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

Villa Clara’s Farmers Refuse to Deliver Milk to the Cuban State Because of the ‘Worst Contracts’

The annual plan, which was at 57% until the beginning of November, will not be fulfilled in 2024

The government blames the ranchers for the non-compliance. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 6 December 2024 — Milk production in Villa Clara remains at rock bottom. From January to mid-November of this year, the industry in the province barely reached 57% of the annual plan, some 19,687,000 liters. The deficit is an amount “difficult to overcome in the remainder of the year,” says an article in the local newspaper Vanguardia, which blames the low production on the cattle breeders.

As has become customary for the government, the newspaper attacks producers, accusing them of seeking higher profits in the informal market, undermining state production. It also points out that “many breeders aim to exceed their sales commitments, while others violate them. There are plenty of examples.”

“There are producers who have accumulated months without daily deliveries to meet the contracted plans,” explains Vanguardia, which insists that many cattle farmers “blame administrative mismanagement, even poor contracts and even inefficient calculations of lactation periods” to justify low production. continue reading

“There are producers with accumulated months without daily collections to meet the contracted schedules”

Other secondary causes, the newspaper says, are “fines, forced purchases, termination of usufruct [contracts] in areas under exploitation, confiscations, administrative measures and cold periods in which cows give less milk,” as well as the diversion of feed to the informal market.

Regarding the storage of milk in some areas of the province, 14ymedio published last October that in the municipality of Camajuaní an old house was used to refrigerate the product. The measure, which on paper seems positive to help the cattle farmers, actually seeks to prevent the illegal sale of the product in Villa Clara. To delay the delivery of the milk in that town, the farmers claimed that there were no appropriate conditions for preservation, since they had to transport the milk more than four kilometers to take it to a cooling chamber.

Producers, however, know that they can make more profits ‘on the left’ [under the table], even if that means risking fines or losing their animals. The maximum the state pays is 38 pesos for each litre of milk in excess of the basic plan, while on the informal market it reaches 80 pesos.

Vanguardia, with a sense of hope, highlights that, on the other hand, “there are municipalities where ranchers show their faces to display their smiles.”

Last year the province failed to collect 21 million liters

“After fulfilling their annual contracts, and despite late payments due to exceeding compliance, [those ranchers] still continue with habitual milk collections,” says the media, which just a few lines below returns to the attack against the “other” producers: “Some, after reaching their commitment, even without achieving it, turn a blind eye and put up objections… There are always those ones and the others…” it assures.

The weak milk supply in Villa Clara is nothing new. Last year, the province lost 21 million liters.

As if that were not enough, the figures are plummeting. Last October, 60,000 liters of milk were collected daily in Villa Clara, just 40% of what was collected a year earlier, when the average was 150,000. According to the State, the cattle farmers had accumulated a debt of more than 10 million liters last month, an amount that continued to increase, according to official journalist Jesús Álvarez López, reporter for the provincial radio station CMHW, which – in an article titled ‘Merchants of disorder’ also in the milk – attacked the producers and those who participate in the informal market.

____________

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.

As of September, Cuba Has Invested Much More in Hotels Than in Agriculture, Education and Health

The budget for hotel construction is a subject of controversy in Cuba due to the serious crisis on the island

Several workers carry out construction work at a hotel on Aguacate and O’Reilly in Old Havana / 14ymedio

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 7 December 2024 — Between January and September Cuba invested 4.6 times more in business services, real estate and rental activities – which includes the construction of hotels – than in the total for Agriculture, Education and Health, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) published this Friday and reviewed by EFE.

If investments are divided by segments, the Business Services, Real Estate and Rental Activities section accounted for 26.6% of the total investment executed from January to September, which reached 64,973.3 million pesos (2.707 billion dollars, at the official exchange rate for the State).

The budget allocated to hotel construction is a subject of controversy in Cuba due to the serious crisis that the island is experiencing and the difficulties that the tourism sector is facing in recovering the pre-pandemic visitor levels.

As of October, Cuba had received 1.8 million international travelers, 6.5% less than in the same period in 2023. In 2018 and 2019, the annual figure ranged between 4.2 and 4.6 million foreign tourists. continue reading

As of September, the Island allocated a total of 17.311.4 billion pesos to the section of Business Services, Real Estate and Rental Activities

Independent economists, most of whom live abroad, have criticized the high level of state investment in the hotel sector to the detriment of other strategic areas, such as agriculture, where production is at a minimum.

The Cuban government, however, continues to bet on tourism as the driving force of the country’s economy. In previous years, it had been one of the main sources of income and foreign currency, along with professional services and remittances.

In 2023, Cuba’s gross domestic product (GDP) registered a fall of 1.9%, according to official data, and the Cuban government has already announced that the national economy will also fail to grow this year.

In absolute terms, the island allocated a total of 17.311 billion pesos (about 721.3 million dollars) to the business services, real estate and rental activities section as of September.

This figure contrasts with the 1.829 billion pesos (76 million dollars) in Agriculture; the 1.205 billion pesos (50.2 million dollars) in Public Health and the 671.3 million (27.9 million dollars) in Education. Relative to these areas, the expenditures on tourism were 9, 14 and 26 times higher, respectively.

In the first half of the year, Cuba increased investment in hotels and restaurants by 112% annually – more than doubling the previous figure – while it decreased investments by more than 20% in education, construction and public administration, according to Onei.

____________

With No Elevators Serving Its Seventeen Floors, the Girón Building Has Become a Prison for Its Occupants

The 132-apartment colossus was a symbol of modernity when it opened in 1967 on Havana’s seafront

The Girón Building sits next to the luxurious Grand Aston Hotel in Havana’s Vedado District. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 2 December 2024 — With ocean views and one of the best locations Havana’s Vedado district — the luxurious Grand Aston hotel sits beside it — the Girón Building might seem like a dream home. However, the two-block, seventeen-floor building is more like a run-down tenement where residents worry about a dilapidated staircase, broken elevators and a deteriorating infrastructure.

Anyone entering the enormous building, located on the Malecón between E and F streets, will quickly realize that its problems are much more than skin deep. The stairway’s rusted handrails offer a hint of what’s to come. “Don’t touch that!” a woman warns an absent-minded boy who had been holding onto the fragile railing.

Climbing each floor takes courage. As one begins ascending block 2, steel rebars become visible through the stair’s broken concrete, which has been battered by the salty sea air. Reaching the landing does not calm the nerves. If anything, it makes them worse. Instead of discreetly located teller windows with electronic cash registers, one finds square openings blackened by soot, the traces of a recent fire.

In June, a fire in an apartment on one of the upper floors affected the building’s electrical system. / 14ymedio

The flames, which began in an apartment on one of the upper floors, affected the building’s electrical system. Since then, the only elevator that was still working has been out of service. “From that day on, my mother has not been able to go outside,” says a young man carrying a bag full of yucca and pumpkins as he paused to catch his breath on the sixth floor before continuing on to the eleventh.

“I think they’re waiting for the whole thing to fall down and bury us all so they can build a hotel on the site,” said a man who, along with other building residents, has been complaining non-stop about the modern ruin that has become what was once a daring architectural project and a social experiment built according to futuristic, communist city planning principles. continue reading

“I was born here so this is what I know,” says one resident who has watched his neighbors leave. “Some people realized what was to come before it was too late, left in the 1990s and moved to other neighborhoods. There were those who took longer but, when home sales became legal, left their apartments before they collapsed on top of them. Then, of course, there are the nitwits like us who stayed.”

Since then, the only elevator that was still working has been out of service. / 14ymedio

For decades, as the crumbled and the iconic parasols surrounding the structure cracked on all sides, many of the original residents held out hope that the state would implement a comprehensive repair program. “Letters were mailed and letters came back. We became experts at writing to ministries, officials and the National Assembly, but it was all just for fun,” he says.

Alongside the staircase, residents have nailed boards over narrow columns that once allowed the sea breezes to pass through the building. But with chunks of them falling off, they now pose a danger to small children and pets, who could slip through the spaces between them. “You don’t have to be very thin to fall through because the gaps are getting wider and wider,” the young man points out.

The 132 apartments have been depreciating in value as the building that houses them becomes ever more uninhabitable. What little light illuminating the stairway at night comes from an open doorway. Early in the evening, residents lock themselves behind metal bars. “Anything could happen,” says Raiza of the common areas. She moved to the building as a child when her father, a high-ranking official, was given a home in “El Girón.”

“You don’t have to be very thin to fall through because the gaps are getting wider and wider”. / 14ymedio

“I remember how it was back then. Everything was new; everything was beautiful. When I told my friends from Cerro — the neighborhood where I was born — where I was living, they were drooling,” she says, recalling the early days after the building first opened in 1967. Designed by Cuban architect Antonio Quintana, it was built using a the sliding mold system. It was seen as a precursor of the bright future that was to fill Cuban cities with skyscrapers, bridges and modernity.

“The first residents formed a tight-knit community. The CDR* folks were here every day. Volunteer work was organized and families themselves kept things looking nice,” Raiza says beaming. She believes that the building’s abrupt decline was due to the lack of resources brought on by the Special Period. “It needed a helping hand because it was already more than twenty years old when that crisis began. But what happened in the 1990s was the final blow.”

“People started cooking with wood, even in the stairways. There wasn’t a single lightbulb in the hallways because they had all been stolen,” Raiza says, adding that pigs squealing inside the apartments became part of the building’s soundtrack. Efforts to obtain building materials or find a government work crew to make repairs ran headlong into the reality that subsidies from the Soviet Union had been cut off.

Residents have nailed boards over narrow columns that once allowed the sea breezes to pass through the building but which now pose a threat to small children and pets. / 14ymedio

“We should have moved somewhere else back then but my father was very fond of this place and the truth is the view of the sea is very nice from our apartment on the twelfth floor” she admits. “It’s the only thing we have, seeing the horizon morning, noon and night, because right now my father can’t go anywhere. He’s locked up here because there are no elevators.”

In a desperate attempt to garner attention, resident sent another complaint to Facebook administrators this week about the poor condition of the building and its broken elevators. Within minutes, hundreds of users commented the post, adding more details of the drama that is taking place within the walls of this former jewel of revolutionary architecture. But no description can capture the fear that comes from climbing the stairs, listening to the anecdotes of its residents and peering into the abyss between the gaps in the façade.

“For sale” signs have been taped to some of the doors of the 132 apartments that make up the two blocks of the giant edifice. Those who manage to get far enough inside to read one of them know they are not looking at an attractive home in the centrally located neighborhood of Vedado, situated just a few yards from the sea waves. What they will will find, if anything, is a property whose lifespan may be shorter than that of Cuban communism’s New Man, whom the Girón Building was built to house.

*Translator’s note: Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, a network of neighborhood committees across Cuba described as the “eyes and ears of the Revolution.” Their intended purpose was to support local communities and report on “counter-revolutionary” activity.

____________

To Have Internet Despite Etecsa, Cubans Need a Bamboo Cane and 10 Meters of Cable

Cuban antennas are made of aluminum and plastic, and have become the queens of rooftops.

Next to one of Etecsa’s tower-antennas, the homemade devices look a bit pathetic.

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 3 December 2024. At first glance, they look like gadgets from a science fiction movie. Made from aluminum and plastic pieces and perched on top of a long bamboo pole, these antennas for amplifying 4G signal have become the queens of the rooftops in Cuba. Born of scarcity and ingenuity, they are the stars of the latest chapter in the Cuban fight against Etecsa, the communications monopoly on the Island.

Walking around Holguin in search of an antenna can, in fact, become a plot out of Star Wars or Dune. The setting is a planet in ruins: ramshackle buildings, oppressive heat and unfriendly faces. When you finally get – by way of acquaintances and contacts – the details of an “inventor”, you have to pay between 4,500 and 5,000 pesos to take home the gadget along with its cable.

You have no choice. No antenna means no internet, and no internet means no entertainment. The weight of reality without that little six-inch screen – a portal to entire galaxies of escape – is too suffocating. If the antenna is effective, the mental anesthesia is greater.

Getting the device in parts is another adventure. The coaxial cable costs 110 pesos a meter and it takes quite a bit of height -about 10 meters, if you add a house and the almost three meters of the rod- to get an improved signal. The pole, a long bamboo cane or a branch similar to the one used to cut guavas in backyards, can be obtained in one of the fields near the city. continue reading

Coaxial cable costs 110 pesos a meter and it takes a lot of height to get a better signal / 14ymedio

Next to one of Etecsa’s antenna-towers, the home-made devices look a little pitiful. But what they lack in technology they make up in numbers: most neighbourhoods have two or three of these stakes, with the device on top: a shaft with small circular brass attachments, pointing to the source of the signal. In theory, although antenna manufacturing is not an exact science, it works.

The Cubans raising their antennas today are the successors of those who, until very recently, painstakingly sanded aluminum tubes, made a booster and hoisted heavy devices to pick up U.S. television. Many did not even understand English, but that succession of commercials, talk shows and car dealership ads was enough to thrill anyone who looked at the Panda’s screen.

There were plenty of “radio aficionado” groups, who took advantage of a kind of state-sanctioned loophole to traffic in cables and parts under the guise of being radio enthusiasts. Adapted to the times they live in, Cubans now form “antenna groups” on WhatsApp or Facebook, where, like in space taverns, they share ideas and tricks to perfect their inventions.

What happens in Holguín happens everywhere in Cuba. Even if the coverage is on the ground, if you place the phone on the attachment connected to the antenna -a rustic base with a small metal contact-the cell phone acquires superpowers. Or at least the Cuban equivalent of a superpower: having Internet despite Etecsa.

Translated by GH

____________

Censorship Erases the Desire for Freedom Written by Cubans in the Work of the German Martin Steinert

A hand has crossed out “Long live Cuba without communism” on the monumental ’Wooden Cloud’ installed in the Plaza Vieja in Havana

The lower and middle part of the cloud is almost entirely painted with anxieties and expectations. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 23 November 2024 — At first glance it looks like a nest, from other angles it resembles an ark and there are those who see it as a mass of boards taken from the many supports that prop up the city’s doorways and balconies. The installation Nube de madera [Wooden Cloud], by the German sculptor Martin Steinert, is currently erected in Havana’s Plaza Vieja and has become an improvised wall of lamentations and dreams of Cubans, but also of the erasures of intolerance.

The piece, which its creator has built in more than 35 locations in nine countries, has landed at the Havana Biennial in the middle of one of its most grey and questioned editions. But unlike other works, finished or hidden on the walls of galleries, Nube de madera includes interaction with the public, whose writings on the planks contribute to give meaning to the structure. So in just over a week since its inauguration, the piece reveals the desire for freedom and its counterpart: the brushstrokes of the censors.

Where a few days ago someone had written “Long live Cuba without communism” the hand of political correctness has now crossed out a word and stated “Long live Cuba without Yankeeism.” The same fate has befallen the last word of the phrase “Viva Cuba libre,” deleted with such cruelty that the goop that hides it looks darker than the power cuts in the early morning and more sinister than the Morro lighthouse without light. The rewriting and erasure of the phrases spontaneously left by passersby warn that not even in the realm of artistic play is there room for individual freedom.

But the censors have not yet been able to cover up all the dreams that bother them. A desperate “May I get out so I can be with my family,” written in green marker, has still been exposed to passing glances. In the chest that carries the desires of Cubans, two dreams stand out: freedom and escape, or perhaps both share the same genetics on an Island where to be free you have to leave, one way or another, the national borders. continue reading

There is not enough wood to receive the complaints and expectations of Cubans. / 14ymedio

However, there is not enough wood to receive the complaints and expectations of a people who have learned, after decades of fear and denunciations, to skillfully put on a mask to evade surveillance. Urged by Steinert to put their aspirations in writing, the lower and middle part of the cloud is almost completely painted with yearnings and expectations. Those who arrive from now on will have to stretch out their arms, stand on their toes and place their efforts even higher.

Rewriting and erasure warn that even in the realm of artistic play there is no room for individual freedom. / 14ymedio

They will also have to avoid those who cross out and rearrange uncomfortable phrases. Instead of the dialogue that the German artist was looking for, the ball of props has mutated into an object that shows the rewriting of present history. An Orwellian ship, it gives the impression that the order to amend and retouch the words has been given. This Saturday, a man with a severe look inspected each phrase in detail, moving very slowly around. Did he want to leave his own dream or recompose the others? Was he someone who needed to shout even through an installation of ephemeral life or a censor in search of his prey?

Martin Steinert cannot imagine what he has unleashed, but most of those who pass by know how the installation will end: the deletions and amendments will bury, under layers of ink and anger, a good part of the Cubans’ desire for freedom.

In the ark that carries the desires of Cubans, two dreams stand out: freedom and escape. / 14ymedio

____________

The Murder in Prison of Manuel de Jesus Guillen Esplugas, Sentenced for 11J, is Denounced

The activist Cosme Damian Domínguez Peñalver accuses State Security of encouraging a scuffle between him and the family of the deceased at the funeral home

Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas was 30 years old and lived in Old Havana until his arrest. / Cosme Damian Domínguez Peñalver./ Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 2 December 2024 — Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas, imprisoned in Combinado del Este Prison after having been involved in the Island-wide protests on 11 July 2021 [’11J’], died on Saturday from a beating he received in prison, according to reports by Justicia 11J and Cuba Decide, of which he was a promoter. An activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), Guillén was serving six years in prison for having filmed and distributed videos of the anti-government marches of more than three years ago.

“We denounce with profound indignation the vile murder of Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas, political prisoner, member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), promoter of Cuba Decide and protester of 11 July. Manuel was beaten to death by hitmen of the Castro regime in the Combinado del Este prison,” denounced the platform, led by Rosa María Payá, from its Facebook account.

The message emphasized that Guillén was a “brave activist [who] raised his voice against oppression, confronting the regime with determination and courage,” and calls on democratic governments and the international community to condemn the crime and prevent it from going unpunished. “Manuel’s murder not only exposes the brutality of the Díaz-Canel and Raúl Castro regime, but is part of a systematic pattern of repression, torture and murder against those who fight for freedom in Cuba,” the statement argues.

Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas, preso en el Combinado del Este tras haberse manifestado el 11 de julio de 2021, falleció el sábado por una golpiza que le propinaron en la cárcel, según denunciaron Justicia 11J y Cuba Decide https://t.co/sbAmF2F7jp pic.twitter.com/plypfqiEd6

— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) December 2, 2024

Dania María Esplugas, the young man’s mother, who lived in Old Havana until his arrest, denounced the violence of his death in front of her son’s body in a video that has circulated on social media, presumably taken in the Zanja funeral home in Centro Habana. “They beat him to death, the bastards of this country! But this is not going to stay like this,” cries the woman who, however, had an incident with the UNPACU activist Cosme Damian Domínguez Peñalver. continue reading

According to the opposition member, this Sunday he went to the funeral home “which was under the control of State Security.” “I was surprised that I was not bothered and much less arrested,” he said on his Facebook account. “Three minutes after being there I was surprised by Manuel de Jesús’ sister and family, when they told me that the State Security officer Adrián did not want me there and they shouted to me that I was responsible for Manuel being where he is today, because I had brought him into the opposition group UNPACU and sent him to carry out counterrevolutionary acts. I responded, only out of respect, and I left the funeral home, without being bothered by State Security, who was there, because their strategy worked and perhaps they even filmed videos of this regrettable and shameful event,” he says.

The activist says that he met Manuel de Jesús when he, who was already a member of UNPACU, was sent to the “cell” that he coordinated, and he regretted that the family members acted in this way, “playing the dictatorship’s game.” For Domínguez, the struggle of the organization he is part of – “and this is what activists are told when they join” – is exclusively peaceful, which is why on ’11J’ Manuel de Jesús “went out onto the streets like many Cubans to express his discontent and made use of his freedom to demonstrate peacefully.”

The activist claims that Guillén Esplugas was accused of public disorder and vandalism “after it was proven that he was involved in breaking the windows of the Municipal Court on Monte Street”

The activist claims that Guillén Esplugas was accused of public disorder and vandalism “after it was proven that he was involved in breaking the windows of the Municipal Court on Monte Street, between Figura Street and Carmen Street, in Old Havana” and that his mother was informed by the top leadership of UNPACU in the capital that if this was the case he would be expelled from the organization.

“Even so, I never left him on his own and I did everything possible to ensure that he and his mother received monetary and food aid. I have a clear conscience. When no one else spoke up, I did it, for him and for all the political prisoners in Cuba,” he says, hurt.

In Guillén’s case, as in so many others linked to the ’11J’ demonstrations, there were several irregularities, the main one being the fact that he remained in provisional prison without a trial date or a request from the prosecution for more than a year and a half. The courts rejected two habeas corpus requests by his lawyer.

____________

October Tourism Figures Undermine the Cuban Government’s Most Modest Forecasts for 2024

For the seventh consecutive month, fewer visitors arrived than the previous year
Russia and Mexico, the only two markets that had been growing recently, are declining

A group of tourists visiting a bodega in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 22 November 2024 — This Friday, 48 hours after the celebration of Cuban Tourism Day with the image of Fidel Castro in the background, a new bucket of cold water fell on the sector. The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) has made public the data on international travelers for October, which show a drop of 3.9% so far this year compared to the same period in 2023. In the tenth month of 2024, only 125,772 foreign visitors arrived on the Island, exactly 33,163 fewer than in October of last year, when there were 158,935.

Furthermore, this is the seventh consecutive month in which the number of tourists is lower than that recorded in the same month of the previous year. In fact, the number is very similar to that of 2022, consolidating the downward trend of a sector that not only has not recovered from the pandemic, but has worsened compared to the slightly improved figures it had in the last two years.

With the last two months of the year still to go, months that mark the start of the high season on the island, 1,844,917 tourists have travelled to Cuba, 128,256 fewer than in the same period in 2023. With this figure, the Government is 855,083 travelers short of its most recent forecast for this year, which it made after rectifying the previous one the spur of the moment. At the beginning of 2024, after the failure of the previous year’s objectives – which were set at 3.5 million foreign visitors – the government reduced the expectation to 3.2 million. continue reading

In the tenth month of 2024, only 125,772 foreign visitors arrived on the Island, exactly 33,163 fewer than in October of last yearIn the tenth month of 2024, only 125,772 foreign visitors arrived on the Island, exactly 33,163 fewer than in October of last year

The year did not start off badly, with figures slightly higher than those of the previous year, but in April everything began to go wrong with the number of tourists lower than that recorded in the corresponding month of 2023, a situation that has not been rectified. On the contrary, the gap seems to be widening more and more. In September, the Government announced that the expected drop in the sector would be 16% and reduced the forecast to 2.7 million tourists. To achieve its new objective, it would have to receive almost 900,000 travelers in the last two months of this year, something that seems impossible.

The drama of losses is widespread, as even in countries where the quota of visitors had been improved compared to last year, the percentage is falling. This is the case of Russia, a preferred market for Cuba and one in which it is investing its efforts at full capacity. In September, an accumulated annual increase of 11.9% was recorded from that source, while now it is only 7%.

In total, 156,618 Russians have visited the island so far this year, leaving the target of 200,000 as something unattainable, even further away than could have been foreseen when a few days ago the Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, admitted that the forecast has been postponed to 2025. He did so in statements to the Tass agency in which he announced investments by Russian businessmen in hotels on the island which, in light of the circumstances, it will have to be seen whether they materialize, joining the long list of promises from Moscow that are blown away by the wind.

The drama of losses is widespread, as even from countries where the quota of visitors had been improved compared to last year, the percentage is now falling.

Growth in the Mexican market, one of the few that was on the rise, is also slowing down, but more moderately than the Russian market. The previous month the increase was 5.4% and in October it was 3.7%, a poor result for a clientele that has been given special emphasis, with several campaigns in the country to sell Cuba as a destination.

Argentina, which was also showing growth margins until last month – when it still had an annual increase of 1.4% – has already entered a recession and 38,622 travelers from that country have arrived in Cuba this year as of October 31, compared to 39,668 on the same date in 2023.

In the rest of the markets, the trend remains unchanged. Canada is still far ahead, with 727,261 tourists, but 2.9% less than in 2023. In that country, there is a growing movement of operators who stop recommending Cuba as a destination in light of the lack of quality that Cuban facilities offer as a result of the deep economic crisis. The shortage of electricity, food and drink in both hotels and restaurants, as well as medicines and fuel have become warning indicators for Canadians, who have stopped betting as before on the Island as a star destination in the Caribbean. The most recent blow, of the many coming from the country in the last year, is that of the Sunwing Vacation chain, which has removed 26 Cuban hotels from its catalogue.

German tourism has fallen by 4.8%, French by 9.1% and Italian by 15.6%

Another significant loss coming from North America is that of Americans and Cubans abroad – mostly residents in the US. The former have accounted for 118,038 so far this year, 9.4% less than in 2023; and the latter 244,118, with a sharp drop of 17.8%.

Meanwhile the decline in Spain is getting worse every day. The number of travelers from one of the countries with the strongest cultural and economic ties to the island has decreased by 26.9% compared to the number up to November 2023, from 76,282 to just 55,780. This is the most serious case, in terms of numbers but also historical ties, of a situation that is widespread in the EU. German tourism has fallen by 4.8%, French tourism by 9.1% and Italian tourism by 15.6%.

Ignoring the situation, just two days ago the State newspaper Granma congratulated itself in a note that “during this year, Cuba received several international awards, including the title of Leading Cultural Destination of the Caribbean,” without explaining who awarded it. The government, which needs to justify the excessive investments made in the sector with no success, insists that tourism is the “engine of the economy” and that in 2025 “the digital transformation of the destination will continue to be strengthened, and its infrastructure and qualified personnel for the celebration of cultural, sporting and health events will be maintained.”

____________

Raúl Castro meets with China’s Minister of Public Security to Discuss the Fight Against Subversion

The official arrived a few months after The Wall Street Journal reported on the construction of a fourth Chinese spy base in Cuba.

Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel meet with the Chinese delegation. / Revolution Studies

14ymedio, Havana, 1 December 2024 — Even if trade relations between Beijing and Havana are in free fall “due to the Cuban leaders’ unwillingness to adopt market-oriented reforms,” collaborations on “cybersecurity” remain in place. This Saturday, Raúl Castro left his retreat, as he does only in exceptional cases, to receive, along with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, China’s Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong.

With a row of Chinese representatives in suits and ties on one side, and, opposite, another row of Cuban military personnel in olive green, Díaz-Canel thanked the visitors for their “support for the confrontation of the policies of cultural colonization, hegemonic and also subversion, that the empire exercises over our nations.”

Castro, for his part, limited himself to noting the friendly relations between the two countries and thanked China for the aid sent after hurricanes Oscar and Rafael.

Although the island’s official press portrays the “working visit” as an innocent meeting between authorities from both countries, the truth is that the presence of Wang and senior officials from the Cuban Ministry of the Interior in the Palace of the Revolution once again focuses attention on the Chinese espionage bases installed on the island. continue reading

The presence of Wang and senior officials from the Ministry of the Interior once again puts the spotlight on Chinese spy bases

Last July, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing had increased the capacity of its electronic listening stations in Cuba, using as its source images taken from space by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The photographs apparently show the new base, which is located a few kilometers from the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay.

In June 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported on alleged negotiations between China and Cuba to build a joint spy base and military training facility on the island. Over the years, CSIS has located them in four locations: Bejucal, Calabazar, Wajay and El Salao. The first two, near Havana, have large satellite dishes designed to monitor and communicate with satellites.

The new base would be located in El Salao (Santiago de Cuba). According to the document, construction began in 2021 and appears to be intended to house a group of antennas placed in a circle, which can be used to intercept and locate electronic signals.

At the time, both China and the Cuban regime dismissed the allegations of The Wall Street Journal as a “hoax” and claimed that it was “a campaign of intimidation” by Washington against Havana. The Chinese side even went so far as to describe the bases as a “model of mutual aid between developing nations.”

Etecsa sells landlines, cell phones, routers and other equipment from brands such as Xiaomi or Huawei.

The similarities between the two regimes when it comes to using propaganda and espionage as weapons of repression have also allowed the Asian giant to be an almost exclusive partner of the island in terms of telecommunications. The Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) sells landlines, cell phones, routers and other equipment from brands such as Huawei – to which Havana owes hundreds of millions of dollars – as well as Xiaomi, ZTE and Vivo.

This weekend, the Higher School of State and Government Officers of Cuba, whose representatives traveled to Hunan to attend the Seminar on Public Administration Management for Latin American Countries, signed several agreements with universities in that Chinese province.

According to Prensa Latina, cooperation in “education, training, academic research and scientific collaboration” was expanded with the schools of Administration, Cities, Railway Vocational, Non-Ferrous Metal Technology and Technology.

Last April, another Cuban delegation traveled to Wuhan to take part in the first Forum on Space Cooperation between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Although the island does not have a space program nor specialists in astrophysics or cosmonautics, it hoped that with its presence at the event, Beijing would offer, among other agreements, the use of its satellite data . On that occasion, the China agreed with CELAC to “support the creation of capacities in the application of satellite communications, navigation technologies and terrestrial observation.”

____________

A 24-Year-Old Woman is Murdered by Her Ex-Partner in Old Havana

The list of femicide crimes in the country totals 48 during 2024

Naomi Téllez Wilson was 24 years old / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 29 November 2024 — The independent platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba are in the process of verifying the murder of Naomi Téllez Wilson, 24, at the hands of her ex-partner on November 20 in Old Havana. The incident was reported on social media that same day by user Niover Licea, although other Facebook posts on Thursday added more details of the crime.

According to Licea, the attack occurred at night in the attacker’s house, located in the Belén neighborhood. The young woman was beaten by her ex-partner and attacked with a knife. The alleged murderer was arrested shortly after the incident.

Téllez’s body was in the Ángel Arturo Aballí Polyclinic, on Sol Street, between Aguacate and Compostela, “for many hours,” awaiting the arrival of experts, Licea’s report added.

Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba told 14ymedio that it has registered the case and is investigating to confirm it.

A quarter of the feminicides of 2024 occurred between October (seven) and November (five) alone

With this femicide, the list of crimes of gender-based violence in the country totals 48 during 2024, according to the count of this media. A quarter of them occurred just between October (seven) and November (five).

Both organizations denounced this Thursday the murder of five-year-old boy Édgar Aliesky Martínez Torres, in Camagüey. continue reading

In their report, they indicated that the homicide occurred on November 26 in the municipality of Minas and that it was committed by the minor’s father. Both NGOs indicated that it is an act of vicarious violence because “the aggressor kills a third person, children or other relatives, to make the victim suffer.”

In addition to the case of Edgar Aliesky, they reviewed seven previous cases of a similar nature: three in Las Tunas – a five-month-old baby and two girls aged two and five; one in Camagüey – a seven-year-old girl; another in Guantánamo – a one-year-old baby; another in Santiago de Cuba; a one-year-old infant; and another in Villa Clara; a 10-year-old boy. All the attacks were committed by the fathers or stepfathers of the minors.

Of the 48 reported by this media so far this year, at least 39 were committed by the partner or ex-partner of the victims.

In the case of femicides, of the 48 reported by this media so far this year, at least 39 were committed by the victims’ partner or ex-partner, a figure that is in line with what was reported by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ( ECLAC ), which published a report on November 22.

The commission’s document, which included the island for the first time, reports 60 crimes of this nature last year that were reported “by the official agencies of each country.” However, this newspaper reported 87 femicides in 2023, 45% more than the official data provided.

With the 60 crimes reported by ECLAC, the rate of femicides per 100,000 women is 1.1 (taking into account that the commission uses 6,000,000 women to make the calculation). However, taking the 87 accredited by 14ymedio and a population, more adjusted to the latest official figures, of 5,000,000 women, the rate rises to 1.74. With these numbers, Cuba has the third highest rate in the region, behind Honduras (7.2) and the Dominican Republic (2.4).

In its report, ECLAC stated that there are nine countries, including Cuba, that lack systems for measuring gender-based crimes of violence. The organization noted that these nations “are working on the coordination and capacity building necessary to implement integrated or single administrative record systems for cases of gender-based violence.”

____________

New Total Blackout in Cuba Due to the Disconnection of the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant

The Government suspends all teaching and work activities, except for “vital” ones
The break occurred at 2:08 a.m. on Wednesday.

Dawn in Havana at 6:30 a.m., a few hours after the total blackout began. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 4 December 2024 — Cuba’s National Electricity System (SEN) suffered its third disconnection in less than two months at 2:08 a.m. this morning, plunging the country into total darkness once again. According to a brief note published in Cubadebate, an “automatic trip” at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country’s main power plant, caused the outage, a case very similar to what happened on October 18.

As a result, work and teaching activities have been suspended throughout the country, according to the announcement by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó. The decision, adds the official information, “is maintained” as long as the “national electrical and energy situation” lasts. Likewise, “vital services” will be maintained and “no worker’s salary will be affected.”

When dawn broke, Havana had already been submerged for several hours in a total blackout, which began, as the editorial staff of this newspaper was able to confirm, around 5:00 am. After a rather cool dawn – it reached temperatures of around 54 degrees Fahrenheit – there were few lights on in the city, most of them in ministerial buildings. The capital’s neighborhoods were completely dark early in the morning. The western area, with Playa and Marianao, were also in blackout. El Cerro was completely dark, as was El Vedado, Centro Habana and the Boyeros area. Lights were visible in some points of the bay.

The Cuban Electric Union has announced that it is working on the process of restoring the network. According to Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, governor of Santiago de Cuba and one of the first officials to speak, on social media, about the situation, “specialists will work on the construction of micro islands to restore [power] in the shortest possible time.” This technique was the only one that managed to restore the SEN after the failure of continue reading

October 18, which was followed by a failed attempt to reconnect.

“Fuel for the power generators of the main hospital institutions is guaranteed, assuring their operation, especially in critical areas such as intensive care,” Johnson Urrutia added.

“Fuel for the power generators of the main hospital institutions is guaranteed, assuring their operation”

The Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, through its account on X, assured that “the conditions are more favorable than in the last disconnection,” since “the fulfillment of the procedures is not affected by the hurricane.” And it added: “The islands are already working and the system is gradually being restored.” In a second tweet, it reiterated this last information, adding: “Electrical microsystems are prioritized for water pumping. Several units are ready to start up. Today a large percentage of the SEN will be recovered.”

By 10 a.m., Villa Clara had “revived its microelectric system” with a group of diesel engines from Santa Clara Industrial, although only two circuits had electricity. In Guantánamo, only the Children’s and General Hospitals, the center of the main city and the Baracoa Hospital had electricity. A similar situation occurs in Havana, where there are 12 hospitals and 35 circuits with electricity, located in the municipalities of Guanabacoa, Boyeros, Habana del Este, Centro Habana, Cerro and Marianao.

In addition, in the central region, “is fed by the generation of the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant” to connect with the Cienfuegos refinery and reach Energas in Varadero. The objective here is to recover the Guiteras plant during the evening of this Wednesday. In the east, the Moa engines were started to activate the thermoelectric plants of Felton and Renté, in addition to unit 5 of Nuevitas.

The second disconnection of the SEN occurred during Hurricane Rafael, on November 6, and its aftermath was still present in Artemisa, the province where it had the greatest impact and where there were still around 10 megawatts (MW) affected by faults in the network.

The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located in Matanzas, rejoined the SEN on November 25 after going down a week earlier for “unpostponable” repairs.

Since then, it had been operating at full capacity, according to the official Matanzas journalist Jose Miguel Solís, who updated the island’s energy situation every day, highlighting that the production of the plant – the largest in Cuba – was almost at full capacity, with 270 MW generated.

However, the situation of both the Guiteras plant and the SEN is highly precarious, as the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, warned a month ago, acknowledging the evidence on national television.

“And the misery will continue until the poor administration that exists in this country is what is disconnected”

“The system is weak, there is a huge generation deficit,” he acknowledged. This Tuesday, the deficit forecast for peak hours was almost 1,600 MW, an amount that is already within the norm, even in these days of December, which are cooler on the Island.

According to the UNE report, the maximum electricity generation capacity was 1,554 MW, which for a demand of 3,080 MW represents 50.4%.

Despite the increase in oil shipments from partner countries such as Venezuela, Mexico and Russia, the fragility of thermoelectric plants constantly puts the national grid at risk.

“And the misery will continue until the poor administration that exists in this country is put to rest,” one Internet user commented to official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso.

____________

Cuba’s Official Press Hides Crimes Until They Are Solved by the Police

’Cubadebate’ did not inform its readers of the murder of a child by his father, but it does publish an official statement about the arrest of the murderer

The authorities want to generate a perception of security / La Hora de Cuba

14ymedio, Madrid, 3 December 2024 — The official press announced this Tuesday the murder of Edgar Aliesky Martínez Torres, the five-year-old boy whose violent death was denounced by independent media and feminist organizations last week. As usual in state media, they point out the crime when it is already solved and do not give a single detail about the circumstances of the violent event.

Avoiding the impact of the case, Cubadebate reports the arrest of the perpetrator of violent acts against children and pregnant women in Minas, Camagüey. The article goes further in concealing the facts and indicates that “the occurrence of an unusual event against the life of a child under five years of age was learned,” without explaining at any time that the victim was murdered.

Something new is revealed: the man “in the course of his flight sexually assaulted a woman who is eight months pregnant,” which is simply a statement from the Ministry of the Interior incomprehensible to anyone who had no knowledge of the events.

The events occurred on November 26 and were broadcast two days later by the Alas Tensas platform, which already said that it was a case of vicarious violence, in which the murderer was the father of the minor. “The aggressor kills a third person, children or other relatives, to make the victim suffer,” the organization reported on its social networks, which attached a list of seven more children killed continue reading

by their parents or the partners of their mothers. “We have a debt towards Edgar Aliesky and all the boys and girls who have suffered the most terrible of deaths,” it added.

The version circulating in Camagüey indicates that Edgar Aliesky was with his maternal grandmother when his father arrived

The version circulating in Camagüey indicates that Edgar Aliesky was with his maternal grandmother when his father arrived without anything indicating, apparently, his intentions, even despite the fact that the child’s mother, Keilyn Torres Varela, was being threatened by her son’s father for wanting to leave the relationship. Since the murder was committed, Torres Varela has been guarded by the Police, since she was the main target.

After strangling the child, the alleged murderer ran away and came across the pregnant woman, who was on her way to a medical check-up. He hit her, raped her and stole her cell phone. According to a nurse at the maternal and child hospital Ana Betancourt De Mora, “the pregnant woman is stable and maintains her pregnancy.”

The police information validates the identity of the alleged murderer, although without granting him the right to the presumption of innocence, as befits an official body until the trial. “In the course of the investigation it is known that the author of these facts is the citizen Alieski Martínez Ferrer, father of the aforementioned minor,” the statement continues, without revealing more facts than the sexual assault on the pregnant woman.

Comments on social networks and in ’Cubadebate’ have been filled with requests for justice

Comments on social networks and in Cubadebate have been filled with requests for justice, including the death penalty for the murderer.

The way the official press proceeds follows the usual pattern of announcing violent events only after the criminal has been arrested, as happened days ago with the case of an alleged murderer of two custodians in Santiago de Cuba. The purpose is to generate a feeling of tranquility and crime control that, despite the Regime’s efforts, does not resonate with the population.

In a survey prepared by Bohemia magazine a year ago, 92.4% of participants considered that violence has increased a lot in Cuba, 42% said they had been aware of 10 or more violent crimes in the last six months, and almost half said that a direct family member or close person was a victim of one of these events. In addition, 84% of those who responded have changed their routines for fear of the insecurity they perceive, including modifications in their daily routes, hiding their valuables and avoiding carrying cash with them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Tree of a Thousand Voices Arrives at The Country with only one Growl

Loaded with words, the 15-meter-high consortium is a hymn to freedom and the power of literature.

‘Those who cross the Plaza de Armas in Havana these days will come across an enormous installation by the French artist Daniel Hourdé. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia Lopez Moya, Havana, 18 November 2024 — El árbol de las Mil Voces extends its branches in the centrally located space and, instead of leaves, displays an endless number of book pages. The collection, loaded with words and measuring 15 meters high, is a hymn to freedom and the power of literature. But its foliage, with fragments of Lorca, Proust or Goethe, takes on another meaning in Cuba, a country marked by censorship and editorial dogma.

The writings, on pages that hang like fruits of human knowledge and creativity, include a wide catalog of Poetry, Narrative, Art History and Philosophy. The wind can stir the structure, shake the steel pages that creak and rattle, creating a unique symphony on each occasion, but it cannot bring down the thick trunk that supports human creation. The gusts can barely batter the flowers, just as intolerance can barely hit literature but never uproot it.

‘The Tree of a Thousand Voices’ arrives amid an artistic wasteland where much of the diversity that Cuban culture once displayed has been lost

Standing near the base, it is sufficient to glance up to read names that Cuban editorial policy in recent decades has looked down on, such as Octavio Paz and Milan Kundera. But there are also many other works that readers on the Island have missed because the economic crisis has reduced continue reading

the publication of international authors, while resources continue to be allocated to supporting propaganda. More than a thousand voices, Hourdé’s tree seems like a chorus of cries that remember the unpublished titles, the stories not disseminated and the gaps left in so many bookstores and libraries.

The piece has also landed at a very complicated time for freedom of expression in Cuba. The 15^th edition of the Havana Biennial could not take place in a worse context, with hundreds of political prisoners and artists, such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, having been sentenced to prison for pushing the limits of the narrow cultural policy. The intensification of repression, the tightening of censorship and the lack of opportunities for creators have also contributed to the especially dramatic exodus among painters, sculptors, actors and writers.

The Tree of a Thousand Voices arrives in the middle of an artistic wasteland where much of the diversity that Cuban culture once displayed has been lost. If the piece symbolizes freedom of expression, as its author has stressed on numerous occasions, it only remains to read it as a wake-up call in Cuba. Its branches and leaves, full of words, grow and expand in a restored square for tourists, in the framework of an event that functions as a showcase for a plurality that does not exist, and surrounded by people who have been deprived of the right to decide what they can read and what voices they can listen to.

Translated by Norma Whiting

____________

Cuba’s Official Journalism Regrets the Desertion of Young People and the Empty Newsrooms

The Cuban Union of Journalists questions military service for future students

Third Plenary of the UPEC National Committee on Saturday / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 2 December 2024 — The figures provided in the III Plenary of the National Committee of the Cuban Union of Journalists (UPEC), held on Saturday in Havana, clarify the decline in the career of journalism, once coveted by students with better grades. So much so, that university enrollments are not enough to meet the demand of the existing media.

Distributed in the six journalism schools on the Island – Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Camagüey, Villa Clara and Matanzas – and in the four years of study, there are a total of 498 students. The panorama worsens even more in the next generation, if we take into account that in the university colleges of preparation for the career, existing in those provinces plus Las Tunas – in which this course opened – there are only 108 students.

In the articles published in the official press that mention the plenary, there is no mention of the reduction in young people that the migratory exodus has meant in recent years, nor of the low state salaries compared to the cost of living – 4,800 pesos a month, plus extra depending on the position, the environment (municipal, provincial or national), and whether the journalist is a Party “cadre.” These are probable causes of disenchantment with the journalism career, but the mandatory military service for young people who want to study journalism, launched in this 2024-2025 course, was again questioned. continue reading

At the meeting it was also recognized that the repeated “legitimate demands of the sector” will not be easily resolved

Thus, the head of the Department of Journalism of the Faculty of Communications of the University of Havana, Karla Picart Rodríguez, proposed that the UPEC reduce the internship in Active Military Service (SMA), which right now is one year, “considering that in less time its objectives could be met and that the newsrooms and the media are decapitalized, empty.” The criticism, however, was mild, and the official report stated: “Although in the Plenary it was clear that this is already a firm decision, the young teacher called for defending the emphasis of such transit through units in activities and actions that nourish their perspective as students of media communication.”

Other speakers made proposals for “those future journalists in the military units,” who “can be used to improve the communication processes of the Armed Forces, manage radio bases, become correspondents of the magazine Verde Olivo, nurture knowledge in the staffs and the College of National Defense, and join battles on social networks.”

This is far, therefore, from the voices within the regime, who have warned that military service is a deterrent for potential journalism students. The dean of the Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana, Ariel Terrero, for example, said in the II Plenary of the UPEC that the implementation of that condition was “a failure” and questioned whether it served to “educate and ideologically train these young women.”

On the same Saturday that the III Plenary of the UPEC was held, national television broadcast a long hagiographic report on the SMA for future journalists. It was blatant proof that, despite the arguments against it, the obligation [of military service] will continue for the time being.

Moreover, the meeting also recognized that the repeated “legitimate demands of the sector” will not be easily resolved. “To satisfy them, political will is not always enough, because material and financial resources can be deciding factors,” said the deputy head of the Ideological Department of the Party’s Central Committee, Marydé Fernández López.

“Several organizations try to control information to give the idea that nothing is happening, which leaves the press the sad role of damage control that follows”

UPEC presented “a list of material, logistical, organizational and training vulnerabilities” that the official press does not mention – “it would take a long time to detail here,” they excuse themselves – but which can be summarized in a conclusion: “A good part of what the Social Communication Law establishes is not fulfilled, not even by the media.”

Another slightly critical moment in the plenary was when they talked about how to communicate the recent catastrophes such as hurricanes Oscar and Rafael and the two earthquakes in Granma province. In this regard, Juventud Rebelde journalist José Alejandro Rodríguez said: “Before the current comes, the light of information must arrive,” and another colleague from Las Tunas, István Ojeda Bello, said: “The Social Communication Law goes into crisis because several organizations try to control information to give the idea that nothing is happening, which leaves the press with the sad role of damage control that follows.”

Finally, they also analyzed the change in management models in the state press, which began in August last year. According to the report presented, the results of “the experiment” are “very encouraging in the multi-platforms where they are best applied.” That is, Ideas Multimedios – directed by Randy Alonso and encompassing websites such as Cubadebate and TV programs such as Mesa Redonda, the Cubavisión International channel, the Cuban News Agency and Prensa Latina, as well as the Escambray, Girón, Juventud Rebelde, Periódico 26 and Granma newspapers.

In this aspect, Radio Rebelde, Tele Rebelde and Tele Pinar “began to take off,” and “46 other media have just defended their projects of inclusion in the experiment.” On the other hand, they indicate, the start of the proposal has been “exceedingly” delayed “in media that were expected to be leaders: Radio Sancti Spíritus, Radio Florida and Solvisión.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

A Nurse Questions the Lack of Cuban Doctors in Remote Areas in Mexico When the Arrival of 96 is Announced

A health worker denounces the lack of medicines and specialists in communities in the Mexican state of Sonora

Cuban doctors assigned to the rural community hospital in the Vícam Settlement, in Sonora / Facebook / Salud Servicios IMSS Bienestar

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 3 December 2024 — The 96 Cuban doctors that the Mexican Government boasts of having incorporated into the Sonora hospitals are not even remotely sufficient to solve the state’s problems. “Neither with the Cubans nor with the announcements of new hospitals have the shortages in the Sonora health services been eradicated,” a nurse, who requested anonymity in the face of possible reprisals, told 14ymedio. “There is a shortage of medical supplies at the IMSS-Bienestar hospital in Nogales. Some of the patients have to buy their own medications,” she says.

The same source reveals that of the 100 Cuban specialists that Gabriela Nucamendi Cervantes, director of Imss-Bienestar, the free health organization created during the Administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace the Popular Insurance, announced this Sunday, “none has been sent to Etchojoa,” which is considered the poorest municipality in Sonora.

Given the lack of doctors, last February “16 medical interns (students) of medicine were sent to 12 health centers that are in the rural area of the municipality. The boys come from universities in Sonora and Sinaloa,” says the nurse, who wonders why the Cuban doctors were not taken to this site.

Last May, the MegaNoticias portal denounced the backwardness in healthcare in the northern state. In Etchojoa “there is an obvious lag in the issue of health, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). Only 28.6% have a mobile unit for transfer, and there is a 41.9% poverty rate.” continue reading

Health deficiencies also prevail in the Mochipaco ejido* where “for 30 years, a house enabled as a health center has been closed.” In Guaytana, history repeats itself: there are no doctors established to attend to the population.

Cuban doctors sent to the municipality of Átil, in Sonora / Facebook / Administracion Municipal de Atil 2024-2027

On November 27, Mayor Jorge Alberto Elías Retes was elected as vice president of the Health Network to meet the needs in the southern region of the state. “The fight against dengue and the urgent need for doctors for rural health services,” are the two primary considerations of the Government, he emphasized.

In her speech, Gabriela Nucamendi Cervantes recognizes the valuable addition of the Cubans, given the shortage of specialists in several municipalities. “We are fortunate that the Cuban doctors and psychiatrists are here. We just sent two to the mountains and are going to distribute them throughout the state,” she said.

Nucamendi told the newspaper El Sol de Hermosillo that Cuban specialists were helping in the municipalities of “Magdalena, Moctezuma and Álamos, especially in community hospitals that are difficult to cover.” The official said that others are in the Vícam Settlement, located in Yaqui territory in the south of the state, where a $26,014,316 hospital is under construction.

The Cubans are also working in the General Specialties Hospital and the Children’s Hospital in Hermosillo.

Regarding the per diem of Cuban doctors, at the beginning of October it was revealed that the Government of Mexico pays 5,188 dollars a month for salary, transportation, food and lodging for each of the 3,101 Cuban specialists hired to offer services in rural areas.

*Translator’s note: An ejido is a tract of land held in common by the inhabitants of a Mexican village and farmed cooperatively or individually.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Venezuela Cannot Rid Itself of Maduro without Cuba’s Help Says Former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda

The Venezuelan army is under constant surveillance by Cuban intelligence

is stint at Mexico’s chief diplomat more than twenty years ago was marked by a breakdown in relations with the island. / Jorge Castañeda/Instagram

14ymedio, Mexico City, 20 October 2024 — Former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda made it very clear. If the international community wants to help Venezuela resolve the crisis following Nicolás Maduro’s fraudulent presidential election, it will first have to negotiate with Cuba. “Without Cuban cooperation, it is impossible,” the former diplomat said in an interview with the Argentine news site Infobae.

“I have my doubts but the Cubans claim that the disaster they are experiencing is due to increased sanctions — the “blockade*” as they call it — and limits on remittances. If all that is true and the situation in Cuba is as dire as they say, then there is an incentive,” he explained.

The former minister has a hunch that Havana will try to normalize relations with the U.S by facilitating Maduro’s handover of power

The former minister argued that Venezuela’s army is subject to constant surveillance, supervision and meddling by Cuba’s intelligence services. “They are very, very good,” he emphasized. “They prevented any attempt to overthrow Fidel or Raúl Castro for sixty-five years. And who knows how many assassination attempts on one or the other? They are very good at what they do.”

His time as head of the Mexican foreign ministry more than 20 years ago (between 2000 and 2003) was marked by a historic breakdown in relations between Mexico and Cuba. First, there were resolutions against Cuba in the Organization of American States’ Commission on Human Rights. Later, continue reading

there was an incident — it was dubbed the “eat-and-run” — when then-president Vicente Fox suggested to Fidel Castro that he leave the country before the United Nations Summit on Financing for Development, which was being held in the Mexican city of Monterrey, had ended.

That is why Castañeda has stayed away from politics and now teaches at New York University while contributing articles to various Mexican and international media outlets. He believes the international community, particularly Latin American countries, should insist on finding a solution for Venezuela. “I believe we must continue insisting but without countries like Mexico abandoning the effort because that causes even more damage,” he points out. “Mexico is no longer active in the group that includes Colombia and Brazil, and that weakens the efforts of those other two countries. The result is they now see themselves playing a more passive role. They must also include other countries in the region without taking sides.”

Castañeda believes the international community should insist on finding a solution for Venezuela

Castañeda also warns of the threat posed by Venezuela’s relations with countries such as China and Russia, and the role they have played in the country’s recent post-election crisis, which has left twenty-four dead and more than two thousand detained by the Maduro government. The repression, he points out, has also forced opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia to seek asylum in Spain.

“It is my understanding the Chinese are not particularly interested in getting involved in this conflict in part because Maduro still owes them a lot of money which he has not paid,” he observes. “They are upset because he has not paid them in either petroleum or cash. They also give the impression that they don’t want to get into a fight with the United States over Venezuela.”

The former Mexican foreign minister admits that, in the case of Russia, the situation is more complex. “Putin is obviously trying to irritate and provoke the United States through his support for Venezuela,” Castañeda notes. ” He has sent weapons and some money, and made demonstrations of force such as sending brigades of bombers and ships. However, it does not seem to be having much much of an effect on the situation.”

____________