Translating Cuba – Page 220 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Cuban Government Postpones New Fuel Prices Due to a ‘Hack’ From ‘Abroad’

The new prices are already listed at the Rancho Boyeros and Ayestarán gas station. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 31 January 2024 [translation updated with added text 1 February 2024] — In national currency and also in USD – a great novelty of the reform announced in January – the new fuel prices appeared this Wednesday on the pumps at the gas station at Rancho Boyeros and Ayestarán, in Havana. However, drivers are alarmed when they see those rates in pesos and dollars – five times more expensive than the previous ones – and the employees explain that the change will take effect tomorrow, Thursday, February 1. However, the official media reported this afternoon that the implementation of the new rates is postponed.

“The government’s projections to correct distortions and re-boost the economy during 2024 will only be implemented if the conditions for this are created,” Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre, first vice minister of Economy and Planning, told national television. “Defending this principle” it is decreed to postpone the implementation of the “price update” of gasoline, said the senior official, who added that “this decision includes the occurrence of a cybersecurity incident in the computer systems for the commercialization of fuels whose origin has been identified in a virus from abroad.”

It was also reiterated by Esther, the person in charge of organizing the queue to buy fuel in Guanabacoa via Telegram: “The update of fuel prices and its marketing in USD is extended. The decision is due to a cybersecurity attack in the marketing system of Cimex.”

The Cuban influencer Manuel Milanés alluded to this on Tuesday in a tweet from Miami: “The Cimex de Gaesa Corporation had its entire management system erased and they had no backup, they are doing a general inventory to be able to have some control.”

Asked by 14ymedio, a driver from the state-owned Copextel says that the new measure does not worry him. Premium gas is at 156 pesos or 1.30 dollars instead of 30 pesos, regular and diesel at 132 pesos or 1.10 dollars, continue reading

and diesel at 114 pesos or 0.95 dollars (instead of 25 and 20 pesos, respectively), he recites, while filling the tank of his truck. “I don’t care what it costs, because the company where I work pays for it. If I don’t have the money to pay for fuel, I’ll stay home,” he adds.

Private car drivers, however, do not show the same peace of mind. After spreading the word that the service center at 25 and G, in El Vedado, would be dispatching gasoline this morning, dozens of boteros (taxi drivers) and car owners gathered in a line that stretched for several blocks on both sides of F Street.

A line stretched for several blocks this morning on F Street to buy gas in the service center at 25 and G. (14ymedio)

“I’m behind that Kia and he’s behind the red Peugeot,” a driver shouted. “No one wants a mess here; that’s why everyone who gets in line takes a photo of the license plate of the car in front of him, so those behind don’t cut in with two other people,” one of the boteros tells this newspaper.

Uneasy about the change of prices, with which they predict irregularities and preference of the Government with foreign exchange services, many of those who wait at 25 and G will try to buy as much fuel as they can this Wednesday. “I already emptied the little gasoline I had in the car to be able to fill the tank to the top. I also always bring a few gallon containers in the trunk in case I can buy more,” says one of the drivers, who complains that the line isn’t moving. “My brother-in-law, who is a few cars ahead, even went to his oncology appointment at the hospital, and when he returned the line had barely moved.”

Another of his concerns, not far from reality, he says, is that the new card payment systems do not work in a country with constant power cuts and frequent drops in the electronic collection system. This same afternoon, the two gas stations in Guanabacoa warned that payment was only possible with the cards issued by Fincimex and that the QR code did not work.

Many drivers, annoyed by the delay and noon hunger, complain about the way the government is handling the price change, knowing that the demand for fuel will skyrocket. “It’s going to go on,” one said, “and the dollar keeps rising, you don’t even know where it’s going to go.”

“That guy you see there on the motorcycle,” he continued, “has been walking around the street all morning. It seems that they sent him to make sure everything is quiet. You notice them right away by the mask, the dark glasses and the cap they wear so that you don’t recognize them,” he says. “They have fuel for those guys.”

Regular gasoline will no longer be sold at 25 pesos and will now cost 132 pesos or 1.10 dollars a liter. (14ymedio)

In the few hours left before the prices change, there are more incidents than usual, both in the payment systems and the suspension of service, because no technician appears to fix the supposedly damaged gas pumps.

The rest of the signs that the habaneros have learned to decipher, such as the smoke of the patana (floating Turkish power plant) anchored in the bay or the fire of the Ñico López refinery, do not give indications that oil is circulating in the city. This morning, neither of them had the chimneys lit.

Cuban ports, however, report the entry of oil tankers such as the Alicia and the Chemical Contender in Havana; the Lourdes, the Ocean Mariner and the Sandino in Matanzas; the Esperanza in Cienfuegos; and the LPG Emilia in Santiago de Cuba, where they also expect the Aquila this Wednesday.

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Translated by Regina Anavy

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One of the Poorest Countries in Africa Donates to Cuba’s Healthcare System

Donation of beds and mattresses to a hospital in Santiago de Cuba this January. (Sierra Maestra)

14ymedio, Havana, 30 January 2024 — Cuban hospitals, whose crisis of supplies, facilities and personnel has been continually denounced by the population and the independent press, currently live on donations provided by governments and foreign organizations. This same Monday, the regime celebrated the help of 280 kilograms of expendable material from a new contributor: the Cuban doctors themselves sent on a mission to Djibouti, one of the poorest countries in Africa.

“Syringes, sterile gauze, tape, serums, granules and bladder catheters” arrived at the Doctor Antonio Luaces Iraola hospital in Ciego de Ávila from the hands of two doctors who, after five years in Djibouti, bring help from “the entire brigade.” ” – about 80 health workers – who work in that country, explained the local media Invasor.

With regards to the lives Cuban health workers in Djibouti, a “desert country, with temperatures of almost 50 degrees celsius,” where they worked “without water” caring for “a population suffering from unknown diseases, including the bite of poisonous snakes,” the newspaper states that “there is no money to pay” that effort. continue reading

Invasor tacitly recognized the alarming lack of resources in the “labyrinth of wards” of Ciego de Ávila’s Luaces hospital, where, it estimates, “the 280 kilograms of medical supplies (…) at this time must have already relieved or healed pain.”

Donations of all kinds and from a multitude of countries “saved” the Cuban state three million dollars last year

For their part, several medical centers in Santiago de Cuba received a total of 96 donations in 2023 from various countries and international organizations. The shipments have allowed them to continue to operate and renew part of their equipment to “maintain services despite the severe limitations,” the official newspaper Sierra Maestra reported this Sunday.

Italian ambulances, Japanese and Swiss incubators, American beds and mattresses, refrigerators, vaccines and X-ray and imaging equipment from Unicef and the United Nations, as well as supplies for oncological treatments and research from Spain, “saved” the Cuban State three million dollars last year, according to the newspaper.

Another shipment of 27 boxes worth 22,000 euros arrived last December at the Camilo Cienfuegos hospital in Sancti Spíritus thanks to the Valencian organization Esperanza sin Fronteras [Hope Without Borders], which said it had paid for the donation with “private contributions.”

The NGO also committed to paying for the necessary supplies to supply two hospitals and two polyclinics in the provincial capital, said the digital Valencia City, which insisted on the importance of this aid for “a country that suffers the very serious consequences of the situation” of instability that has been going on for years, and that is leading a decline in meeting the basic needs of the Cuban people.

Despite the difficulties on the Island, which range from finding the most common medicines to the stampede of health workers to other sectors or abroad, the Cuban State continues signing contracts to send doctors to other countries. This January the media L’Unione Sarda reported that the Italian region of Sardinia would receive 128 health workers and 30 nurses to alleviate the lack of medical personnel in that region.

Months earlier, last August, the Italian region of Calabria had already hired nearly 500 doctors from the Island out of “desperation,” since health workers from other countries refuse to assist them due to low salaries and they urgently needed staff.

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The Cuban Scorpion Venom Scam Claims the Life of a Cancer Patient in Mexico

Castro Ochoa had been treating his patients with “alternative” treatments for years. (Facebook/Carlos Castro Ochoa)

14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2024 — Carlos Miguel Castro Ochoa, a rural healer from the Mexican municipality of Ixmiquilpan, in the state of Hidalgo, faces trial after the death of a patient whose cancer he had promised to cure with blue scorpion venom from Cuba. The “naturopathic doctor,” as he presents himself, charged about 17,000 pesos in advance – about 1,000 dollars – for the treatment with Escozul, a product manufactured in Cuba.

According to the Mexican press, Castro Ochoa supplied his patient with “large bottles with homemade printed labels,” whose doses were applied orally using a dropper. It was “a substance coming from Cuba without the necessary Mexican health permits.” Although the note does not reveal the name of the medicine, it publishes an image of its label, which corresponds to the old format of Escozul bottles.

Castro Ochoa had been treating his patients with “alternative” treatments for years and “dozens of people came to the improvised office inside his home” on Calero Street in the rural town of El Nith. Last December, the relatives of the patient – who died in the emergency room of a hospital in Ixmiquilpan – demanded money from Castro Ochoa and he “responded with threats” and claimed that “the authorities could not do anything to him.”

It is not the first time that Castro Ochoa has faced problems with the Justice Department, but – according to the newspaper Milenio – he is spared because “he is of foreign origin.” The healer promised those who came to him to be treated for advance stage cancer and diabetes, leukemia, epilepsy, sexual dysfunctions, kidney stones and other ailments, always having to pay in advance, they clarify. continue reading

A municipal ruling from Ixmiquilpan, published in 2007, prohibited “healers and fortune tellers” from operating in any of its locations.

A municipal ruling from Ixmiquilpan, published in 2007, prohibited “healers and fortune tellers” from operating in any of its locations and expelled repeat offenders, the newspaper claims. However, Castro Ochoa evaded the law due to his “alleged foreign origin.”

Facebook and Telegram groups that sell both “drugs” as a cancer cure are common in Mexico. One of these groups, attended by a user who identifies himself as “Doctor Alejandro CR,” sells Vidatox as a “general homeopathic treatment” and disqualifies Escozul as “a very expensive treatment.”

“I bring Vidatox directly from Cuba,” explains Alejandro CR bluntly. “Bringing it to Mexico is difficult, sometimes it gets confiscated. That is why you will find other people on the Internet who, like me, sell it here.” Escozul, which is less affordable, he adds, requires “going to Cuba, where they do a study and personalize the doses according to the type of cancer. Treatments with Escozul can last for years.”

The “doctor” warns against “advertisements that say that Vidatox does not work” and explains its reason for being: “It is a commercial competition”, lies launched by Escozul because “they do not agree that Vidatox exists with a much lower price than what they charge.” Next, Alejandro CR tells his potential clients to contact him privately for more information.

The mind behind Escozul is the microbiologist Alexis Díaz, the same scientist who in 2011 began selling Vidatox

Escozul is one of the two compounds derived from the venom of the blue scorpion (Rhopalurus junceus) that Cuban Public Health promotes and sells at a high price abroad. Manufactured by Lifescozul Laboratories – which has several branches in the region, including Mexico – the product is presented as “the most advanced formulation of blue scorpion venom.”

The mind behind Escozul is the microbiologist Alexis Díaz, the same scientist who in 2011, when working for the State-owned Labiofam, began selling Vidatox, to which he attributed “proven antitumor, analgesic and anti-inflammatory efficacy.” Since then, Cuba has insisted on the healing properties of scorpion venom and has published numerous “scientific” articles attempting to demonstrate its effectiveness and promote its purchase.

The Lifescozul team, very active on social networks and with headquarters in the expensive international clinic La Pradera – founded by Fidel Castro in Havana in 1996 – offers very expensive treatments to its patients. In order to be treated in Cuba, you will have to pay $1,200 or more. If you want the medication to be sent to your country, you have to pay between $80 and $110 per month for the duration of the treatment.

In 2021, Escozul signed two contracts in Mexico with the companies Pharmométrica and Research Pro. In 2022, they closed a deal with the Tecnológico de Monterrey

In 2021, Escozul signed two contracts in Mexico with the companies Pharmométrica and Research Pro. In 2022, they closed a deal with the Tecnológico de Monterrey, to give more scientific weight to Escozul’s work. Dr. Díaz’s ambition: to obtain the Health Registration of the product, which would allow its authorized sale throughout the world.

Apparent rivals in the public sphere, Escozul and Vidatox have a common origin in Havana and the improvised merchants who sell them – such as Castro Ochoa and Alejandro CR – do not distinguish these nuances when it comes to profiting from a product whose origin is unknown.

The medical reality, however, is clear: it is not scientifically proven that scorpion venom can cure cancer. The prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer research center – founded in 1884 in the United States – has explained that the benefits attributed to Escozul or Vidatox “are largely based on anecdotes, testimonies and experiments that may not have been correctly carried out.” And he adds that “in Cuba, where these products originate, the Government rejected the use of Escozul in 2009 for not having enough information.”

Translated by Norma Whiting
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The State Buys Fish from Us for One Peso per Pound, Individuals Pay Two Hundred

Although fishing is his great passion, Chucho does not go out to sea as much as before. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Matos, Manzanillo (Cuba), 28 January 2024 — As he talks, Chucho likes to “pass his hand” over the boat he uses to go fishing. A crust of salt disfigures its sides, the hull is patched with pieces of aluminum and it is not uncommon for the engine to stall while at sea. It is a hard life and it pays little, but he and the other fishermen in Manzanillo, a town in Granma province, have a motto: “We cannot stay on land.”

At sea there is food, even though it is hard get. On land – besides the problems of living in one of the poorest towns in Cuba — they wait for the inspectors, the fishing industry bureaucrats and the local townspeople, who come to the beach on bicycle, hoping to buy fish directly from the people who catch them.

Buying and selling on the informal market, and making deals with private business owners, while avoiding raids by inspectors are the only ways to survive. “When you do business with the state, they always win, explains Chucho. “The Fishing Combine pays us less than 2,000 pesos for every ton of fish we catch. And one ton is 2,200 pounds,” he calculates. “It’s a total rip-off. The state pays less than a peso for each fish.”

“We’re forced to sell to private individuals, who pay us 200 pesos a pound. Then they resell it.” There are those who manage to make a good deal with a small business owner who buys the entire catch from them. “It’s a good way to get the merchandise out quickly,” admits Chucho, but delivering it requires speed and agility. And sometimes, he complains, the boats’ puny continue reading

engines do not cooperate.

“Your paperwork has to be up to date at all times because, on the coast, the inspectors issue harsh fines over the ’engine issue,’ but we are very careful.” The engine issue is the Achilles heel of the fishing industry in a country on edge due to the authorities’ obsession with controlling “illegal” departures. Although located on the southern coast, Manzanillo is not immune from bureaucratic rigidity and surveillance. “We fish up to eight kilometers from the coast,” says Chucho. That is the boundary of the official preserve, though he adds, “The border guards have never put limits on us.”

Without hiding his passion for his craft, Chucho describes his technique. “We fish with nets that we make ourselves. We catch mackerel and mullet while the smaller fish slip through the net. We throw the line and catch fish up to 80 or 100 pounds. We also fish for Spanish mackerel, sawfish, redfish and snook.”

There are boats that have been sitting here for years because their owners do not have the money to fix them

Chucho is speaking next to a strip of beach with unused boats lying amid mangroves and palms. “There are boats that have been sitting here for years because their owners do not have the money to fix them. It doesn’t matter that we are in love with the sea. When something breaks, we have to figure out how to fix it.”

Each fisherman pays a security guard forty pesos a month to keep an eye on their boats. “He is a serious person,” explains Chucho. Trust is essential and, after working at it for several years, the man has earned it. “It’s been years since we had any theft here and he knows his job is secure.”

Despite the obstacles the state puts in their way and the challenges of the profession, Manzanillo benefits from the fisherman. Several establishments in the town carry signs offering pompano and mackerel, both for 260 pesos a pound.

As it has for centuries, the profession has other cards to play: luck and the tricks a fisherman has learned out on the ocean. “The sea is very hard. You know when to leave but you never know if you’re going to see your family again. We have learned to live the real danger of not returning,” says Chucho.

Others spend their whole lives working. Their hands are worn from abrasions and salt water. “After all these years, I haven’t even been able to build even a nice little cabin,” complains Chucho. Experience has taught him not to trust the promises of officials. Eating, supporting one’s family, surviving. Those are the only things that matter in Manzanillo.

“They, the state, have their fleets but we, the little guys, have to keep plugging along. The way things are — with an engine that costs an arm and a leg, and all the juggling we have to do with the paperwork — sometimes we’d rather just leave the boats on land and not go out.” The boat cemetery on the beach is a fitting testament to that final sense of resignation. Lying on the sand, with no one to “pass their hands” over them, the boats languish like the elegant colonial mansions in the old town center, ruins created by apathetic officials of a city whose glory days were made possible by its port.

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Even Honey, Cuba’s Star Product and a Great Source of Foreign Exchange, Suffers a Collapse

In 2021, Cuba produced more than 10,500 tons of honey, a figure not seen since 1962, when it produced 10,215 tons. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, January 30, 2024 — Despite the declared optimism of the Cuban authorities about the potential of beekeeping, honey production is no longer free from the general collapse of the national economy and registered data lower than official forecasts in 2023.

According to the information published by the newspaper of Las Tunas, this province recorded a production of 275.7 tons last year, less than half of the production for 2020 and barely 53% of what was planned.

Cuban honey and derived products are recognized for their high quality. It is estimated that this is a unique product due to its condition, and, in addition, the Government knows how to obtain notable revenues through its commercialization. The farmers sell it to the Cuban Beekeeping Company (Apicuba), which evaluates the quality and determines the price. continue reading

Honey receives better remuneration than other products, but the payment to producers is not exempt from prolonged delays of up to six months

Thanks to the embargo by the United States and the loss of the Soviet aid which had flooded the Cuban field with agrochemicals, national honey producers have developed biofertilizers and biopesticides, allowing them to get rid of the pests that are killing the bee colonies in much of the world.

Honey receives better remuneration than other products, but the payment to producers is not exempt from prolonged delays of up to six months, and the amount is still negligible in relation to the economic benefit that the regime obtains. While the Cuban State pays 600 in foreign currency per ton of honey to the producer, it sells it on average for more than 4,000 euros and, in some cases, for 20,000 euros per ton.

In 2021, Cuba produced more than 10,500 tons of honey. According to official figures, the Island has not known a similar figure since 1962, when it produced 10,215 tons.

That year, the Island’s authorities indicated that they were among the main honey-producing countries in the world, occupying the 15th position. Revenues from exports reached about 20 million dollars, and projections for 2030 suggest exports close to 50 million dollars annually.

It is a product that is successfully exported given the demand for Cuban honey in Europe. The most interested buyers are German, Dutch, French and Spanish.

On the other hand, official sources pointed out, in other areas of the same sector, such as wax, pollen and propolis, the initial expectations were more than met and even set records

As has happened for decades and repeatedly, to explain the decline of once successful sectors such as sugar and coffee, it was indicated that the causes of the poor results in Las Tunas had to do, on the one hand, with the intense drought in the first of the year and, on the other, with the loss of 311 hives due to the June rains in the southern municipalities.

On the other hand, in other areas of the same sector, such as wax, pollen and propolis [a resin bees produce to seal gaps in the hives], initial expectations were more than met and even set records. Likewise, the regime celebrated the advances in the production of organic honey and Melipona bees with the genetic improvement program, an obsession that accompanies the regime from the time of the prodigious White Udder cow.

Regarding the number of hives, the claim is that 2023 concluded with 300 more hives than in 2022 in Las Tunas, and this year it will reach 12,530, adding 730 more. The focus will be on enhancing the training of beekeepers, sanitary standards and planting flowers for honey production. In any case, the projections for 2024 are modest and below the 2020 production.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Authorities Blame the ‘Human Factor’ for the Increase in Deaths From Road Crashes

Last October, the Minister of Transport admitted that he does not have the equipment or funds to repair the roads. (ICRT)

14ymedio, Havana, January 30, 2024 — When reporting the causes of traffic crashes, the Cuban authorities have two big favorites: the violation of the right of way by drivers and lack of attention to the vehicle. In both cases, the driver is always responsible while the poor condition of the roads – denounced again and again by the population – does not even appear among the main causes of crashes and is mentioned as a secondary factor.

“The frequency and dynamics of occurrence of traffic crashes in the country continues to be marked by the irresponsibility of drivers and pedestrians, with the human factor being responsible for 91% of these events,” said the official newspaper Granma in January, which placed the number of accidents in 2023 at 8,556, with 729 deaths and 5,938 people injured.

The overall figure is lower than that of 2022, when the number of crashes was 9,848; however, the number of deaths increased by 24 from one year to the next. continue reading

Granma recognizes, although obliquely, the precarious condition of the roads, caused by “the limitations on investments for their improvement”

Granma recognizes, although obliquely, the precarious condition of the roads, caused by “the limitations on investments for their improvement.” The same thing was declared last October by the Minister of Transport on Cuban Television, when he alleged that the roads deteriorate faster than the State is able to repair them. To this is added the limited availability of raw materials and parts for the asphalt factories, which are currently working at a minimum to cope. According to official data from last July, 75% of the Island’s roads were in average or poor condition.

Interviewed by the newspaper, Roberto Rodríguez Fernández, head of the Specialized Traffic Body of the Police, also admitted that “the economic situation and the deficit of parts and pieces continue to have a negative impact on the technical status of the vehicles” and that, although the crashes caused by this factor registered a decrease, the number of deaths increased. “Accidents accounted for 10% of the total” deaths in 2023, he said.

This January, an article published in the newspaper of Las Tunas, Periódico 26, again drew attention to the indiscipline of both drivers and pedestrians. “The unfavorable state of the roads in the province is one of the causes in Las Tunas for the poor condition of vehicles, and drivers are urged to use caution to safeguard life,” the media said, without pointing out that repairing the roads could reduce the number of crashes.

According to the media, in 2023 the province had on average “one accident per day, one death for every 15 accidents and 33 accidents every month,” which translates into 373 accidents and a mortality rate of 4.6 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The only discordant note in the official speech was given last March by the newspaper of Ciego de Ávila, Invasor, which questioned why, with more than 65% of the roads in the province in regular or bad condition, the authorities of the region preferred to dedicate their resources to the roads of the tourist enclaves.

“Prioritizing tourist spots was not the only reason why the rest of the provincial territory was not paved”

“Prioritizing tourist spots was not the only reason why paving was not done in the rest of the provincial territory. The plan of 56.1 million pesos for investment was carried out by only 53%, roughly due to the lack of fuel, specifically for the contracted forces,” said the newspaper. It also pointed out that the causeway bridges leading to Jardines del Rey and the keys of Villa Clara require constant repair and million-dollar investments due to the batterings of the sea.

In the same period, the runway of the Cayo Coco airport in Ciego de Ávila was paved with 11,000 tons of asphalt. Meanwhile, for the critical four-mile stretch of the Central Highway between this province and Camagüey, where cracks and landslides were reported, barely 4,000 tons were used, far from what is necessary to definitively repair the road.

The same thing happened, the newspaper reported, with many of the potholes and cracks in the roads that, in the absence of resources and attention, ended up being filled with gravel, debris and ash from the sugar mills.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mysterious Visit of the Belarus Defense Minister to Cuba

The Belarus Minister of Defense, Víktor Jrenin, with his Cuban counterpart, Álvaro López Miera, in El Cacahual, Havana. (Government of Belarus)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 29, 2024 — The Minister of Defense of Belarus, Lieutenant General Víktor Jrenin, is on an official visit to Cuba, although it is not very clear why. The soldier has been on the island since Saturday, as reported by his Government, but it was not until this Monday that the official Cuban press commented on the matter. He was received by his Cuban counterpart, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.

“For the Republic of Belarus, Cuba is an important partner in the international arena and a strategic ally in the Western Hemisphere,” said the Belarusian minister in statements to official journalists. The messages spread on the networks by his Government were not very clear: “Despite the geographical distance and cultural differences, our countries are very similar. And we are similar in that we defend freedom and independence, social justice and cooperation equality with other countries. We are similar in that we do not fear difficulties, we do not give up on our objectives. We are proud of the chosen development path and we do not impose it on anyone. In the situation that has developed in the world and in our countries, people began to understand the importance of such simple concepts as stability, tranquility and peace.” continue reading

Despite geographical distance and cultural differences, our countries are very similar. And we are similar in that we defend freedom and independence

The official agency does not say a word related to the field of both ministers, but the Belarusian Government highlights in its statement some words from President Alexandr Lukashenko in this regard: “Unfortunately, today military force has become the basis of political relations between countries. Therefore, it is important that defense departments establish relationships that respond to the requests of our people, so that people feel safe.”

Two months ago, the Ministry headed by Khrenin announced that the Havana regime was interested in purchasing Polonez-M missiles from Belarus, with a range of 300 kilometers and reputation for being “the most dangerous artillery system in Europe.” In a statement, they said that the acquisition of the weapons, actually manufactured by China, would be under negotiation outside of a cooperation agreement with Minsk that the island’s military agreed upon during a meeting held in Havana. Cuban authorities, meanwhile, remained silent on the issue.

The Belta agency affirmed in those days that this arms purchase was part of a bilateral plan that would be executed starting this year.

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Cuban Boris Arencibia, Promoter of the Santa Maria Music Fest, Is Prosecuted in Miami for Money Laundering

Boris Arencibia, a former judo champion of the Island, ’escaped’ in Puerto Rico in 1993, and was the organizer of the Santa Maria Music Fest, last August. (Capture)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 29, 2024 — Boris Arencibia, a Cuban resident in Miami, is in a prison in this city, accused of money laundering and conspiracy to illicitly distribute pharmaceutical products. As reported by América TeVé, the businessman, promoter of the controversial Santa María Music Festival on the Island, faces up to 40 years in prison for these charges.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of Florida, according to the note published by the American network, accused Arencibia, Stephen Manuel Costa and Ángel Caminero Álvarez, of “having falsified documentation and labels of adulterated drugs, and of having carried out financial transactions with funds from illegal activities,” in Miami and Puerto Rico, between 2013 and 2019.

Arencibia was arrested by the FBI early Saturday morning, and the next day he was presented before the Federal Court. The scoop was given by influencer Alexander Otaola, who had previously announced that the businessman was being investigated by the US federal agency. continue reading

Otaola commented that Arencibia, with restrictions on leaving US territory, had been seen accompanying boxer Floyd Joy Mayweather to take a private plane to Cuba

In his program that same Saturday, Otaola commented that Arencibia, who was restricted from leaving United States territory, had been seen accompanying boxer Floyd Joy Mayweather to take a private plane to the Island.

As Lessner Gómez, director of the Cuban Tourism Bureau in Toronto (Canada), announced on his social networks, the boxer is at The One Gallery hotel, located in Cayo Santa María, to promote those islands belonging to the province of Villa Clara.

Former judo champion of the Island, Arencibia escaped during a competition in Puerto Rico in 1993, and was the organizer of last August’s Santa Maria Music Fest, which had as one of its main guests the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine – also arrested, ago a few weeks, in his case in Santo Domingo for violence against his romantic partner, the Dominican rapper and reggaeton singer Yailín la Más Viral.

The festival in the North Key of Villa Clara was harshly criticized at the time. For example, Cuban reggaeton artist Lenier Mesa could not sing, despite having been announced on the poster. Lack of transportation, crowds, confusion in booking accommodation and inattention on the part of hotel staff were other complaints from attendees.

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The Cuban Authorities Arrested a Dozen Ladies in White, Says Berta Soler

Ángel Moya and Berta Soler at the exit of the headquarters of the Ladies in White this Sunday, when they were arrested by the police. (Facebook)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, January 30, 2024. — The leader of the Cuban opponents Damas de Blanco [Ladies in White] Berta Soler, denounced on Monday that she was arrested for hours along with her husband, former political prisoner Ángel Moya, and a dozen other members of the group in Havana and Matanzas. Soler reported on social networks the arrest of a member of the Ladies in White in the Havana neighborhood of Calabazar and others in Perico and Colón.

For his part, Moya posted a note on Facebook accompanied by a video in which he said that they were “intercepted and arrested” after leaving the headquarters of the Ladies in White on Sunday morning, in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, which he counted as the “72nd repressive Sunday” against the collective.

Then, according to his account, they were transferred separately to the police stations of the El Cotorro and Guanabacoa municipalities, where they remained until almost 7:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Soler was fined 150 Cuban pesos. continue reading

Soler was fined 150 Cuban pesos

The Ladies in White is a women’s movement that emerged on the initiative of several women relatives of the 75 dissidents and independent journalists – including Moya – who received long sentences in 2003 during the repressive wave known as the Black Spring.

Since then, this group, composed of wives, mothers and relatives of the prisoners, has been identified by always being dressed in white and holding Sunday marches after attending mass in a Catholic church to ask for the release of political prisoners.

The European Union and the NGOs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized the wave of arrests and convictions, calling them political. The Cuban authorities alleged that the accused dissidents violated national sovereignty under orders from the United States.

In 2005, the Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience from the European Parliament.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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As the Dollar Approaches 300 Pesos, the Cuban Government Talks About ‘Intervening’ in the Informal Market

The Government is preparing measures for February to control the foreign exchange market. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 30 January 2024 — Economic reforms are coming together for the Cuban Government, which is expected to announce changes in the foreign exchange market this February. In the first Council of Ministers session held this year, the Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil, set an immediate date on a priority issue for the country, although the words he chose for the announcement sowed more doubts than clarifications.

“It is said that the Cuban Government’s projections include intervention ’from the’ informal foreign exchange market, but it is not clear if it meant intervention ’in’ the market. Perhaps it expresses a confusion between intervention and exchange policy,” Cuban economist Pedro Monreal wrote in his X account.

In Monreal’s opinion, expressed in a second message, “intervention (an instrument) can be useful to contain fluctuations in the exchange rate and stabilize it, but it is not effective for making permanent changes in rates resulting from an exchange rate policy that is not compatible with general macroeconomic policy.” continue reading

“A lot of work is being done on this because of the impact it has on promoting a productive stimulus”

Gil announced that regulations will be announced in February to “reorder local development projects” and decentralize the price approval of natural and traditional medicine. Then he talked about what is really important. “In that month, progress will also be made in the presentation of proposals to restructure the foreign exchange market, intervene in the informal market and control the type of exchange in the country, which includes the determination of the exchange rate and the formation of prices. A lot of work is being done on this because of the impact it has on the promotion of a productive stimulus,” the minister said.

A month ago, during the joint television appearance of Gil and the Minister of Finance and Prices, Vladimir Regueiro Ale, to announce the first changes of the complicated package to stabilize the economy, the official had already referred to the great importance of the foreign exchange market, which he considers “one of the main distortions that the economy is facing.”

The ministers specified that private individuals buy foreign currency in a parallel market that allows them to import goods while the State sector is left without that currency. But they didn’t mention that State companies have access to the official exchange rate (1 dollar x 120 pesos), while those who are forced to resort to the illegal market find the dollar being paid at almost 300 pesos.

“Why is the State sometimes not able to be an offerer of goods and services as it should be? Some of those currencies move in the other circuit. If there were for both… But there isn’t. (…) That has to be corrected,” said Gil, who neither then nor now said anything that could allow us to glimpse the measures to be taken.

“Why is the State sometimes not able to be an offerer of goods and services as it should be? Some of those currencies move in the other circuit. If there were for both… But there isn’t”

In September 2023, two extensive articles published in Cubadebate and signed by an official of the Ministry of Economy, Joel Ernesto Marill Domenech, addressed the economic situation and launched a series of proposals that could help – or not – the authorities, if they allowed themselves to be advised by these experts. The specialist suggested a national currency flotation system similar to the model applied with the euro, although Monreal considered at that time that the idea was “unviable” because the country has no foreign exchange reserves or production to support its own currency.

Monreal’s proposal was, rather, a foreign exchange market of “two levels: business operations with banks and retail operations in Cadeca [currency exchanges] (using the official exchange rate)” and a mobile parity regime (which combines a fixed nominal value that is adjusted by factors such as inflation and a floating rate). In his opinion, that would allow more flexibility to control the small devaluations that occur.

The two experts clashed over a main issue. For Marill, it was essential to stabilize the economy before proceeding with the exchange rate reform, while Monreal considered this dangerous because of the delay it could entail.

The Government seems inclined not to let more time pass than already has. However, the economist also warned of something: “The first step of the sequence should be to support the transformation of the small private commercial production component of the agricultural system into a more diversified private component with the greater weight of national capital. Without an increase in the national food supply, there can be no material backing of the national currency. The rest would be like pouring water into baskets,” he said. None of that is being done.

That idea has come, without being experts in economics, to many readers of Cubadebate, who have reminded the Government that no measure will work in the current supply conditions and they even remind readers that the inflation rate – which is expected to increase as soon as fuel prices rise in two days – gets worse almost by the hour. In the words of one of them: “When someone from the Government said that the State would recover the exchange rate, which was supposedly in the hands of the online site El Toque*, the dollar was quoted at around 270 pesos. It is already quoted at around 280. In a few days, Health and Education workers have lost the increase that has not yet reached them.”

*Translator’s note: El Toque is an independent digital newspaper that provides daily exchange rates for the Cuban peso in all markets, including that of cryptocurrency.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Doctor Convicted of Negligence Points Out That the Patient’s Death Was Inevitable

Ristian Solano is sentenced to three years of deprivation of liberty and disqualification. (Capture)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 30, 2024 — Ristian Solano, the doctor at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes hospital in Bayamo (Granma) who was sentenced to three years of deprivation of liberty for negligence resulting in death, has broken his silence. His penalty is the highest of those imposed on the six health workers tried in this case, in which only one of those involved, radiologist Elizabeth Silvera, was acquitted.

The doctor has been disappointed by the lack of support from the Ministry of Health, when he and his colleagues denounced their poor working conditions for lack of resources and when they were convicted in a procedure that was full of irregularities.

Solano says that three commissions participated in the investigation to clarify the facts – one from the Provincial Directorate of Health, another from Manzanillo and, finally, the National Health Commission. They determined that from the time of his admission to the hospital, the patient had “elements incompatible with life regardless of medical action. This patient, unfortunately, was condemned to a sad outcome.” continue reading

Solano says that three commissions participated in the investigation, which determined that from the time of his admission to the hospital, the patient had “elements incompatible with life”

The doctor describes in great detail, as his colleagues also did, what happened two years ago when the now deceased patient entered the emergency room. His name has never been revealed, but at the time of his arrival, he was accompanied by another person who could speak and answer questions. The 23-year-old patient did not actively cooperate in the interrogation, not because of disability but because he had participated in an illegal race and did not want to have problems.

At that time, when the patient barely revealed that he had fallen off a motorcycle, he had a back injury that was assessed with an apparently normal x-ray and ultrasound. However, he was sent to the multipurpose room to coordinate more specialized tests, two of them (thorax plate and tomography) were declined by radiology due to lack of film and technical defects. A puncture was chosen as an alternative, which could not be done normally either due to the lack of a bladder catheter that, finally, was delivered through coordination with the Urology service. In addition, all the specialists in that unit were busy with surgeries, so they could not perform the test.

“All these inconveniences, so to speak, are reflected in a chart for this purpose,” says Solano, who considers that the patient was adequately cared for within the limitations, and they even explained the situation to him.

Everything changed completely when “around 12:45 in the afternoon a family member brought me the ultrasound result – apparently performed at 8:50 in the morning – in the emergency room, where I was on duty. I reviewed the report and was diametrically opposed to the conclusion.” The doctor explained that he quickly went with the relative to where the patient was while explaining the changes that were seen between the tests. On arrival the patient showed normal vital signs and no problems physically, while now the ultrasound indicated the need for an urgent intervention because of an intra-abdominal injury.

It was at that moment, when he was being prepared for the operation, that the patient confessed to the anesthesiologist that he had participated in a race at 100 miles per hour

It was at that moment, when he was being prepared for the operation, that the patient confessed to the anesthesiologist that he had participated in a race at 100 miles per hour and was thrown over the motorcycle, landing on the curb. According to Solano, the tests carried out by the anesthesiologists revealed normality, with the exception of a ” bilateral decrease in the vesicular murmur in both lung fields.” The injury observed during the surgery was finally located in the kidney.

The autopsy performed subsequently revealed the cause of death as a gastric perforation with a subsequent peritonitis of approximately 20 ounces of free gastric content in the cavity, in addition to ischemia of the tail end of the pancreas. According to Solano, this condition is fatal in 98% of cases, and the patient had already arrived at the hospital with those elements, so nothing could have been done to save him.

The doctor says that the reports confused the terms “polycontusioned”, as the patient was classified, with “polytraumatized,” his real condition, judging by the results of the autopsy. “The elements that the patient provided once he arrived at the Carlos Manuel Céspedes hospital,” along with a “completely negative physical examination” that did not suggest injuries like those found later, made his outcome unpredictable.

Solano says that everything that happened, detailed in the patient’s medical history, damaged the image of the hospital “and, consequently, the image of the department and of the Provincial Directorate of Health, and it was not permissible for one of the doctors to say all this.”

The doctor again points out Dr. Ingris Porto Mateo (allegedly a relative of the deceased) as responsible for a “totally misguided and superficial investigation”

The doctor again points out Dr. Ingris Porto Mateo (allegedly a relative of the deceased) as responsible for a “totally misguided and superficial investigation,” contrary to any scientific basis, and of “encouraging and disclosing falsehoods” against the medical team in charge of the patient “in order to divert attention to what we had actually raised in the first place; that is, the shortcomings of institutional resources that interfere with adequate patient care.”

The doctor ends the video, delivered to Ernesto Morales, regretting that the many pieces of evidences he and his colleagues provided to clarify the situation have been ignored and dismissed. “But, above all, the main irregularity that this process presented is the lack of support from the Ministry of Health, which simply avoided this whole process until it reached the present dimensions. Not because of their lack of support but because they looked the other way.”

The five convicted – along with Solano, Rafael José Sánchez and Henry Rosales Pompa sentenced to two years; Yoandra Quesada Labrada, sentenced to one year and six months; and William Pérez Ramírez, sentenced to one year – will be disqualified for the same period of time that the sentence lasts, although they still have the option to appeal, something they have announced that they will do and for which they have the support of many doctors.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Official Press Blames the Cuban Leaders for the Shortage of Milk in Sancti Spiritus

The authorities explained that milk will continue to be sold, but it will be distributed “when it arrives.” (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 29 January 2024 — For months, the dairy industry of Sancti Spíritus has not been able to cover the more than 5,280 gallons per day needed by those who require a special diet. This, added to the deficit of 2,900 million gallons with which they closed 2023, affects thousands of patients, pregnant women and parents who get the product from the bodegas (ration stores). This Monday, the official press delivers the culprit on a platter: “the managers of the dairy and commercial companies is where the greatest lack of control is usually manifested.”

According to Escambray, “the debts with deliveries to the State by Agriculture,” the “failures with the distribution of the family basket,” the “distributions at the wrong time and the consequent effects on consumers” are just the tip of the iceberg of the dairy industry in the province, whose authorities fail to “control” the producers. The “effects” already reach more than 70,000 patients, pregnant women and children from six months to seven years old in Trinidad and the provincial capital alone.

Marina, a 61-year-old woman from Sanct Spíritus, who receives milk on a medical diet, tells 14ymedio that the situation is even more serious than the authorities reveal. “I should get milk 10 days a month, but so far in January I have only received it twice. I don’t know what the leaders want me to do with so little,” she says. continue reading

“On top of that, the milk is getting more and more watered down. You put it on the stove and it doesn’t boil. It keeps evaporating as if it were water”

“The distributions in the bodega are divided according to the groups of children, the pregnant and the sick – A, B and C – and I belong to C. If the milk arrives only for the A, that means that I don’t get it that day. They also sometimes deliver, for example, only half a gallon instead of a whole gallon. This is how they create the illusion that they are handing out milk when in reality they aren’t. On top of that, the milk is getting more and more watered down. You put it on the stove and it doesn’t boil. It keeps evaporating as if it were water,” says the woman.

“It’s true, as they say, that other provinces have not even had medical diets for a long time and that some distribute half a gallon to children instead of the whole gallon they should get. This happens in a province that, by the figures, is the second highest milk producer in Cuba,” which also exports to three other provinces, reports Escambray.

The solution, according to Escambray, is to treat the farmers better, so they will deliver the milk to the State and not sell it in the informal market. “Yes, there is milk, but we lack follow-up, because a lot of pizza, cheese and yogurt are still marketed and at high prices by the self-employed and on the street, and the milk is not always imported, it comes out of the milk that is not delivered,” Norge Yero, director of the Provincial Delegation of Agriculture, told the newspaper.

In the current situation, Escambray reports, it is evident that “neither the improvement in purchase prices as a result of the 93* measures to enhance production, nor the dozens of meetings that have been held to resolve the matter, nor the knocking on doors asking the producers to deliver milk (to the State), nor the authorization to the owners to sell the over-fulfillments where they want” have given results.

Nor have the penalties that fined the cooperatives 10 pesos for every gallon they do not deliver, a measure that, according to the media, the farmers themselves mock. “Last year about 400 farmers did not deliver what was agreed and did not complain about the fine that comes from private sales, where the gallon is quoted at up to 150 pesos and yogurt and cheese, more.”

Last year about 400 farmers did not deliver what was agreed and did not complain about the fine that comes from private sales

The fines, the ” confiscation of animals” and “rescinding the land from systematic non-compliants also seem to be cosmetic,” the media says. This January, and counting on the delivery of “the overfulfillers,” the industry in the province has only collected 80% of what was planned. If it continues like this, this year’s plan – 9,246 million gallons – seems unattainable.

The authorities, however, have assured that milk deliveries will be maintained according to the capabilities of the province. The sale “has not been suspended nor will it be suspended,” explained Alberto Cañizares, director of the Río Zaza Dairy Company, but “there is no guarantee for the diets, and the milk will be distributed when it arrives.”

The population, however, is tired of excuses and has begun to ask the local authorities for solutions. “Why do they take milk from seven-year-olds to give them yogurt? Now no milk or yogurt. What do those children have for breakfast or for a snack at school?” asked a user in the Comments section.

The answer, Norma, 32, from Las Tunas province, tells 14ymedio, is in the private sellers or “on the left.” “In my house, when no one gets milk from the libreta (ration book), we buy it directly from the farmers. Right now we pay 80 pesos a gallon and 1,000 for a package of milk powder, and it’s cheap because we live in the countryside and buy it first-hand,” she says.

In Havana, Roberto pays almost twice as much for the same amount, if he can find milk with a private individual. “I buy the milk from a woman who sells the one she gets from the libreta for her two children. I’m sorry to think about what those children will be having for breakfast, but if I don’t buy it, she’ll sell it to someone else,” he says.

Buying the product on the street, however, has its down side, says José Luis from Holguín. “We know that when we buy milk from the sellers it will always come with a little water, because that way they ’stretch’ it and sell more, and the last two times it tasted strange.” According to José Luis, the milk that his “usual” suppliers sell has begun to show an irregular consistency that, when boiled, leaves “something like sand” at the bottom of the pot.

“Several people have ventured to say that they are putting cassava starch in the milk. I don’t know what they are mixing it with, but my wife and I decided not to buy it anymore,” says the holguinero, who adds: “As much as we need it, I’m not risking giving it to my children.”

*Translator’s note: There are “93 measures” for sugar cane, and “63 measures” for food production.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In the Middle of January, Cuba Has the Same Energy Deficit It Had in August

In the middle of January, the energy deficit reaches levels not seen since summer. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 29 January 2024 — “The blackouts are aggressive and extreme.” The population reacts to the energy deficit announced for this Monday with astonishment and anger, like this resident from Sancti Spíritus. “They are turning it off twice a day, in the morning and at night. According to the frequency that is planned in ’the blocks’ but in those time slots. It’s unforgiving, like it’s the middle of August. In my neighborhood I’m fine, but some people are experiencing blackouts of nine and ten hours.”

In the middle of January, with temperatures that dropped again this morning, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) has once again foreseen a deficit of almost 1,000 megawatts (MW), on the third consecutive day. The official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso elaborated this Sunday: “The breakdowns in several units and the lack of fuel continue to be the causes. In the last days of January the effects are similar to those reported last summer.”

This highlights the seriousness of the energy situation on an Island that no longer needs to wait for hellish heat to have 12 to 14 hours of blackouts. But now, in the month when greater relief is expected, the figures are unprecedented. continue reading

Despite this, the deficit during yesterday’s peak time was 975 MW, above the 952 MW that had been predicted

The situation was aggravated on Sunday. The Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, in Matanzas, the most important in the west of the country, was synchronized with the National Energy System (SEN). Despite this, the deficit in yesterday’s peak time was 975 MW, above the 952 MW that had been expected.

For Monday, the UNE announced that 991 MW will be missing, even with the entrance for the peak hours of unit 4 of Energas Varadero and the distributed generation engines that were stopped for maintenance and those that have been authorized for support. According to the state company, unit 5, the Diez de Octubre power plant, in Nuevitas (Camagüey) and the 2 of Lidio Ramón Pérez, in Felton (Holguín), are out of service, while unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez thermoelectric plant, in Mariel, is under maintenance.

The joint exit from the system of the two main thermoelectric plants of the east and west of the Island (Felton and Antonio Guiteras), one due to breakdown and the other for scheduled maintenance, was key. On Friday, after several days of complaints reported in several provinces, the record of electricity deficit was announced, with 1,010 MW planned for peak time, which finally reached 1,032 MW.

On Saturday the prediction dropped to 890 MW, but once again, the reality was worse than imagined, with 959 MW of deficit.

The return of the Antonio Guiteras, which on Sunday around 1 p.m. properly synchronized with the system, suggested that the most recent episode of blackouts had passed. But the announcement that the plant was contributing about 200 MW to the SEN was not reflected in the comments of customers from all over the Island, outraged once again with the favored treatment they consider to exist towards Havana, the province least affected by the lack of electricity.

“What kind of math are the bosses of the Energy and Mines cartel applying to give such a high indicator?”

“Sancti Spíritus is at the forefront of the blackouts while the capital enjoys a sweet croquette,” said one user. The few optimists who dared to vigorously congratulate “the Revolution” received a flood of criticism. “The same Revolution that gives you 8 hours of blackout,” one wrote. “What Revolution? Its meaning is to revolutionize something, to move forward. What progress is there in this country? Where is the restored electrical system, when today the whole day has been spent without power, with practically more blackouts than electricity?” added another, indignant.

The hope that the situation would calm down today, which began with cool temperatures in much of the Island, was frustrated when, after 10 in the morning, the state company announced its forecast, again close to 1,000 MW of deficit.

“What kind of math are the bosses of the Energy and Mines cartel applying to give such a high indicator? Why is there only Nuevitas, that breaks down every day, and Felton 2. Speak clearly and say that it’s because there is no oil, so that we can understand,” wrote a user of the many who complained to the UNE. Another joked with resignation: “We have continuity, we remain in the dark.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Desperate for More Workers, Cuba’s Electric Company Holds a Job Fair

The electric company’s facilities on Independence Avenue in Havana’s Boyeros district, are well maintained. The sign reads: “The Party Is Immortal”. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa/Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 21 January 2024 — The Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) needs operators, linemen, inspectors, economists, dispatchers and meter readers. However, attendees at Thursday’s job fair, sponsored by the state-owned enterprise in an effort to alleviate its worker shortage, were not met with promises of good salaries. Instead, they were greeted by a rusty sign over the gate to its operations center that read, “The Party is Immortal.”

The company’s Havana facilities, located on Independence Avenue in the Boyeros district, are well maintained. Several repair vehicles loaded with equipment and ladders are parked next to the main building. Also adjoining the premises is a training center for linemen where, on Thursday, several uniformed apprentices could be seen climbing poles and using training cables.

“All the state-owned companies are desperately looking for people because no one wants to work for them given how little they pay,” says one of the candidates for a lineman position. continue reading

All the state-owned companies are desperately looking for people because no one wants to work for them given how little they pay

Despite UNE’s need to increase staffing, company representatives at the fair did not go out of their way to tout the benefits of working for the company. Essential questions about the nature of the work were met with obfuscation, hemming and hawing, and “misdirection.” Shrugging her shoulders, the building’s receptionist apologized when asked about the pay. “I lost the salary schedule,” she replied.

After an expedited hiring process, the lineman positions — the best paid but also the most dangerous — were quickly filled. For those interested less risky positions, such as those for computer engineers or operators, the news was disappointing.

“The pay is 4,000 a month plus a performance bonus,” explained a department head to an applicant who had already been shuffled from one office to another. “If you exceed your target, you can earn between 9,000 and 12,000 pesos.” Hardly a tempting offer considering a police officer can make up to 15,000 pesos.

Adjoining the company’s offices is a training center for linemen where, on Thursday, uniformed apprentices could be seen climbing poles and handling training cables. (14ymedio)

Not yet convinced, the candidate was told that transportation was provided for employees. Also needed are inspectors and meter readers, as well as security and protection workers, who require a higher level of certification than the average technician.

Those attending the fair, however, were able to confirm at least one thing. At the electric company, where blackouts are expected and excuses are made for the country’s energy crisis, every office is air conditioned and the place is amply lit. “Blackouts don’t happen here,” said one candidate as he exited under the same Communist Party sign that greeted him when he came in.

With its jobs becoming increasingly less attractive, and with little to offer potential employees, the public sector is running out of workers. The most recent strategy to improve the situation is to organize job fairs, which have proliferated throughout the country since December. Company directors highlight the advantages of working for the state: stability, more reliability and lots of job openings

Job-fair fever has spread throughout the island as officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security continue boasting of their success

The last point has proved to be an easy sell. The stampede to the private sector combined with the high level of emigration has meant that organizers of a single job fair last December in Guantanamo province were able to offer candidates more than 2,200 positions.

Job-fair fever has spread throughout the island as officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security continue boasting of their success. The ideal candidates, according state media, are those who are “not studying or not currently employed,” and who live in “vulnerable communities.”

One of the workplaces that has worked hardest to recruit Cubans “excited” to work for the state is Cubadebate, the flagship — along with Granma — of official state media. After an attempt to add more journalists to its payroll , the online news outlet received more than a few sardonic responses, some in the form of a query. One example: “Can journalists write their own articles or do they have to wait for the Communist Party to dictate them?”

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Multiple Gangs ‘Implement Terror’ in Santiago de Cuba, Admits the Ministry of the Interior

The lieutenant colonel stressed that the assault had ended with several wounded. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2024 — Young people, armed with knives and machetes, and organized into violent gangs. These are the members of the multiple “groups” that, according to a lieutenant colonel of the Ministry of the Interior during a recent public appearance, “implement terror” in Santiago de Cuba.

A video of the meeting, released by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta, shows dozens of neighbors of the Abel Santamaría neighborhood in Santiago listening to the officer’s speech, surrounded by other police agents. The purpose was to report on the arrest of five young members of a gang who, wielding knives, assaulted a cafeteria in the early morning of January 7.

The lieutenant colonel stressed that it was an “organized group,” and that the assault ended with an employee – from whom they took clothes and money – receiving minor injuries, and a customer whose “right hand was amputated” while trying to escape from the assailants with another person. The mutilated person – whom the officer does not identify – is, according to Mayeta, a lineman from the Santiago Empresa Eléctrica, David Enrique Perdomo Álvarez. According to the recording, “he is still recovering.” continue reading

For the soldier, this “unfit behavior” of the five gang members is shared with many other criminals from Santiago de Cuba

For the soldier, this “unfit behavior” of the five gang members is shared, he insisted, with many other criminals from Santiago de Cuba. “We know who they are and we are going to get them,” he promised, speaking on behalf of “all the organs” of the Ministry of the Interior that accompanied him. He added that, after the interrogation of the five detainees, they gathered more information about “the different groups that operate in these places” and “beyond, in the city of Santiago.”

The lieutenant colonel spared no promise to the population. “We can’t keep having this type of thing. We are going to act severely. They will be sanctioned, have confidence,” he said, before a woman interrupted his speech to take the floor and say that her confidence in the police was only “up to a point.” She then told the story of her son, a university professor who lacks a leg, and who on May 7, 2023 was assaulted by two hooded people. “They covered him with a sheet, tied it around his neck and pulled him” out the door of his house, she said.

“Until now, no one has ever come to my house to tell me ’this has been done, that has been done,’” complained the woman, who said she had taken the case to the Prosecutor’s Office, in the face of the inaction of the police. “I come back and repeat: I trust [the authorities], but right now I don’t even know what to say,” she finished.

That was “a negative experience,” minimized the lieutenant colonel, who muttered that he had no knowledge of the situation and promised to review the case. The woman’s response to the officer’s promise was categorical: “Right now I don’t believe anyone.”

“They have not solved the cases that have happened; how do they expect the people to trust them?”

In his comment on the video, Mayeta claims to have interviewed one of the attendees at the meeting in Abel Santamaría, a Public Health worker who asked not to be identified, and who affirmed that in that area “there is not only one gang but several.” “They have not solved the cases that have happened; how do they expect the people to trust them?” Mayeta asked.

The escalation of violence in Cuba has gotten out of the hands of the authorities, who opt in most cases for inaction and establish zones of “tolerance” for crime in the cities, where patrols do not dare to circulate.

On January 5, when the police celebrated the anniversary of its founding, the deputy head in Sancti Spíritus asked that, in order to face the “current context of the country,” the State provide the officers with “new instruments, equipment, vehicles and technologies to perfect the mechanisms of the surveillance and patrol system.” Similar requests were made in acts of tribute to the police throughout the country.

The growing insecurity on the streets of the Island is impossible to disguise and demands more and more space in the official press. Curfews are a reality in several locations, despite the fact that the police deny it. In Alquízar, in the province of Artemisa, the authorities denied that people had to stay inside after midnight. However, this newspaper gathered multiple testimonies about the prohibition and confirmed that patrols circulated through the municipality to make sure it was respected.

However, the curfew is increasingly a self-preservation measure by the neighbors themselves. Whether or not the police recommend it, no Cuban dares to walk the streets alone in the early morning hours.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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