Translating Cuba – Page 203 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Cuban Minister of Tourism Expects Half a Million Russian Visitors

Juan Carlos García Granda, Cuba’s minister of tourism / Presidencia Cuba

14ymedio, Moscow, 14 March 2024–The Russian MIR payment card, accepted in Cuba since November 2023, is here to stay and will boost Russian tourism to the Caribbean nation to an expected half-million visitors, Cuban minister of tourism Juan Carlos García Granda declared today.

“The Russian MIR card arrived in Cuba to stay,” García Granda stated during a press conference called by the Russian news agency TASS. He explained that the Cuban tourism sector assigned itself the task of “creating many more benefits for the Russian customer.”

“One of the challenges we have overcome, because we can now announce the results, is that Russians can use rubles to pay in Cuba, which is already the case today,” he pointed out.

García Granda recalled that since 20 November 2023, “we were able to complete the first transactions with MIR cards, and we officially announced the use of MIR cards on terminals at points of sale since 5 December 2023.” continue reading

The minister reiterated the interest in promoting Cuba as an attractive tourist destination for Russia

“In these first months of operation, more than $2.7 million dollars have been transferred via the MIR cards; there are 20,000 point-of-service terminals in major stores and tourist spots throughout the country. This is something that will continue to grow and the conditions exist for it to be so,” he asserted.

The minister reiterated the interest in promoting Cuba as an attractive tourist destination for Russia, and averred that Havana “is not abandoning the objective of having Russians occupy one of the three top spots among foreign visitors to the country.”

He indicated that even throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Russian tourists could visit the Greatest of the Antilles, thanks to agreements between Havana and Moscow. Also, Havana is in permanent dialogue with the Russian authorities to increase not only the number of flights, but also to add new routes, in particular from St. Petersburg to the Island.

Already for the current year, García Granda noted, Cuba will exceed 200,000 Russian tourists.

“This is not a great amount in terms of absolute figures, but it will be a very motivating result for us. I expect that soon, even while I’m still leading this ministry, we will get to a half-million Russian visitors,” he added.

Translated by Alicia Barraqué Ellison

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Uruguay Keeps More Than 7,000 Cubans Who Applied for Refuge in Limbo

A total of 7,293 Cubans applied for refuge last year in Uruguay; the process now takes two years / x/@cubanoslibresuy

14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2024 — More than 7,000 Cubans who applied for refuge last year in Uruguay “remain in limbo” because the care system is “suffocated,” according to the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country ended 2023 with 24,193 applications, and the waiting time has been extended to two years. Milagros Rodríguez is one of those Cubans who arrived in Montevideo last year with the idea of starting a new life with her Cuban partner, whom she re-encountered in that nation. However, things didn’t go as she planned. According to the Spanish newspaper El País, she currently has a provisional identity document and works as a cleaner.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country ended 2023 with 24,193 applications

By remaining in “migratory limbo”, Cubans do not have refugee status and cannot cancel the application for refuge to process the permanent residence that would allow them family reunification. Rodríguez points out that a solution for her, like thousands of her compatriots, is for Uruguay to “release them from that visa”, as happened during the Covid 19 pandemic.

According to the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador, the “diagnostic” document approved by the Refugee Commission collapsed due to the “lack of resources” and the “shortage of migratory alternatives” for people who can’t show that they are being persecuted.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister Omar Paganini argues that the delay is due to the fact that the majority of applicants “do not meet the requirements to be refugees.” He accepts as “reasonable” that Cubans have motives to leave the Island, but for Uruguay to grant them asylum, they must prove that they are victims of “political persecution.” However, a solution is being analyzed. continue reading

Last May, Alberto Gianotti, of the Migrant Support Network, warned that between 9,000 and 10,000 nationals of the Island had to process a visa to maintain their legal status in the South American country.

Alberto Gianotti, of the Migrant Support Network, warned that between 9,000 and 10,000 Cubans had to apply for a visa to maintain their legal status

El Observador reported that since the beginning of the pandemic, Cuba has suffered the largest flight of its population in its history. “Tourism collapsed; infrastructure showed its shortcomings; medication and food were scarce; there were constant blackouts; and about half a million escaped to the United States.”

The same newspaper reiterated that Uruguay has no intention “to deport the undocumented, much less to allow irregular inhabitants to accumulate”, with the consequent problems that would result, so Montevideo is rushing to find a solution that is not expected to be easy.

Since the president of the United States, Barack Obama, put an end to the “wet foot/dry foot” policy in 2017, Cubans have found an alternative route through Uruguay. Their journey begins in Guyana, the only South American country that does not require a visa. From there they cross through Brazil and then resort to coyotes to reach Uruguay, where they ask for refuge.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Who Can Become a Citizen? Legal Pathways to Gaining Spanish Nationality

No European country approves more citizenship applications than Spain / Consulado de España en La Habana/X

14ymedio, Yoan Molinero Gerbeau, Madrid, 30 March 2024 — Last year, public attention turned to two prominent sports figures — Sara Khadem and the Real Sociedad footballer Robin Le Norman — when it was announced in the Official State Gazette that they had been granted Spanish citizenship along with 106 other people. It bears mentioning that a good number of these people included Nicaraguan dissidents, who received the so-called “letter of naturalization,” a mechanism that allows the government to unilaterally grant Spanish citizenship to whomever it deems worthy by means of royal decree.

As a result of these decrees, the organization Civio performed an interesting exercise, creating a database that indicated how many people had acquired Spanish citizenship this way since 1993.

Only a tiny portion of the naturalizations authorized by the Spanish state during this period were granted by means of this noteworthy though certainly elitist procedure, which allows the government to confer citizenship at its discretion.

To get a broader picture, we can look at data published by Spain’s National Statistical Institute (INE), which indicates that 181,581 people received the full rights of Spanish citizenship in 2022, of which less than 1% were granted through letters of naturalization. continue reading

The process of acquiring a new nationality is very intriguing since it involves what Abdelmalek Sayad, a prominent sociologist and expert on migration, called a “rite of transubstantiation.” Effectively, in a world of nation-states, where belonging to one has ethnic, cultural and moral implications, the transformation from being a national of one country into a national of another involves some degree of “magic.”

Analyzing the requirements that those who choose to participate in this rite must fulfill is an interesting exercise as it involves entering into a world of beliefs, revealing what a country considers to be valid criteria for recognizing someone as “one of their own.”

Despite being a noteworthy procedure, only a tiny portion of naturalizations were granted by decree at the government’s discretion

What criteria do applicants have to meet in order to be considered a Spanish national? The answers can be found in the country’s Civil Code.

There are four ways to become a naturalized citizen of Spain:

- Citizenship by nature
- Citizenship by option
- Citizenship by residency
- Citizenship by state possession

Since we have already touched upon the first way, let’s take a look at the others.

Naturalization by option refers to the principle of ius sanguinis, establishing Spanish nationality by birthright. This option is available to children of a Spanish mother or father. Also eligible to apply are those whose grandparents were Spanish but who lost their citizenship due to having been exiled during the Franco dictatorship.

Naturalization by residency gives foreigners who have lived in the country for a certain period of time the chance to become Spanish citizens. Generally, that period is ten years though there are circumstances that can reduce the wait time.

Applicants must also submit a criminal record certificate indicating “good civic conduct” , and show they have achieved “integration into Spanish society.”

The latter is demonstrated through a test that evaluates language fluency as well as knowledge of “Spain’s constitutional and socio-cultural precepts.”

This last requirement is highly controversial because since it tends to focus on the predominant national culture as found in the Castille and Madrid regions, indicating that — as far as the state is concerned — “being Spanish” means adopting a nationalist view that excludes other large regions of the country.

The fourth case, naturalization due to possession of state, concerns those who had Spanish nationality for at least ten years but, for some reason, lost it.

Finally, to be “naturalizable,” applicants must meet two not insignificant criteria.

First, they must renounce their original citizenship, thus indicating a willingness to become legally stateless before becoming citizens of another state.

Secondly, in a highly charged political act, they must swear an oath of loyalty and obedience to the two pillars of the state: the king and the constitution.

Certainly, the requirements to become a Spanish citizen are not without controversy since they impose an important political and cultural burden, raising an issue that has not been resolved by the broader society itself: What does it mean to be Spanish?

The requirements to become a Spanish citizen are not without controversy since they impose an important political and cultural burden

Given the data available, it might be easier answer the question of how willing is Spain to allow foreigners to become citizens. We can look at European statistics to see that how the country stacks up. According to Eurostat, whose most recent figures are from 2021, no other country on the continent approves more citizenship applications than Spain, a total of 144,00 for that year, followed by France (at 130,400), Germany (130,000), and Italy (121,500).

If we keep in mind — again according to Eurostat — that the foreign-born population of France and Italy is similar to that of Spain, while Germany’s is twice the size, it would seem that the country’s policies are not particularly restrictive in this regard.

However, data-driven conclusions do not always coincide with the subjective experience of those who must deal with the paperwork which, according to several investigative reports, is described as slow, arduous and administratively complex. Let’s remember, however, that granting citizenship and expanding rights always has positive effects on society at large.

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Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Conversation and is reproduced here with permission from Crative Commons. The author, Yoan Molinero Gerbeau, is a researcher in International Migration at the Comillas Pontifical University.

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A Former CIA Agent Questions the Rejection of a Foreign Hand in Havana Syndrome

Marc Polymeropoulos was a CIA agent for 26 years. (Screen Capture)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 15 March 2024 — Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired former senior CIA officer who claims to be a victim of the so-called Havana syndrome, described the U.S. intelligence report as a “blow to the gut.” The report ruled out any “foreign adversary”, and he said in an interview that in his opinion, it was Cuba and Russia.

Polymeropoulos spoke exclusively with América TeVé about the syndrome that affected more than 200 people and which was one of the reasons that the normalization with Cuba initiated by Barack Obama when he was president of the United States did not go ahead.

The interview, divided into two parts, of which the second and last will be broadcast this Tuesday by América TeVé, is a reaction to the report entitled “Evaluation of Abnormal Health Incidents” prepared by seven U.S. intelligence agencies and published on March 1 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Avril D. Haines.

The interview is a reaction to the report entitled “Evaluation of Abnormal Health Incidents” prepared by seven U.S. intelligence agencies

The former senior officer, who retired from the CIA in 2019 after 26 years, allegedly due to the aftermath of Havana syndrome, which, he said, affected him while in a hotel in Russia in 2017, considered himself betrayed by that report. continue reading

“The idea that we somehow think that there is no State involved is inexplicable. I would understand if they said ‘we don’t know, we just don’t know,'” said Polymeropoulos, who was introduced as an expert in counterterrorism.

The first cases of the syndrome were known in Havana in 2016, and there were later cases of diplomatic personnel, family members and intelligence agents in several countries who were affected.

“How could we move from the report of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicines (December 2020) that concluded that our injuries had been caused by a direct energy weapon to this report?” he asked.

Polymeropoulos, who acknowledged that América TeVé had no evidence to support his opinion, believes that everything could have started as an operation by Cuba and Russia to collect intelligence information through signals.

Realizing that the use of targeted energy pulsations could affect the health of American officers on the ground, the process evolved into a weapon.

Polymeropoulos said that neither the Cuban nor the Russian intelligence service wanted to have American intelligence officers in Havana and found that they could “get us off the battlefield in a way that was difficult to detect.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘How Much Do You Pay for Rent’ Is How Cubans Greet Each Other in Miami

The typical ’efficiency’ in Miami is a small space rented as an apartment / NPR

14ymedio, Alejandro Mena/Juan Izquierdo, Miami/Havana, 30 March 2024 — “How much do you pay for rent?” The question has become a greeting among the Cubans of Miami, and the answer is almost always a stratospheric figure. The real estate issue hits newcomers and long-timers alike, but the possible solutions – moving to smaller spaces or peripheral cities – bring new complications: in the historic capital of exile you can have family and your culture, but you also have to work.

Iván, a 38-year-old man from Havana, knows this full well and lists his litany of bills to 14ymedio. Discounting electricity and other basic services, health insurance and his car, living in Broward County – north of Miami-Dade and once economical – costs him more than $2,400.

An apartment, like Ivan’s, has a room, a small kitchen, a washing machine and some furniture. To pay for it, he has to divide his day between two jobs – as a taxi driver and kitchen assistant – and still doesn’t have enough to pay the bills. He wants to move, but it’s not easy. “What’s the most shocking,” he says, “is how much moving costs. Renting a new apartment will cost me $2,000 a month, but to that you have to add two more months in advance. If you don’t have at least 6,000 dollars, you can’t move.”

Ivan has been in Florida for two years and knows the rules, but for newcomers the situation is really disconcerting, he says, especially since many still have to pay off the debt they contracted with the family member who got them out of Cuba, which can exceed $10,000. continue reading

“I used to explain that I didn’t live in Miami but in Broward, which was cheaper a few years ago. But now it’s the same”

“I used to explain that I didn’t live in Miami but in Broward, which was cheaper a few years ago. But now it’s the same,” says Ivan. Panic grows when leases expire and owners can raise the rent or remove the tenant. For those who want to move, the expiration of the lease is an opportunity to look for a cheaper place.

One option is the so-called “efficiency”, a space attached to a house or a larger building – such as a garage – enabled as a room and “with some comforts,” defines Iván. Its price ranges between 800 and 1,500 dollars, depending on its condition and the area. In Miramar, in Broward County, “some parts are still cheap,” he says, except for the west of the city, where the price increases are alarming. It is also “quite cheap” within the same county, like the city of Hollywood, but “there are neighborhoods where no one wants to live.”

An example is Little Haiti, where, of course, Haitians predominate. Many have been there since the 1960s, when they fled the Duvalier dictatorship, and it has a reputation for “not being safe.” The city of Opa-locka, in Miami-Dade County, has the same reputation, and rents there are also cheap, “although not much more.” “Normally people don’t want to go there,” Ivan says.

“When I meet someone, before asking him how he is, I’m interested in how much he’s paying for rent, for a car, etc. It’s already a whole issue among Cubans here,” Ivan says. Checking your phone and finding a notification of late payment, or verifying that your account is empty and the bank that loaned you the money to buy a car is requesting the monthly payment, is a recurring nightmare.

For the newcomer from Cuba, learning how the economic gears of his new life work is complicated

For the newcomer from Cuba, learning how the economic gears of his new life work is complicated. Often – Ivan describes – Cubans interpret the starting point “from such a price” as the definitive figure, only to find out that they must pay an amount higher than expected. “Many go to the apartment and say ’wow!’, but when they learn the price, plus the fees for garbage, internet, water, electricity, sewer… it’s crazy,” he concludes.

Having a friend, contacts or family members who have been in Florida for a long time is the best help. “Those who have lived here for a while know when a place is up for rent,” says Sara, a 47-year-old from Holguin who lives in Hialeah. Confidence in tenants has decreased a lot, especially with the recent waves of Cubans escaping from the Island.

“Many are afraid to rent because of fights and other reasons,” she says. In her case, she pays “below average” because she has been in the same apartment for years and knows the owners of the property. However, “someone who has just arrived always comes with a bad reputation.”

Property owners in Florida will now have legal support to evict tenants who illegally occupy their houses. A law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis decrees the “immediate expulsion” and the “punishment of criminals who seek to circumvent the system.” [[Property owners in Florida will now have legal support to evict tenants who illegally occupy their houses]]

The law will go into effect on June 1, and the Florida Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that it was a measure against Washington’s inaction in the face of the migration crisis, which “has allowed millions of illegal immigrants to cross the border.” According to the authorities, a group of undocumented migrants has an “atrocious and brazen plan” to seize houses, so the law empowers the owner to request “the assistance of a sheriff” and proceed to eviction.

They can also go to the police if the matter involves a former tenant or one who is in a legal dispute with the owner, which presents certain dangers when interpreting the law. The Florida Rising organization warns that the law “may lead abusive owners to expel legal tenants.”

Hialeah, one of the cities in Florida where Cubans settle most frequently, was identified in 2023 as one of the worst for renting in the United States, despite its popularity among Cubans. “The city projects a modern face and is open to investments, while its residents, mainly employed in manufacturing, construction and maintenance, see how rents rise to unattainable prices for the average salaries,” said El Nuevo Herald last January.

The newspaper cited the complaints of several Cubans, who felt powerless before the real estate boom in the area, while rents exceeded $2,000

The newspaper cited the complaints of several Cubans, who felt powerless before the real estate boom in the area, while rents exceed $2,000 and continue to rise. The mayor of Hialeah himself, Esteban Bovo, told the newspaper that “a garage converted into an apartment” or “a mobile home” are scandalous solutions to the housing problem in his city and said that he trusted the “self-regulation of the market.”

Life, however, goes elsewhere: the last station of the real estate Way of the Cross are the vehicles illegally converted into “houses.” The local government is targeting those who park mobile homes or trailers – apartments on wheels – for an indefinite time in a parking lot. The authorities have promised a flood of fines and raids, but the measure – aimed at a mainly migrant population accustomed to a difficult life – does not seem destined to prosper.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At 140 Pesos a Bunch, the Price of Carrots on the Streets of Havana Has Doubled in One Year

A “mountain” of carrots on Valle Street, near Trillo Park in Central Havana, on Saturday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, March 30, 2024 — On Saturday morning a man leaned over a mountain of carrots placed on Valle Street, near Trillo Park in Central Havana. At 140 pesos a bunch, the price was slightly lower than what the city’s private vendors were charging but far from the 70 pesos that was the going rate in the same spot in late March 2023, or the 80 pesos at the market on 19th and B streets in Vedado, based on weekly figures compiled by 14ymedio. Known jokingly as “La Boutique,” the market on 19th and B streets can induce approach-avoidance conflict in Havana residents. It is common knowledge that, within its perimeter, you can find not only the highest produce prices in the city but also best quality and widest variety of merchandise, a stark contrast to the many stunted cassavas and sickly tomatoes for sale at other private markets and state-run establishments.

Fruits such as soursop and star apple, which are never seen in other stores, can frequently be found at La Boutique. Plastic shopping bags here are in short supply but can be had if you are willing to pay extra for them. Domestically grown grapes, mameyes for smoothies and tamarind paste stand ready to go into a refreshing juice drink. Imported heads of garlic, with cloves four times the size of the local variety, are among the items for sale here.

Nearby, there is no shortage of unlicensed vendors selling lobsters, shrimp and a wide variety of fish filets. There is also an abundance of drivers, ready to deliver a client’s purchases to his or her door, as well as currency exchangers who can swap out a bagfull of Cuban bills for a hundred dollars. In the midst of this vibrant and varied marketplace, it is the carrots that stand out. Clean, almost shiny, and without a trace of their leafy tops. Of course, their price might be double those found in the pushcarts and tiny public squares of the poorest neighborhoods.

Evolution of carrot prices from March 2023 until today / 14ymedio

This week, the price of carrots at 19th and B streets approached 150 pesos a bunch, almost double what it was a year ago but nowhere near the shocking peak of 600 pesos in October 2023. Though healthy and versatile, the carrot is not often used in everyday Cuban cooking, where vegetables, generally speaking, do not play a big role or are served only in small portions. Though continue reading

demand for tomatoes grows in the cooler months and the avocado is king of the table in summer, the carrot — a root vegetable rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A and antioxidants — does not enjoy the same popularity.

During the toughest years of the Special Period, Cubans devised recipes that substituted carrots for the food items that were not available. This is how the “candy coquito” was born. Grated carrots were used instead of wheat flour in puddings while the fruits that normally went into guava or mango jams were exchanged for this hardy tuber. Perhaps this is why many diners associate carrots with the hardships of that crisis as well as those of the current one.

For those who like the vegetable, however, its price might discourage them from buying it as often as they did before. The cost of four bunches of carrots at La Boutique is almost equivalent of a quarter of the monthly minimum wage and close to half of a Cuban retiree’s very small but very common 1,400-peso pension

That is also why, on Saturday, those who prefer to save a little went to the open-air market near Trillo Park, even though the merchandise was covered in dirt and lying on the ground as if it were garbage. They are ten pesos a bunch cheaper than those at 19th and B, which is not much. But if you do not watch what you spend, peso by peso, buying food can become impossible. For many Cubans, there is a red line that they dare not cross when it comes to expenses, even if that means eating much worse. That line is sometimes an intense carrot color.

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‘We’ve Been Without Water for 18 Days in the Santa Fe Neighborhood of Guanabacoa’

After several days without water, Santa Fe received a “pipa” (water truck) for the whole community / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 31 March 2024 — Without changing his tone of voice, an official of the government of Havana explained this Thursday to Joaquín, a 68-year-old retiree, why the neighborhood of Santa Fe, in Guanabacoa, had not received water for more than ten days. “The reservoirs are dry,” he said before hanging up the phone. With that data – and trying not to lose his temper – the old man went to the Communist Party, the municipal delegate and the leaders of his area. He received more laziness and a piece of advice: “Don’t go anywhere else.”

A “comrade” of the Communist Party at least was sincere, Joaquín tells 14ymedio. “I’m a militant but I’m not going to deceive you,” she confessed. “What am I going to tell you? One more lie? This has no solution. It’s disrespectful, because even if the reservoirs are dry, they should send pipas.”

The only “pipa” that reached Santa Fe did not have a hose to distribute the water / 14ymedio

The dry streets of Santa Fe, the discomfort of his family and the economic desperation in the face of the economic crisis of the Island have caused, as Joaquín defines it, the problems of the neighborhood to be “a chain.” The leaders, he believes, are mere “smoke-screens,” whose function is to kick the ball down the road and dodge anyone who asks for explanations. “That’s how they stay clean themselves,” he says, alluding to the Government and pointing his finger at the ceiling. continue reading

The restoration of the service – after Joaquín called Havana – was short-lived: “First thing in the morning this Friday they had already removed it,” he says. Another palliative measure – this Wednesday – was to send a pipa, but without a hose. In front of the impoverished Hino truck, rusty and decorated with a red ribbon “against the evil eye,” the neighbors gathered in a show that Joaquín found regrettable.

“Old men carrying water, one pipa for the whole block… it’s abusive,” he says. “People are drinking water even from puddles. They are not bathing because not everyone has a cistern. But, today, who can build a cistern? One bag of cement costs 4,000 pesos on the street and 7,000 privately, and the aggregate costs 3,500.”

It doesn’t seem bad to him that, whoever can, pays for a private pipa. What he does not conceive is that the poor people of Santa Fe, who have been complaining about the difficulties in the supply for years, are sent a pipa by the authorities like this Wednesday’s. “If you’re going to send a pipa to a place where people have tanks upstairs – on the roofs – how are you going to send them one without a hose?” he asks.

Like many of the streets of Guanabacoa, those of Santa Fe are full of potholes / 14ymedio

Gloria, a 47-year-old housewife, can no longer be silent on the subject. Squeezed by the shortage, she has personally demanded a solution from the local Aqueduct officials. “There are children here,” is the first thing she says, “and they have been without water for 18 days.” The director’s response was that they didn’t turn on the turbines because the water “is dirty.”

“They have very old turbines,” Gloria explains to this newspaper. “My proposal is that they put on the water one day yes and one day no. Yesterday they put it on for a moment. They have already turned it off. And the tremendous amount of clothes that many mothers were washing, for example? They don’t send pipas or anything. The delegate does not give answers. He says he doesn’t plan to complain because it doesn’t do any good.”

Others, for fear of possible reprisals or because they don’t believe that local leaders can solve anything, prefer to resign themselves. This is the case of Sandra, age 25, who knows that the neighbors of Santa Fe have tried to expose the situation, although she, “personally”, has not done anything. “It’s a critical situation,” she admits, to which blackouts and shortages are added. “But the problem of water is what affects us the most, not so much electricity. But hey,” she says shrugging her shoulders, “there are worse places.”

“Whoever can invent, invents,” is the motto of Jorge, a 32-year-old mechanic. But the saying has a coda: “He who can’t invent gets on board.” They are the most in Santa Fe. Luckily, he says, his house is on a kind of “border”: “Going up it’s worse,” he says, pointing to a group of houses where the water does not reach because “it has no strength.” When a pipa arrives, they are the ones that carry the most water buckets.

“But, today, who can build a cistern? The cement bag is at 4,000 pesos on the street and 7,000 in a private company, and the aggregate costs 3,500”

Like many of the streets of Guanabacoa, those of Santa Fe are full of potholes. The drought is noticed even by the children, who play at spinning tops near Jorge’s house. One of them unrolls the string and throws the toy on the asphalt, which leaves a wake of dust as it “dances.”

In the living room of his house, Pedro – retired at age 75 – watches the midday news. He likes to see “the part on Ukraine,” but when the national newscasters come on and announce the sending of “so many water pumps” he loses his patience. “Where are all those teams and why don’t any of those pumps get to Santa Fe? They start saying that they are going to give pumps to everyone because there is a lot of breakage. And what about us?” he asks.

From the kitchen, his daughter explains what she has been told: “There is a problem because a pump was blocked and the water is cloudy.” Disillusioned, Pedro returns to his problems: “I don’t know,” he says, “I’m tired of scratching and not being able to bathe.”

The reservoirs, the pumps, the filter, the dirt, the fuel, the broken equipment… the residents of Santa Fe no longer know what to believe. In the mouths of leaders whom no one trusts, multiple causes are attributed to the same phenomenon. In the hard way, families have learned that leaders only react when the same vessels they use to conserve water resonate during a cacerolazo*, going out into the street and banging on pots and pans.

*Translator’s note: Cacerolazo [from ’cacerola’ – saucepan — and the source of ’casserole’’ in English] is the word for beating on pots and pans, a common form of protest in much of Latin America.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Receives More Than 90,000 Tons of Oil From Russia

The tanker NS Concord arrived in the port of Matanzas with more than 90,000 tons of Russian oil / / @EnergiaMinasCub/X

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 31 March 2024 — Cuba received a ship from Russia with more than 90,000 tons of oil to alleviate the Island’s energy crisis, the Ministry of Energy and Mines reported on Saturday. The NS Concord, under the flag of Gabon, arrived at the Matanzas base in the west of the country. This is the second shipment of crude oil from Moscow to Havana after the one made on March 17, when 650,000 barrels of crude oil arrived – valued at almost 50 million dollars.

Cuba is going through an energy crisis reflected in interruptions in the electricity service that have lasted more than 10 hours a day.

These shipments occur after several high-level official visits between the two countries. The most recent was that of the Minister of Foreign Trade, Ricardo Cabrisas, to the Eurasian country.

During Cabrisas’ stay in Moscow, Russia granted a new loan to Havana – for an undisclosed amount – to “guarantee the stable supply of oil, petroleum products, wheat and fertilizers,” according to the state agency Prensa Latina. continue reading

Due to the shortage of fuel, the Corral Falso gas station in Guanabacoa opens at 12 pm / 14ymedio

The Cuban government has recently reported that one of the problems in electricity generation is explained by the drop in crude oil imports from allied countries. Although the Island’s government has not indicated them by name, maritime traffic tracking data point to Venezuela and Russia.

Jorge Piñón, an energy expert at the University of Texas, points out that “Cuba is benefiting, like all the other buyers of the Russian Urals crude, from buying a very good quality crude at a discount. Russia was previously selling the Europe Brent crude oil at a premium.”

Piñón explains that Russia has high crude oil inventories due to the sanctions imposed by the West for its invasion of Ukraine. He emphasizes that this has led the Kremlin to “sell he Brent crude at a discount of 8 to 12 dollars per barrel,” having India and China among the main customers.

The Russian Urals crude, Piñón says, is “sold at a discount and at a subsidized price in international markets.” However, “the problem is liquidity due to the few buyers who take the risk of going against the sanctions. The Urals is sold today at $77.43, a discount of $9.54 from the Brent.”

The expert from the University of Texas says that on April 5, another tanker, the Nordic, will arrive in Matanzas, with 475,000 barrels of Russian oil.

According to data offered by Piñón, like the tanker NS Concord, the Nordic set sail from the Russian port of Ust-Luga and made stops in Senegal and Cape Verde. “We are sure that it is one of many Russian oil tankers that are on hold, making technical stops at several ports, to find a final buyer/destination.”

Tourists of the Russian company Rosnetf upon their arrival on the Island / Granma

This Saturday, Havanatur and the International Group of Tour Operators and Travel Agents reported the arrival on the Island of the first flight of this season of workers from the Russian oil company Rosnetf. According to Havanatur, the Nordwind airline transported 389 passengers to “develop ’stay’ programs.” This is the first of three groups of the oil company for the spring, and “another four flights will be completed for the fall.”

For a decade, Havanatur has been offering Rosnetf workers stays to rest and have a medical check-up. The official newspaper Granma emphasizes that the agreement with the Russian company began on the Island in 2014 and “selected the Varadero spa, the main Cuban sun and beach tourist destination, where they enjoy outdoor physical activities, excursions and medical check-ups.”

The Russian workers were received at the Juan Gualberto Gómez de Matanzas international terminal, by the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Tourism, María del Carmen Orellana, the general director of Havanatur, Yoelkis Salazar, and other managers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Way of the Cross Marked by Emigration and Tensions with the Communist Party of Cuba

The image of the Nazarene runs through Aguiar, under the poster of the municipal committee of the Communist Party / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez / Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 30 March 2024 — The most significant station of the Way of the Cross held in Old Havana this Friday, when dozens of Catholics took to the streets under the tense gaze of the Police, occurred on the block of the municipal committee of the Communist Party. The image of the Nazarene went through Aguiar Street and passed under the red and black sign of the same institution that restricted Holy Week with prohibitions in several provinces of the Island.

It was a procession with few faithful and a lot of vigilance. Presided over by Cardinal Juan García, there were more members of the clergy – Franciscan friars, seminarians and missionaries of the Charity of Teresa of Calcutta – and of the security forces than there were the believers who participated in it. However, the religious figures were able to leave at 6:00 pm from the parish of the Christ of the Good Journey to Cathedral Square.

Believers and officers were asked to “give space” to the figures and those who led the procession. “Why do they have so much security if people keep cutting through it,” one of the clerics said sarcastically. Before starting the procession, the priests thanked the “photographers, cameramen and the press” for their presence. “What a pleasure that you are here, because it is a pleasure to see the faith of the people,” they added.

Closely watched by the Police, the Way of the Cross procession leaves from the Buenviaje Church of Christ / 14ymedio

El Cristo and La Dolorosa, on the shoulders of the well-dressed parishioners, traveled around the damaged streets of Old Havana. Behind the figures, a bus with a bullhorn amplified the prayers of the cardinal and the faithful, who asked for “forgiveness” for the Cuban people. The reflections on the Passion of Christ – usual in the celebration – put the emphasis on comparing, although subtly, the suffering of Cubans with that of the first Christians. continue reading

It attributed to the soldiers who crucified Christ an abuse of their “right to coercion”; it alluded to the “spectacle of suffering” that becomes customary. Believers were asked to “approach the persecuted” and hear “the subtle voice of conscience” about the imprisoned. “The Way of the Cross of bitterness is not a civil act but a religious act,” the priests said aloud, and among them were voices critical of the regime such as Jorge Luis Pérez Soto and Kenny Fernández.

Priest Kenny Fernández in the foreground along with other members of the clergy in Cathedral Square / 14ymedio

More people joined when night fell and the symbolic body of Christ reached the Church of the Angel to be buried. Decorated with garlands and lights strung on balconies, the streets that lead to the Plaza del Ángel – in addition to the concert band that accompanied the parishioners – animated the procession.

Decimated by the emigration of a large part of the young Catholics of Havana and by the population in general, this Friday’s Way of the Cross was less emotional than that of previous years. The tensions between the Communist Party and several parish priests, such as the Dominican Lester Zayas, prevented the local Via Crucisis, smaller than the one held in Old Havana, from being carried out.

The procession marches, now at night, towards the Church of the Angel, where the Holy Burial is celebrated / 14ymedio

Interviewed by EFE about the limitations imposed on the parish of the Sacred Heart in El Vedado, which he attends, Zayas again said that his sermons on the Cuban crisis made the authorities uncomfortable and are the cause of the prohibition. “People say that priests can’t be involved in politics. And it’s true, if by politics we mean partisan politics, but if we understand politics as something social, then it is possible to talk about the Gospel. A priest can’t stand at the pulpit and talk about the Heaven that is going to arrive if we can’t transform what happens on Earth, where we have children who go to school without breakfast because they don’t have milk,” he said.

He added that what happened this week in several parishes throughout Cuba – especially in the dioceses of Santa Clara, Havana and Bayamo-Manzanillo – is an “attack on religious freedom.” However, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced that 111 celebrations, including Good Friday and Easter Sunday, were authorized by the Communist Party.

Holy Week has stirred up the unease of Cuban Catholics with the Government. While several priests, such as Fernández and Zayas in Havana, and Castor Álvarez and Alberto Reyes in Camagüey defend their right to criticize – as citizens and clerics – the situation on the Island, the Bishops’ Conference has remained in a certain lethargy and has not issued pastoral letters that, at another time, were their instrument to urge the rulers to change.

The frustrated negotiations for the release of political prisoners, the Vatican’s approaches to Miguel Díaz-Canel and the cordiality of the ecclesiastical leadership with the authorities of the Government and the Party make a critical turn of the bishops unlikely. Despite this, some isolated voices of the Conference, such as that of the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García, have spoken out about the poverty, shortages and blackouts that led to the March 17 protests, with a focus on his archdiocese.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Sea Returns Havana’s Garbage and More to the Malecon

When the sea withdraws, a whole layer of filth covers the nearest streets / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 30 March 2024 — “What comes from the sea, returns to the sea,” is a maxim that the residents of San Leopoldo, a Havana neighborhood bordering the Malecón, know very well. It’s a low zone in this area of the Cuban capital where there are frequent coastal floods. The sewers, in addition to draining the water, bring into homes the odor of saltwater mixed with trash, and the wastewater carries crabs that are skinny and pale, a result of a contaminated coastline that has few natural nutrients.

Almost a hundred years ago, after the construction of the wall where so many habaneros go to refresh themselves at night, the rocks were covered and the waves diverted. Areas that were filled in until the end of the 19th century were pure coastline. A good part of those areas snatched from the sea are once again under its control when storms and hurricanes hit the Cuban capital. The water rises in a few hours, floods Maceo Park and rushes through the streets of Lealtad, Escobar, Perseverancia and Reina into Belascoaín. Nothing can stop it.

With the penetrations of the sea comes the floating garbage that used to rest on the asphalt. It navigates the pieces of wood, circumvents the plastic bottles and sends the plastic bags with remnants of food and dirt sailing from the corners. The garbage containers are converted into ships, dirty and cracked gondolas that go where the waters carry them. But the waste that people have been throwing off the other side of the wall also returns.

The water rises in a few hours, flooding Maceo Park and rushes through the streets of Lealtad, Escobar, Perseverancia covering Belascoaín street

When the sea withdraws, a whole layer of filth covers the nearest streets. Most of the rubbish is concentrated In front of the Malecón wall, in the area from Gervasio to Galiano. Algae that is drying, all kinds of plastic, beer cans where the brands are no longer distinguishable, children’s flip-flops that the waves had taken away, and some inflated and pestilent bags that no one dares to even look at for fear of what they have inside. continue reading

Since last weekend’s storm, the sea brought back everything under the sun to the residents of San Leopoldo, along with the garbage that it removed from the street, which had been accumulating for weeks without the Communals Company coming to pick it up. It is as if nature were returning the offal to them and, by the way, clarifying to them that a city’s trash always returns to its streets, no matter how much the wall protects them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Arrested on March 17 Increases to 41, According to Prisoners Defenders

The number of people who have been arrested for protesting on March 17th continues to increase

14ymedio, Havana, 30 March 2024 — The NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD) reported on Saturday that, according to its record, 41 people were arrested in Cuba after the protests on 17 March 2024 (’17M’), of which six were later released. The provinces of Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, with 13 and 12 arrested, top the list, followed by Havana (five), Artemisa (three) and Cienfuegos (two). Last weekend, the organization, based in Madrid, reported that, after the demonstrations of 17M, which protested the lack of food, electricity and freedom, the Police had arrested 38 people but warned that as their investigations progressed, the number could increase.

The list published this Saturday also includes detainees in the provinces of Granma, Guantánamo, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara, Las Tunas and Matanzas, with one case in each. PD also points out that six people have already been released since the protests.

⚡️Actualización sobre la cifra de detenidos en las manifestaciones de marzo de 2024 en #Cuba. Se confirman?

➡️41 detenidos verificados:
▪️ 20 presos políticos nuevos verificados
▪️ 15 detenidos en proceso de verificación como nuevos presos
▪️ 6 liberados#11j… pic.twitter.com/OQ55iUnfGb

— Prisoners Defenders (@PrisonersDFNdrs) March 30, 2024

On March 23, in Santiago de Cuba, 18-year-old Cristian Kindelán was arrested for protesting in the Carretera del Morro area. Hours later, his father, Asdrúbal Kindelán Garbey, was also arrested when he tried to report the situation on Facebook in front of the detention center in the Altos de Versailles. continue reading

Asdrúbal’s mother and Cristian’s grandmother, Teresa Garbey, explained what happened on social networks and said that her grandson was arrested because he appeared in a video of the protests. When she asked “Major Oscar” of the Ministry of the Interior, the officer responded that he “didn’t have to give an explanation to arrest someone.”

Other organizations offer different figures on the number of detainees after 17M. As of March 19, Cubalex had counted 11 prisoners in El Cobre (Santiago de Cuba), and Justicia 11J pointed out the same figure in Bayamo, capital of Granma province.

After long days of blackouts, on March 17 and 18 there were protests in several Cuban provinces. Citizens demanded “Freedom,” but the screams of “We are hungry” and “We want current” were also heard.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Authorities in Havana Investigate the Theft of 1,293 Pounds of Potatoes

Vendors unloading potatoes at the produce market on 17th and K streets in Havana’s Vedado district / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2024 — Local leaders and police officers sprang into action after receiving anguished calls from residents of the Rampa neighborhood in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution district on Wednesday. The cause: the theft of 1,293 pounds of potatoes intended for roughly 431 residents — a rate of three pounds per person — who suddenly found themselves without access to the product.

According to a post on Facebook by the Vedado Administrative Council, after receiving reports that there were no potatoes at the market on 17th and K streets, Council President Pedro Lizardo Garcés Escalona, went to investigate. Practically speaking, the potato supply should have been enough to feed everyone.

After confirming that there had been “violations,” he contacted the Municipal Office of Inspection and the police, who determined there was a shortfall that “could not be accounted for.” The market’s administrator, the post states, was detained and taken to the police station at Zapata and C streets “so that the appropriate investigative process could be carried out.”

Garcés Escalona, who also provided details of the robbery on social media, claimed that during the inspection, “weight tampering” was discovered and that the market had been selling fewer pounds of potatoes than customers had been paying for. However, the amount he reported stolen was greater than the figure reported on the council’s webpage. His was also the figure continue reading

that was cited in an article published in Tribuna de la Habana. According to the preliminary count, 1,609 pounds of potatoes were missing, enough to feed 536 consumers.

“You shouldn’t play around with the public’s food supply, much less profit from it in the midst of a complicated situation like the country is experiencing”

“You shouldn’t play around with the public’s food supply, much less profit from it in the midst of a complicated situation like the country is experiencing,” said Garcés Escalona.

Potatoes have only been available for purchase on the island for the last fews weeks, a period that corrsponds to their harvest season. A high-demand product, Cubans are willing to pay high prices for them, currently around 200 pesos a pound. As a result, vendors are eager to get hold of them, even if it means acquiring them “under the table.”

An article published in Tribuna several weeks ago focused the theft of potatoes from state coolers, “where tubers are selected as seeds for future harvests or as reserves that that might be needed for rationing in the event of a shortage.”

The article lamented the demise of the Soviet Union, which once provided the island with a year-round supply. Since then, potatoes have gone from being abundant — something that piled up, “rotting away in in sacks in front almost every food stall” — to being a “strategic” food.

The news, which was also reported in state-run media, noted that thefts from government-run food warehouses have become commonplace, with company directors almost always implicated in these crimes. The disappearance of 133 tons of chicken from a Havana warehouse, which was reported on national television, is just the most recent case of “diversions” in domestic commerce, “one which the public most often associates with corruption,” as Prime Minister Manuel Marrero described it at an auditing conference several days ago.

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Complaints in Sancti Spiritus About the Water Bills From the Time of the Pandemic

A worker checks a water meter / Escambray

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 29 March 2024 — Luisa López was stunned this Wednesday when, under her door, in the city of Sancti Spíritus, someone left a water bill. On the piece of paper was the amount of 1,200 pesos, a fee that had accumulated since 2020, when the Cuban authorities decreed the suspension of collection for the service, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nobody warned us; this came out of the blue, and it’s a lot of money, practically all my monthly pension,” says this resident of the Kilo 12 neighborhood. Although in other provinces the water bill was restored shortly after the end of the deadliest stage of the pandemic, in Sancti Spíritus many customers of the Aqueduct and Sewerage Company still received the service even though they hadn’t paid.

“It’s not so much that they’re charging me for the water, which I can understand, but that all this accumulated debt arrives now”

“It’s not so much that they’re charging me for the water, which I can understand, but that all this accumulated debt arrives now, and they don’t allow you to pay it off a little at a time,” complains López. In her neighborhood, some people have decided not to pay their bills, which in many cases exceed four digits, despite the fear that their supply will be cut off. To make matters worse, the monthly cost per person of the water consumed during the pandemic went from five to seven pesos. continue reading

In the province, water is not charged per cubic meter due to the lack of consumption meters. Instead, each family pays a fixed rate for each person.

“Everything is very poorly organized, because in my block there are people who have received a bill with a very high number, and others, who have not paid anything all this time, have not even received one,” says Eliseo, a resident in the historic center of the city. “They didn’t notify us before.”

A bill for more than 600 pesos arrived at Eliseo’s house, although the 73-year-old retiree says that he consumes very little water because he lives alone. “Here there are many problems with the supply; the service is bad, and the well in the house is so low that the water never reaches me,” he says.

“The Company has not fixed this issue, and people are upset because there are so many things all at once: money that doesn’t stretch far enough, the constant blackouts and now this. They should have forgiven all that debt because (since the pandemic) everything has become more expensive, especially for those of us who live from a retirement pension.”

In Eliseo’s neighborhood, however, there are residents who will pay the large bill. “My mom has a cafeteria, and we can’t draw attention to ourselves. If you have a private business you have to cover your ass, because they’ll take away your license in a blink of the eye,” says a young man who lives in the San Juan neighborhood.

The amounts now being billed to customers of the Sancti Spíritus Aqueduct and Sewerage Company began to accumulate in April 2020, when the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, announced a package of measures in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

At that time, the official stated that the charge for electricity, water and gas services would be eliminated for the time being

At that time, the official stated that the charge for electricity, water and gas services would be eliminated for the time being, except for those that could be done electronically. In the provinces where local entities could not collect digitally, the billing was paralyzed.

After overcoming the worst moment of COVID-19, the provincial company ran into another problem: the lack of workers to go door to door to collect the accumulated charges. When they tried to resume collection in 2021, they barely managed to cover a small percentage of the customers. Now, many have not paid even one cent for the service for two to four years.

“They knocked on my door, an employee with several checkbooks in his hand, and he told me that I owed for two years,” explains another resident of Kilo 12. “I told him that they couldn’t come and charge me that all at once, so I only paid a part, and he told me that he would come back next month.” The woman believes that she and her family are now “paying for the company’s inefficiency, more than for the water we consumed.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Disheartened Silvio Rodriguez Understands Why Young People Are Leaving Cuba

The singer Silvio Rodríguez in an archival photo / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 26 March 2024 — “I understand the young people who leave,” replies Silvio Rodríguez bluntly when asked about the wave of migration from Cuba. The singer/songwriter, as usual, then tempers his answer. “There is only one life and the situation in Cuba is quite difficult. We have had to replace generations while under siege. Cuba’s greatest achievements, such as our schools, are still operating though with great difficulty. Our hospitals also are also up and running, though with fewer staff, resources and medications,” he adds.

An interviewer with El Español, an online news site headquartered in Madrid, tried to put Rodríguez on the spot with his questions but the singer-songwriter, despite being a veteran of many battles, once again made clear that he was unwilling to veer too far from the official line. Laying blame for the source of Cuba’s ills, he says, “We cannot forget that very unjust imperial sanctions weigh on Cuba, which has been condemned for decades – at least verbally – in the United Nations. Though the United States government claims there is no blockade because they sell us frozen chicken, the truth is that the economic pressure has been doing what that U.S. undersecretary [of state] predicted it would do sixty years ago: produce discontent through economic strangulation,” he points out.

“Cuba’s greatest achievements, such as our schools, are still operating but with great difficulty. Our hospitals also are also up and running, though with fewer staff, resources and medications”

Perhaps toughest question is one related to international affairs, when the interviewer raises the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He asks Rodríguez if it is not possible for him to criticize Vladimir Putin, whose actions “stand in stark contrast to communist values.” continue reading

“When you put it that way — ‘the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ — I’m also not happy about that either,” responds Rodríguez, who then falls back on officialdom’s standard rhetorical arsenal, citing the Maidan Revolution, the conflict in the Donbas and the eventual admission of Ukraine into NATO at the behest of the United States. “I don’t understand why Western Europe didn’t draw closer to Russia,” he says.

Rodríguez is more cautious when talking about Spain. Though he confesses to a preference for Pablo Iglesias and José Carlos Monedero — two of the founders of the country’s left-wing Podemos party — he notes that he does not like to “express opinions about other people’s houses.” He adds, however, that he believes the Spanish left has moderated its positions to counter the growing popularity of the extreme right, also adding that he appreciates that the country “is defending the Palestinian people, who need international solidarity now more than ever.”

But the interviewer does not let him change the subject. Rodríguez emphasizes that, though many Israelis do not agree with the way their leaders are handling the Palestinian question, the United States has decided to support “those who want to hold onto the entire territory, obviously so that it can serve as a launching pad in the region.”

“When you put it that way — ‘the Russian invasion of Ukraine’ — I’m also not happy about that either”

The artist denies the interviewer’s suggestion that there is “a reactionary right-wing wave” in America. He sees it as a global phenomenon that has been fueled by the pandemic which, he believes, created a global crisis that the right seized upon to criticize progressive governments. More strikingly, he talks about decadent empires and a battle for economic domination while he bemoans that there is “zero room for China and Russia,” two of the world’s three world economic superpowers.

Regarding the ideology itself, Rodríguez downplays the fact that the right has “taken up the cause of freedom,” as the interviewer tells him, pointing out that it is a different idea from that concept. “It seems to be a conditional freedom because, essentially it’s about the strong being able to dominate weak with impunity while believing that times have changed, he says. “[In the past] it was cool to want to be ’the man of the house’. If you said that today, they would accuse you of being, at best, misogynistic.”

Rodríguez, who has launched several diatribes against the island’s current government, avoids openly criticizing its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. “Wouldn’t it be more difficult today to be a troubadour for the revolutionary regime, stripped of the heroic nature of the uprising, of its victory and its charismatic leaders?” he is asked. “I suppose,” he says, “but “not as difficult as being a journalist for capitalism since it is so obvious that this system is more interested in the arms industry and the philosophy of dispossession than in the common good.”

“Pablo and I never had an argument over ideology. Of course, sometimes we had different opinions about something”

The interviewer asks if it is not harder to defend a bureaucracy than a charismatic leader such as Fidel Castro. “Agreeing on principles such as sovereignty and social justice does not make someone an idolater,” Rodríguez replies, confident that he did not admire the late president more than he should have.

There was also some space in the interview for a conversation about music. Though he says he does not like reggaeton, Rodríguez does not want to disparage it, admitting there are some brilliant young musicians on the island. He focuses mainly on his dead friends, especially Pablo Milanés, whose presence, he says, he feels all the time. “Pablo and I never had an argument over ideology. Of course, sometimes we had different opinions about something.”

As for the future, he is optimistic despite the currently hostile climate. “There is love. Abuse from fake elders continues to outrage and that feeling, when it is for the common good, will always be worth it, even more so if it is accompanied by action. Finally, believing you are young at age 77 could be a bit pretentious. As Clint Eastwood said, don’t let that old man in when he’s knocking at the door.”

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In Cuba a Small Private Business in Las Tunas Does What the State Has Not Managed To Do in 20 Years

The State has offered the ’MSME’ help to buy some second-hand equipment / Periódico 26

14ymedio, Havana, 29 March 2024 — Cuba’s state plan to expand the private sector to rescue the convalescent categories of the economy seems to give results in Las Tunas. A brand new MSME (private enterprise) of civil construction has managed to cover “legendary potholes” with its cold asphalt method, in addition to starting up a state tar factory that had been closed for 20 years. Behind the facade of AsfalTunas, however, the State continues to pull the strings.

Founded in mid-2023, in less than a year the company is already able to produce 300 tons of cold asphalt per day, a product that the owner of the company, Yiney Peña Jaime, considers of better quality than the hot asphalt used by the State. “The product made by other plants in the country is the hot asphalt that ages immediately, gets hard when exposed to contact with the sun and is much more aggressive in terms of the emission of gases,” he explains to the official newspaper Periódico 26 in a report published this Thursday.

The AsfalTunas product, on the other hand, “saves fuels and aggregates, in addition to being less harmful to the environment,” says the local newspaper.

As for the state Maintenance and Construction company (Emac), shut down two decades ago for “technological obsolescence, shortage of engines, breakage and the wear and tear of time,” the relationship with the msme and an investment – which the press does not clarify as state or private – has put it back into operation. continue reading

The “final touches” to the plant, in addition, will expand its production to more than 5,000 tons of asphalt per month. (Periódico 26)”If we review concrete results, this alliance has been satisfactory. We signed a contract in July 2023, and by the end of last year more than six thousand tons of cold asphalt were produced and executed, which allowed us to solve the road problems in eight municipalities,” Pablo Enrique Paneque Almaguer, director of the State company, told the newspaper. “They had to start from scratch. They began from practically nothing, and now they have a whole structural complex in progress,” he added in reference to the msme.

The “final touches” to the plant, in addition, will expand its production to more than 5,000 tons of asphalt per month, “as long as all the supplies arrive,” clarified Periódico 26. In this sense, however, the private company does not seem to have any problems. The necessary aggregate comes from Las Parras, in the municipality of Puerto Padre, and the pitch (liquid asphalt), from Sancti Spíritus and Matanzas, arrives with the help of the Cuba-Petróleo Union (Cupet).

“Transporting the aggregate depends on the amount of fuel we have, which is often overcome with the help of the government,” explains Pedro Batista Martínez, deputy director of AsfalTunas.

The company managers, who also confess to being “motivated” by a recent visit from the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, assure that “the support of the authorities has been paramount” in the development of the company. “The machinery we have on the streets is usually rented or leased to other construction companies,” says Batista, adding that the State has offered them “help in terms of the sale of some second-hand equipment, because leases are very expensive and make production more expensive.”

The management of the private business, however, far exceeds that of the state-owned company. “Maintenance and Construction made a million pesos a month when the State was in charge, while we make up to 12 million,” says the owner of the private company.

The management of the private company, however, far exceeds that of the State

According to the newspaper, AsfalTunas “not only assumes the paving of the most critical arteries in the provincial capital, but also carries out social works such as the elimination of intricate and impassable roads.”

“Right now, as a construction company, there is a notable challenge with cement which is the main raw material. If it were not for this relationship, the Emac could not have closed with positive indices last year. We complied with the sales plan, the production values, the main economic indicators of profitability and productivity, and we closed the year with profits,” acknowledges the director of the State company.

Since the Government authorized the creation of private enterprises in 2021, the regime’s alliance with several entrepreneurs, who in many cases serve as frontmen, has been highlighted. This is the case of Miguel Díaz-Canel himself, who maintains a close relationship with shoemakers and the private producers of Camajuaní, in his native Villa Clara. Likewise, the recent investigation for corruption of Alejandro Gil uncovered the alleged business of the former Minister of Economy and Planning with Fernando Javier Albán, owner of the Media Luna, a juice and preserves company in Ciego de Ávila.

Although Periódico 26 insists that “the greatest beneficiary of the task of AsfalTunas is the people,” the regime’s intention to leave part of the Island’s economy in private – but “reliable” – hands is clear. The press, indirectly, admits this. “When there are obsolete State facilities without a rehabilitation plan, the passage into the hands of private individuals (…) can be beneficial both for the company in creation and for the State.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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