Cuban Export Agencies Cite ‘Lack of Hard Currency’ for Not Paying Private Fruit Farmers

14ymedio, Mercedes Garcia, Sancti Spiritus 23 February 2023 — “To say I am irritated is an understatement. I’m as hot as a bonfire,” says Luis Mario Godinez, who with his father and brothers produce charcoal from marabou weed in Cabaiguán, a town in Sancti Spiritus province. The family has been waiting for more than four … Continue reading “Cuban Export Agencies Cite ‘Lack of Hard Currency’ for Not Paying Private Fruit Farmers”

Cuban Rum Exports Fall Due to the Bad Sugar Harvest and the ‘Lack of Containers’ in Matanzas

14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2023 — Companies in Matanzas, Cuba, fell far short of their export goals in 2022, some as much as 85% short of the plan. The directors of the province attributed the failure to productive stagnation, the lack of supplies and the absence of “strengths” in the industrial sector, as they explained this Friday to … Continue reading “Cuban Rum Exports Fall Due to the Bad Sugar Harvest and the ‘Lack of Containers’ in Matanzas”

First bioelectric Plant in Cuba, with Common Technology in Latin America

14ymedio, Havana, January 9, 2021 — The Cuban authorities announced that this Saturday the definitive synchronization between the Ciro Redondo sugar mill and a nearby bioelectric plant concluded. This is the first experience on the Island in the generation of energy from sugarcane and marabou biomass, described by the official press, with its usual triumphalist … Continue reading “First bioelectric Plant in Cuba, with Common Technology in Latin America”

The Argument of the Embargo and the Ridiculousness of the Cuban Communist Regime

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, October 16, 2022 — When a government ignores economic problems, it does so for two reasons. Either because of incompetence, or because there are substantive reasons that prevent the adoption of appropriate measures to meet social demands. Or it can happen as in communist Cuba, where the two converge. For … Continue reading “The Argument of the Embargo and the Ridiculousness of the Cuban Communist Regime”

Lawyers and Compensation Instead of Militiamen and Confiscations in Cuba

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 29 March 2022 — The recently announced Law of Expropriation for reasons of Public Utility or Social Interest has notorious differences with the abundant legislation on this matter. Here we no longer speak of confiscation as punishment or revenge, as in the laws enacted between 1959 and the mid-1960s. However, when … Continue reading “Lawyers and Compensation Instead of Militiamen and Confiscations in Cuba”

Cuban Sugar Harvest in Ciego de Avila Winding Down Because Chinese Operators Haven’t Arrived

14ymedio, Havana, 24 March 2022 — Sugar production in Cuba this year seems unable to overcome the worst prospects. In Ciego de Ávila, the authorities have reported several “breaks” in two plants that limit “the parameters of efficiency and productivity.” Eduardo Larrosa Vázquez, an official of the State’s Azcuba group in that province, declared to … Continue reading “Cuban Sugar Harvest in Ciego de Avila Winding Down Because Chinese Operators Haven’t Arrived”

The Conditions of Prisoners Working in Charcoal Improve as a Result of a Report by ’14ymedio’

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus , 23 February 2022 — A report published by 14ymedio last January has led the military authorities of Sancti Spíritus to review the working conditions of dozens of prisoners who make and carry marabou charcoal. The inmates work for the state-owned Various Production Company (Provari), which does not pay them a penny, but has … Continue reading “The Conditions of Prisoners Working in Charcoal Improve as a Result of a Report by ’14ymedio’”

Without Salary and Without Protection: This is How Cuban Inmates Work in Charcoal for Export

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 31 January 2022 — They stack the sacks of charcoal on top of the truck, and as the sun gets stronger, their sweat mixes with the soot on their skin. There are dozens of prisoners who work for the State-owned Various Production Company (Provari) in Sancti Spíritus and, although the … Continue reading “Without Salary and Without Protection: This is How Cuban Inmates Work in Charcoal for Export”

Officialdom Publishes an ‘Inventory of Calamities’ in the Cuban Province of Ciego de Avila

14ymedio, Havana, 12 January 2022 — The best example of the disaster in the economy of Ciego de Ávila is the sugar harvest, which did its part for what is already recognized as “the worst result in more than a century at the national level,” worst than the previous year. The provincial industry barely accomplished … Continue reading “Officialdom Publishes an ‘Inventory of Calamities’ in the Cuban Province of Ciego de Avila”

The Military and the Future of Cuba

14ymedio, Luis Zuñiga, Miami, August 16, 2021 – The Castro dictatorship was not thrilled with a proposal by businessman Sergio Pino to build houses for the military in a effort to encourage democratic change in Cuba. The issue is not the material aspect of the proposal. What bothers them is the implied message: a Cuban … Continue reading “The Military and the Future of Cuba”

Las Tunas Charcoal Workers Denounce the Theft of Their Wages by State Company and the Union

14ymedio, Havana, 20 January 2021 — A few months ago, the Empresa Integral Agropecuaria de Las Tunas was distinguished with two awards, one last October and the other in December. Judging by recent statements from the charcoal workers, the authorities do not seem disposed to let the awards be joined by an improvement in the workers’ income. … Continue reading “Las Tunas Charcoal Workers Denounce the Theft of Their Wages by State Company and the Union”

Cuban Agriculture: A Chain of Inefficiency, Bureaucracy and Corruption / Fernando Damaso

Fernando Dámaso, 4 June 2020 — After the 1959 “accident” occurred, Cuban agricultural production, which had been prosperous and efficient, ensuring the population with an adequate food supply, began to plummet. Two agrarian reform laws — the second one took away what the first had provided — were carbon copies of the failed Soviet system … Continue reading “Cuban Agriculture: A Chain of Inefficiency, Bureaucracy and Corruption / Fernando Damaso”

Chronicle of a Shuttered “Interview”

14ymedio, Miriam Celaya, Havana, 11 March 2020 — They were an hour late. The two young men went to the bench where I was sitting in wait at the Police Station (PNR) on Calle Zanja, in Central Havana, and apologized for the delay: “There was a lack of coordination,” said the one who had obviously … Continue reading “Chronicle of a Shuttered “Interview””

Lack of Funding and Legal Security Delay Renewable Energy in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2019 — In tune with the energy crisis currently facing the island, a Spanish-Cuban seminar organized in Madrid by the Elcano Royal Institute has analyzed the role of renewable energies in the EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement signed in 2016. Cuba’s weakness with regards to energy in the last sixty years … Continue reading “Lack of Funding and Legal Security Delay Renewable Energy in Cuba”

Are Changes to Central Planning Enough to Fix the Cuban Economy?

Elías Amor Bravo, economist, June 18, 2019 — Central planning is the basic tool used by the Castro regime to control the Cuban economy. More specifically, it replaces the market as a tool for allocating resources while at the same time taking private initiative out of the economic decision-making process. Since the establishment of the … Continue reading “Are Changes to Central Planning Enough to Fix the Cuban Economy?”