Translating Cuba – Page 155 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Cartoonists From ‘Mazzantini’ Save August From Editorial Lethargy

The online magazine has had a lot of work since Nicolás Maduro refused to leave Miraflores on July 28 / Alen Lauzán / Mazzantini

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 31 August 2024 — In Cuba there is no more money, even for Martí. It is true that the cult of the man Cubans call ’the Apostle’ in his land always had something of alms, and there was no tribute – from the Civic Square to Martí Notebooks – that did not require passing the hat to the battered popular pocket. But Castroism, or this limbo without a label that came later, always has had its own imprint on misery.

No one forgets the famous 28 volumes of Complete Works with a prologue by Juan Marinello that, in some Cuban houses of worship, still accumulate dust. It was even said that there was a volume 29, the prophetic volume, censored for talking about Fidel, communism, computer science, reorganization and other futuristic subjects. Less memorable – for how little it lasted in bookstores – are the critical editions that, if we pay attention to what the professional martyrologist Marlene Vázquez says, will remain eternally incomplete.

With prose in the style of Martí, the imitation of Martí is always an apostolic parody – Vázquez says that “at the moment, the directors of the Center for Studies on Martí is looking for sources of financing for the printing of volumes 30, 31 and 32, now finished.” And he promises that, “as usual, those who contribute will be recognized on the credits page of the corresponding volume.”

It was even said that there was a volume 29, the prophetic volume, censored for talking about Fidel, communism, computer science, reorganization and other futuristic subjects

Vázquez does not say if he expects dollars, euros or the humble pesos with the face of the Apostle. He limits himself to reminding the Government of the propaganda service they could offer: “In the present, in the midst of the loss of values that we are experiencing, and willing to win it by ideas, that great work is very useful.” This sample of the art of seduction appeared in Cubadebate, but any Cuban knows that it won’t come to anything, much less so in dollars.

In the antipodes of the mendicant Center for Martí Studies is the Havana Historian’s Office. This is demonstrated by the resurrection, after years of lethargy, of Ediciones Boloña, one of the projects that the current deputy director, Perla Rosales, most quickly dismantled, after the death of Historian Eusebio Leal. Reinvented and with money, Bologna publishes in an expensive volume the classic, “La Habana. Apuntes históricos (Historical Notes),” by Emilio Roig.

The presentation was attended by Rosales and the entire general staff – the military metaphor is not exaggerated – of the Office. The “Notes” of Roig, the old republican historian whom Castroism did everything possible to forget, had not been published since the 1960s.

On the decline, the publication of Cuban books in exile also seems to be on a lethargic holiday – it happened in January, with almost no titles and very few that were outstanding. The bad streak broke with a book of drawings and notes, “Cartografía Personal (Personal Cartography),” by Jorge Pantoja. The artist, born in Havana, composes the book that every Cuban should be making: an anthology of his school notebooks, correspondence with his mother and doodles.

The publication of Cuban books in exile also seems to be on a lethargic holiday

Personal cartography is a return to Pantoja’s childhood brought to light, the chronicle of the birth of his imagination. It raises the tension between feeling and doctrine, the precocious and the unknown, the rigid and the adventurous. In the end, the trajectory described is the foundation of his own experience as a creator, which is found in those remote notes.

The return to mythology – one of his favorite themes – defines Roberto Méndez’s new book of poems, “Descenso de Alcestes” (The Descent of Alcistis), (Casa Vacía). With a whole arsenal of books in tow, Méndez now summons Hercules and Orpheus, who traveled to hell and returned, and Mozart, who faced death but did not return.

The ones who do not rest – the real cartoonist never does – are the cartoonists of Mazzantini.* The “magazine of bulls, goats and horns, genetic or hybridized” has had a lot of work since Nicolás Maduro refused to leave Miraflores on July 28. The cover of number 52 shows the dictator’s floating head in a dystopian museum of old tyrants. Puzzled, Maduro is Castro’s neighbor, who looks at him crosseyed.

The metamorphosis of the Grand Master Mason Mario Urquía Carreño into a major of the Ministry of the Interior, the stampede of leaders, the blunders of Cuban Television and the pranks of State Security complete the edition. And at the end, a quote from Manuel Marrero that could well be the government’s response to Marlene Vázquez’s request for money: “We never promise our people,” says the chubby prime minister, “what we know we won’t be able to give.”

*Translator’s note: Mazzantini was a bullfighter, considered “muy guapo,” which means he was very courageous, like the subversive cartoonists of the magazine.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Neither Military Coup Nor Revolution, Elections

We came to realize that Fidel Castro’s cynicism and evil knew no limits. Nevertheless, a large sector of the population glorified him.

Seventy-one years after the siege of the Moncada Baracks and sixty-five years after the triumph of the revolution, Castro’s legacy has little to show for itself / Prensa Latina

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 28 July 2024 — I have friends who defend the military coup of 10 March 1952, led by General Fulgencio Batista. Others do the same with Fidel Castro’s attack on the Moncada Barracks on the 26th of July 1953. The two dates had tragic consequences for the Cuban nation, as anyone with even a passing awareness of the country’s history can attest.

As I see it, there is no historical justification whatsoever for the military coup while the actions of the 26th of July can be viewed as an act of revenge or retaliation for the disruption of the nation’s democratic processes.

Both events must be seen not as isolated events but as the main causes and consequences of the island’s ongoing drama, though the catastrophic results of the ultimate victory of the man who led the attack on the barracks have acquired a life of their own due to the magnitude of the event.

Batista had tasted power and enjoyed it while Castro, it seems, was willing to go all out for it

None of the participants in these unfortunate events could have foreseen what would happen, not even the main protagonists. Batista had tasted power and enjoyed it while Castro, it seems, was willing to go all out on a personal quest that would cast him as the righteous hero who could do anything and overcome everything. Someone for whom defeat, were it to come, would serve as just another step in his ascent. continue reading

We came to realize that Fidel Castro’s cynicism and evil knew no limits. Nevertheless, a large sector of the population glorified him in part due to our tendency to value heroism over good intentions.

When facing danger, he sought protection from the church, which years later he tried to destroy. At his trial, he took full advantage of the the judicial process. Speaking in his own defense, he portrayed himself as an imprisoned but not defeated hero, which suddenly put him on a par with the nation’s most prominent political leaders. His imprisonment and the deaths he caused were his elevator to fame.

Obviously, he was convinced that it was easier to take up arms than to participate in a contested election in which the loser would walk away ignominiously while the winner would have to periodically bend to popular will.

The new political conditions in the country provided the breeding ground for Castro to reach dimensions that even his closest associates could never have imagined. His boundless ambition, tenacity, keen sense of timing, characteristic audacity, absolute lack of loyalty to the commitments he made and political talents grew and matured to such an extent that he demanded the leadership position that he himself had created thanks to his cruel and ruthless nature.

Castro, who had been grown up among gangsters, acted like a “gang leader”

Castro, who had been grown up among gangsters, acted like a “gang leader,” someone who fought, took risks and was always ready to save his his own skin. His audacity was complemented by a keen sense of knowing when to switch sides, which never failed him when it came time to betray groups such as the Revolutionary Socialist Movement (MSR) or the Revolutionary Insurrectional Union (UIR).

The attack on the Moncada Barracks was a resounding failure due to poor planning and operational disorganization by the man who would later dub himself commander-in-chief and whose henchmen have, over the years, portrayed him as an exceptional military strategist. What the survivors of the assault did manage to accomplish was to establish a regime that has led Cuba to moral and material destruction.

Terror and its consequences — fear and social paralysis — quickly spread. The country began to decline, both economically and socially. Friendships and families were torn apart. Poverty, prison, exile and death were consequences that affected all of society.

Seventy-one years after the siege of the Moncada Barracks and sixty-five years after the triumph of the revolution, Castro’s legacy has little to show for itself.

The island is ruled by a “nomenklatura” that has enjoyed an uninterrupted reign of absolute power. It has degraded the nation to such an extent that even Raúl Castro, one of the chief architects of the dictatorship, once said, “It pains us to look upon the steady decline of moral and civic values such as honesty, decency, shame, decorum, integrity and sensitivity to the problems of others that have marked the the more than twenty-year span of the Special Period.”

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The Success of Emigrated Cuban Coaches Tops Off the Mediocre Performance of Cuban Officialdom in Paris

They won 28 medals in the Olympic Games: 11 gold, 10 silver and seven bronze

Iván Pedroso coaches Jordan Díaz, Olympic champion in triple jump in Paris 2024 / Instagram

14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — At the Paris 2024 Olympics there were 50 Cuban coaches who had emigrated and were in charge of training athletes in 30 countries. They earned 28 medals with their work, triple those obtained by the Cuban delegation (just nine). The result highlighted the impact of exile on the Island’s sport, which this year had its worst performance since Munich 1972.

Of the prizes obtained by Cuban coaches, 11 were gold, 10 silver and seven bronze. Boxing alone, one of the most important disciplines for Cuba, gave other countries nine gold metals. The other two were distributed in other sports.

The biggest success story in Paris was that of Enrique Steiner. Together with Julio Lee from Santiago, he coached the Uzbekistan boxers, who imposed their dominance in the men’s branch. The country won five gold medals under his command: Hasanboy Dusmatov (112 lbs), Abdumalik Khalokov (126 lbs), Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev (147 lbs), Lazizbek Mullojonov (203 lbs) and Bakhodir Jalolov (over 203 lbs). In Cuba, Steiner coached the national youth and adult boxing teams. continue reading

Boxing alone, one of the most important disciplines for Cuba, gave other countries nine gold metals

Three gold medals, also in boxing, went to China, which was under the preparation of Raúl Fernández. In the women’s branch, Wu Yu (110 lbs), Chang Yuan (119 lbs) and Li Qian (165 lbs) won the titles.

The ninth golden metal in boxing with a Cuban coach was obtained by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif (146 lbs), center of one of the greatest controversies about the gender of athletes in Paris. Pedro Luis Díaz, who left an outstanding school in Cuba, was her mentor. He was part of several Olympic cycles under the tutelage of the historic Alcides Sagarra, and he contributed to the development of such figures as Félix Savón, Joel Casamayor, Yan Barthelemí and Héctor Vinent, Olympic legends of the Island.

In Paris, Cuba barely added two medals in boxing, the worst in that discipline in the Olympic Games in 56 years. The Island has received almost a third of the boxing medals in its history; it won 80 of the 244 it has received in the Olympics. The coup could be even worse, because boxing is not contemplated for Los Angeles 2028.

In the world of athletics, Iván Pedroso, in his role as a coach, already has an impressive record. In Tokyo he led the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas to the gold, with a world record in a triple jump of 15.67 meters (51.4 feet). Now, in Paris, his pupil, Jordan Díaz – an exiled Cuban athlete who represented Spain – won gold in triple jump. The second and third place of that competition were also jumpers from the Island, but under the flags of Portugal (Pedro Pablo Pichardo) and Italy (Andy Díaz).

Iván Pedroso, in his role as a coach, already has an impressive record. In Tokyo he led the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas to the gold. Now, in Paris, his pupil Jordan Díaz won the gold

As an athlete, Pedroso added a gold medal in Sydney 2000, in addition to having been four times world champion outdoors and five times indoors. His 29.4 feet jump in Sestriere, Italy, in 1995, could have been a world record, but, after a controversy over the wind, it was decided not to recognize it.

The eleventh gold medal of a coach from the Island in Paris was the one obtained by the Dominican Marileidy Paulino. With Yaseen Pérez, from Havana, as her coach, she won the 400 meters (656.2 feet), setting an Olympic record, and she is also the current world champion of the discipline, which made her the only multi-medalist woman in the Dominican Republic.

The number of Cuban coaches working in other countries has grown over the years, along with multiple cases of exile. In Tokyo 2020, 44 were counted, representing 23 nations, and in the last decade alone, more than 1,000 athletes and coaches have fled the Island. This has been a hard blow to the aspirations of Cuban sports internationally.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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UN Rapporteur on Slavery Notes Forced Labor Imposed on Cuban Political Prisoners

A document details the cases of political prisoners who have been subjected to forced labor and highlights several names among ’thousands’.

In a country where production and labor are scarce, the regime has found the ideal labor force in prisoners / IPSCuba

14ymedio, Havana, 28 August 2024 — The imposition of forced labor – such as cutting cane or marabú – on those who express “different political opinions” has led a United Nations collaborator to insist on his “concern” about human rights violations on the island. With a report by the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) in hand, Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, criticized this practice in Cuban prisons.

During the 57th regular session of the Human Rights Council, of which Cuba is a member, Obokata included the brief report on forced labor in Cuban prisons, prepared by PD. The expert denounced “the existence of national laws and regulations that allow compulsory labor for expressing political opinions or participating in strikes”.

The document details the cases of political prisoners who have been subjected to forced labor and highlights, among “thousands”, several cases: those of Dariel Ruiz García, Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera, Yeidel Carrero Pablo, Roberto Jesús Marín Fernández, Yanay Solaya Barú, Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, José Díaz Silva, Taimir García Meriño and César Antonio Granados Pérez. continue reading

Although the Cuban Constitution recognizes respect for the prisoner’s dignity, the Penal Code endorses the sanctions for forced labor

Although the Cuban Constitution recognizes respect for the inmate’s dignity, Article 30.3 of the Penal Code endorses the sanctions for forced labor, emphasizes their obligatory nature and leaves it up to the State to “consider the form of compliance through study or betterment”. Through testimonies collected in the report, PD found that attenuated treatment is more than unusual and that compulsory labor is the norm not only for political prisoners but also for ordinary ones.

In a country where production and workforce are scarcities, the regime has found in prisoners the ideal labor force. Inmates are forced to do work no one else is willing to do. PD’s example is the production of marabú charcoal – which brings large profits to the government by being sold abroad – and cutting sugar cane in its harvest season.

“Cuban charcoal is sold in Spain, Portugal and (the rest of) the European Union,” says PD. It is enough to consult the testimony of the relatives of some political prisoners, such as that of Walnier Luis Aguilar’s father, who has denounced how they cut “marabú trunks with their own hands”, without the use of a “machete or axe saw”—the result: “hands full of blisters”, among other injuries.

There are plenty of videos to make the situation clear, PD stresses. “Living without drinking water, in subhuman conditions, with insufficient and outdated work material (the cost of which is deducted from their meager ‘salary’, which many never receive) and sleeping in the open, the workers are forced to work in inhospitable places under the vilest physical, psychological and judicial threats,” they denounce.

The alarming thing, says the organization, is that the product resulting from this slave labor is consumed all over the world with impunity

The alarming thing, says the organization, is that the product resulting from this slave labor is consumed all over the world with impunity. 24% of the Cuban marabou charcoal ends up in the markets of Spain, 21.5% in Portugal, 12.1% in Italy and 11.6% in Turkey, countries with governments with very different ideological leanings which, nonetheless, buy charcoal from Cuba.

PD unequivocally qualifies them as “involuntary accomplices” of the regime since they purchase a product manufactured at the expense of the “suffering and pain” of Cuban prisoners. However, they admit that “Cuba has been able to conceal for years, although not from Cubans, the slave-like origin of its marabou charcoal production”.

The organization hopes that Obokata’s denunciation at the UN will mark a turning point in the fight against these practices on the island. It is calling on the European Union to inform itself about the charcoal it buys and to demand transparency about its production process. The 27 countries are obliged by law not to do business with countries that promote slave labor, they emphasize.

As for sugarcane, PD describes the scenario as a return to the 19th century, when slavery was the engine of the wealthy “sugarocracy”. The difference, in this case, is that not even with its “endless list of human rights violations” does the regime achieve economic prosperity.

As for the rest, there is nothing more similar to a colonial slave than a political prisoner of Castroism. “In most cases, they do not have working gloves, boots or files, which results in the blades not being sharp enough to do the job efficiently”. Everything points to a sort of “involution to centuries ago” that shows the regression, even on a historical level, of the defense of human rights on the island.

There was a skinny, elderly woman in a wheelchair, with asthma, who could no longer walk, who had to leave for work at six o’clock in the morning

The testimonies provided by PD are enough to assess the situation. “There was a skinny elderly lady, in a wheelchair, with asthma, who could no longer even walk, who had to leave for work at six in the morning, like everyone else. No matter their age, health or anything else. There are no conditions for anyone,” says former political prisoner Yanay Solaya. “We work in the fields, whatever they sent us to do, doing the mowing. We did not get paid for it.”

Refusing to work is costly. This is the case, explains PD, of Taimir Garcia, a prisoner of conscience, who was threatened with the withdrawal of her prison leave and the two-month sentence reduction for each year of her sentence, and with being locked up again in a regime of maximum punishment.

Other aspects of the problem, such as the exploitation of children – some prisoners are minors and are subjected to seven-hour working days – or the lack of contracts, should also be a cause for concern, according to PD. The fact that their report has reached the UN Human Rights Council, they believe, justifies paying the utmost attention to the problem and holding Havana accountable.

Translated by LAR

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Cuba’s State Telecommunications Company, Etecsa, Is Mainly Responsible for the Failure of Banking Reform

This sign says it all: “Transfers are not being accepted, connection problems”

A customer of ’El Paquete’ waits for her hard drive to be loaded with movies, music and video games / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — The employee moves the mouse with agility. He connects the hard drive that a client has brought and begins to copy folders with movies, music and video games. The heat and successive operations activate the computer’s internal cooler, and a purr fills the small place, one of the many points available to buy the paquete semanal [weekly packet] in the neighborhood of Cayo Hueso, in Central Havana. In the midst of so much technology and digital files that come and go, a sign stuck on the computer lands in a more analog and rudimentary world: “Transfers are not being accepted, connection problems.”

The Cuban government’s attempt to extend electronic payments, a fundamental pillar of the so-called bancarización — banking reform — runs into countless obstacles every day. To the suspicion of merchants, who see in virtual money a strategy of the authorities to have greater control and surveillance over their income, are added the difficulties with the mobile phone data service, indispensable for any operation of this type. “The inspectors come and want to fine us because we don’t have the option of shopping through QR codes, but today the internet hasn’t worked for us all day,” complains the young man, while collecting cash from a woman who arrives in search of the latest episodes of a Turkish soap opera.

In the midst of so much technology and digital files that come and go, a sign stuck on the computer lands in a more analog world

In much of the neighborhood the situation was being repeated. A market with powdered milk and vegetable oil where customers put their hands in their pockets and take out a lump of bills to pay the bill. A private restaurant that says on the menu that you can pay for the portions of vieja ropa and tostones with just “a click of the mobile” but that did not have a connection continue reading

to the web this Friday either. A religious object store where not even the orishas had managed to activate the 4G signal on the saleswoman’s cell phone. Everyone, at some point in their business, had the little square module printed with all the information for electronic collections, but in no case did it work.

Not even the ’orishas’ had managed to activate the 4G signal on the seller’s mobile phone

“They can’t blame us individuals because Etecsa is one of the group who invented this bancarización thing,” said the technician from a nearby appliance repair shop. “They invented a solution and created another problem,” he continued, while an old woman sitting in front of him counted a dozen 100 and 200 pesos bills to collect enough cash to buy a rice cooker. A few inches from the woman’s wallet, a piece of paper, crumpled and stained by moisture, showed the tangled structure of a QR code and the chimerical phrase: “Quick and safe, pay here.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Acopio Will Pay Successful Tobacco Growers in Sancti Spíritus Partly in Hard Currency

The State only has 1,962 acres secured of the 5,607 that it planned to exploit for tobacco

The farmers had already warned that planting tobacco was not profitable / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — Exactly one year ago, with hands on their heads, the authorities of Sancti Spíritus wondered what to do to revive tobacco production. Whatever the methods were, they didn’t work, and this August, almost at the end of the process of hiring the vegueros (tobacco growers), the State has only 1,962 acres secured of the 5,607 that it planned to exploit.

The figure is equivalent to just 35% of the plan, which will provide, according to estimates, 948 tons of tobacco if the land yields 1.1 tons per 2.5 acres. The original plan, however, was to end the campaign that begins this September with more than 2,569 tons of tobacco, Isidro Hernández Toledo, director of the state company Acopio in the province, told the newspaper Escambray.

“There is a delay; the tobacco should have been contracted between March and April, but by waiting for an incentive to be offered to the planters, the contracting for the new campaign is behind,” regrets the official, who explains that the State finally gave and offered the vegueros a stimulus in MLC (freely convertible currency). However, it is still to be seen if this will increase production. continue reading

It is hard to understand why the regime gives so little to a sector that generates a large part of the foreign currency income that the Island obtains

It is hard to understand why the regime gives so little to a sector that generates a large part of the foreign currency income that the Island obtains. In fact, the farmers themselves announced the debacle a year ago, when the Sancti Spíritus campaign was “the worst in history,” and they did it again last March, when they declared to the official press that planting tobacco at the price paid by Acopio no longer gives results.

However, the State, now with a financial rope around its neck, has taken it for granted. “We think that a recovery can begin, which pleases the vegueros, because today in national currency, the sun-cured tobacco does not have good profitability and has been one of the biggest reasons producers stopped sowing,” Hernández confessed to Escambray.

The incentive, however, is not for all the vegueros, but will be paid according to the quality of the tobacco delivered, in addition to other requirements. “The producers have the right to sell the tobacco for hard currency, applying 2% to the value of the quality that determines the price, and deducting the cost of imports and national productions that have a component in MLC. Among the requirements are complying with the contracted planting plan and obtaining an agricultural yield of at least 1.2 tons per 2.5 acres in irrigated areas, and one ton in dry areas (which depend on rain),” he clarified.

This is a variation of the production incentive implemented in October 2023, when they promised to deliver to deliver to the growers 50% of what was used in fertilizers and pesticides

In summary, this is a variation of the production incentive implemented in October 2023, when they promised to deliver to the growers 50% of what was used in fertilizers and pesticides, it they managed to surpass the 1.4 tons per 2.5 acres plan. As for the state of sowing this year, it is clear that the measure didn’t work either.

“In addition to the low profitability of the crop lately, there is a lack of sheds to cure the tobacco, many sick and elderly producers who held the land in usufruct [a form of leasing] and then abandoned it, and places where there is no guarantee of water – something vital to achieve high agricultural yield. Hernández also added to the list the deficit of workers in many areas, mainly because not all vegueros can pay what the day laborers ask,” Hern.

While the growers are concerned about the profitability of the product, the Havana cigar is a symbol of luxury anywhere in the world. Of the billions raised annually by the industry, however, only the minimum is reinvested to keep the business afloat.

While the growers are concerned about the profitability of the product, the Havana cigar is a symbol of luxury anywhere in the world

Last July, at an event in London, the Hunters & Frankau house auctioned off Cuban cigars to all kinds of international celebrities who did not hesitate to offer large sums for them. In a single night, Habanos SA raised 5,150,000 euros, barely a small sum in its coffers, but with which the Cuban growers could rescue the industry.

However, the chance of this happening is as unlikely as Sancti Spíritus being able to revive its current tobacco campaign at this point. Hernández knows it very well, and he described the coming production – without using big words – as “discreet.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Drama of Deported Cubans Who Leave Their Family in the United States

When Cuban deportees return fromthe US to the Island, they are taunted by the immigration authorities at José Martí airport

Vivian Limonta and her husband Osmani Pérez before she was deported / Video capture / Univision

14ymedio, Havana, August 30, 2024 — “I’m happy about everything you’ve been through,” blurted out a José Martí International Airport officer to Vivian Limonta, one of the 48 Cubans deported by the U.S. last Wednesday. The mother of a hyperactive child with attention deficit, not even her marriage to an American saved her from forced return. The authorities of the Island, to rub salt in the wound, added: “See how bad that country is, look: they bring you like dogs.”

Limonta was a beneficiary of the Migrant Protection Protocols that Washington initiated in 2019. However, due to a setback, she could not attend the appointment scheduled in the Court in 2020, so she was given the probation form I-220B, for which they have deported dozens of Cubans. Her words, interviewed this Thursday by Univision, attest to the effect that deportation had on her: “I’m devastated. I’m speechless.”

Limonta had been detained since last July at the Broward Migrant Detention Center of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE). The appeals filed by her lawyer were dismissed. The evidence of the distance between her and her family on the Island, who consider her “counterrevolutionary” for publishing statements on social networks critical of the regime, were not mitigating. Her son and her husband were left behind. continue reading

Osmani Pérez went to the office of Congressman Carlos Giménez but could not prevent his wife’s deportation / Video capture / Univision

“I never thought that the United States Government would separate me from my son like this and deport me,” she lamented.

Limonta’s husband, Osmani Pérez – who has lived in the United States for 31 years – tells how his wife “collapsed emotionally” after her arrest. He feels “disappointed” by the resolution of the case, because he assumed that Washington would defend the family unit above all else.

In an attempt to stop Limonta’s deportation, her husband went to the office of Congressman Carlos Giménez, who pointed out in a statement that his office fights tirelessly for the rights of all residents “despite the bad decisions of this Administration (of Joe Biden), including those of admitting Castro repressors to our country while punishing victims, as in this case.”

In this “fight” to avoid being returned to Cuba are Olga Díaz, 84 years old, and her daughter Nilda Cordero, who arrived in Florida the last week of August along with 19 other rafters. All migrants were given a deportation order.

Díaz was allowed to stay with her family until the situation is resolved, but her daughter is detained in Broward. “We arrived with the hope of a new life, but now I’m here without my daughter and that hurts me deeply,” the elderly woman told Telemundo 51.

In this “fight” to avoid being returned to Cuba are Olga Díaz, 84 years old, and her daughter Nilda Cordero, who arrived in Florida along with 19 other rafters

Immigration lawyer Eduardo Soto, who took over the case, explained that the situation “is complicated,” although they hope that “justice will prevail” and that both women will be able to remain in the United States.

The governments of Havana and Washington have a bilateral agreement so that all migrants arriving by sea to US territory are returned to Cuba.

Since June 5, stricter measures against irregular migration have come into force. Among them, that rafters could “face criminal charges,” in addition to the usual measures. “They will not be eligible to apply for asylum,” and they will be “prohibited” from entering US territory for at least five years, according to the US Embassy in Havana.

Between January and August 29, Cuba has received 1,046 deportees from different countries. The most recent return was that by Bahamian authorities of 16 rafters (9 men, 4 women and 3 minors) from Villa Clara.

In April 2023, deportation flights resumed, mainly for people considered “inadmissible” after being held on the US border with Mexico.

According to a recent report by US Customs and Border Protection, in June 17,563 Cubans arrived in the United States, the lowest figure during a calendar month of the current fiscal year 2024 that began last October.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Political Prisoner Yilian Oramas Obtains the Revocation of a Sanction, Thanks to Her Hunger Strike

For arriving late from her leave, the authorities threatened to move her to a harsher regime.

Oramas had to be treated by prison health personnel after her hunger strike/ Facebook / Yilian Oramas García

14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2024 — Political prisoner Yilian Oramas García ended her hunger strike at the Cuba Panama prison for HIV-positive prisoners on Tuesday. The woman from Villa Clara had been punished with a change of regime from less to more rigorous after arriving late from leave on August 13. Oramas, who lives more than 250 kilometres from the prison in Mayabeque, initiated the protest to ask for the measure to be revoked. The authorities finally agreed this week after changing the sanction to two home-visit suspensions.

In addition to having HIV, Oramas, 43, is also diabetic and after the strike she had to be treated by prison health staff. “She was very weak because she is diabetic, they gave her IVs in the little hospital they have in the prison,” her mother, María Josefa Oramas, told Martí Noticias.

According to the woman, Oramas “ended the strike, because the head of Mayabeque Prisons and Jails (Yunior Lázaro Santana), together with State Security, cancelled her revocation, which was for two years and, instead, they took away two of her home visits.” continue reading

The mother breathes a sigh of relief since a change to a more severe regime would mean that her daughter must serve the entire sentence.

Although she considers the measure unjust, her mother breathes a sigh of relief, since a change to a more severe regime would mean that her daughter must serve the entire sentence without the right to an early release. “You don’t win against the dictatorship, but the revocation meant she had to serve the three years,” she said.

Oramas was sentenced to six years in prison for participating in the August 15, 2021 protests in front of the funeral home in the city of Santa Clara, where she lives, to demand better health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband, Geobel Manso, was also arrested on that day and is currently incarcerated. The court charged Oramas with the crimes of attack and resistance.

Worse off is the political prisoner Loreto Hernández García – arrested after the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J) in Placetas (Villa Clara) – who is serving his sentence in the men’s prison of Guamajal. According to what his daughter Rosabel Sánchez told Martí Noticias after visiting her father and his wife Donaida Pérez Paseiro – also a prisoner of conscience – Hernández is in a bad physical condition.

“During this visit, we were able to talk, we were able to observe, we were able to visualize for ourselves the situation that my father’s health presents. My father, every time we go to see him, he loses more weight,” Sanchez explained. “He often gets a pain on his left side, a pain that radiates to his left lung. He is getting shortness of breath, his diabetes is unbalanced (…) He explains to us that on several occasions he becomes weak and tired. As for his health, we saw that he has not improved at all, he is getting worse and worse, he is in very bad shape,” she denounced.

According to Sánchez, prison authorities use her father’s poor health condition to coerce him.

According to Sanchez, prison authorities use her father’s poor health condition to coerce him and promise him a transfer to a less severe regime where he can be cared for and serve a shorter sentence. “State Security has approached him and has proposed he take advantage of the benefits to give him the minimum sentence and move him to the camp to start granting him leaves and things like that, and both he and his wife refuse these benefits,” said Sanchez, who assures that the couple “is standing firm.”

Hernández and his wife, at the time of the protests, presided over the Asociación Yorubas Libres de Cuba, in Placetas, and were sentenced to seven and eight years in prison respectively. Organizations and institutions such as Amnesty International, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Cuban Prison Documentation Center and Christian Solidarity International, as well as the U.S. State Department, have included them in their reports and records as political prisoners and have demanded the Cuban regime to release them.

Last June, prisoner of conscience Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca arrived in the United States after the authorities forced his departure. He was emaciated and ill as a result of the ill-treatment he suffered at the hands of his jailers. “I have been tortured a lot,” stressed the journalist, who served three years in Havana’s Combinado del Este, the country’s largest prison.

Translated by LAR

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‘The Only Thing Moving On Wheels in the Cienfuegos Terminal is the Inefficiency’

Those who did not manage to board during the day are condemned to sleep in the facility.

After 5pm it’s very difficult to travel to Cienfuegos’s municipalities / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 17 August 2024 – It’s after 8pm in the only bus terminal in Cienfuegos and despite the fact that dozens of people are gathered at the departure gates or are sleeping on the benches in the waiting room, the route board is not displaying a single destination. Anyone who didn’t manage to travel during the day is condemned to sleep in the building, along with those who, on a waiting list, are trying to travel to other provinces of the country. Outside, the private taxis hawk their services but the waiting passengers don’t listen to – or don’t want to hear – the price they’d have to pay for an almendrón shared taxi ride.

On the second floor of the terminal, in the gloom, there are only two lights working, beneath which sits one of the few employees – with a pile of crumpled papers – who are still in the station at this time to keep a note of the names of passengers. The darkness attracts people who, being exhausted, resign themselves to sleep in the corners or on the benches. “I’ve been sleeping here for three nights, trying to get to Holguín”, Nereida tells 14ymedio – a health worker whose salary won’t stretch to a more expensive means of transport.

According to her, having options available but no money to pay for them is what keeps her tied to the terminal: “If you speak to the duty manager he’ll get you on the first bus that arrives but that conversation will cost you between 1,500 and 3,000 pesos, on top of what you’ll have to pay later to the driver”, she says. continue reading

The room for those on the waiting list is in half-darkness with people asleep on the benches / 14ymedio

Spending time in the way that she has until now in this terminal has not exactly been comfortable either. She and Ana, who lives with her four-year-old daughter in San Fernando de Camarones, Palmira, have decided to join forces to look after each other and each others’ luggage. The young mother has only spent one night in the terminal but the abandonment that she’s made to feel, especially having to carry her child around on piggyback, is very real.

“I have to visit my sick mother in Gibara and I don’t have anyone I can leave the child with. We have to stay in here until we can depart”, she says. Ana explains that it was impossible for her to book a ticket on the Viajando app because, “when there’s no capacity it doesn’t allow you to buy a ticket for a minor; or you find the connection with the server is down”, she complains.

“Its lucky that I brought a little bit of lunch and dinner for us. The only thing that they had in the cafeteria today was instant hot drinks and pasta with stale bread. To top it off, when I went past there at four o’clock in the afternoon it was already closed”, she adds with disgust. What’s on offer in the private shops opposite the station is also inaccessible for most of the travellers: the cheapest, a sandwich, is 150 pesos and a simple shared meal 1,000 pesos.

The majority of inter-municipal routes are cancelled due to lack of vehicles or fuel / 14ymedio

With her daughter asleep in her arms, Ana laments the poor state that the terminal is in, and that the authorities’ lack of concern, and necessity, have attracted a number of beggars, who are sleeping in the building long term. The semi-darkness doesn’t help the situation either, she says. “It doesn’t even matter if there’s a power cut, ’cos you can’t see anything anyway”, she adds sarcastically.

On a board with various crossings-out you can read the origin, destination and time of departure for all of the different bus routes to the municipalities of the province. “That board is just there for decoration, because almost none of the routes are operating and those that are don’t leave at the time advertised”, she says, pointing to the black notice board fixed to the wall. Apart from Havana and Santa Clara, it’s rare for a bus to have a daily departure to other destinations, so that the number of travellers can build up easily at any hour of the day.

“At this hour the terminal appears quieter, but the reality is that everyone is outside to escape the heat. As soon as a bus arrives it’s full in here”, she explains.

People gather when they see a bus arriving, hoping it will take them home / 14ymedio

Inside the hall, a group of men, women and children who are sitting on the broken metal benches jump up like coil springs when they see a vehicle appear – and bring them back some hope. “Here there are people who are travelling to any municipality, like Cartagena or Abreus, but at this hour it’s unlikely that anything will arrive”, comments Nereida, noting that the 9.30 Lajas bus is “running late or won’t arrive at all”.

She explains that some time ago she gave up trying to get any information about the bus timetables. “No one’s able to give any information to anyone who is desperate to get home. Some employees even get shirty if you ask them for the schedule, or whether the bus you’re waiting for is operating”, she adds.

The poor level of hygiene in the toilets, the careless and unreliable treatment of passengers’ belongings – “they don’t even put labels on the suitcases”, she says – all make the whole travel experience a real ordeal. Nereida’s and Ana’s opinion, like every other passenger’s opinion of the level of service in the terminal, is solemn: “The only thing moving on wheels here… is the Inefficiency”

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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With the Beginning of the School Year, Cuban Families Fear the Spread of the Oropouche Virus

Official data minimize the presence of the disease and admit only a few severe cases of the Oropouche virus

The population fears the expansion of Oropouche fever in a context of constant unhealthiness, with the presence of stagnant water

14ymedio, Madrid, 29 August 2024 — There is concern on the Island after the director of Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, Francisco Durán, spoke on Wednesday of a “considerable increase” in cases of Oropouche fever. Since the detection of the first patient in May, 506 cases have been diagnosed, “the lowest figure in the Latin American and Caribbean region,” the doctor said. But the situation on the ground does not reflect the official optimism.

“In 99 municipalities?” questions one of the thousands of users who have reacted on networks to Durán’s statements. “I would say that in all the houses and state hotels of Cuba there is no one left who has not been sick with either dengue or Oropouche. Having it diagnosed is not worth the five pesos since there is a lack of reagents, even for a minimal leukogram, which makes it difficult. How can we expect a confirmation of antigens?

“If they don’t count those who have not gone to the doctor, the figure remains very small. At least where I live even the dogs have caught it,” says a reader of Cubadebate.

Durán, who mentioned the presence of fever in all the Cuban provinces, added that “so far no serious cases or deaths have been reported, and 80% of the people who have been suspected of contracting the disease without testing positive have recovered at home.” How? continue reading

“If they don’t count those who have not gone to the doctor, the figure remains very small. At least where I live even the dogs have caught it.”

Agustín has been in bed for 21 days, confined to his home in El Globo, in Calabazar. Although his friends consider him a very healthy man, he points out that the virus left him “fried,” and only after these three weeks has he been able to talk.

Durban insisted that at first it was thought that the virus had no complications, but recent studies – especially in Brazil – have revealed serious cases “with encephalitis, meningitis, maternal-child transmission, abortion, fetal death, four newborns with microcephaly and two deaths.” In Cuba, he boasted, there have only been “clinical conditions with meningitis, with satisfactory recovery.”

Meningitis as a complication associated with Oropouche has made parents tremble, fearful of contagion. Although arbovirosis is only transmitted by the bite of the mosquito, the networks have been filled with messages in which fear is expressed about the possibility that meningitis – which is transmitted by contact and through the air – will circulate in schools. The fear is, for now, unfounded, but that has not mitigated the tension as the school year approaches.

“I hope that measures are taken – at least the obligatory mask at school and hand gel. People send their children with everything,” says a mother. “Likewise,” another replies, her face showing concern, “I am upset with that story of meningitis, with the children going to school now.”

Durán’s words about how to prevent the disease have also irritated the population. The official stressed that the most important thing is “the sanitation of the environment, since Oropouche is transmitted by the bite of the mosquito of the genus Culex and the culicoid (jején, or gnat), which breed in dirty water.”

“With the greatest respect, don’t scare the people anymore,” a man said on Facebook. Drinking water runs in the streets, the little that comes in. The sewers are a joke; garbage overruns the streets of any municipality; the heat is infuriating due to the lack of power, and the mosquitoes and jejenes have a good time. Nothing is fumigated, for God’s sake, Dr. Durán.”

The sewers are a joke; garbage overruns the streets of any municipality; the heat is infuriating due to the lack of power, and the mosquitoes and jejenes have a good time

The minister described the epidemiological situation in general as “complex,” since influenza and dengue are circulating simultaneously.

Oropouche was first detected in 1955 near the river from which it inherits its name, in Trinidad and Tobago, and is also known as “sloth fever,” since the first researchers discovered it in a three-toed sloth.

In 2024, Oropouche arrived in Cuba and other countries in which there had never been a precedent, such as Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Brazil. To date, there are more than 8,000 cases, and the Pan American Health Organization issued an epidemiological alert in July 2024. Several cases have already been detected in Europe, most of them in Spain (16), imported by travelers arriving from Latin America.

On Tuesday, U.S. health authorities said they have identified 21 cases of Oropouche fever among people returning from Cuba, three of whom had to be hospitalized.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Fuel Crisis in Cuba Gets Worse and the Lines Lengthen at the Hard Currency Gas Stations

“When I got to the service center I had 300 cars ahead of me”

Fuel is for sale at the Vista al Mar service center in El Vedado, but only in dollars

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 29 August 2024 — Havana seems to have returned to the worst days of the fuel crisis. Piled up and bored, since the beginning of the week the drivers wait daily for hours in line and often don’t manage to buy. On a tour by 14ymedio through several gas stations in the city, even those that charge in dollars, usually empty, had lines this Thursday.

“It’s not just today. Yesterday I went to all the service centers of El Vedado, Guanabacoa and Miramar and only found gasoline on the Puente de Hierro, near the bay tunnel,” Yoel, driver of a private Moskvitch, tells this newspaper. “Even at Infanta and San Rafael, where I always buy, there wasn’t a drop,” he says. Finding a place with fuel, as expected, is not enough: “When I got to the gas station I had 300 cars in front of me.” He left without buying.

Piled up and bored, since the beginning of the week the drivers wait for hours every day

This Thursday, Yoel took to the streets again in search of gasoline. This time the tour took him through the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, where “not a single service center had anything.” Finally, at the Tángana, in El Vedado, the driver joined a line no less long than the previous day’s line to refuel. continue reading

“They told me that here and the 25 and G service center are the only places where they are selling gasoline, but I don’t want to risk going there and find the same number of people or more than here. It’s better to wait, and if I don’t make it today either then I’ll have to try again,” he sighs, resigned.

Cars have been in line at the Tángana in El Vedado since early morning / 14ymedio

To top it off, he says, several drivers in the line have told him that the cards to buy fuel are failing, which delays the line and makes the drivers more nervous. “Those who don’t even have Fincimex cards have to look for where to recharge, because that’s the only one that’s working now. With the others the connection fails,” he explains.

The lack of fuel is also noticeable in state transport, says Yoel. “Today I haven’t seen a state bus pass by all day,” he says.

“That station is for the privileged who can pay in dollars,” Yoel complains. “The rest, we have to endure here under rain, sun and clouds.”

A few blocks from Tángana is the Vista al Mar gas station, which has been selling fuel exclusively in dollars since last June. The place was the last in the capital to be transformed into a service center collecting “hard currency,” and, although some cars are clumped together in line – mainly almendrones – the short line is far from those that have formed in front of the neighboring premises – one to refuel and another to fill jerricans – that already go around the block.

The line at the Tángana service center goes around the block / 14ymedio

“This service is for the privileged who can pay in dollars,” complains Yoel. “The rest of us have to endure it here in rain, sun and calm.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexico López Obrador Administration hired 5,223 Cuban Doctors; Another 198 Arrived on Tuesday

A flight with 198 Cuban doctors arrived last Tuesday in Mexico

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, August 29, 2024 — The Government of Mexico accelerated the arrival of Cuban doctors for one month before the end of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s mandate. The goal is to have 5,223 doctors “as soon as possible,” an official confirmed to 14ymedio. The second stage provides for the “arrival of 4,023 health workers,” a figure higher than the 3,800 that the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (Imss), Zoé Robledo, had announced last July.

“In October, the López Obrador Administration ends, and the plans are to have almost the total number of doctors. However, the incorporation into hospitals will be delayed because an introductory course is required, in addition to confirmation of the documents needed to practice,” the source stressed.

The doctors, who are specialists in several disciplines, are arriving in groups of between 198 and 200 at Felipe Ángeles International Airport (Aifa), where, according to the official, “there are scheduled flights.” Another 200 are expected this Friday or Saturday. continue reading

A group with 12 specialists from the Island was sent to the state of Sonora / Facebook/Imss Bienestar

Four groups have arrived in Mexico between August 2 and 27, making a total of 800 doctors. The first group of 200 doctors arrived on August 2, and two other groups, with 200 and 199, respectively, landed on August 8 and August 23 at the Aifa terminal.

The Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Marcos Rodríguez Costa, shared images last Tuesday, of 198 Cuban specialists who will join “hospitals and centers in 12 states, located in distant and highly marginalized communities.”

This newspaper received data on the arrival of two Cuban specialists at the Cupuan Health Unit, in the municipality of Zirándaro, a town with less than 1,000 inhabitants. Another two were sent to Yerba Santa, in the municipality of Acatepec, with 825 inhabitants. Both sites are located in Tierra Caliente, in the state of Guerrero, the site for which 600 physicians were hired in 2022, arguing a “deficit of specialists.”

The official said that another important group of specialists concluded their training this Wednesday at the hospital of the Guerrero community of Zumpango del Río, where an introductory course in rheumatology and child psychiatry was provided to treat bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adolescents.

Twelve Cuban specialists arrived in the state of Sonora this Thursday to provide care in hospital and first-level medical units that are difficult to cover.

In the state of Guerrero there is another group of Cubans who have just completed an introductory course / Facebook/Jos Santy

The deployment of Cuban doctors has accelerated due to the proximity, on September 1, of the sixth government report of López Obrador. “The president will discuss the hiring of the Cubans, as well as the purchase of the Abdala vaccine against Covid as part of the agreement with the Island. He will also cover the continuity that Claudia Sheinbaum’s government will offer,” says the official.

The Cuban doctors are part of Imss-Bienestar, the free health organization created by the current government to replace the Popular Insurance, in force until last year. However, the official could not confirm the payment they will make to the company Neuronic Mexicana, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A. Cuba, which since 2018 is a representative of the products and services of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry of the Island, under the presidency of the Cuban Tania Guerra.

However, it is known that Cuban specialists connected to Imss-Bienestar will receive salaries of 50,000 pesos ($2,732 per month), in addition to a bonus of 10,000 pesos ($545), for a total of $3,277. Of that amount, the total that will end up in the hands of the Island’s doctors and what will remain in the government’s coffers is unknown.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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CELAC Maintains a Complicit Silence One Month After the Venezuelan Elections

The organization’s stance is a way of adding fuel to the fire of the conflict, abandoning the victims of government violence and prolonging the suffering of millions of people.

Nicolás Maduro with Lula at the CELAC summit held in March. / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 29 August 2024 — A month has passed since Venezuelans went out to vote en masse on July 28. Since that Sunday, demands have grown for Nicolás Maduro to show all the electoral records, but the voice of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is missing from that broad chorus demanding transparency. The regional entity has not published any document addressing what has happened during these four weeks in the South American country.

CELAC’s silence comes as no surprise. The attempts to reach a consensus among its members on a declaration regarding Venezuela are doomed to fail. On the one hand, the block of those who unconditionally support the current tenant of Miraflores, with Cuba at the head, would block any document that questions the result published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) which proclaims Maduro the winner of the elections.

For their part, Brazil and Colombia are betting on a negotiated solution that includes calling new elections, something that would allow the government party to gain time, tighten the repressive screws and stay in power. A band more in line with Chavismo, including Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, has tougher words and positions against what has already become the most blatant electoral fraud in the recent history of Latin America.

On the one hand, the block of those who unconditionally support the current tenant of Miraflores, with Cuba at the head, would block any document that questions the result.

Seated at the CELAC table, it is unlikely that a message will emerge from this conglomerate that puts the interests of the Venezuelan people above the quarrels between factions. After all, the entity was born mainly from the push of leaders like Hugo Chávez, obsessed with taking ground from the Organization of American States (OAS) and with creating a regional organization that is more docile and silent in the face of human and civil rights violations by the continent’s authoritarian regimes, in the style of the one implemented by his political leader, Fidel Castro. From those gags these complicit silences were born.

Ten years ago, CELAC proclaimed the region a “zone of peace.” In a declaration signed by the presidents of the member countries, its members committed themselves, among other things, to respect equal rights and “the self-determination of peoples.” The document, read by an octogenarian Raúl Castro who was never voted in as a leader at any election, recalled the “principles of peace, democracy, development and freedom” that inspired the creation of the Community. But, in essence, it was a document to avoid foreign demands when, within the borders of a territory, a party or an ideological group imposed a political model on the rest of its fellow citizens, by force and without peaceful paths for a change of course.

The promoters of CELAC thus protected their backs. They spoke of sovereignty, but only understood it at the level of nations, never of individuals.

The promoters of CELAC thus protected their backs. They spoke of sovereignty, but only understood it at the level of nations, never of individuals; they appealed to the commitment of “not intervening, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of any other State” to silence any international demand when the leaders cut off civil liberties, hijacked the voice of their people and usurped the representation of an entire population. From those verbal tricks also emerged the current omissions.

CELAC will not speak out in favor of publishing all of Venezuela’s election records, nor will it call on Maduro to listen to the voice of the streets, step down from the presidential chair, and take steps toward a democratic transition. The organization that boasted of having contributed to creating a “zone of peace” has remained silent. Sadly, its silence is a way of adding fuel to the fire of conflict, of abandoning the victims of government violence, and of prolonging the suffering of millions of people.

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

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Machado to Venezuelan Military: ‘You Know What You Have To Do at This Time’

The opposition leader leads a protest in Caracas against “Maduro’s fraud”

Maria Corina Machado led a demonstration in Caracas against Maduro’s reelection / Twitter

EFE (via 14ymedio), Caracas, 28 August 2024 — You “know what you have to do at this time,” Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado called on the country’s military on Wednesday, one month after the presidential elections, whose official result – which favored Nicolás Maduro – is fraudulent according to the former deputy, as well as for a large part of the international community.

“They know the truth, which is what they must do in compliance with the Constitution. That is what Venezuela and the world expects: respect for the Constitution, for their sacred oath to the flag,” said the former deputy in front of thousands of supporters in Caracas, where she led a demonstration against Maduro’s reelection.

She said that the candidate of the largest opposition alliance, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), former foreign minister Edmundo González Urrutia, won the presidential elections on July 28 even in the voting centers that were set up inside prisons and military barracks.

That is what Venezuela and the world expect, respect for the Constitution, for its sacred oath before the flag

“Faced with this evidence, the regime opted for two strategies: one, to try to save face and seek legitimacy through the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ),” she said, referring to the validation that the Court, controlled by magistrates close to Chavez, gave to Maduro’s reelection. continue reading

“The other (strategy) was the repression that began that same night,” Machado continued, referring to the arrests made amid post-election protests and police operations that left more than 2,400 people detained.

In her message, she also stated that “not a single democratic government in the world has recognized” Maduro’s reelection.

“Not a single democratic government in the world has recognized Maduro’s fraud. Venezuela voted for change and Edmundo González Urrutia is our elected president,” she insisted

Under the slogan ’acta mata sentencia’ [’The record kills the judgment’] the opposition gathered to defend the voting records published by the PUD – according to which González Urrutia won the Presidency by a wide margin – against the TSJ ruling.

“They believed that with this decision, which cannot even be called a ruling, they were going to deceive some countries or give them excuses so that with this vagabondage someone would recognize the fraud of the CNE (National Electoral Council). Nobody accepted this trick,” continued the opposition figure, who described the support given by the court to the Chavista leader as an “aberration.”

Opponents gathered to defend the voting vouchers published by the PUD

“They made the TSJ an arm of repression and political persecution,” she stressed.

One month after the accusation of electoral fraud, and while Maduro has the support of all institutions, despite international criticism, Machado reiterated that the PUD has “a robust strategy” that “is working,” without giving details in this regard.

“We are going to make the government (which is defending Maduro’s victory) yield, and yielding means respecting the will expressed by the people on July 28,” she stressed

Numerous countries and international organizations have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory and have asked the CNE to publish the disaggregated results, as established in the election schedule. In contrast, Chavismo claims that more than 60 nations “have welcomed Maduro’s victory,” including China, Iran and Russia, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua.

Although the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner, it has not published the disaggregated results of the elections, as established in the schedule, while the PUD released “83.5% of the voting records” collected by witnesses and table members on the night of July 28, which, they claim, demonstrate the victory of their standard-bearer, which has the support of several countries and various national and international organizations.

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A Santa Clara Baseball Coach Escaped Cuba During the U-12 World Series in Pennsylvania

Coach Carlos César Martínez with a baseball team / Facebook/La Tijera

14ymedio, Havana, 28 August 2024 — Baseball coach Carlos César Martínez was not on the plane that returned to Cuba on Monday with the delegation that attended the World Series of Minor Leagues, held in Williamsport. After his escape during the competition in Pennsylvania, the Villaclareño met with his brother, who already lived in the U.S..

Martínez was one of the three coaches of the Santa Clara U-12 team that represented the Island in the World Series. His escape was confirmed this Tuesday by the Pelota Cubana media, which said that he had not returned to Cuba, unlike his colleagues, Everaldo Pedroso and Andy Zamora. Martínez was presented with “a unique opportunity and knew how to make the most of it,” summarized journalist Miguel Rodríguez.

“The relief pitching couldn’t hold out.” With that phrase, for its part, the official media Jit described the elimination of the Santa Clara team against Mexico in the tournament on August 20. They did not explain, however, that those led by Everaldo Pedroso reached the sixth and last inning with a 4 to 1 advantage. Two home runs by the Mexican athletes defined the game, which was 4 to 6.

“The weak point was the relief pitchers,” said Rodríguez, although he recognized that in the last challenge, “the Cuban opener Deivy Hernández did great mound work for four and two-thirds innings, allowing one score and striking out five batters.”

The Santa Clara team with coach Carlos César Martínez / Facebook/Carlos César Martínez

A year ago, José Pérez, one of the coaches of the Bayamo team that competed in the Minor League World Series, left his delegation under “cover of darkness” in the Grove area, also in Pennsylvania, where the Island team stayed, according to a report from North Central PA.

The escapes have fatally wounded Cuban sport. This Tuesday it was reported that, after touching down on Spanish soil, the goalkeeper of the soccer team, Leonardo Hierrezuelo, separated from the rest of his teammates in the departure lounge.

The team that is preparing for the Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan, which will take place between September 14 and October 6, thus suffered its second escape in five days. Last Friday, one of its leaders, Harold Aguilera from Camagüey, escaped to Portugal. The sports authorities on the Island have not yet reported any of these escapes.

Nor is there any talk of the definitive departures of athletes. The most recent was that of the 21-year-old baseball player Xian Vega, who has been in Nicaragua since last Monday and is training at the International Baseball Academy of Central America. His goal: to convince some US talent scouts and sign a contract with a Major League team.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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