Translating Cuba – Page 157 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Share of Children Born to Adolescents in Cuba Is Approaching 20 Percent of Total Births

It is 10 times more than in Spain and similar to Mexico and Haiti

Being black or mestizo, unemployed and living in low-income families are other characteristics that make up the profile of teenage mothers / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, July 9, 2024 — The rate of adolescent pregnancies is one of the figures Cuba reports in its Public Health data, which has always boasted of its universal and efficient system. In 2023, 18.9% of births were to girls between the ages of 12 and 19. The figure was published in the umpteenth article that the official press dedicates to the subject, which shows how, far from solving the problem, it continues to increase. The number has risen by more than two percentage points since 2019, when 16.7% of deliveries were to mothers between the ages of 15 and 19. The following year the figure was 17%; in 2021, 17.1%; and in 2022, 17.9%.

In terms of adolescent fertility – also between 15 and 19 years of age – for every 1,000 girls in that age range there were 51.5 (2020), 49.2 (2021) and 50.6 (2022) births. The data from Cuba are far from those of other countries such as Spain, which in 2022, for that age range, reported a rate of just 4.61 births. The statistics of the Island are more similar to those of Mexico (60.3) for example, or those of Haiti (51.2).

For those interviewed by Cubadebate, these numbers represent a “dysfunction” or, as explained by psychologist and demographer Matilde Molina, “the largest disconnection present in Cuban fertility,” especially when compared to the fertility rate of women between 20 and 24 years old (the highest among the age groups), which is not very that much higher with 82.9 births per 1,000 women. continue reading

The number has risen by more than two percentage points since 2019, when 16.7% of deliveries were to mothers between the ages of 15 and 19

Other alarming numbers are those of very early pregnancies, between 12 and 14 years of age. In the first half of 2023, 5.4% of adolescent pregnancies correspond to girls of those ages, a high number compared to the figure of 2018, when it was 3.8%.

These are just the global figures, exceeded in many cases, the authorities warn, by the number of pregnancies in certain territories, starting with the eastern provinces. Provinces such as Las Tunas (22.7%), Holguín (21.3%), Camagüey (20.5%) and Granma (20.3%) have the highest percentages of teenage pregnancies in the country.

Molina relates cases of early pregnancies to various aspects of the social and family context of adolescents. According to the authorities, who defend a position that mainly blames families, it is the parents themselves who often “incite” adolescent girls to maintain relationships with adult men or to have children, and the family experience influences their decisions. “The daughter of a teenage mother often ends up also being a mother at an early age of life,” Doctor of Sciences Antonio Aja said in July 2023 in front of Parliament.

“Young women tend to repeat the learned patterns of early family formation, either through formal or informal unions, which often involve early pregnancies,” Molina clarifies. Being black or mestizo, unemployed and living in conditions of “vulnerability” are other characteristics that, as defined on other occasions by the authorities, make up the profile of Cuban teenage mothers.

There are cases of adults up to 50 years old who have relationships with girls under 19 years old

Another situation, which enhances the inequality between adolescents and their partners, is the age difference. For girls who are between 10 and 14 years old, their partners are on average 8.9 years older. However, the newspaper recognizes that there are cases of adults up to 50 years old who have relationships with girls under the age of 19. “As the age of the teenager is younger, that distance becomes greater and greater,” says the media.

Molina points out that, in addition to the fact that they are “girls” and not adult women, teenage pregnancies often bring situations of disadvantage, gender violence, power and freedom imbalances, and child marriages.

“Teenage pregnancy limits inclusive development, increases inequalities and social disadvantages, and aggravates gender gaps and heterogeneities between territories,” says the specialist, who sees with concern that in 2014 the median age for the first marriage was 15.4 years old. The recent Code of Families placed the minimum age for marriage at 18 years – before it was 14 years for girls and 16 for boys with parental consent – but many informal unions continue to happen “outside the law,” Cubadebate admits.

In 2022, 15 adolescents age 14 or younger were married, while in the group of 15 to 19 years old, the figure rises to 3,987, according to the Demographic Year of Cuba of 2022. For its part, the latest Survey of Multiple Indicators by Conglomerates, published in 2019 by the Ministry of Public Health, estimated that 6.2% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 had married or lived with men before the age of 15.

In 2022, 15 adolescents under the age of 15 married, while in the group of 15 to 19 years old, the figure rises to 3,987

“When girls become mothers, they are much more likely to have more children in adolescence, which increases the risks for their personal development, but also for their offspring, the family and the community,” adds Molina, who explains that 75% of girls who have a child before the age of 15 are pregnant again before they are 20.

Molina adds, finally, other variables, such as the early onset of sexual relations, before the age of 15, the lack of education along with the low perception of risk and, ultimately, the “marked deficit of contraceptive methods, which increases the unsatisfied demand of this population.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mexican Navy Rescues Two Cubans Who Were Floating on a Board

Concerns grow among Cubans in the US over a possible increase in the deportation of migrants with the I-220B form

The Cuban rafters were 80 nautical miles north of Isla Mujeres (Mexico) / Secretariat of the Navy

14ymedio, Havana, July 15, 2024 — Two Cuban rafters, whose boat was shipwrecked 80 nautical miles north of Isla Mujeres, were rescued this Saturday by the Mexican Navy. According to the local media Cambio 22, they were found by Uxmal PC-335 coastal patrol personnel on “a table on top of several drums,” which kept them afloat for hours.

The Cubans, whose identity was reserved, were detected by the Regional Captaincy of Puerto de Juárez, which notified the Ninth Naval Region for the implementation of the rescue operation. After providing them with medical assistance, they were handed over to the National Institute of Migration.

One of the Cuban rafters receiving medical care / Secretariat of the Navy

The authorities are investigating the rafters’ version of the breakdown of the raft on which they made the crossing. This Sunday they will carry out an inspection in the area where the migrants were located.
Last May, four Cubans — Yurieski Romero Hernández, Mario Sergio Márquez Ventura, Rogelio Loaces Fuentes and Diosan Lazo Loaces — who spent 34 days adrift on the high seas, received a residence card for humanitarian reasons.

Five other Cuban rafters were rescued by the Navy on May 6. The migrants had been located before disembarking in Punta Pájaros, a private island located in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. continue reading

Image of Cubans before being handed over to Migration / Ministry of the Navy

Meanwhile, in the United States there is fear among Cubans with the probation form I-220B (people with this document can be deported at any time) in the face of a pattern of detentions and possible deportations to the Island.

Yoselianys Rodríguez was arrested after attending her appointment with the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) in Miramar (Florida), reported her husband Ashley Cepero, a doctor who left a mission in Venezuela and now has U.S. nationality. Cepero told Telemundo 51 this Saturday that when Rodríguez entered the United States, she was arrested at the Broward Transitional Center (BTC). “She went to court, but unfortunately they didn’t defend her and didn’t prepare her properly,” he said.

Immigration lawyer Antonio Ramos said that the arrest of Cubans with I-220B and without a criminal record is strange. “There are people with crimes who are not deported to Cuba. And people who are honest and who have not committed any crime are deported just because Cuba is accepting them,” he said.

Llamiris Gámez was arrested by ICE agents on June 17 while on her way to work.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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By 2100 Cuba Will Have Lost Half of Its Current Population, According to UN Forecasts

The maximum, with 11.3 million inhabitants, occurred in 2012, while at the end of the century there will be 5.5 million.

Life expectancy will increase significantly, up to 88 years, compared to the current 78. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, July 15, 2024 — Cuba is one of the countries that shows the most negative population statistics in the UN demographic perspectives report. The document, prepared with a database that goes from 1950 to 2100, indicates that the Island reached its peak population in 2012, when it had 11,303,175 inhabitants. When the 21st century ends, the projection indicates that there will be only 5,577,280, 50% less.

The fall in population will not be an exclusive phenomenon of Cuba, although its situation is extraordinary. The report reflects that in 2080, the planet will reach its maximum level with 10.3 billion people, and then over the next twenty years there will be a decline of 6%, since in 2100 there will be 9.6 billion inhabitants, according to the document, entitled “World Population Outlook 2024” and prepared by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

In general, the fall is attributed to a lower fertility rate in the large world economies. This is the case of several nations that are currently in the group of the ultra-low fertility rate; fewer than 1.4 births per woman. Cuba barely escapes that group, since currently this figure stands at 1.44. However, everything indicates that the blow to the Cuban population is not because of this. continue reading

In general, the fall is attributed to a lower fertility rate in the large world economies

Spain is in that segment, with a fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman. Although the UN estimates that it will rise slightly to 1.38, its population, which is currently 47.9 million, will fall to 32.1 million people in 2100, a sharp decrease of 33%, much lower than that of the Island, so the causes point more to migration.

According to UN forecasts, of the 5.5 million Cubans that there will be in 2100, 2.8 will be men and 2.7 women, with an average age of 54.9 years, which indicates a notable aging of the population. There would be 410 Cubans over 60 years old for every 100 Cubans over 14 years, compared to the current 157. Meanwhile, the population growth rate, which today is -3.5, in 2100 will be -10.8.

In addition, the mortality rate will be 17 per 1,000 inhabitants, with 95,000 annual deaths, compared to 38,000 births. The age of life expectancy increases significantly, up to 88 years compared to the current 78, but at the same time it reflects a decrease in the percentage of women of childbearing age, which falls another 10 points from the current 41% to 31%.

Li Junhua, Undersecretary General of Economic and Social Affairs, believes that the population data provided by the report are positive in general and that a decrease in the population not only reflects a higher level of development, but will have an impact on “a lower ecological pressure of human impact due to a lower aggregate consumption.”

A decrease in the population not only reflects a higher level of development, but will have an impact on “a lower ecological pressure of human impact due to a lower aggregate consumption”

The report indicates that the population “peak” has been reached in 63 countries – Cuba among them, although most are from the so-called ’”developed world.” China, Germany, Russia and Japan stand out; in that group, a net population reduction of 14% is expected.

There is another segment of countries, with Brazil and Iran in the lead, where the peak will occur between now and 2054; finally, in the remaining 126 countries, that peak will not arrive until the second half of the century.

In this last group of countries, which will continue to grow in population for decades, are India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and the United States, predictably due to immigration in the latter case.

In 50 countries of the world, it will be emigration that will attenuate the effects of a declining and increasingly older population. The arrival of emigrants will increase the birth rate and slightly rejuvenate the average age of the population

At the end of the 2070s, there will be more people in the world over 65 years of age than under 18, and a greater number of elderly people (over 80) than infants under one year of age.

In 50 countries of the world, emigration will mitigate the effects of a declining and increasingly older population

All these forecasts can, however, change significantly. The COVID-19 pandemic was a factor that significantly modified the demographic data, for example, with an increase in the mortality rate.

In addition, in Cuba, mass migration may, in fact, have already changed the figures. The UN puts the Island’s population at 11 million at the moment, although it is almost certain that the number of residents has decreased. The data is kept hidden by the delay of the census that the Government should have prepared in 2022 and postponed due to the economic crisis.

The new tentative date for its realization is in 2025. However, an independent study by Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos that came to light a few weeks ago affirms that the population of Cuba fell by 18% between 2022 and 2023 and is currently 8.62 million.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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They Killed Diubis!

Diubis Laurencio Tejeda was killed by Cuban police on July 12, 2021 / Facebook

14ymedio, Francis Matéo, Barcelona 13 July 2024 — “La Habana, Santa Clara, Holguín, Santiago, Palma Soriano, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Pinar del Río, Alquízar…”

Dianelys lists the cities through which the shock wave has spread since yesterday, caused by the first demonstration in San Antonio de los Baños, southwest of the Cuban capital. She is twenty years old, smiles and repeats the slogan that has been around the island for 24 hours, as the rallies progress:

Patria y vida! (Homeland and life!).

Homeland and life! Those are the words of the young that play to turn around the old revolutionary antiphon “homeland or death,” emptied of its meaning during the decades of Castro’s dictatorship and represented today by the sad look of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, a kind of “statue of the commander” sculpted in the Soviet way and placed at the head of the State by Raúl Castro, the last avatar of autocratic power. A president who has become the target of ridicule, who is called “singao”(motherfucker) in the joyful protest processions from Pinar del Río to Santiago de Cuba… as today in the streets of La Güinera, where Dianelys also uses the fashionable insult:

“Díaz-Canel, singao!”*

The adjective, typically Cuban, has become the title of a song and a refrain among the outraged; against an ambushed power.

Among the protesters of all ages in the popular neighborhood of La Güinera, few heard Miguel Díaz-Canel last night. Almost no one bothered to turn on the TV to pretend to listen to official speeches, as in Fidel Castro’s time. And very few care about the surveillance and the snitches’ reports, remotely controlled by the state police – in each block or building – to denounce the suspicious actions of their neighbors. This organization of theCommittees for the Defense of the Revolution, created in the regime’s early years based on the model of Robespierre’s general security committees, has now run aground on the rocks of scarcity. “All united,” as the national poet and liberator of the homeland José Martí said, but in the galley of hardship. continue reading

Almost no one bothers to turn on the TV to pretend to listen to official speeches, as in Fidel Castro’s time.

However, there are still a few stubborn people who defend the piece of bone that the Castro revolution has become and who try to make life even worse in their neighborhoods (in exchange for a measly compensation from the Party). These last defenders of a dying regime, which only has the brute force of its truncheon left to sustain itself, were loyal to the presidential speech in front of the TV set last night; they listened attentively to Miguel Díaz-Canel’s threats in response to the demonstrations that took place throughout the country that day. As usual, the president spoke in a crude wooden language and with a monotonous tone that leaves no room for feelings, let alone empathy:

“Unfortunately, I have to interrupt this Sunday to inform you that provocative elements have acted intending to promote the counterrevolution. They want to create incidents to justify our intervention. Let there be no doubt: they will have to pass over our dead bodies if they want to face the Revolution. That is why we call on all revolutionaries in the country, all communists, to take to the streets where these provocations take place. We will not allow anyone to manipulate and impose an annexationist plan. The order is this: revolutionaries, take to the streets!”

Dianelys did not hear Miguel Díaz-Canel’s call for confrontation. Since yesterday, she has been glued to her mobile phone, where she has never received so many messages about the political situation. In fact, she feels that she is waking up, that an entire people has woken up after two years of extremely drastic health [covid-related] restrictions. The young woman hugs a friend who has just joined the group of protesters; they hug, laugh and dance to the sound of reggaeton, whose saturated sizzles escape through the open door of a house. Diubis Laurencio Tejeda approaches them to record them with his phone. The two girls hug again, frantically moving their backs to the beat of the music, and then jump and scream:

“Record, Pikiri, record! We are not afraid! We are not afraid!

Diubis refrains from joining the girls’ hugs to focus on his video. He wants to preserve these unique moments to share on his social media. Around him, the protesters are infected by the energy of Dianelys and her friend. They sing together:

“We are not afraid! We are not afraid!”

Diubis turns around, phone in hand and arm outstretched to film the entire scene in a dizzying journey. He catches himself shaking, overwhelmed by emotion. He hears his artist name again:

“Piki! ¡Piki Rapta!”

He feels that he is waking up, that an entire town has woken up after two years of extremely drastic sanitary restrictions.

It is a young neighbor of sixteen years old, Yoel Misael Fuentes, who smiles at him, extending his arms as if to capture the immense feeling of joy of a crowd surprised and happy at the same time for being united in the vindication of what they lack most: freedom.

Like all the children of La Güinera, Yoel is a fan of the reggaeton songs by Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, alias Piki Rapta. At thirty-six, Diubis enjoys this little notoriety without getting carried away, but not without a certain pleasure that oozes in the way this casual braggart walks, which seduces girls and arouses the admiration of his friends. He cultivates a kind of dandy distancing that draws attention to his ebony skin, slender figure, and enticing smile.

Sensing that it would be a special day, today he has carefully chosen his clothes, although the selection is too limited for his taste. ” What do you want? You’re in Cuba, man! You have to get by with what you don’t have. ” With his sense of humor and his black Zara shirt studded with small white flowers, his jeans and his Levi’s sneakers, both dark, Diubis went out this afternoon to mingle curiously with the group of protesters. Among them, he recognizes several who are his regular customers.

The young reggaeton singer makes a living selling basic products that he has bought faster than others in official stores or that friends have sent him from abroad, as many Cubans do to survive. On the screen of his old iPhone, he sees Iris, a neighbor of his block, pouncing on him as soon as she sees him:

“Hi Piki! Could you get me some shampoo? Could you get me some shampoo? I look like a witch!”

“But that’s what I always say, honey: watch out for appearances, because they’re often true. I’m not sure you’re any less of a witch, but I’ll try to bring this to you tomorrow. ”

“You’re the best !”

The first round produces shock, the second imposes silence, the third and the fourth leave no doubt about the origin of the shots

Iris returns to the heart of the demonstration. Diubis continues to film her as he follows her, walks across the crowd and stands a few meters ahead of the group to get a general view. He stops the recording for one second to check the time on the screen: 17:57 hours. He immediately resumes the video with a panoramic view of the gathering, which becomes even denser and louder:

“We are not afraid! Homeland and life! Díaz-Canel, motherfucker!”

Then he approaches the group. He also wants to enjoy the party a little, to share with others this emotion of freedom, in the middle of the crowd that walks up Calzada Guinera.

Meanwhile, two police cars drive along a parallel road to take up positions on First Street. The cars stop at the crossing. Four armed officers get off and begin to block the passage between Calzada Guinera and the Main lane, forcing a candy pink Buick to turn around; the driver does not protest but seems worried about a gelatinous and fluorescent cake in the co-pilot’s seat. The police, under the orders of officer Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández, unexpectedly cut off thirty protesters who continue to advance unsuspectingly to the rhythm of their slogans against the regime. Some of them do not even have time to see the officers, about 35 meters away, when the shooting breaks out.

The first round produces shock, the second imposes silence, and the third and the fourth leave no doubt about the origin of the shots. Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández empties the twelve bullets from his magazine as people scream. A woman flees shouting at him:

” You hit someone!”

At the end of the street, the policeman holds his gun in his hand, a twelve-shot Makarov pistol whose magazine is now empty. He looks aghast as if he doesn’t really see the spectacle of terror he has caused by firing savagely at the protesters.

As if he did not have anything to do with the tragedy that befell Diubis Laurencio Tejeda. The bullet entered his back and went through his lungs until it reached his heart.

The young man has collapsed, face down, but he is still alive. On his shoulder, the bloodstain soaks into the drawings of small white flowers

The young man has collapsed, face down, but he is still alive. On his shoulder, the blood stain soaks the drawings of small white flowers; a man takes off his shirt to try to contain the bleeding. Two others desperately lift him and take him to one of the police cars, the only way to urgently transfer the injured man to the hospital. A few meters away, Yoel is also bent over at the foot of a wall, his pants stained with blood. One of the twelve bullets fired by Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández shattered his right knee. He is in pain, but panic prevents him from uttering the smallest intelligible word. He recognizes Dianelys, who passes by screaming:

They killed Diubis!”

Another protester grabs his head and yells at the police:

“Murderers! Why did you shoot? Nobody did anything! You guys are crazy.”

Yoel screams in pain amid the chaos on Calzada.

Calzada Guinera is now flanked by police cars. The teen sees three armed and uniformed men approaching. He closes his eyes as if he wanted to drive away fear and pain, he feels himself being lifted and pushed without mercy to the back seat of a flashing Lada.

In another vehicle, Diubis bleeds to death. He loses consciousness even before arriving at the hospital. He’ll never wake up.

After having made almost all the protesters get into the police vans – except for those who were able to escape in time – Yoennis Pelegrín Hernández gets back behind the wheel of his car, starts it and drives in the direction of the police station with the sirens blaring. He has to write a report.

*Translator’s note: ‘singao’ roughly rhymes with ‘Díaz-Canel’

Translated by LAR

More Than 20 Exiled Cuban Athletes Will Represent Other Countries at the Olympic Games in Paris

In addition, 62 Cubans who remain with the State will participate in the Olympics.

Among the emigrants, two will be part of the Olympic Refugee Team

14ymedio, Havana, 13 July 2024 — Twenty-one Cuban athletes who have emigrated will participate – with flags from other countries or on the refugee team – in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will begin on July 26. Among the flags that the athletes from the Island will show are those of Spain, the United States, Chile, Portugal, Canada, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Belgium, Poland, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Turkey and Italy. Of the emigrants, three hope for gold in athletics.

Triple jumper Pedro Pichardo – who left his delegation in the German city of Stuttgart – will play for Portugal, for which he won gold in Tokyo 2020 with a record jump of 17.98 meters. Triple jumper Jordan Díaz Fortún, who “deserted” in 2021 in Spain, will play with the red flag and carry with him the prestige of having achieved the third best mark in history, with a triple jump of 17.98 meters. Finally, Andy Díaz, who achieved a jump of 17.61 meters in the Copernicus Cup and has not played for Cuba since 2021, will represent Italy.

There will be three emigrant boxers. Javier Ibáñez, who left Cuba in 2018, will enter the 57-kilogram category for Bulgaria. Last May he was crowned European champion by the International Boxing Association, and won the silver medal at the 2024 European Championship and the gold medal at the 2023 European Games. continue reading

Enmanuel Reyes (“The Prophet”) traveled to Spain in 2016 and plays for that country for the second time in the Olympics. After a defeat against his compatriot Julio César La Cruz in Tokyo, he told the Olympics portal that “my goal is to win the gold medal in Paris 2024.” Loren Berto Alfonso, who has won medals for Azerbaijan since 2019, won the bronze medal in Tokyo 2020. The boxer arrives at the Parisian event with bronze in the European Championship in Belgrade (2024) and silver in the World Championship in Uzbekistan (2023).

Yulenmis Aguilar will compete in javelin throwing. She won a gold medal at the beginning of July in Spain and was champion in 2015 and 2017. She received her Spanish naturalization papers in 2020.

Volleyball player Wilfredo León will defend Poland

Volleyball player Wilfredo León will defend Poland. The athlete from Santiago, who escaped in 2013, plays offense on that country’s team. For his part, the outside hitter Yoandy Leal, who became a naturalized Brazilian, between 2010 – the last year he defended Cuba – and 2020, won 25 titles with the volleyball club Sada Cruzeiro. In addition, he won three club world championships (2013, 2015 and 2016), three South American championships and five editions of the Super League.

Melissa Vargas leads Turkey’s women’s volleyball team, considered by the Olympics portal as the best in the world. Vargas was chosen in 2023 as the most valuable player on her team, Fenerbahçe Opet, and in 2024 she dominated the women’s ranking worldwide.

Ismael Romero won his ticket to the Olympics with the Puerto Rico basketball team. The Cuban was key for that team to return to the event after 20 years of absence.

In freestyle wrestling, Frank Chamizo will defend Italy. The athlete left the Island in 2011 and won bronze in Rio de Janeiro 2016. In the European Championship he won bronze in Bucharest (2024) and silver in Zagreb (2023). For his part, the Greco-Roman fighter Yasmani Acosta arrived in Santiago de Chile in 2015 and participated in Tokyo 2020. He won bronze in the Pan American Championship (2022) and the Pan American Games (2023).

Wrestler Néstor Almanza Jr. left the Island to settle in Chile in 2020 and that same year won the national championship. The athlete became a Chilean citizen in December 2022. Two years later he won a place in the Olympic Games and became the youngest athlete from Chile to achieve it.

Judoka María Celia Laborde, who fled in 2014, will play for the United States in the competition

Judoka María Celia Laborde, who escaped in 2014, will defend the United States in the competition. In 2022 she won the American national title, the African Open of Tunisia and the Pan American Open of Santo Domingo. For her part, Ana Laura Portuondo-Isasi will arrive in Paris with the Canadian team. Before doing so, she took the silver in the Pan American Judo Championship (2024).

Fencer Neisser Loyola achieved his qualification in the Olympic Games, with the flag of Belgium, after winning the World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia, last March. The athlete, who left the Island at the age of 16, also won the silver medal in the Doha Grand Prix (2023).

Sailor Pedro Luis Fernández Jr. is another of the hopes for Puerto Rico – where he arrived in 2008 – in the Parisian capital. As for the hurdler Yasmani Copello, he will compete for Turkey. In Rio 2016, he won the bronze. He has been champion and runner-up in the editions of Amsterdam 2016 and Berlin 2018.

The refugee team will be formed by the canoeist Fernando Dayán Jorge Enríquez, gold medal in canoeing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and Ramiro Mora, weightlifting champion resident in the United Kingdom, where he worked in a circus before achieving the British record in the 89 and 96 kilograms categories.

In addition, 62 Cubans who remain with Cuba will participate in the Olympics, a figure that says a lot about the state of Cuban sport, since it is the smallest delegation that the Island has sent to this event since Tokyo 1964. Still attached to the Cuban Athletics Federation – which will send 19 athletes to the games – Juan Miguel Echevarría will not go to the event because he does not meet the qualifying requirements. Nor did Shainer Rengifo, who was injured last June and fled during an event in Spain this Thursday.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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They Arrived on ‘Humanitarian Parole’ and Want to Return to Cuba When Things Change

The country’s economic crisis ruined one couple’s prosperous business in Havana but Adelina and Luis dream of reopening their cafe one day

A total of 105,000 Cubans have benefited from the humanitarian parole program since January 2023 / Giorgio Viera/ EFE

14ymedio, José Antonio García Molina, Miami, 7 July 2024 — Adelina arrived in Miami a year ago with her husband and $15,000, the profits from a family business, hoping to rebuild her life in the United States. The 48-year-old Havana resident still has issues pending back home: family, interests, a house, a car. She did not want to burn her bridges or, as she prefers to put it, “close the door.” Though she decided to take advantage of the United States’ humanitarian parole program, for which her son-in-law filled out the paperwork, she feels she is waiting for the “downpour” to clear up. “Things will change in Cuba when people least expect it,” she says.

Abel, Adelina’s son-in-law is 58-years-old and graduated with a degree in economics. He left Cuba in 2002, after the Special Period, and is now a U.S. citizen. “Things were getting bad. I had less and less work. One day a group of friends and I got together and set out on a boat.” His story is typical of many people who left Cuba in those years and later became sponsors. Adelina, who managed to get through one crisis after another, is the other side of the coin.

If the money is there and the paperwork goes through, anyone with a “patron saint” in the U.S. can emigrate.

The Biden administration launched the parole program in January 2023 at the height of the migration crisis. By the end of May, more than 105,000 had benefited from it. The program has since redefined the relationships of those still living on the island and their relatives abroad. If the money is there and the paperwork goes through, anyone with a “patron saint” in the U.S. can emigrate. continue reading

The problem, Adelina says, comes later, when someone from Cuba sets foot on American soil. It is not easy to start over from scratch if you are of a “certain age” or to interrupt the lives of your family living in the U.S. For her husband Luis, who is ten years older, the challenges of adapting to a new environment are several times greater.

Luis’ life is split between two cities: Havana, where he left the cafe that he and Adelina ran together, and Miami, where he works as a custodian in a condominium. For her part, his wife is a cashier at a supermarket in Doral.

“State-run cafes were few and very bad,” recalls Adelina

It was hard for both of them to leave the cafe behind. When they opened it in 2010, self-employment was synonymous with prosperity. “State-run cafes were few and very bad,” Adelina recalls. They saw an opportunity and took it. Initially, they sold breakfast items and some snacks. Everyone in the neighborhood was a customer. “We were expanding. There was an area in the house with a cement floor but no roof. We built a little wall around it, added an entrance, and bought some umbrellas and chairs.” It started out as a cafe but later morphed into a bar.

Both Adelina and Luis are reluctant to completely give up on their joint venture. The pandemic dealt their business a mortal blow. “People started leaving for the mountains. The neighborhood was emptying out. But we were still managing to get by.” Their children… not so much. Their daughter Nidia was in the third year of her medical studies and their son Kendry was going to the Polytechnic University. Both crossed the Mexican border.

They had to be resourceful. “We had to buy a lot of our supplies on the black market. It was crazy. And very risky. We didn’t know what was legal and what wasn’t,” says Adelina. Just as things were at their worst, the parole program was announced and their son-in-law filed the paperwork.

Abel is relieved that Adelina and Luis have suffered relatively little culture shock since their introduction to the American way of life. They already had some money when they arrived, which gave them a certain degree of comfort. His own story is very different, though he did have help from his brother, who was already living in Florida. “If it hadn’t been for his support, I wouldn’t have had a job or a roof over my head,” says Abel. “I didn’t even have money to buy food.”

The language opens doors up north

The only thing he had going for him was that he knew English. Until he arrived in the United States, he had never heard the well-worn Cuban saying, “The language opens doors up north.” It turned out to be true. Because he was able to communicate with his brother’s friends, he moved up the ladder, but not before “busting ass” for two years in construction and an auto repair shop.

He ultimately got a job at a car dealership in Coral Gables. With his engaging personality, it only took a few years for him to become a senior manager. “As soon as I found out about the parole, my wife and I decided to go for it and immediately did whatever we had to do to bring my in-laws over,” he says.

Money? It didn’t take much, explains Abel. The ticket from Havana to Miami cost $121. The rest of the process involved him demonstrating that he had the means to provide financial support and filling out the forms correctly. The arrival was not difficult either because Adelina and Luis had brought with them a little money of their own.

On the other hand, his house has rooms that have seen many family members’ come and go in the process of settling down in the U.S. “Now the family is reunited,” he says with satisfaction, though he is still trying to bring over Adelina’s father, who is living under precarious conditions. “Like most Cubans,” he adds.

Luis is waiting for the first opportunity he has to go back to Cuba, admits Adelina. “He wants to reopen the business if things get better and if he feels confident he can get supplies from Miami. It would be a matter of going back there from time to time. To be honest, I prefer what we had there to what we could have here. Plus,” she adds with a certain impishness,
“Miami will always be close by.”

Cuba is already very far away for 64-year-old Amelia, who left Havana two decades ago. Last year she got a distress call from Pinar del Rio, where her nephew Ernesto lives. Overnight she became a sponsor. The paperwork, however, has been awaiting approval since January 2023.

Fully aware of her country’s desperate situation, she does not want Ernesto — a 25-year-old high school teacher — wasting his youth on the island. His father, Amelia’s brother, receives a pension of 1,800 pesos a month and is still working, doing plumbing and electrical work on the side.

U.S. elections in November are keeping parole applicants in suspense

Amelia, who lives comfortably off rental income from two apartments, believes her nephew deserves a chance. She describes him as “brilliant” in several subjects, especially mathematics. If he does manage to leave Cuba, she hopes he might get into a university in Florida. “I am all about studying,” Ernesto says, “and helping my dad, who will stay in Cuba.” Both Amelia and her nephew regularly check the U.S. government website and the Inmigreat app, where the results of parole applications are posted. So far they have had no news.

U.S. elections in November are keeping parole applicants in suspense. Both parole applicants and their sponsors believe their future depends on who occupies the White House in the next four years.

Meanwhile, the Cuban parolees arriving in Miami are not without some anxiety. Very few want to talk to reporters and some already have plans to return to Cuba for a visit once their immigration status is fully resolved and they have some money. However, most hope to settle down in the U.S. and prosper. The island’s history suggests that today’s refugees will be tomorrow’s sponsors.

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Villa Clara’s Accountability Report Presents a Bleak Assessment of the Cuban Province

The failure of food policies, with a year without water in several localities and the collapse of the sugar crop are the most critical points

“The situation for water supply and wastewater treatment in Villa Clara is not favorable,” admitted the leaders / IPS Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 13 June 2024 — On July 18, the government of Villa Clara will present to the National Assembly its 2023 management report, and so far this year, it will not delight the state leadership. The failure of food policies, with a year without water in several locations and the collapse of the sugar crop are the most critical points in the province. The officials, however, have said from the beginning that it is not their fault, but the “complex stage from the economic and social point of view” has affected them.

Among the sectors analyzed, food is the one that has hit bottom the hardest, and the problem starts in the fields. In 2023, only 46% of the land dedicated to food was planted, and the demand for fertilizers to meet the plan was covered by only 32%. In the plots for animal consumption, the planting covered only 62% of the hectares destined for these crops.

As a result, livestock and the breeding of free-range animals also suffered last year. The province’s milk plan achieved 21 million liters in 2023 and 1.3 million in the first quarter of 2024. In those same periods, the delivery of beef was, respectively, 66% and 109%; the higher numbers reflects figures that coincide with the livestock census and the ban on selling animals.

“The non-compliances are due to the (poor) quality of the feed, the aging of the laying hens and the delay in moving the flock”

Egg production did not reach what was planned either, and last year only 78.9% of the amount planned was collected. The data, however, are not surprising considering that the malnutrition of chickens was news at the end of that year in the official press. In the first months of 2024, however, the figure is even more alarming, since the debt was 4,581,400 units. “The non-compliances are due to the (poor) quality of the feed, the aging of the laying hens and the delay in moving the flock,” the document admits. The provincial fishing industry also closed last year with a debt of 40%, and this year the debt is already at 42.2%. continue reading

The report closes the food section with a disturbing fact: “In the sugar harvest, out of a plan of 58,811 tons, 21,760 were achieved, or 37% ; in the planting work of 5,286 hectares, only 975 have been sown,” so the next campaign is not guaranteed either.

Another key sector, water, exhibits indicators “distant from what is desired and from the real needs of our population,” the authorities explain. Even with investments at 100%, about 30% of the population does not have domestic service and 38% do not have sewers. “The situation of water supply and waste treatment is not favorable,” it adds, especially in Santa Clara – where the cycles exceed 90 days – and in the town of Mataguá, in Manicaragua, where it’s now 355 days. The worst situation, however, is that of Güinía de Miranda, where the breakage of the hydraulic pump completely stopped the service.

Another key sector, water, exhibits indicators “distant from what is desired and from the real needs of our population”

The supply of tanker trucks is not a viable alternative either, they recognize, because in some cases the frequency of supply exceeds 180 days. As for housing, in 2023, 269 “basic housing cells” of the 653 projected were built by the State. Of these, 48 are finished but are not habitable due to the lack of electrical service.

Until this April, public transport in the province decreased its number of trips by 27% and the number of passengers it moves by 34.3%. Of the 221 routes, only those between 48 and 71 continue to operate, depending on the parts and the fuel. Of the roads and railways, “only 27.8% are in good condition.”

Another critical point is crime, especially in the fields. In 2023, 50.5% of the 22,055 criminal acts recorded – an increase of 2,142 compared to 2022 – were against livestock. This was followed by “other thefts and violent robberies.” These three “modalities” account for 80.7% of the crime in the province. There were also 100 ration store robberies in 2023, a decrease from the 176 in 2022.

Unlike other sectors, whose problems were left pending solutions or with mere suggestions, the government of Villa Clara has a clear strategy to combat, not crime, but its perception by the residents of the province. “There has been a significant impact on the people of the dissemination of the results of the confrontations, with emphasis on social networks of institutional and personal profiles of cadres, of the local organs of the People’s Power and on the so-called ’People’s Force’,” the report states.

The list of management failures continues, but it is clear that the authorities know very well what prevents the territory from advancing

The list of management failures continues, but it is clear that the authorities know very well what prevents the territory from advancing. In the case of the state sector, where 17 companies closed 2023 with losses, the deficit of inputs and raw materials, the shortage of fuel, the inflated workforce and the “centralized prices” are the biggest burden for the local economy, which is a reflection of other territories and of the entire country.

Only exports, a sector that the regime prioritizes for its opportunity to raise foreign currency, remain afloat. Although the report does not break down the services and products, the 2023 plan was fulfilled by 106.7% with 1,575 million pesos raised, and by 126% in the first quarter of this year, with 487 million.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Juan Gualberto Gómez’s Legacy Is ‘Democratic and Subversive’ for Cuba, Says His Great-Granddaughter

Facade of the Juan Gualberto Gómez House Museum, at number 359 of Empedrado Street, in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 12 July 2024 — A large part of Juan Gualberto Gómez’s library was kept in the house that the patriot and his wife had built in Santos Suárez. When the family decided to leave Cuba, after Fidel Castro’s coming to power, they didn’t have time to take everything out. Angelina Edreira, his daughter, who was relocated, still lived there. The Government sealed the house and handed it over, shortly thereafter, to a large family, who threw what was left of the archive into the street. A friend informed Clara Caballero Caraballo, Juan Gualberto’s great-granddaughter, that the family’s books – including his own – were scattered on the sidewalk. She went to look for them. She managed to get a photo of her great-grandfather and a book dedicated to Emilio Roig, whose title, in the light of present circumstances, was still ironic: For a Free Cuba.

This Friday marks the 170th anniversary of the birth of Juan Gualberto, and his great-granddaughter has organized a tribute in Madrid, where she has been living in exile for decades. Architect and researcher about the Cuban “sacarocracia”*, Caballero talks with 14ymedio about the oblivion and recovery of the memory of the hero, whose thought has been relegated to the dustbin by the Revolution because it continues to be – she maintains – “democratic and dangerous.”

Mortuary mask by Juan Gualberto Gómez, in a reproduction of the original of 1933 / 14ymedio

Born in 1854, Juan Gualberto Gómez appears in Cuban history books as “Martí’s friend,” always in the background, and his work is very rarely studied. Caballero says that her great-grandfather “died poor and did not have a square meter of land to be buried in so a tomb was built for him.” During the ceremonies for Martí’s centenary in 1953, her grandmother Angelina approached the governor of Havana and told him: “The Republic is celebrating, and the remains of Juan Gualberto Gómez are welcomed by a religious archconfraternity.”

The following year – when Caballero had just been born – the patriot could count on a worthy tomb, paid with a government credit. “It was a racist society and his name did not appear in any history book,” Caballero says, to illustrate how relegated his memory was. Caballero’s aunt, Nancy Loyola Edreira, had to fight a lot for Havana Historian Eusebio Leal to include the house on 359 Empedrado Street – where Juan Gualberto lived and worked – in Havana’s restoration plan. Today it is a museum.

“In the family it was conveyed that Juan Gualberto was very loving and sincere. My father’s generation and my aunts opted for pedagogy – in particular history and geography – and French culture. My grandmother studied at the French Alliance in Havana and traveled a lot to Europe before the Revolution. And, of course, she knew how to dance chotis**,” jokes Caballero. continue reading

Objects belonging to Manuela Benítez, wife of Juan Gualberto Gómez / 14ymedio

Angelina left Cuba in 1968. Other members of the family went into exile in New York or Chicago, whose university has a study center named after Angelina Pedroso, granddaughter of Juan Gualberto and a benefactor of Hispanic students. Everyone also venerated José Martí. During the Republic, the family bought a house in Zaragoza – where the Cuban national hero studied – to which they went on vacation. “At the end of the meals when there were visitors, there was always talk of history in the house, around a table with documents, books and papers,” Caballero recalls.

Juan Gualberto also lived for some time as an exile in Europe. Caballero comments that the official files of the time allude to her great-grandfather’s tendency to “filibuster” and admit that he was under close surveillance by Spanish intelligence. “I have more information about his life in Madrid, Ceuta and Paris, which his initial biographers did not have, and street or school names that should be corrected, but without a revisionist spirit. I have found addresses where he lived, and there is a building in very good condition that remains standing,” she explains.

For Caballero, the legacy of Juan Gualberto Gómez is summed up in finding the balance among the old values of freedom, equality and fraternity. Achieving it in the future Cuba will not be easy, because “generations of Cubans have been humiliated in a thousand and one ways, in which fear has been transmitted above all.”

“Juan Gualberto was a convinced democrat. Since his Parisian youth he had fought with his pen during colonial domination, and in the time of the Republic he would not enter the ranks of any reactionary party, so he resigned, abandoned, founded and merged parties. And for each party he founded a newspaper expressing its ideology. He never looked back, but forward. That is his legacy, it is an example for politicians and journalists of all time,” she says.

His writings and his biography insist on the need for tolerance. In Spain, Caballero explains, he interacted with people diametrically opposed to separatism but who greatly respected him. “He promoted, like Martí, love among Cubans from the Island, peninsular Spaniards and emigrants. He managed to legalize peaceful separatist propaganda after his writing “Why we are Separatists,” for which he was sentenced to two years, eleven months and eleven days in prison,” she adds.

Commemorative plaque of Juan Gualberto Gómez on the facade of Empedrado 359 / 14ymedio

“In Cuba, unfortunately, there have now been decades of betrayal and harassment of those who think differently. Even within the family, as reflected in Eliseo Alberto’s book, ’Report against Myself.’ That doesn’t agree with Juan Gualberto’s thought.” This Friday, Caballero will try – in her words – to “show an image of him to an audience in Madrid.” Doing it in the Athenaeum, a “very symbolic” place for what it represented for Juan Gualberto, is a profession of faith in free thought.

“To compose the table I have summoned people who are familiar with the socio-political transformations that Juan Gualberto suffered in colonial and Republican Cuba. They have valuable and different visions,” she says, alluding to her guests: the editor and poet Pío E. Serrano, and historians Luis Miguel García Mora and Christina Civantos.

“There will also be talk of the problems between the autonomists and the liberals of colonial Cuba. In addition to the research on his life in Ceuta, which I love because it argues Juan Gualberto’s position regarding the reality of white and black Cubans, it defends the construction of a national identity and also covers the Abakuá or ñañiguismo religion, which is not usually dealt with when talking about political patriotic issues. I will also display old photos and books that I forgot to put in the program.”

Her objective is to “open other perspectives on Juan Gualberto,” for which she is in a privileged position, since “there are no other descendants interested in the subject.” However, she acknowledges that she sees in other members of his family – such as his daughter, Ángel, and his aunt Angelina – not only the traits of her great-grandfather but also his “political, moral and ethical honesty.”

Another significant point is to pay tribute to Juan Gualberto Gómez in Madrid, a city where hundreds of Cuban exiles now reside. Organizing the tribute has also been for Caballero an exercise of reflection on family and personal history. She arrived in Spain in the 70s with her parents; she made a career as an architect, and now she wants to “honor her ancestors.” The Island, so close in sentimentality, is still far away geographically. “I have learned to live without the sea,” she says.

* The business of sugar production, controlled by a few families during the time of Spanish rule.
** Traditional dance of Madrid.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Panama Temporarily Suspends Tourism and Transit Visas for Cubans

The procedure to apply for online visas “is disabled” in the face of “a detected situation of vulnerability”

The transit visa authorizes Cubans to stay in the air terminal for 24 hours / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 13 July 2024 — The National Migration Service of Panama decided to suspend the processing of stamped visas (tourism and transit) for Cubans for the remainder of July in the face of “a situation of vulnerability detected in the system” that they are “trying to resolve,” the institution said in a statement on Thursday. Migration said that in the transition process of a change in Government, the failure was detected. “The procedure for the online application, for appointments to obtain the stamped visa for foreigners of Cuban nationality, was found to be disabled.”

Likewise, the statement specifies that “once the procedure process is enabled,” it will continue to proceed on a regular basis; in this case the application must be presented” at the main headquarters of the National Migration Service.”

Roger Mojica Rivera, general director of Migration of Panama, declared that the institution “is committed to providing the transparency that these processes deserve, and the laws and immigration compliance will be defended. Our commitment is to respect human rights and comply with the laws of the country,” he added.

The institution “is committed to providing the transparency that these processes deserve, and the laws and immigration compliance will be defended”

In 2021, the Panamanian Government reactivated the granting of shopping tourism visas to citizens of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The tourist card, known as a “shopping card” among Cubans, simplified the procedures for entering the country for nationals of the Island. continue reading

Created in October 2018, the document allowed the arrival and stay in Panama for up to 30 days of citizens, self-employed or artisans. In mid-2019, the Migration Service temporarily suspended the issuance of the visa alleging irregularities detected by the Government in the allocation and use of this procedure.

In addition to this tourism document, many Cubans, since March 2022, are obliged to apply for a transit visa in case of taking flights with a stopover at Tocumen International Airport. On that date, Panama declared that the requirement responded to the increase in national travelers from Cuba who fail to be admitted to the country of their final destination.

The transit visa authorizes Cubans to stay in the air terminal for 24 hours. The current resolution expires on July 31, and for the moment there is no information about an extension of the transit visa for Cubans .

Recently, Panama closed three unauthorized border crossings, which this year have used by more than 195,000 migrants – including 500 Cubans – to make the crossing to the United States.

With the support of 300 units of the National Border Service (Senafront), points were blocked on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. In addition, barbed wire was placed on the shortcuts that lead to the Hito de Chucurti area, bordering Colombia.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Roseland, a Hard-Currency Store, Closed Due to Leaks

Problems have been growing, especially in the basement, where food items are sold.

The Roseland store on the corner of Neptuno and Águila streets in Central Havana

Havana, Natalia López Moya, July 12, 2024 — A crude sign sits on top of a shopping basket that blocks the entrance to the Roseland store on the corner of Neptuno and Águila streets in Central Havana. The makeshift message warns customers wanting to enter that it is “closed due to leaks.” The situation has been going on for several days despite the fact that the store only accepts freely convertible foreign currency (MLC) as payment and does several thousands of dollars worth of business a day.

“It seems like a joke that this is happening here. It would be understandable in a store that accepted Cuban pesos but this is supposed to be a place with high-end products for consumers who can afford to pay a lot,” complained one woman from the outskirts of Havana with a baby in her arms on Friday. She had come to the store hoping to buy some canned fruit. “It’s the third time I’ve seen this same sign. It’s as if no one cares that Roseland is losing money because it’s closed to the public.”

Located in one of the most iconic buildings in this area of Havana, the store sells grocery items, toiletries and a wide variety of home appliances. It is owned and operated by Cimex, a corporation run by the Cuban military. In spite of its high prices, however, little has been spent on repairs or improvements since the store opened. The problems have been growing, especially in the basement, where food products are sold. continue reading

“It would be understandable in a store that accepted Cuban pesos but this is supposed to be a place with high-end products for consumers who can afford to pay a lot”

“It’s a problem that’s has been going on for years. If it had been handled sooner, it wouldn’t have been as expensive to fix as now,” explains one resident of this downtown building, which also houses spacious apartments with terraces overlooking the city skyline. “It gives a very bad impression to get here and see the ground floor like this. People get worried when they see that sign.” Suspicion is not a trivial matter in a property where residents rent out rooms to tourists.

Currently, there are several apartments for sale in the building, with prices approaching 50,000 dollars. Their owners are concerned that a potential buyer might get to the well-known corner and notice the leak warning. “The first thing anyone would think is that the structure of the building might be affected,” says the resident. “We all lose. The store isn’t making money and it’s harder for us to attract buyers.”

In an online real estate ad for one the apartments, there is a photograph of a sunset taken from one of the wide balconies. Another shows a table full of fruit that foreign tourists can enjoy while looking out over one of the most centrally located areas of the Cuban capital. In none of the images are there any damp spots or walls through which water is seeping. The glamorous, comfortable building is good at hiding its feet of clay.

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Almost 400 Private Businesses Are Fined for Violating Price Caps While Products Disappear

Readers of the official press are divided between those in favour of a heavy hand and those against the government’s measures

This Thursday, the line at Carlos III for picadillo and detergent was huge, but customers wondered if there was anything else. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 12 July 2024 — In less than 72 hours, the Cuban authorities already had almost 400 violators of the price cap for six basic products that came into force on Monday. Last week, the Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices, Lourdes Rodríguez, warned on Canal Caribe that 7,000 inspectors were prepared to verify that the provisions were complied with, and this time their effectiveness has been proven, since on Wednesday night 1,079 “control actions” had been carried out that imposed fines on 393 private individuals, some in response to complaints from the population.

The information was offered by the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, in a television program in which he reviewed the Resolution that marks the highest selling prices for chicken (680 pesos per kilo), oils, not including olive (990 pesos per liter); powdered milk (1,675 pesos per kilo); pasta (835 pesos per kilo); sausages (1,045 pesos per kilo); and detergent powder (630 pesos per kilo). He said that these six products are exempt from import tariffs and that, in addition to the cap on consumer prices, there cannot be a profit margin of more than 30% in sales from the private sector to the State.

Regueiro insisted that the objective is to contain inflation, since the cost of these essential products had progressively increased, and admitted that for a large part of the population they are still very high prices, in particular for retirees or people with low incomes. continue reading

He admitted that for a large part of the population they are still very high prices, particularly for retirees or people with low incomes

However, he said that this measure came from meetings with more than 50,000 “economic actors,” the self-employed, members of cooperatives and owners of private businesses. The State is not subject to this policy, at least for the moment, since stores in Freely Convertible Currency (MLC) sell at prices much higher, as a large part of the population denounced, which, however, admits that it matters little, since there are no products in those establishments.

“I wish we could buy in MLC [hard currency] stores,” commented a user this Wednesday in a Cubadebate forum that asked for experiences from consumers, “but there the prices are equally high and abusive, the shelves are empty and then again, what percentage of the population owns that currency?” “In the province, in MLC there is nothing or almost nothing, and even less in municipalities; most of the merchandise is in Havana, that’s why the people of the province had to end up in the MSMEs, which also annoy people a lot. Now there’s nothing on offer by the State or the MSMEs,” complained another.

Regueiro Ale added that, since local governments have the power to set other price caps, if they are lower than the State ones, they do not have to raise them.

The official also insisted on two important ideas: the first, that the State makes a “sacrifice” by renouncing the income it would obtain at Customs in order to “favor the reduction of costs”; the second, that the measure is not isolated and that there will be others “that will have an implementation soon and will allow the creation of a scenario where we have more production and provision of goods and services.”

He did not specify anything else, but the warning may be linked to the six decrees that the authorities say they have ready to approve in the coming days that “correct the distortions that are present in the action of non-state forms of management.” There is no concrete information yet, but progress has been made concerning reforms to the decrees that regulate self-employment, mipymes and non-agricultural cooperatives, as well as the Social Security rules for their workers and the tax system.

In addition, the municipalities will progressively assume the ability to authorize MSMEs, a process that has begun in Ciego de Ávila – the province with the most entrepreneurs outside of Havana – with the training of officials, who “dominate the business ecosystem and know the potential of the respective actors who are there or can be there, based on their needs and priorities.”

“It’s not about prohibiting or taking a step back; this is regular, it’s accompanying, driving, controlling”

The new rules, said Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, will try to fill legal gaps or aspects that they had not initially foreseen, in order to continue “perfecting” the system and making it clear that “the main player in the economy is the socialist state enterprise, and the different forms of non-state management are a complement to it.” “It’s not about prohibiting or taking a step back; this is regular, it’s accompanying, driving, controlling,” he added.

Uncertainty reigns, between some things and others, in the private sector, where many have chosen to “hide” the products with capped prices, as 14ymedio has been able to see in tours made in Havana, although in other provinces the absence is not so noticeable, according to the collaborators of this newspaper. The real impact cannot be evaluated until more time passes, but economist Pavel Vidal, in his report for the OMFI (Cuban Observatory of Money and Finance), fears the worst.

“The measures are concentrated almost exclusively on the containment of expenses, on the management of the crisis in the very short term and on the use of instruments of direct economic control of proven failure (such as price caps). A part of the proposals generate predictable negative effects and greater uncertainty for the private sector, especially those that sell imported products,” he says.

The expert, who reports that imports from the United States increased by 65% in the first five months of the year and by 59% in May, compared to 2023, advances that “if a contractive impact is confirmed on the dynamics of external purchases of the private sector, there would be a moderating effect on the exchange rate,” although he rules out that it is significant, due to the absence of “background” measures. This Thursday, the dollar was exchanged in the informal market for 335 pesos.

“It is a war against the State that spawned them and protects them. Control and monitoring of the application of exemplary measures is being imposed”

Consumers, meanwhile, are divided between those who experience a slight relief from the new prices and those who already feel the lack of products on the street. “Great move. We all knew what they were going to do. Several of the products disappeared in the MSMEs. Now they will sell them secretly and at higher prices. It ’s a war against the State that engendered them and protects them. Control and monitoring of the application of exemplary measures is being imposed,” says a reader of Cubadebate.

A hard hand that asks for more. “They show that the State has the legal force, and, to all those who don’t offer anything, let them boycott the measures, encircle them and that’s it. Stop passing the buck and defend the working people.”

But others differ. “Competent policies are essential to improve the functioning of the markets, which in turn benefits consumers,” considers one person. Another says, “These policies seek to increase competition in the markets so that consumers have more options and lower prices. In addition, they promote transparency and asymmetric information so that consumers can make well-informed decisions.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Three Years Later, What Has Become of the Repressors of 11J?

The change that has taken place in thousands of people has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, it would have taken several decades.

Demonstration on 11 July 2021 repressed in Villa Clara / Capture/Archive

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 11 July 2024 — Three years have passed since the historic protests that shook the Cuban streets on 11 July 2021, but it seems like more time has passed. The change that has taken place in thousands of people on this island has been so profound and rapid that, in other circumstances, several decades would have been needed to achieve a similar effect. If the transformation experienced by the protesters, their families and, especially, those imprisoned for that day has been rapid and significant, a metamorphosis has also taken place among the ranks of the repressors.

Angela was 76 years old on 11J and, when she heard the first echoes of the demonstrations, she wanted to go out with a stick and confront the young people who were shouting their discontent in the streets of the city of Camagüey. A member of the Communist Party, a staunch follower of every official campaign that shaped her life – from volunteer work to missions abroad – she felt absolute contempt for those “ungrateful kids” who wanted to “overthrow the Revolution.”

Now, 36 months later, she curses angrily every time there is a blackout, has raised the tone of her criticism of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, asked to leave the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and is packing her suitcase to go to Spain through the Law of Democratic Memory, after dusting off an Asturian grandfather.

Yuri was one of those who carried out attacks near the Havana Capitol. Years as an informant for State Security in the Jesús María neighborhood made him close to those agents of the political police who always carry pseudonyms like Ernesto, Camilo or Alejandro. That day, one of them warned him that “los gusanos” — the worms — wanted to “take over the headquarters of the National Assembly and overthrow the Government.”

continue reading

At 23 and with his long sessions at the gym, it was “a cakewalk,” he would later boast when telling how he broke heads, punched stomachs and helped put several of the protesters in the paddy wagons that carried off hundreds of detainees. Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole‘ to emigrate to the United States and, from Jacksonville, Florida, he now insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up.”

Months ago he deleted his Facebook account where he boasted of his excesses, he obtained ‘Humanitarian Parole’ and insists that he will not return to Cuba “not even tied up”

Paloma, 19, was one of those summoned to the act of redress for the popular protests organized by the government days after 11J on the Havana coast. At dawn, the young university student arrived at the place, passed through the metal detector placed for the occasion and chanted some slogans in a tone of eternal victory. At her school she promised to join the Rapid Response Brigades to defend “the country from falling into the hands of the enemy.”

Already a graduate of her specialty, she now joins the ranks of the unemployed who do not want to work for the State for a miserable salary but have not managed to get into a prosperous MSME that guarantees them a living. Her parents have put the family home of “capitalist construction, ready to move in” up for sale and with that money they hope to finance the three tickets to Managua that will get them off the Island as soon as possible.

Three repressors, three stories of disillusionment that could be multiplied by thousands, by hundreds of thousands. None of them is at this moment willing or available to return to the streets to defend the Cuban regime. Between emigration and disillusionment, their revolutionary energy has been reduced or buried. Some could even swell the ranks of those who shout “Homeland and Life!”, “We are not afraid!” and “We want change!” if indignation were to fill the streets again. Does this mean that another explosion is near? If disappointment with the political model has increased in the ranks of the “faithful” themselves, is another 11J approaching?

This July, the reasons for social protest are greater than they were three years ago. There has been growing discontent with the worsening economic crisis, with the inflation that has plunged millions of Cubans into poverty, with the electricity shortage that has plunged us into long hours of darkness, and with the official blunders when it comes to applying solutions to get out of the quagmire. But the legal, judicial and police mechanisms have been greatly reinforced to avoid an uprising. The long prison sentences against the protesters, not only three years ago, but also in subsequent protests, have worked as a deterrent and the exodus has reduced the number of potential protesters.

But not everyone can board a plane. Among those who are condemned to remain in the country due to a lack of resources and contacts is the ferment of another possible 11J. On which side will Angela, Yuri and Paloma who are still in Cuba, find themselves when that day comes?

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Miraculous Fishing in the Zaza Reservoir Thanks to the Drought or How To Turn a Setback Into Victory

The fishermen caught 500 more tons of fish than in 2023, when the situation in Zaza was stable / Cubadebate]]

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 12 July 2024 –After weeks of “miraculous fishing” in the exhausted Zaza reservoir, the Sancti Spíritus Fishing Company obtained 1,980 tons of fish, which represents an overcompliance of 113% in its semi-annual plan and 28% of what was collected throughout Cuba.

With a very bad memory, the official press celebrates the result – “in greeting to July 26,” (the province is the site of the upcoming anniversary celebrations) – and omits the alarming situation of the reservoir, weighed down by the drought. Only now, months after Escambray announced the frenetic “aquatic harvest” that was carried out in Zaza so as not to “miss” the very low level of the largest reservoir on the Island – at 13% of its capacity in May – the authorities admit that they were pursuing a fishing record within the framework of the official celebrations for the largest anniversary of the regime.

The protagonists of these six months have been the brigades – fleets – Sierra, Pantera, Pitirre, Liudmila and Tuinucú, whose employees did not have to be told to continue taking fish even if the plan was already fulfilled. It was a “state commission,” Escambray explained this week, stirred by the promise that they were also “fishing for more salary.” A ton was paid at 4,000 pesos. continue reading

The local newspaper then recognized its concern for Zaza, where fish “can be caught by hand”

The local newspaper then recognized its concern for Zaza, where fish “can be caught by hand,” an opportunity that the hungry fishermen in the area did not miss, with constant embellishments like the report this Thursday by Cubadebate. The overflowing boats; the crowded nets; entire fleets in the navigable part of the reservoir; the workers of the state Acuiza exhibiting large tilapia; and the scenes of “abundance” after a “tense battle” against the dam fill the idyllic report, which does not say a word about the drought.

They took out 500 tons more than in 2023 – according to Cubadebate – when the situation of Zaza was stable and the species that populate it could be fished without danger of extinguishing the prey ecosystem, composed of carp, brill, tilapia and catfish.

The authorities admit that there was an “intense drought” and that the spring rains have been “elusive,” which keeps water levels in Zaza “low.” That reference, however, is interpreted as good news because it “catalyzes the catch.” “Contributing food” is the currency, for which they were given a small “improvement in working conditions”: the company gave them 20 more boats; two have motors.

“Contributing food” is the currency, for which they were given a small “improvement in working conditions”

They fished so hard that Cubadebate has the luxury of joking about the “strengths and skills” that the muscular fishermen developed in pulling out their nets, full of “good specimens.” Crammed with the “precious cargo,” the flotillas returned to the shore with great difficulty. The boss of the Tuinucú brigade – who is the best – revealed his secret: to exceed the daily plan – from 5 to 6 tons – even if it is in small quantities. This is how the “prominent campaign” was achieved, which hasn’t stopped.

Last May, Cubadebate gave details about the panorama of Zaza, which, with its capacity to house 1.02 billion cubic meters of water, is the largest reservoir in the country. There were only 132,600 cubic meters at that time. The fishermen then anticipated that a large number of fish would die, so they had received the approval of Acopio – whose trucks opened their doors on the shore so that there were no tricks when delivering to the State what the State asks for – for an “accelerated fishing.”

The opinion of one of the fishermen, Armando García, was that Zaza was “agonizing,” and that you could only work in “small streams and puddles.” The media also recognized that the fish were not sufficiently developed to face, without risk to their population, such a campaign.

Nor was the Zaza very clean: the dirt and excess vegetation impeded the navigation of the fishermen and allowed the fish to hide. Created in 1975, 264,000 people live in the vicinity of the dam – many of them also carry out an illegal and small-scale fishery in its waters.

For five years the dam has not opened its spillway because it hasn’t been filled, and cows now graze in many of the nooks and crannies left by the drought. This was confirmed by 14ymedio, who visited the dam in June and saw that many farmers have plucked up their courage: if you can’t fish, at least the thin cattle can take advantage of the green weeds that grow where there once was water.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Exiles and Legislators in the United States Call for the Release of Cuba’s Political Prisoners Three Years After 11J

The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance echoed the letter entitled “Nosotros Somos Plantados,” written by three prisoners

The image of political prisoner Juan Enrique Pérez holding a poster that says “We were so hungry that we ate our fear” was one of the most iconic of the 11J protests.

EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, 12 July 2024 — Members of Congress and Cuban exile organizations in the United States asked this Thursday, on the third anniversary of the historic anti-government demonstrations of 11J in Cuba, for the release of all political prisoners on the Island. Republican members of Congress Carlos Giménez and María Elvira Salazar, and their Democratic colleagues Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Bob Menéndez, demanded the release of the more than 1,000 political prisoners arrested “for demanding freedom from the murderous regime.”

“The 11J movement is a series of peaceful protests throughout the Island of Cuba, which capture the attention of the world, against the brutal and murderous regime of Castro and the Communist Party of Cuba. The regime has responded with extreme brutality,” said Giménez, born in Cuba.

“The 11J movement is a series of peaceful protests throughout the Island of Cuba, which capture the world’s attention, against the brutal and murderous Castro regime”

In turn, the Democratic Party of Florida stated that three years ago the Cuban people took to the streets in “the largest demonstration in decades” to demand freedom.

“Since 11 July 2021, the Cuban regime has kept hundreds of peaceful protesters in prison and has continued its efforts to silence Cubans, intimidate protesters and arrest political prisoners,” said Florida Democratic Party president Nikki Fried. continue reading

Fried called for the release of prominent leaders of the Cuban opposition, such as José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Félix Navarro Rodríguez, coordinator of the Pedro Luis Boitel Party for Democracy, and his daughter Saylí Navarro, in addition to Maikel Castillo Osorbo, one of the composers and performers of the song Patria y Vida, which has become the anthem of the historic marches.

Senator Marco Rubio from Florida said that since the protests of three years ago, things “have gotten worse” in Cuba, not only because of the number of prisoners and the long sentences, but also because of the “broken” national economy that has led to 5% of the population leaving the Island.

“Marxism doesn’t work, the dictatorship doesn’t work, and they are destroying a beautiful country that deserves freedom,” added the senator, born in Miami to Cuban parents.

The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance echoed the letter “Nosotros Somos Plantados,” which three Cuban political prisoners signed and released from prison clandestinely

The exile group M.A.R. for Cuba called on democratic governments and the international community to place themselves on the “side of Cubans who fight for homeland, life and freedom.”

For its part, the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance echoed the letter “Nosotros Somos Plantados*,” which three Cuban political prisoners signed and got out of the prison clandestinely, and in which they ask the people to “continue to oppose the dictatorship inside and outside prison.”

The signatories of the letter, Arianna López Roque and the married couple, Donaida Pérez Paseiro and Loreto Hernández García, reported that they reaffirmed themselves in their status as “plantados” after refusing to participate “in the program of ‘education’ and ‘indoctrination’ imposed on prisoners who oppose the dictatorship.”

*Translator’s note: Literally “We are planted”; Plantados are political prisoners who resist their imprisonment in many ways.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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BioCubaFarma Extends Its Activities in China and Russia

The State group recently opened a company in the Chinese province of Hebei

Visit of a delegation from Shijiazhuang to the BioCubaFarma facilities in August 2023 / X / BioCubaFarma

14ymedio, Havana, 12 July 2024 –After 10 months of “connection,” the state group BioCubaFarma established a company with 100% Cuban capital in the city of Shijiazhuang, in the Chinese province of Hebei. This Monday, the company, with a fund of $500,000, completed its registration and is ready to start its operations, ranging from the import and export of pharmaceutical products to consulting services.

For the Chinese press, which released the news this Thursday of the definitive settlement of the Cuban corporation in the High Technology Zone of Shijiazhuang, the company represents one more foreign investment among many. For the Cuban side, on the other hand, it is an important step in the expansion of its medical-pharmaceutical activities and an opportunity to form other agreements with China that are beneficial for the Island.

According to the online media “Sina,” it is expected that in the near future BioCubaFarma will establish another center, this time dedicated to biomedicine, which will “further deepen the cooperation” between the two countries. continue reading

According to the online media “Sina,” it is expected that in the near future BioCubaFarma will establish another center

The Shijiazhuang High Technology Zone also has a special interest in the establishment of the Cuban business group in the region, and during the months of accommodation, there were several exchanges between those responsible for the area and the Cubans. The representative of BioCubaFarma in Beijing, Su Li, in addition to several Cuban technicians and specialists and members of the Embassy of the Island in that country, were invited on a tour of the area.

The Chinese representative also visited Cuba last August on a tour that included the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the AICA laboratories – which manufactured the Abdala vaccine against COVID-19 – and a working meeting with Mayda Mauri Pérez, who assumed the presidency of BioCubaFarma last February.

The expansion into China of the conglomerate, which produces 50% of the Island’s pharmaceutical products, and the countless agreements it has signed in recent months with Russian companies seem to be part of a plan of expansion and search for State autonomy in the sector, about which the Government gave clues this Tuesday in the Cuadrando la Caja [Squaring the Box] TV program.

In the program, Antonio Vallín, director of AICA, addressed the “tortuous process” of asking for permits from the State every time a step is taken or a foreign investment is approved. Many times, he admitted, investors despair and give up on putting their money into a State-owned company because the approval of the leadership has not yet arrived. “The investor doesn’t wait,” the manager warned.

The lead in a long section of the program, Vallín had time to present his own economic ideas

The lead in a long section of the program, Vallín had time to present his own economic ideas. “Cuba, with its economy and size and with its few energy and mineral resources, cannot build a self-based economy,” he said. “It has to build an economy where Cuba is a subsystem of a much greater integration with the outside world,” and that is precisely where the two most powerful allies of Havana fit together: Beijing and Moscow.

This Thursday, the Russian innovation center Skolkovo approved the collaboration with BioCubaFarma for five pharmacological projects. According to Prensa Latina, the agency estimates that “the five proposals involve the first innovative molecules of their kind in the world,” and one of them – designed to combat Parkinson’s – has been receiving Russian funding since 2018.

In June, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced that it would deliver, in an initial phase, 11.3 million dollars for BioCubaFarma to develop medicines against geriatric and oncological diseases. The investment is part of the cooperation agreements signed between the RDIF and a consortium made up of the Cuban firm and Russian pharmaceutical companies during the International Economic Forum that was held that month in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

The general director of the Fund, Kiril Dmitriev, explained at the time that the volume of the investments can be increased to 113 million dollars. He also specified that the RDFI is focused on attracting the best pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world to the Russian market in order to locate the research and production of medicines, replace imports and create its own production base.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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