposed “pillar of social justice” of the Revolution—as Díaz-Canel himself defined it at the meeting—investment barely amounts to 3% of the state budget, compared to the 37.4% allocated to the tourism sector.

The lack of state support has resulted in a precarious state of education, which has been constantly interrupted by power outages and crippled by a lack of resources and teachers.

In 2024, the government announced a salary increase for education and public health workers and also improved incentives for seniority and earned degrees. Salaries, which did not increase significantly compared to the real cost of living on the island, were not enough to stem the exodus of professionals to exile or to better-paid sectors, such as the private one.

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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.