Translating Cuba

Another Building Collapse in a Central Corner of Centro Habana Alarms the Neighbors

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the façade leaned forward,” say neighbors of the property at Consulado and Virtues Streets

The Building collapsed this Friday, at Consulado and Virtudes, Centro Habana / Facebook / Yuamari Morales

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, June 28, 2024 – The collapse of part of a two-story building, located on the corner of Consulado and Virtudes streets in Centro Habana, has set off alarms among the residents of one of the Cuban capital’s neighborhoods most affected by the deterioration. In the area, which is very busy and densely populated, there are numerous tenements and houses on the verge of collapse.

“We saw that the crack that went from the roof to the balcony began to open more and the facade leaned forward,” said a neighbor who witnessed, from her window, the fall of the first fragments of the wall, speaking to 14ymedio by phone. The woman lives across the street, in the building where the Havana Musical Theater used to be, which has fallen into ruin and become a public trash dump since it closed in 1989.

The building, built around the 1920s and in a neoclassical style, has experienced a lack of general maintenance

Vehicle traffic is closed in the area, both on Virtudes and on Consulado Streets, but “there is no good signage so that people do not walk here and you can see people passing by the rubble that fell, that is very dangerous,” she laments. The neoclassical style property, built around the 1920s, has suffered a lack of general maintenance and successive changes.

In addition to wooden platforms — colloquially called barbacoas [barbecues] — built in the rooms to increase the horizontal space, wooden or brick partitions have been added to divide the rooms. “A few years ago, several balconies collapsed, there were serious leaks and in the same corner you could see that the construction was very damaged, it was very damp.” continue reading

With the rains of the last few days, “the crack became wider and we all knew what was going to happen,” the woman stressed. On social media, other residents in the vicinity have lamented the danger that surrounds them. One of these is Yaumari Morales, who lives a few meters from the collapse: “it is on the same corner of my house where many people walk, where my son walks to get bread. How sad how this country is falling into pieces.”

“Now the garbage that is always on this corner has mixed with the rubble, we are going to need a fire ladder to enter our house,” laments another resident of the Havana Musical Theater building. Under its balconies, the mountain of waste borders the entire property and mixes with the pieces of wall that have fallen from the house directly in front.

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as the afternoon progresses this Friday have paralyzed the demolition work at various times

The rains that have begun to intensify over the Cuban capital as this Friday afternoon progresses have paralyzed the demolition work at various times. For the weekend, showers and possible intense precipitation are also forecast in western Cuba. A tropical wave that advances through the Atlantic towards the Caribbean Sea also keeps Havana residents in suspense.

The intense storm of recent days has caused dozens of building collapses in the Cuban capital, one person dead and several injured. Last Friday, an official source, who preferred anonymity, informed this newspaper that 19 partial collapses had occurred in the city due to rainfall, but in the following days the number continued to grow.

Last Sunday night, one of the most emblematic buildings in the capital, the Manzanares Building , suffered an internal collapse. Around 9:20 pm, a skid collapsed, dragging in its wake the entire bathroom and kitchen area of the lower floors, at number 912 San Francisco Street, one of the entrances to the apartment complex.

Just two days ago, it was the historic Casa de Doña Luz Godínez de Diago, the 19th century building located at number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, which suffered the collapse of part of its façade and roof.

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‘Some Premeditated Atrocities by the Cuban Dictatorship Are Almost Incomprehensible’

María Werlau has been recognized by the U.S. State Department for her “valiant efforts”

María Werlau, together with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on Monday, collecting the award as a “hero” against human trafficking / U.S. Department of State/ Capture

14ymedio, Madrid, June 26, 2024 — María Werlau (b. Havana 1959) says she felt “surprised and moved” to learn that the United States named her one of the ten “heroes” in the fight against human trafficking, in the 2024 report presented by the State Department on Monday. She herself collected the award, granted, according to U.S. official Cindy Dyer, “in recognition of her constant and courageous efforts to amplify the voices and stories of survivors of forced labor and exploitation in Cuba’s program of export of services, including its medical brigades.”

“I do this work out of love and moral commitment. Without boasting, I am not concerned with payments, thanks or recognitions, much less by thinking about prizes, so knowing that the work is taken into account comforts and stimulates me,” the activist replied to this newspaper’s questions.

Founder and director of the Cuba Archive Project, she has been dedicated for more than a quarter of a century to safeguarding the memory of the atrocities committed by the Cuban regime. Thus, not only has she insisted on collecting all the information regarding Cuban international missions – characterized for years by different organizations as forced labor – but also, for example, the names of those who have died from the direct fault of the State. continue reading

The most frustrating thing about her work in these years, she says, has been the “lack of resources and time to do more for the victims and survivors.” Of all the victims she has documented, she does not mention any in particular: “They all shock me and each one is the most important when you work with her or think about the consequences.” Of course, she points out, “some premeditated atrocities with treachery are almost incomprehensible.”

“The dictatorship has had more than six decades with all the resources of the totalitarian state at its disposal for propaganda, diplomacy and international influence

As a collector of data and facts that should be incontrovertible, why does she believe that, despite this information, the Cuban Revolution still has such a good press? “I work a lot researching that topic,” she replies. “The dictatorship has had more than six decades with all the resources of the totalitarian state at its disposal for propaganda, diplomacy and international influence, and its priority has been to use them to stay in power at all costs.”

Despite her efforts and work for so many years, nothing has changed substantially, and this is something that frustrates and hurts her, but that also encourages her to continue: “There is too much human suffering in the middle. Human beings deserve their freedoms. We can never accept the violence and repression with which the Cuban dictatorship abuses people.”

She says this with knowledge of facts that are personal. Her father, Armando Cañizares Gamboa, who had fought in the Sierra Maestra on the side of the rebel army and worked at the Sugar Institute, immediately realized the twisted course that the Revolution was taking and, after going into exile, was part of the 2506 Brigade that assaulted Playa Girón [the Bay of Pigs] in 1961. He died there from gunshots, but his wife, did not find out until much later, according to María Werlau, when she saw a magazine in a doctor’s office: “There was a photo of a dead brigadier. And he was my father.”

The double struggle of her father is, in a sense, that of the Cuba Archive, which not only documents the deaths of Castroism but also those of Fulgencio Batista. Almost 12,000 victims, for different reasons, are collected in its database from March 1952 to date.

Oblivious to the name of Werlau, President Miguel Díaz-Canel hurried to criticize the report prepared by the United States, which targets Cuba’s international brigades, calling it “manipulative.”

In its report, Washington places Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua as among the countries with the highest existence of human trafficking, since they do not meet the minimum standards or make significant efforts for its elimination.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, the Dead Are Owners of Livestock To Avoid State Controls

In Pinar del Río, inspectors detect 1,900 “illegalities” in livestock and 6,800 in land tenure

Pinar del Río only has 18 livestock control inspectors / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 26 June 2024 — Within the “exercise of control” over agricultural and livestock production carried out by the Cuban Government since March, the results for Pinar del Río, whose turn it has been these days, follow the trend of the whole country. According to the official state newspaper Granma this Wednesday, in the western province a total of 1,900 “illegalities” were recorded in the livestock sector and 6,800 in the use and ownership of land. “The main irregularities have been related to missing animals, undeclared births and people who have died and continue to appear in the records as owners of livestock,” explained Lázara García, head of the Department of Genetics and Livestock Registry of that territory. She did not detail, however, what those “irregularities” consist of.

The “serious difficulties in the control of livestock” in the municipality are due, she added, to the fact that Pinar del Río “only has 18 livestock control inspectors to serve a universe of more than 21,700 producers.” This makes one hundred percent inspection “impossible.”

“The main irregularities have been related to missing animals and undeclared births

The official explained that in the territory, according to the records, “there are 209,532 head of cattle and 71,900 horses, but in practice the figures may be very different.” Regarding land, she stressed that the main irregularities among the more than 9,600 tenants visited lie in illegal constructions, whose number is more than 4,000. continue reading

Since March 1, the Ministry of Agriculture has been carrying out a special control – which will continue until September 30 – to quantify the number of cattle in the country and thus “have a characterization of the current situation of the sector in Cuba.”

The previous control reported by the official press was in Las Tunas, where 26% of the farmers – about 20,000 – refuse to deliver their agricultural products to the State. Since the beginning of the year, progress in solving this situation has been “tiny.”

Meanwhile, data from the Government indicate that, until before this exercise, in the country there were more than 200,000 people, natural and legal, who own cattle and buffalo, and about 167,000 who have horses. To have current data, the ministry visits producers, owners and contracted workers within the sector and aspires to have an adequate counting of animal stocks, depleted by the alarming increase in theft and slaughter.

While these exercises are being carried out, slaughter and the private sale of meat are paralyzed; only deliveries contracted with the state sector are maintained

While these exercises are being carried out, slaughter and the private sale of meat are paralyzed; only deliveries contracted with the state sector are maintained. This limitation is significantly affecting the supply of beef in private businesses and on-line stores, which have more frequently resorted to imports to satisfy demand.

According to the latest Statistical Yearbook, published in 2023 with data from the previous year, there were 947,300 horses on the Island and 3,516,400 cattle, a figure that contrasts with the 6 million that were counted in the country in 1958. The next census is predicted to show poorer figures than those of last year.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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While Cubans Suffer from Floods, Authorities Speak of ‘Revolutionary Surveillance’

Senior civil and military officials meet in Havana to prepare “the war of all the people”

Neighbors have been busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invade their streets after the floods / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 24 June 2024 — The threat of another rainy day looms over the Cuban capital this Monday. Only the Eastern side of the Island is breathing with some relief, since at 3 in the morning the Meteorological Institute announced that this Monday will be “cloudy in a large part of the country, with some showers, rains and thunderstorms from late morning in the western half. In the afternoon, rainfall will spread to the rest of the national territory, becoming copious in the west and center. The rains can be heavy in some locations.”

It will rain over already wet surfaces, literally. In Havana the weekend has been devastating for the hundreds of people who have lived staring at the ceiling, hoping it wouldn’t fall on them, as has happened to about twenty families who have partially or totally lost their homes due to rainfall in recent days. The highest point of the situation occurred on Saturday, when, in just three hours, between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, 56 millimeters (2.2 inches) of water accumulated at Casablanca Station in Havana.

The most affected municipalities were Diez de Octubre, Old Havana, Centro Habana, Boyeros and Plaza de la Revolución, where residents were busy cleaning the mountains of garbage that invaded their streets and that, carried by the water, prevented drainage through sewers, causing water accumulation. Mosquitoes, happy in the humidity, were added to the waste, spreading arboviruses to the fearing population, who did not give up in their efforts to unclog the streets despite the authorities asking them for “prudence and discipline.” continue reading

Liván Izquierdo Alonso asked for caution and called for “common sense and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets”

“Multiple images were posted on social networks, essentially in the profiles of Havana residents on Facebook and X (previously known as Twitter), where the population can be seen in the streets, in waters above their waists, just like cars whose tires cannot be seen because they remain under the precipitated water,” said Tribuna de La Habana.

Liván Izquierdo Alonso, First Secretary of the Communist Party in the province, asked for caution and called for “sanity, and for the people to be disciplined and not cross flooded streets with the clear presence of downed cables.” His agenda that day, while the population entered the waters to clean up the disaster, had consisted of supervising the Territorial Defense Day in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, together with his deputy, Yanet Hernández Pérez, who is also Havana’s governor.

On the front lines, Major General Ernest Feijóo Eiró, head of the Western Army, called for “maintaining daily production and services, internal order: revolutionary surveillance in the neighborhood’s labor groups, all as an indispensable part of all the people’s war”.

The three, along with other military personnel, carried out the day’s program as if nothing else was going on. The official press describes a tour in which “places that have the essential potential to guarantee food for the population in circumstances determined by defense against an enemy attack were visited.” They also went to the April 19^th polyclinic to “verify health professionals’ preparation to care for citizens who were injured by an enemy attack in the territory.” Not a word, however, about whether the necessary means are available for this. They also went to a school and the polygon “in which they witnessed a demonstration of skills for direct confrontation with those who try to invade this territory.”

The Havana authorities carried out the day’s program as if nothing was happening / Tribuna de La Habana

Feijóo Eiró spoke with the president of the Municipal Defense Council, Rolandis Rogríguez González, about the importance of “taking advantage of the reserves of experience in officers who are retired and have the necessary qualities,” while Izquierdo Alonso was interested in the “potential of a local organopónico”* and about crops, and spoke with authority about how to produce to feed the population. In addition, he said that “the functions of the different government structures must be preserved, permanently, every day, in coordination with the Defense Zones. This is where the concept of war of the entire people lies,” he stressed.

The surreal scene, recorded by the official press with as much detail and urgency as was lacking when talking about the building collapses, was answered with a more than premonitory comment. “It would be necessary for Defense Day to also be allocated to the collection of solid waste in the streets. The corner of Oquendo and Salud in Centro Habana has not collected the garbage for more than a week, it is impossible to live with the flies, mosquitoes and stench inside homes, even with everything closed,” warned a woman who identified herself as Karen Boffill, an affected neighbor.

Barely an hour later the strong storm began, which aggravated the situation of the previous days, and the unrest of Havana residents was visible on the networks due to the lack of opportunity of some authorities, who seemed more distracted in the “strategic conception defined by the Commander in Chief Fidel as All the People’s War” than in the rain and its consequences. “They have people wasting their time with a supposed war. War is what they have against the miserable people, and it’s now that rice for the month of June’s miserable ration book is arriving. Don’t fool people anymore and get to work, because that’s where they’re spending all your money”, said a resident of La Lisa.

“They’re still doing it. What war? We have the war right here, inside. Enough already about war. What needs to be done is start producing the land, planting sugar cane, which is what makes money”, another one cried. “The military is the one who has to prepare,” continued one user. They have to guarantee citizens security: from an attack from outside and the assurance of peace for the citizens. “They should do that, and not keep appropriating hotels and chain stores.”

Not a single word came from Cuba’s Presidency to those affected by the rains. This weekend, Miguel Díaz-Canel left two messages on X, one this Sunday, congratulating Cuban women engineers and another that same Saturday, to instruct the population of Unión de Reyes, Matanzas, where he was on an official tour, to work with the spirit of commitment to move forward.

Popular superstition has linked Díaz-Canel, since the beginning of his mandate, with bad luck. His arrival was preceded by the partial collapse, on Friday night, of a home on General Betancourt de Alacranes Street, in Unión de Reyes. A few hours later, another building fell on the other side of Matanzas, in Colón. Nothing strange for a province in which only the Varadero tourist resort is free of ruins. None of this appeared in the official press.

*Translator’s note: Organopónicos or organoponics Cuban-originated system of urban agriculture using organic gardens.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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With Bated Breath, Cubans Watch the Elections in Venezuela

It is not only about elections that could change the course of Venezuelans but also about their consequences for the interior of our Island.

In Venezuela, a small electoral gap has been opened to shake off Nicolás Maduro / EFE

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, 23 May 2024 — The news is fragmented and confusing, but in Cuba people are “alert” when it comes to the electoral process in Venezuela. In the midst of daily problems, power cuts that are spreading throughout the island and inflation that has sunk the purchasing power of a good part of the population, it is hard to believe that what is happening abroad could be a topic of interest here. But the July 28th meeting is not just any event and it is not in just any country.

At the beginning of this century, the alliance between Havana and Caracas had signs of eternity. The generous oil subsidy that Hugo Chávez granted to the Island allowed the Cuban regime to abandon some of the economic reforms forced by the crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. As in any political marriage, both parties not only joined forces in the economy, international diplomacy and ideological discourse but also harmonized in their methods.

Chavismo seemed ever more similar to Castroism. The persecution of opponents, the illegalization of parties, the execution of the reputations of adversaries, and exile as the only option for those who opposed him became everyday situations in Venezuela. The hijacking of democratic institutions, the dismantling of the free press and the political tantrums in international forums completed the picture of similarities. But, unlike in Cuba, in the Bolivarian nation a small electoral gap was left open to shake off Nicolás Maduro. continue reading

Now, with just a few weeks left before the presidential elections in Venezuela, we Cubans are holding our breath. We know that any justification can emerge from the Miraflores palace to cancel the electoral process and we also know the thousand and one tricks that authoritarians can pull out of their sleeves to avoid leaving power. We move between expectation and fear. No one knows better than we do what is at stake.

Between expectation and fear we move. Nobody, like us, knows what is at stake

Not only are these elections likely to change the course of Venezuelans’ national life, but their consequences for the interior of our island are impossible to calculate. Not only is there a probable cut in the supply of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which has already been reduced in recent months, but there is also the message that will reach so many of my compatriots who have lost hope of shaking off a dictatorship.

If Maduro goes to the polls, he is very likely to lose resoundingly, at least that is what the polls indicate. But before that day, he could invent a military conflict that would force him to declare a state of emergency or invalidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the main opposition candidate who is overshadowing him. Anything is possible, but any such outcome would sink his regime even further into disrepute and economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, millions of eyes are watching the electoral ups and downs in Caracas. One day we wake up skeptical thinking: “He’ll do something, he’ll surely cancel everything before losing.” But the next day the optimistic streak takes over and we say to ourselves: “If they win, so will we.” There are more than two months left. There is time for hope and time for disappointment. Whatever happens, the shock wave will reach this Island.

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

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An Aristocratic House on Havana’s Calzada del Cerro Collapses and Leaves the Neighborhood Without Light

Despite the deterioration, something of its grandeur can still be appreciated.

The property, number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, suffered the collapse of part of its facade and the roof / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 26 June 2024 — The historic House of Doña Luz Godínez de Diago, marked thus on the maps, a 19th-century building in Havana, no longer exists as such. This Wednesday the property, number 1360 Calzada del Cerro, suffered the collapse of part of its facade and the roof. “It has been a relief, because that building had been in danger of collapse for years, and all of us who live nearby feared that it would end in tragedy,” a neighbor of the two-storey house tells 14ymedio. Demolition work has forced the cut-off of electrical service in the area.

“Yesterday we noticed that a bit of sand was falling, and shortly thereafter we heard the roar,” explains the woman standing in front of the house that once belonged to one of the families of the Havana aristocracy who sought refuge in the Cerro neighborhood, two centuries ago, to leave behind the intramural city, its noises and its miasmas. The house has gone through several uses in recent decades, from private to state.

“Yesterday we noticed that a bit of sand was falling, and shortly thereafter we heard the roar”

“No one lives at the front next to the facade, but behind there are several families,” the woman explains to this newspaper. This Wednesday, a demolition team, with a lift for two workers with sledgehammers to continue reading

demolish the walls, was in front of the building located between Patria and Saravia streets. “They’re going to have to hurry because it looks like a tremendous downpour is coming,” said another nearby resident.

The huge debris from the collapse occupies part of the road that leads to the famous corner of Tejas, a commercial node also fallen out of favor, then continues to Monte Street and the Capitolio of Havana. The fragments of walls and columns have an impressive size. “Incredible that they haven’t crushed a car,” added a curious person who watched the operations behind the yellow tape that closes the road.

Despite the deterioration and the hole in the facade that reveals part of the property’s interior, something of its grandeur can still be appreciated. A large portal with stylized columns supports an upper floor of pointed arches, and a balcony extends the width of the entire house. Long ago it lost the ornate railing that allowed access to the terrace where you could enjoy the cool. Lower down, another arch with Mudejar inspiration still retains part of its beauty.

The house right next to number 1360, smaller and of neoclassical style, has its portal shored up with wooden beams and has suffered some damage after the collapse of part of the nearby house. On the street, a bush is mixed into the debris, dragged from a crack in which, for years, it had grown near the roof of the old mansion of the Godínez de Diago family.

In the neighborhood they have had to cut off the electrical service to carry out the demolition work due to the line’s proximity to the building facade. The blackout has especially bothered residents in an area of Havana that has been suffering from problems with the water supply for days. They were hoping they could fill their tanks and containers this afternoon, if service is restored. Without electricity, the motors that extract water from the cisterns can’t even be turned on.

The Calzada de Cerro, one of the most important roads in the Cuban capital, connects part of the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución and Cerro with Central Havana and Old Havana. It is a traditional route for urban buses and collective taxis, especially those who make the journey between the Parc de la Fraternidad and the areas of La Lisa and Marianao. Its closure, this Wednesday, has forced traffic to be channeled through parallel streets, narrower and with very deteriorated asphalt.

The Calzada de Cerro is one of the avenues that has suffered the most over time, due to state neglect and lack of investment in recent decades. Without the attractions of the historic center of Havana or the more modern feel of El Vedado, the street has numerous tenements where overcrowding and improvised partitions have contributed to further deterioration of the infrastructure.

“No one lives at the front next to the facade, but behind there are several families”

What was once a street with spacious portals, an infinity of vibrant shops and a great social life where people liked to stroll has languished. It is now a route that many people in Havana avoid in the face of the danger of a balcony collapse, sewer water that accumulates on the corners and mountains of garbage piled up on side streets. A sense of insecurity has taken over the surroundings, especially at night time.

The intense rains of the last few days have caused dozens of building collapses in Havana, a death and several injuries. Last Friday an official source, who preferred anonymity, informed this newspaper that in the Cuban capital, heavy rainfall had caused 19 partial collapses, but in the following days the number continued to grow.

On Sunday night, one of the most emblematic buildings in the capital, the Edificio Manzanares, suffered an interior collapse. Around 9:20 pm, a patio collapsed, dragging in its path the entire lower area of bathrooms and kitchens, at number 912 of San Francisco Street, one of the entrances of the apartment complex.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Fire Breaks out on the Upper Floors of Havana’s Girón Building

A plume of smoke rose from the building, located on the corner of Malecón and F in Havana, for more than half an hour.

14ymedio, Havana, 22 June 2024 — With help from a downpour, firefighters were trying to subdue a fire on the upper floors of the Girón building in Havana’s Vedado district on Saturday afternoon. Photos and videos posted by area residents on social media showed a plume of smoke rising from the building, located on the corner of Malecón and F Street.

A nearby resident reported that flames seemed to be coming from the elevator machine rooms on the top floor. It is unknown at this time if there were any injuries or fatalities. Residents of the property began pouring out onto the street after they heard the fire alarm go off, smelled smoke and heard the sirens of fire trucks.

“Hotspots persist but the fire seems to be largely under control. The firefighters are evacuating the residents,” reported Canal Caribe at 1:00 PM on its Facebook page. It also posted images showing flames still coming from some areas at the top of the building.

Composed of two blocks connected by long passageways, the building has become a headache for its residents / Carlos Espinosa Betancourt / Facebook

The seventeen-story Girón building was designed by Cuban architect Antonio Quintana and built using poured-in-place reinforced concrete. The passing years, lack of maintenance and proximity to the sea have turned what was once a jewel of modern design into a peeling ruin, with fragments continue reading

of its façade missing and much of its internal structure damaged.

Composed of two blocks connected by long passageways, the building has become a headache for its residents, who find it difficult to rent or sell units in a building with a reputation for being a modern-day ruin. “It’s become a vertical slum. Maybe something fell off and started a fire,” speculated a seventh-floor resident, who was one of the first to evacuate.

“My son called me. He lives nearby and was frightened when he saw the smoke. I grabbed my cat and headed down the stairs,” she says. “Much of Havana is without water today. They told us the electrical system has been affected and they’re still evacuating people who haven’t been able to leave.”

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Cuban Health Authorities Say Oropouche Fever Now Affects Nine Provinces

The garbage and stagnant water favor the proliferation of the culex mosquito, which transmits the disease

Emergency Waiting Room of the Calixto García Hospital in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, June 25, 2024 — In a statement issued on Monday, the Ministry of Public Health reported cases of Oropouche Fever in 23 municipalities in nine provinces: Matanzas, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Holguín, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. The text does not mention Havana, despite the fact that various reports collected by this newspaper prove the presence of the disease in the capital.

The infections were identified, says the statement citing Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology, after taking samples in the national reference laboratory of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), in Havana.

The clinical picture presents the infection as “mild,” according to the authorities, with an incubation period of between five and seven days, which is characterized by fever, headaches, muscle and joint pains; vomiting and diarrhea are also reported.

“Associated with the virus in a group of patients observed, on the sixth day a picture similar to the initial one appears, which leaves no aftermath and is not associated with the appearance of serious forms or deaths,” the ministry states. On June 8, Yosmany Mayeta, an independent journalist living in the United States, reported on Facebook the death of a young man who spent three days in a Santiago hospital with symptoms of Oropouche, although without specifying if he had previous conditions or the verified cause of death. continue reading

The clinical picture presents the infection as “mild,” according to the authorities, with an incubation period of between five and seven days

With the spread of the virus, the Government calls on the population to cooperate and asks them to go “immediately to the health system with the appearance of symptoms,” as well as to “support and carry out their own sanitation initiatives in homes, work centers and their surroundings.”

Conditions for stopping the Oropouche outbreak on the Island are not ideal. With the streets full of garbage, which has not been collected in days, plus the stagnant waters left by the rains and the deficient sewer system, the insect that transmits the disease, the culex mosquito, has the ideal environment for its reproduction.

“Without sweeping the streets and blocks, we will all fall victim to this phenomenon,” says Arnoldo Fernández, from Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, who suffers from the virus. The writer believed he could prevent it by wearing “pants, long-sleeved shirts,” but finally succumbed. “Intense headache, fever of over 100 degrees, burning in the eyes and loss of appetite,” were his symptoms.

From Matanzas, activist Annia Zamora warns of an increase in the number of cases in the province. “There are many sick people who don’t have medication. I live in a small town where there is no ambulance; the sick increase and the authorities do nothing. Between the virus and the hunger, I don’t know what will happen,” she says.

The insect that transmits the disease, the culex mosquito, has the ideal environment for its reproduction

Without giving case figures, the ministry reported that it has activated health systems on the Island, in a context of “defiant complexities,” due to the fact that, in recent weeks, an increase in the incidence rate of suspected cases of dengue has also been reported, in particular in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud and in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Holguín and Cienfuegos.

“In contrast to Oropouche Fever, the clinical picture of dengue can evolve into serious forms and can cause death, so people need to go to the doctor in a timely manner,” the official statement warns.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Despite an Abundant Harvest, the Price of Mango Has Skyrocketed to 80 Pesos a Pound

The fruit now costs four times more than it did in June 2021

Mangoes for sale in a produce market at 17th and K streets in Havana’s Vedado district / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 16 June 2024 — “This year is going to be tough,” warned Mauricio when he saw his mango bush covered in flowers a few months ago. Despite living in Havana for more than half a century, this 79-year-old Cienfuegos native still relies on the wisdom of the peasants with whom he grew up. “If it’s full of flowers, it means it will be a time of hunger and want,” he said at the time. And he was not wrong.

The end of May’s rain signals the start of mango season, when consumers can begin enjoying one of the most iconic fruits of the Cuban countryside. Although one can always find trees that bear fruit year-round, or have growth cycles that last months, summer is more commonly the time to savor all the varieties available on the island.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over”

Bizcochuelo, manga, filipino, mamey (named for its reddish pulp), Super-Haden and hilacha are among the many varieties that appear nowadays at market stalls and on pushcarts of street vendors making the rounds through Havana neighborhoods. At the produce market on 19th and B streets in Vedado, which has a much wider and costlier selection than similar operations in the capital, mango season has come early this year. The mangoes here are shiny, with their reddish, green and orange tones on full display. continue reading

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s harvest seems to be off to a good start, the abundant supply has not resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021.

At 80 pesos a pound, the price of a single mango can easily be in the three digits. A bag of them can cost more than 1,000 pesos. Though this year’s production seems off to a good start, the abundant supply has resulted in lower prices. Mangoes now cost four times more than they did in June 2021. / 14ymedio

That was the year when currency unification took effect and the convertible peso was abolished. At that time, a pound of mango from the produce market at 19th and B streets cost 20 pesos. It was already going up by the start of the 2022 season before settling at 30 pesos a pound. However, 2023 was when it jumped to 50 pesos as measured by a weekly survey of produce markets conducted by 14ymedio.

“Those lucky enough to have a mango bush in their garden are safe. They don’t have to pay for it and can even sell whatever they might have left over,” says Mauricio, who lives in Havana’s Cotorro neighborhood. “But it’s also a headache because you have to keep an eye out to make sure no one steals them. By the time the bush stops producing, almost no one in this house can close their eyes.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush”

Mauricio sells some of his crop to several private dealers and a nearby cafe that uses them to make milkshakes. “I pocket a few pesos, which isn’t bad. My wife also makes mango jam and mango slices in syrup, which are a big help in the summer when the grandkids are on vacation and constantly asking for food.”

“The amount of mango we get in July and August is enormous. I don’t know what we would do without that bush, he says.” September, however, is another story. “By then, we are sick of mangoes because we’ve eaten so many. Sometimes I trade them for rice or something else that we need.”

This year, Mauricio’s family is bracing itself for a season with lots of mango but very little else to eat. The flowers that he saw blooming so profusely a few months earlier on the tree in his patio were a warning: “We’re all going to be the color of mango because that’s all we’ll be eating morning, noon and night.”

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U.S. Airport Authorities Invited Another Cuban Delegation for a New Visit

According to a document obtained by Martí Noticias, the Foreign Ministry requested four visas for a business trip and the signing of a “Letter of Agreement” on air traffic control

Luggage security checks at Miami International Airport / MIA

14ymedio, Madrid, 25 June 2024 – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) invited Cuban officials to visit the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center in Florida, “as part of the Operation Miami/Havana and Houston/Havana Agreement.” The information was revealed on Monday by Martí Noticias, which had access to a document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba requesting a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Havana for the four people who traveled. The exact date of the visit is unknown, since, although the FAA itself confirmed that the meeting took place and was in May, it would be necessary to “contact the Cuban authorities to obtain information about their itineraries,” says Martí Noticias. The Cuban Foreign Ministry eluded answering the questions of the media, based in Miami.

In the visa application document, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that the reason for the trip is to hold a working meeting and sign a “Letter of Agreement” on air traffic control between the Federal Aviation Commission and the Cuban Institute of Civil Aeronautics. In addition, Eddie Pérez, manager of the Miami flight control center, is indicated as a reference contact, and it is specified that the costs of the visit will be borne by the Cuban side.

It is also specified that the departure was scheduled for May 12 “with entry through one of the authorized ports (IAD and JFK).” The first is Dulles International Airport, in Washington DC, while the second is John F. Kennedy, in New York City. continue reading

It is also specified that the departure was scheduled for May 12 “with entry through one of the authorized ports (IAD and JFK)”

According to Martí Noticias, the officials who were sent to the United States are Orlando Nevot González (former director of Air Navigation of the Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Cuba), Michel Mederos Reigoza (former supervisor of the Traffic Control Center of Cuba), Jorge Fermín Centella (worker of the Cuban Company of Airports and Services) and Jorge Luis Martínez Rizo (of the Institute of Civil Aeronautics).

A delegation of 15 U.S. officials, including managers from the airports of Miami and Houston, received the Cubans. According to media sources, the purpose was to “address the continuous, safe and efficient movement of aircraft” between the terminals of both countries.

The visit took place almost parallel to the one that at the end of May raised a strong controversy in Florida, also from Cuban officials, for a “exchange of knowledge” with their colleagues from the Transportation Security Administration of Miami International Airport.

That meeting was denounced to Diario de Las Américas by a source who complained about “letting the agents of the Cuban dictatorship into those facilities, letting the Castro spies enter the heart of the airport.” Some workers shared with this informant their doubts about the possible access of Cuban officials to “sensitive information, a practice reserved for representatives of allied countries.”

On that occasion, the Cuban side had “direct access to the new three-dimensional X-ray technology, among whose objectives is the identification of explosives to prevent terrorist groups from introducing them into the cabin of an airplane and other sensitive places. “It is inconceivable, absurd, unjustifiable and very dangerous,” said the source, who insisted that “opening the door of our security to Cuban officials means also having opened the door to Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and other regimes that are enemies of American democracy.”

After the visit, Republican politicians Marco Rubio and Carlos A. Giménez, who chairs the Subcommittee on National Security for Transport and Maritime of the House of Representatives, presented the Secure Airports From Enemies (SAFE) Act before the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States, respectively.

Giménez described it as “incredible” that agents of a regime that is on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism were invited to visit the U.S. facilities

Giménez described it as “incredible” that agents of a regime that is on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism were invited to visit the U.S. facilities.

“We must make sure that this Administration does not allow foreign agents to know about our security measures aimed at keeping Americans safe,” Rubio said.

Washington and Havana maintain a cooperation program on security issues that provides for actions such as visiting institutions, exchanging information and working together, for example, to prevent terrorist attacks and drug trafficking operations. Over the years, there have been several meetings of this type.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Network of Corruption That Destroyed a Company in Guantánamo, Cuba, Is Dismantled

Part of the merchandise shown on Canal Caribe to condemn the corruption in Guantánamo. / Canal Caribe

14ymedio, Madrid, June 25, 2024 – Corruption has completely devastated the municipal company of Gastronomy of Guantánamo, after the diversion of products worth seven million pesos ended with its “total decapitalization,” according to information released on Monday by Canal Caribe.

The case affects a large “number of people who have been charged,” as well as companies and state entities that took part in it, said Major Juan Martínez Martínez, the examining magistrate for the case. The accused are exposed to sentences of up to 20 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement.

The soldier explains that the network was organized by “a person who had knowledge of how the company worked” and negotiated with several suppliers to “extract goods that never reached their final destination.”

The accused are exposed to sentences of up to 20 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement

The accused are exposed to sentences of up to 20 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement. Among the diverted products are, mostly, alcoholic beverages, such as rum and beer, and also others of primary necessity, such as chicken and sausages, in smaller quantities. continue reading

According to the magistrate, the appropriation of resources occurred by managers and accounting and commercial employees, through the falsification of the controls and documentation, which the accused validated in the company’s reconciliation process, dedicated to comparing the invoices with the orders and the merchandise delivered.

“The records were simply falsified. The product was diverted and the client company, that is, the municipal gastronomy of Guantánamo, paid the supplier and did not receive any benefit,” he explains. The decapitalization of the company has ended its existence, with the “consequent effect on all its workers,” he added.

Canal Caribe says that the best way to prevent situations like these is an “effective and rapid denunciation of facts,” and the report also appeals to the “moral damage” caused by this type of crime.

After decades of concealment of facts related to corruption, the official Cuban press has begun to report expeditiously on crimes of this type, as examples of what can happen. Cases are only made known when the networks are dismantled and those responsible are being investigated or subjected to a judicial process.

In May, something similar occurred in Sancti Spíritus, when the official press revealed that Alexis Fuentes de La Cruz, director of the Sancti Spíritus Municipal Commerce Company between May 2022 and July 2023, had been sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption. In his case, in addition to ignoring the warnings of a specialized committee not to buy soft drinks with a near expiration date, he proceeded to eliminate the documentation that implicated him in the crime. The newspaper added that there were 13 more cases like this in the province.

The report appeals, in addition, to the “moral damage” caused by this type of crime

The report appeals, in addition, to the “moral damage” caused by this type of crime. In February of this year, Miguel Díaz-Canel asked to combat corruption at a working meeting of the Attorney General’s Office and told officials that they should have “zero tolerance” for these cases that “lacerate” and “erode the moral basis of society.”

“Corruption can be so devastating that it can lead a country to poverty, to moral poverty and to material poverty. Corruption can destroy a country,” said the president, who added that it causes distrust in the population in addition to “delaying social development, growth and economic development.”

To date, the most significant fall from grace for an alleged case of corruption is that of the former deputy prime minister and former head of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, removed from office in March 2024, without the least reason for the cause being known.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Graduate in Journalism in Cuba? No, Thanks

The imposition of military service for young women who want to study the degree reduces the number of students

Journalism students from the University of Havana, on a recent visit to the official newspaper ‘Granma’ / Granma

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 25 June 2024 — It was once a career competed for by students with the best grades, but in recent years its enrollment has been plummeting. Entering University to study Journalism no longer unleashes the passions of yesteryear and the number of potential graduates has decreased significantly. In the most recent 2nd National Plenary Session of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, the despair of the directors of the official press due to the lack of relief was the star of part of the meeting.

The decrease in the number of students, which had begun to be noticed some time ago, has become more pronounced after Active Military Service (SMA) was established as a mandatory requirement for girls who choose to study this specialty from academic year 2024-2025. For the dean of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana, Ariel Terrero, the implementation of this condition is “a failure” and he questions whether the SMA serves to “educate and ideologically train these young women.”

The decision to force the students to spend a year as recruits was evidently intended as another form of political filtering and indoctrination. Military training would help mold them to follow orders, to not question the authority of their superiors, and to put the submission and docility of a soldier before any possible criticism or personal rebellion. Life in a barracks would prepare them for the journalistic newsrooms controlled by the Communist Party by training them in the maxim that all insubordination is also an act of betrayal. continue reading

These Cuban women who dreamed of writing reports or covering an event for a television news program decided to put their vocation aside rather than wear an olive green uniform

However, instead of running smiling and confident towards the rifles, these Cuban women who dreamed of writing reports or covering an event for a television news program decided to put their vocation aside rather than wear an olive green uniform. The result of this imposition has not been what the authorities expected. Instead of future reporters shooting at targets and crawling on the ground camouflaged to surprise the enemy, what has happened is the exodus of applicants to enter a career in Journalism.

The crisis in this specialty has been brewing for decades. Some of those who graduate from their classrooms each year end up not practicing the profession, emigrating or switching to independent journalism. This is the case of Lili and Manuel — whose names have been changed to avoid reprisals — who are part of a recent batch that left the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana. She took advantage of a health problem to not even begin her Social Service; he worked for just a few months at a radio station and asked for leave.

The reasons for not working in a profession for which they have sacrificed so much range from low salaries, to the desire to emigrate, to the conviction that in an official media they will not be able to practice the type of journalism they want to do. Less than half a year on Cuban radio was enough for Manuel to understand that “you have to ask permission for everything.” A couple of reports he prepared with testimonies collected on the streets were never broadcast. “The editors dragged their feet but it was evident that they did not like the complaints of those interviewed about the situation in the country; they said that those people who spoke did not offer hope or propose constructive solutions.”

Now, the young man publishes under a pseudonym for an independent media outlet while he waits for humanitarian parole through his father, who lives in the United States. “I don’t want to complicate myself by working in an official media, lest I have problems leaving later.” Lili, now recovered from her illness, writes weekly horoscope texts for a digital site outside of Cuba that pays her by the piece and in dollars.

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Cuban State Company Acopio Owes Five Million Pesos to the Farmers of Cienfuegos

Along with cattle theft, the situation is putting the food supply in the province in jeopardy

The debts prevent them from reinvesting in sowing for the next harvest / Mireya Ojeda Cabrera/ Radio Rebelde

14ymedio, Havana, 24 June 2024 — The guajiros of Cienfuegos are desperate; the state company Acopio has owed them a total of five million pesos for months and, without money, they cannot reinvest in planting for the next harvest. This problem, together with others, such as livestock theft, puts the food supply in the province even more at risk, if possible.

All of this was recognized by the authorities during the recent visit to Cienfuegos of Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, and other senior government officials. During the session, where the farmers complained about the lack of payments by Acopio, they came to the conclusion that they were facing “pending challenges.”

In the past 14ymedio has highlighted the crisis that producers in other provinces are going through

Non-payments to suppliers, a series of unamortized loans in the bank and the lack of budget to guarantee operations by the state company dedicated to the marketing of agricultural products are nothing new. There is periodic continue reading

news of the million peso debts that Acopio has with the farmers. In the past 14ymedio has highlighted the crisis that producers in other provinces are going through, such as those in Las Tunas.

Other problems that have emerged from the meeting in Cienfuegos, which was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, are the delays in the construction of houses for the most needy, the management of raw materials for the manufacture of corn starch, the lack of vehicles to distribute milk and other dairy products, as well as the exodus suffered by the workforce of the port.

During his speech at the meeting, Marrero Cruz accepted that there is a problem of corruption between government officials and the private sector through MSMEs. In that sense, he pointed out that, in the port, 21 million pesos have been paid in construction contracts where the costs were inflated.

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The US Includes Doctors Exported by Cuba in its Report on Human Trafficking

Nicaragua and Venezuela join the Island in the worst position in the document, which analyzes the situation in the Western Hemisphere

Cuban doctors stationed in Mexico, as part of the Henry Reeve Brigade. (Minrex)

14ymedio, Washington, June 25, 2024 — The US Government finds that Cuba does not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and does not make significant efforts to do so due to the export of doctors to other countries. The Island is, like last year, among the countries with the highest incidence of this problem, along with Venezuela and Nicaragua.

This is clear from the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) published this Monday by the US State Department, which divides countries according to their degrees in terms of human trafficking and identifies those mentioned at the most serious level.

Washington calls on Cuba to ensure that “government-sponsored labor export programs meet international labor standards, specifically that participants receive fair wages, which are paid in full to bank accounts that the workers themselves can control.”

Washington calls on Cuba to ensure that “government-sponsored labor export programs meet international labor standards

In Nicaragua, the report states, the Government of Daniel Ortega “continued to minimize the seriousness of the problem” and did not continue reading

identify any trafficking victims for the second consecutive year, nor prosecute or convict any traffickers.

Similarly, Venezuela is asked to investigate and prosecute traffickers and their accomplices involved in child sex trafficking, the recruitment or use of children by illegal armed groups, the trafficking of men and LGBTQI+ people.

The report highlights that there are broad commonalities in trafficking trends faced by countries in the Western Hemisphere (North, Central and South America and the Caribbean). In this case, they are often related to irregular immigration.

“Unprecedented irregular migration in the region affects all countries in the Western Hemisphere. Migrants and asylum seekers are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor, including by organized criminal groups large and small,” it notes.

In general terms, the report states, in many countries “there is political will to address human trafficking” in relation to sex trafficking, but there are “weak efforts aimed at combating forced labor.”

In many countries “there is political will to address human trafficking” in relation to sex trafficking, but there are “weak efforts aimed at combating forced labour”

Thus, labor inspection is underfunded and understaffed and typically has limited or no authority to inspect informal sector workplaces where many victims are exploited, especially along shifting migration routes.

This year, the report focuses on human traffickers’ use of increasingly “sophisticated” technology and online methods to recruit, control, market and exploit vulnerable people while evading detection.

Traffickers, for example, use the Internet to advertise and sell children online for sex, advertise fake jobs on social media platforms that are actually human trafficking schemes, transfer cryptocurrency to other traffickers, and perpetuate online scam operations.

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The Use of US Bank Accounts from Cuba Can Mitigate the Shortages, Says D Frente

The opposition platform announced that U-turn transfers would result in an increase in remittances

D Frente states that MSMEs currently supply essential products /EFE

14ymedio, Havana, 3 June 2024 — The opposition platform D Frente [D Front] is in favor of the new measures taken by the United States towards Cuban entrepreneurs. In a statement made public this Friday, the organization affirms that the fact that private individuals can open and operate American bank accounts online is an opportunity to mitigate the economic crisis on the Island.

The new regulation, the statement says, could “contribute to mitigating inflation problems, facilitate the ability to import basic products that are so urgent for our population today, and perhaps untie some ’knots’ that limit production.”

According to D Frente, transactions from Cuban soil through US digital banking would offer “a horizon of empowerment for the island’s incipient MSMEs,” which it considers to be the “main supplier of essential products for Cubans” in the face of “the incapacity of the State as a distributor.” continue reading

Cubans traveling to the United States could already open bank accounts in that country before the new measures announced this week, but once they returned to Cuba they could not use them due to the embargo that weighs on the Island

The statement from the opposition platform, which recently reformed its organizational chart, emphasizes that with the facilities granted to Cuban entrepreneurs from the US banks, better access to computer services could be achieved. These services, they continue, “are the central column of the functioning of contemporary economies.”

“Fluid access to the North American market, and allowing a greater flow of foreign currency to Cuba, through U-turn transfers, would translate into an increase in remittances and therefore liquidity in the country,” they also say.

In any case, D Frente warned that “there will be no definitive solution without the State returning sovereignty to the people, so that individual and social freedom can become the soul of the Republic that we deserve.”

D Frente demanded that the Cuban Government complete and implement the Business Law, announced in 2022, and remove “all the obstacles” it imposes on private business, foreign investment and the establishment of an effective economic model.

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