Translating Cuba

The crime, for which a fine of 60,000 dollars was imposed on each of them, is added to others related to firearms and vehicle theft

Despite the coyote’s confession and the evidence obtained, the United States Attorney’s office refused to prosecute the detainees. But the case was taken up by Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Joel Slough, who, in collaboration with the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, initiated a migrant trafficking case against Bustamante and Gauche.

“We will continue to take a firm stance on the crime, even when the United States Attorney’s office does not do its job,” said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay, who accused the agency of “not being willing to pursue criminals who traffic in humans.” “These criminals continue to wreak havoc on our community and other communities,” he added.

According to data from the United States Attorney’s Office, between October 2023 and 2024, more than 75 people related to migrant trafficking were prosecuted. This includes 25 coyotes and more than 50 immigrants who tried to enter illegally by sea.

Last August, Sheriff Rick Ramsay obtained enough evidence to prosecute a sophisticated gang of Cubans who were trafficking migrants by land and sea. Dianelys Pérez Escourido, Omar Liván Ripoll Pérez, Humberto Tamayo, Víctor Víctor Febles Gualpa and Joel Gil Egued are now detained in the Key West jail.

The investigations also revealed that Oscar Alfredo Bustamante Semeren belonged to the Venezuelan “Tren De Aragua” gang

Coyotes charged migrants different sums for transferring them to Florida depending on their nationality. Ecuadorians, for example, were asked to pay $4,000 to leave their country, another $3,000 for the Bahamas crossing and $1,000 for the driver of the vehicle that would transfer them when they reached land in the United States. Another 12,000 dollars had to be paid to reach the final destination: New York or New Jersey.

The investigations carried out in Monroe also revealed that Oscar Alfredo Bustamante Semeren, in addition to being a coyote, belonged to the Venezuelan gang, “Tren De Aragua,” which according to Telemundo, has about 4,000 members and is active in 15 US states.

The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo pointed out that among the crimes committed by this criminal group are the murder of a former police officer in South Florida, an attack against police officers in New York, the seizure of an apartment condominium in Colorado and an attack and robbery in a well-to-do area in Texas.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

The damage is considerable and will take, at the usual pace of the Government, years to recover from

The damage is considerable and will take, at the usual pace of the Government, years to recover from, but the authorities insist on presenting a climate of tranquility and demonstrating “the traces of recovery,” as the Presidency’s profile on X called the work of the Civil Defense.

In principle, the authorities have guaranteed food for the victims with products that are not very nutritious or healthy, such as condensed milk and soft drinks. In an article published this Thursday, the hot dog factory of Sancti Spíritus told Escambray that it has produced five tons of that product to send to Guantánamo.

“It’s about supporting the most vulnerable families in the affected areas, so the plant workers, in just two days, made that amount of packaged hot dogs, while in the Roberto Quesada packaging company, four tons of sausages were manufactured for them,” applauds Escambray.

Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Imías on Wednesday, repeating slogans and proposing the usual voluntarism*. The images disseminated by the official press are eloquent: schools in which classes are now taught, unharmed fields, factories in operation, bridges under repair. None of the places they visited are totally collapsed, and do not include centers that are closed or without service.

Surrounded by soldiers, in addition to his bodyguard, Díaz-Canel immersed himself in the crowd

The authorities also showed the president full warehouses, sawmills preparing wood for the reconstruction of homes and ration stores distributing the ’basic basket’. He responded by asking them to speed up the reconstruction of housing, so that people can be taken care of and “lost household goods” provided, all vague provisions. Only one specific fact was offered by the official newspaper Granma in its description of the presidential tour: 10,000 mattresses will be given to the affected families.

Surrounded by soldiers, in addition to his bodyguard, Díaz-Canel immersed himself in the crowd and reminded the people that “there are still many things to do.” “In Imías, the water service has begun to stabilize; there is electricity in 97% of the municipality, and we are going to move forward. I know that it has been hard, that many have lost property, but it is demonstrated once again that the Revolution does not leave anyone on their own,” said the president, who recognized, however, that “what will take the most time will be the recovery of homes.”

“We are moving forward on all fronts, including the people in the recovery process, to have a better Guantánamo, a more beautiful Guantánamo,” added Díaz-Canel, who promised that the order given to “all institutions” is to “make things better in the recovery than they were before.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

*Translator’s note: The principle of relying on voluntary action (used especially with reference to the involvement of voluntary organizations in social welfare) – Oxford Dictionary

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The trip wasn’t easy either. According to Yadiris, the driver who took them to Tapachula drove as if the vehicle were a racing car. Once in Mexico, they had to look for work to support themselves, but the Cuban woman says that she is still in contact with the coyote.

Karla, another Cuban interviewed by the Mexican media, tells a similar story. After reaching Tapachula, she was also stranded without money. Now she works as a waitress, because “it’s easy money,” and she hopes in a few months to have saved enough to request a CBP One appointment with US Customs and Border Protection.

Recently interviewed by 14ymedio, another Cuban migrant, experienced in the tricks of migration, Alexander Mori, told this newspaper that he has been approached by coyotes to offer him “facilities” to reach the border. “To get to Tijuana they charge you 2,000 dollars in a van, and 1,500 if you make the trip by bus. The traffickers give you a bracelet, which they say is to prevent Migration officials from arresting you,” said the Cuban, who hopes that in Chiapas, he will get a CBP One appointment.

According to figures from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid, up to September of this year, a total of 39,754 migrants had gone to their offices in Palenque and Tapachula seeking asylum. At the beginning of October, the director of the Human Dignity Center, Luis García Villagrán, said that more than 45,000 illegal foreigners were stranded in that state, of which some 1,000 were Cubans, due to the delay in the procedures through the US application.

Last week the mayor of Tapachula, Yamil Melgar Bravo, told EFE that the municipality has received 60% of the migrants in Mexico. Irregular migration rose by 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year to more than 712,000 people nationwide, according to the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

a fine. Aggravating circumstances are charged for those who try to sell the product “to centers of processing, production, trade or sale of food.”

Both the livestock and agricultural sectors are in moments of crisis on the Island. Last July, Alexis Rodríguez, general director of Economy and Agricultural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, recognized the debacle in front of Parliament. Of the 10 fundamental items in agriculture, from 2023 and until last July, only the plans of four had been fulfilled: vegetables, food, corn and rice. Meat, milk and egg productions are in a critical state.

Of the 10 fundamental items in agriculture, from 2023 until last July, only the plans of four had been fulfilled

For example, Cuba has lost 62% of its chickens and 72% of its pigs since 2020. On October 10, the Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Pérez Brito, reported on Cuban Television’s official Round Table program about the first results of the exercise of control of the use and possession of land and livestock.

In his report, he blamed the poor yields of livestock on theft and slaughter that, according to Granma, is punishable by between four and eight years in prison. Pérez Brito added that there are other types of illegalities, such as illegal sales, unbranded animals and lack of records for missing livestock and deaths.

The alternatives to stop the debacle, beyond supervising the producers to exhaustion, have been few. “Our country has approved policies for the land that no one else has, such as lending it free of charge to sow,” and “we are giving cooperatives greater autonomy for their management,” have been the arguments of the officials to wash their hands of the crisis.

Some clues, however, have left the ruling party to decipher the problem: “The livestock areas have been destroyed” and with them a large percentage of the industry, Granma confessed last April. Likewise, the State has acknowledged that it does not have the budget to revive agriculture.

The State has recognized that it does not have the budget to revive agriculture

In an article published on April 4 of this year, entitled “There are ways to stop the deterioration of livestock,” farmer Miguel Valdés Carmenate, from Ciego de Ávila, said in an interview that the sector in the country “is bad because we have been allowing it to be destroyed for many years.”

His message was a reminder of the shortcomings suffered by producers. “For an adult animal, to ruminate it must have no less than 45 or 50 pounds of fodder in its belly and drink more than 70 liters of water daily. And more than half the cows don’t have either,” he warned.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

them the right to stay and work in the United States for at least two years.

In statements to Café Fuerte, immigration lawyer Willy Allen predicted the probable elimination of the humanitarian parole, created by Biden, after the presidential elections, which are close. “Actually, humanitarian parole is mortally wounded,” he said. “I don’t see a future for the program at the moment, and I think that after November it will die naturally.”

Last September, former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump announced in an interview on Fox News his intention to eliminate the parole program if he won the elections. The same thing would happen, he said, to the CBP One.

“I would revoke it,” said Trump, claiming that the appointment program is “bad” but the parole is “even worse,” because it allows beneficiaries to reach the United States by plane. “Get ready to leave, especially if you are criminals,” warned the former president, who considers those who arrive by means of this mechanism illegal, although they are not, since their entry is authorized.

Since its entry into force, in January 2023, about 852,000 people have managed to schedule appointments to present themselves at the border

Less clear is what will happen if the current vice president and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, wins. Although it was her government that created the parole program, during the Democratic campaign it has been hinted that the migration policy would change and that there would be more restrictions, but she has not specifically mentioned what will happen. It is known, however, that those who have entered by means of this mechanism will not be able to renew it by extending the two-year period.

As far as the CBP One is concerned, the pace has remained sustained, with about 44,000 admissions per month. Since its entry into force, in January 2023, some 852,000 people have managed to schedule appointments to present themselves at the border. Most of the applicants are Venezuelans, Cubans, Mexicans and Haitians.

At the end of fiscal year 2024, irregular arrivals of Cubans through the border stood at 217,615, 8% more than the previous year, although the migratory flow was reduced, going from 3.2 million in 2023 to the current 2.9.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In a country seized by an economic crisis that has already surpassed the collapse suffered in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, difficult causes are everywhere. “It seems impossible to even have electricity every day,” complained an old man, who deposited a small bouquet of sunflowers in front of the saint’s picture. “I didn’t come to ask for electricity but for my two children who left for Nicaragua three weeks ago and have already arrived in Tapachula,” in Mexico. They are now waiting for their appointment for an interview that will allow them to enter the United States after registering for the CBP One application.

Throughout the morning, a sea of desperate people continued flowing to the church. On one side, nine garbage containers overflowed with waste that extended along the sidewalk and spilled into the street, forcing the faithful to avoid the bags, cartons and waste that gave off a strong stench. Around noon, a Communal Services truck approached, and four workers began to collect some of the filth. But the accumulated volume is such that cleaning the surrounding area has already reached the level of the impossible. On the scale of the complicated, achieving a clean city has surpassed even the obstacles to getting on a plane, rebuilding a house or obtaining humanitarian parole.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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 In 1959, Cuba had 161 mills that produced 5.6 million tons of sugar in that last harvest in private hands

The sugar industry began to collapse with the Special Period, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of its subsidies for Cuba, but there were still good data. The 1995-1996 harvest achieved 4.3 million tons, but Castro decided to take a different direction. In 2002, he ordered the production capacity to be cut in half, to give 60% of the land over to other crops. “Sugar will never return to this country; it belongs to the time of slavery,” he said in 2005, while describing the sugar sector as in “ruin.” So, the number of mills was now 66, while the harvest remained at 1.2 million tons.

There are currently 56 sugar mills in Cuba, but their dilapidated state has forced an increasingly lower use of that capacity. In 2010, 44 were employed, but in 2020-2021, there were 38. A year later, 36 were scheduled, but only three of them met the production plans, so the decision was made to go to 26 in the next harvest – 2022-2023 -, a figure that was finally reduced to 23 due to lack of resources. The plan was to produce 455,198 tons of sugar, a quantity even less than the half-million at which national consumption was calculated. In addition, at least 411,000 tons had to be sold abroad. The plan was never fulfilled, nor were the final data ever known.

In the last harvest, the one corresponding to 2023-2024, there were 25 mills grinding, 10 more than this year.

“Why don’t almost 50% of the production bases have good yields and production diversification?”

“Why don’t almost 50% of the production bases have good returns and diversification of production?” Tapia Fonseca wondered at the party meeting, held on the 11th and 12th in Havana. “We have to do an in-depth analysis to save the sugar industry. We have approved measures for the sector. The debt of many Basic Units of Cooperative Production has been renegotiated on up to three occasions. The price of cane has gone up, and differentiated attention to retirees has been promoted,” he reproached. The official asked to hold meetings between the companies that achieve good data with the majority that do not, to share experiences. “We have to transform the work of the municipal and provincial governments to better serve sugar cooperatives,” he said, in turn with the new technique of placing responsibility on local administrations.

“We cadres have to transform this issue and save the sugar industry, because the most important thing in this sector is its workers who, in the midst of difficult weather conditions, fuel shortages, energy problems and more, are working every morning to plant and produce more cane,” he said. The official newspaper Trabajadores points out that his speech achieved “applause, and precise agreements came out in black and white for the immediate performance of the sugar union,” but it does not give details of any of them.

In the previous weeks, the provincial media have often mentioned the risk of a bad harvest due to low planting, labor shortages, bad weather, lack of fuel and a litany of misfortunes that, in turn, mean fewer mills, either because there is not enough cane from fuel rationing, or because the mill itself is in a calamitous condition. The Government, however, asks mills that aren’t grinding to “diversify” their work. As a result, several of them are currently dedicated to the production of molasses, brandy and other alcohols. 

Translated by Regina Anavy 

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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.

He denounced the confiscation of a piece of his land due to a legal conflict between state entities

In its message, the Assembly of Cuban Filmmakers highlighted not only the professionalism of the director, but, above all, his humor. “With Jonal we shared time, work, jokes, ideas. We thought, we suffered, we loved the country. We tried to release our own demons through art. We will remember his jokes, his particular way of facing the difficulties that surround us.”

Various personalities of the guild reacted to the news. Critic Juan Antonio García Borrero said on his Facebook profile that “Cuban cinema loses another young and talented director. Someone’s death always hurts, but much more so when there is a way to go. And with “Esteban,” Jonal Cosculluela had already shown his credentials. He left us lots of light with his cinema.”

Another filmmaker, Ricardo Figueredo Oliva, on the other hand, suggested that Cosculluela must have suffered some kind of pressure: “I don’t want to believe that they led you to that. But I might as well believe it, since the motto of the country’s stupid rulers is to subtract and never add. Rest in peace dear filmmaker friend. I already have more than enough pain to continue believing that Cuba is sinking in shit.”

Born in Havana in 1977, the director starred in a public protest in October last year, which he documented through social networks. He denounced that a piece of land he owned at 23rd and 2nd, in El Vedado, Havana was confiscated due to a legal conflict between the state entities of Heritage and Housing.

In the images he shared on his Facebook account you could see the land, occupied by a park. The filmmaker lay down on a park bench and posted: “Sleeping at noon, here at home.” Shortly after, his posts were deleted.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

electricity, which disproportionately affects women and girls. This has also resulted in a large-scale migration of more than one million people between the ages of 15 and 59. The Committee notes that the situation has been aggravated by prolonged blackouts that have further limited access to health care, education, food, hygiene, transportation and other basic services for women, girls and the general population.” Along with this, the Committee states that it is concerned about the “extreme responses of the State party to people who participate in street protests in relation to these circumstances and the resulting reprisals and arrests, especially after the 2021 protests.”

Women, the organization indicates, “are little aware of their human rights under the Convention and the resources available to claim them, particularly rural women, women living in poverty, women with disabilities, women of African descent and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.” Therefore, it recommends that the Government “intensify its efforts to widely disseminate and raise awareness of the Convention and the general recommendations of the Committee.”

It recommends that the Government “intensify its efforts to widely disseminate and raise awareness of the Convention and the general recommendations of the Committee”

Another observation expressed in the document is that the Federation of Cuban Women “functions as a mass organization rather than as a government institution, which limits its effectiveness in promoting the enjoyment of women’s rights and gender equality.” Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Island establish an “independent national human rights institution.”

Regarding gender violence against women, CEDAW asks the Government to incorporate the crime of “femicide” in the Criminal Code, to “create awareness and public recognition,” “to strengthen measures to prevent, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of gender violence against women,” and to establish reception centers throughout the State, “including in collaboration with civil society organizations.”

The UN praises “with satisfaction” the representation of women in Parliament (more than half, with 55.7%), but “observes with concern” that few are at the highest level. The Political Bureau, the organization recalls, is currently made up of 17 men and only 3 women, and only 5 of the 25 ministries of the People’s Power are led by women.

“Public spending on primary health care and medicines and the percentage of the national budget allocated to health have decreased”

The public and free health coverage on the Island is also commended by the Committee. However, it states that women and girls have limited access to “modern contraceptives” and that there are “high rates of early pregnancy.” It also observes the shortage of essential medicines, which force women to buy them at very high prices in the informal market or to run out of them. “Public spending on primary health care and medicines and the percentage of the national budget allocated to health have decreased,” CEDAW states.

The Island’s delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman, presented its report to the Committee on October 18, three days after the documents provided by the independent NGOs.

The official text, 38 pages, mentioned “the political will of the Cuban Government for the advancement of women,” as well as the “undeniable progress” on the Island in terms of the protection of their rights. It also stated that “there is effective protection, even if there is no specific law on violence against women.” However, it did not mention the term “femicide” in the entire document and did not provide figures of sexist violence, despite the fact that it recognized 61 convictions for this type of crime in 2023.

For its part, the parallel report for this commission made jointly by the Gender Observatory of the independent platform Alas Tensas (AT) and the NGO Prisoners Defenders and presented on October 15, precisely criticized “the lack of political will” to face the problem.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

“The contraction of GDP not only aggravates the imbalance between supply and demand for products, but also increases dependence on imports”

Exports will suffer even more, with a contraction of 15% as a result of the productivity crisis that Vidal also mentions. “The low figures in exports, agriculture and manufacturing production are scary. The crisis has affected the potential production capacity; it is not just a short-term issue,” he adds. The outlook is discouraging, as the energy crisis, mass migration and the rampant deterioration of infrastructure do not allow an improvement to be seen either in the short or medium term

The report reviews well-known data: there is no hard currency; the deficit is compensated with an uncontrolled issuance of unsupported currency; inflation is officially above 30% and reaches three digits if the data of the informal market are included; the depreciation of the peso is constant and, although wages increased in 2021, they have not done so significantly again. This, although it causes suffering in the population, is paradoxically one of the few good decisions of the Cuban government, says the economist.

The measure “avoids the generation of repetitive and superfluous cycles of wage increases, price increases, new wage adjustments, and so on, as has happened in economies that end up in hyperinflation scenarios, as has happened in Venezuela.” In this way, Cuba has avoided placing itself in a hyperinflation scenario, formally corresponding to those who exceed the limit of more than 50% in a single month.

However, the social cost is “extremely high.” The purchasing power of fixed income in Cuban pesos, he continues, “has been pulverized and has led to poverty for families who do not have other alternative sources of resources,” Vidal reflects.

The economist calls “inflationary tax” the overcost reached by goods and services on the Island because of the unstoppable rise in prices, which falls on the entire population regardless of their salary or sources of income, generating greater vulnerability in those who have the least. “By not doing anything substantial to stop the fall in national production and exports, and to reduce the imbalance of the budget, the Government has allowed an asymmetric adjustment of the crisis that falls on families that depend on fixed income in pesos,” he insists.

Cuba cannot continue to wait for “an international ally that does not exist and miracles of an economic model that does not give more”

Thus, Vidal considers that the model preserves little more than the name and the “discourses” but does not give in practice. “The social benefit of subsidies, programs and budgeted transfers, and free education and health, is not real when it must be paid by the poorest families through an onerous inflationary tax.”

The report also recalls that Cuba cannot continue to expect “an international ally that does not exist and miracles of an economic model that does not give more,” nor inflating a state business system that only “drains human, financial and budgetary resources.”

The document was made public this Monday, just a few days after the bad news of the ECLAC report, otherwise expected. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, which depends on the UN, underlines that the fall in the price of nickel and the collapse of sugar production make Cuba one of the five nations on the continent with the greatest contraction in exports.

The report does not include the resources that the Island will obtain from the export of services, since Havana has not provided them, “something that draws attention due to the high weight they have,” recalls economist Pedro Monreal, without expressly mentioning doctors, who represent billions a year for the State, even despite the decline in recent years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.