Translating Cuba – Page 133 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Arturo González, a Bishop Whom Díaz-Canel ‘Admires’, Is the New President of the Episcopal Conference

The Santa Clara prelate, a skilled diplomat, is a regular interlocutor of Pope Francis and high Vatican officials

In 2019, during the celebration of the 330th anniversary of the foundation of Santa Clara, the president went to greet González / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, November 8, 2024 — The Cuban Catholic hierarchy was reorganized this Thursday with the election of a new president for the Episcopal Conference. This is Arturo González, bishop of Santa Clara, who is accompanied by the standing committee until 2027: Juan Gabriel Díaz, bishop of Matanzas, as vice president, and the assistant from Havana, Eloy Ricardo Domínguez. In an aging institution, they are the three youngest prelates in the country.

“They are the three youngest in age, but not in experience, because Monsignor Arturo has more than 25 years of experience as a bishop,” a priest of the Diocese of Santa Clara explains to 14ymedio. González, he says, “has more years of experience than many of those who already consider themselves ’old’ at the Conference. In addition, the three have a desire to do the work and are physically capable.”

González, who will head the Cuban bishops from Santa Clara, will also be in charge of the important Economic Commission. Characterized by his diplomatic skill and his prestige before Cuban exiles, he has in his favor an old familiarity with Miguel Díaz-Canel since he presided over the Communist Party in Villa Clara.

“Díaz-Canel will love the news,” says the priest interviewed by this newspaper. “He admires Monsignor Arturo. He said it publicly when he was secretary of the Party, and when the mass was celebrated for the 330th anniversary of Santa Clara, Díaz-Canel went to the blessing of the city and ended up embracing the bishop.” continue reading

Faced with someone who has a good understanding of the president, a resumption of negotiations in favor of political prisoners is to be expected

Faced with someone who has a good understanding of the president, a resumption of negotiations in favor of political prisoners is to be expected, which González has carried out at the local level in his diocese. He is hoping for the support of Eloy Domínguez, who was appointed head of the Prison Ministry.

The Santa Clara bishop – until now vice president of the Conference – is also a regular interlocutor of Pope Francis and senior Vatican officials, and he was present at the last visit of the Cuban bishops to the Holy See.

The new structure replaces the one chaired since 2017 by Emilio Aranguren, which was characterized by non-confrontation with the Regime and cordiality with the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party. Aranguren and Cardinal Juan García, two veteran bishops, will continue to be part of the permanent committee of the Conference.

For his part, Juan Gabriel Díaz, a man of solid intellectual training but – like Domínguez and González himself – seen as a moderate, will be in charge of the National Commission for the Prevention of Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults. Raising the issue, which has been a priority during the pontificate of Francis, is practically a taboo in Cuba, and the Catholic Church has not disclosed any cases of abuse recorded on the Island. The Commission will have a legal adviser, a psychologist, a psychiatrist with forensic experience and several members.

The bishops of the affected dioceses shared their concern about the “bleak panorama” that is crossing through the country

The Commission has been working for several years, but the new directive will operate according to a recently approved manual of procedures, since the Vatican has given new and more solid guidelines on the subject.

The Episcopal Conference also reported that during its plenary meeting, held from November 4 to 7, the new apostolic consul in Cuba, Antoine Camilleri, was welcomed. The meeting took place “under the influence” of Hurricane Oscar for Guantánamo and Rafael for the Cuban west, according to the report. The bishops of the affected dioceses shared their concern about the “bleak panorama” that is crossing through the country. “While the Assembly was developing, we received news of the impacts, collapses and destruction that Hurricane Rafael has been leaving in the areas where it passed,” they said.

In addition, they sent their best wishes to Spain after the passage of the storm that affected Valencia and commented on the “social deterioration in the nearby Haitian people.”

They also met a delegation of the Catholic Church in Poland, chaired by Jan Piotrowsk, Bishop of Kielce. In a territory like Cuba, with a reduced national clergy, the presence of missionaries from European countries – and even more so from former Soviet nations – can translate into economic aid and missionaries, which Poland has been supplying to the Island for years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In Holguín, Cuba, the Windows of Hard Currency Stores Are Kept Covered for Fear of Being Stoned

“We Holguin residents are such that if they prick us we don’t even bleed”

Hard currency stores have been a frequent target of stone throwing in Cuba. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 25 October 2024 — Although the people of Holguín only have memories of October’s Hurricane Oscar, the El Nickel store, located at the intersection of Frexes and Máximo Gómez streets, still has its windows covered with panels. The reason for protecting the windows is not due to the winds or rains that the meteor brought to the province, but rather the authorities’ fear that popular indignation over the long blackouts will lead to a barrage of stones against the trade in freely convertible currency (MLC).

This Thursday, the downtown store offered a few goods, diminished by the lack of supplies and the compulsive purchases of customers who managed to prepare with canned goods, cookies and batteries for Oscar’s passage. “It seems that the windows will stay like this for a few more days, because we know that people here are very upset,” said Yunior, a driver of an electric tricycle that provides merchandise transport services on the outskirts of El Nickel. The social anger is summed up for the driver in a more than graphic phrase: “We Holguiners are such that if they prick us we don’t even bleed.”

Hard currency stores have been a frequent target of stone throwing in Cuba. The high prices and social inequalities that these businesses have contributed to aggravating are the fundamental fuel for these actions. The Holguin store sells household appliances, parts and accessories for motorcycles and cars, as well as sports equipment and food. “There are bicycles in there that cost 699 MLC, they have been there since the beginning and they have not been able to sell a single one,” Yunior criticizes. “In the four years since they turned El Nickel into a hard currency store, they have not reduced the price of those bicycles by a single dollar, despite the problems with transportation in this city.” continue reading

Other currency exchanges also keep their windows protected, which worsens the lighting inside.

Other foreign exchange markets also keep their windows covered, which worsens the lighting inside. “The height of absurdity, you go in and you can hardly see the products on sale because the few light bulbs that are on — when there is electricity, barely give a little light” — lamented a customer in another store in the MLC in downtown Holguin. Residents of the city have already experienced other moments of covered windows, such as in the days following the popular protests of July 11, 2021. “You can measure the degree of people’s discontent and the government’s fear by going around these stores to see if the windows are covered,” she adds.

This week, judging by the wooden planks covering the façade of El Nickel, it can be concluded that the discontent of the people of Holguín is high and so is the fear of the authorities.

____________

Cuba: Not Even Money and Advice From Vietnam Can Recover Fishing in the Los Palacios Reservoir

Vietnam will guarantee food and fish care in Pinar del Río until 2026, but no longer

The fishermen of La Juventud are aware of the leaders’ plans but warn that real life is going elsewhere / Guerrillero

14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2024 — In 2011, Vietnam invested money and advice in the La Juventud reservoir, located in the Pinar del Río municipality of Los Palacios, hoping that almost 15 years later the results would be satisfactory. Fishing in the reservoir has not only been below what was planned in the last decade, but this year – between breakdowns, little investment and the desertions of fishermen – has been catastrophic.

Now the staff working at La Juventud awaits the arrival of four Vietnamese technicians who will contribute to the “intensive tilapia rearing.” With the newcomers’ strategy, the fishermen hope to live up to their plans: 10 tons to finish 2024, 40 in 2025 and 50 in 2026.

The scientists from Vietnam aspire to genetically improve tilapia through sex reversal. If they manage to make most of the fry male by injecting hormones into the eggs, they will have more weight when they mature. The Vietnamese left Los Palacios during the pandemic, but, the reservoir’s director, Antonio González, says with relief, they are already starting to return.

In La Juventud there are 16,000 tilapia raised in cages; each one weighs two pounds

In La Juventud there are 16,000 tilapia raised in cages; each one weighs two pounds. Vietnam will guarantee fish food until 2026, but not beyond. The “challenge” of the Cuban State is to “market part of its production in continue reading

foreign currency for the acquisition of feed.” Fishing, at the moment, is managed by the State-owned Pescarío, which catches, transports and refrigerates the fish. Everything, however, is limited to two municipalities – Los Palacios and Pinar del Río – and there are no guarantees that the product is exportable.

The fishermen of La Juventud are aware of the leaders’ plans but warn that real life is going elsewhere. Fishing “is not going at a good pace,” says Luis Quesada, with 20 years of experience fishing in the area. There are natural reasons and others that have to do with the lack of resources.

“The fish stick to the bottom,” Quesada explains, because of the bad weather on the surface. Winds, rain and the high level of the reservoir have forced the tench and tilapia to flee from the rough waves and go down to the bottom, a common behavior in the last months of the year due to the occurrence of cold fronts, but fueled by Hurricane Rafael.

On the other hand, the “Chernera”- as they call the boat used by the fishermen – was stopped for three months due to a break in the engine. Since January, when there was a good catch, “there have been very bad months,” the fisherman says.

The head of the fishing brigade, Julián Mesa, explains that they do not have appropriate nets either. Some fishing gear has been used for up to two decades, and the new materials that the State has provided them “do not have the ideal dimensions”: they are too small for such deep waters.

Mesa requested resources for a quarter-mile long net, but they “allowed” him to acquire one of only half that length

Mesa requested resources for a quarter-mile long net, but they “allowed” him to acquire one of only half that length. “With the high level of the reservoir we have to fish at the bottom behind the streams, which is where we get the small fish; if the nets were bigger, we would have a better catch,” he says.

However, his greatest concern, he explains, is the “discontent of his men.” “Two have already left the brigade this year because they are subject to payment systems for results, and when they do not meet the catch plan they receive only the minimum wage of 2,400 pesos, insufficient to cover the needs of their families,” he adds.

The members of the brigade are subjected to harsh working conditions. Standing from six in the morning, they finish at five in the afternoon, “but with the current gear and conditions of the reservoir the reward for the effort is minimal.”

González, for his part, is clear that “it will be very difficult to comply with the year’s plan” under these conditions. Fishing is only the first step of an industry that, in the province, does not work well. Little is processed and almost everything is restricted to the fish markets and the town’s canteens, where the people, he says, are always “waiting.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘There Is Business’ in Cuba, Says the President of Spanish Entrepreneurs on the Island

Joaquín Samperio clarifies that “there are possibilities and offers, with risks involved”

The president of the Association of Spanish Entrepreneurs in Cuba (AEEC), Joaquín Samperio Sañudo

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 3 November 2024 — To do business in Cuba it is necessary to “know the dynamics of the country,” where there are “risks” and “possibilities,” Joaquín Samperio Sañudo. says in an interview with EFE, speaking as president of the Association of Spanish Entrepreneurs in Cuba (AEEC).

The organization, the only one of national character legalized on the Island and with more than 250 associates from multiple sectors, celebrates its 30th anniversary from this Sunday, a “very important landmark” despite the “complex” situation that the country is experiencing, says Samperio in reference to the serious economic and energy crisis that the island suffers.

The celebration coincides with the International Fair of Havana (Fihav), the largest business event in the country, where Spain is once again the country with the greatest representation, with 63 companies, five pavilions (including that of the Basque Country) and three chambers of commerce (Guipúzcoa, Cantabria and Lugo).

“We try to give them a clear X-ray of the country’s situation,” says Samperio

“There is business. If all of us are here, it is because there are possibilities, there are offers, … with the risks that they entail,” explains Samperio. continue reading

Here the AEEC plays an important role informing potential Spanish investors. “We try to give them a clear X-ray of the situation in the country,” says Samperio, who clarifies that his “mission is not to encourage or discourage.”

“The main thing I tell them when they come to see me is that they have to understand the characteristics of the country. It is a country with a state economic model, and that radically changes the vision of the business we do in Spain, France, Peru, Panama and Brazil. This is a totally different model,” he says.

Samperio recalls the importance that Spain has at the economic level in Cuba. If the energy factor is eliminated, the European country is the first trading partner of the Island and carries special weight in a critical factor, the food sector.

About the economic situation, the president of the AEEC says that Cuba is in a particularly difficult situation because of the complex world situation added to the US sanctions.

It greatly affects all decisions and the economic policy that is developed in the country,” says Samperio and adds: “It’s a big problem, a great handicap.”

In this area, the effect of Cuba’s inclusion in Washington’s list of countries that sponsor terrorism stands out, which in his opinion was a “slap” to tourism, one of the country’s main sources of foreign exchange.

The pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions with Trump (2017-2021) and failed economic policies have aggravated the structural problems of the Cuban economy and led the country to one of its worst crises in decades, with shortages of basics, galloping inflation, massive migration and frequent blackouts.

The 2021 decision to allow Cuban private initiative again, says Samperio, has generated a new “quite important” sector

The 2021 decision to allow Cuban private initiative again, says Samperio, has generated a new “quite important” sector with which foreign entrepreneurs can interact, although in his opinion also some uncertainty.

“We are in a moment of putting order in the private sector in Cuba. It has only been two years and, like everything new, over time you have to put order into it and put it in its place,” explains the Spanish businessman: “the country is in a moment of change, little by little.”

Samperio, who expects a “good presence of the authorities” in the activities commemorating the 30th anniversary of the AEEC, assures that they maintain a “very good dialogue” with the Cuban Government, which gives “moral support” to Spanish entrepreneurs.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Head of the Havana Prosecutor’s Office Promises ‘Severity’ for Crimes During the Hurricane

Prisoners Defenders denounces the arrests of peaceful protesters during the October blackout

Lisnay Mederos, head of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Havana / Facebook / Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Havana

14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2024 — From the appearance before the cameras of Canal Habana that Lisnay Mederos, head of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, made this Friday, two points were clear: “respect for authority is important” and Cubans have “rights, but there are limits.” Her intervention occurred as a result of “recent criminal acts” that occurred in the capital after the passage of Hurricane Rafael, but she did not offer numbers or names.

The Prosecutor’s Office has charged defendants with the crimes of “public disorder, attack, contempt and injuries,” inadmissible, Mederos stressed, in a population that is considered “disciplined.”

“You may have some dissatisfaction, some concern, something that you consider affects you,” Mederos said, “but you cannot transgress the law, because no one is above the law.” Regarding the crime of attack, although she did not give details, she said that she considered it an aggravating circumstance that occurred after the passage of the hurricane.

She announced condemnations of the utmost severity against those who attacked “goods that are of special importance for the country’s economy”

Mederos gave some clues about the crimes that the Prosecutor’s Office attributes to the defendants. She announced condemnations of the utmost severity against those who attacked “goods that are of special importance for the country’s economy,” specifically the National Electro-Energy System. She also alluded to thefts of “cables, brackets, transformers, continue reading

components and internal accessories [of electrical installations], public telephone equipment and property crimes, including home robberies.”

She said that during the evacuation of homes, robberies were committed, and the authorities had to “protect” the empty houses. The Havana Channel reported that the defendants have been tried in “different proceedings.”

Mederos, a prosecutor totally trusted by the regime – she is married to former spy Fernando González – ended up insisting that she has the “constitutional duty” to face “with all rigor and severity” those who attack the Revolution.

The recent natural events that have shaken the country – two hurricanes and two earthquakes – added to the energy crisis, the shortages and the deterioration of every sphere of life — are testing the patience of Cubans, who have protested against the Government, although not massively. Neither the police nor the leaders have lost the opportunity to assert their authority, by force and by arrests.

[[Prisoners Defenders states that the last few weeks have been hellish for Cubans]]

This is demonstrated by the most recent report of the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD), which places the number of political prisoners in Cuba at 1,117 and records the new imprisonments after the peaceful protests in October. PD says that the last few weeks have been hellish for Cubans. On October 17, a nationwide “total blackout” was announced that lasted four days, with serious consequences for food, water supply, transportation and daily routine. Despite this situation, the Ministry of the Interior and the Army warned that “revolutionary surveillance” was maintained and that demonstrations of discontent would not be tolerated.

Several groups went into the streets, despite the threats, in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Villa Clara and Camagüey. In Santiago, on October 18, Luis Adrián Pupo protested and was arrested by the police for “disrespect” and “disobedience.” Pupo, says PD, did not resist when the agents captured him or when they moved him. However, he was beaten. The man was the one who questioned Miguel Díaz-Canel during a public meeting last March during the president’s tour of Santiago de Cuba. Since then, as he reported several times, he has been harassed and monitored by the police.

For his part, in Villa Clara, Professor Osvaldo Agüero – who protested on October 19 in front of the Municipal Assembly of Manicaragua – was arrested without a warrant, after being recognized by State Security in one of the videos of the protest. Nabriel Torres, who also demonstrated in Manicaragua, is in the Santa Clara State Security Crimes Unit.

In that same province, in the municipality of Encrucijada, at least eight people were arrested between November 8 and 9, during a protest in the streets that reached the headquarters of the Assembly of People’s Power. One of those detainees is José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, whose family has not heard from him according to the legal organization Cubalex. The independent journalist, a collaborator of 14ymedio, has been subject to harassment and persecution by the regime since 2019, which has “regulated” him, preventing him from leaving the country.

Nelson Caballero, father of two children in Camagüey, was arrested on October 19, after being attacked by police officers in Jimaguayú. “After the attack, the detainee received health care and obtained a medical certificate accrediting the injuries suffered, evidencing the physical abuse of the authorities. However, after this document was made public, in retaliation he has been kept incommunicado, without allowing visits from his wife or other family members,” says PD.

In Granma, Pastor Domínguez took to the streets on September 28 with a poster against Díaz-Canel. He was arrested the next day. In the same municipality, activist Yumaris Castillo, a member of the Union Party for a Free Cuba, was also arrested. “The State does not provide basic services but is very active in repression,” summarizes PD.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

State Security Continues To Pressure Berta Soler To Leave Cuba

The Lady in White was released without charges on Wednesday, after 72 hours in detention

Berta Soler speaks during an interview with EFE, on June 11, 2024, in Havana / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascus

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 14 November 2024 — The leader of the Cuban opposition women’s movement Ladies in White, Berta Soler, was released on Wednesday after being detained for more than 72 hours last Sunday outside the organization’s headquarters in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, according to her husband, former political prisoner and activist Ángel Moya.

According to Moya’s testimony, State Security agents dressed in plain clothes took Soler in a car to the Aguilera police unit, where the activist refused the medical check-up they tried to perform on her. Later, the leader of the Ladies in White was taken to the Cotorro unit and confined in a cell without a mattress and in precarious conditions, including the lack of water.

Moya reported that a State Security agent, identified as Felo, asked Soler “when he was going to leave Cuba to see his grandchildren and children.”

The activist was taken back to Aguilera on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and released at 6:15 “without charges.”

The activist was taken back to Aguilera on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and released at 6:15 a.m. “without charges.”

Members of the Ladies in White in Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara and other towns on the island have been temporarily detained, and in some cases fined, on 102 Sundays since 2022, when the group decided to resume its usual Sunday marches after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. continue reading

The Ladies in White movement was created by a group of female relatives of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists who in March 2003 received long prison sentences during the period of repression known as the Black Spring.

From then on, the wives, mothers and other relatives of those prisoners identified themselves by always wearing white and after attending mass in a Catholic church they began to hold Sunday marches to demand their release.

The European Union and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the wave of arrests, calling them political, while the regime accused them of being counter-revolutionaries who were trying to undermine national sovereignty on the orders of the United States.

In 2005, the Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament.

____________

Cuba: Woman Reported Missing in Santa Clara Found Dead in Her Ex-Partner’s Home

The murder of stylist Disneys Borrero, in San Miguel del Padrón, was another of the murders reported this week

Elaine Gonzalez is the mother of two girls / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2024 — The independent platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTC) confirmed a new femicide on Thursday. It is that of Elaine González Estrada, whose body was found on November 5 at the home of her ex-partner, two days after her disappearance was reported in the city of Santa Clara

That day, according to a complaint on Facebook by her cousin Diayani Pérez, the victim, a mother of two girls, went out in the morning to sell “a couple of rings” to a man at Parque Arcoíris, a recreational facility located on the outskirts of the city, on the Central Highway. According to the story, her ex-partner had seen González with the buyer.

Shortly after, González posted photos “from the outside” of Somos Jóvenes – another recreational complex located on the outskirts, on the Camajuaní Highway – to her WhatsApp status, something that her cousin considered “strange,” since the victim also frequently posted “photos of herself” inside the facility. The message indicates that in the afternoon communication with González was lost. “She never made a call to check on her daughter, nor a call to her family,” her cousin remarks. continue reading

According to the report from Alas Tensas and YSTC on Thursday, the attacker fled, but was captured

According to a report by Alas Tensas and YSTC on Thursday, the aggressor fled the scene but was captured by the police. The NGOs also said that the family has suffered “revictimization due to the poor work of the authorities.”

They also stressed that many femicides have been preceded by early warnings from citizens about disappearances, “which are still not considered key by the authorities. The time of action is crucial to finding a person at risk alive.”

With this case, the country totals 43 victims of gender-based violence during 2024, according to the 14ymedio count . Last October was the month with the most femicides on the Island so far this year. According to the count of this media, seven cases were registered, which exceeded the figure for January, when six were verified.

Another murder this week was that of Disneys Borrero, a young hairstylist – whose age is not specified – from the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón. His murder occurred on November 11. The incident was reported by user Almakki Díaz on Facebook, where he reported the case as “another violent act, this time homophobic.” According to the post, Borrero was killed in the La Rosita neighborhood by his partner, who is currently on the run.

Borrero was murdered in the La Rosita neighborhood by his partner, who is currently on the run

The incident alarmed the municipality’s community, which reacted to the publication about the case. People close to the victim lamented the death of Borrero. “What a shame. That boy was a super good person. Decent and polite. And as a stylist he was the best,” said user Bertha Mariela Sablon.

YSTC told 14ymedio that it is investigating the case and said that it is evaluating all the elements in order to classify the murder.

Another case that recently affected the LGBTI community on the island was that of Luis Miguel Llanta, owner of a restaurant in Santa Clara who worked as a drag queen, last October. The murder of the 31-year-old, reported at the time by 14ymedio , was committed by someone with whom he “had an informal relationship” and who sought to “blackmail” him, according to the testimonies collected.

Media reports and independent organizations have recorded that, during the first half of the year, the country recorded 91 murders. To that figure, reported by the NGO Cuba Siglo 21, must be added another 22 homicides recorded in August by Cubalex, in its latest report on this type of cases.
____________

Cuba’s Tourism Minister Announces That There Will Soon Be ‘Hotels Built by Russians’ on the Island

García Granda admits that the target of 200,000 Russian tourists will not be met this year
Prevention in the Cuban Government, after the long history of unfulfilled promises by the Russians

So far, only the French company Bouygues has been involved in the construction, without ownership, of hotels on the island. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 13 November 2024 — The forecasts have not been met and the Government has publicly admitted that the goal of attracting 200,000 Russian tourists to Cuba will not be met, although the admission came only through the Tass agency, in a brief information released this Tuesday only in Russian. The Island had received 141,615 Russians by September 30, so almost 60,000 more were needed to reach the official objective, a pipe dream, as this newspaper had already warned, as it also pointed out the impossibility of achieving the 2.7 million tourists expected.

Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García Granda postponed the target to 2025 during statements made during his recent visit to Moscow in which he said that there are Russian businesspeople interested in entering the business of building and managing hotels on the island.

“I think we are very close to the fact that the first hotels built by Russian businesspeople will appear in Cuba. In addition, several existing hotels could be transferred to the management of Russian travel companies,” said the minister, who referred to the island’s experience in developing joint ventures, suggesting that this will be the formula if the forecasts are met.

Cautiously, García Granda did not want to talk about the areas of the Island where these projects would be developed, nor give a date or any other clarification. “I will not give details, we will wait until it materializes. But there are already projects in the study phase, which are already close to beginning execution.”

“I won’t give details, we will wait until it materializes. But there are already projects in the study phase, which are already close to beginning execution.” continue reading

After a long history of unfulfilled promises in the short, medium and long term, any precaution is insufficient. Not in vain, in March 2023 there was already talk for the first time of building a hotel specifically focused on Russian tourism. It happened during a visit to Havana by Boris Titov, president of the Cuba-Russia Business Council and the Kremlin’s trusted man, in which several new businesses between both parties were announced, including the opening of a wholesale store.

In November of that year , during the Havana International Fair (Fihav), the information was confirmed and the store was named for the first time, Rusmarket. The same groups would ultimately serve for all types of businesses, a joint venture with the state-owned Cimex that would sell food first and textiles, appliances or cars later. The store had two possible locations, Yumurí (corner of Belascoaín and Carlos III) or Cuatro Caminos, in Havana, and its opening was scheduled for March 2024.

A year later, at the most recent Fihav – suspended halfway due to Hurricane Rafael – the Russian agency Sputnik spoke with Alena Varkentin, director of Rusmarket. She said that a small store in Old Havana, named Florida, will open in March 2025, after the contract was signed in January 2024. In the meantime, the announced shopping center would wait until June or July.

It is one more example of the countless businesses, investments and financial developments that arrive late, badly or never. Other cases include the installation of a branch of the Russian bank Novimbank, which was delayed for more than a year since the approval of the permit; the announced creation of a binational Russian-Cuban bank that has been talked about for several years, or the long wait for the use of Mir cards, announced repeatedly for two years until they arrived.

Other projects were left in limbo, such as the Russian refinery on the Island, of which there has been no news since Jorge Piñón, an expert from the University of Texas, described it as a “fairy tale,” and the much talked about modernization of Cuba’s railway infrastructure by the Russian Railways Union (RZD).

Other projects were left in limbo, such as the Russian refinery on the Island, of which there has been no news since Jorge Piñón, an expert from the University of Texas, described it as a “fairy tale.”

This was one of many projects cancelled in 2020 by the Russians, who made their displeasure known to Havana over what they called a “Cold War mentality that was out of place in post-Soviet Russia.” “They are difficult negotiators, I won’t hide it, the mentality of the past weighs on them constantly,” said Yuri Borisov, then deputy prime minister of Russia and in charge of economic relations with Cuba, in an unforgettable interview.

The railway project was revived this year by the deputy director of RZD, but skepticism haunts any announcement coming from a country that distrusts not only the Cubans’ ability to pay, but also a system in which the law still does not favor private initiative as the Russians claim it does.

The reluctance of Russian businesspeople was made clear last week when, during the FIHAV, Tatiana Mashkova, director of the Committee for Economic Cooperation with Latin American Countries and vice president of the Russia-Cuba Business Council, admitted that until now there is only one Russian company registered in the Mariel Special Development Zone. “This is a challenge and a request to Russian companies: think about the possibilities that Mariel offers,” she encouraged, before speaking of future projects, especially in logistics, although it remains to be seen, once again, whether they materialize.

If the idea of building Russian hotels were to go ahead, it would, however, be a great novelty on the island. To date, only the French company Bouygues had participated in this type of work in Cuba, through joint ventures with the Cuban State, which provides the labor for its military construction company (the Almest real estate company and the Union of Military Constructions), but without ownership of what is built.

Meanwhile, official announcements continue. This Tuesday, the official press announced the creation of a joint training center between the National Research University of Energy Institute of Moscow, of the Russian Federation, and the Electric Union, of Cuba, whose purpose is “to create new capacities to train highly qualified personnel in the energy sector,” which will be of little use as long as the regime fails to retain the professionals.

Also on the island is Alexander Viacheslavovich Kurenkov , the Russian Minister of Emergency Situations, who will meet with senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the National Civil Defense General Staff. The Russian arrives with something of the usual, an – unknown – donation for the Cuban Fire Department that follows the one made last year, consisting of 21 firefighting vehicles.

____________

Silence in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela on the Nomination of Marco Rubio for US Secretary of State

The politician has defended for years the policy of maximum pressure on Cuba and criticized any rapprochement with the Island

“He will be a strong defender of our nation, a true friend of our allies and a brave warrior,” said Trump / EFE

EFE/14ymedio, Washington, 14 November 2024 — “Giving such political scope to a sinister figure, who has caused so much damage, is not a positive omen for the world.” This is how Cuba’s State newspaper Granma commented on Wednesday on the appointment of Marco Rubio as the new Secretary of State for Donald Trump’s Cabinet. More composed, Cubadebate limited itself to exposing the political curriculum of the man who will be the first Cuban-American to occupy that office. The regime’s senior officials, however, remain silent, and other leaders allied with Cuba, such as those of Nicaragua and Venezuela, remain cautious.

Latin America is still wary about the nomination of someone who is expected to increase pressure on the region’s dictatorships, of which he has always been critical. Trump announced on Wednesday the nomination of Rubio, whom he described as “a highly respected leader and a very powerful voice in favor of freedom. He will be a strong defender of our nation, a true friend of our allies and a brave warrior who will never surrender to our adversaries,” Trump said.

Cuba, which has been immersed in a deep economic and energy crisis for four years, faces this change with obvious concern and so far has not commented on Trump’s return to the presidency. In his first term he considerably tightened the sanctions imposed on the regime and included Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. continue reading

To withdraw the sanctions, Rubio calls for changes in the matter of human rights, the freedom of political prisoners and the democratization of the system.

Rubio has defended for years the policy of maximum pressure on Cuba and has criticized any rapprochement with the Island, including the period known as the “thaw,” when diplomatic relations were re-established during the Obama Administration. To withdraw the sanctions, Rubio calls for changes in the matter to human rights, the freedom of political prisoners and the democratization of the Cuban political system. Cuba, for its part, demands respect for national sovereignty and points to human rights problems in the United States.

Rubio has also been a constant critic of the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, whom he accuses of being a dictator, of violating human rights, staying in power through fraud, annulling the opposition and imprisoning his possible rivals. Rubio has called for sanctions and the denial of international loans to that Central American country.

Nicaraguan opponents, such as Arturo McFields and Jaime Arellano, see Rubio’s nomination as a triumph for the fight against Ortega, while others, such as sociologist Javier Meléndez, are skeptical, criticizing the focus on Nicaragua. Guatemalan migration analyst Pedro Pablo Solares tells EFE that Rubio’s nomination “should be seen positively.”

The senator is “a critic of the loss of democracy in the region in countries such as Cuba and Venezuela. Guatemala can take advantage of his diplomacy to maintain the support it has received from the United States in terms of democracy,” he adds.

In the same vein, Celia Medrano, former candidate for the Salvadoran vice presidency for the minority (center-right) party Nuestro Tiempo and an expert on migration issues, tells EFE that with Rubio, the new Trump Administration will be able to “increase pressure against Cuba, Venezuela and to a lesser extent Nicaragua.”

Rubio increases the risk that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be seen in the White House as “a regional enemy”

For Guilherme Casarões, professor of International Politics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rubio, as head of US diplomacy, increases the risk that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will be seen in the White House as “a regional enemy” for being aligned with the Latin American left.

“Rubio’s statements and positions as a senator show that he is very attentive to Latin American politics, which he can come to see as a dispute between good and evil.” This vision can lead to a bilateral “lack of political dialogue” and a possible weakening of Brazil at the regional level, he explains to EFE.

The Government of Colombia, which has not yet commented on the appointment, wants to maintain good relations with the United States, based on bipartisanship, but Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Rubio have differences. “Even if you don’t like to say it to our press, Senator Rubio is an expression of the most backward sectors of American politics and has helped to build a violent foreign policy. That policy has killed millions of people in the 21st century,” Petro said in a 2019 tweet, when he was not yet president.

For his part, Rubio has called the president “Gustavo ‘Chávez’ Petro” and has recently criticized his pro-Palestinian position: “It is unfortunate to see that a country as important as Colombia, whose extraordinary people have suffered from terrorist actions, currently has a president who condemns Israel and compares its leaders to Nazis, while justifying and giving his support to Hamas.”

However, for the government of Javier Milei in Argentina, a country that the senator visited in February of this year to meet with the ultra-liberal president, it is good news. During his visit, Rubio was “honored” to be received by Milei, whom he said he had “followed very closely” during his career for the Presidency. Previously, he had described Milei as an ally who must be supported by the United States and urged the Biden Administration to pressure the International Monetary Fund to restructure Argentina’s debt, a central issue for the South American country.

On the other hand, the Republican has been very critical of former Argentina President Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and last December sent a letter to Biden requesting sanctions against her for being a “convicted kleptocrat” who has favored China and Iran. The Uruguayan Vice Chancellor, Nicolás Albertoni, “looks kindly on the name of Marco Rubio. He has a long parliamentary career in which he has highlighted the importance of the region, and on different occasions he has mentioned the importance of Uruguay as a promoter of values shared with the United States,” he told EFE.

Panama’s Foreign Minister, Javier Martínez-Acha, congratulated Rubio on his nomination and said he hoped to “strengthen” diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The elected governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, was “proud” of her “dear friend and one of the strongest allies” of the island in Congress. “I have no doubt that with his unwavering commitment to our democratic values, he will continue to promote an agenda that strongly supports our allies and sanctions dictatorial regimes,” she said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Without Running Water for a Year, Las Tunas, Cuba, Receives Relief From New Electric Pumps

In total, the equipment guarantees a delivery of 100 gallons per second to Las Tunas’ main city

A dozen electric pumps were sent to the province / Facebook/INRH Las Tunas

14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2024 — For at least a year, as described by the official press, the water supply situation has been “one of the most sensitive issues” in Las Tunas. The water pumps in the main city, which for more than two decades were barely maintained, stopped working one by one, affecting thousands of customers. The province has had the equipment to resume service for a month, but it was not until this week that the installation actually began.

Of the 10 electric pumps acquired by the country – the official press does not clarify their origin – and destined for the water treatment plant of the El Rincón reservoir, which mainly supplies the city, only four have been installed. One of these, for lack of a “cable,” did not come into operation immediately either.

In total, the equipment guarantees a “delivery” of 100 gallons per second to the city, out of the 132 gallons promised. But the problem of supply in the province is not reduced to sending water from dams and wells to the water treatment plant and from there to the towns. It involves the repair of the pipes, drains and conductors that limit the arrival of water to homes.

The arrival of the equipment, however, is already giving relief to some residents

This Wednesday, Periódico 26 published an article praising the start of the repair work on a section of “sanitary connections,” whose breakage affects the lives of the 16,460 residents in the Alturas de Buena Vista continue reading

neighborhood, “one of the areas considered vulnerable,” according to the media.

The arrival of the equipment, however, is already giving relief to some residents, whom Periódico 26 did not take long to interview. “The assembly of two electric pumps in the drinking water treatment plant that bring water to this city has caused the population to comment today, among neighbors, on the arrival with sufficient pressure of the essential liquid to different places in the provincial capital,” the media highlighted, quoting a grateful resident in the neighborhood of Aguilera: “It’s great that we now have water.”

The newspaper pointed out that “the obsolescence of the technology that guaranteed, and continues to do so in part, the water supply to Las Tunas made it impossible to respond to the needs of this service in different parts of the city.” In summary, the “total equipment,” which the province has not received since 2007, when “the pumps from [the time of] the Energy Revolution* were replaced” is not enough either.

Hence, Periódico 26 continues, Recursos Hidráulicos will mobilize pipes to move water “to various places, but without covering all the needs for obvious reasons: the limitations with fuel that affect the economy and services in Cuba.”

Work on the facilities has required the intervention of “a specialized brigade”

The work on the facilities that were in “very poor condition” has required the intervention of “a specialized brigade with mechanics, electricians, assemblers and welders,” the authorities explain.

The supply situation in the province was on the verge of collapse since at least November 2023, when, with the reservoirs 75% full, about 90,000 people in Las Tunas did not have running water. A month later, 100,000 people received it by tanker truck and another 6,267 by train. Since then the problem has worsened, but the press was careful when it came to giving the number of people affected or saying how long the water service would take, which in some places was months.

Likewise, the press assures that during this time they have not stopped the delivery of water by tanker truck to the residents, while El Rincón underwent “a comprehensive repair, the most complete since it was inaugurated 25 years ago.” The almost obsolete equipment, which the pumps replaced, would be installed “in other places that are less favored.”

Although the situation of Las Tunas is one of the worst in the country, due to the long period that residents have suffered from the lack of water, the passage of Hurricane Rafael wreaked havoc on the supply systems of the western provinces. Currently in Artemisa, only 59% of the population, including those who receive water by tanker truck, have the service. In Mayabeque there are 11,000 affected, and in Havana, although 79.7% of residents now have service, there are still almost half a million people without supply.

*The Energy Revolution, announced by Fidel Castro in 2005, was a campaign to improve energy efficiency by using renewable resources.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Spanish Choreographer Susana Pous, 25 Years of Farewells to a ‘Desperate’ Cuban Youth

The artist asked the regime to generate “some changes so that the people of Cuba want to live in Cuba”

Pous will close the 13th edition of the Prisma-International Contemporary Dance Festival of Panama her his piece Infinito this weekend. / EFE

Fabio Agrana/EFE (via 14ymedo), Panama City, 19 October 2024 = Spanish choreographer Susana Pous first arrived in Havana, Cuba – her creative universe – 25 years ago (1999) and has felt at home ever since, although she does not hide her concern about the economic problems that are strangling the Island and leading to the “mass exodus” of a “desperate” youth.

In an interview with EFE, the director and choreographer of Mi Compañía said “The mass exodus has been so great in recent years that I have spent my whole life saying goodbye. Yes, and that worries me. Especially because a lot of the population has aged.” This weekend Mi Compañía closes the 13th edition of the Prisma-International Contemporary Dance Festival of Panama with its piece Infinito.

The situation causes concern for Pous (b. Barcelona, 1971) because these young people emigrating are “very desperate, with a lot of hopelessness because they don’t see a future.” However, she clarified that she has a different vision, but that “it is true that economically and in terms of development, Cuba is a bit suffocated.”

The choreographer does not hide her concern about the economic problems that are drowning the Island

She therefore consideres it opportune for the people in charge “to realize a little that despite the real resistance” that the country is experiencing in the face of these difficulties and hardships, “some changes must be made so that the Cuban people want to live in Cuba, because the problem is that people want to leave.”

The Catalan director and choreographer believes that young people are the driving force of a country, but if they are not interested in transforming and decide to leave, “what will happen?”

“That is what I feel. I think there are many things to do, and we all want to transform things in the place where we live, but the only way is by being continue reading

there. Changes are generated through actions,” she said.

Pous, whose creations are nourished by a “very big” imagination and the incorporation of visual arts and contemporary music in her productions, has in Cuba the reality and the present that not only serve as a basis for her work, but also for her activism in campaigns against machismo and violence on the Island.

She confesses that when she arrived in Cuba, it crossed her mind that she “wouldn’t live there, even if she was crazy.”

She admits that when she arrived in Cuba, it crossed her mind that she “wouldn’t live there, even if she was crazy,” but after a year she was still there and has been living in Havana for 25 years now. “There is something that connected me and seduced me, something about the light and the smells that also connects me to my childhood in which perhaps I had a little less music and joy,” she admits.

“It’s not that I’m fascinated by Havana itself and that my works are from Havana, what happens is that since I speak very much from the present and I speak about what surrounds me and what inspires me is what is happening to me, if I’m in Havana, I’m in Havana, and that’s my reality and for me it’s very important,” she said.

Because of this connection and the recognition she has earned on the Island for the level and innovation of her choreographic creations, her image was used in a campaign against gender violence, in a country that, she said, “like everywhere else and in all of Latin America, there is a sexist society.” What surprised her was that when this topic was discussed, people “didn’t know what you were talking about, they didn’t know what gender violence was.”

She regretted that machismo in Cuba is something that is still “very accepted”

Pous points out that this situation around machismo is something that is “still very accepted,” but “people are already starting to talk about it a little bit” and “Cuban society is opening up to, let’s say, raising awareness about this.”

In the island’s creative arts, Susana Pous is praised for her work for incorporating Cuba’s cultural memory into her choreographic projects, with notable works such as ¿Qué se puede esperar cuando se está esperando? [What Can You Expect When You’re Expecting?], Showroom, Welcome, MalSon, and Infinito.

Pous describes the latter, released in 2023, as “a journey of searching” into her interior at a time when she was talking a lot and was inspired by the reality she saw around her.

She recalled that she then realized that “when you begin to travel inward, you begin to understand that there are many things that make up the being that you are that have to do with your ancestors and previous generations.” In this, she noted, “there is a very important connection.” “And that is the original idea or the initial idea of ‘Infinito,’ the point of departure, the starting point,” she remarked.

____________

At Least 23 People Arrested in Cuba in Protests Over Blackouts

The ’14ymedio’ newsroom in Nuevo Vedado was without electricity for 106 hours.

A police patrol and an unmarked vehicle of the State Security arrived in Nuevo Vedado to silence the neighbors. / 14ymedio

Since that day, it has also registered a total of 68 protests. Of these, 12 took place after Rafael, hit western Cuba, on November 6, giving a total of 14 people detained. The most recent took place in Villa Clara, where at least eight people were arrested in Encrucijada municipality between Thursday and Friday, for a street protest that reached the headquarters of the Assembly of People’s Power.

One of those arrested is José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, of whom, according to the legal NGO Cubalex, his family has had no news about his situation since Friday, when he was arrested. The independent journalist, a contributor to 14ymedio, has been harassed and persecuted by the regime since 2019, and which has him “regulado” (on a travel restriction list), preventing him from leaving the country.

In a communiqué published this Sunday, Justicia 11J – which has compiled information on political prisoners since the historic demonstrations of 11 July 2021 – lashes out against the informative note issued by the Attorney General’s Office on Saturday, which justified the “criminal proceedings for crimes of attack, public disorder and damage” carried out against defendants – whose number and names are not specified – for “acts of aggression towards authorities and inspectors of the territories which have caused injuries and disturbances of order”, and who have been remanded in custody.

The Prosecutor’s Office does not refer to the total of 18 detainees in Encrucijada, Camajuaní and Manicaragua.

The US-based organization expresses its concern precisely because the Prosecutor’s Office does not refer to the total of 18 people arrested in Encrucijada, Camajuaní and Manicaragua. In the last of these, six people continue reading

were arrested for demanding they get their electricity supply back during the previous general blackout on October 18. Nor do the authorities refer to the young man arrested in Jimaguayú, Camagüey, for the same reason. The judicial body only vaguely refers to Havana, Mayabeque and Ciego de Avila.

In the records of Justicia 11J, explains the NGO, until now there was no information on arrests in Mayabeque, where a noisy “cacerolaza” (pot-banging) demonstration took place on October 19.

The initiation of these criminal proceedings, denounces Justicia 11J, “is directly related” to Miguel Díaz-Canel’s statements on social networks on October 20, when he stated: “We will not accept nor will we allow anyone to act by provoking vandalism and much less to disturb the tranquility of our people. And this is a conviction and a principle of our Revolution”. With these words, according to the NGO, he made evident “the continuity of the repressive nature against public expressions of discontent in the country”.

In Nuevo Vedado, Havana, where on Friday the neighbors had banged cauldrons for more than 60 hours of blackout, the pans were heard again. Amid the darkness, while other electric circuits around the neighborhood still had power, including the one at the Plaza de la Revolución, residents began a new protest with shouts and banging of spoons, which this time did not go unnoticed by the authorities.

The initiation of these criminal proceedings, claims Justicia 11J, “is directly related” to the statements made by Miguel Díaz-Canel on networks last October 20.

Shortly after the cacerolazo began, a police patrol car and an unmarked State Security vehicle arrived in Nuevo Vedado to silence the residents. In a video filmed from the 14ymedio newsroom, one of the agents and the other car could be seen advancing down the street, where the cauldrons could no longer be heard.

On Sunday around 3:45 p.m. the power briefly returned -it lasted 10 minutes- to the 14ymedio newsroom in Nuevo Vedado, after 103 uninterrupted hours of blackout, and three hours later the service was definitely reestablished.

Justicia 11J had denounced other arbitrary detentions in the town of El Eucalipto in the municipality of Ciro Redondo, in Ciego de Avila, where last Thursday the inhabitants took to the streets with cauldrons and chanting “put the current on” in protest for more than 24 hours without electricity.

One day after this protest, Adiane Hernández Calderón, Yordanka López González and Diosbany Almaguer were arrested for the crime of “public disorder” and transferred to the prison in Ciego de Ávila. However, the NGO protested that these persons “did not even participate in the protest” but the authorities labelled them as “promoters” because “they were photographed by government officials while they were observing the demonstration”.

In the Barreras neighborhood of Guanabacoa, Havana, Deisy Romero and her daughter, Yudeisis Diaz Romero, Keren Probance, Xiomara Llanes Armas and her daughter Aylet Maria Piñeiro Llanes and Rusbel Machado Perez were summoned after a protest over blackouts on Saturday night.

Justicia 11J stated that Llanes Armas and her daughter must appear this Sunday at Police unit 14. It also pointed out that Llanes Armas was “assaulted by Major Pavón (who signed the summons), while he was trying to snatch the percussion utensil [cauldron] that she took to the cacerolazo”. The woman has acute post-traumatic bursitis and muscular contusion, it concluded.

Translated by GH

____________

By Increasing Housing Prices Fivefold, the Cuban State Is Repealing a Key Norm of Socialism

The fair rule that determined the price based on the buyer’s salary disappears

Many of the houses being sold today are the same ones that were acquired under the just rules of socialism. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 13 November 2024 — The abandonment of the so-called fundamental laws of the socialist system in the Cuban model is something that has not been officially proclaimed, although it was slyly suggested in 1994 when the Special Period in Times of Peace was proclaimed, when it was necessary to appeal to the rules of the market “to save the conquests of the Revolution.”

The latest evidence that the publicized aspirations to establish real socialism on this Island are irrational and unviable is becoming clear after the publication in the Official Gazette of Resolution 313 of 2024, which will come into force on November 15.

The regulation issued by the Ministry of Finance establishes new minimum reference values for the liquidation and payment of taxes on personal income and on the transfer of property and inheritance, associated with acts of purchase and sale and donation of homes between natural persons.

These new reference values are five times higher than those established by this Ministry in March 2017 when it issued Resolution 112, which has now been repealed.

One of the reasons given in the document for carrying out this update is that it is necessary “given the current economic and social conditions.”

It is paradoxical that a government that requires private traders to reduce the price of their goods because it considers them excessive, then forces individuals to increase the price of the houses they sell fivefold with the sole purpose of increasing taxes.

Our lack of infrastructure and knowledge was balanced by belonging to a bloc where the weakest was worth as much as the strongest.

Let us go back to the time when there was still the illusion, or at least we were given the illusion, that “through a fair exchange between developed and underdeveloped nations” it was possible to achieve a socialist utopia. Our lack of infrastructure and knowledge was balanced by belonging to a bloc where the weakest was worth as much as the strongest.

We are talking about 1985. In May of that year the price I paid for the three-bedroom apartment that I still occupy was 4,200 pesos. Thus I stopped being a usufructuary who paid rent to become the owner who bought his home from a welfare state.

My salary was then 350 pesos per month and the cost of my house was calculated according to Law 65, in force since July 1985, based on the fact that I paid a monthly rent equivalent to 10% of my salary, or 35 pesos, and this figure was multiplied by 120 months, which in 20 years resulted in 4,200. If my salary had been the average for that year (188 pesos), then the price of my house would have been 2,280 pesos.

Almost 40 years have passed and the numbers must have obviously changed, but what was not supposed to change was the method for calculating housing prices, which was supposedly based on helping workers to buy a house.

If we do a reverse calculation with these elements, seeing that the reference price of my house, according to the aforementioned Resolution 313, is today 1,080,000, we can calculate that (if the same method of 1985 were maintained to calculate the prices of the houses) I would have paid for 20 years a monthly payment of 9,000 pesos, which is supposed to be 10% of a salary of 90,000. But it happens that the average salary in Cuba today is 4,648 Cuban pesos, which is 5% of this salary chimera of 90,000.

What kind of Cuban citizen were those who drafted this Resolution thinking of?

So one wonders: What kind of Cuban citizen were those who drafted this Resolution thinking of? Is the only reason for imposing an unattainable minimum price on housing mandatory to increase the amount collected through taxes?

The point is that the mere existence of “current economic and social conditions,” which the Resolution invokes to justify the new mandatory reference prices as a minimum for any purchase and sale transaction, are the denial of a deceased, though unburied, model.

I have no idea where the abandoned “socialist” formula of multiplying 10% of the salary by 120 months without including the real cost of producing a house came from; in the same way it is difficult to understand the reason why the State multiplies by five the “reference value” of a house that it neither built nor maintained.

This tedious play has been on stage for too long without any sign of renewal.

Many of the houses sold today are the same ones that were purchased under the just rules of socialism, but the most paradoxical thing is that the new officially established prices do not even come close to the very high prices imposed by abusive reality.

The illusion of a just method has vanished, as it is impractical and costly, but in the political theatre the bosses continue to play the role of providers of benefits who deserve meekness in gratitude.

This tedious play has been on stage for too long without any sign of renewal. Every day the make-up is falling off, the scenery is cracking, the script is boring and the actors are not convincing. The applause has died down for a some time now and the booing has already begun.

_______________

Desolate Panorama in the Artemisa Provincial Hospital After Hurricane Rafael

The Ciro Redondo Hospital was in terrible condition long before, without running water and with leaks

The images of broken windows, wet beds and flooded floors in the Ciro Redondo Hospital were among the first to be known / Telecenter ARTV

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2024 — During the passage of Hurricane Rafael through Artemisa, the Ciro Redondo García Provincial Hospital had to transfer three people on ventilators, pregnant women and other patients to safer rooms, since the rain and winds caused damage to the roof and broken glass, especially on the fourth floor. The center also has serious problems with leaks and the water supply, but these, the official press itself recognizes, are “long-standing.”

A report published this Tuesday in the local media El Artemiseño gives an account of the damage: the hurricane “caused broken glass and rendered one cubicle useless” in the therapy unit; “significant effects were detected in false ceilings,” and there were “collapses in the medical services unit and the maternity ward,” Dr. Guianeya Encinosa Moreno, deputy director of Medical Assistance, tells the newspaper.

El Artemiseño defines as “bleak” the panorama, which, it says, shortly after the disaster some users were already sharing on social networks. However, “there were those who speculated about the lives of the hospitalized patients,” and it clarifies that no one was in danger.

Indeed, the images of broken windows, doors torn from frames, wet beds and flooded floors in the Ciro Redondo were among the first be shown on the networks. In fact, according to official data, in the province there are 119 public health centers affected in 11 municipalities. Most have damage to the roofs and carpentry, although “raised water tanks in 14 centers” were lost, and there are ” breakdowns in two generators and two ambulances, in continue reading

addition to damage to electrical and air conditioning systems.”

The media applauds the fact that, a few days after Rafael damaged the hospital, the authorities are already planning to “revitalize” the wards

But the media applauds that, a few days after Rafael damaged the hospital, the authorities are already planning to “revitalize” the hemodialysis, imaging and emergency wards, in addition to replacing the waterproof covering of the roof and repairing the glass and aluminum.

However, the hope that the problems of access to running water would also be solved was dashed by Yanelis Amador Borrego, director of Public Health in the province, who explained that this presents “a greater difficulty.” “The hydraulic networks are obstructed by a layer of thick magnesium. This matter requires the analysis of the source of supply and an important investment,” she said.

Not even El Artemiseño understands how a hospital can continue to function when water cannot reach the wards for surgery, maternity care, sterilization, neonatology, perinatal care and hemodialysis.

Water shortages even put the patients at risk. “One of the wards has been closed for months, due to the poor state of the water system, and the maternal critical care ward was closed years ago. If we get a situation like this today, we have to put the patient in one of the four beds that we have left, which represents a very high risk of cross-infections,” confesses nurse Rayma Reinoso Cruz.

Not even the bathrooms, says the media, “have a drop of running water for cleaning,” which “leaves a lot to be desired”

Not even the bathrooms, says the media, “have a drop of running water for cleaning,” which “leaves a lot to be desired.” The same happens with the hygiene of utensils and the patients themselves “for which they use water stored in a container!” the newspaper points out with an exclamation mark as if the problem of hygiene in Cuban hospitals was exclusive to Ciro Redondo.

The repair work, which will begin in the therapy room, which filters water to the hemodialysis unit, will require the hospital to reorganize some of its facilities to make way for the “workers of the 53rd brigade of the Comprehensive Construction Company of Havana” and another brigade from Pinar del Río. Forces specialized in the repair of windows and glass will also intervene, including the Mariel Architecture and Engineering Projects Company.

“We plan to place therapy where the intensive care unit is today. In turn, it will move to the surgery observation area. At the moment we have not thought about sending patients to other hospitals, beyond a specific case, due to the damage that several workers suffered in their own homes,” adds the deputy director of Medical Assistance.

Repair work will also be done in other centers, such as the intensive care unit of the José Ramón Martínez Álvarez Pediatric Hospital in Guanajay. “Here we also need to waterproof the roof and recover the hydraulic connections. Also, the carpentry in the hospitalization ward and its bathroom is in danger of collapse,” listed Yanelis Amador Borrego, director of Public Health.

“Everything that is done in the Ciro Redondo García has to be durable,” demands El Artemiseño, which, in case any reader confuses the expression with a promise, gives a caveat: “It will not be a capital investment, which the hospital needs.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘Who Pays the Salary of Cuban Doctors in Honduras?”

A group of 96 Cuban doctors arrived in Honduras last February / Government of Honduras

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2024 — The Secretariat of Strategic Planning of Honduras, the entity in charge of hiring 96 Cuban doctors to provide services in that country, “does not maintain an employment relationship” with the specialists, nor has it “made payments through its payroll.” The information appears in two official memoranda to which the newspapers El Heraldo and La Prensa had access, and which reveal irregularities in the process of hiring doctors.

“If it is not the Secretariat of Planning, how are the salaries of Cuban doctors being covered?” both media ask. The health officials of the Government of Xiomara Castro, an ally of Havana, remain silent.

El Heraldo and La Prensa also claim that Cuban doctors now occupy management positions and are “hostile people,” according to interviews they have conducted with Honduran health personnel, their subordinates.

The Honduran Minister of Health, Carla Paredes, explained last February that she was in charge of signing the agreement with Cuba for the specialists, valid for two years. With this she has tried to alleviate the crisis of the Honduran health system, which lacks medical and technical personnel, medicines and safe facilities. She said that the Secretariat would take care of everything related to the specialists. continue reading

Paredes has not clarified the source of the 1,000 dollars, which, as reported last May by the Cuban ambassador to Honduras, Juan Roberto Loforte, is the agreed payment for each specialist for eight hours a day of service in the main hospitals of the country. For its part, the Medical College of Honduras, which has spoken out against the hiring of the Cuban medical brigade, says that the Honduran Government pays 2,000 dollars a month to the Island for each doctor, in addition to guaranteeing them a house, vehicle and food.

For every Cuban doctor in Honduras, the Island receives 1,000 dollars a month / Government of Honduras

The group, made up of surgeons, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, vascular surgeons, oncologists, internists, psychiatrists, epidemiologists, family and geriatric doctors, has been in Honduras for eight months. Using Loforte’s figures, Cuba has thus received 768,000 dollars.

The presence of Cuban doctors in Honduras began in 1998, after the passage of Hurricane Mitch. During that time, according to Loforte, they have attended 29 million consultations and 69,000 eye surgeries within the Operation Miracle program.

As part of its relationship with the Island, the Government of Honduras also agreed to send 170 general practitioners to the Island to train in one of the 23 specialties offered by Cuban universities. This scholarship program, the diplomat added, is similar to the one that his government also has with other countries such as Mexico, and for which it pays Cuba 1,209,950 dollars a month.

The Medical Association of Honduras has insisted that the hiring of Cuban doctors not only violates the Constitution but also could be facilitating the entry of Cuban soldiers into the country, as claimed by the Madrid-based organization Prisoners Defenders. Its director, Javier Larrondo, said in August 2022 that there were “State Security agents” among the first group of 641 doctors from Cuba that arrived in Mexico.

Prisoners Defenders has repeatedly accused Mexico, Italy and Qatar of promoting and being complicit in the slavery of Cuban doctors, one of the main sources of hard currency for the Cuban regime.

Translated by Regina Anavy
_________________