Translating Cuba – Page 114 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Cuban Doctors Monopolize Internships for Mexican Students

The University of San Luis Potosí has been forced to negotiate with hospitals to obtain new positions for Mexican graduates

Ismael Francisco Herrera Benavente said that Cuban doctors are displacing Mexican doctors in San Luis Potosí / Video capture/@Potosinoticia01

14ymedio, Mexico City, 3 February 2025 — The president of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of San Luis Potosí in Mexico said that Cuban doctors hired by Mexico lack the necessary “certifications” to practice. According to Ismael Francisco Herrera Benavente, the training of Cuban health workers is not only doubtful, but their arrival has also begun to “displace” university graduates, especially in the internships they must do as part of their social service.

“We have to pass several accreditations (studies), validations, evaluations and exams for medical residency,” Herrera Benavente told local media, and he doubts that the Cubans are as well trained as their own students. The doctor’s complaint adds to the discontent shown last September by the College of the Medical Profession. “Cubans do not have a professional ID and cannot issue prescriptions,” stressed the president of the Antonio Chalita Manzur institution.

The lack of places for internships, which have been filled with Cuban health workers, has forced the union to arrange more internships with hospitals, so that the teaching of Mexicans is not truncated.

The program of hiring Cuban doctors in Mexico, initially designed to cover rural and remote areas, has left more disappointment than relief for the national medical union. continue reading

A Cuban doctor in the community of San Juan de las Vegas in San Luis Potosí / Facebook/Cuban Medical Brigade San Luis Potosí, Mexico

The governor of San Luis Potosí, Ricardo Gallardo Cardona, who promised – like the former president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) – to have a medical service like that of Denmark, said that 80 Cuban doctors work in San Luis Potosí.

According to official data, Mexico has 669 hospitals in different states, 11,935 clinics and 274,977 doctors, nurses and administrative workers. The director of the Mexican Social Security Institute, Zoé Robledo, confirmed last December the arrival of 3,100 Cuban specialists to reinforce López Obrador’s health project in rural areas. For 610 of these doctors, the Government disbursed 23,227,156 euros according to three contracts concluded between July 2022 and 2023.

The program promoted by the López Obrador Administration is continuing with his successor, Claudia Sheinbaun. “We continue with the hiring,” she said on Sunday. The president argued that the lack of specialists was because “during the entire neoliberal period, medical specialists stopped training. It was thought that restricting admission would lead to greater excellence in training, but, in reality, what happened was that they stopped training medical specialists.”

Sheinbaum said that due to this lack of doctors, there was “a need to hire other nationalities to help and support us in the care of the population.” In addition, she said she was not hiring foreign health workers over Mexicans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Unforeseen Departure of the Guiteras Power Plant, Cuba’s Expected Deficit of the UNE Reaches 2,595 Megawatts

Cuban authorities also recovered a unit from the Antonio Maceo thermoelectric plant in Santiago de Cuba, but admit that the shortage is high in the country

The Guiteras, at the time of its disconnection, provided 250 MW / Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant/Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 2 February 2025 — The anxiety of living from blackout to blackout has no end for Cubans who, in recent days, have once again suffered a deficit of more than 1,500 megawatts (MW). This Sunday, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas unexpectedly dropped again from the National Electric System (SEN) around 8:15 in the morning “for a cause not yet identified,” the official press said.

With a generation capacity of 330 MW, the largest plant in the country had disconnected from the SEN in the middle of last month after a technological failure in the boiler. The problem lasted nine days, after which the thermoelectric power plant managed to synchronize without any setbacks on January 27, but only for a week.

“The origin of the problem is being investigated,” and should no damage be reported that entails a repair, the plant “could begin the start-up in the next few hours,” the Cuban News Agency reported, quoting Rubén Campos Olmo, general director of the plant. continue reading

“The origin of the problem is being investigated,” and should no damage be reported that entails a repair, the plant “could begin the start -up in the next few hours”

At the time of its disconnection, the Guiteras was contributing 250 MW to the SEN. In this morning’s report, the SEN predicted a deficit of 1,525 MW with a possible affectation of 1,595 MW. When the power went out, the government recalculated the lack, and it is now expected to be 2,595 MW during peak hours.

Work is currently being done on breakdowns in the Renté (Santiago de Cuba), Felton (Holguín), Guevara (Mayabeque) and Diez de Octubre (Camagüey) thermoelectric plants. Work is also being done at the Cienfuegos plant, the National Electric Union (UNE) reported.

The country has been immersed in an energy crisis for years due to the lack of fuel; e.g., the lack of foreign exchange to import it, and the frequent breakdowns in its obsolete thermoelectric plants, with decades of operation and a chronic investment deficit. The situation has worsened since the end of August, and at the beginning of 2025, despite low temperatures, the deficit has remained above 1,000 MW.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Tax Authorities Demand 8.6 Million Pesos From the Pizzeria of World Champion High Jumper Javier Sotomayor

The athlete has another establishment in Havana, Bar 2.45, which has been closed since last year.

Sotomayor and his brother opened a pizzeria at the Matanzas airport in 2024. / D’Soto/Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 2 February 2025 — The fall into disgrace of the D’Soto MSME* private company, run by the brother of Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor in Matanzas, has aroused all kinds of opinions in social networks among those who are surprised by the penalization of a “protected” business. The company, which advertises itself as a pizzeria with home deliveries, was recently audited by the National Tax Administration Office (ONAT), which determined that D’Soto owes 8,632,820.88 pesos to the State.

The debt is for “damages caused to public funds. The same public funds that were benefited by more than 10,000,000 with the payment of all taxes, with the efforts of a work group,” says a text posted on Facebook by Dariel Sotomayor Rivero, brother of the sports laureate, in which he expressed his annoyance at the resolution of the ONAT.

However, the MSME’s manager avoids pointing fingers at a state agency. “We talk all the time about the blockade, Trump and the problems of humanity, and never about the crap we do internally. The harm we are doing ourselves: more laws and less work, more problems and less dignity,” denounced the young entrepreneur in the post before concluding: “Neither [is guilty] the system, nor the Government. The issue is the people and, above all, oneself, who decides what to do and where he wants to be.” There was no mention of a fine or other sanction imposed on D’Soto or its administrators other than paying the millions owed to ONAT. continue reading

There was no mention of a fine or other sanction imposed on D’Soto or its administrators

Users were quick to respond to the post with both supportive and denouncing comments. “That has only one solution. Leave that country. When you get to know how the world works outside that bubble you will realize that they have been deceiving you for 37 years,” recommended an Internet user with a practical approach, to which another replied: ”He is the brother of one of Cuba’s millionaires. Why is he going to leave? Here they live and enjoy the system’s delicacies.”

D’Soto is a pizzeria founded in 2022, presumably under the ownership of high jump world record holder Javier Sotomayor. Although it started with the sale and delivery of pizzas, the MSME has been incorporating services such as an online marketplace in foreign currency – and which can accept payments from abroad – where it sells everything from pork legs, vegetable oil and beer, to vehicle maintenance items.

Among its suppliers are other private businesses in Matanzas province and the flow of capital even allowed D’Soto to offer a remittance service to Cuba.

In 2023 they were able to obtain a lease from Cimex for the property where El Bodegón, a location belonging to the state-owned El Rápido chain in downtown Matanzas, was situated. After remodeling the store, D’Soto Pizzas opened in February 2024.

In 2023 they were able to obtain a lease from Cimex for the property where El Bodegón, a location belonging to the state-owned El Rápido chain in downtown Matanzas, was situated.

In May of that same year, the MSME obtained permission to open another location at the Juan Gualberto Gómez International Airport. “Our young group, led by Dariel Sotomayor Rivero, offers a wide range of products with the principle of providing a service at your level. With the support of Javier Sotomayor, high jump world record holder, the inauguration of this space, located in the cab parking area, took place,” celebrated a company publication at the time.

The athlete owns another famed venue in Havana, Bar 2.45, named after his world record in the high jump and located on 5th Avenue, in Miramar. In 2024, in a cryptic publication on social media in which neither causes nor reasons were mentioned, the administration announced that the place had suffered a temporary closure that rumors soon associated with drug use and prostitution.

To date, the place has not reopened, but its reputation as an exclusive place for the elite remains.

*MSME: “Micro, Small, Medium Enterprise” (mipyme in Cuba). The expectation is that it is also privately managed, but in Cuba this may include owners/managers who are connected to the government.

Translated by LAR

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The Official Press Denounces the Situation of a Neighborhood That Has Been Without Water for Three Years

Municipal authorities acknowledge that the problem has no solution at the moment and express their concern about the coming months of drought

Two neighbors from the Jesús María neighborhood, in Sancti Spíritus, attach a hose to capture water from a leak. / Capture/Escambray

14ymedio, Olea Gallardo, Havana, 31 January 2025 – Several streets in the Jesús María neighborhood of Sancti Spíritus have been without water for three years. This time the complaint is not being made, as is usual in Cuba, by anonymous users on social networks or independent media, but by the official newspaper Escambray. Last Friday on its video newscast, VisionEs, it showed one of its reporters, Elsa Ramos, visiting the place she had gone six months earlier, and found that the situation was the same: still no water service.

One of the neighbors interviewed explained to the journalist the strategies they use to get water. “We’re going to put the pump in now, we put in the cables and the hose and a man there lends us a little tube, and we connect the pump there and get the water,” he said. “Because here on this block, from this corner to La Gloria, nobody has gotten even a drop of water for three or four years.”

Another resident confirmed: “It’s been more than three years since the water came in here, without any explanation offered. It’s impossible that this pipe here has water, that one over there has water, all the pipes in the block have water, and that this little section here does not have water. I don’t know how that is, it doesn’t make sense.”

A third resident hedged: “Since the construction of Reparto 26, the area around this neighborhood has been greatly affected.” There is water at her doorstep – “It’s a small stream, with little force, but with luck, there is no shortage,” the reporter noted. But this caused other neighbors to point out that it took from “early morning until all hours” to fill containers.

In her report, Elsa Ramos confronted “the government’s representation,” Ariel Muñoz Hidalgo, deputy mayor of Transportation and Energy for Sancti Spíritus, and Yusmeiky Mendoza Muro, director of the state Aquaduct and Sewage Company for the same city.

Asked about the reason why some parts of the neighborhood have water and others do not, Muñoz Hidalgo pointed to the “continuous increase in illegal connections to the hydraulic networks.” The reporter pointed out: “There are illegal connections because they don’t have water.” The official agreed and added, “because they don’t have water or because they have made new constructions.” continue reading

Thus, she attributed a good part of the problem to the increase in the population “without a projection, without an increase in the hydraulic systems as well.” The deputy mayor assured that they have a pumping system “with new pumps, with good water distribution capacities,” but that it could not be used “one hundred percent” because, he explained again, about the leaks, which prevent good pressure in all places.

Tank leaking water on the roof next to a house in Jesús María that does not have the service. / Capture/Escambray

The reporter persisted in asking why one segment in the heart of Jesús María does not have water while the surrounding streets do. The official replied that the street she referred to, Guillermón Moncada, is “very old.” But he didn’t go into detail about the reasons, and in fact, blamed the residents who get water by their own means: “We say it is illegal because it is not approved to do so, but people do it in search of the benefit of the resource.”

When the journalist asked Yusmeiky Mendoza Muro if Aquaduct has a solution and within what time frame, the company manager admitted: “No.” He and the deputy mayor enumerated numerous problems: a shortage of hoses, materials, fuel, and personnel. “We have almost no plumbers,” Mendoza Muro added.

Sealing the leaks and repairing the tanks on the houses are the next solutions that Muñoz Hidalgo promised, but at the same time, he warned that the situation will worsen in the coming months. “At this stage we do have to say that it is much more complex for us because we are already entering the dry season,” the official said, explaining that there are areas that are supplied by the Yayabo River, “which is losing all its capacity.”

“From early February,” he continued, “they will activate the groups to confront the drought and will draw up a calendar for the distribution of water in tanker trucks.” Then Elsa Ramos scolded him that, according to the residents, the tanker trucks don’t comply with the delivery schedules.

“That will always depend on the amount of fuel we have, the availability of tanker trucks we have, the neighborhoods that are growing,” answered Muñoz Hidalgo.

“In order not to create false expectations, will this segment of Jesús Mar continue to be thirsty?” the journalist pressed. Despite all the disasters previously enumerated, the director of the Aqueduct responded emphatically: “No, no, no.” Ramos asked again: “When will we be able to quench this thirst? Are we talking about months, years, centuries?” “No, no, months,” the official answered. The reporter replied that she would return in a while to check on the progress.

Just then, from the roof of a house, a woman didn’t miss the opportunity to point out “the contradiction” that the water tank on a neighboring roof was leaking drinking water. The official responded in a lowered voice: “That’s because of indiscipline.”

Translated by Tomás A.

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Cuba’s Minister of Health Is Concerned About the ‘Political and Ideological’ Situation of Doctors in Villa Clara

During the Health Minister’s visit, the “illegal sale of services, medicines and resources” was discussed

During Cuban Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda’ visit, the “illegal sale of services, medicines and resources” was discussed

14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2025 — On Friday, Cuban Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda, speaking in Villa Clara, criticized the failures in the “compliance with medical ethics,” a euphemism that describes the corruption of medical services in the province. His delegation also detected “unsuitable results” in the state of the facilities, the production of medicines, the training of personnel and the “political and ideological” situation of health workers.

Villa Clara can only boast about its zero maternal mortality rate – for the last two years – and the decrease in the number of low birth weight children, the lowest in the country. The infant mortality rate is 7.1 per 1,000 live births and the number of children under five who have died has increased, but it was not stated by how much. These figures, which local leaders consider positive, are the only ones reported by the local media.

Vanguardia, the official provincial press, one of the most orthodox and uncritical in the country, did not know how to describe the minister’s diatribe. Directly supervised by the Communist Party, to local newspaper was content to publish an opinion piece that indirectly alluded to Portal Miranda’s words, which put “the dots on the i’s.”

The CMHW radio station’s website, for its part, reduced the scolding to a “fruitful exchange” with the official.

The CMHW radio station’s website, for its part, reduced the scolding to a “fruitful exchange” with the official. Only the Telecubanacán website – little read by Villa Clara residents – noted the minister’s “critical view,” which “reviewed the achievements and deficiencies of the sector.” Reference was made, above all, to “aging population, low birth rates, epidemics, drugs and the sustainability of services.” continue reading

In a comment on the meeting, pro-government journalist Ricardo González agreed with the minister and offered more details: in Villa Clara there is “illegal sale of services, medicines and resources.” In addition, there is “favoritism in consultations,” especially for “performing a surgery or reaching a diagnosis.” Care depends on “a gift or a perk” to the staff.

“We know who they are and yet nothing happens,” concluded González, who attributed this “behavior of profit and survival” to the lack of medical resources. The journalist also referred to “those who mistreat” in hospitals and “spoil the work.”

On the other hand, some 200 medical offices in the province – including the residences of medical and nursing staff – are in a terrible state of construction, according to the report from the local leaders to Portal Miranda. This is one of the factors that affect the “stability and permanence of doctors,” they added, who are stampeding “towards other sectors of the economy with higher remuneration and towards emigration.”

The minister did not hesitate to blame the Washington embargo for the shortcomings that depend on the Government

The minister did not hesitate to blame the Washington embargo for the shortcomings that depend on the Government and not on the provincial administration. If there is one thing that all the media in Villa Clara agree on, it is that Portal Miranda repeated the slogan that has become popular among the regime’s cadres: “the blockade* is real.”

Together with local leaders of the Communist Party, Portal Miranda also called for a complete reorganization of medical services. After the criticism, the bulk of the meeting was devoted to awarding government distinctions to doctors with a “selfless record of service” not only to Healthcare, but also to the regime.

*Translator’s note: A reference to the US embargo, which the Cuban government refers to as a blockade.

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‘50 Stories of Cuba in Exile’ and an Essay on Sugar Among the January Books

Last month, Azúcar, an essay that compares the history of sugar with that of civilization, arrived in bookstores.

The Ácana mill, in Matanzas, drawn in 1857 by Eduardo Laplante as part of his “collection of views” of colonial sugar mills / Project Gutenberg

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 2 February 2025 – “Azúcar!” It was for decades the battle cry of Celia Cruz, sung in vibrant and honeyed syllables. “Without sugar there is no country” was the mantra of the Republican landowners, which in the light of the current sugarcane debacle sounds like a spiteful prophecy against Fidel Castro. In fact, Cuba owes its opulent nineteenth century – railways, cities, mills – and also its sickly attachment to slavery, abolished late, to sugar.

Manuel Moreno Fraginals, in the prologue to his controversial study on the sugarcane industry on the Island, described like no other the ferocity with which sugar shaped the history of Cuba. The author of El ingenio [The Sugar Mill]- who ended up disgusted and going into exile in Miami, where he died in 2001 – traced “the footprints that start in sugar and manifest themselves in the establishment of a university chair, or in a decree on tithes, or in the characteristic form of the Cuban architectural complex, or in the terrible effects of the razing of forests and the erosion on the soils.”

Azúcar [Sugar] (publisher Ariel) arrived in bookstores this January, an essay of almost 500 pages signed by the Dutch researcher Ulbe Bosma, which equates the history of sugar with that of civilization. For the text, where it is not difficult to find the imprint of Moreno Fraginals, “the rise of sugar speaks to us of progress, but also of a much darker history of human exploitation, racism, obesity and environmental destruction.” continue reading

In an interview, Bosma illustrated the political and economic importance of the so-called Creole saccharocracy

In an interview offered in Barcelona to the newspaper La Vanguardia, Bosma illustrated the political and economic importance of the so-called Creole saccharocracy during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. If today it is the technology tycoons Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who pull the strings of world politics, he said, at that time the influence of the big sugar surnames – Fanjul, for example – was decisive in the United States and Europe.

For Bosma, social networks are just as addictive as sugar, and the key to dealing with both is moderation. He says that he adds sugar to his coffee, but only “a teaspoon.” “Despite everything I’ve found out,” he says, “I’ve gotten used to its flavor and don’t want to lose it.”

Independent Cuban publishers have had a modest production during the first month of the year. One highlight is Como el ave fénix [Like the Phoenix] (Rialta Magazine), 50 interviews published by Cuban journalist William Navarrete in recent months on CubaNet. They are, for its author, “stories of Cuba in exile.” They narrate, according to the life experiences of those involved, the last 100 years of the Cuban nation.

“For years, William Navarrete has had the sense of smell and sagacity to locate many of the protagonists of the politics and culture of the Island of the twentieth century and get them talking about the lost city, the political prison, the purges, the labor camps, the exile or the great names and events of their life stories,” say its editors, who qualify the book as “one of the most powerful collective testimonies” after 1959.

Rialta also publishes, in its ’Files’ section, a recount of Antonio José Ponte’s career in ’La Gaceta de Cuba’

Rialta also publishes, in its Expedientes [Files] section, an account of the career of Antonio José Ponte in La Gaceta de Cuba. What was published by the poet and essayist in one of the most disgusting magazines of official culture gives the measure of how his critical caliber was gestating. This dossier is also a sample of the work of Ponte in Cuba, the attempts at “civic extermination” to which the regime subjected him and his emergence as one of the indisputable voices of his generation.

Ediciones Memoria, a small publishing house in Camagüey dedicated to the rescue of Cuban civic thought, publishes Las conferencias de Shoreham, by Manuel Márquez Sterling. “His prose is a long and subtle examination of both his own and the national conscience. There is no lack of irony, even mockery, but above all, in the sometimes light ease of speech, there is always the seriousness of the duty to be,” explains his editor, Alenmichel Aguiló.

The anthology of poems by the Russian Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky, who died in 1996, translated by Ernesto Hernández Busto for the Siruela publishing house, is already in bookstores. Devoted to the writer exiled from the Soviet Union, the Cuban has written: “With Joseph Brodsky I am always tempted to make different versions, perhaps because in his poetry there is also an effort to communicate a certain universality, a certain transcendence.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Shortages, Inflation and Bureaucracy Bring Private Cafeterias to the Brink of Bankruptcy in Cienfuegos

Some entrepreneurs are experiencing “the most difficult times in business”

“I try by all means to keep prices accessible to most people, but if the suppliers’ charges increase, I have no choice but to charge a little more myself” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 27 January 2025 — With bruises and problems, which he prefers to describe as “challenges for 2025,” Abelardo has decided that his cafeteria will remain open against all odds. With 57 years behind him, he has no doubt that he is living “the most difficult times of the business,” which he opened in 2019 on Santa Cruz Street, in Cienfuegos.

Like other self-employed people in Cuba, the rise in prices and the product shortage are two realities that are threatening the neck of his business. The instability in his price list has been inevitable and the customers, he tells 14ymedio, are not the only ones who suffer from the disarray of the national economy. “I started with two employees who were in charge of preparing food and serving customers, while I guaranteed the supply of the cafeteria,” he explains. “I paid them 500 pesos a day, and it worked for me, even with the taxes to the Onat (National Tax Administration Office) and hiring a manager who kept the business’s accounts.”

The turning point – as for thousands of business owners on the Island – was the Coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of the Ordering Task in January 2021. He had to fire one of his employees. continue reading

“I paid them 500 pesos a day, and it worked for me, even with the taxes to the Onat”

The cafeteria began its decline, fueled by the economic measures that the Government has implemented in recent years. According to the merchant himself, multiple factors have influenced the decline of his establishment, among which inflation, lack of merchandise and the low purchasing power of the population stand out.

“I try by all means to keep prices accessible for most people, but if the suppliers charges increase, I have no choice but to charge a little more myself. A cup of coffee that I used to sell for 20 pesos, I have had to increase it by an additional 30 pesos. If I don’t do it like this, I go straight to bankruptcy,” says Abelardo.

The situation is even more complicated for those owners who have to pay rent for the premises. It is increasingly common to find a small shop or a cell phone workshop, where until some time ago there was a bar that offered light products. Those who once opted to sell food are now evaluating the possibility of an exodus.

“My cafeteria’s location is privileged,” admits Rafael, who, like Abelardo, has decided to keep it open because it is across from the national bus terminal.

The flow of customers to his premises is “acceptable” during the day. Consumption is based mainly on products that do not exceed 150 pesos. “When you calculate the cost and the payments that must be made, the profit is so little that in some cases I have had to withdraw some offerings because they cause losses.”

Like Abelardo, Rafael also had to fire an employee: she even earned more money than he did.

“Many people are losing their jobs, because we business owners are being hindered from all sides. From government inspectors who fine us for anything, to the huge shortages that prevent us from moving forward. My wife and I are trying to continue in this area of gastronomy, but the fight is tough”, explains Rafael.

In addition to the economic problems, there is the sluggishness with which the Ministry of Labor manages licenses to practice self-employment, and this hinders hiring.

“It is inconceivable that the documentation to employ a person takes up to six months,” laments Eladio, who also runs a cafeteria. “I needed a saleswoman. Taking a risk, I put her to work while they processed her license. After five months, the papers were still not there, and she did not want to continue. I had to start the process again with someone else.”

In Cienfuegos, more and more establishments are closing their doors in the early afternoon. There is no money to pay the employees for the full day and, besides, it does not make sense if there are no customers. “I open when I can and how I can,” is Eladio’s mantra, “I don’t have partners in the MSMEs or godfathers in the Government.”

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Whole Truth About the Case of Former Cuban Minister Alejandro Gil

Or how the lack of transparency gives us the right to speculate

Alejandro Gil, former Minister of Economy and Planning, was dismissed in February 2024 / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 1 February 2025 — Those who rule in Cuba, from the powers that emanate from their positions, promised that there would be transparency in the trial of Alejandro Gil, former deputy prime minister and former minister of Economy. But instead of transparency, opacity has prevailed, not to say the darkest secrecy.

After that “Official Note of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic” published in the official newspaper Granma on March 7, 2024, the only comment that has been heard from an official source was that of the Comptroller of the Republic, Gladys Bejerano, who, in an interview with the EFE agency on May 21, 2024, said that what happened with Gil felt “like a betrayal.” Two months later she was removed from her position as part of the “process of normal renewal of the cadres.”

The Comptroller of the Republic said that what happened with Gil felt “like a betrayal”

Exercising the right to speculation (without abusing it) granted by government secrecy for a whole year, I dare to launch these hypotheses:

Alejandro Gil is innocent of the charges attributed to him, and to the surprise of his kind interrogators he has resisted all pressure to accept guilt.

Alejandro Gil is partially or totally guilty of the charges against him, but he has threatened to say everything he knows about those who are hierarchically above his old position, which has prevented or delayed their indispensable public presentation.

The charges that are imputed to him could be related to acts of corruption, such as appropriating funds intended for social use or declaring money as representing expenses that he later pocketed; nepotism, by taking advantage of his position to benefit private businesses of family or friends; adulterating in his reports the real data of the economy for the purpose of pretending to be successful in his management. Furthermore, salacious data about his personal morality could be included, and even worse, accusations of passing information to the enemy or that he intended to promote measures aimed at demolishing the socialist system.

And one last hypothesis: We will never find out what really happened.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Foreign Minister Protests Against the US Restricted List of Companies Under Military Control

According to Bruno Rodríguez, Trump’s measures “will lead to greater shortages, separation and increased emigration”

For Rodríguez, the announcement is “gratuitous abuse” and a “criminal measure” / Cubadebate

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, February 1, 2025 — The Cuban Foreign Ministry described this Friday as a “provocative act” Washington’s decision to reinstate and expand the Restricted List of Cuba, which bans transactions with companies linked to the regime. The head of Cuban diplomacy, Bruno Rodríguez, said that Donald Trump’s government promotes “irresponsible scenarios of confrontation” with Havana.

Regarding the decisions announced by the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Rodríguez said that they are “deceptive pretexts with which he intends to justify the unjustifiable,” alluding to the increase in sanctions against the regime.

Rubio approved this Friday the reinstatement of the “black list” that bans commercial exchanges with companies under the control of the Cuban Armed Forces, State Security or other military or counterintelligence organizations. For Rodríguez, the announcement is “gratuitous abuse” and a “criminal measure,” which “will cause greater shortages, increased emigration and separation.” continue reading

Rubio explained that he is re-issuing the list “to deny resources to the same branches of the regime that directly oppress and monitor the Cuban people

For his part, Rubio explained in his statement that he is re-issuing the list “to deny resources to the same branches of the Cuban regime that directly oppress and monitor the Cuban people while controlling large sectors of the country’s economy.”

He stressed that in addition to putting back the companies that were already on that list until the last week of the Biden Administration, he has added Orbit, “a remittance processing company that operates for or on behalf of the Cuban military.”

“The State Department holds the Cuban regime responsible for oppressing its people and rejects Cuba’s evil interference in the Americas and around the world,” he said. Rubio also recalled that on January 20, in the first hours of Donald Trump’s second term, the latter revoked the decision of his predecessor to remove Cuba from the US list of states promoting terrorism.

Miguel Díaz-Canel also reacted to Washington’s announcements about its policy towards the regime

Miguel Díaz-Canel also reacted to Washington’s announcements about its upcoming policy towards the regime. This Friday, he defined Trump’s decision to use the US naval base in Guantánamo to detain 30,000 undocumented immigrants as an “infamy.” He attributed to the Republicans “fascist ideas,” which are the “fruits of capitalism.”

Trump said that he would send thousands of undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo, an act – in the words of Díaz-Canel – of absolute “brutality,” since for Havana the territory of the base is “illegally occupied” by the US Army.

In his demands to the Cuban regime, Rubio once again put on the table the issue of the dozens of terrorists for whom Havana has provided refuge. Such is the case of the American of Puerto Rican origin William Morales, who put a bomb in the Fraunces Tavern in New York and was given asylum by Fidel Castro in 1988. In an act of tribute to the victims, Rubio demanded that the Cuban government return Morales – who still lives in the Cuban capital – to be held for trial in the United States.

Emphatic about Washington’s justification for including Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, Rubio recalled that “to this day,” the regime protects those responsible, in addition to other “fugitives and terrorists” sought by the United States.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The US Reinstates and Expands the Restricted List of Cuba for Certain Business Transactions

Trump Administration Adds Orbit, “a Remittance Processing Company Operating for or on Behalf of the Cuban Military” to the list

Orbit handles remittances through companies such as Western Union, VaCuba or Cubamax. / 14ymedio

EFE/14ymedio, Washington/Havana/ 1 February 2025 — The new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, approved this Friday the reinstatement of the Restricted List of Cuba, a “black list” that bans certain transactions with companies under the control of or acting on behalf of the Cuban military, intelligence or security services personnel.

Rubio stated that he is reinstating that list “to deny resources to the same branches of the Cuban regime that directly oppress and monitor the Cuban people while controlling large sectors of the country’s economy.”

Rubio stressed that, in addition to putting back the companies that were already on that list until the last week of the Biden Administration, he is adding Orbit, “a remittance processing company that operates for or on behalf of the Cuban military.”

“The State Department holds the Cuban regime responsible for oppressing its people and rejects Cuba’s evil interference in the Americas and around the world,” he said. continue reading

“The State Department holds the Cuban regime responsible for oppressing its people and rejects the evil interference of Cuba in the Americas and around the world.”

Republican congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, of Cuban origin, said on X that with the reinstatement and expansion of the list, Rubio fulfills “his promise to support the freedom of the Cuban people, denying resources to its oppressors while promoting the national security of the United States.”

Rubio’s message also expressed Washington’s support for “human rights and fundamental freedoms for the Cuban people” and demanded “the release of all unjustly detained political prisoners.”

“Our embassy in Havana is meeting with relatives of those unjustly detained, as well as dissidents, so that they know the United States supports them unconditionally. We are firm in our commitment to the Cuban people, and we hold the Cuban regime responsible for its actions,” he said.

Rubio recalled that on January 20, in the first hours of Donald Trump’s second term, the President revoked the decision of his predecessor to remove Cuba from the US list of countries promoting terrorism.

Rubio’s message also expressed Washington’s support for “human rights and fundamental freedoms for the Cuban people

“The Cuban regime has long supported acts of international terrorism. We demand that it end its support for terrorism and stop providing food, housing and medical care to murderers, bomb makers and foreign kidnappers, while Cubans go hungry and lack access to basic medicines,” Rubio said.

The Trump Administration added that it is also committed to US citizens “having the ability to take private action related to their properties that were confiscated and trafficked by the Cuban regime.”

The Office for Latin America of the State Department in turn welcomed the revocation of the last-minute, ill-advised policies of the previous administration in regard to Cuba.

In 2022, the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) licensed the non-bank financial institution Orbit S.A. to manage remittances on the Island. The company, established in Havana in February 2020, was authorized to process international transfers from abroad and to provide payment services from abroad through its infrastructure, for duly authorized goods and services, according to current legislation.

“The Cuban regime has long supported acts of international terrorism”

Orbit manages remittances from the United States through entities such as Western Union, VaCuba or Cubamax and is backed by Financiera Cimex (Fincimex), belonging to Cuba’s powerful military conglomerate Gaesa (Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A.). In an extensive report published last December, The Miami Herald confirmed Gaesa’s ties with the Cuban military.

Orbit’s data, the newspaper points out, appear alongside those of Fincimex on remittances in the reports prepared by the latter for its meetings with the executive president of Gaesa, Ania Lastres Moreras.

According to the Herald, Orbit has been managed by Fincimex executives since its creation. Currently, its president is Diana Rosa Rodríguez Pérez, appointed this year by the president of Gaesa; she previously served as vice president of Cimex.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Two Cuban Fishermen Survive Seven Days on the High Seas by Eating Raw Fish

Carlos Francisco Rodríguez González and Yusuan Fundora Massaguet were swept away by the current and rescued near the Bahamas

Carlos Francisco Rodríguez González, in an image published by the official press / Girón

14ymedio, Mexico, 30 January 2025 — “How did we survive? Nature is great.” Fisherman Carlos Francisco Rodríguez González, 55, tells how he was shipwrecked and set adrift with Yusuan Fundora Massaguet, only 15 years old, for seven days, until they were rescued near the Bahamas. “I, who am neither Catholic nor a Christian, prayed to all the virgins, everyone,” he said in an interview with the newspaper Girón. What he thought would be a “quick fishing trip, got complicated.”

At midnight last Thursday, January 16, Rodriguez left his home in Cerro (Havana) alone, planning to return at nine in the morning. After fishing in Havana Bay, however, he wanted to go to Chivo Beach, “but my legs were giving out on me,” he said. A young man he knew on another raft tried to help him, but the wind pushed them both out to sea.

“The current was taking us east and toward the sea, and nothing was there, not even a boat to give us a hand. The boy didn’t have experience either. We were overcome by the current and fatigue,” said the fisherman.

At nightfall, Rodríguez’s polyfoam cork boat broke up completely, so he got onto the boy’s raft, and “that’s how we both were stranded for a week, without eating or drinking water.” continue reading

“The boy at some point even told me that he wanted to just jump in the water, that he couldn’t go on any more. But I didn’t let him give up.”

With barely three years of fishing experience, he said that when he usually goes out, he carries a gallon of water or a bottle of soda. On this occasion he didn’t bother. After the first day on the high seas, Carlos Francisco threw in a hook and caught a goldfish. “We took out the bones with a knife, laid it down on the cork to dry a little and ate it raw. The boy even ate the egg sac, which disgusted me. He also drank some salt water.”

The fisherman said there were many sharks. “You saw the big ones jumping and fins in the water.” Rodríguez says that he is not afraid of sharks. “If there is no injured fish around that is bleeding, there is no need to be afraid. I was more afraid of dying from dehydration than from being bitten by a shark.”

As the days passed, despair took hold of the fishermen: “The boy at some point even told me that he wanted to jump in the water, that he couldn’t go on. But I didn’t let him give up.”

Rodríguez says he was reborn when the current took them in sight of a ship. “On unsteady legs, one of us kept rowing and the other steering towards the center of the boat,” he said. “Then we started screaming at the top of our lungs: ’Help! Help!’ Someone appeared and called the captain. And that rope they threw to us was a life-saver.”

Carlos Francisco Rodríguez González was admitted to the Faustino de Pérez provincial hospital, while the youngest fisherman was taken to the pediatric Eliseo Noel Caamaño. “After this I told everyone: ’I’m done’. But I’m not going to die of hunger either; if I have to go back (to fish), I will. And I’ll have to respect the sea.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Discontent in Pyongyang Over the Relationship Between Cuba and South Korea, Which Sends Its First Ambassador

Lee Ho-yul is officially appointed amid a rapprochement that, judging by recent actions, has not gone down well in the North

Acting President Choi Sang-mok (left) poses with Cuban Ambassador Lee Ho-yul

14ymedio/EFE, Seoul, 31 January 2025 — On Friday, South Korean authorities officially appointed diplomat Lee Ho-yul as the first ambassador to Cuba. Relations between the two counties were re-established a year ago.

Lee, who until now had been a minister in the South Korean embassy in Mexico, is, according to local media, an expert in commercial matters. In addition to being a career diplomat, he also served as general director of the Office of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

He will be the first ambassador that South Korea has on the Island after the historic re-establishment of diplomatic ties that took place between the two countries in February 2024.

He will be the first ambassador that South Korea has on the Island after the historic re-establishment of diplomatic ties that took place between the two countries in February 2024

It is believed that the relationship established between Seoul and Havana may be angering Pyongyang, given its traditional friendship with Cuba, supported by similar ideological positions.

In fact, the North Korean media have reflected that apparent discontent since the re-establishment of relations a year ago, barely publishing content that refers to Cuba.

For example, the state news agency KCNA reported very briefly on the New Year’s message sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and also omitted the usual references to the “brother people” of Cuba. continue reading

For his part, the Cuban ambassador to South Korea, Claudio Monzón, has already presented his credentials to the interim president of South Korea, Choi Sang-mok, on January 7, and Cuba is expected to open its first embassy in South Korea before July 1.

The rapprochement between the two countries began in February 2024, when both parties announced that they were re-establishing relations that were broken in 1959, when, with the triumph of the Revolution, a historic, political and ideological alliance was forged between Cuba and North Korea.

In May 2016, in the midst of the thaw with the United States, the chambers of commerce of both countries signed a memorandum of understanding to share business information, carry out exchanges between their delegations and organize joint forums.

South Korea expressed interest in Cuba in energy matters, in addition to considering it “a potential market for medical and tourism businesses on the American continent

South Korea expressed an interest in Cuba in energy matters, in addition to considering it “a potential market for medical and tourism businesses on the American continent.” Trade between the two countries began to flow, and in 2022 South Korea exported goods to Cuba worth 14 million dollars and imported goods worth 7 million.

Although many Cubans were surprised by the announcement of the opening of embassies a year ago, Seoul argued that, among other things, every year about 14,000 South Korean citizens traveled to the Island – before the pandemic – and 1,100 descendants of Koreans who migrated during the Japanese occupation (1910-1945) resided in Cuba. All of them need “systematic consular assistance,” they said.

The romance between both nations has even reached the streets. At the beginning of this year, Havana opened the K-Mart, the first market with South Korean products in Cuba. Located on 27 th and J, in El Vedado, the private business sells everything from ramen, soju, tea and instant coffee to juices and energy drinks.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The United States Deports 12 Cuban Rafters and Reiterates That Anyone Who Enters Illegally Will Suffer the Same Fate

A Honduran tells the newspaper ‘La Nación’ that migrants from Florida have stopped going to work for fear of being detained

The U.S. Coast Guard has increased its presence in the Florida Straits, the Windward Pass and the Mona Pass / X/@USCGSoutheast

14ymedio, Havana, 30 January 2025 — The United States Coast Guard deported 12 Cuban rafters on the Isaac Mayo ship on Wednesday, who were prosecuted after the interception of two boats. “Anyone who tries to enter the United States illegally by sea will be repatriated,” the agency stressed in a statement.

The US authorities specified that on January 19, a group of five Cubans on a foreign raft was detected 21 miles from Kayo Largo, during the overflight of an aircraft belonging to the Customs and Maritime Air and Maritime Operations team. The migrants were intercepted by the coast guard cutter Charles David, which after providing medical care handed them over to the Border Patrol for deportation.

A second contingent of seven Cubans on a “damaged boat” was located 50 miles southwest of Cuba, in the Yucatan Pass. The rafters were assisted by the crew of the Coast Guard ship Reliance.

Lieutenant Commander John Beal said that the Coast Guard “has increased its presence in the Florida Straits, the Windward Pass and the Mona Pass to prevent attempts at illegal maritime migration before they reach our coasts.” continue reading

Lieutenant Commander John Beal said that the Coast Guard “has increased its presence in the Florida Straits

Beal added that as part of the operations, sailors and recreational boat users have been asked to “inform the authorities about illicit maritime activity” through the VHF marine radio on Channel 16. The purpose of the mission is to protect the United States by securing the borders.

Meanwhile, several anti-immigrant operations have been carried out in Florida. According to figures from the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE), 5,537 people were arrested after raids that occurred between January 23 and 28. In addition, another 4,433 foreigners were transferred to other institutions, including prisons.

“Many people are afraid,” Honduran Eduardo Mature, owner of a property construction and remodeling company, told the Argentine newspaper La Nación. “I have 12 undocumented people working for me, and this week eight of them did not show up. One of the contractors I know in Miami told me that out of his entire work team of 10 people, only the driver came to work.”

Mature said that “before, they made them pay a fine, but now they are afraid that they will be handed over to immigration authorities. The construction project is very, very affected.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Pitcher Raidel Martínez Gets Star Treatment in Japan

Raidel Martínez, with the Cuban national team / Facebook

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 16 January 2025 — Almost a month after Cuban pitcher Raidel Martínez signed a historic contract with the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), his new team, the Yomiuri Giants, will include him in the so-called Group S, a selection of the most important players on the squad, who get to decide their own training regimen.

The decision, reported this Wednesday by the official newspaper Jit, means that the players who make up the group will be responsible for their own practices and will decide what kinds of exercises they will do to get in shape, without planning by the club’s management.

“Normally, in the demanding world of Japanese baseball, both the team’s director and coaches determine the players’ work schedule during practice, including the exercises they do,” the media outlet explained.

This initiative, according to the newspaper report, “reveals enormous confidence and respect for the club’s most veteran players, a space that Raidel has earned on his own merit.” For the outlet Swing Completo (Full Swing), it is also “a recognition of the awards that the closer achieved and his quality in the box.” continue reading

This initiative, according to the newspaper report, “reveals enormous confidence and respect for the club’s most veteran players

Martínez is one of the best closers in the Japanese league. In his last season with the Chunichi Dragons he had a dream campaign. He set a personal record of 43 saved games, which was also the best mark in the entire league. He competed in a total of 60 games, in which he completed 58.0 innings while allowing only seven earned runs, for an ERA of 1.09. The Pinar del Río native also had 59 strikeouts, gave up 12 walks, and had a WHIP of 0.81. Finally, he allowed only 35 hits, including one home run.

All total, in seven seasons with his former team, he recorded 166 saves, with an ERA of 1.71, in addition to 353 strikeouts in 310.2 innings pitched.

In seven seasons with his former team, he recorded 166 saves, with an ERA of 1.71

The new contract that the closer signed with the Yomiuri Giants for 32.5 million dollars for four seasons is also one of the most lucrative for the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), which will pocket 20% of the amount, some 6.5 million dollars, more than 1.6 million dollars per season.

Although Raidel Martínez’s contract is “a historic agreement,” according to journalist Francys Romero, as it surpassed the $26 million received by Mexican Roberto Osuna or Cuban Liván Moinelo, the expert opines that the closer from Pinar del Río “would have obtained offers of between $50 and $70 million if he had entered the Major League market” in the United States.

In addition to Martínez and Moinelo, other Cubans with deals in the Japanese league are Carlos Monier, Frank Abel Álvarez, Cristian Rodríguez, Darío Sarduy and Ariel Martínez. There are also two other players with such contracts in Mexico, six in Italy, and four more in Canada.

Translated by Tomás A.

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Cuba’s Official Press Calls Las Tunas ‘Bad News for Cuban Baseball’ in the Series of the Americas

Curazao showed the weakness of the Las Tunas team / Jit

14ymedio/Swing Completo, Havana, 27 January 2025 — Curaçao won by 15-2 over the Leñadores de Las Tunas, who represent Cuba in the Baseball Series of the Americas, based in Nicaragua. Faced with the catastrophic result, the official media Granma reported that the Island’s team “had their hands tied” (was immobilized in the sport), and that their performance was “bad news for Cuban baseball, whatever the competition.”

Those led by Abeysi Pantoja, according to the same media, succumbed to players who had already turned the corner of stardom. The Curaçao team “has the wisdom and the craft” for their participation in teams of the US Major Leagues, in addition to the fact that some currently play in the Minor Leagues.

Cuban baseball is in crisis, and Cubadebate also recognized that nothing worked for the Cubans against Curaçao. The offensive line barely achieved three hits, and the Las Tunas pitchers allowed 16 runs. “You can’t win that way in baseball,” the same report emphasized.

“The pitchers allowed 15 uncatchable hits, and, to top it off, the defense also failed, not only because of the two errors, but also because there was no solution for throws that did not commit,” Granma summarized.

Sports analyst Juan Carlos Guerra Alonso “JuanK” in Por la Goma, reiterated that this bad moment of Cuban baseball “has a lot to do with the suffocating and obsolete policy of those who direct and pull the strings of the sport: those at the top, those in the middle and those “phantoms” who make decisions from behind a desk.” continue reading

JuanK specified that “you can’t have a good performance without playing baseball. You can’t live on Saturn, wanting to compete on Earth.” He recalled that the Cuban players have not played for a winter, and in the face of results like those against Curaçao, “we are losing the credibility and respect that our history gave us.”

Cuba’s first defeat against Nicaragua left doubts in some fans and accusations in others. “The Island did Managua a favor, they were clever,” José Pablo, a regular at the stadiums of the Central American country, told 14ymedio. “I have no doubt; those drunken pigs that make up the team (of Nicaragua) could never beat the Cubans for good, no matter how many desertions they have had and not even if they’re tied up and blindfolded.”

Baseball in Nicaragua is also in “decline.” According to a report in La Prensa, despite the investment of 4 billion córdobas for the “construction of 13 stadiums and the remodeling of another 24 sports facilities,” the fans have been absent from the games.

According to sports journalist Pablo Fletes, one of the causes is the local “quality of competition” caused by a championship that brings together 20 teams. The “saturation” has generated the disinterest of fans. Meanwhile, sports reporter Edgard Tijerino commented that national baseball has fallen behind in the international context, so “it has been left out of events such as the World Classic and the Premier 12.

Curazao has three wins and leads the Baseball Series of the Americas. Nicaragua and Águilas Metropolitanas follow, both tied with two games won and one lost. Cuba and Club Daom are equal in fourth and fifth place with one victory and two defeats. In the background is Caimanes de Barranquilla (Colombia) with three consecutive stumbles.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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