Translating Cuba

Rumors of October in Cuba: Suspicious Deaths, Medical Strike, Escape Plan for the Castros

14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana , 22 November 2023 —“Why do memes harm the Revolution?” The question, written on the blackboard of a Cuban school, gives the measure of the regime’s suspicion towards the rumors that circulate on social networks, whose common factor is the deterioration of life on the Island and the upsurge in violence. 14ymedio and Yucabyte confirmed this in October, when numerous users questioned the celebration of a luxurious White Dinner, while complaints about drug use, deaths due to medical negligence and shortages proliferated.

The alleged death of a pregnant woman, while giving birth at home, shocked Cubans. The episode, of which no details were known, sparked a debate about the institutional situation of the island’s maternity hospitals, the precarious conditions in which pregnant women are maintained, and an alleged regulation that requires “allocating resources to patients with the greatest hope of life.”

In this sense, several users claimed to know of other cases in which the patient was left to die – “by order of the Ministry of Public Health” – to reuse or resell the supplies to the highest bidder. This crisis also has a correlation in pharmacies, which are short of supplies unless the interested party disburses the correct amount directly to the apothecary. In the informal market, on the other hand, state-made medicines – in addition to foreign ones – are available at outrageous prices. continue reading

A group of users has detected an increase in drug consumption and has transmitted images of people supposedly in crisis due to an overdose

A group of users has detected an increase in drug consumption and has transmitted images of people supposedly in crisis due to an overdose. This was the case of a young man who was recorded while convulsing, and although the cause of his attack is not clear, numerous commentators suggested that he had been intoxicated with fentanyl, although it was also attributed to cocaine or a synthetic drug that in Cuba is known simply as the “chemist.”

The fact that the Public Health crisis has gotten out of control has been the cause – according to various rumors and testimonies collected by the independent press – of hundreds of professionals choosing to abandon the sector. During the month, a call for a general strike by doctors and pharmacists circulated on several platforms, which in theory would be supported by the Free Cuban Medical Guild, an organization of exiled health workers.

The long blackouts and the stories of those who suffer them on the Island make up a very large group of rumors. Those who bear the brunt are the residents in the rural areas of the central and eastern provinces, who have denounced time and again that the “energy contingency” decreed by the Government is in no way temporary. Blackouts lasting between six and twelve hours are here to stay, say the less optimistic, and there is no “technical explanation” that justifies the power cuts. This month, several users described as “physical torture” the impossibility of cooking, turning on lights at night, or having means to scare away mosquitoes both in the fields and in the cities of the Island.

The crisis has reached such a climate of tension that numerous rumors speculate about an alleged “escape plan” for the Castros

The crisis has reached such a climate of tension that numerous rumors speculate about an alleged “escape plan” for the Castros and other families at the top of the regime. According to statements attributed to a former high-ranking military official, there is an airport in Cayo Largo del Sur with several helicopters and planes that will transport the family to Canada, whose Government will offer passports for their resettlement in Europe. They will travel on Sunwing airlines, says the rumor, which also alludes to other alternative plans to leave the country when the regime falls.

However, there do not seem to be any signs of emergency signs at the highest levels, quite the opposite. The celebration – with the consent and participation of the regime – of the White Dinner, an international event with logistical demands that Cuba, users insist, could not afford in the midst of the current crisis. The assumption that the event was managed by Miguel Díaz-Canel’s wife, Lis Cuesta, has made her the target of numerous criticisms.

Judging by the criticism of the expensive and extravagant life of Cuesta and other members of the ruling clans, often in a joking tone, the question on the blackboard in the primary classroom has an affirmative answer: memes do “harm” the regime, and a great deal.

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Two Buildings Renovated with Saudi Money Now Occupied by Friends of the Cuban Regime

Armed with walkie-talkies, security agents control access to both properties. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Nelson García and Olea Gallardo, Havana, 22 November 2023 — Judging from the buildings at 202 Obispo Street and 653 Cuba Street in Old Havana, one would never guess it has been sixty-five years since the Cuban revolution. Neat and tidy, with smooth walls and new paint, the buildings — recently renovated with Saudi money — contrast with the surrounding buildings, which remain on the brink of collapse.

Local officials were present at the inauguration ceremony on Saturday, which marked the the 504th anniversary of the city’s founding. The state-run press covered the event with its usual fanfare.

Tribuna de la Habana reported that the reconstruction was carried out by the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana with help from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD). The eleven renovated homes at 653 Cuba Street – the former Palace of the Marquis of the Royal Proclamation – and another thirteen at 202 Obispo Street are to be occupied by “families who were facing difficult housing situations.”

It seems, however, that the apartments, described by the newspaper as “renovated and very comfortable,” are not being occupied by people of modest means. “No way,” said a local resident on Wednesday who has been observing the comings and goings. “What few families like that there are were very carefully chosen.” Security agents armed with walkie-talkies control access to both buildings.

Neat and tidy, with smooth walls and new paint, the buidings — recently renovated with Saudi money — contrast with the surrounding buildings, which remain on the brink of collapse.

Inside, all is luxurious, pristine and quiet. “You think they’re going to give these homes to someone who isn’t shouting ’Viva Fidel’?” the woman asks rhetorically. “These are not for average people.”

As Tribuna de La Habana reported, the FSD also financed the Havana Aquarium, located in the city’s historic center. That project was also managed the Office of the Historian, which had become its own power center under the command of the late Eusebio Leal until the Cuban armed forces took it over after his death and depleted its resources.

What the newspaper did not say is that this same fund also financed the grandiose Fidel Castro Ruz Center, which opened in Havana’s Vedado district in late 2021. At the time, a source from the Office of the Historian confessed, “The money was supposed to be for housing but some of it was used for the center and for the Capitol restoration as well.”

Inside, all is luxurious, pristine and quiet. “You think they’re going to give these homes to someone who isn’t shouting ’Viva Fidel’?” (14ymedio)

In 2017 the SFD loaned Cuba 26.6 million dollars for the Office of the Historian’s building restoration and social welfare program which, officially, was supposed to help alleviate Havana’s ongoing housing crisis.

14ymedio has learned through unofficial sources that another the project made possible by the SFD is the Práctico del Puerto building, which has views of the Plaza de Armas, the Royal Military Fortress and Havana Bay.

Of Práctico del Puerto’s former residents, who were evicted at the start of construction, only one — Francisco Muñoz — has returned. Neighborhood residents claim that the apartments, which enjoy a spectacular view of Havana Bay, went to employees of the Ministry of Health.

Thirteen units have been “allocated” at 202 Obispo Street. (14ymedio)

Muñoz told 14ymedio in late 2021 that he was able to return to his former home in late 2021 because he spent “eight years living in front of the building, inside a container, without moving.” He also had help from Eusebio Leal, with whom he worked for twelve years as construction manager at the the Office of the Historian. “At one point a military officer even came to evict me and [Leal] came to my defense with a copy of the law in his hand,” he said at the time. As for his former neighbors, “there were people here who went to the shelter and weren’t able to return. I hear there’s a married couple still living at the shelter.”

The SFD began operations in 1975 and has as its principal objective the financing of projects in developing countries. It has approved loans to Cuba for projects related to rehabilitating hydraulic networks (122 million dollars in 2016), improving the Camagüey sewage system (40 million dollars in 2014), overhauling Havana’s water system (30 million in 2013) and acquiring medical equipment for maternity care centers (in 2010).

Of Práctico del Puerto’s former residents, who were evicted at the start of construction, only one has returned.

In 2013 the island signed an agreement to send Cuban doctors to Saudia Arabia in exchange for 10,000 dollars a month per doctor, of which each individual physician receives only 1,000 dollars in compensation.

The Prensa Latina news agency reported that Ricardo Cabrisas, the minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, paid a visit to Saudi Arabia in October to “review” the state of bilateral relations. It appears they are as strong as ever.

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Luyano, Turned into Cuba’s Most Famous Garbage Dump, Screams for Help

Varias esquinas poco céntricas de Luyanó siguen dominadas por gigantescos vertederos. (14ymedio) — Several out-of-the-way corners in Luyano are still dominated by gigantic garbage dumps. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 25 November 2023 — In Luyanó the word has spread. If the mountains of garbage are reported in the independent media, it is very likely that Community Services will arrive shortly afterwards to collect them. The equation is clear: call a reporter to take photos and testimonies and, within 24 hours, fuel for the waste hauling trucks will magically appear.

Residents near the corner of Melones and Luyanó avenue put the formula into practice. Last Thursday they contacted 14ymedio and on Friday the huge garbage dump that had been growing in the place for weeks had already disappeared. However, a few yards away, on another street that has not appeared in the news, waste covers the sidewalk and more than half of the road, preventing the passage of vehicles.

“Come and report on the garbage!” cried a neighbor this Friday afternoon who, from her window, saw a journalist from this newspaper approaching the place. “A child who does not cry does not suck; he who does not report them gets the flies in his throat,” warned the woman who lives very close to the corner of Enna and Guasabacoa, converted into “the Cayo Cruz of the neighborhood (Havana’s most famous garbage dump).” continue reading

Los contenedores volcados y los montones de desechos señorean en todas partes. (14ymedio) — Overturned containers and mountains of waste dominate everywhere. (14ymedio)

While the “king of garbage dumps” at Rodríguez and Reforma was documented by the independent press and reduced almost to a 10th of its size by the Community Services, shortly after its publication on the internet, while other nearby streets and avenues have not experienced the same outcome. The overturned containers, the pile of plastic bags that have been broken by the sun, the wind and the fangs of stray dogs, dominate everywhere.

The smell of filth gets so deep into the houses of Luyanó that people try to keep the doors and windows closed so that it doesn’t fill everything. “My grandson is newborn and we have him in the last room, with a curtain and everything in front of the door so that this stench doesn’t spread to him,” says another resident near the corner of Infanzón and Juan Alonso. Adults, for their part, seem to have taken on the “aromas.” “Here people already smell like that, we smell like garbage and they treat us like garbage.”

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Private Businesses in Cuban Increasingly Distrust the Country’s Banking Reform

Cuba has no choice but bancarización* (banking reform) Alonso said, because making paper money is an expensive process, and Cuba does not have the resources for this. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, November 24, 2023 — The balance sheet for bancarización* (banking reform) four months after its implementation, is not optimistic: The micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are increasingly suspicious of electronic payment methods and continue to “retain cash.” The shortage of banknotes is still at its peak, and the Island’s banks are suffering a growing stampede of their staff. These are some of the conclusions that emerge from the appearance this Thursday on State TV’s Roundtable program of the minds behind this process.

“Every day more cashiers leave,” said the Minister-President of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), Joaquín Alonso Vázquez. Without attributing it to emigration – outside the Island or to other jobs – the leader explained that the lack of workers was a hard blow to bank reform, because it affects the key point for the circulation and control of the money.

It was useless, Alonso said, to raise the salaries of employees, who were also paid “for good results.”

Escorted by the general director of Payment Systems of the BCC, Julio Pérez Álvarez, and by the vice president, Alberto Quiñones, Alonso focused his talk on celebrating that Cuba has “advanced towards bancarización,” despite the fact that it did not have “strong investments in technological equipment” nor enough “point-of-sale terminals.” Condemned to work with old equipment – “because we are hindered from accessing new technologies,” he said, alluding to the U.S. embargo – the BCC had a single resource available: “innovation.” continue reading

The official assured that “all actors in the economy now have full access to banking services – an element that differentiates us from other nations,” he said proudly, but the MSMEs continue to have multiple reservations and prefer to manage their operations in cash.

Cuba has no choice but bancarización, Alonso said, because making paper money is an expensive process, and Cuba does not have the resources for this. “Using banknotes means importing the paper, the inks and maintaining the equipment. After they are issued you have to transport them, distribute them, count them, and after 10 or so uses they deteriorate. Then you have to destroy the banknotes and produce them again. It is a permanent cost in all banking operations, and it requires a large workforce, equipment and energy consumption,” he explained.

With the growth of the private sector, there is more money in circulation, and “more economic actors involve a greater number of people who go to the bank to deposit and withdraw cash

In addition, with the growth of the private sector, there is more money in circulation, and “more economic actors involve a greater number of people who go to the bank to deposit and withdraw cash.”

The BCC also warned of an important “distortion”: with inflation, private individuals are raising pay for their workers – and therefore demanding more cash – while the state sector continues to pay the same, including to the bank employees themselves. This situation, already serious in Havana, precipitates the resignation of workers, for whom the meager “wage boost” that the BCC can afford is insufficient.

The numbers, the manager alleged, give him some hope about the future of banking. Since the pandemic, electronic transactions tended to increase naturally in Cuba. However, in 2023 – when inflation got out of control – the use by Cubans of electronic platforms declined by 78%. That decline forced the BCC to act; hence, they launched an “acceleration” of the measure in August.

However, “the cash that remains outside the bank continues to grow, and it is a harmful phenomenon for the economy, because it affects price growth,” Alonso said. He criticized the MSMEs that retain cash “not always for lawful needs” but to use it for the purchase and sale of foreign currency, “which the State cannot offer.”

Without cash in the banks, Alonso warned, there will be no loans to “leverage” the private sector either. The best thing, he said, “is to deposit the money in the accounts” and trust that the BCC does not monitor anyone and has as an “inalienable principle” not to violate “bank secrecy.”

Private individuals should view the bank as their “main ally,” added Julio Pérez Álvarez, although his colleague, Quiñones, acknowledged that the BCC itself is responsible for several deficiencies. It failed, according to the vice president, in “awareness, communication, approach to customers, entities and organizations.” In many branches, employees did not know how to explain the process and made the operation complicated.

So far, bancarización works in an acceptable way only in Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Holguín and Santiago. In the other provinces – and in the countryside – it is still a pending matter. To give a glimpse of the situation, Escambray interviewed 765 readers in Sancti Spíritus. To the question of whether the MSMEs “have accepted” bancarización, only 7% answered yes, 35% answered no, and 59% admitted that some businesses do, but most did not.

*Translator’s note: “Bancarización” is a term used to describe banking reform in Cuba and other Latin American countries. All economic transactions would be made by debit card, including cash withdrawals and the payment of salaries. The term does not have a counterpart in English so the Spanish term is used throughout this translation.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Police Arrest Several Mothers for Demanding Medical Attention for Their Children

Some of the women who protested this Friday in front of the Ministry of Public Health. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2023 — A dozen mothers of minors with chronic and difficult-to-treat illnesses demanded this Friday, in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Health in Havana, better quality medical care for their children, chanting: “No more communism, we want a solution.” Some of the women – including those from Pinar del Río and Mayabeque – were arrested before they could demonstrate on the corner of 23 and N, according to activist Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia, who reported the protest in a direct Facebook broadcast.

“We are demanding that there be a better quality of life for all these vulnerable children who are not cared for by the dictatorship. All these children are dying because of a dictatorship,” Salcedo claimed on behalf of the mothers.

After being questioned by an official who identified himself as Fernando, a worker at the Ministry, Salcedo demanded that, before any negotiation, the Police allow the release of the detained mothers. The women, she explained, were traveling in a vehicle that was intercepted at the corner of 23 and M, one block before reaching the place of the protest. “If we’re not doing anything wrong, why are they arresting the mothers who were on the other corner?” she asked. continue reading

The only thing I ask for is a humanitarian visa. I want to get Damir out of Cuba. In Cuba there is no solution for Damir. My son lives with a protective helmet because he has a hole in his head

The women who did manage to reach the ministerial headquarters also refused to enter the interior of the building to “be attended to,” as requested by Fernando, an official, until the detainees were present.

One of the mothers who took part in the protest said that Frida, who intended to attend the demonstration, “has two policemen outside her house and they won’t let her out.”

The women also reported Internet cuts and telephone problems that prevented them from broadcasting the demonstration through other channels, in addition to Salcedo’s. This is the case of the mother of Geobel Damir Ortiz Ramírez, age 9, a resident in San Miguel del Padrón, for whom she claims a humanitarian visa that would allow him to be treated abroad.

#SOSCuba Una decena de madres de menores con enfermedades crónicas o de difícil tratamiento exigieron este viernes, frente a la sede del Ministerio de Salud Pública en La Habana, una atención médica de mejor calidad para sus hijos https://t.co/CEOSLMicdw pic.twitter.com/JHa7XRsjuy

— 14ymedio (@14ymedio) November 24, 2023

“The only thing I ask for is a humanitarian visa. I want to get Damir out of Cuba. In Cuba there is no solution for Damir. My son lives with a protective helmet because he has a hole in his head,” the woman said while showing her son to the camera. As she explained, the minor has a brain tumor that spans from his right eye to the posterior area of his head and “is opening his skull,” she said.

Another woman presented a photo of her daughter, who has been waiting for an esophageal transplant for five years. “My daughter has been without a medical diet for two years, even though she can’t eat by mouth, because the pediatrician says she doesn’t meet the requirements. We also don’t have the supplies to help her,” she said. This woman also requested a humanitarian visa so that her daughter could “be cared for, have a good diet and have surgery.”

Salcedo also conveyed the moment when “a man with a red jacket” arrested her husband, who was also part of the protest in the vicinity of the ministry. “See, they’re taking my husband. That’s how they act; this is a dictatorship. I’m not going to move from here,” she asserted.

I have eight children and a bad housing situation. I have appealed to all the institutions, but they bounce me around from here to there

Seconds later, another mother arrived, from Mayabeque, with seven of her eight children. “I have eight children and a bad housing situation. I have appealed to all the institutions, but they bounce me around from here to there. We also need food,” she lamented.

The presence of the protest on social networks was cut short. Shortly after the live broadcast ended, Salcedo posted on her Facebook profile that she was no longer able to transmit. Since then, the situation of women in front of the ministry has been uncertain.

A video posted on the social network X by Yamila La Hija de Maceo, showed a caravan of motorcycles and state cars. According to the activist, they were State Security vehicles heading to the Ministry of Public Health. She didn’t offer more details.

Despite this situation and the multiple complaints against the Cuban health system on social networks, an article published this Friday in the official newspaper Escambray celebrated the story of Andrew, a boy from Sancti Spíritus who was about to lose a leg after being run over by a water truck. The speed with which, according to the newspaper, the doctors acted, saved the child’s life and demonstrated the professionalism of the system, which works, like everything on the Island, “thanks to the Revolution” and despite the U.S. blockade.

The Public Health crisis in Cuba, a country where patients are required to provide the supplies they need for the slightest treatment, has reached a critical point in recent months. The training of new health workers, indispensable to guarantee relief in a context of an unstoppable exodus of professionals, is also progressing poorly.

Addiel Marrón, a Holguin doctor who graduated just a year ago, complained on his Facebook profile on Wednesday that “the sacrifice of six years of study is not worth it.” According to the young man, the emigration of his colleagues and the difficult conditions in which he must work, in addition to the poor salary, make the beginning of his professional career bitter. “The only thing I am proud of is that I was able to give my parents the satisfaction of having graduated and having the knowledge to save a life.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘The Stadium has the Lights Full On but the People Can’t Even Cook’, they Complain in Sancti Spiritus

The José Antonio Huelga Stadium in Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 November 2023 – Far from bringing joy to the fans of Gallos de Sancti Spíritus in the baseball Elite League, their score of victories has only created disagreement. If some of the fans do applaud the games of the national sport and say they’re a respite in the middle of the current crisis, others observe with concern that they are always played at night and under floodlights. The choice, for those who are critical of the use of artificial lighting at the José Antonio Huelga stadium, is simple: “It’s better to have power at home than have baseball”.

This Sunday, the official paper Escambray published an article which echoed this debate. Both sides, argued the paper, have good arguments, whether it’s that daytime matches can reduce the players’ performance due to fatigue from the hot sunshine, or, by playing at night they use power which could be put to better use in the homes of local people.

“We’re all having to put up with hours and hours of power cuts whilst the stadium continues to be switched on”, José Daniel tells 14ymedio

“We’re all having to put up with hours and hours of power cuts whilst the stadium continues to be switched on”, José Daniel tells 14ymedio. Daniel, a Spíritus resident, admits the topic has been a source of some disagreement between him and his friends. “I myself don’t like sport, but even if I did and even if I went to the games it would seem to me a nonsense that people can’t cook their food because there’s no electricity whilst in the stadium the lights are all on full”, he argues.

According to data given to Escambray by the executive of Unión Eléctrica and the National Institute of Sport & Physical and Recreational Education (Inder), the total consumption of the lighting, the display screen and the internal services of the José Antonio Huelga stadium over five hours is 2 Megawatts. “That’s the equivalent of the power usage of eight homes over one whole month”, say the officials. continue reading

The provincial newspaper recognises that the data could be seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back but, they insist, the 28,000 spectators who have attended the eight League matches – plus the rest who watched on Television Cubana – balance the scales.

In the street however, there’s a different perspective. “I’ve not heard any positive commentary about the nighttime games. Even those who enjoy them think they should be played during the day”, says José Daniel.

“It’s true that people go to the games when there’s a power cut – they get changed and go to the stadium, but most of them don’t go in. Many of them stay outside because there’s light there and fresh air and you can sit down”, he explains. The rest of the city, he assures us, is switched off, “except for the hospital’s supply, which never loses power”.

The problem is that Sancti Spíritus is in the dark. At night you can only see the stadium and the odd house, because they’ve disconnected the streetlights too

“It’s not just a question of priorities and choosing between the games or the light”, he says. “The problem is that Sancti Spíritus is in the dark. At night you can only see the stadium and the odd house, because they’ve disconnected the streetlights too”.

“I don’t understand how the games can matter so much, or how it can matter so much to attract people when those people don’t want to go out at night for fear of being attacked in a dark street. Would it really be so bad for the players if the games were held in the daytime? Anyway, I’d prefer to have some light”, he asserts.

Escambray, whilst considering the same arguments as José, doesn’t come up with such quite straightforward answers. “The essential structural problems that the games suffer from won’t be solved by a simple change from nighttime to daytime matches”, the paper emphasizes. One solution would be to suspend them until such time as the country enjoys “better times”, but, Escambray admits, “no one knows when that will be”.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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While Cuba Blamed the United States for the Escapes, Weightlifter Elizabeth Reyes Had Already Fled

Weightlifter Elizabeth Reyes Entenza won the bronze medal in the last Central American Games. (Jit)

14ymedio, Havana, November 24, 2023 — The burden of escapes continues to hit Cuban sports. The 2022 youth world runner-up and bronze medalist at the Central American Games in weightlifting, Elizabeth Reyes Entenza escaped in Mexico before the Wednesday when she was supposed appear at the Paradero Sports Center to participate in the 192-lb. category in the World Youth Championship.

On November 10, Cuba sent only two representatives to the contest to Guadalajara (Mexico). In addition to the competitor from Cienfuegos, Yorelvis Machado Olivera, from Granma, in the 179-lb. division, on November 19 ended in 13th place.

On the Facebook account of the Cuban Weightlifting Federation last Thursday, an image of the athletes with coach Florencio Miguel López Rodríguez was shared. The escaped weightlifter, according to the sports authorities, represented by commissioner Jorge Luis Barcelán Santa Cruz, was going to “improve on the two silver medals she won in the Youth World Cup” last year.

Reyes Entenza broke away from the Cuban sport days before President Miguel Díaz-Canel met with the Pan American medalists and, in a worn-out continue reading

speech, blamed the U.S. for “causing desertions in the national teams.” Despite this, he said: “Cuban sports is alive; Cuban sports is thriving and continues to be among the best in the world.”

Cuban weightlifters Yorelvis Machado Olivera and Elizabeth Reyes Entenza with their coach Florencio Miguel López. (Facebook/Cuban Weightlifting Federation)

The 20-year-old weightlifter, who in the Pan American Games was in sixth place after lifting 298 pounds, joins the list of 14 athletes who stayed in Chile. Twelve of them have asked for refuge, and 11 already have a temporary visa. The blind swimmer Yunerki Ortega Ponce recently left his training and began the procedures to reside in the South American country.

Reyes Entenza represented for Cuban weightlifting a serious exponent to win medals. In the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games, she won the bronze medal.

Last June, Havana received the best weightlifters from 16 countries, among them athletes from China, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic. Elizabeth Reyes Entenza won the bronze medal with a cumulative of 505 pounds. She was surpassed by the Ecuadorian Dayana Lucía Mina Torres (514 lbs.) and the Chinese Ying-Yuan Lo (518 lbs).

The athlete began to stand out from the age of 18, when at the First Pan American Junior Games in Cali 2021, she won a bronze medal and improved her record.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Las Tunas Is Desperate Due to the Lack of Water and the Inaction of the Cuban Authorities

Installation of a water pump in the El Rincón reservoir, located in Las Tunas. (Facebook/Aqueduct and Sewer Company)

14ymedio, Havana, November 24, 2023 — A week after the authorities promised that the water supply would stabilize in Las Tunas, thousands of residents in the province remain without service this Friday. The installation of a pump – to whose absence the authorities had attributed the shortage – did not improve the situation, and citizens, who no longer trust the promises of local leaders, have filled their social networks with a flood of complaints.

Of a population of more than 500,000 inhabitants, 393,638 people receive water regularly in Las Tunas. Another 100,000, residents of 487 communities, obtain it through tanker trucks, and 6,267 through train delivery. These figures reflect only the residents who have a piping system, and not the hundreds of tuneros who are supplied from their own wells or directly from bodies of water that are not always suitable for consumption.

We spent weeks carrying water from a well; thank God it’s there, but the neighborhood has itchy skin

“We spent weeks carrying water from a well; thank God it’s there, but the neighborhood has itchy skin. Not to mention where you have to look for drinking and cooking water,” complained a neighbor this Thursday on the Facebook profile of the provincial Aqueducto company. continue reading

Those affected say the situation has become unbearable, and so they have let those responsible know. When Acueducto recently announced the installation of the new pump in El Rincón, which would supposedly improve the situation, customers responded sarcastically: “Improve? We’ll see if at least water arrives, because it’s been failing for months. Hopefully they put it on Saturday mornings, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays we won’t have to wait for it. And I’m not going to mention the quality.”

Another client complained about the reliability of the company. “On Monday there was water on Buena Vista Street and if you got it, you had to pay 3,000 pesos. Of course, although I don’t have service, I still have to pay for it. This only happens in Cuba,” he said.

After being repaired in Havana, one of the motors in the water treatment plant was installed, and this allowed an increase in the pumping from 70 to 85 gallons per second. Also in the El Rincón reservoir, which supplies water to 160,000 inhabitants of Las Tunas, a new pump relieved the old one in October, after it exceeded its capacity of 20 million cubic meters.

The new machinery can expand the flow up to 132 gallons per second, but the low processing capacity of the water treatment plant prevents it. “The necessary 132 will not be reached, because everything is decided in the water treatment plant, and there it is not possible to increase power at this minute,” Oscar Carralero Suárez, director of Aqueducto in Las Tunas, told Granma this Friday.

The authorities’ reports to the official press reveal that even if the water pumps are repaired, Aqueducto’s capacity is insufficient

The authorities’ reports to the official press reveal that even if the water pumps are repaired, Aqueducto’s capacity is insufficient to provide service to all those affected. Exceeding 75% of the water levels of the reservoirs in the province, only Cayojo has operated regularly throughout the year; but being the smallest, its pumping capacity is just 19 gallons per second.

El Rincón, on the other hand, although it can reach 132 gallons per second, this year has seen its power reduced to 50%, and “in the case of Piedra Hueca, which had been working reliably with 45 gallons per second, today does not exceed 26, due to problems with the pumping equipment,” said Aqueducto’s director.

The only option for Las Tunas, the authorities recognize, is to “modify existing equipment,” including pumps, water treatment plants and water pipes, something that is being evaluated by a National Commission but, for the moment, is only an expectation.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Flight Cancellations Between Cuba and Nicaragua Begin After the New U.S. Measures

Cubans in line to check in on an Air Century flight at José Martí International Airport. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Mexico, November 24, 2023 — Several airlines connecting Cuba with Nicaragua began suspending their charter flights three days after the U.S. announced penalties for airlines that cover that route. A source from a Miami-based travel agency, which markets tickets between the Island and the Central American country, confirmed to 14ymedio this Friday that for the moment, the only airlines connecting the two nations are Conviasa and Aruba Airlines, while Air Century and Sky High canceled all operations that were scheduled for the coming months.

Representatives of Air Century reaffirmed to Telemundo 51 that this company will no longer fly the commercial route, widely used by migrants from the Island to make the crossing to the southern border of the United States.

On Tuesday, the State Department explained that charter airlines have been selling tickets at “extortionate” prices to those who use Nicaragua as a route to access Mexico’s northern border.

“My world fell apart today. They already canceled my flight twice, and this time it was for real”

The penalty consists of the ineligibility for a visa to the U.S. of “owners, executives and/or senior officials of companies that offer charter flights to Nicaragua” protected by the Immigration and Nationality Act, which establishes that people who carry out activities sanctioned by the U.S. Government cannot enter the country. continue reading

Air Century, according to the source who works at a Miami travel agency, “is organizing a few rescue flights to get people out who were going to fly from Cuba in the few days left of November.”

“My world fell apart today. They already canceled my flight twice, and this time it was for real,” a Cuban resident on the Island who intended to travel with Air Century soon, told Telemundo 51. Her flight was canceled in the middle of this week. The woman’s only hope was to be transferred by the agency where she bought the ticket to another airline.

Days before the Biden Administration announced the visa restriction for the operators of these flights, two U.S. officials warned that the measure was being prepared. One of them was Eric Jacobstein, deputy undersecretary of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, who said that the Government was “aware of these reports about an increase in charter flights arriving in Nicaragua from several countries, and we believe that no one should take advantage of the desperation of vulnerable migrants.”

Between 2021 and 2023, more than 425,000 Cubans arrived at the southern border of Mexico, on their way to the United States. The route through Nicaragua has facilitated the avoidance of an even worse route, the one that involved crossing the Darién jungle, between Colombia and Panama, which many took in the previous migration crisis of 2015.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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For a Few Hours, Luyano Was No Longer Cuba’s Garbage Capital

“Look how the garbage ate up the sidewalk,” say those who can now see the foundations of the house, after Community Services ’scraped’ the street. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, November 24, 2023 — The residents of Luyanó could not believe their eyes this Friday morning: the mammoth garbage dumps that had been accumulating for weeks in various corners of the Havana – and that only a day ago has been reported by 14ymedio reported – had disappeared as if by magic.

The four containers on the corner of Melones and the Luyanó road, sunk this Thursday in a sea of waste, are now lined up and clean. With the plague at an acceptable level – although the stench of several weeks does not go away overnight – the worker at the Cuban Post Office kiosk could afford to come to work without closing the window tightly.

The “royal garbage dump” of Luyanó, at Rodríguez and Reforma, was reduced to a minor category: where there was once a powerful landfill, now there is a humble garbage dump, although the leones [lions] – employees recruited by Communal Services for their garbage trucks – left the containers battered and lying on the sidewalk. continue reading

“How afraid they are of the internet,” says a neighbor, alluding to the warning that circulated days ago on a Facebook group of residents in the Havana neighborhood

But not everything is coming up roses in Luyanó, “Cuba’s garbage capital,” as its neighbors described it, resignedly. On Thursday, the corner of Luyanó and Luco was full of papers, cans and puddles of waste, and now what was hidden under several layers of filth has been revealed. “Look how the garbage ate up the sidewalk,” say those who can see the foundations of the house, after Community Services “scraped” the street.

“How afraid they are of the internet,” says a neighbor, alluding to the warning that circulated days ago in a Facebook group of residents in the Havana neighborhood. “Luyanó is going to become a giant bonfire,” they warned, if the Government did not collect the garbage soon.

But there is no rest. This Friday, Luyanó woke up face to face with a new unpleasantness: a penetrating smell of gas that runs along the road, moves through the alleys and knocks on the neighbors’ doors. The first complaints are already on the networks, and in the mouths of Havana residents: “When it’s not one thing, it’s another.”

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Luyano, Cuba’s Garbage Capital, ‘Is Going to Become a Giant Bonfire’

In the vicinity of the Cuban Post Office is one of the largest garbage dumps in Luyanó. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, November 23, 2023 — “Luyanó is going to become a giant bonfire.” The warning, recently published on a Facebook group of residents in the Havana neighborhood, was accompanied by a photo of Rodríguez Este Street, between Manuel Pruna and Juan Alonso: a formidable garbage dump, which neighbors had been denouncing for weeks, in flames.

The sidewalks, streets and even the doorways of Luyanó attest to the seriousness of the situation. “Complaints are of no use. The garbage dumps are still there and this neighborhood has become the Cuban capital of garbage,” Francisco, who lives not far from Manuel Pruna, tells 14ymedio.

The images of the burning of the garbage dump – one of the gestures of protest considered the most serious on the Island – did not have the impact that the neighbors expected. “Now the Police have stationed their guayabitos (the gray-shirted officers) to ensure that no one sets fire to their garbage at night,” says Francisco.

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The cars pass with difficulty between the mountains of waste, which at midday – with the heat and the stench at their peak – no one can avoid. continue reading

You can barely make out the blue lid of the container, submerged by plastic bags, cans, cardboard and fallen branches. The garbage that wraps around the poles, the traffic signals, gains ground on the street and the sidewalks.

In the vicinity of the Cuban Post Office is one of the largest garbage dumps in Luyanó. Of the three containers in front of the kiosk, two are upright and the other has already dumped its contents onto the avenue.

“No one wants to accept garbage,” acknowledges Francisco, who regrets that there are those who, as long as the waste does not touch their houses, do not even flinch. “If you go to the bodega [ration store], if you want to take the bus or take your child to the circle, there you will see a good dump,” he adds.

Some letters painted with reluctance by the Police on the fence of a garage demand that the people of Luyanó “not throw garbage.” Seen from afar, the garbage dump on that corner looks like the barricade of a city at war.

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‘I Don’t Even Know Where Gaza Is,’ Says a Cuban Student Marching for Palestine

Unlike other demonstrations around the world for the same cause, the scarcity of Palestinian flags was striking. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Nelson García and Natalia López Moya, Havana, 23 November 2023 — The march called for this Thursday in Havana by the Union of Young Communists of Cuba (UJC) “in defense of Palestine” began two hours late. Initially announced for 1:00 pm, the event began at 3:00, at G and the Malecón, to the annoyance of those marching, hundreds of young people and workers brought from their study centers and state jobs. President Miguel Díaz-Canel led the demonstration, together with the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, and the Palestinian ambassador to Cuba, Akram Samhan.The march toured the Malecón and culminated with an event in La Piragua, the esplanade next to the National Hotel that for years it has replaced the Anti-Imperialist Bandstand, in front of the US Embassy, as a place for pro-government rallies.

In schools of all levels in Havana, the order given was categorical: “After noon we leave for the march,” they announced in the morning assembly. Guaranteeing that volume of students added hundreds, if not thousands, of participants to the demonstration, a practice that is common in official calls but that had not been used for some time.

A strong police operation was deployed throughout the perimeter of the route from early on. (14ymedio)

Several parents consulted by 14ymedio made it clear that their teenage children were not going to add one number to the march. “I told the director that my daughter was not going to participate because she had not been able to have breakfast,” the father of a 10th grade student at the Saúl Delgado high school in El Vedado declared categorically.

Others took advantage of the march to escape in the middle of the street despite the vigilance of the teachers who accompanied the groups of students from their schools to the vicinity of Havana’s Malecón. But others, however, had no choice. continue reading

“They had told us to show up at 12:50 and there was no one there,” protested a girl with a backpack at one point during the long wait under the Girón Building, the deteriorated behemoth that at the time was the standard of experimental architecture in the Cuban capital and which has ended up being, like so many buildings in the city, another modern ruin, with stairs about to collapse and residents upset by the lack of official response to the deterioration. Another student standing next to her answered: “I won’t have time to get the rations from the bodega.” A third teenager complained: “With the kind of hunger there is here, what is all this silliness about?”

“Why do they put up these tents, if none of us students can buy anything,” a young man wondered bitterly. (14ymedio)

A strong police operation was deployed throughout the perimeter of the route from early on. Officers, both in uniform and plain clothes, were there every few yards.

By noon, they were already blocking passage along Havana’s iconic avenue that faces the sea. From the basement of the Girón Building, next to the meeting place of the march, an officer kicked out two women up to three times.

The only thing left was for the groups that were approaching G and Malecón to drag their feet. The vast majority were students, many from the UCI (University of Computer Sciences) and some from pre-university, but also employees from state and healthcare workplaces, guided under the watchful eye of teachers or bosses. If there were onlookers in the crowd, they seemed more like state security agents than anything else.

Others took advantage of the march to escape in the middle of the road despite the teachers’ vigilance. (14ymedio)

They had not arrived on foot. Between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the José Martí Sports Park, out of sight from the Malecón, were parked the dozens of state buses the students had been transported. “There is fuel for this,” a passerby said quietly.

The annoyaned reaction of the attendees worsened when passing by a private fair installed on F and Malecón. “Why do they put up these tents, if none of us students can buy anything,” a young man wondered bitterly. “It’s a lack of respect.”

Unlike other demonstrations around the world for the same cause, the scarcity of Palestinian flags was striking. A few loomed overhead when, finally, at three in the afternoon, a Palestinian medical student spoke to begin the march.

In broken Spanish and with a strong Arabic accent, he repeated a string of misinformed slogans: that the United States supports Israel “bombing Palestine every day,” that “it is not a war, it is a genocide,” that “they are attacking children and the elderly and hospitals,” and “have dropped the equivalent of the two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Out of sight from the Malecón, were parked the dozens of state buses the students had been transported in: “There is fuel for this,” a passerby said quietly. (14ymedio)

The speech was not far from the one repeated in the official media since, on October 7, militiamen of the terrorist group Hamas infiltrated Israel from Gaza, massacred 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200, still being held by the Islamists.

Israel’s forceful military response has claimed, according to Hamas sources, but not independently verified, more than 13,000 lives.

With the mediation of Qatar, this Friday Israel agreed to a four-day truce and Hamas is expected to release 13 hostages.

Far from recounting these events in this way, the organizers of the march denounced “the more than 70 years of subjugation of the Palestinian people,” the “Dantesque usurpation” and “the impunity with which the Government of Israel launches its war machine like a wild beast.”

In broken Spanish and with a strong Arabic accent, he repeated a string of uninformed slogans. (14ymedio)

While he spoke, numerous State Security agents made strategic movements to dissuade people from leaving the place.

This newspaper asked some teenage students: “But do you know what is happening with Israel and Palestine?” Only one daring student responded: “Dude, I don’t even know where Gaza is.”

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Weyler, a Hitler in Cuba?

Valeriano Weyler, recognized as “the most sinister figure of the 19th century.” (Wikipedia)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 22 November 2023 — Cuban historiography recognizes Valeriano Weyler as one of the most nefarious characters in our history. And he certainly was. His “Reconcentration” policy caused the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, especially children, women and the elderly. The “reconcentrated” were thrown together in the villages, surrounded by barbed wire. Families slept in doorways, streets and barracks, decimated by hunger and disease. American newspapers called him “the butcher,” “the most sinister figure of the 19th century.” And in the memory of Cubans he is recorded as a tropical Hitler.

For Spain, however, he was much more than an illustrious soldier. Not only did he participate in almost all the wars that the country fought in his time, but he was also captain general of Valencia, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, the Philippines, Cuba, Catalonia, Burgos, Navarre and Vascongadas and Castilla la Nueva. He was recognized as a capable, hard and inflexible soldier, oblivious to conspiracies and political compromises. He was senator of the Kingdom for the Canary Islands, head of the Central General Staff, twice Minister of War and president of the Supreme Council of War and Navy. He received the titles of Marquis of Tenerife and Duke of Rubí, as well as Spanish nobility and the Golden Fleece.

Today there are some monuments in his honor. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife there is a square that bears his name. And on Madrid’s Marqués de Urquijo street, number 39, there is a commemorative plaque where you can read: “Valeriano Weyler, model of loyalty.” One might ask: how is it possible that, in our time, someone with war crimes has monuments in his name?

His defenders, who are not few, attribute the black legend of Weyler to a campaign of the American press at the time. It is true that the American yellow press sought to force the Government into conflict. It is also true that the enemies of Spanish Prime Minister Cánovas echoed those complaints in Spain. But that does not diminish Weyler’s responsibility in the genocide. continue reading

Arsenio Martínez-Campos, whom Weyler replaced, had admitted to feeling unable to implement those drastic measures, although perhaps inevitable, from a military point of view. Weyler defended himself from his critics by arguing: “You don’t fight a war with chocolates.” Was the Spanish general successful? To a certain extent. He managed to kill Antonio Maceo, the ’Bronze Titan’, and to “pacify” the western part of the Island. But at what price?

There are some monuments in his honor today. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife there is a square that bears his name

On the other hand, those who seek to clear Weyler’s name argue that the Reconcentration Policy was neither new nor was it practiced exclusively by Spain. They also defend the idea that the Weylerian measures sought to protect the peasants from the mambises [rebels] abuses. And here I take a break. It is obvious that not all Cubans sympathized with independence. It is true that many openly supported Spain, even with weapons. It is more than likely that some insurgents committed abuses against those who refused to help them or considered themselves traitors to the ideal of independence. It is undeniable that the incendiary torch, the widespread burning of the countryside, practiced by the mambises contributed to the lack of food. However, the cruelty generated by Weyler’s policies was infinitely superior.

The images of the “reconcentrated”, with starving children and elderly, whose bones looked “like rings under a glove,” undoubtedly contributed to the decision of the United States to interfere. As some historians claim, it is possible that Weyler was winning on the battlefields, but he was definitely losing the battle of communication.

When the Mallorcan general was about to start the final offensive against the insurgents, an Italian anarchist murdered Anotnio Cánovas del Castillo in Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Mateo Sagasta, with whom he alternated in power for years, was among those looking for the path of negotiation. Weyler was leaving Cuba, taking as loot the watch, revolver and saddle of his archenemy Antonio Maceo. They say that a crowd went to the port of Havana to say goodbye to him as a hero. That’s how absurd and contradictory the real story is.

For millions of Cubans, there is only one character capable of accumulating more hatred and resentment than Weyler: Fidel Castro. For many, all of Cuba has been a huge concentration camp for more than six decades, where hunger has spread. The bearded man also has statues and monuments in various parts of the world. He also enjoyed a long life, like Weyler, who died at the age of 92.

No one who commits genocide should have statues, no matter how “heroic” some people think them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In the Cuban Province of Holguin, a Town of Potters Lives Outside the Law

Entrance to the community of Cayo de Mayabe, a small town of potters in Holguín. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 12 November 2023 — The red earth is everywhere. Stuck to the soles of the shoes, tucked between the boards of the houses and also on the bricks that come out of the oven in the Cayo de Mayabe community, a small town of potters who work outside the law and supply most of the bricks for the city of Holguín.

“This is a hard job and living here is even harder,” says Anastasio, one of the first inhabitants of the neighborhood, which was set up at the end of the 1960s. In his family there are now three generations who work in the brick factories that dot the entire area. The reddish color of the terrain has gotten into the skin of his hands and under his nails after decades of work.

In the neighborhood, made up of very low-income people, services are scarce: an elementary school, a doctor’s office, a food point of sale and a bleak park that was only cleaned and painted when State officials visited it. Outside those areas, people can be found in the halls of two evangelical churches, one Pentecostal and one Methodist.

Earth and water are thrown onto the so-called ’step’ and then mixed to form the mass of the bricks. (14ymedio)

In Cayo de Mayabe there are also, currently, about twenty brick factories where potters, from the early hours of the morning, shape the artisanal bricks and bake them. As the day progresses, these places are empty; not a soul peeks out there. Only the tables, the oven and part of the bricks are left. Working very early is vital for avoiding the midday heat and the police.

“They make our lives impossible,” Anastasio tells 14ymedio. “They don’t let us work but everyone knows that this city is built with the brick that comes from this little piece of land,” clarifies the man as he leans over the step, looking at the sinkhole into which the earth is thrown, the water added and the mixture prepared.

“This is a difficult part of the job ,and it takes a lot of effort because you have to grind the soil with a stick and keep it thin,” he explains. “Then you have to form the bricks on those potter’s tables,” he says, pointing to two raised metal vessels where “the hands and skills of the worker are what give quality to the shape and the compactness of the brick.”

A few feet away, an oven that is taller than a man is the next step in this informal manufacture. Once the pieces are baked, they are placed in a pile and sold for 11 Cuban pesos each. “People come here to buy because the continue reading

State does not make or sell bricks anywhere in the city.”

Both Anastasio and Leonel are aware that the holes they dig to extract the soil they need for the bricks affect their environment. (14ymedio)

When the sun starts to rise, the potters slip away and leave the factories empty. “We can’t stay even if we know that they can steal our merchandise, since no one wants to be caught and fined,” the man explains. There are times when they have to leave for long days because there are operations in the area, and when they return, part of their production has been stolen.

The brick factories of Cayo de Mayabe are illegal in the eyes of the authorities because the potters of the community don’t have a self-employment license to carry out this work. A few years ago some of them decided to become official, but shortly after they went back into hiding.

“We had the license and had to pay for it every month, but they didn’t sell us the raw material or allow us to extract it,” says Leonel, a young man who has been working with his father and brother in the family’s business for more than five years. “After a while we gave back the rights, and we continue working under the radar.”

The main material of the artisanal brick is mud, made with the reddish earth of the area, rich in clay. But there is no official place to buy this product, and the authorities prohibit it from being extracted. After a few years of accepting registrations for the potter’s license in the area, the local government closed off that possibility.

The bricks are shaped on the potter’s table. (14ymedio)

“They tell us that they can’t give a license to someone who doesn’t show the legal documents for the earth extractions,” Leonel emphasizes. “But they themselves know that there is no such thing as having it because it is not legally sold anywhere; the only way is by digging and opening up holes.”

When the rights were given to practice the pottery profession in Cayo de Mayabe, self-employed people were prohibited from hiring staff; only members of the same family group could work in the factory. However, then and now, when the work has been absolutely immersed in illegality, those craft workshops are the main source of employment for the locals.

If Cayo de Mayabe was already considered an area of poor people, several groups have emerged in the community with people who migrated from more remote municipalities wearing only what they had on. Over the years and with the departure of the youngest to Havana or abroad, the town’s population has been aging.

“Some 2,500 people live here, and right now the work in the brick factories is getting complicated because there is a lack of young arms,” Leonel acknowledges. “My father is still working with us but he can no longer do the mixing or other hard parts of the process. He’s now in charge of taking care of the people who come to buy the bricks.”

The sale, however, is not going well. The economic crisis that the Island is going through, the lack of fuel to carry the merchandise and the slowdown in tourism have decreased demand. “Sometimes we spend weeks without selling a brick, and that’s very serious because here the brick is what feeds us.”

An oven to bake bricks in the community of potters of Cayo de Mayabe. (14ymedio)

Among the clients that Leonel’s family has, there are people who are renovating or building their home, entrepreneurs in the city who are expanding a private hostel, others who improve a paladar (private home restaurant) or who want to decorate an interior patio with the handmade, reddish pieces. A few non-agricultural cooperatives also bought them “occasionally.”

Both Anastasio and Leonel are aware that the holes they dig to extract the soil for their bricks affect their environment. They cause erosion of the soils, damage to vegetation and water that stagnates in the sinkholes, increasing the risk of the growth and emergence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, with the consequent danger of dengue fever.

“Where the plant layer of the earth is removed, there are rocks where plants do not grow; nor can cows, goats and horses graze on those lands,” warns the young man. “But what are we going to do? This is what we know, this is how we feed our children. If they don’t sell us the land, we will have to steal it.”

By a rusty swing, in the only park in the community, a young woman threw an inflatable ball to her little son on Tuesday. “Here we lack everything; we don’t even have a bodega (ration store) to shop in. We have to travel two or three miles to get the little sugar and rice they sell us,” she explains to this newspaper.

After leaving the oven, the bricks are stacked for sale. (14ymedio)

The terrible condition of the roads around Cayo de Mayabe complicates the transfer. “The water they pump does not reach here, so we have to take the water from the wells that we have in our courtyards, but we already know that it is not good to drink.” The woman lists her demands: “a butcher shop, a bodega and a place to buy milk,” but clarifies that this is just “to begin with.”

“Here, a year ago, leaders came to visit and even brought some foreigners,” recalls the holguinera. “That’s when we were classified as a prioritized community of social complexity.” In 2022, with great fanfare, they built the park where a mother can go with her child. The weeds and rust go hand in hand where before the painting shone and the officials took photos for the official press.

As the ball goes up and down, a horse cart enters the neighborhood. “It comes to carry bricks,” the woman ventures. The red earth of the area sticks to the wheels, the same earth that feeds the potters of Cayo de Mayabe.

The community of Cayo de Mayabe was founded at the end of the 1960s. (14ymedio)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havana’s 100-Year-Old Reina Street Church Restored with Funds of Unknown Origin

Built a century ago by the then all-powerful Jesuit order, the construction was made possible by contributions from important Cuban families. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 22 November 2023 –Dust-free altars, new paint and luminous stained glass. One of the most iconic buildings in Central Habana, Sacred Heart Church on Reina Street is celebrating its centenary after a major renovation. Though the scaffolding has been removed and the interior is spotless, questions remain. Who financed the project? How much did it cost? Given the friction between the two in recent years, did the government make the process difficult for Jesuits, who have been in charge of the building since its consecration in 1923?

Jorge Luis Rojas, the priest in charge of the renovation, is tight-lipped. When asked about the project, he declines to give details, saying he is not authorized to reveal who paid for it, or if Havana’s Office of the Historian provided technical advice or finanancing.

However, the quality and pace of construction — the project took three years from start to finish, in time for the centennial — suggest that it was the Catholic Church itself, through its financial associations, and the Jesuits who provided the necessary funds.

Two German organizations which routinely pay for construction costs in Cuba on behalf of the Catholic Church are Adveniat and Kirche In Not (Church in Need), which describe themselves as “donation-based continue reading

intermediary charitable institutions.” However, 14ymedio was unable to obtain confirmation from Jesuit sources in Havana that these organizations were involved in the project.

The iconic tower, one of the capital’s tallest structures, remains covered by scaffolding and protective mesh.

When asked about it, vendors selling prayer cards at the building entrance reply tersely, “It’s being done with church money.”

What is certain, however, is that the religious order needed government permission and resources to carry out a work of this caliber. The final phase of construction is now underway outside. The iconic tower, one of the tallest structures in the capital, remains covered by scaffolding and protective mesh.

The Reina Street church, as it is known to locals, is not only one of the most sumptuous religious buildings in the city, it also dared to hang semi-public Christmas decorations during Cuba’s Special Period in the late 1990s.

Built a century ago by the then all-powerful Jesuit order, the construction was made possible by contributions from important Cuban families. Fr. Luis Gogorza and the architect Eugenio Dediot oversaw the project.

The Jesuits still mount a crèche, or Nativity scene, to celebrate Christ’s birth. (14ymedio)

Fidel Castro persecuted and later disbanded several organizations that met at the church both before and a few years after the Cuban revolution. One of them was the Catholic University Group, founded by a Jesuit priest, Fr. Felipe Rey de Castro, in 1927. It became a thorn in the side of Fulgencio Batista after publishing a survey on the deterioration of the country during his presidency. It later presented a problem for the Castro regime when many of its members arose in protest – taking up arms – in response to the island’s drift towards communism.

There is little to remind visitors of this past in the old neo-Gothic church. In the midst of a crisis that affects every aspect of daily life, Havana residents visit the church to be impressed by the stained glass windows and, perhaps, to forget that the rest of Havana, with the exception of a portion of its historic center, has no benefactor restoring it.

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