Translating Cuba – Page 223 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Despite the Poor Quality of the Rice, Cubans Are Distressed by Its Uneven Distribution in the Ration Stores

Authorities have said that the rice will be delivered to the ration stores in a staggered manner. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 22 January 2024 — At this point in January, when it is not long before the end of the month, the two pounds of rice per person that remain to be delivered to the ration stores have not yet arrived. “Only a few peas, cooking oil and kitchen detergent.”

“People are desperately asking about the rice, and the storekeeper says that it should arrive today or tomorrow,” Sandra tells 14ymedio. “They gave us a pound when the year began and then four, but I wouldn’t be surprised if what was missing doesn’t arrive.”

The coffee has not appeared either, nor the new ration book, delayed due to lack of paper, which the authorities have promised before March 30. “The chicken that arrived a few days ago is the one they owed from last year,” says a friend of Sandra’s, who reiterates: “No rice; you know, it’s at the North Pole.” continue reading

“Neither rice nor oil has arrived yet; even the cat is waiting,” a customer says sarcastically, nine days before the end of the month.

In the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, the scene is similar: “At the beginning of the month they gave us a pound of rice and two pounds of sugar per person, and two days ago they sold us the rest of those products but nothing else,” a resident tells this newspaper.

The customers of the ration store located at Hospital and Jesús Peregrino, in Central Havana, are luckier, since their rice allocation is complete, but that is not the case in other nearby establishments, such as the one on Reina Street. “Neither rice nor oil has arrived yet; even the cat is waiting,” a customer says sarcastically, nine days before the end of the month.

In Nuevo Vedado, the rice arrived at some ration stores last Friday along with “some chicken,” while for others it didn’t arrive until late Saturday night.

In short, they are distributing the products of the basic family basket to the neighborhoods and municipalities of the capital in an irregular manner. “They do it in a staggered way, as they say, and “staggered” means, for example, that the rice didn’t arrive until Friday,” explains a resident of the Luyanó neighborhood.

In the provinces it’s not much different. In San Antonio de los Baños, Artemisa, of the seven pounds of rice that correspond to the basic basket, so far five have been given. In Holguín, they gave six pounds, and the other one is missing.

On the Ministry of Internal Commerce’s website, where the delivery of chicken destined for the “normal family basket and social consumption” of Santiago de Cuba is reported, users take the opportunity to complain about the shortage of the moment: “It’s January 20, almost the end of the month, without even a pound in the ration store, and we have to pay 170 pesos a pound [in a private store] with such low wages. Please think of this town and leave off with the speeches. I am not an opponent or anything like that, but really this situation is unbearable,” explains a reader.

While consumers complain about the quantity, the quality of the rice is terrible

While consumers complain about the quantity, the quality of the rice is terrible. “Here the only rice that can be eaten is sold in the private stores, but that costs between 160 and 220 pesos a pound, and not everyone can afford it,” says Sandra, who fears having no choice but to spend the money.

Last Thursday, the Ministry itself warned of the “problems in the fulfillment of the distribution cycles” of the rationed food, especially rice. The official explanation: “financial restrictions and operational problems, which have caused delays in the arrival of imports, production and transportation,” without giving further details.

The guaranteed “deliveries” of oil and peas correspond to January and February, “because inventories are available.” As for sugar, which is also being distributed “in a fractional way,” it will be completed “in correspondence with the advances of the crop, and the four pounds per capita will be insured.”

Other products that are delayed are salt and coffee, according to the official report. The same goes for milk, which is also distributed “fractionally, in correspondence with the arrivals and fulfillment of the collections of fresh milk.” The ministry reports that this month Cuba will distribute a donation from the UN World Food Program, “with free delivery in some territories.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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December Rumors in Cuba: ‘Catfishing’, Police Brutality, Casinos, Corrupt Spies

For Etecsa, Cuba’s State communications monopoly, 2024 will be the year of “cybersecurity.” (Ministry of the Interior)

14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 22 January 2024 — The recruitment of cyberclarias (catfishers)* – the digital infantry of the Cuban regime – a hypothetical legalization of protests and the increase in clandestine gaming have stood out among the rumors collected in December by associates of 14ymedio and Yucabyte. The discontent of Cubans has been expressed openly on social networks, and the regime is now paying attention.

With instructions from the Communist Party, a squad of Public Health leaders – alleges a rumor that circulated as a WhatsApp audio – held several meetings in medical schools and hospitals in Holguín and Ciego de Ávila. The agenda: to attract workers willing to “share revolutionary content” in their personal accounts in the face of the well-known “media war” that keeps the regime up at night.

Other rumors on the subject indicate that, in parallel, the Communist Party has reactivated hundreds of anonymous profiles and computer programs to flood the internet with hashtags favorable to the Government. Cyberclarias are also given training courses to better develop their work, along with “cyber defense” workshops. continue reading

For Etecsa, the State communications monopoly, 2024 will be the year of “cybersecurity.” Interviewed by the official press, its Business Director, Daniel Ramos, announced with great fanfare that the first class of engineers in Cybersecurity, a recent career taught at the University of Computer Sciences, is active. The educational center, which has always served as the regime’s headquarters for digital affairs, will lead a “fight against cybercrime” in the face of the alarming increase in incidents recorded by Etecsa, more than 2,600 last year.

Social disagreement will overflow the networks at some point, and it won’t take long to reach the streets, some rumors imply. The Government has planned for it, they add, and therefore is planning to legalize popular protests. Aware of Havana’s mode of operation, many commentators have warned that the origin of the rumor may be the Government itself, which tests public opinion and tries to “hunt” potential demonstrators.

Others say that the National Assembly had a “Demonstration and Meeting Law” on its schedule for 2022, which was never debated openly and was removed from the plan in 2023, without any explanation.

December, a “hot” month when it comes to violence and insecurity, brought abundant rumors about murders, disappearances and violent robberies. The images about police brutality were not far behind: agents beating individuals already immobilized, comments on arbitrary confiscations and harassment of pushcart sellers and farmers were just some of the incidents reported.

The end-of-year parties, users alleged, were nothing to celebrate: fairs understocked and with rotten food, inability to get food and inaction in the face of crime were the only things that the Government offered to Cubans, they criticized. The tension increased with the rumor, at the end of the year, that the ration book, indispensable for the poorest on the Island, was disappearing.

The Ministry of Internal Trade denied these rumors, but the so-called economic package – officially announced – promises a year of maximum austerity for Cubans, after a critical 2023.

The growing activity of the burles – informal and illegal casinos – is a symptom of the need of Cubans to obtain money quickly and at all costs. In many of these businesses, several users complain, it is common for children to get involved, “with money in hand” and alcohol, in the organization of the games.

The return to the public sphere of diplomat Manuel Rocha and former American analyst Ana Belén Montes, two former spies in the service of Havana, generated a series of rumors about the Cuban intelligence services. According to several users, the arrest of Montes in 2001 at the hands of the FBI and the disclosure of the links of Rocha, former deputy director of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, with the regime, testify to the state of corruption of Cuban espionage.

The Directorate of Intelligence of the Island has numerous flaws, and its negligence – they add – made it easier for the United States to access information to expose Rocha and Montes. When newspapers around the world made headlines with both former spies, Javier Milei, the President of Argentina, announced that Cuban and Venezuelan agents living in Argentina had instructions to instigate a protest.

A few days later, several rumors claimed that the Argentine authorities had captured an alleged Cuban spy: Alejandro Odriozola Diez, head of Intelligence of the Cuban Embassy in Buenos Aires.

*Translator’s note: ’Catfishing’ is pretending to be someone else online, stealing someone’s identity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Thirty Sorolla Paintings that Cuba Refused to Loan to Spain Reappear in Havana

Last September Sorolla’s works were moved, with little fanfare, from their usual spot in the Universal Art building to the Trocadero site, located between Zulueta and Monserrate streets.

14ymedio, Havana, January 19, 2024 — Thirty paintings by Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), which the Cuban government refused to lend to Spain last April for the centenary of the artist’s death, are now on display in Havana. The exhibition, which includes major works by the artist as well as sketches and other, less significant works, will be removed on Sunday from Cuba’s National Museum of Fine Arts.

The exhibition includes important canvases such as “Summer” (1904), “Going to Sea” (1908), “The Watermelon Boy” (purchased in 1920 from Sorolla himself by the then director of the museum, Antonio Rodríguez Morey), “Portrait of the Marchioness of Balboa” (commissioned by a Cuban client in 1894) and a bust of the artist made by the Spanish sculptor Antonio Rodríguez del Villar.

Last September Sorolla’s works were moved, with little fanfare, from their usual spot in the Universal Art building to the Trocadero site, located between Zulueta and Monserrate streets. The logistics were handled by the Genesis, a state-owned company that manages galleries and sales of Cuban art to foreign buyers. continue reading

Cubans admiring “Girl” and “Summer,” two iconic Sorolla paintings. (14ymedio)

Organized by art curator Manuel Crespo Larrazábal, head of the museum’s Spanish collection, the exhibition is the island’s belated response to the centenary of Sorolla’s death. When important art galleries around the world were paying tribute to the painter in a big way, Havana reneged on a loan that it had promised to Valencia’s government eight years ago.

The reason: Fear that the legitimate owners of paintings that were seized by Fidel Castro after 1959 — specifically a family of Cuban exiles, the Fanjul Gomez-Menas — would file suit for their return from the Spanish institutions which would be exhibiting them. Carmen Amoraga, the Valencia government’s cultural director, then announced that the request had come to a dead end due to the “international situation” that had boxed the regime into a corner and that her office did not want comment on the matter.

Last April the High Court of Justice in London issued a ruling against the National Bank of Cuba in a case involving 72 million euros in unpaid debt. The Cuban government then decided not to risk further litigation over the Sorollas as happened in the 1990s when the Fanjuls filed several lawsuits in international courts in an effort to stop organized art trafficking on the island. In 2009 the family launched another legal battle, claiming violations of trade restrictions under the Helms-Burton Act, after Havana quietly lent two Sorollas to Madrid’s Prado Museum.

Bust of Sorolla by Spanish sculptor Antonio Rodríguez del Villar. (14ymedio)

Amoraga has said publicly that there is a possibility, at least in theory, that the government will change its mind and allow the island’s paintings to travel to Spain as part of its Sorolla Year celebrations. That is not happeninng and, though it got off to a late start, the exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts confirms this.

Cuba is believed to have the third most important collection of Sorollas in the world after Spain and New York. The Valencian artist was the faovored painter of the island’s millionaires at the end of the 19th century, when he did portraits of several members of the Caribbean nobility.

In the introduction to the exhibit’s catalogue, Crespo Larrazábal explains that “Sorolla’s work was more widely collected in Cuba after the painter’s death, continuing until the 1950s.” In 1921, a work by the artist was exhibited publicly in Cuba for the first time. In regards to “Portrait of the Mexican Tiple Esperanza Iris,” however, the curator claims not to know the identity of former or current owner of the painting, which believes to be lost.

Crespo Larrazábal surmises that Cuba, which experienced a true “Sorolla fever” in the first decade of the 20th century, must have had many more examples of the artist’s work than the thirty paintings at the National Museum of Fine Arts. But given the secretive nature of the Ministry of Embezzled Assets and the personal ambitions of many of its leaders, what happened to these paintings after 1959 remains a mystery.

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Hanging Out With Esther, the Boss of the Guanabacoa Gas Stations in Havana

At the Los Paraguas gas station, numerous customers are “doubles,” on the list more than once. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 20 January 2024 — “They are observing,” was the suspicious comment of Esther, who uses Telegram to take charge of organizing the line to buy fuel in the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa, after this newspaper denounced the multiple irregularities of the process. Since then, the “boss” of the gas stations has launched a crusade against the “doubles” – people registered several times on her customer list – and has strengthened her authority claiming, once again, that she is a “public servant.”

The Guanabacoa scandal has not gone unnoticed by the official press. Without daring to fully enter the subject, Cubadebate mentioned in passing this Saturday the “organized mafias” of the gas stations. “If you don’t pay extra, you won’t advance in the line,” it said, so buying fuel has become “a disaster.” The regime does not like the fact “that they have eliminated the application of tickets” and offers readers an email to inform on “everyone who causes trouble.”

Esther limited herself to sharing a screenshot of the posts in the two Telegram groups she manages – corresponding to the gas stations of Corral Falso and Los Paraguas – but, contrary to her custom, she did not say a single word about it. She was more loquacious about the 14ymedio report: “In addition to indiscipline and so on (in the line), there is subversion,” she wrote, at the bottom of a photo. continue reading

Esther’s last name, profession or age is not known (although she alleges that her “mission” in Guanabacoa is “pulling out the gray hairs of the 60s”

Esther’s last name, profession or age is not known (although she alleges that her “mission” in Guanabacoa is “pulling out the gray hairs of the 60s”). She manages the registry with an iron hand and says she is in the middle of a scrutiny to purge “the doubles.”

Quite right too. With Esther’s own Excel lists, 14ymedio could see that on the Los Paraguas register, with 3,688 customers, 114 were repeated up to four times and 77 had no license plate. In the case of Corral Falso, there were 2,855 names, 168 that were repeated up to four times and 40 without a plate. About 1,003 customers were registered on both lists.

“Don’t get angry,” Esther says every morning, before publishing the “disqualified” vehicles. “And there’s a bunch,” she warns. She runs a group – three women at each gas station – and gives them orders: “Claudia, take a good look at the doubles that I keep editing. Strike them out on the document” or, “Yanet, to change the plate in the registry, [the customer] must prove that he is the owner of the car.”

This is how the work day takes place in Corral Falso and Los Paraguas, between attention calls from Esther and monotonous lists that often confuse customers. This “absent-mindedness” is what bothers her the most, and she doesn’t skimp on criticism: “The worst problem we have is that we don’t read carefully. Be disciplined and follow orders.”

“There is no shortage of fuel; what exists is indiscipline, unscrupulous Cubans wanting to make easy money”

“There is no shortage of fuel; what exists is indiscipline, unscrupulous Cubans wanting to make easy money, taking advantage of shifts, selling their turns,” she says, arguing that she’s there to avoid those situations. “Before the decision was made to organize the lines by the highest authorities of the territory, there were multiple complaints about selling turns, fuel hoarding and the endless lines that didn’t move,” she argues.

Missing the line when they’re called – it doesn’t matter if it’s early in the morning – is exclusively the customer’s problem. If someone summoned in the “cold of night” doesn’t arrive, Esther takes it as a personal affront to the “young women” in charge of the gas station. “I explained that discipline brought us success. It’s very nice to sleep, be warm and have fuel. But if you stay home when your turn comes, you won’t get the fuel.”

Esther does not understand offenses – even if they are images or GIFs, common on Telegram – and if a client is not up to the laws of behavior that she has imposed, she eliminates him. A certain Sandy, expelled this Friday, knows it well: “Sandy is eliminated from the group because of his rudeness,” she reported. “He’s very late and [there are] women working from nine in the morning and they shouldn’t have to put up with his behavior. He’s gone from the group. It was a pleasure to serve him.”

Esther does not understand offenses, and if a client does not live up to the laws of behavior she has imposed, she eliminates him

Confessions aren’t lacking: “I have a lot to take care of. I have answered, I have helped and I had to leave,” or a paraphrased quote from Don Quixote: “Ladran, Sancho, show that we are moving forward.” But the end of the line barely advances, and Esther herself complains.

After an announcement to register new customers – it is not known when – on her list, Esther launched into a “reflection” on the factors that threaten her work: the frequent “broken tanks” of the gas station, the “customers who jump ahead in line”, the “slowness” of Cupet (Cuba Petroleum Union) to distribute the fuel, the internet failures and the well-known “doubles,” who multiply.

Esther will be there for a while – according to her – because no matter what the press says, her work, she alleges, is indispensable, no matter how severe her character may seem. “Remember to keep your cell phone close by,” is her usual farewell to customers. “You and I are united day and night.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Duo Gente de Zona Premieres the Danceable Song ‘Por Ahi’

Gente de Zona began as a street rap collective in Cuba and has become one of the most recognized duos worldwide. (Capture)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 19 January 2024 — The Cuban urban music duo Gente de Zona, winners of seven Latin Grammys and twelve Billboard Latino Awards, announced this Friday the premiere of Por Ahí, a danceable song that comes accompanied by a video filmed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

The fiesta and joy are the great protagonists of this new song “with an extremely catchy rhythm that will make all the fans of the multi-award-winning artists dance,” says a press release.

Por Ahí is the fourth single from Gente de Zona’s next album, also titled Demasiado. The previous ones – Feliz, Demasiado and Ay Martica – have had a great success. Gente de Zona began as a street rap collective in Cuba and has become one of the most recognized duos worldwide.

The video shows Alexander Delgado and Randy Malcom, the members of Gente de Zona, arriving with their respective partners at a bar, where a group of friends are waiting for them to start dancing. continue reading

The audiovisual was made by Pedro Vázquez, as well others who make up the series Demasiado, with six chapters, which are being released on different dates and that, together, will form a long video.

In the playful lyrics of the song, a man courts a woman through social networks who will be his partner, and unexpectedly they both triumph in love.

“What I have with her is something crazy. It’s more than a disease. She likes what I give her, and I like what she gives me. She is charming and that excites me,” says one of the choruses.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Government Announces Delivery of Chicken Destined for Ration Stores

The arrival on Monday of a boat carrying chicken, presumably intended for sale at Cuban stores selling rationed items. (Ministry of Domestic Commerce)

14ymedio, Madrid, 16 January 2024 — Just as the government was triumphantly boasting of the arrival of a ship laden with chicken destined for distribution to consumers through Cuba’s ration system, figures on poultry imports from the United States in November were being released. After two months of steep declines, sales in this sector doubled, from 8,126 tons in October to 16,648 the following month.

Though the wholesale price decreased slightly in November to $1.26 per kilogram, it remains high as economist Pedro Monreal pointed out on his X account, where he posts monthly import figures.

The previous month’s price of $1.30 per kilogram was higher but, since the volume purchased increased considerably, the overall expenditure in November was much greater. While it cost $10.63 million to import chicken from the United States in October, the November figure was more than $21.33 million, more than double. The amount purchased was also very large compared to September’s $14.4 million. continue reading

While it cost $10.63 million to import the product from the United States in October, the November figure was more $21.33 million, more than double

“Despite the monthly rebound, chicken imports from the United States, when measured by weight (16,648 tons), were lower in November than the 21,878 ton-average reported for the first ten months of 2023,” writes Monreal. He notes that this is the total figure, not a sales figure, and does not indicate how much of it was sold by the government or private entities.

Complaints about shortages at state-owned stores in December proliferated on social media after the Ministry of Commerce announced the arrival of the cargo ship. “It must be for all of last year because, in Villa Clara at least, there was no rationed chicken to be had. They were only selling it in hard currency stores. It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten any,” read one post.

There were similar complaints across the island, with people reporting they had not seen chicken being sold for Cuban pesos in three months. “The MSMEs* have already gotten hold of it. We’re screwed. Anyone who wants to eat chicken will need to come up with at least 3,000 pesos,” decries another.

Nevertheless, chicken still accounts for the bulk of import spending. Of the total value of food and agricultural imports, which amounted to $28.64 million, only $7.31 million were for other products according to data from the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council (CubaTrade).

The monthly report indicates that November exports from the United States to Cuba fell 13.4% compared to the same month in the previous year. The total in 2022 was $33 million while a year earlier it was $27.70 million.

Besides chicken parts and a significant amount of eggs (more than one-million dollars’ worth), other import purchases included fresh and processed pork, pork fat, shellfish, black beans, cocoa, coffee, cheese, rice, juices, infant formulas, soy, gelatin, water and popcorn.

At a total of almost two-million dollars, the export of used vehicles stands out among non-food purchases

Among non-food exports from the United States, the purchase of used vehicles stands out. The transactions were carried out by businesses licensed by the U.S. Treasury in conjunction with companies that handled the transfer.

Other products included detergents, soaps and toilet paper, towels, bidets, scaffolding, stoves, air conditioners, shovels, ambulances, and other vehicles such as trucks and motorcycles.

According to Cubatrade figures, $297.4 million dollars’ worth of goods were imported from the United States as of December 1, 2023. That is slightly more than in the same period the previous year, when it amounted to $289.1 million. Under the terms of the U.S. embargo, Cuba has been allowed to import American products worth a total of slightly over $7.2 billion since 2001 not including transportation costs, bank fees and other expenses.

*Translator’s note: Micro, small and medium-sized business, typically privately owned, which often expect payment in hard currency.

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Trying To Put Out a Small Fire in Humboldt National Park, in Eastern Cuba

A fire in April 2021 left more than 3,700 acres burned. (X/Venceremos)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 20 January 2024 –The Cuban Ranger Corps is trying to put out a small fire in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, one of the most important protected areas in the country, the official press reported on Saturday. The fire began last Wednesday and has since affected about 10 acres, in the area known as Ojito del Aguain, located in eastern Cuba, according to Cubadebate.

The fire broke out near the towns of Tres Fiebres and Alto de Cruzata, in the municipalities of Moa, in Holguín, and Yateras, in Guantánamo, respectively, according to the report.

In April 2021, a large-scale forest fire broke out in the National Park for more than 10 days and left between 3,700 and 7,400 acres of forest burned.

The Alejandro de Humboldt National Park has the greatest plant diversity in the Cuban archipelago and the Caribbean islands.

The park concentrates three varieties of forest classified as mesophytic evergreen, broadleaf and pine, and has 905 endemic species of flora, almost 30% of all those on the Island.

After becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site, it received a National Conservation Award in 2011.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Worker: ‘For That Salary I Prefer to Clean Windshields at a Traffic Light’

In addition to several administrative positions, teacher vacancies are offered at the job fair. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Madrid, January 20, 2024 — Desperate to recruit candidates for their many vacant positions, on Saturday morning managers and teachers from several schools in Havana were anxiously awaiting potential workers to fill positions in the educational sector. The “job fair,” however, barely attracted any interested parties, as confirmed by 14ymedio in a tour of these educational centers.

The catalog for the vent included event included a wide range of positions ranging from maintenance workers, through administrators to teachers. But the salaries, which at their peak barely exceeded 5,000 pesos*, failed to attract potential candidates and the outlook at the fair was bleak.

“One or two people have come but we are going to remain open until 11 in the morning in case someone arrives at the last minute,” acknowledged an employee outside the Felipe Poey Aloy Unified School on Zapata Street. “A girl and a retired man are the only ones who have come. She said that she was inquiring about a friend from the province who was coming to live in Havana.” continue reading

This Saturday at the entrance of the Felipe Poey Aloy Unified School, on Zapata Street in Havana. (14ymedio)

The information offered by directors and teachers was completely oral. “There is no paper to take with you with the information, no brochure that later allows you to calmly read all the offers. You have to ask about what interests you and they tell you the positions and salaries, so no one can remember anything,” lamented a young man, a Computer Science graduate, who approached to inquire about a position as a teacher in his subject.

At the entrance to the Rubén Martínez Villena high school, next to the Habana Libre hotel, a receptionist waited impatiently for the arrival of someone interested in knowing the list of available places. “We have everything and, furthermore, there is soon going to be a salary reform in Education and salaries are going to rise quite a bit,” she snapped at a young woman who approached to inquire.

Once inside the educational center, with numerous current workers participating in the fair but very few people interested in the positions, the woman turned to the Director. “We have several positions, from qualification courses and also places in day care centers, in primary schools, basic secondary schools and, if the person has a degree, we quickly place them.”

“The current salary for a teacher is 5,600* pesos more or less, but a salary reform is coming. They are finalizing the resolution, although we do not have details yet, we only know that seniority will be counted for the raises,” said an employee of the school. “All the years you have worked in Education must be uninterrupted or they will not be counted towards the raise.”

“We have several positions, from qualification courses and also places in day care centers, in primary schools, basic secondary schools and, if the person has a degree, we quickly place them”

In the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, where the Rubén Martínez Villena secondary school is located, there are “three technological positions, one related to mechanics and automotive, another in computer science and a third in commerce and gastronomy that need teachers as soon as possible because there are many empty places” explained the center worker. “We write it down and the person starts working next week, we can’t wait.”

The long-awaited reform that the sector has been waiting for, after the recent salary increase for Public Health workers, should be a hook to attract new employees. However, the rampant inflation suffered by Cubans means that what until a few years ago seemed like high salaries have now become pennies in the face of the skyrocketing prices of basic products.

Liuba, 29, one of the few interested people who made it to the secondary school located on Línea and 4 streets in El Vedado, told 14ymedio ,”A carton of eggs, a bottle of oil and two pounds of beans,” that is what she would work for with a whole month in front of a classroom. “I came because my parents told me about the Fair, but I prefer to clean windshields at a traffic light.”

In another nearby school, a group of smiling employees took a photo for social networks. “We have to publish how the fair is going, we have to keep our Facebook account alive,” one preached. For the snapshot, they captured a young woman passing by, oblivious to the salaries in Education and the extensive drama of classrooms without teachers.

*Translator’s note: At current prices, a carton of 30 eggs sells for roughly 3,000 pesos.

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Strange White Circles in the Sky above Havana Were Not Extraterrestrial

The phenomenon left a group of Luyanó residents stunned and groping for answers. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodriguez, Havana, 19 January 2024 — Some unusual formations in the sky early Friday morning led to a mixture of surprise, excitement and fear among Havana residents. At first glance, they looked like an airplane’s contrails but what made them suspicious was their shape. The string-like cloud, high in the troposphere, looped around three times before trailing off in a straight line towards the horizon.

“What a strange pattern. And it’s so big.” The phenomenon left a group of Luyanó residents stunned and groping for answers. “E.T. is here!” one of them said jokingly. “Aliens or Americans. It can’t be anything else,” answered another. “Girl, what do you mean aliens or Americans? It’s some Russian or Chinese plane that they’re testing here,” a third replied. A fourth feared the apocalypse was at hand while a fifth responded, “Take me now.”

The trail was clearly visible from all points in Havana, including from 14ymedio’s editorial office in Nuevo Vedado. Residents here looked for a more rational explanation. “It must be a natural phenomenon caused by humidity or some temperature differential in the upper atmosphere,” said a young man from Tulipán Street. “I think it’s an optical illusion,” said the friend accompanying him. continue reading

A pilot provided a straight answer: “It’s from a plane circling around because it can’t land, no question.” José Martí International Airport was closed at that time of day due to meteorological conditions. An employee, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that it was caused by a Wingo passenger jet en route from Bogotá that ultimately had to be diverted to

Terror in Venezuela

Citizens live in fear that a group of hooded men in the early hours of the morning will kidnap them from their homes. (El Nacional)

El Nacional (via 14ymedio), Miguel Henrique Otero, Madrid, 19 January 2024 — There is a model of power – the Police State – that has its starting point at the time of the creation of the political police in communist Russia, ordered by Lenin in 1917. With Stalin’s coming to power in 1922 and until his death in 1953 – more than three decades – the entity of the political police grew to become the very core of power.

The idea that prevailed during Tsarism, that the police – the famous Okrhana – was a mere instrument in the hands of the tsar or his ministers, was discarded and replaced by the communists with another concept: police power. And what is the nature of police power? It thinks, plans, makes decisions and executes operations on the thesis that every person is, by definition, suspicious. Specifically, suspected of being a political enemy, an enemy of the Regime, and therefore a person who must be watched, threatened, coerced. A person turned into a file. A person who, as an enemy, can be arrested, prosecuted, tortured, disappeared or openly murdered. Without having committed any crime. Without a reason to explain or justify it.

It is with Stalin that the political police acquires omnipresent power, total and unlimited, structurally unpunished, governed by criteria of arbitrariness, unilaterally, disproportionate use of force, secrecy and opacity. It is with Stalin that the political police merges with the State, which acquires the proportions of a police state, one of terror. It is with Stalin that the political police, merged with the Party and the State, reached stages of delirium when they were ordered to fulfill quotas of detainees, who were prosecuted and executed. Death quotas became goals and generated competition between the different police units, and they hunted anyone with the aim of reaching and exceeding the goals, in order to receive flattery and awards from the chief murderer. continue reading

It is with Stalin that the political police acquires omnipresent power, total and unlimited

That State, with the variants and nuances that have taken place in more than seven decades, is the state of terror with which Russia now governs, under the mandate of the war criminal Vladimir Putin. And it is that model that was reproduced in the communist countries of Eastern Europe, which engendered monsters such as the Securitate in Romania, the Stasi in East Germany – which fortunately disappeared – and the Security Service of Poland. In the early sixties it was the model for Cuba, where it is maintained today with the ferocity that is its trademark, and it is the model that, with indisputable success, now exists in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The Venezuelan police state, like the Cuban and the Nicaraguan, is also militaristic. The scenes where military and police act together are constant, and it is shown that in their methods there are common patterns: the DGCIM (General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence), SEBIN (Bolivarian Intelligence Service), SFAES (special Action Forces), CONAS (Anti Extortion and Kidnapping Command), National Guard units, PNB (Venezuelan National Police) and more: all have been trained to chase, kidnap, arrest, prosecute and torture to death. That they share procedures is predictable, because they work for the same boss. They are agents of the same project and have the same assignment: to establish terror.

But terror – this is fundamental – not only spreads by exercising state violence, illegal and widely, but also by communicating terror. And it must communicate it in all its extremes to show the arbitrariness, the sadism, the wickedness, the perversity of the treatment given to citizens. It must show the officials themselves and the victims that, no matter how crazy and atrocious an action is, nothing will happen to those responsible. Only in this way will it plunge the citizens into a spirit of impotence. Only in this way will the feeling that we all live in danger spread. Only in this way will the conviction be imposed that whoever denounces or protests will inevitably be punished.

They work for the same employer, they are agents of the same project, they have the same assignment: to establish terror

The Venezuelan nation is a territory occupied by military or police or paramilitary units or by members of collectives or civilians dedicated to espionage, by groups that listen to phone calls, by informants, by surveillance and denunciation networks, by snitches that observe and tell supervisory officials any fact that can be interpreted as contrary to the interest of the dictatorship.

How effective has the establishment of a state of terror been in Venezuela, in which – let no one forget it – all public powers are constituent elements of it? Does it weigh on everyday life? Do citizens feel it in their daily development? Do they limit their free action? Does it prevent them from exercising essential rights such as the right to express themselves, to be informed, to give their opinion, to protest, to circulate freely, to stop on a street to observe what is happening? Does it prevent any Venezuelan who approaches a beach from seeing with the naked eye how much fuel has been spilled in a natural area of which he is a legitimate inhabitant? Does it prevent them from photographing or filming the events that occur at the roadblocks distributed throughout the territory, where they arbitrarily arrest citizens, where they are robbed, beaten, drugged or killed? Does it prevent them from meeting and protesting? Does it prevent them from attending rallies called by the opposition? Does it prevent them from greeting María Corina Machado, Andrés Velásquez or Freddy Superlano when they walk down any street or stop for a coffee in any corner of the country?

That’s what the terror in Venezuela is about: fear, citizen impotence, the impossibility of exercising constitutional rights, fear that, at the most unexpected moment (Venezuelan terror has a range of two hours, between 2:00 and 4:00 am, which is, in their vision of the world, the right time to reach a home where everyone sleeps, and knock down the door with kicks), a commando of hooded people, with long weapons, shouting and stealing, without an arrest warrant, will arrive, drag and kidnap you, a brutal scene that begins the worst nightmare.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in El Nacional and reproduced with the author’s permission.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Dream Team of Cuban Players Overcomes Colombia’s Fiasco and Plays in the United States

In their first game, the Dream Team beat the Miami Dade College Sharks 3-2. (@Fepcube)

14ymedio, Havana, 19 January 2024 — Despite the cancellation of the Intercontinental Baseball Series in Colombia this January, the Dream Team team of exiled Cuban baseball players of the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation (Fepcube) continues to play exhibition matches in the United States. After a first “premiere” match this Wednesday against the Miami Dade College Sharks, which they defeated 3-2, the team will face the Houston Apollos next Monday. The tournament against the Texans, who were also going to participate in Colombia representing the United States, was announced by the Dream Team on their X account.

Fans of the team, made up of exiled athletes, including some who play in the U.S. Major Leagues, soon took the announcement as a response to the Cuban regime, to which many attribute diplomatic pressure to cancel the competition in Colombia, which was scheduled from January 26 to February 1 at the Edgar Rentería Stadium in the city of Barranquilla.

The Cubans have not yet announced the place or time in which the game with the Apollos will take place

The Cubans have not yet announced the place or time in which the game with the Apollos will take place, but the empathy of the American team has not gone unnoticed. “Everything indicates that this is a meeting that serves as a sign of solidarity with the Dream Team over the cancellation of the tournament in the face of the common pressures of the Colombian and Cuban governments,” said El Nuevo Herald. continue reading

Days earlier, in the confrontation with the Sharks, another event attracted the attention of the public. The team did not go out to play with the caps that carried the “Patria y vida” sign – a name that the team first took and then changed to “Dream Team” -, allegedly because the musician Yotuel Romero, co-author of the song of the same name, banned the use of the brand. The information was confirmed on X by sports journalist Yordano Carmona, who covered the first game of the Fepcube team.

The cancellation of the event in Colombia that would host teams from the United States, Japan, South Korea and Curaçao in addition to the Cuban American team, was reported on Tuesday by the company Team Rentería USA. The company had requested financial support for the event, something that the Ministry of Sport said it had rejected for not complying with the formalities. According to the Colombian rule, for this type of public-private collaboration to exist, plans must be presented to the national sports federations, something that, according to the statement, was not done.

“The leagues, teams and entities involved have all expressed their willingness for the Series to be carried out,” said the text. In addition, the money for the tickets already sold would be refunded, and they have worked with the affiliated leagues so the competition could take place in another country.

Both the Ministry’s allegation and the previous prohibition of baseball players from using the Cuban anthem and flag were pointed out by the fans

Both the Ministry’s allegation and the previous prohibition of baseball players from using the Cuban anthem and flag were pointed out by the fans and the players themselves as being a result of the pressure from the Cuban Government on Colombia.

Camona recalled that, after losing the headquarters for the Pan American Games, the Latin American country would try to recover the right of organization, and for this “it will need the vote of the countries of the area.” “Somehow Cuba has already started with that blackmail,” noting that “they are going to need that support,” he said.

“This is a decision that offends and mocks democracy and freedom, which comes in addition from a totalitarian regime that systematically represses its citizens,” Fepcube said, attributing the suspension entirely to the pressure of the Cuban Government against its participation.

“It has been both the media and the civic and political impact of the Fepcube team that forced the Cuban dictatorship to extend its tentacles outside its borders to prevent our participation in the Intercontinental Series,” it concluded.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Despite the Massive Arrival of Canadians and Russians, Tourism Has Not Picked Up in Cuba

There have been considerably fewer European tourists in recent years. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 17, 2024 — Cuba closed the year 2023 certifying its inability to recover the tourism it had before the COVID-19 pandemic. With a final figure of 2,436,980 international visitors, the Island achieves 151% more than in 2022, but 42.8% less than in 2019. In addition, if compared to its aspirations, 3.5 million arrivals, the percentage is 31% lower.

The worst forecasts of the Cuban economist Pedro Monreal are almost fulfilled. In April 2023, given the data of the first quarter, he warned the Cuban authorities of the importance of making a correction to its forecasts. “A simple exercise of scenarios – not a forecast – that could certainly be improved, would indicate a possible range between 2.3 and 3.1 million, with an intermediate scenario of 2.9 million,” the professor wrote nine months ago. His most pessimistic figure is quite close to reality.

The data were released on the same day that Brussels confirmed that the European Union exceeded by 1.6% the overnight stays in tourist accommodation in 2019, with Spain, which registered 483 million tourists, in the lead, followed by France (456 million) and Germany (433 million). In the specific case of the first, 32.3 million more nights were achieved than a year earlier. continue reading

The data were released on the same day that Brussels confirmed that the European Union exceeded the overnight stays in tourist accommodations of 2019 by 1.6%, with Spain in the lead

In addition to Spain, which also has a strong commitment to sun and beach tourism, there are other countries that compete even more directly with Cuba, such as the Dominican Republic, which closed the year surpassing the record of 10 million international travelers, and Mexico, which received 17 million tourists, 13.8% more than in 2019.

The poor figures for Cuba occur despite the fact that its main market, Canada, does not seem to have weakened after the government in October issued a precautionary alert about travel to the Island due to the “scarity of basic necessities, including food, medicines and fuel.” Although the warning has been renewed occasionally, Canadian tourism is recovering little by little, and 39,421 Canadians were received in October. A month later 73,849 arrived, and in December the number was 113,611. The annual total amounts to 936,436, although we have to go back to 2015 to talk about the record, with more than 1,300,000.

Figures for Russia, which becomes the third country to send tourists, also rise, behind the Cuban-American community, which with 358,481 travelers remains stable over the years, with the exception of 2016 and 2017 – during the thaw – when 400,000 and half a million were exceeded, respectively.

The Cuban Government and Moscow placed a lot of emphasis on the tourist market for Russians, and 184,819 arrived last year on the Island. This figure was expected and surpassed that of 2019, when an absolute record was reached, with 178,000.

The growth of travel from this nation is very significant, since in 2015 the Island barely exceeded 44,000 Russian tourists, who since then have only multiplied, surpassing the bad patch that occurred not only during COVID-19, but in 2022, when European sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine led to the total suspension of flights between Russia and Cuba. The political will to resolve that situation has managed to turn the figures around.

Spain, with 89,285 tourists, and Germany, with 69,475, are the next priority markets, but it is enough to look back to see the collapse. In 2017, 168,949 Spaniards and 243,172 Germans spent a vacation on the Island.

The growth of travelers from that nation is very significant, since in 2015 the Island barely exceeded 44,000 Russian tourists who since then have only multiplied

Despite everything, the Island has not even paused what it still considers a locomotive for its economy, and investments in hotels do not cease. Last week, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, head of Tourism for more than a decade, inaugurated a new establishment of the Spanish hotel company Meliá. “In Trinidad, the importance of the development of tourism and its impact on economic and social life has materialized, manifesting itself in the generation of employment and the substantial increase of new economic actors,” the official said on X.

“As part of the 510th anniversary of the foundation of the Villa, we inaugurated the Meliá Trinidad Peninsula Hotel, a facility that will mark a before and after in the tourist development of this municipality,” said the prime minister in reference to the new five-star accommodation.

According to the data, the Government of Cuba dedicated 16 times more of its budget in 2022 – more than 1 billion dollars – to this sector than to Health or Education.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Regime Attributes the Decline of Tourism to the Fact That ‘It Became a Political Weapon’

Tourists on Obispo Street, in Old Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 19, 2024 — With the final tourism data in 2023 fresh out of the oven and certifying a failure on the forecasts, the Cuban Government has just announced its projection for 2024, when it estimates that 3.23 million visitors may arrive as international travelers to the Island. The figure shows some containment, after two years of major errors in their calculations

At the beginning of 2022, the authorities aspired to achieve 2.5 million tourists, although in October they lowered the expectation and stayed at 1.7, which they also did not achieve (the year closed with 1.6 million). Despite this, in 2023 an extremely positive improvement was announced: the objective of 3.5 million, which has remained at a meager 2.4.

To reach the proposed mark for 2024, despite being much more modest than that of a year ago, the Island needs to attract almost 800,000 more travelers

To reach the proposed mark for 2024, despite being much more modest than the from a year ago, the Island needs to attract almost 800,000 more travelers in a context that does not invite optimism, although it will have to wait until the end of the first quarter to evaluate the trend. continue reading

In the article published in Cubadebate this Friday with the new goal, the figures for the year that has just concluded are analyzed, among which it is worth highlighting the concentration of the origin of travelers. 70% of arrivals come from just five markets: Canadians, Cubans who permanently reside abroad, Americans, Russians and Spaniards.

The article is a response to the independent press and international agencies that have insistently pointed out that Cuba is not able to recover its pre-pandemic numbers while its competitors, both in the Caribbean and in other popular destinations such as Spain and France, reach records as they leave behind the debacle caused by covid-19.

To do this, it digs up data from two decades ago. “If the indicators of international arrivals are analyzed, between the years 2004-2013 arrivals increased by 803,447 international visitors, an average year-to-year growth of 3.7%; while in the period 2013-2018 visitors increased by 1,016,098 for an average annual growth rate of 10.65%,” the article states.

The article argues that “for the Cuban case, it is not valid to get involved in ‘recovering’ the indicators of 2019, so-called pre-pandemic; but rather to ‘rebirth’ tourism, with new strategies and ways of doing things in a new era, but under difficult financial conditions and restrictions, which date back to before the pandemic.”

The note attributes the fall in tourism to the increase in US sanctions, in particular travel restrictions for 2017

The note attributes the fall in tourism to the increase in US sanctions, in particular travel restrictions for 2017, data that contrasts with the reality that in both 2017 and 2018 record figures in tourism were achieved, specifically 4.6 million in 2017, and 4.7 million the following year when the United States “issued a level 3 travel alert to Cuba,” the article emphasizes. The article also mentions that year’s closure of consular services, ignoring that the use of the headquarters in Havana affects Cubans who want to go abroad, not international travelers who arrive on the Island.

“Cuban tourism became a ‘political weapon’,” says the editor, reviewing the measures taken in 2019: suppression of educational and people-to-people trips, as well as cruises and charter flights, which caused a wave of cancellations. That year, in fact, the number of tourists was lower, 4.3 million, but despite everything that Cubadebate claims, it was a very good figure, above the 3.5 and 4 million in 2015 and 2016, respectively, the years of the ‘thaw’.

The note, in any case, anticipates a new failure and believes that the electoral panorama coming this year (there will be elections in some 70 countries that include half of the world’s population), as well as the “economic situation” can lead “towards new emerging destinations in the Mexican Caribbean, Central America and the Dominican Republic where the offes will be concentrated,” but calls for optimism.

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New Batches of Uniformed ‘Smurfs’ Arrive in Havana From the East

This Thursday, the sidewalks of the Havana Capitol were guarded by agents whose faces the residents had not seen before. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 January 2024 — Many agents of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) are called Palestinians because they are usually transferred from Cuba’s Eastern provinces – Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba – to other places, especially Havana, in the cunning strategy that the dictatorship always carried out to fuel hatred between the repressors and the repressed.

There is nothing better for this than to take advantage of the xenophobia that is assumed – whether true or not – among the residents of the capital and inhabitants of the center of the Island in relation to eastern Cubans, and vice versa. They are also called smurfs, because of the color of their uniforms, although it is certainly darker than that of the Belgian cartoons that give them their name.

Not only do their physiques and origins generate derision. The lack of knowledge of the city they patrol causes them to fall into countless tragicomic situations. Like those eastern police officers who, according to popular legends, asked for reinforcements for “Callello” street after reading the sign for “110th Street” [Calle110] on a corner marker. continue reading

Today, short of officers, and with its young members having been born smaller due to chronic malnutrition, not even the PNR is free from the traces of exodus and misery in Cuba

Unaware of the capital’s geography, crammed into shelters and with a poor diet of claria and rice, the dream of many of them is to “meet a Havana woman,” get married and so be able to qualify for the necessary residency permit to be able to stay and live in the big city. Others quickly learn to ask for bribes and turn a blind eye if they are slipped a bill. Many do not even continue wearing the uniform a few years after their arrival.

This Thursday, the sidewalks of the Havana Capitol were guarded by uniformed men whose faces the neighbors had not seen before. “Looks like a new batch of smurfs arrived,” a woman commented sarcastically after passing them. “But they bring these Palestinians, weaker and weaker,“ answered an old man sitting on a bench in Fraternity Park.

Today, short of officers, and with its young members having been born smaller due to chronic malnutrition, not even the PNR is free from the traces of exodus and misery in Cuba.

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The Death of a 21-Year-Old Cuban Mercenary Fighting for Russia in Ukraine is Confirmed

Raibel Palacio Herrera, in an image shared on his social networks. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Madrid, 17 January 2024 — A 21-year-old Cuban, Raibel Palacio Herrera, a volunteer for Russia in the war in Ukraine, died last week in the city of Kherson. As reported this Tuesday by Univisión, with a source in the family itself, the young man was recruited last November by a Russian woman, who covered all the travel expenses – passport and plane ticket – in addition to offering him a monthly payment of 200,000 rubles (about $2,200).

They promised him this money, according to the American network’s report, in exchange for construction work, but, the family denounces, they actually deceived him and sent him to the front.

“What those people are doing is scamming us. We thought one thing and another turned out,” Palacio Rivera himself sent in an audio to his wife, Melissa Flores, who tells the camera: “They had told him that they were going to war, but they weren’t going to fight or anything, it was to dig trenches.” continue reading

They had told him that they were going to war, but that they were not going to fight or anything, that it was to dig trenches

The couple has two girls in common, one of them newborn, whom her father never saw. The family resides in precarious conditions in the municipality of Songo la Maya, in Santiago de Cuba.

“What I want to know is where they have my son, where they have him, because they told me that they were going to send me the body, that they were going to contact the Cuban Embassy in Russia, with the Russian Embassy here, and we don’t see anything clear,” declared the young man’s mother, Danelia Herrera.

The woman showed Univision the messages received by another young man named Gilberto Herrera Shuman last Saturday, which read: “With immense pain I must inform you that today they brought us the news that Raibel was hit by a drone resulting in his death. My deepest condolences and that of all the colleagues who are here.”

In his networks, Herrera Shuman states that he is a Cuban from Havana and lives in the city of Vysókoye, in the south of Russia.

On January 9, the youtuber Alain Paparazzi confirmed that Yansiel Morejón, a former boxer from Santa Clara, had died at the age of 26, also on the front

The case of Raibel Palacio is the first case of a Cuban dying in the war in Ukraine that has been reliably confirmed. On January 9, the YouTuber Alain Paparazzi confirmed that Yansiel Morejón, age 26, had died also on the front, a former boxer from Santa Clara.

The young man’s family did not respond to this newspaper, but another close friend did, who explained via social networks that the “official” version that Yansiel Morejón’s entourage is giving is that he died “of a heart attack,” although “he really died in the war.”

“The family has not talked about this because they do not want him to be called a mercenary,” said the same source, who insists that “the boy traveled knowing that he was going to war.” His death had occurred days ago, and although they had promised the family to have his body in 10 days, they still did not have a date to receive it.

These deaths demonstrate, once again, that the Russian Army continues to recruit volunteers on the Island to fight in invaded Ukrainian territory. Palacio Herrera’s trip, in November, occurred two months after the Cuban regime detained 17 people for belonging to a “human trafficking network,” thus trying to disassociate itself from the recruitment of nationals to fight on the Russian side in the war in Ukraine.

A group of hackers has been leaking, through the InformNapalm page, the data of more than 250 Cuban combatants in Ukraine, who supposedly received salaries exceeding $2,000 and all kinds of advantages for the soldier and his family members.

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