Translating Cuba – Page 134 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

With 74 Percent of Buses out of Service, Public Transport in Ciego De Ávila, Cuba, Remains at a Minimum

The provincial authorities have left passenger transport in the background to focus on “covering vital services”

Four eggs (including an unusually large one, lower right) hatched into five chicks—a first report for Eastern Bluebirds. Photo by Gerald Clark.

14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2024 — Ciego de Ávila’s transportation plan will have completed three consecutive years in 2024 without even approaching half of what was planned. At the end of October, according to a text published this Sunday in the official media Invasor, the Provincial Transport Company (EPT) has barely reached 27% of the goal of 18,000,000 passengers that it set out to carry this year.

In 2023, it only managed to transport 5,600,000 of the 14,000,000 passengers it had planned, while 2022 was even worse and did not achieve more than a third: 7,000,000 of 21,000,000. The director of the EPT, Vidal López Más, attributed the poor numbers to the “obstacles to overcome” posed by the “two big challenges”: the fuel deficit and the “low coefficient of technical availability”; that is, the number of vehicles available for service.

Only 26% of public buses are available in the province. Many of the vehicles have deteriorated “from the absence of components that are part of the operating cost, mainly tires and batteries. We lost the large vehicles; we only have the “dianas” (minibuses), which have shorter routes,” the official admits.

Many of the vehicles have deteriorated “from the absence of components that are part of the operating cost of transport”

With these shortcomings, the company fails to cover even half of the routes it has scheduled, since it barely serves 57 of the 135 in the province. “However, compared to the end of July, we managed to activate 11, based on a new strategy in the design, and we managed to incorporate eight buses,” highlights López Más.

With the small working fleet, the company has had to remove parts of from the vehicles that are out of service. The official points out “the innovative capacity” of the drivers for these tasks: “They have moved continue reading

tires to a bus in operation from one that is paralyzed for the long term. They have also changed batteries this way, and solutions like this are being sought. In any case, these advances are insignificant in the face of the demand that is still not met.”

The limitations experienced in Ciego de Ávila have forced the authorities to leave passenger transport in the background to focus on “covering vital services and others of great importance: transportation of patients with medical appointments, health personnel for provincial hospitals, students from the universities of Villa Clara and Camagüey and funeral flet.”

For cargo, the availability of vehicles reaches 42%, but there is another problem: they lack fuel

For cargo, the availability of vehicles reaches 42%, but there is another problem: they lack fuel. To try to solve that issue, says the company, “the leased vehicles have been very useful for the massive distribution of flour and the standardized family basket to the ration stores of the 10 municipalities.” However, they cannot use half the available transportation either, because, although there are more than 85 leased vehicles, 50% “are still in the process of repair or legal processing.”

The company cannot import the resources it needs to reincorporate more vehicles. López Más points out that, “like all transport companies in the country,” the one in Ciego de Ávila “has a development fund enabled in the Ministry of Transport.” Therefore, they can only wait, although practically nothing arrives. “So far in 2024, we have received only one delivery with an insignificant amount of tires and batteries,” he reproaches.

“So far in 2024, we have received only one delivery with an insignificant amount of tires and batteries”

Although Ciego de Ávila has not been directly affected by the latest natural phenomena that hit Cuba – hurricanes Oscar and Rafael, and earthquakes and floods in the east – there was also “a temporary suspension of almost all services offered by the EPT,” although the company did support the need for some funeral services and “certain trips of interest from the highest authorities of the territory.”

Another challenge facing transport in Ciego de Ávila is the state of roads. The same media published that, “in mid-2023, 75% of the roads of interest, both municipal and provincial, were in regular or poor condition.” At the national level it is the same diagnosis. In July of last year, the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, indicated that 75% of the country’s roads are in regular or poor condition, a figure that has been maintained at least since 2019, when it increased by 15% compared to the previous year.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Closure of Numerous Museums in Cuba Reflects the Cultural Defeat of the Regime

In Ciego de Ávila, half of the 13 provincial institutions are closed

The Provincial Museum of Ciego de Ávila is one of the few that have “material help” from the Government / Invasor

14ymedio, Havana, November 10, 2024 — Facilities in terrible condition, partial collapses and pieces stored in “dusty boxes” define the situation of museums in Cuba. The worst part is experienced by the provincial institutions, closed most of the day and without conditions to preserve the past. It is a “defeat for society” that ahe official provincial newspaper Invasor recently illustrated with a fact that “impresses and saddens”: of the 13 museums that Ciego de Ávila has, half are closed.

Invasor dedicated its weekly cultural supplement to exploring the museological debacle in the province. The photos of chipped and cracked walls are eloquent. The testimonies of the employees, even more so. Critical of the management of the local government, Doralis Nuez González, director of the Provincial Heritage Center, reminded the authorities that they had to assume “more strongly their responsibility” for the deterioration, because they are obliged, in fact, by the General Law on the Protection of Heritage.

Nuez González warned about the imminent loss of collections several centuries old. He asked for resources so that the pieces – especially the documents, more fragile – receive “a correct preventive conservation.” “Paper, even when we take all precautions, can be exposed to dust, moisture and the growth of fungi. A closed place, far from helping, damages the cultural heritage that we will bequeath to our children and grandchildren,” he lamented.

On the other hand, archaeological objects – which are not lacking in Ciego de Ávila, because it contains abundant aboriginal sites – need “optimal control of temperature and humidity,” which is achieved with equipment continue reading

and substances that are lacking.

In Ciro Redondo the problem is the building, whose “constructive state” leaves much to be desired

Of the 13 museums in the province, four are completely closed – Decorative Arts, the municipal ones of Majagua and Bolivia, and the important Museum-Site Los Buchillones, in Chambas – and two partially: those of Florencia and Ciro Redondo. The closures have “various causes.” In Majagua there is no staff, and they have alleged a “redesign of the project.” In Ciro Redondo the problem is the building, whose “constructive state” leaves much to be desired.

In Florencia there is an effort to open some museums, but the progress is “progressive.” Decorative Arts, Bolivia and Los Buchillones have the same flaw: the seepage that, after each downpour, leaves the ceiling full of leaks and a “humid environment” that has damaged the pieces.

The situation of Decorative Arts is one of the most serious, and its director, Celia Marrero, implores the Government to rescue it. “I hope they approve the investment we need and that the doors of the museum open as soon as possible, but as of today we have no certainty of being able to achieve it next year. It is most likely that we will not get help even for the carpentry,” she explains.

In the Bolivia, due to leaks, they have had to store everything in “boxes and suitcases.” “The local authorities are aware of this situation, but they tell us that there is no money for the work,” complains the director of the municipal museum, Zuleidys Álvarez.

The small museum of Los Buchillones was very affected after the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017. The local Communist Party has been interested in the situation because there is much at stake: the hundreds of valuable pieces of aboriginal wood that Canadian scholars are in the process of studying and classifying, whose loss would be catastrophic for the state of Taíno studies worldwide.

The pieces were better preserved “in the sulfurous mud of the beach, which protected them naturally for centuries”

The pieces were better preserved “in the sulfurous mud of the beach, which protected them naturally for centuries,” than in the dilapidated museum, admits the PCC. “Seven years after the hurricane, the valuable aboriginal collections are still in boxes, without the necessary materials to finish this work and return the museum to its functionality,” Invasor regrets.

The director of Culture of Chambas even asked the Ministry of Tourism to “get involved in this matter and resurrect Los Buchillones” with a view to bringing tourists to its facilities. However, the newspaper points out, even if such an investment occurs, it will also be necessary to deal with another “headache”: the municipal museum of Chambas, almost in collapse and about to close.

“Why don’t we finish repairing it? Mostly, due to a lack of materials, but I also think that there has been a lack of more commitment on the part of other agencies in charge. Culture, with its scarce resources, cannot solve everything,” said the official.

Invasor does not blame the authorities for the situation. Washing their hands of it is, “to a certain extent, understandable,” due to the crisis which Cuba is living through. “Where can they get money, materials or labor, in the midst of so many shortages? If the housing deficit persists in Ciego de Ávila, how can they prioritize places where no one will live?” the article asks. But a paragraph later, it qualifies: without museums the “cultural decolonization” that, taking former minister Abel Prieto as a guru, the Government has launched will not be possible.

The newspaper also dedicated an editorial to the situation of museums, in addition to an interview with Lizette Pérez Sánchez, specialist at the Provincial Museum. Graduated in Marxism and an unconditional adherent of the Communist Party, Pérez has no complaints: the local government, she says, gives a “material contribution” to the institution, privileged in a context of cultural helplessness.

The precariousness of Cuban museums has been denounced on multiple occasions

The precariousness of Cuban museums has been denounced on multiple occasions. Several weeks ago, the Matanzas Art Museum suffered a collapse of its roof, according to the local press. At that time, the museology specialist of the institution, Jenny Páez, regretted the incident and said that it occurred due to the “silence and delinquency of some entities responsible for ensuring its conservation.”

At the beginning of the year, the National Heritage Council informed the Minister of Culture that in Cuba there were 64 museums closed and another 61 monuments in danger of collapse, due to the “deficit of equipment, materials and investments for their conservation and restoration.” Although there has been no update, it is expected that the figures have increased.

Last February, when 14ymedio visited the Cerro Museum in Havana, the panorama was unfortunate. With grass and vines growing on its facade, there were hardly any remains of the yellow ribbon with which the police warned that the place was impassable. On the double staircase of the building, someone drew a word that serves as an alert for any Cuban cultural institution: “Danger.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Artemisa and Pinar Del Río, Cuba, Are Still Without Electricity, Havana Has Just 15 Percent, While the East Is Better

In Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución district, neighbors have been without electricity for more than 50 hours

The luckiest take advantage of the sun this Friday to charge their generators with solar panels / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 8 November 2024 — Two days after the impact of Hurricane Rafael in western Cuba and the consequent total collapse of the national energy system (SEN), there are still populated areas of the Island without power. Artemisa and Pinar del Río, the provinces most affected by the hurricane, have not even been able to connect. In most localities they barely have internet or cell phone service.

“They have not even been able to leave their block due to the amount of branches, tiles and other objects that are lying everywhere,” says a Cuban from Alquízar who has now emigrated to the United States and has learned about his relatives through a friend who was able to find a place where he had a little signal. “The neighbors are taking care of the damage, without electricity and water. No agency or official has yet passed by to evaluate damage or distribute food,” he said early this Friday.

Alquízar is one of the places that Miguel Díaz-Canel later visited. There, the president said, “the people work intensely without neglecting the recovery of their community.”

The rest of the provinces, according to the Director of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, “are interconnected to the SEN,” although this does not mean restoration of the electrical service either. In Havana, the official continued, “there are several circuits that are affected by the passage of the hurricane, and in the rest of the country, the effects are due to the generation deficit.” continue reading

A total of 90 electricity poles collapsed in Havana as the hurricane passed, including 30 in Cerro and Plaza de la Revolución

According to the Havana Electric Company, it has barely been possible to serve 50 primary distribution circuits of the 337 existing in the capital, as well as eight hospital circuits and two water supply circuits. “We are at 15.1% recovery,” the authorities acknowledged.

A total of 90 electricity poles collapsed in Havana as the hurricane passed, including 30 in Cerro and Plaza de la Revolución. In this last municipality, where the newsroom of 14ymedio is located, residents have been without electricity since Wednesday around 8:30 am, more than 50 hours. The luckiest take advantage of the sun this Friday to charge their generators with solar panels.

In other areas, such as Holguín, they breathe a sigh of relief because “the blackout did not last as long as before,” according to a neighbor, referring to the previous system crash on October 18. Although there are still municipalities in that eastern province without electricity, power was returned to the city of Holguín on Thursday afternoon. “What is a crime is that they are taking advantage of the situation to sell coal for 2,000 pesos,” laments the same source. “We are on the verge of collapse.”

A comment on the networks of the Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) expressed the mood: “We have suffered 10 days of hell, without help from the West, with 15 to 24 hours of daily blackouts. Hopefully we will have a few days of peace and power in eastern Cuba.”

From Sancti Spíritus, a collaborator of this newspaper reports that the service “is stabilizing”: there is electricity for two, four or five hours, but “without planning.”

This map from the official press illustrates the “recovery of the SEN” this Friday / Cubadebate

Regarding the thermoelectric power plants, Guerra Hernández reported: “Guiteras [Matanzas] is in service; a unit of the Felton [Holguín] is online; two units in Nuevitas [Camagüey]; unit number three of Santa Cruz del Norte [Mayabeque]; and today we must start unit number 1 and that of Renté [Santiago de Cuba]. The engines of Moa [Holguín] are in service, and the generation capacity will increase. It may also be possible to increase generation in Havana’s floating power plants.”

The map with which the official press illustrates the “recovery of the SEN” corroborates that the Máximo Gómez thermoelectric plant in Mariel, the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos and the Renté still do not work. Two floating power plants are also turned off: Mariel and Santiago de Cuba, which run on fuel.

Thus, the implementation of “microsystems” or “energy islands” is vital. The first one that managed to establish itself this Thursday after the passage of Rafael was that of Matanzas, thanks to Energás Varadero. It is an electric plant with a generation capacity of 173 megawatts (MW), one of the three operated on the Island by the Canadian company Sherritt International in association with the UNE.

As William Pitt, heir to several mines expropriated by Fidel Castro in 1960 and analyst of the regime’s mining businesses observes, the power plants of Sherritt “are probably the best maintained,” in addition to being “very important for Cuba,” since they supply electricity for the most important tourist center of the country, Varadero, and to several parts of Havana, as well as supplying natural gas that is sent by pipeline to the capital.

Cuba pays Sherritt with cobalt for the work done by Energás in Varadero and the other two power plants

“That Varadero plant uses the oil and gas produced by the oil wells that Sherritt operates north of Cárdenas and southwest of Varadero,” Pitt continues. “Cuba has no money to pay Sherritt for those services, and that is why Cuba, instead of a monetary payment, has granted Sherritt the right to extract and take possession, without having to pay the Government, of nickel and cobalt ore from the mines that Sherritt operates in Moa (which include my family’s mines),” he says.

That is, Cuba pays Sherritt with cobalt for the work it does in Energás in Varadero and in the other two power plants that operate in Puerto Escondido, with 20 MW, and in Boca de Jaruco, with 313 MW.

The circumstances make fuel supplies from abroad more vital than ever. The Ocean Mariner tanker, from the Mexican port of Tampico and loaded with crude oil from that country, managed to dock in Santiago de Cuba on Tuesday, before the impact of Hurricane Rafael. The cargo of the ship Alicia, which left the port of José, in Venezuela, is also expected on Tuesday. The oil tankers, the University of Texas specialist Jorge Piñón explained to this newspaper, were sheltered in anticipation of Rafael, but are now on the move again. The Vilma left Cienfuegos and is back in the port of Pajaritos-Coatzacoalcos, in Mexico.

The UNE has not published its daily report for two days, but it is almost not necessary. Cubans assume that at least until Sunday the “normality” of the scheduled blackouts will not return.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A US NGO Friendly to Cuban Regime Donates 100 Electric Generators to Cuba

The generators run on oil or propane, so they are not practical in the midst of the fuel crisis.

Unloading the equipment donated by The People’s Forum / X/Miguel Díaz-Canel

14ymedio, Havana, 10 November 12024 — The US organization The People’s Forum has donated 100 electric generators to Cuba that, according to Miguel Díaz-Canel, will be destined for “hospitals, polyclinics and other public service institutions in Guantánamo, Artemisa, Mayabeque and Havana.” The president thanked the NGO that since the passage of Hurricane Oscar in October has managed to raise 250,000 dollars in three weeks to buy aid for the Island.

Díaz-Canel published photos of the generators being unloaded from a plane, thanks to the “solidarity of the American people.” The generators, of the Firman brand, have an approximate value of 1,400 dollars each (140,000 dollars in total) and run on oil and propane, which makes them impractical in the midst of the hydrocarbon deficit that the Island suffers.

“The most recent shipment contains 54 generators that will be sent to the areas affected by Hurricane Rafael. So far, this campaign has delivered more than 100 electric generators and more than 60,000 pounds of food, providing vital relief at a time when Cuba was in need due to a general blackout followed by two hurricanes in just two weeks,” said The People’s Forum in a statement.

The NGO denounced the “triple threat” posed to Cubans by the blackouts, hurricanes and the “blockade”

The NGO – which has called its campaign “Let Cuba Live” – denounced the “triple threat” posed to Cubans by the blackouts, hurricanes and the “blockade of the United States,” and called on Joe Biden’s Administration to use “the time it has left” to avoid new sanctions by President-elect Donald continue reading

Trump and remove Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

Last October, after the first total blackout, Washington said it did not rule out providing aid to the Island but specified that Havana had not requested assistance. “We are concerned about the possible humanitarian impact on the Cuban people. As we have seen in recent years, Cuba’s economic conditions, derived from prolonged mismanagement of its policies and resources, have undoubtedly increased the difficulties of the Cuban population,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at the time.

Cuba has received other aid from allied countries in recent weeks, including a credit of 60 million dollars from Russia to acquire 80,000 tons of oil and another two million to buy equipment and tools to repair the National Energy System (SEN). Mexico also promised to deliver fuel as part of humanitarian aid, and both the UN – which will use 33 million dollars to help the victims in Guantánamo – and the European Union promised to provide assistance.

The Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance, located in Panama, will also send 108 tons of aid

The Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance, located in Panama, will also send 108 tons of humanitarian aid, including medicines and hygiene supplies, to assist those affected by Hurricane Oscar. “This Sunday, November 10, the first two of four trips will transfer 108 tons of humanitarian assistance to Cuba to meet the needs of those affected by Hurricane Oscar, which made landfall on October 19,” stated the Panamanian Ministry of Government.

The director of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depository, Francisco Quesada, indicated that “thanks to the support of the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Service (ECHO) of the European Commission, which collaborates with more than 200 associated organizations, supplies will be transferred. Water tanks of 5,000 and 10,000 liters, tents for families, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, kitchen kits, tool kits and everything necessary to respond to the needs caused by the rains produced by the atmospheric phenomenon will be sent to Cuba.”

Despite international assistance, the SEN gives slow and unstable signs of recovery. According to the latest Cubadebate report, only half of Havana’s 12 supply sources are in operation, and 83.7% of hospitals.

As for the population, according to the report of the Electric Union, 85% of Havana’s circuits have been recovered

As for the population, according to the report of the Electric Union (UNE) 85% of Havana’s circuits have been recovered, but 14ymedio has confirmed that many residents are still without electricity. In the statement issued by the UNE, 750 megawatts of deficit are forecast for this Sunday.

Pinar del Río, although it did not suffer great damage after the passage of Rafael, remains isolated from the SEN because the ruptures and ravages of the hurricane in Artemisa prevent the energy generated in the center of the country from being connected to that province, explained Lázaro Guerra, director of the Ministry of Energy and Mines. At the moment, “we are working with the province’s own microsystems. On Saturday, Artemisa did not have electrical service,” he added.

This territory was the most affected by the hurricane, and this Sunday, only “three small microsystems” are generating current “in Bahía Honda, Bauta and Güira de Melena.” In total, they serve only 2,294 customers, 1.12% of the province’s population, Guerra said. According to the manager, “from Matanzas to Guantánamo” the rest of the SEN is connected.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘I Have Spent Almost a Thousand Pesos and I Don’t Have Enough Food for a Week,’ Laments a Retired Woman From Cienfuegos, Cuba

At the Calzada de Dolores fair, which is held on Saturdays, it is becoming more and more expensive to pay for the few products that there are.

A positive attribute of the fair is having the concentration of products in one place, residents believe. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 11 November 2024 — On Calzada de Dolores two parallel fairs coexist every Saturday. One is for those who have the required licenses to sell. The other is for those who, without a license, have all kinds of food, toiletries or even jewelry. Both have one thing in common: the prices scare off the people of Cienfuegos who come looking for affordable variety and acceptable quality. It is normal to have to turn around.

“I wanted to be here at 7:00 in the morning, but the lack of public transport prevented me,” says Fermin, a resident who came looking for a good deal and is about to leave disappointed. “There is only a little bit of junk left, corn flour and some jams that the MSMEs bring to sell. There is more soda and beer than is really necessary to feed a household. Anyone who sees so many people would think that there is a wide range of products, but most of the town leaves empty-handed, or carrying a small bag with only two or three things,” he says.

The trucks parked in the middle of the street give the impression of an abundance that exists only in official propaganda, which punctually announces the Saturday event. Fermín notes that nothing is further from the truth, but the little that there is is not enough for pockets like his. With a monthly salary of 3,200 pesos, the Cienfuegos resident must juggle to get food every day.

Trucks parked in the middle of the street give the impression of an abundance that exists only in official propaganda. / 14ymedio

“The positive thing about this fair is the concentration of products in one place, because, with rare exceptions, the cost of purchases is the same as in other places. I’m craving a bean stew and I’ll have to wait a while, because there isn’t any. The most I can do is buy a small pot of chili peppers for 60 pesos, until the rest appears,” the man admits.

If it is difficult for him, it is worse for Carmen, a 69-year-old retiree whose pension has only covered two cucumbers, a handful of bananas, a pound of malangas and three pounds of rice. “I have spent almost a thousand pesos and I can categorically say that I am not guaranteed food for even a week. To top it off, you have to be very attentive to the weighing because, at the slightest carelessness, they steal without mercy. It is an abuse they have with the population, especially with those of us who have dedicated ourselves for decades to working for this system, which has ended up being a total debacle,” she admits.

Among the stalls you can find a pound of pork for 700 pesos, or a liter of oil for the same amount. Both are highly sought-after products, but at these prices it is almost impossible for many to buy them. “They can put whatever they want on sale, but if everything continues to be so expensive we will not solve anything. I have been here since dawn, waiting for some sales to spend less overall, but if I don’t hurry I will go home the same way I came,” laments Carmen.

The vendors display their merchandise in plastic boxes, wooden shelves, tents or on the ground itself, but they never take their eyes off the inspectors, who wait for the opportunity to fine anyone who fails to comply with the price limits decreed by municipal governments, a measure that can be as strict as it is avoidable, depending on how willing the official is to be corrupted.

“They make money at the expense of others’ sacrifices. They impose fines of up to 10,000 pesos for anything they can think of, supposedly in compliance with the law. They demand a lot of documentation, a lot of hygiene, a lot of legality. However, I see them turning a blind eye to some individuals who have bought them. That is the truth,” says Arquímedes, a small farmer living in the municipality of Abreus, who is calling for the sector to be liberalized.

“They should remove all bureaucratic obstacles, which are only useful for wasting time and resources. There is no need for Acopio [the State Procurement and Distribution Agency] or any other entity. If they sold us everything we need to work the land, if they allowed us to sell first-hand and stopped treating us as if we were thieves, the supply would increase rapidly,” the farmer believes.

If you wait too long for offers, you risk returning home with nothing. / 14ymedio

The price caps in agricultural markets, a provincial jurisdiction according to decree 30/2021, are, together with the cap imposed on MSMEs for six basic products since July, the two mechanisms that, according to economists, producers and private individuals, are limiting supply. The Vice Minister of Finance and Prices, Lourdes Rodríguez Ruiz, said this Saturday that since July the Government has collected more than 600 million pesos nationwide under these regulations.

“Any act in which the price of a product sold to the population is violated, agreed upon by the State, affects the people. Our job is to maintain the established price and quality,” he argued. The result, however, is not the desired one, even though the law regulating agricultural markets has been in place for more than three years. The recipe, together with other government decisions and the general crisis affecting the country, has only resulted in the reduction of supply.

“The situation is getting tighter for ordinary people every day. Before, you could buy at least the essentials, but things are so tough that even children are going without food. This government is playing with fire,” concludes a young man at the fair while offering his to light his companion’s cigarette.

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From Cuba’s Air Force Helicopters, the Panorama After Hurricane Rafael Is Even More Bleak

The roofs that “flew” after the cyclone in Artemisa, where great damage was recorded, as seen from a helicopter / Lázaro Manuel Alonso / Facebook

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 8 November 2024 — Cubans have become accustomed to the buzz of the old Mi-17 helicopters of the Armed Forces in the last weeks of the cyclone. This Friday, with Cuban Television teams on board, several took photos that allow us to calibrate – with great detail and from above – the havoc caused by Hurricane Rafael in the Cuban west.

In one of the Mi-17 helicopters of Soviet manufacture and, judging by the images, with several years of use, five experts from the Electric Union (UNE) flew over Artemisa, Mayabeque and Pinar del Río to evaluate the state of the downed power lines. Embedded with the military, the technicians took note of a series of complex breakdowns.

“How long will it take to repair? It cannot be specified,” said the head of UNE Lines, Onassis Trujillo, alluding to six destroyed high-voltage towers near Guanajay. According to him, the Army itself is supervising the repairs, and the head of the Political Directorate of the Armed Forces, General Víctor Rojo – an expert pilot who carried out missions in Africa – and the leader of the Western Army, Ernest Feijóo, arrived at the foot of the towers.

The helicopter continued its journey over the base of Energás, in Jaruco, which the regime doesn’t generally show in published images. The base tower emitted a powerful flare, a sign that it has fuel. It is continue reading

intended to link Jaruco with the thermal power plant of Santa Cruz del Norte to create a microsystem, or “island,” of current for Mayabeque, according to the report.

Some flooded towns could be seen from the air / Facebook / Lázaro Manuel Alonso

The most impressive images among those recorded aboard the H-165 are those of the town of Mariel, with destroyed roofs and abundant pools of water. They also flew over the Máximo Gómez power station and the Turkish patana (floating power plant) Ela Sultan, whose presence in Mariel – although well known by the independent press – had not been verified through maritime tracking applications. The wind had knocked down ten wooden poles.

The journalist and spokesman for the regime, Lázaro Manuel Alonso, also boarded an Air Force helicopter this Friday. The pilots commented, according to his report, that gusts of wind were very dangerous for the old Cuban helicopters. Judging by the images, Alonso was in a Mi-17 H-166 helicopter.

One of the helicopters in this fleet, the H-115, crashed last April in Santiago de Cuba, killing its three crew members.

In Bauta, Mariel, Güira de Melena, Alquízar, Guanajay, Caimito and Artemisa, the damage was serious. Next to some fallen trees and roofs that “flew” there was an irrigation plane that had lost its wings. “But the most devastating footprint is in agriculture,” Alonso explains, and the images speak for themselves.

Cuban Television has not spared praise for the Armed Forces. In the Havana municipality of Cerro, several high-ranking officials of the Ministry of the Interior allowed themselves to be filmed, shovel in hand and in ordinary clothing – not work uniforms – to demonstrate their “commitment” to recovery. “We have been here since six in the morning,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Hernández proudly commented. Neighbors wearing Che Guevara and Fidel T-shirts praised the “great cleanup that the Minint (Ministry of the Interior) is doing.”

Several Cuban Television teams boarded the helicopters of the Armed Forces / Lázaro Manuel Alonso / Facebook

The Special Troops of Villa Clara, known as the Black Wasps, showed the cameras their modern equipment for rescue and recovery. Helmets, gloves, flashlights and new uniforms (unlike those used by soldiers or military service recruits), shovels, backpacks and life jackets, in addition to Dongfeng Chinese trucks are among the squad’s supplies. Each soldier also has a radio, portable antenna and headphones.

But the Army, reported 5 de Septiembre, has orders not only to quantify the hurricane damage and support the recovery work. They are also there to “strengthen surveillance and patrol the territory,” along with the Ministry of the Interior. The “combatants” are in charge of “control of the public road” and “other actions” to maintain calm despite the discontent of the victims.

We must protect, they say, “the resources of the State” and the “conquests of the Revolution,” a phrase that leaves no doubt: if there are protests, the same forces that operate the helicopter will be able to wield weapons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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President Milei Seeks To Expel Members of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry for ’Treason to the Homeland’ After Voting for Cuba

“We are looking at the legal format to kick them out and make them pay,” said the Argentine president

“The foreign policy is set by the president,” Milei said on the Ciudad Magazine channel / EFE

EFE (via 14ymedio), Buenos Aires, 4 November 2024 — Argentine President Javier Milei said on Monday that he seeks to expel “all” those within the Foreign Ministry involved in the decision to vote in favor of Cuba at the UN, because they are “traitors to the homeland.”

“The foreign policy is set by the president,” Milei said on the Ciudad Magazine channel, where he was interviewed by his girlfriend, Amalia Yuyito González, so “for all the people involved in that decision I am here to kick them all out. They are traitors to the homeland. We are looking at the legal format to kick them out and make them pay.”

On Wednesday of last week at the UN General Assembly, Argentina joined 186 other countries to form an overwhelming majority that approved a resolution without binding effect against the US sanctions against Cuba, which have been in place for 62 years, causing a hard blow to the Island’s economy.

Argentina’s vote at the UN triggered the replacement of the chancellor, Diana Mondino, by the former US ambassador, Gerardo Werthein

Argentina’s vote did not signal any change with respect to how the South American country had expressed itself in previous assemblies regarding the same resolution.

But Milei, who took office on December 10, 2023, defined his government’s foreign policy as aligned with the United States and Israel, the only two countries that rejected the UN resolution. continue reading

Argentina’s vote in the UN, contrary to Milei’s desire, triggered the replacement of the then-Chancellor, Diana Mondino, by the former US ambassador, Gerardo Werthein, who will assume the post on Monday as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“Not only did that vote cost Mondino her position, but we are also going to find all those responsible and kick them out,” Milei said on Monday.

Milei said he is going to start an audit among career diplomats to “identify promoters of agendas that are enemies of freedom”

“I understand that they are in love with the international bureaucracy” and “live a parasitic life,” Milei said about the Foreign Ministry staff, and he blamed the “woke” agenda and the UN 2030 agenda, which wants to “move forward against individual freedoms.”

“You can’t vote for just anything because of your personal opinion. If you want to vote that way, you have to win the election,” Milei said.

By confirming Mondino’s departure, a statement from the President’s Office affirmed that Argentina “categorically opposes the Cuban dictatorship and will remain firm in the promotion of a foreign policy that condemns all regimes that perpetuate the violation of human rights and individual freedoms.”

And he reported that an audit was going to begin among career diplomats to “identify promoters of agendas that are enemies of freedom.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Political Crime That Does Not Intimidate Venezuelans

Like Oswaldo Payá, Edwin Santos was murdered by the dictatorship

Santos was a leader of the opposition party Voluntad Popular. / EFE

14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 27 October 2024 — Edwin Santos, the Venezuelan patriot and one of María Corina Machado’s main advisors, has died. Nicolás Maduro’s hitmen abandoned his inert body on the side of a road, after vilely torturing him. Venezuelan State Security agents are still eagerly looking for María Corina’s whereabouts.

The crime will not diminish the efforts of the Venezuelan people who yearn for freedom, nor those of the growing international movement against the despotism of Nicolás Maduro.

Edwin Santos is now part of the history of his country and is another martyr for freedom and the fight against the dictatorships of different ideologies. Many names appear in that long and sad list: the Cuban Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas; the Dominican sisters Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal, victims of the violence of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo; the Russian Alexei Navalny, murdered in prison by orders of Vladimir Putin; the senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., leader of the Philippine opposition murdered on his arrival in Manila by order of Ferdinand Marcos; the Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko; the hundreds of Chileans murdered by Augusto Pinochet; the thousands of Haitians murdered by the Tontons Macoutes of François Papa Doc Duvalier; the Nicaraguans who wanted to live in a Free Nicaragua despite Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista followers; Argentines and Uruguayan opponents of their respective military dictatorships. No one can have the slightest doubt about the courage and determination of the Venezuelan people.

The necessary measures to address this crime and bring a little hope to the hearts of millions of men and women around the world are now in the hands of Western democracies and international organizations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Hurricane Rafael Causes Serious Damage in Cuba’s Most Important Economic Enclave

Cuban Television reports missing roofs, containers dragged by the gale and factories flooded by the rains in the ZEDM

The gale damaged the container terminal / Capture / Canal Caribe

14ymedio, Havana, November 8, 2024 — The most important economic enclave on the Island, the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), was also devastated after Hurricane Rafael passed through the province of Artemisa, where it is located. In an unusual report about a place that it prefers to keep out of the media, the regime superficially offered some data on the magnitude of the damage: missing roofs, containers dragged by the gale and factories flooded by the rains, as shown on Cuban Television.

The devastation is described by reporters as “considerable.” “The greatest damage is to roofs, walls and facades of facilities such as the Guajaibón photovoltaic solar park and the Suchel TBV detergent factory, both of the Vietnamese Thai group.”

The Thai Binh Global Trading Corporation began operations in Cuba 26 years ago and was one of the first to export clothing, footwear, consumer goods, food and construction materials to Latin America. In 2018 it partnered with the Cuban Industrias Nexus S.A, which is part of the Light Industry Business Group, and just a couple of years ago they installed the mixed detergent factory in Mariel.

Thai Binh is one of the few partners of the Island that decided to settle in the ZEDM and produce and market its products from Cuban territory. After Rafael’s passage, however, things do not look good for the company. According to a worker of Vietnamese origin, the winds first “took away a part of the raw material warehouse and a piece of the finished products warehouse, in addition to the roof.” continue reading

Several facilities and warehouses were left without roofs due to the winds / Capture/Canal Caribe

Also interviewed by the news, Tu Tranh, president of the Thai Binh Group, described other damage to the factory. “The diaper factory in front of the detergent factory was also damaged. We are putting all our effort into recovering these two facilities within 14 days.”

The cigarette factory Brascuba S.A, a joint venture between the Brazilian Souza Cruz and TabaCuba, also suffered significant damage to roofs and warehouses. “It had one of the most severe effects; the damage is located in the boiler’s machinery, roof and chimney,” explains the media. The images give an account of the disaster: not only the engine rooms remain wet and uncovered, but the metal sheets that make up the roof were also torn off, falling both on the ground and on top of other factories and warehouses.

Robinson Tamayo González, co-president of the Cuban side, explained that “the cigarette production workshop where all the production machines are located were mainly uncovered. Almost 40% of the roof came off with the strong winds. Of course, all the machines got wet.” The manager added that the finished product, “400 million cigarettes,” are in good condition and “can be delivered for consumption to the population.” His words were accompanied by images of a worker shoveling what appears to be wet shredded tobacco and throwing it from a ladder onto the ground outside the factory.

Tamayo was optimistic, although he recognized that Brascuba has “hard” days ahead for “damage assessment and work on the recovery of mechanical and electronic machine parts.” But, he added: “We’re going to pick ourselves up.”

The news program warned that there are also effects on the infrastructure of the Electric Union, including “high voltage networks that feed the area.” Although he stressed that Esicuba, an international insurance company – responsible for “insuring the business sector and its economic assets,” according to its website – and “in charge of compensating the facilities” of the ZEDM, is already in the process of quantifying the damage.

For the moment, according to José Leonardo Sosa, deputy director of the container terminal, the facilities will be reorganized to “maintain the operational vitality of the terminal in a first stage.” The “resuscitation” of the container yard will also begin “as soon as possible” to deliver goods and containers.

In the released images of Mariel you can see what Cubans have not seen in the streets after Rafael’s passage: not only installations being repaired as quickly as possible, but also a multitude of workers, machinery and -clearly seen in the video – a tanker with the scarce fuel.

The report, just over three minutes, leaves no time for the viewer to become familiar with Mariel or with the dozens of foreign companies that carry out operations in the terminal. About Richmeat, for example, a Mexican meat company installed in the ZEDM, the regime maintains the usual secrecy.

The commitment to attract investments to the Island in general has not gone well in recent weeks

The commitment to attract investments to the Island in general has not gone well in recent weeks. Not only was the main port destroyed, but the Havana International Fair (Fihav), with which the regime tries to honor itself annually with new economic partners, also had to be suspended after Hurricane Rafael’s passage, which caused structural damage to the Expocuba fairgrounds where the event takes place.

As Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, explained to the participants – more than 700 from 63 countries – “never before had a decision of this magnitude had to be made” despite the fact that the event is held in the hurricane season. He also added that the Organizing Committee will move the date of completion to another season of the year, although this time it was possible to save the exhibitors’ material, and “so far no damage to those articles has been found.”

Founded in January 1989, the fairgrounds have more than 600,000 square meters of extension and dozens of pavilions, among which is the central area, of gigantic proportions. But the materials with which it was built were designed for temporary installations.

The space, barely visited during the rest of the year, used to be filled during the summer months with people eager for a recreational offer that would allow them to escape the bustling city. Now, with the extinction of public transport, the disappearance of fuel and the scarce recreational offerings, only a few still approach Expocuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Russia commits to sending 80,000 tons of fuel and equipment to repair Cuba’s electric system / 14yMedio

In total, the Kremlin loaned 62 million dollars to the Island

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko arrived in Havana this Friday / Russian Embassy in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, November 8, 2024 — Russia will grant Cuba a loan of 60 million dollars to acquire 80,000 tons of fuel, and another 2 million in “needed” repair equipment after the passage of Hurricane Rafael, announced Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who had barely landed on the Island to meet with the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission. Initially, the “emergency aid” had been interpreted as a donation, but the Russian authorities and the Cuban state media specified that it was a loan.

“On the instructions of President Vladimir Putin, Russia is willing to provide sister Cuba with emergency aid due to the current situation of the Island’s energy sector. This includes 80,000 tons of diesel worth 60 million dollars, in addition to ’kits’ to repair the affected energy equipment,” reported the Russian Embassy in Cuba, later deleting the statement. The official added that the loan will be managed “through the Ministry of Emergency Situations.”

The announcement, made in front of the Russia-Cuba Intergovernmental Commission, was soon replicated by Cuban state media, which described the aid as an act of “solidarity.”

Chernyshenko did not clarify when the diesel will arrive or if there will be several deliveries. Together with the fuel donations promised by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Russia’s commitment offers a temporary continue reading

relief for the pressing oil needs of the Island, which receives less and less crude oil from its main ally, Venezuela.

The Russian oil tanker PVT Clara, under the flag of Panama and with a capacity of 20,831 tons, is navigating between Russia and Cuba

According to maritime tracking applications, under the flag of Panama, the PVT Clara oil tanker is navigating between Russia and Cuba. With a capacity of 20,831 tons, the ship brings a quarter of what Moscow has promised to send.

Other countries have also offered to help Cuba after the onslaught of two hurricanes and three breakdowns of the National Electric System (SEN) in just 20 days. According to Foreign Trade Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga on Thursday, the Civil Defense and the United Nations System in Cuba have developed a plan to raise resources to restore both state facilities and homes, and to help the victims.

“The resources provided by the United Nations allowed us to immediately respond and provide the victims with food and other necessary supplies,” said Pérez-Oliva Fraga. He added that other countries have already begun to help in the SEN’s recovery by sending “medicine and construction materials. Among them are Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Russia and China.”

The group, close to the regime, did not miss the opportunity to exalt the work of the Civil Defense

The State Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, from Spain, also issued a statement pointing out the situation on the Island and calling for fundraising within Spain to send humanitarian aid.

The group, close to the regime, did not miss the opportunity to exalt the work of the Civil Defense and denounce the “brutal, permanent and criminal economic, financial and commercial blockade of the United States Government.”

After Hurricane Oscar’s passage through Guantánamo, leaving eight dead and two missing, the United Nations System in Cuba announced that it would dedicate 33,235,167 dollars to assist half a million victims. The emergency recovery plan, for which there are already six million dollars, focuses on the sectors of water and hygiene, shelter and housing, education, logistics, health and food security. According to the agency, the immediate aid will be given for six months, but other restoration projects could continue for up to 18 months.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba and Russia Sign Eight Cooperation Agreements, Without Specifying the Content

The Russian Deputy Prime Minister met in Havana with the architects of Cuba’s rapprochement with Russia

Chernyshenko and his delegation plan to attend a religious rite in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2024 — “It’s the first time I see you in uniform,” was the greeting that – according to the official press – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Chernyshenko gave Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. In olive green, with freshly polished boots and crossed legs, the president replied: “We are at war against a hurricane.” “And we came to help,” the Moscow envoy replied.

In the dialogue, of which Cubadebate transcribed some fragments, Díaz-Canel thanked Chernyshenko for having stayed in Cuba despite the hurricane. “We are reviewing important bilateral agreements that strengthen our strategic relations,” the president told the press. These are eight agreements whose content was not revealed by either party.

The senior Russian official also announced the granting of a credit to Cuba of 60 million dollars for the purchase of 80,000 tons of fuel. In addition, he explained that an aid donation worth two million dollars has been allocated for the delivery of parts and repair components for the energy system through the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Ricardo Cabrisas participated in the meeting, a key man in the relations between Havana and Moscow and a person whom the official press defines as a “great friend of Russia”

They also examined issues of bilateral interest in the areas of economics and finance, energy, transport, agriculture, sugar production, science, technology, innovation and tourism. Chernyshenko participated in the continue reading

meeting of the intergovernmental commission for economic, commercial and scientific-technical collaboration, which he headed together with Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas, a key man in relations between Havana and Moscow and whom the official press defines as a “great friend of Russia.”

For his part, Chernyshenko stressed the “strong work” carried out by the intergovernmental commission at the level of different ministries, agencies and also the businessmen to develop bilateral relations.

Chernyshenko arrived in Havana from Venezuela accompanied by a delegation that included the First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Vasili Osmakov, the director of the Department of Public Debt and State Financial Assets of the Ministry of Finance, Denis Mamonov, and executives of the Ministries of Economic Development and Foreign Affairs.

On the Cuban side, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla participated, along with the Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Oscar Pérez Oliva-Fraga; the Cuban ambassador to Russia, Julio Garmendía Peña, and the first deputy minister of Foreign Trade, Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez.

His visit coincides with the serious effects caused by the recent impact of Hurricane Rafael

His visit coincides with the serious effects caused by the recent impact of Hurricane Rafael, category 3, which last Wednesday affected the western region of Cuba – including Havana – where it left considerable damage, including the total disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN).

The Cuban SEN is in a very precarious situation, which causes prolonged daily blackouts due to the lack of fuel and the frequent breakdowns in its obsolete thermoelectric plants, with more than 40 years of operation and a chronic deficit of investments. On October 17, a breakdown caused another total blackout in Cuba that lasted three days.

Chernyshenko and his delegation plan to attend a religious rite in the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Havana, Our Lady of Kazan, where they will give gifts to students of the Russian educational center in the capital.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Without Clarification of His Legal Status, Cuban ’11J’ Prisoner is Released From Forced Labor Camp

Sentenced to four years in prison, Meivis Mulen Díaz was “subjected to cruel treatment”

Meivis Mulen Díaz was accused of “public disorder” / Justicia 11J

14ymedio, Havana, 6 November 2024 — Activist Meivis Mulen Díaz, 54, was released this Monday from the Cetem forced labor camp, called Bidot, in the municipality of Jimaguayú, in Camagüey. The political prisoner was sentenced in 2022 to four years for “public disorder” for participating in the massive Island-wide popular protests of 11 July 2021 (11J).

The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), which announced the release, did not provide details on Mulen Díaz’s legal situation. According to the organization, during his stay in Bidot, the opposition leader “was systematically subjected to cruel treatment, starvation and even a lack of medicine for his illnesses.”

According to the prisoner register also kept by the NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD), the activist suffers from hypertension and malnutrition.

Imprisoned since February 2022, Mulen Díaz, who had no criminal record, had been arrested for the first time on 11 July, when, like thousands of Cubans on the Island, he went out to demand freedom, in his case in Camagüey.

State Security did not stop harassing him, even trying to force him to change his original statement

As he himself recounted in a video published by the OCDH, he was released three days later under house arrest pending trial. However, State Security continued to harass him, even trying to force him to change his original statement.

“My life, after the 11th, has been an ordeal,” he said in that recording, in which he said: “My home has been besieged by henchmen and front men of the regime, who have not stopped watching me constantly.” continue reading

Before him, last Thursday, Pedro Albert Sánchez, also an 11J prisoner, was released after spending 11 days on hunger strike. The 68-year-old professor left prison 1580, in San Miguel del Padrón, in Havana, without the prison authorities clarifying his legal situation.

On Tuesday, the activist was to learn more details about the status of his five-year prison sentence, but when he went to the Guanabacoa Prosecutor’s Office, his appointment was postponed until next week, due to the imminent passage of the hurricane.

At least 1,584 people were arrested in the context of the 11J protests. Of them, more than 600 remain in prison

According to the NGO Justicia 11J, at least 1,584 people were arrested in the context of these protests. Of these, more than 600 remain in prison, the organization said during the 190th regular session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), last July. Prisoners Defenders, for its part, documented before the UN in 2023 the cases of 520 11 July prisoners, which led the international organization to issue, last April, six injunctions to the Cuban regime for violating due process.

In addition, at least 26 prisoners died in Cuban state custody during the first half of this year, Cubalex reported on September 11, which is equivalent to four deaths each month. The NGO attributed the deaths to the “cruel and inhuman treatment” suffered by Cuban prisoners. The authorities, it explained, use punishment cells in an arbitrary and discretionary manner, and exceed the time stipulated in their own regulations for this practice.

In a previous report, the same organization had reported that there were 56 deaths of people who were under the care of the authorities, between January 2022 and January of this year. Of these, 34 were prisoners, nine were in police stations and there were 11 recruits for the Military Service.

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With 27.8 Percent of the Population Over 60, Villa Clara is the Oldest Province in Cuba

The aging process took between two and three centuries in Europe, while on the Island it took just 124 years.

Elderly people in a nursing home in the city of Cienfuegos. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 November 2024 — The aging of the Cuban population is accelerating at a dizzying pace, with 24.4% of the Island’s residents over 60 years of age (2,452,489), one point more than the previous year and almost five points more than in 2016 (19.8%), when it was already considered high. In 20 years, the increase was 9.7 percentage points.

The report, prepared by the Center for Population and Development Studies and published this Wednesday by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), updates the situation at the end of 2023 and offers some devastating data that show the speed of the process.

In 1899, only 4.6% of the people were over 60, giving an increase of 20 points in 124 years. The number would not be important if one takes into account that in the 20th century, advances in medicine and female emancipation led to a general aging of the population in the world, particularly in developed countries. However, as the report indicates, Cuba “took just over 120 years [to increase the elderly population by 20 points]. This same process in European countries took between two and three centuries.”

In addition to being the country with the most ageing in Latin America, experts have had to develop their own alternative scale

In its region, Cuba is also an anomaly. In addition to being the country with the most aging in Latin America, experts have had to develop their own scale, an alternative to that of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), to measure the groups of older people in Cuba. continue reading

The statistics the organization applies to all of Latin America use three intervals that indicate the degree of aging: Group I refers to less than 10% of the population over 60 with respect to the total; Group II is between 10% and 15%; and in Group III the figure exceeds 15%.

“In this sense, and given the trajectory of the aging process in the country, it has been necessary to adapt the previous classification to the Cuban context, establishing a new typology, considering that all territories show increasing values,” says the report, which includes four groups for Cuba: in Group I the elderly represent less than 15% of the population; in Group II it is between 15 and 19.9%; in Group III between 20.0 and 24.9%; and it Group IV it exceeds 25%.

The report contains detailed data on the degree of population aging by province and municipality, sex and area of residence (urban or rural), for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. The numerous tables show that a few municipalities fall below 20%, and these are: Alquizar in Artemisa (18.2%); Ciénaga de Zapata in Matanzas (19.6%); La Sierpe in Sancti Spíritus (19.2%); Bolivia and Baraguá in Ciego de Ávila (19.2 and 19.9%); Antillas in Holguín (19.1%); Río Cauto in Granma (19.4%); Tercer Frente and Guamá in Santiago de Cuba (19.4% and 19.2%).

Everything indicates that the higher rate of young population in Guantánamo is not linked to its greater development, but to its lower purchasing power

Guantánamo province is a special case, being the youngest overall (21.3%), and with a good number of municipalities with relatively low numbers. The lowest recorded is Yateras, with an aged population of 16%, followed by Caimanera (17%) and El Salvador (17.7%). All the others are between 19% and 20%, except for Baracoa and the main city. Unfortunately, everything indicates that the higher rate of young population in this province is not linked to its greater development, but to its lower purchasing power, which makes it difficult for individuals to emigrate.

At the other extreme, the province with the most aged is Villa Clara, with 27.8% of the population over 60 years old, followed by Havana (26.5%) and Sancti Spíritus (25.4%). All the municipalities in Villa Clara, without exception, are classified within group IV, but the highest percentage of the entire island, by a large margin, is in Plaza de la Revolución, with 35.1% of people over 60 years old.

Several municipalities in the capital city stand out for their high numbers, with Playa and Diez de Octubre, close to 30%, sharing the podium with the previous one. However, there are also many others, such as San Miguel del Padrón and Arroyo Naranjo, that remain in group III, making Havana not the province with the most aging population on the Island. In this case, there is a struggle between two circumstances: it is the area with the most job opportunities – and which, therefore, receives the largest internal population – but also with the most options of obtaining the money or contacts to leave the country.

In Cuba, the aging of the population is also due to a very notable “decline in the proportion of children under 14 years of age,” the report highlights, explaining how “all of this is present in the variation of the image of a pyramid with a wide base and narrow top, moving towards a rectangular shape.”

Experts also predict that the trend towards aging will continue to accelerate next year, which, the report highlights, means that “there are many challenges that the country must face in order to meet the needs of an increasingly large elderly population.”

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Argentina’s New Foreign Minister Denies Any Witch Hunt Over the Vote on the Cuban Embargo

With the exception of the minister herself, no official has been dismissed so far.

Argentine President Javier Milei (l), with the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gerardo Werthein, at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, on Monday. / EFE/Presidency of Argentina

14ymedio, Madrid, 8 November 2024 — Talk of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry continues to be on everyone’s lips after the unexpected vote in the UN by Javier Milei’s government in favor of the resolution against the US embargo on Cuba, which led to the sudden dismissal of Minister Diana Mondino. According to the Argentine press, it was not the, now former, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship who made the decision to maintain the vote in favor of Havana, but her deputy foreign minister, Eduardo Bustamante, and he will remain in office.

According to the iProfesional media, the Directorate of International Organizations issued a memorandum advising a vote against the embargo. Paola Di Chiaro, an official of the Foreign Ministry, asked to take into account that there is an agreement with Cuba in the Decolonization Committee, by virtue of which Havana votes, in exchange, in favor of the return of the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) to Argentina. Mondino, according to this account, hesitated about what the final decision should be and ended up delegating it to Bustamante who, after consulting with other high officials – including Milei’s advisor, Santiago Caputo – ended up telling Mondino: “You have all the support to vote against the embargo.”

The decision, a few hours later, cost the chancellor’s head, but Bustamante saved his own and will continue as second in command to the new chancellor, Gerardo Wherthein. Mondino’s successor, whom Milei charged with identifying the “traitorous” diplomats and the “enemies of the agendas of freedom,” has ordered the opening of an administrative investigation – without specifying which body or person should carry it out, an anomaly in the country – and, although he asked for the resignation of all the officials of the Foreign Ministry, he has only accepted the resignation of three people linked to the economic area and not the one who was involved in the vote on October 30, including those who transmitted the message to Mondino. continue reading

“What we want to understand is how a vote in favor of Cuba is taken in a country that has a foreign policy contrary to that”

Milei’s order already has its first judicial consequences. The social-democratic deputy Fernando Carbajal, from the sector of the Radical Civic Union that does not support the current Government, filed a complaint for “ideological persecution” and “illegal intelligence actions” against the Executive. “We are criminally denouncing President Milei and Chancellor Werthein for the Stalinist-libertarian purge in the Foreign Ministry. Ideological persecution violates the Constitution, the Intelligence Law and the Penal Code. We will not remain silent in the face of authoritarianism and McCarthyism,” he explained on X.

The deputy maintains that there is no problem with Mondino’s departure, which is “legal” and “legitimate” because she is part of the Cabinet and has lost the confidence of the president who appointed her, but rather with the fact that it is being used to carry out an “ideological purge.”

The discontent is not limited to the opposition. Former President Mauricio Macri has told the Argentine press that he agrees with Milei’s position regarding the vote as well as requesting the resignation of political officials, but he believes that this cannot lead to a general case against public employees. “The Foreign Ministry is a very disciplined place; the housecleaning that must be done, and which Mondino had already begun, is with the people appointed by Alberto Fernández and Sergio Massa, but it has nothing to do with career people, but with politicians. They must be cleaned up, their privileges reduced, they must pay income tax, but it is not a witch hunt or making them vote against their will,” he said.

Werthein, for his part, says that the investigation will not be ideological. “What we want to understand is how a vote in favor of Cuba is formed in a country that has a foreign policy contrary to that, and that is not implicit. We need to understand why this confusion is generated,” he explained.

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More Than a Wall, 35 Years Ago the Masks Fell in Berlin

What collapsed that day in Germany was the need to express political opinions quietly and to sing, without conviction, the praises of communism.

Every November the assessments and reminders arrive, and the images of Berliners hitting the wall are republished. / CC

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation y, 9 November 2024 — Every November the assessments and reminders arrive, and the images of Berliners pounding on the wall that divided their city and split the world into two opposing parts are republished. Every anniversary, the minutes before the hammers and chisels sounded are reviewed, testimonies are heard and the media interviews the protagonists of those days. The physical and symbolic end of a structure is celebrated, but also the moment when the masks fall.

How many of those people we see in the photos pounding the concrete 35 years ago went to work in the days leading up to 9 November 1989, and nodded in agreement with the ideological demands of their superiors? How many obediently went to a meeting of their party core, reported a neighbor to the feared Stasi, or participated in some political event where they sang victory songs and shouted slogans predicting the eternal superiority of communism? How many pretended to obey the system until the last moment, fearful of punishment or eager to obtain some prebend?

The covers of magazines and newspapers will remain full of smiling workers.

Understanding the mechanisms that make simulation a form of social survival in authoritarian models is vital to deciphering the duration of these systems and predicting the date of their downfall. As long as pretending to adhere to the regime is safer and more beneficial than opposing it, the dictatorship can show hundreds of thousands or millions of individuals who appear to live in the best of all possible models. The covers of magazines and newspapers will remain full of smiling workers, soldiers willing to give their last drop of blood for “the beloved leader” and foreign delegations who come to the country to applaud the achievements. That is, until one day. continue reading

An old joke about the Soviet Union depicted the communist system as a train at a standstill, with no railway line in front of it, but with passengers jolting, jumping and looking in amazement at the supposed scenery passing before their eyes, when in fact the carriages had not moved an inch. Under the Communist Party of the USSR (CPSU), pretending was more important than being. Putting on a mask meant staying alive or walking the streets instead of living in a dark cell. Playing the role of conformity also helped one achieve a few privileges.

That is why that November in Germany not only did the wall collapse, but also the need to express political opinions in a low voice, to conceal criticism of leaders and to sing, without conviction, the praises of communism. What they struck was not just a barrier that separated Berliners from their own compatriots on the other side, it was much more. That is why today, in front of microphones and cameras, they can applaud or complain about how things turned out after those days of euphoria. They are free to point out the achievements and disappointments, the benefits and the setbacks in these more than three decades. They earned the right to do so, without wearing any masks, with the blows of hammer and chisel.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DW and is reproduced under license from the author.

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