Translating Cuba – Page 217 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

A Judge Upholds the US ‘Parole’ Program That Benefits Cubans

More than 75,000 nationals from the Island had been approved in the program

14ymedio, Havana, 10 March 2024 — Humanitarian parole will continue in force now that a judge in Texas has dismissed the lawsuit of 21 Republican states against the program implemented by the Biden Administration, which allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply for entry into the U.S. for humanitarian and emergency reasons. The migrants will also receive financial aid.

The federal district judge, Drew B. Tipton, said last Friday that he dismissed the appeal filed by the plaintiffs a year ago because they had not shown that they suffered economic damages because of the humanitarian parole program, reports the U.S. press. “When reaching this conclusion, the Court does not address the legality of the program,” Tipton wrote in his ruling.

Through February, and after a year of being in force, humanitarian parole had benefited more than 357,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, according to official figures from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. More than 75,000 nationals of the Island were approved for the program, in addition to 144,000 Haitians, 64,000 Nicaraguans and 92,000 Venezuelans.

The White House, upon learning of the judge’s ruling, said that the court’s decision “is based on the success of this program, which has expanded legal avenues” for the thousands of migrants who have entered the country, “while drastically decreasing the number of nationals of those countries who cross our southwest border,” said spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández. continue reading

“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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Cuban Judo Is Also Impacted by Departures and Lack of Support

Idalys Ortiz (78 kg/172 lb) won the bronze medal for Cuba in Austria.

14ymedio, Havana, March 11, 2024 –Iván Silva, Andy Granda and Idalys Ortiz avoided a debacle for Cuban judo at the Grand Prix Austria 2024, which ended this Sunday. The gold medals in the 90 kg/ 198 lb category, silver in the 100 kg/221 lb, and bronze in the 78 kg/172 lb obtained by these athletes, in this respective order, give them enough possibilities in the rankings to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

However, there were athletes who “lost the possibility of advancing.” According to Jit, a government-run sports newspaper, they could not “maintain the status with which they came to the contest.” Magdiel Estrada (in the 73 kg/161 lb category) was one of those cited by the media that missed his opportunity to qualify. His participation in Paris depends on the invitation granted by the International Olympic Committee and the International Judo Federation.

Orlando Polanco (66 kg/146 lb) was another of the Cuban competitors who, failing to score points, descended in the qualifying ranking. The possibilities for this judoka depend on future events. According to the same digital media, the “instability” of Idelannis Gómez (70 kg/154 lb) led her to being in 47th place, with little chance of winning a ticket to the Olympic Games. continue reading

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.

Iván Silva won a gold medal for Cuba in the 90 kg/198 lb category in the Grand Prix Austria 2024 / X/@Judo

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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Contaminated Water is the Main Cause of Diarrheal Diseases in Cuba

The poor water service in most of the country forces a large part of the citizens to use the water they have at their disposal / Invasor

14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2024 — Acute diarrheal diseases in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, increased by 86% compared to March 2023, the official newspaper Invasor reported this Monday. Despite the excessive increase, which has translated into a worrying increase “in hospital care,” the epidemiological authorities of the region assure that the cases are within the estimates for this period of the year, which is why they estimate that the situation is still located in the “safety zone.”

“Even though epidemiologically speaking we are not in a critical situation, we do have to worry and take measures, especially at home,” José Luis López, deputy director of Epidemiology at the Provincial Hygiene Center, clarified to the newspaper.

As explained, the institution establishes four categories to monitor the progress of these diseases on the Island: success zone, when there are fewer cases than estimated; safety zone, when the estimate is met; of alarm, when cases increase; and epidemic, when cases exceed what was expected. For “this time of year,” the manager insisted, “cases have increased, but within limits.” continue reading

“In the studies that have been done, more than 38% of the samples analyzed have been positive for protozoa (parasites)”

Invasor, however, was not satisfied with López’s statements and stressed that months ago the newspaper highlighted the increase in annual cases in the province, which as of September 2023 exceeded 1,000, at a rate of 37 per week in that month and with “emphasis on pediatric ages.” The figure exceeded the number of cases of the same period in 2022 by 71.2%. With such clear warnings, even if it is a “seasonal increase,” even the official media questions whether the authorities could have been able to prevent a greater increase this year.

“In all municipalities, except Chambas and Bolivia, cases of diarrheal diseases have increased and the highest incidence is in children under 15 years of age, and, among them, infants up to one year of age, which sets off the alarms due to the risks of dehydration in that age group,” adds López.

As for the causes, the director points out an evident increase in “intestinal parasitism” in a large part of the patients suffering from these conditions. “In the studies that have been done, more than 38% of the samples analyzed have been positive for protozoa (parasites), and in some cases salmonella, which causes salmonellosis, a common bacterial disease has been isolated that affects the intestines, and can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps,” he says.

In this sense, explains López, outbreaks of diarrheal diseases escape the hands of health institutions, since many of these parasites and bacteria are found mainly in water or in the food itself, so it is up to other authorities to verify, for example, the quality of drinking water.

The poor water service in most of the country, however, forces a large part of citizens to use the water they have at their disposal, whether from cisterns with stagnant liquid, polluted dams and rivers, or wells that do not meet the quality parameters for consumption. Added to this are the constant blackouts suffered by the Island, which have intensified during the last week, and which make it difficult to refrigerate food.

Last December, the official press reported an outbreak of leptospirosis in the eastern provinces, another of the diseases generally associated with unsanitary cities and the alarming presence of rodents. The gigantic garbage dumps that the cities of the Island exhibit, denouced to this newspaper at that time by a Havana woman, are the main cause of the increase in this disease.

The authorities, however, once again limited themselves to blaming the population for not going to the hospitals in time to be treated, and did not offer a clear explanation for the increase in cases.

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Long Blackouts in Cuba Provoke Popular Protests in Holguin and Camaguey

This Saturday night there were protests in Holguín and the municipality of Florida, in Camagüey, after the long blackouts of recent days on the Island / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 10 March 2024 — Cacerolazos* in several neighborhoods of the country and throwing stones at a State institution marked the protests that took place this Saturday night in cities such as Holguín and the municipality of Florida, in Camagüey, after the long blackouts that have occurred in recent years, lasting for days throughout the Island.

“The Manuel Angulo Dental Clinic in Pueblo Nuevo was hit with stones in the middle of the blackout, and in the 26 de Julio and Alcides Pino neighborhoods they ‘played cazuelas’* last night,” a Holguin resident described to 14ymedio.

“Last night all the police sector chiefs of the Popular Council of Pueblo Nuevo were on guard and ready to repress,” warns another neighbor, who also confirmed that the dental clinic that was stoned remains under State Security surveillance this Sunday.

A few videos that have come to light on social networks record some of the cacerolazos that took place on Saturday in Holguín. Currently, much of the city remains without electricity, so the mobile signal is weak or non-existent and users cannot publish images of the protests because they do not have an internet signal. continue reading

“The Manuel Angulo Dental Clinic in Pueblo Nuevo was hit with stones in the middle of the blackout and in the 26 de Julio and Alcides Pino deliveries they ‘played cazuelas’ last night

Other testimonies that reached the 14ymedio editorial office confirm that in the capital of Holguín the repressive forces of the regime continue to be “on guard” against the possibility of new protests emerging in the streets.

For his part, journalist Luis Tan Estrada confirmed on his Facebook page with several sources that, this Saturday night, several residents of the Camagüey municipality of Florida “took to the streets to protest in the midst of the blackouts.”

“Although the authorities of that territory tried to prove the opposite through posts on Facebook, the reality was different,” the reporter insisted when referring to a publication by the Party secretary of that municipality on the social network, in which she illustrated with some photos that the people were “enjoying the tranquility of my Cuba, free and sovereign.”

But in reality, Tan Estrada describes, his sources informed him that the atmosphere in Florida “got hot” and that shortly after the protest “they turned on the electricity.” Other reports also confirmed demonstrations in Batabanó, in the province of Mayabeque.

The blackouts will continue all day Sunday. The Electrical Union predicts for this day a deficit of 1,045 megawatts (MW) and an impact of 1,115 MW during peak hours. Last Friday, an impact of 1,566 megawatts was recorded at the time of maximum demand, an unprecedented number since the energy crisis worsened two years ago.

*Translator’s note: ‘Cacerola’ and ‘cazuela’ both translate as ‘pot’ and a ‘cacerolazo’ or ‘tocan cazuela’ where people bang on pots and pans is a common form of protest across Latin America.
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Colombia Sends a First Batch of Half a Million Eggs to Cuba

“We are sure that our high-quality fresh eggs will be well received by consumers on the Island” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 11 March 2024 – After starting negotiations last July and after approving the health certifications in December, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) will send the first batch of eggs to Cuba. Two 40-foot containers with 17,280 boxes of 30 units – 518,400 eggs in total – will soon leave for the Island, the Institute assured, although without revealing the exact date.

Juan Fernando Roa Ortiz, general manager of the ICA, described the agreement between Bogotá and Havana as “an important milestone” and assured that “this first export of eggs to Cuba is testimony to the commitment of our producers to health, safety and quality, allowing our products to reach more international markets.”

“We are sure that our high-quality fresh eggs will be well received by consumers on the Island,” said Roa Ortiz.

Since 2023, both Governments have been discussing health frameworks and import requirements so that the Colombian product reaches Cuba as soon as continue reading

possible. After reaching an agreement at the last Havana International Fair (Fihav), the ICA and the National Center for Animal Health (Cenasa) of the Island gave the green light to export in December.

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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The Economic Debacle Accelerates the Decline of Rail Transport in Cuba

Interprovincial rail transport will also experience the price increase expected for the entire sector. / Sierra Maestra

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 March 2024 — The rail industry in Cuba is also at a standstill. The lack of investment, especially due to a shortage of foreign exchange, deepens the crisis of trains and infrastructure, causing the transport of goods to decrease, which is also the result of fewer goods to transport. With the economic debacle there is less to mobilize. In short: another disaster.

Some 67% of tracks and 40% of infrastructure need maintenance, as explained this Wednesday on State TV’s Round Table program by Lisvany Fernández Rivero, acting general director of the Railway Transport Administration, who began his speech by boasting that the Cuban railway was the first in Latin America and seventh in the world, decades before independence.

Returning to the 21st century, there is little joy. The official put the needs of the railway at 900 million pesos per year, of which a large part is in foreign currency, specifically 25 million dollars “for materials, supplies and parts.” continue reading

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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Romanticizing the Electricity Cuts in Cuba, More Than Cynical It Is Offensive

Romanticizing a blackout by alluding to the fact that the great classics of universal literature were written by candlelight, surpasses cynicism and becomes an offense / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 12 March 2024 — A ‘snort’ runs through the neighborhood. They have just cut off the electricity service and life is paralyzed until the power returns. The elevator does not work, the elderly residents of the upper floors wait on the ground floor of the building because arthritis and fatigue do not allow them to climb the stairs. The cafeteria on the corner closes to the public since the oven is electric and its main offering is pizzas. The pipes remain dry because the water pump could not complete the rise to the tank and, furthermore, “for two days there has been a break in the Palatino pipeline,” says a neighbor.

There is nothing romantic, beautiful or creative about blackouts. They are not, as official media assures, the opportunity to prepare a candlelit dinner for a couple, to get away from the mobile screen or read a book. Not having power is something much more mundane, irritating and limiting. Bedridden patients are flooded with sweat because the fans no longer work; the little milk that the family saves for the baby spoils due to the lack of refrigeration; the poor young man who earns his living as a bicycle messenger loses his little income. because the shipping application stops working after the telecommunications towers are turned off. continue reading

Now, they claim that darkness can return us to a calmer and more natural life, when in reality it makes our existence more distressing

With the blackout, people become more aggressive and in the silence left by the engines and devices, domestic fights, swearing and insults emerge more strongly. With the power outage, private businesses are sinking, the dangers of accidents with disconnected traffic lights multiply, night outings are reduced even more, plans are postponed and the idea of packing suitcases gains strength. Weddings are also postponed, schools further reduce the quality of their teaching and bureaucratic procedures become much more complicated.

Romanticizing a blackout, alluding to the fact that the great classics of universal literature were written by candlelight surpasses cynicism and becomes an offense. Just like when, during the Special Period, some leaders of the Communist Party praised the flavor that cooking with firewood left in food, due to the absence of gas. But, while they evoked the charcoal that leaves a smoky touch on food, we burned our grandparents’ furniture so we could eat. Now, they claim that darkness can return us to a calmer and more natural life, when in reality it makes our existence more distressing.

No, there is nothing beautiful about a blackout, especially when you have suffered them for a good part of your life and you cannot see, in the short or medium term, that they will stop breaking into our daily lives.
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Facebook Goes Down for More Than Two Hours and Cubans Think the Internet Has Crashed

On the Island, Facebook is the main means of communication, not only between acquaintances, but also with the outside world.

14ymedio, Madrid, March 5, 2024 — For Cubans, the inability to access Facebook on Tuesday was almost a complete internet disruption. Around 10 am, Facebook and Instagram, both owned by the American company Meta, suffered a worldwide outage.

The problem, which also affected Messenger, persisted for more than two hours. According to Andy Stone, Meta’s communication director who apologized, the situation was resolved “as quickly as possible” for all those affected.

The technology company has not revealed the cause of these incidents, which also affected Threads, another Meta application that is linked to Instagram and which can be used without signing up. However, WhatsApp, also from Meta, continued to work normally.

“There’s no internet,” someone said on the streets of Havana this Tuesday, after the collapse of the social networks. “They don’t realize that there’s no connection, that there’s no Facebook,”observes Yulia, on the streets of Centro Habana. “Cubans spend most of their time online all day long . That addiction is worse than this,” she says, pointing to her cigarette. continue reading

“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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The Murders of Two Women, in Matanzas and Las Tunas, Bring Femicides in Cuba to 13 in 2024

In 2023, feminist activists recorded 87 women killed at the hands of their partner or ex-partner. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 6 March 2024 — The murders of Dinosca Rivera Martí, a resident of the town of Carlos Rojas, in Matanzas, and Martina Hernández, a resident of Becerra, a rural neighborhood in the city of Las Tunas, are the two newest cases of femicides reported this Wednesday by the Women’s Network of Cuba, Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba.

The murder of Rivera Martí, 34, occurred on March 5 at the hands of her partner and the father of her children. “The aggressor attacked her in public on the road, after she left her two young children at school, who at least did not witness the events,” explain the feminist platforms.

In the case of Hernández, whose age could not be specified, the murder occurred on February 12, also at the hands of her partner. continue reading

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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Discontent Grows in Cuba With a New Record of Blackouts

Havana, which until a few days ago was free of blackouts, is now suffering from them every day / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2024 — The power blackouts in Cuba are reaching a record never seen in recent years. On Friday, the official press itself reported, “there was a deficit of electricity generation for 24 hours, and it has not been possible to restore the power this morning.” The maximum recorded yesterday, 1,566 megawatts at the time of maximum demand, is unprecedented since the energy crisis escalated two years ago.

For Saturday, the outlook is not much better: an availability of 1,600 MW and a demand of 2,550, which means an average impact of 1,300 MW.

The figures included in the statement of the UNE (Electric Union of Cuba) speak for themselves: 85 distributed generation plants, plus the Moa fuel plant and the Santiago de Cuba plant are out of service due to lack of fuel. There are also 16 plants “with low coverage.”

Thus, the citizens are desperate, and rumors of demonstrations run throughout the Island. The SEN (National Energy System) barely exceeded 1,000 MW when, in August 2022, mass protests broke out in Nuevitas, Camagüey. continue reading

“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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Blackouts Have Reduced Sugar Production by Half in the ‘Colossus of Cuba’

So far, the Antonio Guiteras sugar mill has ground only 3,954 tons of the 39,000 tons that were planned.

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2024 — The Antonio Guiteras sugar mill in Puerto Padre (Las Tunas) has lost 75% of grinding time due to the prolonged blackouts suffered in Cuba. The lack of electricity interrupts the process of receiving and cleaning the cane every day for between four and five hours, before it is transferred to the industry. This has caused only 48% of the potential daily standard to be ground, as reported this Friday by Periódico26.

The official media spells out all the calamities that affect the sugar harvest for the Antonio Guiteras mill. In a visit, Manuel Gallego, secretary of the Communist Party in Las Tunas, “indicated” to the directors a need to “continue implementing alternatives” and “improving attention to the staff.” He hopes that granting better conditions in the workers’ dining room and cafeteria will give the necessary impetus to overcome the failing harvest.

After 50 days of the campaign, this mill is very far from reaching the more than 39,000 tons of sugar that were planned for it. So far, at a production rate of 84 tons per day, it has accumulated only 3,954 tons. continue reading

After 50 days of the campaign, this mill is very far from achieving the more than 39,000 tons of sugar that were planned for it

Juan Carlos Molina Diéguez, director of the sugar mill, puts leaks in the pipes and “other operational obstacles” at the top of the list of problems in the industry. According to the official, these problems have not been “resolved” because the contracted workforce does not have the necessary experience to fix them.

There are additional impediments to the current harvest. Only 40% of the trucks that transfer the cane to the mill are working. Accidents on the railway tracks are not taken care of promptly, and, in addition, there are not enough rail cars to transport the cane.

The result is the decrease in industrial efficiency of a sugar mill recognized in its best years as the “Colossus of Cuba”. Rafael Pantaleón Quevedo, director of the Antonio Guiteras Agroindustrial Sugar Company, said that “the sugar now arriving from the field has a better quality but is not in the quantities needed.”

Pantaleón Quevedo also stressed that they are paying “permanent attention” to equipping trucks with a global positioning system (GPS) “to prevent labor indisciplines.” Given the shortage of spare parts for the vehicles, drivers usually buy parts on the black market at exorbitant prices and also use the trucks to offer transport services that are paid for privately.

In Las Tunas, the 2023-2024 harvest began on January 7 at the Majibacoa sugar mill, the other mill in the province. The two mills have, together, the highest sugar production plan on the Island – 61,500 tons – a goal that, as the 77 days of milling approaches, is moving further and further away from the boilers of the Las Tunas sugar mills.

Only 40% of the trucks that transport the cane to the mill are working

When the incorporation of Majibacoa into the national harvest was announced, Periódico26 explained that this sugar would be destined for the standard family basket (under the rationing system). However, once again, plans give way to the harsh reality of the country. In the Mexico neighborhood of the municipality of Las Tunas, to date the ration stores have sold only one pound of sugar per person, and no one knows when the rest of the food included in the basic basket will arrive.

It’s the same situation in Granma province. On a tour of the Enidio González sugar mill in Campechuela, Yudelkis Ortiz Barceló, first secretary of the Communist Party, learned that the planting of cane is at 51.4% of a plan that was not mentioned in the official newspaper La Demajagua.

Ortiz Barceló called for raising the awareness among workers to “be more efficient by superior efforts for recovery and progress in the production of sugar” for the family basket. The leader stressed “there is a need to continue adopting measures to ensure that productuon is where it should be.”

In addition to the technical problems that affect Cuban sugar mills, the lack of spare parts and the loss of highly qualified workers, the late start of the 2023-2024 harvest predicts that, once again, it will be a disaster.

The late start of the 2023-2024 sugar harvest predicts that it will, once again, be a disaster

At the end of November 2023, the official press announced that of the 25 sugar mills involved in the current harvest, only two would start late. However, when Periódico26 announced the start of the harvest in Las Tunas, it said that “the Majibacoa is part of the group of 15 sugar mills in Cuba that are now working, of the 25 that will participate in this campaign.”

The newspapers of Granma and Las Tunas have not said anything about what the fuel deficit implies for sugar production. On March 4, an official of the agricultural sector in Las Tunas confirmed to 14ymedio that the province had not received fuel for 19 days, and “it is not even for sale in dollars in the gas station.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Convictions for Femicides in Cuba Tripled in 2023, According to Official Figures

Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro and Teresa Amarelle Boué, during the closing of the FMC Congress in Havana

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2024 — Last year Cuba tripled the number of people convicted of femicides compared to the 2022 record, going from 18 to 61 rulings, according to official data released this Friday.

The president of the country, Miguel Díaz-Canel, announced the 2023 figure at the closing of the Congress of the Federation of Cuban Women, an official social organization of the Communist Party of Cuba. Díaz-Canel also stated that 93% of the sentences were for more than 20 years in prison, and in five cases the penalty was life imprisonment.

The Cuban Government does not offer updated statistics on femicides. For their part, the independent feminist platforms Yo Sí Te Creo and Alas Tensas reported, in their annual dossier also presented this Friday, a total of 89 femicides, more than double those recorded the previous year.

Of these, three cases were not considered femicides by this newspaper: that of a girl mistreated by her stepfather and her own mother; an assault on the street; and a woman killed by “gynecolo-obstetric violence.” On the other hand, 14ymedio did consider the death of Miriam Isern Mompié, not continue reading

included by independent platforms, among its list of femicides.

“We can categorically state here that this is a media construction completely unrelated to Cuban reality,” Díaz-Canel said.

Despite recognizing that cases of gender violence on the Island “appear with an unfortunate frequency,” Díaz-Canel argued that the “enemies of the Revolution,” whom he did not name, “have a tendency to handle (the figures) conveniently.”

“The subversive anti-Cuban platforms try to impose a pattern of ’femicide’ in Cuba, a term that indicates alleged state inaction in the face of violent acts on the basis of gender. We can categorically state that this is a media construction completely alien to the Cuban reality,” he said.

Regardless of whether or not there is state inaction, the Cuban Government differentiates between female deaths and femicide, a distinction not widespread in Spanish-speaking countries.

Independent feminist groups in Cuba, however, have sometimes denounced state inaction. In two of the twelve femicides that they have verified so far in 2024, they say that the aggressors had a history of violence.

In two of the events documented by these platforms in 2023, the victim had already warned on social networks that she feared for her life

In addition, in two of the events documented by these platforms in 2023, the victim had already warned on social networks that she feared for her life. And in another case the alleged killer – 50 years old – murdered his partner – a minor – inside a police station.

The Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that at the end of October 2023, 117 crimes against women had been recorded on the Island. This data, published in state media, did not specify the exact period in which those events were counted, nor if they included cases in the process of investigation and already sentenced.

The average profile of a victim of femicides in Cuba in 2023 – elaborated based on the information of Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo – is that of a 37-year-old woman, with at least one minor in her care, who was murdered by her ex-partner.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Red Beans Have Become a Luxury in Cuba

From the basic basket, it’s the red beans that have risen the most in price, costing 500 pesos per pound at the beginning of this year / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2024 — A region with a long tradition in the cultivation of rice and beans, the province of Cienfuegos has not been able to honor its agricultural heritage in the face of the inflation that runs through Cuba. Accustomed to dense stews, residents in this area in the center of the Island have had to give up, in recent years, the plate of beans that was so common in their daily diet.

In the basic family basket in the State rationing system, it’s the red beans that have risen the most in price, costing 500 pesos a pound at the beginning of this year. Although this week the legume dropped to 380, its price is still prohibitive for many in Cienfuegos. This newspaper has followed the bean’s journey, and this province has been one of those that illustrates the pace of the rise that the product has experienced in recent years. continue reading

The Plaza La Calzada market in the city of Cienfuegos is the main indicator of how the cost of living has escalated. On its wide stands, where customers, sellers and producers gather, the table for beans does not receive as many buyers as before. Red beans are almost always consumed in Cuba accompanied by a piece of meat or sausage, along with numerous spices.

If you want to eat them with rice, currently at 150 pesos per pound in the Plaza La Calzada, then the cost skyrockets. With their attractive red shine, the beans are now a food considered by many as a luxury only for holidays or special occasions. A hot and thick stew can cost retirees a whole week’s pension. From a custom carved out of decades of life, they are the ones who most long for the steamy and aromatic dish on their tables.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Corruption in Cuba: Sacrificing Gil to Save Diaz-Canel

Miguel Díaz-Canel (left) and Alejandro Gil Fernández (right), in an archive image / Granma

14ymedio, Rolando Gallardo, Huesca (Spain), 9 March 2024 — The Cuban regime’s media landscape needs to be understood with certain tips to develop an analytical perspective and avoid falling into the system’s deceptions. Between Yarelis* and Alejandro Gil, the Cuban news events of these days are summarized, diverting attention from what is truly important to superficial elements. This show, with its jesters and lynchings, is everything necessary for a Roman circus but without the bread.

The system must always be kept oiled and ready to survive, but the warning indicators do not stop setting off alarms. The Cuban Revolution has become a media myth where the real results of the policies implemented are irrelevant; the crucial thing is to sustain the idea of solidity, eternity and trust in the project. To do this, techniques are used to control the eventual rage of the masses who, for decades, have been domesticated and dumbed down by propaganda.

Few connect the events that occurred in a period of approximately one month, immersed in immediacy and losing the interlinking of events and intentions behind them. As time progresses, the ridiculousness of Diáz-Canel’s visit to Río Cauto on January 26 is forgotten, when “God Fidel” was seen walking among mortals, and those ladies, as if they had been previously indoctrinated, expressed their support for Díaz-Canel with a fervent and unusual bristling. Why was this “bath of the people” and the equation with the “enigmatic historical leader” so necessary? continue reading

The president’s journey occurred a week before the surprise dismissal of Alejandro Gil on February 2. This man, known for his advocacy of radical measures, was stripped of his position without us seeing it coming. His thesis tutor, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the leadership that pulls the strings of the political guignol withdrew their support. Gil was the undesirable face of the economic failures of the regime, his loyalty to the dictatorship made him the image most hated by the popular majorities on the Island, victims of inflation, inequality and hunger. It was necessary to get rid of such company and make the most of the situation.

Considered the useful idiot, Gil will bear the blame for the economic disaster, while an effort is made to rehabilitate the image of Díaz-Canel, a man with less charisma than a sweet potato

In those days, Cuba’s collapse in the international measurement of the perception of corruption was broadcast. The country has experienced a precipitous decline since 2020, going from a score of 47 out of 100 to 42 in three years. Although this data may seem superfluous compared to other countries in the region, it is serious when analyzed internally. In Chile, before the devastating social outbreak of 2019, there was a drop of just one point in the corruption perception index. With a drop of five points in three years, the regime is trying to plug the hole before it is too late.

Gil is convenient in this context. Considered the useful idiot, he will bear the blame for the economic disaster, while an effort is made to rehabilitate the image of Díaz-Canel, a man with less charisma than a sweet potato. This anti-corruption round-up seeks to give the impression that the Revolution and its top leadership are clean and willing to fight against any negative trend that threatens the heroic and rebellious “continuity” of Fidel and the leaders of the Revolution, although everyone knows which leg the self-proclaimed revolutionary leaders are limping from. Gil is simply a scapegoat used to divert attention from the true roots of corruption in Cuba.

The circus has begun, and everyone will observe the arenas where Máximo Gil Décimo Meridio, former Minister of Economy and general of the legions of fallen bootlickers, will try to fight for his life. Meanwhile, the MSME [micro, small and medium enterprises] stores are full of American products, defying an embargo that is gladly flouted, at the same time that the regime requests urgent international help from the UN due to its inability to provide food to the overwhelming helpless mass, throwing the blame on someone it no longer makes sense to blame.

Gil has been made the scapegoat, he will go down in history as el más gil de todos los giles [the dumbest of all the dumb]**, and we, along with him, look towards the wrong side of the media illusion. In today’s Cuba, justice cannot be done to Gil. The day those conditions arrive, he and the entire leadership will be in the dock. And if we cannot deliver justice in this life, we will know with total conviction that Gil and his current jailers will share a destiny in Antenora, Dante’s 9th and final Circle of Hell, dedicated to traitors to their people and country.

Translator’s notes:
*’Yarelis’ is apparently an otherwise anonymous Cuban woman recently captured in viral videos with ’boyfriends’.
**A Spanish-English dictionary offers the following translations of ‘gil’: idiot, numskull, twat, nerd, twit, twerp, dumb.
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The Definitive Collapse of the Cuban Economy?

A recent study revealed that 21% of Cubans households on the poverty line stopped eating breakfast, lunch or dinner at some point due to lack of money / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, 4 March 2023, Miami — That the Cuban Government has asked, for the first time, the management of the UN World Food Program, for help to subsidize milk for children under seven years of age is a clear example of the situation that the country is going through, since the Cuban leadership has generally been reluctant to accept food aid from abroad so as not to expose the unsustainability of its economic model.

It has also been announced that recently, with the last reserves of the Cuban State, 500 tons of powdered milk were purchased in the United States, the same country that supposedly maintains an “imperialist blockade” against Cuba. It is scandalous that in Cuba there is no milk even for small children in a country whose livestock farming, in another time, was only surpassed in Latin America by Argentina and Uruguay.

The Government has also declared that the population’s basic food basket will not be able to be maintained until the end of March. It had already been said before that in Cuba not only “is nothing being produced,” mainly due to lack of a labor force in agricultural work, but that there is no way to pay to import the food. continue reading

When the Revolution triumphed, the Cuban peso was on par with the US dollar. Today, the national currency is worth less than half of a tenth of one US cent, exactly 0.042, according to an official calculation reported on February 20.

So, what threatens the Cuban people, immediately, is a famine like there has never been before, not even at the time of the so-called Special Period, when Cuba lost subsidies from the former Soviet Union. We do not know what the population will live on for a full month, but we do know its consequences: more exodus, more deaths at sea, more crime than already exists, and more protests.