Translating Cuba – Page 119 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Cuba, 66 Years in the Dark

The hope for a better world was dashed, only fear remained

Fidel Castro entering Havana on January 8, 1959 / Archive

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami. 5 January 2024 — I remember as if it were today, the first of January 1959 and the days that followed. I had just turned 16 and there was a collective hysteria, as best described by the journalist and historian Enrique Encimosa in the documentary Al Filo del Machete, produced by Pedro Suarez Tintín and Luis Diaz, and by the writer Jose Antonio Albertini in his most recent publication Memoria Constante: Relatos verídicos.

At the end of 1958, the premiere of the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai was scheduled to take place at El Cloris, the most modern cinema in Santa Clara.

I don’t think there were any movie-goers in those days. Various rebel groups attacked the city, taking the war to the streets, although I do remember that a few months later the cinema and the building that housed it, the Grand Hotel, the tallest building in the interior of the country, were confiscated by the revolution.

The former owner, Orfelio Ramos, was an entrepreneur, as dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel likes to say, who had made his fortune renting out bicycles and driving local buses with such spirit and talent that he became the owner of the buses that provided urban service in the city of Santa Clara.

Most of the population participated in that carnival that mixed hope for some and fear for others.

Hysteria had gripped both men and women. To my knowledge, the majority of the population participated in that carnival that mixed hope for some and fear for others. In the end, the ironclad social control established by Fidel and Raúl Castro terrorized the population in a framework of colossal inefficiency that has led the country to unprecedented spiritual and continue reading

material misery.

The hope for a better world was dashed, and only fear remained. These contrary feelings were the result of the fanaticism of a few who, by standing out in the revolutionary whirlwind, were the protagonists of a sectarianism that was difficult to free themselves from, even if they had revolutionary credentials, as happened to the insurrectional leader Pedro Barata, a political prisoner for many years, when he testified before some thugs that the person they accused was innocent.

I remember a Castro slogan that said more or less it doesn’t matter what you did, but what you are doing, a clear message to the new and future accomplices of the destruction of the Republic that we lost.

The tension in society grew stronger every day because the arbitrary arrests and the roar of the firing squad frightened and deafened us. Arrests based on mere suspicions or unfounded accusations of collaboration with the overthrown regime were factors that encouraged opportunists or the most fearful to become accusers before the revolutionary courts, which did not seek justice but cruel revenge, concealed in a spurious judicial process.

The Revolution as a source of law, a pronouncement by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic, as Dr. Ramón Barquín explained in a recent article, gave the coup de grace to civility, including the conversion of the media, even the private ones, into instruments of a thunderous propaganda that confused the citizenry beyond description, a citizenry that was gradually but constantly being transformed into a mass at the service of the Castros and a criminal accomplice.

The massive confiscation of property, without judicial process, deprived many people of well-earned family fortunes.

On the other hand, the massive confiscation of property, without judicial process, deprived many people of well-earned family patrimonies. A Ministry for the Recovery of Misappropriated Property was hastily created, appointing incompetent administrators who destroyed the properties, a kind of precursor to the nouveau riche of today, children of the moncadistas, who today enjoy the power and wealth that their parents and grandparents appropriated.

Days and nights passed by, accumulating 66 years. Many have been accomplices of Castro’s totalitarianism. The regime has not lacked executioners who, even if they have not fired a rifle at a fellow human being, are accomplices of the numerous deaths and sufferings endured by the population.

However, to the satisfaction of men and women of dignity, there has been no shortage of compatriots willing to face the disgrace of Castroism with the painful consequences of exile, prison and firing squad, not to mention the internal exile in which many compatriots live, who, for various reasons, remain on the Island.

I am sure that Cuba and the Cubans will be free, but justice must be sought for this vast devastation of 66 years of terror.

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Who Are the 13 Missing in the Explosions at Cuba’s Military Warehouse in Holguín?

Nine are young military service recruits, most of them from that eastern province

A fan of Japanese cartoons, a future chef and a young father are among the missing / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2025 — The life stories of the 13 missing soldiers begin to emerge with the testimonies of relatives and the scraps of their biographies found on social networks. The nine young people, apparently all recruits of the Active Military Service (SMA), include a fan of Japanese cartoons, a future chef and a young father. Most are residents near the Melones base or in other Holguin municipalities.

For example, Brian Rojas Long lives in the community of Esterito, in the municipality of Banes. His aunt, Norma Rojas, said that he had recently been on a pass at home and that he had only eight months left to finish his service. His father, Lázaro, said the young man is very excited because he has been assigned to work in a hotel on the Ramón de Antilla peninsula as a chef’s assistant. “I like that,” he told his aunt during the family visit.

There is also Yunior Hernández Rojas, originally from Holguín and father of a baby, who has been with his current partner since 2018. Rayme Rojas Rojas, 20, likes animated Japanese cartoons. In November 2023, he was seen on social networks wearing the recruit uniform. He had only six months left to complete his time as a soldier. continue reading

Some relatives have appealed to social networks in search of answers

Among the youngest, there is José Carlos Guerrero Garcia, 19, also in the SMA, son of Julio Guerrero and a resident in the municipality of Rafael Freyre. Frank Antonio Hidalgo Almaguer is a resident of the municipality of San Andrés and is currently single. Lander José García Oliva is also from that same community, hard hit at the moment by uncertainty.

Some relatives have appealed to social networks in search of answers. A cousin of Leinier Jorge Sánchez, 18, made a desperate request on Facebook for the young man to appear alive. Yilena Roche Arcaya defined him as “one of the children who is missing in the explosion.” The young man also lives in Rafael Freyre, the municipality most marked by the tragedy. There are hardly any details about the others; Héctor Adrián Batista, another recruit, is only known to be from Las Tunas.

Among the missing officers are Major Carlos Carreño, a native of Santiago de Cuba, married and with a son, and a second non-commissioned officer, Orlebanis Tamé Torres, who has a military rank. Another is Yoennis Pérez Durán, a graduate of electrical engineering, who obtained his diploma in Moa at the Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez Higher Mining Metallurgical Institute in 2009. He is a follower of the Real Madrid football team.

Major Leonar Palma Matos studied at Juan José Fornet Piña de Holguín’s basic high school and has a son. Although he keeps his Facebook profile restricted, several of his childhood friends have left messages of sadness in other groups for what happened.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cuban Government Opens a High-End Supermarket that Only Accepts Dollars in Cash or Card

The move is a sign that “dollarization” of the economy — something Prime Minister Manuel Marrero has spoken about— is going ahead along with the end of the MLC

The new Supermercado 3ra y 70 (3rd and 70th Supermarket) is owned by Tiendas Caribe, a branch of the Cimex corporation. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 3 January 2024 — The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket, which opened on Tuesday on the ground floor of the luxurious Gran Muthu Habana hotel in Miramar, does not accept MLC (a form of digital convertible currency) much less Cuban pesos. The store is owned by Tiendas Caribe, one of the numerous offshoots of the Cuban Armed Forces all-powerful Business Administration Group (GAESA). The store accepts three forms of payment: dollars in the form of cash, foreign cards and the so-called Clásica (Classic) debit card, which is denominated dollars.

The supermarket was bustling on Thursday, two days after opening, overwhelming its visitors. The store is part of a newly built shopping center that includes numerous privately owned shops — among them a branch of the Chocolatera confectionery —most of which have yet to open.

Outside the entrance to the complex was a line of cars, similar to lines outside the city’s gas stations, whose owners were eager to park and shop. Unlike at other state-owned stores, the shelves inside the huge, clean, well-lit space were fully stocked with a variety of products.

“Inside it’s all shiny and new, with automatic checkouts, with carts, with baskets, with all the products the MLC stores used to have but no longer do,” said Lucía, a first-time customer. / 14ymedio

“Inside it’s all shiny and new, with automatic checkout counters, with carts, with baskets, with all the products the MLC stores used to have but no longer do,” said Lucía, a first-time customer. “All the beans here are canned and natural. The meats, the cheeses, the olive oil, the regular oils, tomato sauces, pickles, canned fruit, nougat, rice, coffee, yogurt, milk, ice cream, and even whole wheat bread! It’s got everything, everything,” said Lucía, who spent 6,000-pesos taxi on a taxi ride from Old Havana to get here. And she was amazed. “The checkout counters move. I have never seen that in Cuba before, not even in the Cuatro Caminos market!”

The supermarket carries Cuban-made products which are no longer available at state-owned stores. Until now, they could only be found at privately owned small and medium sized stores (MSMEs). These include items such as Cubita coffee and Estancia fruit juices; private label brands such as Clamanta and Gustó. They new store also carries “foreign” brands routinely found at Cimex stores. They include Spain’s Vima, Mexico’s Richmeat and Chile’s Sur Continente, companies that have long been established on the island. Vima, which imports apples, has been operating in Cuba since the 1990s . Small appliances such as fans (for $45) and Italian coffee makers were also among the most popular items at the store.

“I imagine that, since this is in dollars, it will last but, with this kind of operation, you never know,” said an elderly woman who was accompanied by her daughter. “The MLC stores started out like this but but now they’re empty.”

A total of twelve cash registers served a diverse clientele with one thing in common: money to spend. / 14ymedio

A total of twelve cash registers served a diverse clientele with one thing in common: money to spend. Customers include high-ranking officials, foreigners and embassy personnel as well as a picturesque group of nuns. Two of them were in the checkout line, waiting to buy fans. Two others scurried back and forth to their car, carrying a wide variety of products and foodstuffs.

“You have to take advantage of this because, before too long, it will all be gone. Just look at the MLC stores. They haven’t been stocked in a very long time,” observes a retiree carrying a basketful of chicken.

A sign at the cash register explains how customers can pay for their items. “Payment here is made using USD cards,” it reads, with logos of which cards the store accepts. At the top — above even the Mastercard and Visa logos — is Russia’s Mir card, which a woman in the checkout line was waiting to use. “It belongs to my husband,” she said, surprised to learn the store will also accept cash. Most customers, however, were paying in dollars.

The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket also carries Vima-brand apples. / 14ymedio

The cash registers did not, however, provide change. Instead, employees hand out small sweets, though they were not given to customers if the amount was less than five cents.

Another novel form of payment is the Classic card, which has been available to customers at this shopping center since December 7. Though senior government officials have said nothing about it, requiring consumers to pay in dollars and incentivizing them to use this card can be seen as another step towards dollarization of Cuba’s retail economy, which Prime Minister Manuel Marrero spoke about last month in the National Assembly. Effectively, it also means the end of the MLC. continue reading

In a post on social media, Cimex describes Classic as “a financial product denominated in U.S. dollars, designed to facilitate your transactions within the country.” It can be used at the network of gas stations that take payment in dollars and at retail outlets with point-of-sale (POS) terminals. It can also be used to buy goods and services, and to import products from overseas. The card costs $5.00, or its equivalent at the “current exchange rate” in “accepted foreign currencies,” the corporation states. One dollar of the purchase price is automatically added to the buyer’s account balance. There is no “pre-set amount” or required minimum balance. Customers receive a 5% discount on each purchase but are charged a $1.00 service fee each time money is added to their accounts.

The supermarket is part of a new shopping center that includes numerous privately owned businesses. / 14ymedio

Cimex also announced that it will soon be available at CADECA foreign exchange offices and other retail outlets, including those in the Gran Muthu Hotel complex. One of the few shops now open there is a perfumery.

The supermarket is still accepting MLC for the time being , an employee tells a customer who asked about some cologne. “You can go to the perfumery if you have MLC but you’d better hurry because that’s about to change,” says the employee.

“When will that be?” asked the customer.

“I don’t think it will be long but they haven’t told us yet,” he replied.

The new 3rd and 70th stands in contrast to an old supermarket of the same name, which opened prior to 1990. Its merchandise was priced in dollars at a time when it was illegal for Cubans to have them. Initially, only diplomats and resident foreigners were allowed to shop there but, by 1993, it was open to all. Like many state-owned stores, it went into a steep decline after it became an MLC store in 202o.

Attracted by the crowed and dressed in their uniforms, some of the employees of the old store came over to check out the new one. Their irritation was all too obvious. “This is a disgrace. Everything they used to sell in the old store when it first opened is now here. There’s nothing over there and this place has everything,” one employee complained loudly.

The new 3rd and 70th Supermarket stands in contrast to the old pre-1990 market of the same name. / 14ymedio

“There are no empty shelves here,” said one of the employees. “All the empty shelves are over at the other store, which is falling to pieces,” responded one of her co-workers. Ironically, in late December, Cimex announced on social media that it was celebrating the anniversary of the old “diplomat’s store”

A visit on Thursday to the old store confirmed everything its employees described: poor lighting, visibly dirty shelves, scant merchandise, and the stench of rotting meat throughout. The site now mainly serves as a parking lot for customers of the new 3rd and 70th Supermarket,

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Mexico Rejects Migrants’ Request for Refuge, a Cuban Man Denounces

The Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid reports that the number of applications decreased in 2024, with 78,975, including 17,884 citizens from the Island.

In Tapachula, the National Migration Institute set up 12 checkpoints to prevent the nearly 30,000 migrants in the state from moving forward / EFE

14ymedio/EFE, Mexico City, 8 January 2025 — The Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar in Spanish)) claims that applications from migrants fell by almost 44% in 2024. According to official figures, it served 78,975 migrants that year, or 43.8% less than in 2023, when a total of 140,720 foreigners went to one of the commission’s nine offices.

For many Cubans, however, asylum applications have not really dropped, but rather Mexico is responding negatively to them. Thus, Osiel Rodriguez, reports that the Comar rejected his asylum application just as it did for at least 30 other Cubans the day he went to the office in Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala. The Mexican authorities, he tells 14ymedio, told him that “he was not a politically persecuted person” and considered that he had left the island because of “economic problems.”

Rodriguez was instead granted a safe-conduct with which he can remain in the country for a maximum of 20 days. In his account, the Cuban insists that he left because of the “persecution” he suffered and the “threats of the regime” when he made public his discontent with the situation in the country. “In Cuba, there is no freedom, they put you in jail for thinking differently.”

Osiel Rodriguez is desperate to go to the U.S.: “Whatever it takes, paying a coyote or in a convoy, but I have to be at the border at Piedras Negras on the 16th and be able to cross before Trump is sworn in.”

He said he has not been able to log in to the CBP One application. “It’s crashing, I keep trying, but I don’t know if I will be able to log in.”

Donald Trump warned that he will toughen immigration laws from day one of his term in office. One of the measures is to close the CBP One continue reading

application. Since its implementation, also in January 2023, until last December, more than 904,500 people have been able to schedule their appointments to appear at the border.

In Tapachula, the National Migration Institute set up 12 checkpoints to prevent the nearly 30,000 migrants in the state from moving forward. “They are closing the roads, holding us and returning us to Tapachula,” denounces Guatemalan Tonatiuh Gomez. “They don’t want trouble when Trump becomes president, that’s what the soldiers say.”

Local authorities claim that the concern in Chiapas is to tackle human trafficking networks. This Tuesday 30 video surveillance cameras were uninstalled on the Hidalgo and Suchiate border, which criminal groups used to monitor migrants to “extort and kidnap them,” the state prosecutor’s office said in a brief statement.

Meanwhile, in the United States, civil rights and immigrant organizations criticized the Laken Riley Act, approved Tuesday by the lower chamber of the new Congress, considering that it will facilitate President-elect Donald Trump’s massive deportation plan and eliminate due process for those charged with non-violent crimes.

The initiative, if passed this Friday by the Senate, will strengthen Trump’s position, who takes office this coming January 20, to unleash mass deportations and will allow racial discrimination when it comes to punishing non-violent crimes, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stressed on Wednesday.

The bill requires immigration authorities to detain undocumented migrants accused of committing theft and other non-violent crimes so they can be deported.

Translated by LAR

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Cuba Will Not Allow Tragedy To Spoil the Celebration of the 66th Anniversary of the Revolution

At the beginning of 2025, the explosion in Holguín has gotten in the way of so much paraphernalia

Every January, the same tiresome sequence of commemorations, freedom caravans and official evocations is repeated in Cuba. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 8 January 2025 — Lovers of ritual, and anchored to symbolic acts, dictatorships are given to organizing ahead of time and in a rigid manner a script of celebrations, public events and media coverage on anniversaries and founding dates. Nothing can make them deviate from this protocol projected to aggrandize their power and show themselves eternal. Every January, in Cuba, the same tiresome sequence of commemorations, caravans of freedom and official evocations of that January of 1959 when Fidel Castro took power on the Island is repeated. But at the beginning of 2025, tragedy has gotten in the way of so much paraphernalia.

Throughout Tuesday, Cubans have been following the news that, in dribs and drabs, came out from the vicinity of the weapons and ammunition warehouse in the community of Melones, belonging to the municipality of Rafael Freyre, in Holguín. In the military enclave, a series of explosions put the neighbors on alert and forced the Ministry of the Armed Forces to publish a note in which it limited itself to briefly reporting the explosions. As the day progressed and the testimonies and images taken by residents in the area reached the social networks, concern grew that the incident was much more serious than the authorities admitted and that it was far from being controlled.

Shortly afterwards, the number of 13 people missing at the military base began to be mentioned in the streets, but the official press continued to give priority to the events planned to commemorate the January 1959 anniversary. Nothing could interrupt what was planned for the day: showing a smiling Miguel Díaz-Canel surrounded by young communists in La Plata, echoing the ceremony for the anniversary of the National Revolutionary Police and closely following the pathetic caravan that travels through the provinces, imitating the route that the bearded men in olive green made 66 years ago. continue reading

The drama had no place in this scheme of self-satisfaction. The possible victims of the explosions did not fit into the operetta created to boast of having controlled a country and its millions of inhabitants for more than six decades, of having completely destroyed the economy of a nation and having forced hundreds of thousands of its children into exile. Nothing could tarnish the days of festivities. Therefore, the update on the incident and the names of the missing officers and soldiers were relegated to the end of the main newscast and as for President Díaz-Canel, it took him almost 24 hours to make a mention of what happened on his social networks.

But tragedy does not choose the time or the place, even though it seems to have been infatuated in these lands for years.

But tragedy does not choose the time or the place, even if it seems to have been infatuated in these lands for years. The analogies are inevitable. The pain of those days of the fire at the Supertankers in Matanzas is repeated, the collective affliction left by the explosion at the Saratoga hotel and the terrifying images of a crashed plane near Havana airport that claimed 112 lives. Once again, suffering is installed in Cuban homes and secrecy tries to hide it, to reduce it to a mere incident that does not deserve the major front pages or the first minutes of the news.

Dictatorships cannot stand desolation ruining their celebration, or the suffering of others forcing them to cut short long-planned celebrations.

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Cuba: Artificial Intelligence against Natural Stupidity

Many of these technologies have been developed to democratize creative processes, and that word is for them the greatest threat

Havana, recreated with artificial intelligence (IA.Cuba/ Artificial Intelligence Cuba)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, January 8, 2025 – On April 19, 2023, a Parliament, held hostage by the Single Party, ratified Miguel Díaz-Canel as the hand-picked dictator. His management during the previous five years could not have been worse, but the nonagenarian Raúl Castro continued to give him a thumbs up. Why? It is true that the absolute incompetence of his pupil was evident, but at least Raúl and the other Castro bosses continued to keep their privileges intact.

It didn’t matter if the rest of the country fell apart. His test piece had shown that he was willing to distribute all the force necessary to keep the commoners at bay. And that was enough for him. In addition, looking sideways at the rest of the deputies present, it is likely that he whispered to his confidant, General Amadito Ricardo Guerra: we have to use what we have, and it doesn’t really matter if we loan this ass the baton for five more years.

The re-appointed climbed to the podium with his handful of notes, read a speech full of hyperboles and made the pauses marked in the script to receive the corresponding applause. And, to be in tune with the trends recommended by his advisors, he decided to also talk about AI. His words resonated from a completely defensive attitude: “I am quite sure that no Artificial Intelligence simulation could summarize the feat of the Cuban people in recent years. The creative resistance of the people of this country, their resilience, exceeds the limits of any simulation or prediction. There is no algorithm capable of reflecting everything we live.”

“I’m pretty sure that no Artificial Intelligence simulation could summarize the feat of the Cuban people in recent years”

Behind his words was hidden something very interesting that went viral on social networks. Several Cubans had begun to play and experiment with the new applications, asking ChatGPT about issues related to the reality of the continue reading

Island or generating images of a possible Cuba without a dictatorship. The algorithms were forceful. With them [the Regime] in power, life was an absolute disaster. Without them, the country and its people would enjoy undisputed development and prosperity. That’s why Díaz-Canel lashed out at an Artificial Intelligence that refused to recognize or applaud the alleged achievements he mentioned in his speech.

However, just a few days ago, he touched on the matter again, although this time going on the offensive: “We have to use Artificial Intelligence. Everyone is talking about it; everyone is applying it to the processes.” His audience looked at him without understanding if the speech was about using robots as employees at the ration stores or covering the potholes on the streets with some Instagram filter. Theater director Mario Junquera posted on his Facebook page: “I would say YES for AI to govern the country… tomorrow.” It was obvious that even the most primitive computer would make more coherent decisions than the “same old, same old” of the ruling bureaucracy.

Cuba is late to these debates, like almost everything else. And it is understandable. In a country where banking has not been carried out due to technological insufficiency, what can be expected from experimenting with AI? In a country where the internet is slower than a caterpillar and where blackouts are more frequent than alumbrones — a Cuban word coined to describe when the lights are ON — who will have nerves, battery and enough data to mess with those futuristic toys?

The truth is that Artificial Intelligence is no longer a fantasy of the future, but a reality of the present. And the speed with which it evolves generates fear in some and fascination in others. Some compare the development of Artificial Intelligence with that meteorite that extinguished the dinosaurs. Others celebrate it as the tool that will help humans take a great evolutionary leap as a species. What will happen to AI? Or, rather, what will happen to humans? Will it make us smarter or more idiotic? Will it steal our job or give us more time for ourselves? Have we opened a Pandora’s box?

The truth is that Artificial Intelligence is no longer a fantasy of the future, but a reality of the present

I’m on the side of the enthusiasts. Using these tools has allowed me to find inspiration, make project models in record time, as well as generate and socialize content more quickly and attractively. And its use has not taken away anyone’s work, on the contrary. I have received calls from other colleagues interested in collaborating on new projects, precisely thanks to the result they saw with the help of AI.

As for Díaz-Canel and his harangue, there is little to add. Many of these technologies have been developed to democratize creative processes, and that word is for them the greatest threat. In any case, what they develop will be to promote that only area in which they are efficient: surveillance, control and repression against the masses.

But, once again, it would be a shot in the foot. With the clumsiness that characterizes them, what they generate could turn against them in a very short time. It is impossible to pretend to dominate Artificial Intelligence, when you have more than enough of natural stupidity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Carried Out at Least 10 Repressive Actions per Day Last Year

Two independent organizations registered 3,921 acts against demonstrators and around 1,000 political prisoners

Police arresting demonstrators in front of the Cuban Capitol during the ’11J’ protests in Havana – 11 July 2021 / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, 7 January 2024 — The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) reported this Tuesday that during 2024, the Government’s persecution of those who expressed discontent with the serious crisis that the Island is going through increased. According to its count, at least 10 repressive actions per day were recorded in the country during the last year.

The total number of repressive acts was 3,921, they report. Among these, 949 were home detentions, 818 were arbitrary arrests and 786 involved abuses against political prisoners; the remainder were ‘other’.

“The Cuban regime continues to exhibit the worst record of repression in the Western Hemisphere. There is permanent abuse against independent activists and journalists, and also against any citizen who criticizes the current situation of impoverishment and lack of freedom,” reflects the OCDH.

The provinces with the most cases of repression were Havana, Matanzas, Camagüey and Villa Clara

The report details that the provinces with the most cases of repression were Havana, Matanzas, Camagüey and Villa Clara. It was in that last province where, last November, the residents of the municipality of Encrucijada continue reading

protested in the streets, beating on pots and pans, against the long blackouts, which in some places exceeded 60 hours (two and a half days).

Also in Villa Clara more arrests were reported for demonstrations in the last two months (18 of 34), according to a report by Prisoners Defenders (PD) published last December, which also documented a “scandalous repressive escalation this quarter against peaceful demonstrators.”

The OCDH report also addressed the situation of political prisoners in the country. According to its count, 2024 closed with 952 prisoners of conscience, of which “most do not belong to opposition organizations.” The figure falls short compared to the PD count, which was 1,153.

“We take this opportunity to warn once again that the situation of many political prisoners is serious. It has been a terrible year for them,” added the OCDH, which registered three deceased prisoners in state custody.

The situation of many political prisoners is serious. It has been a terrible year for them

The most recent one was Manuel de Jesús Guillén, 29 years old: “The family reported that (the death) had been the result of a beating by the prison staff. The situation is critical from a humanitarian point of view, as there are a considerable number of prisoners with impaired health, including women with gynecological problems and several young people who have tried to commit suicide.”

The OCDH clarified that these data “are provisional” and are underreported, “because in Cuba there are many abuses for political reasons that are off the radar for our observers and other organizations.”

Regarding the violations of freedom of expression and press freedom in the country, the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press (Iclep) registered 67 cases last December.

In a report published on Monday, Iclep counted 39 violations of freedom of the press and 28 violations of freedom of expression. Of these, 28 were attacks, threats and psychological aggressions; 19 were arbitrary detentions; nine were digital restrictions, six were cases of abuse of state power, and five were detentions.

The organization counted 39 violations of freedom of the press and 28 violations of freedom of expression

Among the victims were 18 journalists, 11 activists, four citizens, two people identified as “opponents,” as well as political prisoners and artists. In 12 provinces of the Island, assaults were documented. Most were in Havana, with 20, followed by Villa Clara (10), Sancti Spíritus (nine), Las Tunas (seven) and Camagüey (five).

“Among the most worrying repressive patterns of the Cuban regime is the criminalization of the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression through fabricated accusations and imprisonments to silence dissent and maintain social control,” they said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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November Books: The Mafia in Cuba, Belkis Ayon’s Gods, Sartre and Beauvoir

A novel by Pavel Giroud, an anthology by storyteller Alberto Garrido and a farewell to Juan Manuel Salvat.

Work ’La cena’, painted by Cuban artist Belkis Ayón / Belkis Ayón Estate

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 30 November 2024 — Marked by borderline figures – she died at the age of 32, one year younger than Christ, in 1999, before the beginning of the millennium – Belkis Ayón created a world no less divided between two dimensions: that of color and that of the spirit. Observing her prints and paintings leaves a metaphysical doubt: if Ayon already shows us the other world, the spiritual plane, why does she give the feeling that there is still much more, hidden behind those Abakuá faces?

Ayón’s suicide – she locked herself in a bathroom and shot herself in the head with her father’s revolver – only reinforces the mystery. Her silence makes one despair. During the Special Period, when the country was plunged into extreme poverty, the artist focused on her black, white and gray works. The themes of loyalty and betrayal, of lost paradise and desire, as well as the Abakuá religious worldview – the sacrifice of the goddess Sikán – surrounded her in her last decade.

In 2021, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid dedicated a major retrospective exhibition to her, commissioned by Cristina Vives, her friend. It was the sign that Ayón had awakened the public’s and critics’ interest all over the world. This November, the Spanish publishing house Turner publishes Nkame mafimba, a compelling catalogue raisonné of her work that expands on an earlier version.

Nkame mafimba means “praise, deep conversation.” The phrase synthesizes Ayón’s relationship with her prints and also the ideal reading she demands for her work. With texts in English and Spanish, the book continue reading

explores how the artist delved into the Abakuá universe, the research she conducted and how the symbolic translation of those myths came about.

Ayón was born at the end of a decade of international enthusiasm for Fidel Castro’s Revolution. In 1960, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir traveled to Havana to see with their own eyes the “hurricane over sugar.” Their impact on the generation of young Cuban intellectuals was enormous. The newspapers of the time were filled with articles about the two visitors.

Sartre and Beauvoir in Cuba. “La luna de miel de la Revolución” (The Revolution’s Honey Moon) (Casa Vacía) reconstructs step by step that visit and the chronology of that decisive year for Castro’s international image. Compiled by Duanel Díaz Infante and Marial Iglesias Utset – author of a fascinating study of the birth of the Republic in 1902, “Las metáforas del cambio en la vida cotidiana”(The Metaphors of Daily Life) – the volume gathers the meaning of the presence of both French intellectuals in a country that, according to Sartre, “had to triumph.”

Filmmaker Pavel Giroud, who was at the center of many controversies last year after the release of “El caso Padilla” (The Padilla Case), makes his debut in novels with Habana Nostra. The story is based on an old script by the director about the gangster Lucky Luciano, a regular in the Cuban capital during the 40’s. Finalist of the Azorín Novel Prize, it was published by Traveler and has already been presented in Spain and the U.S.

An anthology by storyteller Alberto Garrido, “Gritos y susurros” (Cries and Whispers), was published this month by Ilíada Ediciones. Novelist Amir Valle has said of these stories that “they shook in many ways the panorama of national literature. Undoubtedly, pieces of excellence by an authentic Cuban short-story writer on par with Alejo Carpentier, Lino Novás Calvo, Virgilio Piñera and Onelio Jorge Cardoso.”

With the death of Juan Manuel Salvat on November 26, the Cuban exile community lost the man who did the most to bring Cuba’s literary heritage within reach. Born in Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, he was part of a generation that, without forgetting Cuba, knew how to rebuild his life and think about the future.

El Gordo (The Fat Man), as his friends called him, did not hesitate to take up arms first against Batista and then against Castro. He protested against the visit of Soviet leader Anastas Mikoyan and was expelled from the University of Havana. He left Cuba clandestinely and returned by sea. He was imprisoned. He fled again and went into exile in Miami, where he realized he had to change his strategy.

An exile needs books, and Salvat became not only the rescuer of old authors, who also left the island but also the publisher of new ones. From Lydia Cabrera to Reinaldo Arenas, he nurtured his catalog with names of excellence. Thanks to those books, he told me, he could utter the phrase in which his legacy is summarized: “I have managed to live as a Cuban all my life, even though I have been far from the country.

Translated by LAR

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Nine Soldiers and Four Officers Are Missing in the Ammunition Explosions in Holguín, Cuba

Military authorities acknowledge that they do not know “the state of those who initially faced the incident”

Images published by the residents of Rafael Freyre after the explosions at the warehouse / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2025 – Thirteen soldiers are missing after the explosions that occurred during the early hours of Tuesday in a weapons and ammunition warehouse in Melones, in the municipality of Rafael Freyre, Holguín.

Almost 12 hours after the event happened and after long hours of rumors and uncertainty, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces made public the information and identities of the missing. They are Major Leonar Palma Matos, Major Carlos Carreño del Río, second non-commissioned officer Orlebanis Tamé Torres, second non-commissioned officer Yoennis Pérez Durán, and soldiers Leinier Jorge Sánchez Franco, Frank Antonio Hidalgo Almaguer, Liander José García Oliva, Yunior Hernández Rojas, Rayme Rojas Rojas, Carlos Alejandro Acosta Silva, Brian Lázaro Long, José Carlos Guerrero García and Héctor Batista Adrián Zayas.

The ministerial statement says that the families were previously informed and that “throughout the day actions were developed to specify the state of those who initially faced the incident.” The explosions continued all day, complicating free access to the facilities. continue reading

The ministerial statement says that the families were previously informed and that “throughout the day actions were developed to specify the state of those who initially faced the incident”

The debate about the slowness of information was quick to take place. “We are talking about a place where until you have the certainty that another detonation will not occur, you can’t enter,” a commentator replied to the publication of the first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the PCC in the province, Joel Queipo Ruiz. “I think that can be understood by anyone in the world. What we want most is to be able to go inside and find people still alive. But we can’t do anything reckless that could cause worse results.”

The Holguín Defense Council and a commission of the Ministry are analyzing the situation caused by the fire that led to the explosion. “The damage to the property is being evaluated, and the surveillance of the place continues, an effort that also includes the Ministry of the Interior and the National General Staff of Civil Defense,” says the statement.. It adds that the 361 people who reside in the vicinity of the warehouse have been evacuated.

This type of accident is not rare in military installations like the one affected yesterday. In the first hours of the event, it was even spread – even by the official press – that the damaged warehouse was the same one that in 2020 also suffered two morning explosions in Gibara, about 50 kilometers from Rafael Freyre.

In addition, in June 2017 something similar took place, this time in Santiago de Cuba, when several explosions occurred in the municipality of Songo-La Maya, near the Ti Arriba military unit.

At that time, half a thousand neighbors were evacuated for five days, without anyone giving them an explanation about the incident. There was not much damage, but the residents had to abandon their animals for several days.

Last year, three workers died in several explosions at the Empresa Militar Industrial (EMI) Ernesto Che Guevara, located in La Campana, in Manicaragua, Villa Clara. The accidents occurred when employees handled potentially dangerous explosive devices.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The ‘Most Modern Aqueduct in Latin America’ Is in Manzanillo, Where the Residents Receive Water Every 45 Days

Anyone who wants to save the 50 or 70 pesos they charge for a 20-liter bottle must stand in long lines to obtain water

Carrying water has become a daily task for the population / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Carlos A. Rodríguez, Manzanillo (Granma Province), 7 January 2024 — Housewives, doctors and engineers, children and adults over 70 stand in long lines at any time to carry water in Manzanillo, in the province of Granma. It doesn’t matter that it’s 5:00 in the morning and they have to go to school or work later, or if it’s at night. Nor whether they are healthy or have heart disease, hypertension, hernias or any other health problem. Anyone who wants to save the 50 or 70 pesos charged for a 20-liter bottle or the 5,000 that the water truck charges cannot miss this appointment, which confirms the failure of the new aqueduct that the authorities announced – with their usual triumphalist spirit – in 2005.

The new infrastructure of the city of Manzanillo was announced as the most modern aqueduct in Latin America and was supposed to solve the severe crisis in the water supply, since it would provide the service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The project returned hope to a city, which despite being on the banks of the Guacanayabo Gulf, with an important water table and wells just 10 kilometers away, suffered a shortage due to the deterioration of the hydraulic infrastructure.

The new infrastructure of the city of Manzanillo was announced as the most modern aqueduct in Latin America / 14ymedio

The reality was very different from what was planned, since not even in the beginning could the promise be fulfilled, except in the upper part of the city. In the populous neighborhoods of Caymari, Taíno, Dagamal, Horacio Rodríguez and Orestes Gutiérrez, the water supply cycles began every three days, quite an achievement if you take into account that, at present, the cycle is 45 days. Some areas even go two to three months without water, a continue reading

situation that, especially since 2021, seems to be permanent.

The authorities have been exposing on local television and radio programs for almost 20 years what they consider the causes of the disaster: continuous leaks in the pipes, breakdowns in the pumps or in the storage and distribution tank within the city, the chlorine deficit, dispenser problems and, of course, power cuts. Endless misfortunes for “the most modern aqueduct on the continent.”

In the absence of solutions, the population has seen the need to turn the transport of water – in all types of containers and at any time of the day – into a daily task, although it often involves carrying it from a distance of 300 meters to their homes.

Elizabeth, a 37-year-old worker, says she prefers to go before dawn to get to work on time. She, her two teenage children and her husband get up early to collect as much as they can on each trip and, if possible, rest one day before repeating such a tiring task.

“In the municipality there are already two pumps to relieve the crisis, but no cement to repair them,” says Jorge, a 72-year-old retiree who carries, almost daily, two water bottles in a wheelbarrow. It takes him at least three hours, between waiting and walking.

Manzanillo is still without solutions today, but full of ditches like scars, left by the Aqueduct company / 14ymedio

Meanwhile, the abundant leaks found throughout the hydraulic network not only mean the loss of water but also the waste of what was invested in its sanitation, including chlorine, electricity and human resources, a highly worrying situation in a city that suffered a cholera outbreak in 2012. That year, almost 90 people were diagnosed with the disease and three died. Since the cholera epidemic in Cuba in 1882 and a last handful of cases in 1959, the condition had been eradicated.

Manzanillo is still without solutions today, but full of ditches like scars, left by the Aqueduct company. Scars or wounds that demonstrate indolence in the face of a thirsty people.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Goebbels in Havana

The Cuban regime has always relied on the 11 principles of the Nazi minister’s propaganda.

The principle of unanimity is based on making people believe that all Cubans are Fidelistas and communists. /CC

14ymedio, Rolando Gallardo, Huesca (Spain), 5 January 2025 — The propaganda machine of the Cuban government is unmistakably inspired by the teachings of the terrible Nazi minister Josef Goebbels. His words echo in my head as a statement of the character of the Cuban Revolution: “The bourgeoisie must yield to the working class…. Whatever is about to fall must be pushed. We are all soldiers of the revolution. We want the victory of the workers over filthy profit. That is socialism” (quoted in Doctor Goebbels: His Life and Death). The slogans of the “Ñico Lopez” Communist Party University are a discursive copy of Goebbels. Goebbels’ contributions in the field of propaganda make Cuban socialism akin to German National Socialism.

It is necessary to review Joseph Goebbels’ 11 principles of propaganda to understand how the Cuban regime uses Nazi mechanisms against the Cuban people and its rebellious freethinkers.

11 Principles for 1 Revolution:

Principles of single enemy and contagion: For the Revolution, there are not numerous adversaries, there is only one that manifests itself in various forms. Imperialism is always linked to dissidents; it does not matter that there is no proof. If you are against it, you are a “gusano” (worm) in the service of imperialism. The image of the Cuban “gusano” is not accidental, it was one of the many used by the Nazis to represent the Jew, depersonalize them and then execute them in mass without remorse. The independent journalist, the sportsman who flees, the doctor who abandons a mission or the citizen who demands humanitarian intervention in times of crisis is just continue reading

as much an enemy of the Revolution. Those who dare to contradict will be in the same bag.

The image of the Cuban “gusano” is not accidental, it was one of the many used by the Nazis to represent the Jews.

Principle of Transposition: Goebbels recalled that for effective propaganda it is necessary “to make the people believe that hunger, thirst, scarcity and disease are the fault of our opponents and to make [the] sympathizers repeat this to themselves at all times…” All the mistakes and negative tendencies of the regime and the failures of past, present and future rearrangements are the fault of imperialism, mafias and traitors. For the propaganda, the corruption, brazenness, incoherence and bad decisions they make daily are not, and cannot be their fault.

Principle of Exaggeration and Disfigurement: To turn any anecdote into a serious threat, no matter how small. The country is falling, garbage is overflowing, and people are starving, but the news in the official media is the invasion attempts on a jet ski of two dangerous counterrevolutionaries who intend to exert terrible actions against Cuba. They have very well-oiled mechanisms for stories of this kind, which must be believed no matter how implausible

Principle of Vulgarization: “All propaganda must be popular” If they are hungry promise lots of chicken and if it is ostrich, so much the better. Say adorable idiocies, the media will put up with everything and the masses will eventually forgive you. Democratizing idiocy is a guarantee of communicative effectiveness, adapting political communication to the least intelligent of the individuals to whom it is addressed. “The larger the mass to be convinced, the smaller the mental effort to be made. The receptive capacity of the masses is limited and their comprehension is scarce; besides, they have a great capacity to forget,” said Goebbels.

Principle of Orchestration: Propaganda should be like a catchy summer song: a few ideas, repeated to exhaustion, from all possible angles, but always aiming at the same conga-style refrain: “Hey I am Fidel,” “We are continuity,” “Cuba advances and that hurts them.” Repeating things with no practical sense but with an air of confidence. This is the origin of the famous phrase: “If a lie is repeated enough, it ends up becoming the truth,” in people’s minds. That is why they insist that the socialism of the PCC (Cuban Communist Party) is viable, only that, of course, they do not let them. How convenient!

Principle of Renewal: It is vital to constantly issue new information and arguments at such a pace that, by the time the adversary responds, the public is already interested in something else. The adversary’s responses must never be able to counteract the growing tsunami of accusations. For this, the regime takes permanent measures and countermeasures with the promise that everything will improve, that now they will build what they have never built. And, boy, are they effective: they have been telling the same story for almost seven decades and there are still those who swallow it hook, line and sinker as if it were the first day. It is enough to compare Granma’s slogans of the 60’s and 80’s of the last century with the current ones. It is the same melody, only now with a couple more off-key notes.

Principle of Verisimilitude: To build plots from different sources, through the so-called probe balloons or fragmentary information. They use phrases from their allies in this or that country, from loyal intellectuals, and from media such as Telesur that serve the same political agenda. So, if NTV (National News) quotes a seemingly foreign media, or a foreign friend of the regime’s, or they showcase the increasingly fewer Spanish artists they have on their payroll, everything seems more real and they manage to convince many that the first world is worse off than Cuba and that in the largest Island of the Antilles, there is an oasis of prosperity.

Principle of Silencing: To remain silent on issues for which there are no reasons and to conceal the news that favors the adversary, also by counter-programming with the help of like-minded media. In particular, denying any right to reply and denying access to divergent criteria in the partisan spaces they call public media.

Propaganda always operates based on a pre-existing substratum, be it a national mythology or a complex of traditional hatreds and prejudices.

Principle of Transfusion: As a general rule, propaganda always operates based on a pre-existing substratum, whether it is a national mythology or a complex of traditional hatreds and prejudices; the aim is to disseminate ideas that can take root in primitive attitudes. They set some Cubans against others, manipulate history and take the issue to the confrontational plane between nation and colonialism. On that line, they develop the Castro mythology and his epic fight against an imperialism ready to attack at any moment. Although the Cuban Army does not have the military capacity for a frontal clash with the United States, the technological gap being evident, they still call for ridiculous exercises to keep active the imminence of the myth of the invasion or the idea of a besieged place.

Principle of Unanimity: To convince many people that they think “like everyone else,” creating the impression of unanimity. The false unanimity, the promulgation that all of Cuba is communist, Fidelista, and whoever is not is because he is an ex-Cuban, a non-patriot, a lackey, a mercenary and all the appellatives that the propaganda promotes. And this practice extends to the structures of the State, where it is not necessary to choose a president among several options and projects since ratifying the candidate imposed by the single party is enough. In the same way, laws are passed and, when they fail to be implemented, there is nothing to fear because there are enemies to blame.

Epilogue

Goebbels’ principles have found a natural extension in the Cuban regime. Propaganda is the oxygen of the Revolution, and as long as the slogan that hunger and misery are the enemy’s fault resonates, the spirit of the Nazi minister will continue to walk the streets of Havana. What is the Cuban Revolution if not the most perfect incarnation of Goebbels’ words, sacrificing the self for the whole, dooming entire generations to the service of a lie repeated a thousand times over? While they demand sacrifices from the hungry, they live like kings.

Translated by LAR

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In Guanabacoa They Remember With Nostalgia La Cotorra, the Company That Distributed Water Throughout Cuba

The springs of Loma de la Cruz are in good condition, but no one exploits them anymore

The abandonment of La Cotorra reflects a loss of identity and collective memory / 14ymedio

14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 6 January 2024 — “It was the water that we drank in my house, and a fleet of trucks delivered 20-liter glass bottles at home,” Ramón sighs at the ruins of La Cotorra, one of the most emblematic companies of pre-revolutionary Cuba. Uncovered roofs, cracked walls, chipped paint and weeds growing wildly among rusted iron are all that remain now of the factory, located at the entrance of Guanabacoa (Havana), on Corral Falso Avenue.

“We bought water from the trucks that distributed it,” Ramón continues. “At home they put it in some metal containers where you could swing the bottle forward to extract the water. We were regular customers of La Cotorra and we never lacked water. The same truckers had you change the empty for the full, carrying it on their backs in a very characteristic way, and they took the water everywhere. It cost 20 cents.”

Uncovered roofs, cracked walls, chipped paint and weeds growing wildly among the rusted iron is all that is left now of the factory / 14ymedio

The man’s nostalgia is evident; he knew the factory when the Soviet subsidy still kept it active. La Cotorra, however, knew better times. Its foundation dates back to the early nineteenth century, when the Galician immigrant Claudio Conde Cid – who began in 1905 to transport water from the Isle of Pines to Havana – acquired in 1915 the land in the Loma de la Cruz, known for its springs, including the famous Chorrito del Cura.

Those first years were dedicated by the company to bringing water to the capital under the La Vida brand, but it soon began a much larger continue reading

deployment aimed at exploiting local resources. In 1920, the company completed the construction of an industrial complex that included purification, packaging and distribution facilities, along with gardens and halls that became popular spaces for social events.

The company became one of the great economic centers in the area, not only because of the water it distributed, but also because of the employment and social activities it generated. In the 1940s it had 42 distribution trucks and 69 branches throughout the country, and produced about 20 million bottles in 1959.

After nationalization in the 1960s, the company was converted into the Administrative Unit that controlled water and soft drinks. Several local brands were unified, and the name was changed to José Ramón Reyes Moro, in honor of a soldier from Guanajuato who fell at Playa Girón. In that decade and the next, there were still years of splendor for the company, as Julián, a neighbor of the Habana Nueva neighborhood, points out.

“Although I was born in 1968, the service still existed. In my grandmother’s house it was the water we drank. Over the years, the bottles were used to make rice wine that my great-grandmother loved,” he recalls. Little by little, like so many facilities on the Island, the money stopped flowing and the deterioration became increasingly pronounced.

In 1986, the official newspaper Granma itself reflected on the deterioration of the industrial facilities. The lack of maintenance and the precarious conditions of the infrastructure, which included defective boilers and obsolete filters, began to diminish production.

During the Special Period, the social halls and the playground disappeared, becoming offices and warehouses. The springs of the Loma de la Cruz, once an inexhaustible source of pure water, stopped being exploited due to the proliferation of houses, which made the neighbors think that the water was contaminated. The plant was dedicated solely to marketing water from the El Gato aqueduct, and, in 1997, the management became part of the Beverages and Soft Drinks Company of the City of Havana.

However, an expert in the field, Laureano Orbera, points out that, despite the widespread deterioration, the springs of the Loma de la Cruz are in good condition. In a study conducted in 2005, Orbera and a team discovered twenty virgin wells with a constant flow of one liter per second and adequate mineralization. Despite the constructions that have invaded the Hill of the Cross, the deep water remains intact, although its medicinal and valuable waters remain inaccessible due to the lack of adequate infrastructure for its exploitation.

Today, the factory operates as a parking lot. Collapsed, it remains closed, with access to its interior forbidden. The image is very different from the memories of Monica, who went to visit it as a child with her school.

Today, the factory operates as a parking lot. Collapsed, it remains closed, with access to its interior forbidden / 14ymedio

“There was a sculpture of a parrot in the center of the gardens resting on a concrete slab that covered a large well or pond of crystal clear water with blue rock walls. There was a large park where the trucks that distributed the water were parked. At the top of the factory were the offices and a large hall where activities, meetings, birthdays, dances, etc. were held. Now it is a garden, playground and gastronomic center, but the restoration has been horrible.”

The deterioration is not only physical. The abandonment of La Cotorra reflects a loss of identity and collective memory. The history of this emblematic water company is in ruins, and with it, the future of a heritage that was once vital for Guanabacoa.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Military from Gaesa Partner with the Spanish Vima in Another Dollarized Store

Customers can pay with MLC, but employees suggest that they are going to remove this option

Faced with the delay in the line to check out and the subsequent protests from customers, this Sunday, the employee argued: “And what do you want me to do, if I’m the only one?” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 6 January 2025 –Although it has not attracted as much attention as the Supermarket on 3rd and 70th, which opened a day later, the store on Infanta and Santa Marta in Havana is another of the new “dollarized” Caribe stores that the military conglomerate Gaesa (Business Administration Group) opened in recent days through its Cimex corporation. In this case, the establishment is presented as “a collaboration project with the supplier Vima.”

In fact, its shelves, which are impeccable and full, carry a few Chinese products but are mainly dominated the Vima brand, founded by the Spaniard Víctor Moro Suárez and much reviled by the inhabitants of the Island for its low quality.

Unlike 3rd and 70th, cash dollars are not accepted at Infanta and Santa Marta, but, as at the brand new Miramar establishment, you can pay with the Classic card, which is recharged with US currency.

“It is nice and has many things, but as always, not everyone can afford this.” / 14ymedio

Another difference is that you can still pay with freely convertible currency (MLC), although employees suggested that this will not be the case for long. “You can pay with MLC, but I recommend that you get the Clásica card, because the lines to get it afterwards are going to be violent,” said a cashier at Infanta and Santa Marta to a customer who was entering for the first time. “Are they going to remove the MLC?” he asked, to which the woman replied: “That’s what they say.”

Posters distributed by the store and other employees, as well as Cimex’s own posts on its social networks, also encourage users to buy the Clásica card, which costs 5 dollars (one of which remains as a balance). Operative in hotels, state stores and gas stations in dollars, its use applies a 5% discount in stores and 10% in hotels, but with each refill one dollar is “discounted.” continue reading

Although the country’s top authorities have not said anything about it, the obligation to pay in dollars and the incentive to use the Classic card – created at the beginning of last year – can be considered as another step towards the dollarization of transactions in Cuba, which Prime Minister Manuel Marrero spoke about last month before the National Assembly and, with it, the effective end of the use of MLC.

Facade of the Cimex and Vima store on Infanta and Santa Marta, Centro Habana. / 14ymedio

The first thing that catches your attention at Infanta and Santa Marta, however, is the number of security guards multiplying in the corridors. Above all, in contrast to the only worker who performs the function of checking the bags on the way out. This Sunday, faced with the delay in the line to leave and the consequent protests from the customers, the employee argued: “And what do you want me to do, if I am the only one?” To which a man snapped: “But look how there are people here doing nothing, they should put someone there to help you.”

“It’s nice and has a lot of things, but as always, not everyone can afford this,” lamented a pensioner outside the shop who only bought a 3-kilogram package of powdered detergent (for $8.95). “And well, a lot of green,” she said, highlighting the color of Vima. “I didn’t buy any food, because I can’t even look at that brand, which isn’t exactly cheap.”

Highly criticized by Cubans for its poor quality, Vima has been present on the island, with privileges that most companies do not have, since 1994, although it was registered in the National Registry of Foreign Commercial Representations only in October of last year.

Some of Vima’s prices at the new Infanta and Santa Marta stores. / 14ymedio

The partnership with Gaesa is not new for Vima, which has its headquarters in Havana in the Berroa area, owned by the Armed Forces business consortium. Its founder, Víctor Moro Suárez, has lived in Cuba for more than 25 years and was president of the Association of Spanish Businessmen in Cuba.

Before this rebirth, the store on Infanta and Santa Marta had gone through different stages. With the dollarization of the economy in the 1990s, it became one of the best-stocked markets in the Cuban capital – like the old “diplotienda” on 3rd and 70th, opposite the new Supermarket – where one could pay directly with the US currency and later with convertible pesos.

Posters distributed by the store and other workers, as well as Cimex’s own posts on its social networks, also encourage users to buy the plastic card, which costs $5. The lower sign says: “This unit sells products that can be paid for only by magnetic card backed with freely convertible currency.” / 14ymedio

Located in a border area between Centro Habana and Cerro, the store is surrounded by very poor neighborhoods, such as the El Platanito settlement. Its wealthiest neighbors were, until recently, the residents of the nearby Fama y Aplauso building, whose apartments were distributed among Cuban cultural figures, spokespeople for the regime, and journalists prominent in the so-called Battle of Ideas, an ideological turnaround promoted at the beginning of this century. However, the most powerful figures have ended up moving out of the building and into neighborhoods to the west of the city. The new market thus has to deal with the impoverishment of a neighborhood where the dollar does not circulate, and even less so the Clásica card.

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The Garbage on El Chacón Beach Has Ruined the Fame That Hemingway Gave to Cojímar

In its time, El Chacón was one of the most beautiful places on the coast of Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, José Lassa, Havana, 5 January 2025 — “Take care of your people. Your garbage pollutes.” The sign on a small wall on the beach of Cojímar – known as El Chacón – east of Havana, becomes a bad joke when the visitor looks out at the coast: a long landfill, with several strata, between the weeds and the sea.

Cojímar is still the town of Santiago, Hemingway’s battered fisherman in The Old Man and the Sea. But to the poverty of the town, which was already a humble but very lively community in the 1950s, are now added entire months of waste accumulation. Almost a year ago, when a reporter from 14ymedio toured Cojímar and Alamar, El Chacón was already submerged in the garbage, dragged from the bay and the river of the area.

“The beach was a place where families and tourists came to enjoy themselves. Sometimes I feel helpless when I see how everything has deteriorated,” says Ana María González, owner of a small coffee shop in the area. The woman remembers the times when the beach was full of laughter and children. “On weekends I prepared lunch, and we went to the beach to spend the day. It was a close and cheap option, and my children had a great time.”

“Take care of your town. Your garbage pollutes,” says a sign on a small wall on the beach / 14ymedio

At the time, El Chacón was one of the most beautiful places on the capital’s coast. At the end of the coastal curve is the 17th century “castillito” that was the last bastion against French pirates and English invaders. The old tower gave charm to the place, in whose waters sailed the yacht Pilar, of the American Nobel Prizewinner (1954), in search of Nazi submarines that – it was thought at the time – loaded fuel in some Cuban key. continue reading

Now, however, “the fall in tourism has made the authorities prioritize other areas,” laments Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, a veteran fisherman from Cojímar. “We used to have tourists buying fresh fish right here. Now, they don’t even want to get close.”

Some insist on setting a date for the decline of El Chacón: 2017, the year of Hurricane Irma, which devastated the northern coast of Havana. However, it’s the tide and the river current that have, over time, returned to the area’s inhabitants everything they have thrown in the water.

No one wants – or can – walk along the beach anymore. Not to mention swimming in its waters. You can barely see a path of sand below the carpet of waste: it shows that, in spite of themselves, many residents of Cojímar must cross the beach.

You can barely see a path of sand between the carpet of waste. It shows that, in spite of themselves, many residents must cross the beach / 14ymedio

The complaints that frequently appear in the Havana press have been worthless. Reinier Torres Cruz, a resident of Cojímar and president of the Alto Voltaje motorcycle club, led a beach cleaning in 2019. His description of the landscape, published in Trabajadores, already presaged the current situation.

“The river brings the largest amount of garbage to the beach,” Torres explained. “It is dragged from Regla and Guanabacoa, and, as if that were not enough, there are industries that also dump their waste in the river. That’s why it takes so much work to keep our bay clean.”

In August 2024, the Regional Office of Culture for Latin America and the Caribbean, in collaboration with UNESCO, carried out cleaning work. They collected as many as 150 bags of garbage.

On December 15, the restored Golfito de Alamar – currently leased to a private company – organized another garbage collection with private businesses in the area. “It’s a collective effort, but we need more support and education on conservation,” one of the volunteers told this newspaper at the time. “People don’t understand that every little gesture counts.”

Complaints about the precarious state of El Chacón have even reached social networks / 14ymedio

Complaints about the precarious state of El Chacón have even reached social networks, where neighbors publish photos of the garbage that the sea deposits on the sand. “We can’t go on like this,” an Internet user living in the area recently commented. “I have lived here all my life and have never seen anything so sad. The beach is part of our history and is now disappearing.”

The little beach continues to attract Cojímar’s garbage. The fact that the place is no longer among the sites of tourist interest has condemned it to permanent neglect by the authorities. Defeated in its war against the landfill, like Hemingway’s old fisherman, El Chacón appears to be very unlucky.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Olympic Champion Jordan Díaz Wants To Take His Family out of Cuba and Bring Them to Spain

The Paris 2024 triple jump gold medalist has bought a house in Spain to live in with his family from Cuba

Jordan Díaz, Cuban, with two of his medals won as a Spanish athlete / Instagram/Jordan Díaz

14ymedio, Havana, 5 January 2025 — The family of the Olympic gold medalist in triple jump, the Cuban Jordan Díaz, is in the process of leaving the Island. The naturalized Spanish athlete gave the news in an interview offered to the newspaper El País: “I want to bring them, so I have bought a house for them to come.”

Díaz, who deserted from the Cuban national team in 2021 to seek a “better future” for himself and his family, said that his parents supported his decision at all times. “When my parents gave me their blessing, they told me, ’you have to go, you have to leave if you want to be great’.”

The athlete recalled: “It’s not a matter of one day saying I’m going to leave and nothing happens. You have to really think about it, see the consequences it can bring you, think about friendships, all the life you have led here, your family.” continue reading

Díaz’s career has been on the rise since he arrived in Spain. He trains with Iván Pedroso, the former Cuban champion who has won medals for his training work in Venezuela and Spain. After winning the gold at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, the triple-jumper beat Spain’s absolute record on four occasions and placed it at 17.87 meters, achieved in the local Championship held in Nerja.

Triple-jumper Jordan Díaz during his participation in the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 / Instagram/Jordan Díaz

Before the Olympics, he was crowned in the 2024 European Athletics Championship with a jump of 18.18 meters, the third best jump in history and a record for Spain. “I didn’t have more than 18 in mind; I think it’s an incredible score,” he told the same newspaper.

For his achievements on the track he was awarded the ICON Award. “It’s a great prize. All recognition is good and all prizes are important for an athlete, because you see how in the end the work you are doing is rewarded,” he said.

Díaz focuses his goals for this year on completing the triple crown with the World Athletics Championships, which will be held in 2025 in Japan. He has dedicated part of his training to perfecting his technique, which has also helped him overcome the fibrosis he suffers as a result of poorly healed injuries and the tendonitis he had in Cuba.

“Cuba’s method is not to do many sprints but to work more on the jump. That’s why I had a lot of power there, I did taller jumps to gain distance, but when you approach with more speed and lower the jump angle, you pull further forward. That’s what Iván has changed for me, and thus we have obtained better results. That’s why I need to be physically well,” said the medalist.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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