Translating Cuba

The three agreed to split part of a 20 million peso bank loan that a bank granted to the cannery.

In addition, Creme Quiroga used 1,195,434 pesos from his card to buy 2,000 US dollars from Kenly Hierrezuelo Tellez, who was accused of currency trafficking, for whom the sentence was one of the lightest provided for by the Penal Code, since he was only sanctioned with a fine.

The state employees were accused of repeated falsification of bank and commercial documents to commit embezzlement, crimes which the court found proven. The cannery workers have also been penalized with a ban on holding public office, and all must repay the full amount of money obtained through the fraud.

The note specifies, as usual, that “procedural guarantees and respect for due process enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba and in the Law of Criminal Procedure were fulfilled” and that this sentence may be appealed.

The news has generated countless comments in the press and on social media, where many have recalled the case of the former Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, convicted last year for espionage and corruption in two cases that were initially shrouded in secrecy and with the doors of the Supreme Court sealed off to prevent the presence of onlookers.

Never before have so many details been available about the crimes committed by Gil, not only beyond the sentence itself. The trials were conducted almost in secret because the acts were considered crimes against the security of the State.

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Private individuals are also affected by the restrictions, as sanctions are imposed on any individuals or legal entities that maintain any economic or commercial relationship with the Cuban Army or Ministry of the Interior. This includes those who participate in activities that benefit international business operations or generate income for both ministries, companies controlled by them (any of the GAESA military conglomerate), and those who collaborate to help them circumvent the imposed sanctions.

The exemptions also appear in the document, which outlines the sale of agricultural products and medical supplies authorized by law and the payments corresponding to the lease and maintenance of the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, as well as the expenses of the Embassy in Havana, the processing of authorized remittances and aid to independent civil society.

The bill notes that all these measures are contingent upon a possible regime change that would allow for free elections in Cuba.

Among other sections dedicated to the island, the one concerning international medical missions stands out. The bill requires that, within 90 days of its enactment, the Secretary of State submit a report on the countries and international organizations that pay the Cuban government directly for the work of medical professionals, which the text considers “forced labor and human trafficking.” The document must be public, although it may contain classified information, and inclusion in it will have direct consequences for those involved, including a ban on travel to the United States.

In addition, countries and organizations that figure in the report for two consecutive years will lose access to funds for economic assistance and security included in the budget, a measure that can only be avoided by ceasing payments to the regime for medical services.

Finally, the document includes two more specifications related to the Island. One is the prohibition of using funds for “activities that contravene executive orders related to border security,” and the other is the inclusion of economic incentives for the capture of individuals linked to the 1996 downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes.

Mario Díaz-Balart, chairman of the subcommittee responsible for the bill, said Tuesday that the document was drafted with a policy of “responsible spending, with a clear focus on national security.” He added that the work was done prioritizing U.S. interests and subtly criticized anyone who questions the proposed budget. “If you are a friend or ally of the United States, this bill supports you. If you are an adversary or are getting too close to our adversaries, then you won’t like this bill.”

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“It was legally proven that it was a legal act, a donation from aunt to niece,” which, she asserts, was made before a notary public in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, “with all the required legality.” This, she concludes, “they have been forced to acknowledge.”

Vicky Gil describes the property, inherited from her parents – Esperanza Fernández Castells and Miguel Ángel Gil Castilla – as “a nice apartment” built in 1958, which has been handed over to them “completely painted, doors, windows, ceilings, walls, in perfect condition.” The former radio announcer continues, “It has 80 square meters, a balcony overlooking the street with views of Parque de la Sola, two large bedrooms with built-in wardrobes, a shared bathroom, a very spacious living and dining room, a kitchen, a service patio, and a guest bathroom. It has no adjoining apartments.”

Vicky Gil describes the property as “a good apartment,” which has also been delivered “completely painted, doors, windows, ceilings, walls, in perfect condition.”

They were, certainly, a well-to-do family. Her father was a mining engineer and her mother a prestigious architect, who was part of, for example, the group of professionals involved in the design and construction of the emblematic Havana Bay Tunnel, built between 1957 and 1958. At the time of Fernández Castells’ death, Vicky Gil was living with her, and her brother relinquished his rights to the apartment, which is why it passed into the hands of the former radio announcer.

Agents deployed in the surrounding area prevented residents from recording or taking photographs, according to testimonies gathered by CubaNet. One account indicates that a woman who left her home with her cell phone was intercepted by a man who demanded to see the device’s gallery to verify that she had not recorded any images of the eviction.

The confiscation of Gil’s assets had already been confirmed by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), although it did not publicly specify which properties would be seized. On December 8, 2025, the SPC issued the sentences against the former minister and imposed additional penalties, including asset confiscation, a ban on holding positions involving the administration of public funds, and the deprivation of public rights. At the end of January, the court upheld the convictions by rejecting the appeals filed by the defense. From that moment, the additional penalties could begin to be enforced.

Gil was initially sentenced to life imprisonment for espionage, acts detrimental to economic activity or contracting, bribery, theft and damage to documents or objects in official custody, violation of official seals, and breach of regulations protecting classified documents. In a second trial, he received a 20-year prison sentence for bribery as a means to commit falsification of public documents, influence peddling, and tax evasion. The combination of charges makes this one of the most serious cases against a high-ranking Cuban official in decades.

Before his rise to the Ministry of Economy, Gil had built a career within the state-run financial and insurance sector. British business records list him as a director, a position he has since resigned from, of three companies in the United Kingdom: Anglo-Caribbean Insurance Agents Limited, ACIA (UK) Limited, and Seaclaim Limited. This documentation proves his corporate positions between 2004 and 2010, although it does not, on its own, establish personal ownership or direct employment. The companies appear to be linked to the insurance and reinsurance sector in London, an industry associated with Cuban financial operations abroad.

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Martín Gutiérrez, she continues, “has always been a very loved and respected young man, because he won everyone’s affection from a young age, so I seriously doubt everything that State Security wrote.” The woman is aware of how the system works. “They’re going to try to minimize Javier’s image as much as possible.”

The young man, she says, “what affected him most in this whole situation is precisely seeing that he has so many friends and loved ones and that everyone has his back.” The “disorder” argument, she argues, is easier to make “with someone who isn’t normally like that, shouting, having those kinds of outbursts, because it wasn’t common for him to do those things.”

“What affected him most in this whole situation is precisely seeing that he has so many friends and so many loved ones and that everyone has his back.”

Nobody imagined, she concedes, that Javier would be capable of protesting in that way, but everyone has to understand that “everyone gets tired”: “It was as I explained in a video: everything in life has a limit and what the Cuban is going through has never been seen.”

Before his arrest, the activist spent days shouting “Freedom!” from the solitude of his balcony, with no company but his cell phone and a mostly digital audience. “The communist system is dead! Did you see State Security? It’s you! Look at yourselves! Nobody’s coming!” he shouted toward the street, while challenging the police: “Come and get me! Shoot me with whatever you want!”

What the family did expect, starting with Javier himself, were the consequences of such a demonstration: “We knew from the moment Javier went viral on social media what was going to happen, especially because of who he is, because he’s an MMA [mixed martial arts] fighter, because he’s a national champion.” Yuny says, “My only role as his sister, because it’s my responsibility, because it’s my pain, was to help him. And to tell him a thousand times that I was incredibly proud of him for what he was doing.” However, she admits that in the last few days she asked him to stop the protest: “You have to stop, because in the end you see that you’re alone, nobody joins you, what we didn’t want was for it to get to this point.”

Yuny now asks that people continue to talk about her brother: “We can’t give up, because Javier is alive thanks to social media, and I’m not going to get tired of helping him. I’m going to go as far as I have to.”

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It ends up attributing much of the impoverishment of Cuba’s health system to the pandemic, and not to the US embargo.
“Unlike most other countries in the region and around the world, Cuba did subsequently experience a sizable post-COVID rebound during the years that immediately followed. Average annual GDP per capita growth from 2020 to 2024 was just 0.4 percent, as compared with the regional average of 3.2 percent. During this period, the quality of health care and access to health care services in Cuba sharply deteriorated amid widespread shortages of medicines and medical supplies and amid the departure of many health professionals,” the report states.

At no point do the authors point out that the Government continues to send thousands of doctors on international missions and that the sale of these services has served in the last decade to finance the construction of luxury hotels for a tourism sector in full decline, rather than dedicating those funds to improving the quality of health care.

For the preparation of the report, CEPR staff visited health centers in Cuba in the spring of 2024 “and observed firsthand some of the mounting challenges that the health care sector was experiencing. There were shortages of basic, critical medical supplies, such as syringes, inhalers, and even saline solution.”

“We met a young doctor who lamented being the only graduate from his class that was still practicing medicine in Cuba, and he attributed this to the shrinking wages for doctors.” Newly graduated doctors, can earn 5,060 pesos, insufficient for the most basic necessities, considering that a carton of 30 eggs can cost up to 3,000 pesos.

It attributed the problem “to the decrease in doctors’ salaries”

“At the National Oncological Institute we learned that medical staff were having great difficulty obtaining basic laboratory chemicals and were unable to access spare parts for radiotherapy equipment; as a result, they were unable to treat many cancer patients in a timely manner. The institute once had a total of 60 medical physicists (who were specialized in cancer treatment) and now had only 16. They previously had 16 anaesthesiologists and now had only five,” the center elaborated.

The report briefly reviews the chikungunya and dengue epidemic that struck Cuba last year, claiming the lives of mostly minors. “The severity of these outbreaks is likely a product of the sanctions,” the text states, omitting, first, the government’s dismissive attitude toward the initial reports flooding social media, including deaths, from mid-year onward, and its silence regarding the magnitude of the problem, which was only seriously addressed at the end of last year, almost four months after the outbreak began.

Nor does it mention that these arboviral diseases, which normally have a relatively low mortality rate, became a greater threat due to the country’s deteriorating hygiene, sanitation, and food conditions. The combination of epidemic outbreaks, a lack of medical resources, insufficient medicines, and the nutritional vulnerability of many children created a scenario that authorities now recognize as a public health emergency.

Another point not addressed by the CEPR is the consequences of government decisions, as the problems plaguing the healthcare system are not solely a result of the “blockade” or the pandemic. Dr. Ernesto René, who worked for 34 years in the Maternal and Child Health Program (PAMI) in Ciego de Ávila, warned as early as 2021 that experienced professionals were being lost “due to policies and decisions made by provincial directors that were completely misguided and lacked both scientific basis and experience.” He added that staff were not being cared for, and that “the lack of motivation has led to job abandonment, which has resulted in mortality rates unacceptable in the country for this century, leading to secondary problems such as depression among the families of those who lose a baby or their mother.”

The problems facing the health system have not only been a consequence of the “blockade” or the pandemic

The research center, in one of the report’s conclusions, points out that the current US fuel embargo, which has prevented almost all fuel shipments from reaching Cuba, “has further worsened an already critical situation.”

A country’s infant mortality rate is considered a key indicator of a population’s overall health and access to quality healthcare. Therefore, the country’s figures are disheartening, given that a decade ago, Cuba’s rate was among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, even lower than that of the United States, at 4.3, compared to a regional average of 15.6 and a US rate of 5.8.

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The NYT takes a look back at some of the times a possible solution has been addressed, starting with the one in the 1960s. “Cuba did not have the cash to pay and, instead, offered long-term government bonds, which the United States considered neither a prompt nor an adequate solution,” says William LeoGrande, a professor at American University and author of a book on the history of negotiations between the United States and Cuba.

In the 1990s, several experts put forward different proposals, including the creation of public-private funds to rebuild Cuba’s electrical grid and the use of some of the profits to compensate former owners, according to Jason Poblete, an attorney representing both American and Cuban owners. This type of arrangement worked in countries like Vietnam and Germany, where assets frozen in the U.S. were used to pay claims. This was not the case in the USSR or China, where owners recovered very little.

During the era of the thaw in relations, the Obama administration also attempted to find a solution to the issue, but it failed due to the regime’s disconnect from the reality of the problem. “The Cuban government didn’t seem to understand. They would ask me, ‘Richard, why are you making such a big deal about something that happened 50 or 60 years ago?’” says Richard Feinberg, a researcher at Florida International University who was in Havana to conduct a study on property claims. “This shows how little the Cuban government understood about economics and capitalism. They didn’t understand private property,” he adds.

“This shows how little the Cuban government understood about economics and capitalism. They didn’t understand private property.”

The NYT spoke with other affected individuals, including Lisandro Pérez, a Cuba expert at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and author of a memoir about his family’s home in Cuba. Pérez laments that some Cubans who remained did receive some form of compensation for their losses, which was not the case for him.

Nicolás J. Gutiérrez, a Cuban-American lawyer in Miami, recounts estimated losses of $50 million in 1960. His properties included two sugar mills, 15 cattle ranches, a rice mill, a coffee plantation, a bank, an insurance company, and a wholesale food distribution company.

Now, as a member of the National Association of Cuban Landowners in Exile, he is working on the lawsuit against Expedia for operating hotels built on confiscated land. Although he has never been to Cuba, he believes that if things change, his family will try again to revive the island’s economy.

“We’ve waited a long time for this moment and for the right conditions to arise,” says Enrique Carrillo, heir to the owners of the Santa Cruz rum distillery. “My father worked tirelessly for many years to build the company, and I don’t intend to give up. My family doesn’t intend to abandon its history.”

Meanwhile, a NYT correspondent in Havana visited El Vedado, where Nicolás J. Gutiérrez’s family owned a building. There, neighbors—like the experts themselves—reject the idea of ​​the properties being returned. One of them, Jorge González Amores, is emphatic: “If they left the country, that means they weren’t interested in the building.”

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“A necessary factor for mass deportation is taking away people’s right to stay. And the legal immigration system is the path for people to remain in the United States, which is why they’ve targeted it,” David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, told the Miami Herald . “Once you don’t have legal status and there’s no way for you to stay, you either get deported or you self-deport,” notes the report’s author, who emphasizes that the Trump Administration’s policies attempt to persuade migrants to leave.

The Miami Herald article points out that, although Cubans are among Trump’s most ardent foreign supporters, some of his policies are unpopular. A poll published by the newspaper —conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International and The Tarrance Group—revealed that 79% of Cubans residing in Florida would support a military intervention on the island, while 67% support Trump’s administration.

However, they showed strong rejection (68%) of deportations of undocumented immigrants without criminal records and strongly support (81%) facilitating migration.

The Miami Herald cites Rosa’s case as an example. She arrived from Matanzas in 2023 thanks to one of the Joe Biden Administration’s immigration programs and, after a year in Homestead, with her son’s endorsement, submitted her application to take advantage of the Cuban Adjustment Act.

“I’ve submitted my paperwork, but everything has stalled. This uncertainty is agonizing,” she told the media outlet.

“I’ve submitted my paperwork, but everything has stalled. This uncertainty is agonizing,” she told the media outlet.

The Cato report has detected declines in green card approvals for applicants from all countries, not just Cuba. Overall, the reduction is in half. Furthermore, there has also been a 20% decrease in residency permits granted through family reunification. Even worse is the situation for asylum seekers, whose rates have fallen by 99%.

The delays – also linked to staff cuts, according to Cato – expose hundreds of thousands of people to arrests and possible deportations, as well as constant fear for both them and their employers, who face penalties if they hire undocumented immigrants.

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When imagining a transition, the rejection of current structures is almost absolute: 99% would eliminate the Communist Party, 98% the business system of the Armed Forces, and the same percentage would dismantle the State Security apparatus and state control of the media.

Some 99% would eliminate the Communist Party, 98% the business system of the Armed Forces, 98% would dismantle the State Security apparatus and state control of the media

Some 76.8% believe the country should transition to a liberal democracy with a market economy, while only 0.1% support the socialist system as it stands. Even including those who believe socialism should be reformed, support for that model does not exceed 1.4%.

As a means to resolve the internal political conflict, 60.4% of Cubans on the island support the overthrow of the government “by any means necessary,” including armed struggle. Of all those surveyed in the diaspora, 70.4% voted for this option.

Some 21.3% of all respondents prefer a negotiated transition, and only 10.1% trust peaceful mobilization as the main tool.

Regarding the role of the US and international influence in achieving political change in Cuba, 47.1% support maintaining the US embargo as a pressure tool – 44% within Cuba, 51% from the diaspora – while another 24.4% advocate for its gradual elimination.

Of Cubans on the island 60.4% support the overthrow of the government “by any means necessary,” including armed struggle.

More than a quarter of those surveyed (27.5%) support direct US military intervention. When this figure is broken down by Cubans abroad and Cubans on the island, the numbers are similar: 26.7% of all respondents within Cuba and 28.7% of Cubans in the diaspora vote in favor.

There is also consensus on what to preserve from the current system during a transition, with 73% prioritizing universal healthcare and education. An additional 68%—an identical figure among Cubans both on and off the island—vote in favor of preserving national sovereignty and independence from foreign powers.

Although the organizers themselves warn that the survey is not probabilistic and is conditioned by unequal access to the internet, the volume of responses and the strength of the figures make it a significant indicator of citizen discontent.

Some 68% – the same figure among Cubans outside and inside the Island – vote in favor of preserving national sovereignty and independence from foreign powers

The state-run media outlet Razones de Cuba has reacted with a smear campaign , attempting to discredit the survey by contrasting it with the pro-government mobilization “My Signature for the Fatherland,” promoted by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, an initiative that has already been denounced for the coercion it exerts on citizens to seek support.

Cuban researcher and journalist Hilda Landrove noted in a post on social media that, despite the limitations of any survey in a restrictive environment like Cuba, and even applying high correction margins, the magnitude of the survey results leaves no doubt about the state of opinion of the Cuban population inside and outside the country.

Amelia Calzadilla, director of Citizenship and Freedom Training and one of the promoters of the survey, told Martí Noticias that the response patterns themselves demonstrate a demand for greater citizen participation in political life.

The level of dissatisfaction with government management is above 95%.

For Calzadilla, the fact that the lack of civil and political liberties appears as the country’s main problem, according to those surveyed, reflects the population’s desire to “participate in order to fix” (the situation). The activist interprets the volume of responses as a symptom of accumulating social discontent and a willingness to express opinions directly when relatively safe channels are opened.

“If you review the survey, you’ll see that the level of dissatisfaction with the government’s management is above 95% of the participants. It’s producing very strong numbers,” the activist states.

The survey is still active and can be answered at this link.

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Another similar case was reported at the Bauta Municipal University Center, which stated that its employees “demonstrated their loyalty to the nation.” On social media, it added that the signatures not only accompany a process, but also “show that universities are bastions of ideas, defense, and national dignity,” because “defending the nation also means teaching, serving, and signing when required.”

Other institutions, such as the Carlos Rafael Rodríguez school in Cienfuegos and the Oscar Lucero Moya school in Holguín, also joined the campaign, stating that their students and faculty participated in “support for the Revolutionary Government.”

During the closing of the V Patria Colloquium – an official world meeting of communicators in Havana, dedicated to the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth – the head of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Yuniasky Crespo, called for the collection of signatures in support of the Cuban Government.

The OLA emphasized that the Ministry of Higher Education and universities across the country have “echoed the campaign”

The OLA emphasized that the Ministry of Higher Education and universities across the country have “echoed the campaign.” It also stated that, although the ministry claims this is a “Cuban civil society initiative,” it was conceived within the PCC and launched at a political event.

“To understand why universities are required to participate in the collection of signatures, it is important to remember that their autonomy was abolished in 1962, with the Higher Education Reform Law, despite being an internationally recognized principle that allows higher education institutions to serve as spaces for critical thinking, free from external or internal ideological interference,” the OLA recalls.

The requirement to sign can be explained by the fact that, in many cities, there is little to no participation at the registration booths set up by the authorities. 14ymedio has gathered testimonies in several Havana neighborhoods that demonstrate the almost nonexistent turnout at the locations where people could sign more spontaneously.

State workers have also reported being coerced into signing , having received the order from the start of the campaign. “They didn’t set up signing points at workplaces, but rather at the library, the cultural center, and other locations. Now, companies are telling them they have to go there to sign,” an employee from the province of Sancti Spíritus, who preferred to remain anonymous, told 14ymedio last Monday.

“They set up points at the library, the cultural center, and other places; companies are already telling them they have to go there to sign up.”

Likewise, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) have mobilized to go house to house. “They came to my mother’s door, and she, being very old, signed. Who knows what they told her? I already told my husband not to even think about opening the door,” recounted a resident of Ciego de Ávila.

The woman compared it to what happened in 2002, following the Varela Project launched by Oswaldo Payá, when then-President Fidel Castro ordered the CDRs to force citizens to sign a “counter-project” that ended up crystallizing in the Constitution “the irrevocable and inviolable character of socialism,” which popular humor dubbed “constitutional mummification.”

The campaign comes at a time of crisis and criticism of the Díaz-Canel government, which is seeking to legitimize its continued rule. The fuel shortage has affected key sectors such as transportation, electricity generation, and water supply.

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In February, when the news broke, airlines announced suspensions, cancellations, and evacuations, in that order, of tourists in Cuba. Some companies that had initially intended to maintain their flights ended up backing out in less than 48 hours, and all Canadian and Russian airlines focused solely on repatriating passengers. Canadian airlines evacuated more than 10,000 people from the island on various return flights out of the 24,559 who were in Cuba throughout February. Meanwhile, Russian airlines—the second largest source of tourists to Cuba— evacuated 4,300 out of a total of 7,314 that month.

Others, like the Spanish airlines, starting with Iberia, decided to maintain their routes and refuel in the Dominican Republic, but this option has also proven unsustainable. The Madrid-based airline announced on April 13 that it would reduce frequencies in May and suspend all flights to Cuba in June, something that in its 60-year history had only occurred during the company’s severe financial difficulties (2012) and during the pandemic.

March was thus the first month in which Cuba felt the full impact of the flight suspensions. Canadian tourists continue to lead the list thanks to their cumulative numbers, although if we do the math, only 511 Canadians traveled to the island this March, 99.48% fewer than in the same month last year (98,663). In the first quarter, the number has fallen by 54.2%. Russians, the island’s second most important market, only totaled 249 travelers last month.

The largest number of arrivals in March came specifically from Cubans living abroad. There were 11,231 exiles who returned to the island last month.

The largest number of arrivals in March came specifically from Cubans living abroad. There were 11,231 exiles who returned to the island last month, and although this quarter’s decline is 42.8% compared to the same period last year, it is by far the only market that has withstood the economic downturn. Paradoxically, Americans are also a significant presence, with 5,243 tourists: ten times more than Canadians.

Some of the other nationalities that have contributed include Spain, with a paltry 1,429 travelers—a welcome boost in this situation—and China, with 1,102. Argentina, which had been gaining travelers after an intense promotional campaign, also saw a significant increase. Now, in this impossible context, the number of travelers is no higher than last year, but it still represents a considerable sum given the situation in Russia and Canada: 1,622 travelers.

In this challenging environment, the regime is trying to maintain a positive image and is stirring up excitement for FitCuba international trade fair next week. The fair for the sector is traditionally held in Havana, but this year it will take place virtually, beginning on the 7th and 8th, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and concluding with a special event on the 9th from Varadero, with free admission for the public.

According to the exultant official press, the event is “aimed at exceeding all expectations” and “hundreds of tour operators and travel agencies from around the world have confirmed their presence, including those who have never participated before.”

Registered participants can visit digital booths and watch presentations or compete in gastronomy and cocktails. However, judging by the figures, the most challenging aspect seems to be “gathering real-life experiences from customers who enjoy the destination during those days.”

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