Translating Cuba

“The last time I was there, I arrived in the middle of a stampede. They even killed a person in front of me. Since then I travel to Guyana, where with just over 1,000 dollars and what I spend on merchandise, I can do business”

The travel agencies, which seek to replenish their clientele after the loss of the Haitian destination, now propose other spots with the same comforts for Cubans. This Monday, an ad on Facebook suggested solving the “problem” with a trip to Venezuela. “I’m thinking about you and how I can help you travel to Margarita Island, in Venezuela, in the next few days when the price will not be too expensive.” And it added: “It is a tourist package with the visa, ticket and lodging included, with departures from Holguín and Havana.”

However, despite the promises, the difference between the 500 dollars that mules pay to travel to Haiti and the 1,050 and 1,200 dollars that resellers and agencies charge to reach the Venezuelan island is more than substantial.

Before the debacle of Haiti, Margarita Island was already popular among Cuban merchants. In 2022, according to data from the Venezuelan Government, about 5,000 Cubans, mostly “small businessmen,” arrived on the island as tourists, spending an average of 5,000 dollars per person.

Guyana, another popular destination among Cubans, has also been considered by the mules, who “for a long time” have been noticing a rise in violence in Haiti. Maritza, a habanera who traveled frequently to Port-au-Prince six months ago, tells this newspaper that due to the violence, which has even forced many countries to withdraw their staff, she has begun to travel to Guyana.

“The last time I was in Haiti, I arrived in the middle of a stampede,” she remembers. They even killed a person in front of me. Since then I travel to Guyana, where with just over 1,000 dollars and what I spend on merchandise, I can do business. It’s more expensive, but right now Haiti is a jungle and I don’t want to risk it.”

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not returned to the issue of the Cuban mules stranded in Haiti

“I also was very hungry and did a lot of work in the houses where I was staying, and I don’t want to do that now,” she says. “When I can’t travel, I go to the La Cuevita fair, in San Miguel del Padrón, and there I buy and then resell,” she adds.

As for the situation of the Cubans stranded in Haiti since March 1, videos were posted on social networks asking for help from the authorities of both countries to return them to the Island. They said that, having bought the merchandise days before, they barely had enough money and provisions to stay for a few more days in the hostels in Port-au-Prince.

Among them there are groups from Havana, Camagüey and Santiago, who have shared their situation and describe it as distressing due to the lack of explanations from the airline and the climate of insecurity that has led the Haitian authorities to declare a state of emergency.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry, which reported on the same day as the videos that it was taking “measures to ensure the safe return of Cubans residing and in transit in that country,” has not mentioned the issue again.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In Tablada’s opinion, Washington’s goal continues to be “to apply that crooked logic that if the blockade is tightened it will finally provoke a situation of revolt, a destabilization of our population, in order to blame the Government of Cuba”

The official eludes any self-criticism and emphasizes that the decisions of the US Government cause “a very severe, very painful impact on the standard of living of the Cuban family that today sees itself affected by the basic basket [of the rationing system], transport prices and the possibility of eating the food they need. Their idea is that this is because Cuba is a failed state; that is the narrative that is repeated,” she insists.

Last October, Tablada offered an interview to The Hill media in which she emphasized that the removal of Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism is one of her priorities. “As we know, it is not just another slander; it’s a measure that goes directly to the jugular of the Cuban economy,” she says, but the meetings have not borne fruit for the moment, and Joe Biden’s Administration has maintained the Island’s status. The official’s words to Prensa Latina make clear her disappointment with the Democrats and even her indifference to a change of government in the neighboring country in November.

“The policy of Joe Biden’s government has essentially followed the policy of the Donald Trump government,” she says, “even with the electoral promise that those inhumane measures that affected the Cuban family were going to be lifted.” The regime visibly supported the Democratic Party during the 2020 elections, whose headliner (Biden-Harris) had claimed that they would alleviate some measures against Cuba taken by its predecessor.

A few months after those elections, now with Biden in the White House, the repression against the demonstrators of 11 July 2021 mass protests across the island put an end to any initiative to resume the thaw, and the relaxations have been much less than those predicted by the Cuban Government, which dreamed of a return to the times of Barack Obama.

“In 2024, there is still the possibility of a second term for President Biden,” says Tablada, “but I also predict that in January 2025, what I call  ’President Trump’s demolition team’ will return. This is a country that is very polarized, where almost fascist forces are emerging, and even barbaric values that are anti-civilization such as racism, xenophobia and discrimination have become fashionable,” she elaborates.

Tablada has also referred to Republican representatives from Florida, specifically María Elvira Salazar – whom she accuses of wanting to perpetuate the presence of Cuba on the list of states that sponsor terrorism – and other opponents whom she does not mention but clearly alludes to.

“[There is a] permanent deception with the issue of human rights in which the United States Government grants privileged treatment to those people who have been the target and recipients of their financing projects for their intervention programs in Cuba’s internal policy. Those individuals are later presented as the heroes that they are not, because they have no support in our society,” she says.

“[There is a] permanent deception with the issue of human rights in which the Government of the United States grants privileged treatment to those people who have been the target or recipients of their financing projects”

According to Tablada, favoring those people “who do not even live in Cuba, is intended to justify the permanent and real violation of the human rights of millions of Cubans.” The official states that this economic suffocation is forcing the massive emigration of Cubans, without referring to the visa exemption policy maintained by Nicaragua – promoting exits at the request of Havana – or the more or less forced exits that the Government has promoted for opponents and other critics.

“The largest migratory wave in the history of Cuba, which has been very unfortunate for the Cuban family (…) is the result of that insensitive irrational policy, disconnected from reality, of thinking that by depriving people of sustenance, by cutting off all sources of income for the Cuban economy, it will manage to derail a process like ours of independence and sovereignty,” she insists. At the same time, she points out that this policy, implemented since 1959, has not worked.

Tablada’s message is repetitive throughout the interview, in which she warns that a report is being prepared that gathers the data of the fines “applied by the Department of Commerce to Cuban partners, in which it will be seen that “they have broken the record of previous years.”

Among the areas affected by the US measures, those that “affected the capacity of States to fight against COVID-19” stand out, without specifying what exactly she was referring to, but also the most recent decisions in the academic sphere. She insists that there are “growing calls” for the restoration of relations from economic, scientific and political sectors, and she adds that the meetings she continues to attend with American officials despite everything are a sign of Cuba’s goodwill.

Tablada says that “the people of Cuba trust much more in their very great solidarity, in the decency and decorum of those institutions”   

“In 2023, it is no secret to anyone that even though the toughest measures that affect the lives of Cuban men and women have been maintained, certain spaces of cooperation and exchange with the Government of the United States have been restored, in total agreement with the aspirations of their people to live in peace with their closest neighbor,” she says, after accusing Washington of using a logic “in which I do everything I can to suffocate your economy and at the same time finance a permanent and systematic disinformation campaign with billions of dollars to hold the victims responsible for the impact of those measures.”

In the midst of a situation aggravated by energy shortages, lack of food and an increase in prices of various supplies, including the fuel that warms the Island’s spirits, Tablada affirms that “the people of Cuba trust much more in their very great solidarity, in the decency and decorum of those institutions that will always extend their hand to a country that, like few others, has been reaching out to help everyone who has needed it.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“We have processed most of the people who already are in the system, and the rest are taking longer. This is how we maintain an equitable system so that everyone has a chance”  

A year ago, the plaintiffs argued that Joe Biden’s decision to give the green light to the humanitarian program was “arbitrary and capricious.” They also said that it represents an expenditure of millions of dollars for states that have to provide “services to migrants.”

After several months, the trial began last August and ended in September. Thousands of migrants who were put on hold still expect to benefit from the humanitarian parole. Faced with doubts about whether or not the policy would remain in force, hundreds of Cubans who already had their travel permits decided to advance their flights and enter the United States.

Others had bad luck and were not approved, even though the program has been in place for 14 months. According to the testimonies published in Facebook groups that Cubans have organized to stay informed about the parole process and cases recorded by this newspaper, dozens of people who applied in January 2023 are still waiting to be approved.

Migrants must have a financial sponsor in the United States who submits an online application. When they are approved, they must enter the country by air and can stay for two years and obtain a work permit.

“Because there is more demand than spots, we are processing 30,000 travel permits a month,” Luis Miranda, Deputy Undersecretary of the Office of Public Affairs of the Department of Homeland Security, told Martí Noticias last February.

“We have processed most of the people who already are in the system, and the rest are taking longer. This way we maintain an equitable system so that everyone has a chance.”

“Not everyone is going to qualify. Not everyone is going to get out of this process with the result they want, but we have helped more than 357,000 people in the last year, and that is something tremendously generous. It is the largest expansion that has been made in decades in the legal processes to emigrate to the United States,” Miranda explained.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

This sport, which has won 37 Olympic medals for the Island – 6 golds, 15 silvers and 16 bronzes – has also been impacted by defections. Judo has its best exponent in Idalys Ortiz. The native of Artemis reigns in the 78 kg/172 lb category with the bronze medal that she won at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a gold in London 2012, a silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and another silver in Tokyo 2020.

Ortiz is the hope of this sport for Paris 2024 with a record that is difficult to match. In addition to her Olympic medals, she has eight medals in world competitions. She has been three-time champion of the Pan American Games, has won 11 medals in continental sports tournaments and accumulated more than 30 on the World Judo Tour.

This sport, which has given the Island 37 Olympic medals – 6 golds, 15 silvers and 16 bronzes – has also been impacted by defections. Between July and September of last year, nine judokas ended their relationship with the Cuban sports entity

The bronze medalist at the Budapest Judo World Championship (2017), Kaliema Antomarchi, boarded a flight to Serbia in September, a route followed by many Cubans to access the European Union. This athlete’s departure coincided with the escapes in Canada of Samarys Gregorio, Odelin García and Yurisleydis Hernández after winning second place in the Pan American and Oceania Championship held in Calgary.

Vanesa Godinez, Mellisa Hurtado, Santa Virgen Romero, Blanca Elena Torres and Lutmary García also left the Cuban team in May, during their training in France.

The first to separate from the team were Vanesa Godinez, who in 2022 won a silver medal at the European Judo Open in Australia, and Mellisa Hurtado, who in the 52 kg/115 lb category, won the gold medal after beating the Swiss Fabienne Kocher in the same event. Santa Virgen Romero left the training in the first quarter of that year.

In addition, the “inattention and lack of maintenance” was denounced in an interview with Cubanet by the bronze medalist in Central American games and coach of the Judo Academy in Havana, Yosvani Pérez Hernández. “They have to see that they are not doing their job. The health of judo is being lost,” he said.

Pérez Hernández said that among the shortcomings they face is the disappearance of work areas in the communities, not having a fixed headquarters, a lack of equipment for training and not being able to count on incentives for progressing.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Roa Ortiz said that he hopes that business with the Island will bring “great benefits for the national economy, the generation of employment and the transformation of the Colombian countryside”  

“Last year we had the opportunity to participate in the largest food fair in Cuba, Fihav, with the help of Procolombia and the ICA; in which not only commercial agreements were consolidated, but sanitary agreements were defined between the ICA and Cenasa, the Cuban health authority, to achieve effective admissibility for eggs in shell,” stressed Gonzalo Moreno, executive president of the Federation of Poultry Farmers. from Colombia.

In his December statement, Roa Ortiz said that he hopes that business with the Island will bring “great benefits to the national economy, the generation of employment and the transformation of the Colombian countryside.” Likewise, he celebrated the approval of the relevant certifications, which require Colombia to keep its data updated with the World Organization for Animal Health, to be a territory free of avian influenza and Newcastle disease – two diseases with a high level of contagion that can damage both the life and production of birds and are transmitted to human beings – in addition to the fact that the breeding farms where the eggs are collected are under official veterinary control.

On this occasion, Moreno also promoted the Colombian product, and said that “two years ago, the Poultry Sustainability Seal was launched, as a result of comprehensive work to promote sustainable practices in the poultry sector. This seal is unique in the world and is a testimony to the commitment of Colombian poultry farming to sustainability.”

In Colombia, an egg has a price of 581 Colombian pesos, which is equivalent to 14¢ US or 37 Cuban pesos

In Colombia, an egg has a price of 581 Colombian pesos, which is equivalent to14¢ US or 37 Cuban pesos. Although the value is only a third of the almost 100 pesos that a unit can cost on the Island – between 2,700 and 2,800 for a carton of 30 units – it is likely that the import cost will end up increasing its price in the Cuban market.

According to the ICA, since 1995 egg production in Colombia has gone from 5 billion units to more than 16 billion. Although Havana does not appear as one of Bogotá’s main partners, this country does export large quantities of eggs to other nations in the region.

In 2022, Colombia exported eggs worth $1.25 million to Venezuela, its main buyer. In that same year, Colombia’s total egg export was valued at 1.6 million dollars, but the country imported the same product for 3.81 million dollars, making it a net importer.

Eggs are in high demand by Cubans who, faced with the food crisis and the inability to pay the high prices of meat, turn to this product, which has reached prices that border on the prohibitive in the face of the debacle of the poultry industry. The shipments of ’food combos’ paid for by relatives abroad have been another of the alternatives that families have resorted to in search of eggs, one of the great absentees from the Cuban table.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The official put the needs of the railroad at 900 million pesos per year, a large part of which is in foreign currency, specifically 25 million dollars “for materials, supplies and parts”

It was enough to look at the graphs to check the status of the infrastructure and its rapid decay. For the maintenance of the railway, between 60,000 and 80,000 concrete ties are needed annually, but in 2023 funding was obtained for only 15,000, which will be provided this year. In 2018, 51,600 were manufactured, and in 2019 it was increased to 61,600, quantities that, without covering the needs, today are splendid, since in 2020 and 2021 there 45,000, while in 2022 it fell to 12,000, and last year only 7,200 were produced. In other words, a catastrophe.

Fernández Rivero said that the wooden ties are made mostly in the country, and compared to 3,500 in 2020, in 2021 there only 270 made. He concluded by saying that there are problems with bridges and railways “in general.”

Then, Luis Roberto Rosés Hernández, general director of the UFC (Union of Railways of Cuba), took over. He provided figures for the entire fleet and summarized the consequences left by the situation, since cargo transport works both to distribute through the rationing system the – ever fewer – products from the basic family basket and the sugar harvest, and provide cement and aggregates to the Port of Mariel. And, worst of all, it transfers the fuel. “Of the locomotives, only 12 are large enough; we really need 34. This is the biggest difficulty we face today,” he said.

Thus, “cargo transport has shown a downward trend, mainly due to the reduction in economic activity,” and – although he did not say it – the reduction in economic activity burdens the improvement of the railway network. The official said that last year the state company achieved a participation of 24.5% in cargo transport, and this year it expects to contribute 26%, but for this it will need to repair 335 railcars, in addition to solving issues of logistics technology, scales, lighting, prevention of occupational risks and too many other things, since, he admitted, there are problems that range from the lack of parts to obsolescence, lack of tools and equipment, fuel and lubricants.

“The railway system needs approximately 34 million in foreign currency to be maintained, so alternatives must be sought to generate additional income,” said Rosés Hernández, who aims to increase the transport of cargo destined for export to receive payments in foreign currency.

Passenger transport affects the economy less, but it does affect people’s lives. “In relation to the problems of delay in domestic trains, these are well known to the population,” said the manager. He indicated that the demands of passengers must be addressed, and he mentioned the difficulty of reconciling their needs. At the moment, he specified, there are requests to add 15 additional stops, which would increase the travel time of each long-stretch train by four hours, such as those from Havana to the eastern provinces. The decision will be in the hands of the provincial authorities.

There are requests to add 15 additional stops, which would increase by four hours the travel time of each train for long stretches, such as those from Havana to the eastern provinces

Rosés Hernández praised his boss, the Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, for his active Facebook profile that “not only provides news and information, but also receives opinions to work together to find solutions to the problems that arise.” The official explained that the main “dissatisfactions” pointed out by the passengers are the lack of discipline – he did not specify, although it is supposed, of the workers – and the lack of attention to and information for the traveler.

The manager stated that they expect support from Cuba’s allies, China and Russia, which have helped in recent years – along with French collaboration – to upate the workshops, locomotives, trains and infrastructure. In addition, they plan to continue building ferrobuses, a hybrid remedy between the bus and the train originating in the 70s. It was attempted during the Special Period, but it doesn’t work for transporting large numbers of people.

Interprovincial rail transport will also experience the price increase expected for the entire sector. “The service without air conditioning to Santiago de Cuba, which is one of the longest trips, [previously] cost 95 pesos and now will cost 670 pesos. Before, the air-conditioned car from Havana to Santiago de Cuba cost 132 pesos; now it will cost 820,” Rodríguez Dávila said on the day of the fare increase. Quite an expense for a 14-hour journey.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“Cubans spend most of their time  online all day long. That addiction is worse than [cigarettes]”

On the Island, Facebook is the main way of communication, not only between acquaintances but also with the outside world. While Facebook attracts 82.2% of connected users, other applications, such as YouTube, Twitter and Instagram,  only  have close to 12% of the traffic

In addition, ever since  internet began to be allowed on mobile phones in 2018, it became a powerful tool for dissidence.

On 11 July 2021, a demonstration in San Antonio de los Baños was broadcast live on Facebook. It spread across the entire Island an eventually became the most important protest in Cuba since 1959, coming to be known as ’11J’.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The average profile of a victim of femicide in Cuba in 2023 is that of a 37-year-old woman, with at least one minor in her care, murdered by her ex-partner.

The platforms, which sent condolences to family members and friends close to the victims, clarified that the femicides were confirmed by the joint effort of independent media, citizens and activists.

With the deaths of Rivera Martí and Hernández, there are 13 femicides recorded by 14ymedio. So far, independent platforms have not confirmed the femicide of Samantha Heredia, a 22-year-old nurse, murdered in Santiago de Cuba by her husband, Dr. Pedro Carmenate, last weekend.

An employee of the Juan Bruno Zayas Clinical Surgical Hospital in the eastern capital, where the victim and aggressor met and the latter worked as a resident doctor, confirmed to this newspaper Heredia’s murder.

In 2023, feminist activists recorded 87 women killed at the hands of their partner or ex-partner, more than double the 36 recorded the previous year.

The average profile of a victim of femicide in Cuba in 2023 is that of a 37-year-old woman, with at least one minor in her care, murdered by her former partner.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“I imagine that those poor people who had only two hours of power must be on the verge of suicide”

The repression unleashed after the demonstrations – similar to what happened on 11 July 2021 – may explain why for the moment, the frustration is only expressed in complaints on social networks. One of the posts that asked users about the place and time of the power outages was immediately followed by hundreds of comments.

“Four hours with power and twenty without,” said one of them, corroborated in some areas of the Island, such as Santiago de Cuba, by the official newspaper Sierra Maestra.

In Güines, Mayabeque, another commentator said that the power had been missing this Friday “since 8 at night, and still nothing. We had 12 hours without power and yesterday only 3 hours during the day.” In the same province, in San José de las Lajas, the power went off at 5 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, and after two hours it went off again for 10 more hours. In Sancti Spíritus, there were places with up to 14 hours of blackouts.

The complaints cover the entire national territory. In Bayamo, Granma, people also reported 14 hours of blackout; in Minas, Camagüey, up to 18 consecutive hours. In the municipality of Céspedes in Camagüey, a neighbor complained: “From yesterday until now they gave us three hours of power. They only put it on from 2 to 6 in the morning; let’s see if they put it on when no one is cooking or awake.”

Havana, which until a few days ago was free of the power cuts, now suffers from them on a daily basis. Four hours in a row of no power is predicted, for example, in the municipality of Nuevo Vedado, where the editorial staff of this newspaper is located.

“These blackouts make life miserable, but I really can’t complain,” concedes a woman living in Central Havana. “The power has been off for several hours two days in a row, and the water pump in the building didn’t allow the water to fill the tank enough for me to wash. I imagine that those poor people who had only two hours of power must be on the verge of suicide.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.