Translating Cuba – Page 226 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Electricity Thefts and Blackouts Go Hand in Hand in Cuba

Most of the frauds for electricity theft are carried out with the participation of workers of the Electric Union. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 13 January 2024 — Camila, 52 years old, checks the number on the meter up to three times a day. She leaves her apartment in the Wajay neighborhood in Havana, reaches the common area where all the devices of the five-storey building and dozens of apartments are located and takes a photo of the number shown on the screen before returning home. Four weeks ago she dropped out from a mechanism to steal electricity in complicity with an employee of the Electric Union (EU).

“When you get out of this business they punish you,” she tells 14ymedio. “I had been paying “on the left” [the informal market] for two years to get a much lower reading, but I am no longer interested in continuing. Now they are going after electricity frauds, and I don’t want to get stuck in this.” Another reason not to continue with illegal payments in exchange for a receipt with lower wattage: “My two children have emigrated, and my husband and I no longer consume so much electricity.”

For more than three years, Camila was one of the many Cubans who, in collaboration with UNE workers, received an electricity bill well below the amount of energy she actually used. “It wasn’t so much to save money, because at the end of the day I was paying; it was so I wouldn’t be noted as a high consumer,” she says. “My husband has an official position, and it is not convenient for him to get a very high reading.” continue reading

Time passed, and the couple decided to drop out of the fraud, but they fear that the employee involved in the agreement will penalize them. “When you tell him that you don’t want to continue, the next few months a high reading will arrive. It is how they can make you return to the contract and throw you to the inspectors, who suddenly see a strange increase in consumption.”

“A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it”

Others, like Ismael, 34, entered the list of energy offenders without knowing it. “My mother and I moved from Central Havana to a larger house with a patio in the Cotorro,” he explains. “A few weeks ago some inspectors descended on us, and it turns out that there was a cable that didn’t go through the meter clock and that we were getting our electricity from it.”

Ismael says that it has nothing to do with the illegal installation of the cable. “It was left by the previous owners of the house; we didn’t even know that it existed.” But the fine came anyway. “The oversight cost me 8,000 Cuban pesos, and I did well, because in this neighborhood there are people who have had to pay more. Mine wasn’t so serious because I showed the papers for the permuta (house swap), and they saw that I had been in this house for a short time.”

Like Camila, every now and then Ismael checks his meter because he fears, this time, that some nearby neighbor will “create a bridge” and steal the electricity that he now pays for watt by watt. The crystal case, the numbers that fall as the energy passes to the house and the figure that he writes down with discipline in a notebook keep him attentive. But he warns that “in this area there are many who steal electricity by agreement with the UNE workers than those who do it on their own.”

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023

This Friday, the official newspaper Granma revealed – citing the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy – that 266,000 electrical crimes were detected in Cuba in 2023. “What is being stolen from the country by electrical fraud is almost as big as what is generated by the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, one of those with the largest generation capacity on the Island.”

The complaint came from an announcement that this Saturday there will be blackouts throughout the Island, especially in the “peak hours of night,” due to a deficit of 821 megawatts in the generation. The UNE reported that unit 5 of the thermoelectric plant of Mariel, the 1 of Santa Cruz, the 5 of Diez de octubre, the 1 and the 2 of the Felton and the 5 of the Renté were damaged, a series of key points in the electrical network throughout the country.

Determined to show the “human face” of the UNE official, the official press interviewed the technical director of the company, Lázaro Guerra, who offers a daily report on the situation in front of the cameras of the island’s information system. Graduated from the pre-university vocational Lenin school, from Havana, and with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Guerra was also a leader of the Union of Young Communists.

The official took advantage of the interview to exalt the “exceptional work” of the UNE and said that he had experienced situations of extreme difficulty as a manager. “The most tense moments in my career have come when the system has crashed. This has happened on some occasions due to the passage of cyclones and, in others, due to different causes.”

However, the most memorable line of the interview was his answer to the question of why he was “so serious” on Cuban Television: “I don’t think I can announce a blackout with a smile; I don’t think I can do it.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Week Without Water in the Cuban Province of Sancti Spiritus Due to a ‘Dangerous Leak’

The authorities assure that they have two water trucks ready to supply hospitals and schools. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, January 10, 2024 — A leak in a water pipe in Sancti Spíritus that broke last Thursday leaves the residents of the municipality of Cabaiguán and the capital city without drinking water. The authorities of the province, who initially declared that the supply would be stabilized in two days, no longer know how to explain the delay in the repair to the neighbors, who have been without service for a week.

“Days ago they said that there was a break in the Macaguabo aqueduct, which feeds the northern part of the city, and that they were going to do work to repair it that would take up to two days,” Noelia, 37, tells 14ymedio.

“We were without water for a couple of days and suddenly it arrived, and we all assumed that the pipe had been repaired”

“We were without water for a couple of days and suddenly it arrived, and we all assumed that the pipe had been repaired. However, the water had little force, and many people couldn’t save much, as was my case, and when it turned off again we were left without reserves,” she said.

According to Noelia, as the days go by the situation becomes more desperate, and the small water storage tanks have begun to run out. “In my house things are tight. The tank was only half full when the water came, and now my children are tired of me telling them to save, that there is no water.” continue reading

But her situation, she admits, is not the worst: “I know people who are going to the factories to get water, who have their own reserve in wells, tanks or cisterns. Another friend of mine has been taking a bath at work these days because at home the water is for cooking and drinking.”

The patience of the residents is exhausted, she says, and the last update from the authorities declared that they still do not know “at what time the work can be finished, because the pipe is being welded and it will take a long time.”

A few days ago, interviewed by Radio Cabaiguán, Alexei Hidalgo Leiva, director of Aqueduct and Sewerage in the municipality, explained that “on January 4, pumping at the Manaquita reservoir was stopped to suppress two large leaks: one at the entrance of pump three and the other at the exit of the pumping station.” The one at the exit could be repaired, but the one at the pump, he said, could not be finished due to the bad condition of the pipe. “When we started the work on the leak, we discovered that the pipe is rotten. It could not be welded, and it caused that section of the pipe to deteriorate more.”

Since then, the situation only got worse, because the province did not have the pipes and other materials necessary to do the repairs

Since then, the situation only got worse, because the province did not have the pipes and other materials necessary to do the repairs. “We had to close the outlet valve of the dam, because if that pipe goes, it would end up flooding the pumping station, where there is 440 volt electricity, pumps, operators and personnel. It is an imminent danger for the workers there, so the leak has been going on for days,” added Hidalgo, who couldn’t give a tentative date for the completion of the work.

At the moment, he said, in an attempt to give relief to the population, “we have the fuel and two water trucks activated to cover hospitals and state centers, including schools and childcare centers.” However, the Macaguabo Water Plant provides water for 62% of the population in the province.

The umpteenth promise of repair was offered this Tuesday by the official press. “It is expected to finish around 9:30 or 10:00 tonight, Tuesday,” Escambray announced. The reality is different. This Wednesday Sancti Spíritus continues with its reservoir closed while the Aqueduct and Sewerage company says that its workers have spent the last 48 hours repairing the leak.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Theft of Seeds Leaves Five Cuban Provinces Without Onions and Cabbages

The robbery occurred on August 28 in the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2024 — About 5.75 quintals [1 quintal=220 pounds] of onion seeds of the Caribbean 71 variety and 40 pounds of cabbage seeds were stolen last August from the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. The official press, which revealed the event five months later, does so with its usual objective: to warn State workers that cases of corruption will not be tolerated. The eight involved, meanwhile, are awaiting trial and several years in prison, he emphasizes.

The local newspaper Escambray was precise in the profile of the thieves. “They had a bad social conduct, prone to the commission of criminal acts, and two of them had a criminal record for robbery with force.” Two others were the custodians of the refrigerator.

To steal the “very important booty,” six men entered the entity on August 28, cut the fence with a hacksaw, accessed the number nine refrigerated chamber and broke into a small vault that contained “onion seeds and other quality vegetables that would be used in the current cold season.” “They had bet on the expertise of two former workers of the entity, who acted as guides of the crime,” the media said. continue reading

They had bet on the expertise of two former workers of the entity, who acted as guides of the crime,” the media said

The penalties imposed on the custodians for “the crime of non-compliance with the duty to preserve the property of the State” and on the rest, accused of robbery with force – which is punished in the current code with seven to 15 years of deprivation of liberty – will not be slight. Their greatest transgression, the authorities say, was to steal what belongs to the population. For the time being, the six thieves remain in pre-trial detention, and the ’security agents’ were allowed bail.

“In truth, we feel very concerned, and I’m not talking only about monetary value, but about the fact that the producers were left without seeds, and in the end the population pays the price,” said Orestes Ramírez, director of the Base Business Unit Semillas Sancti Spíritus.

Another situation, however, influences the fact that there is no need to plant this season. “A large number of acres couldn’t be planted in the country, because the onion seed couldn’t be imported this year, given the limitations that we all know, and the Caribe 71 seed was going to be used,” he explained.

The seeds were reserved for the provinces of Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Granma, Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila

As for the seeds, which were reserved for the provinces of Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Granma, Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila, the Ministry of the Interior said it had recovered 5.34 quintals of the onion seeds and 26 packages of cabbage seeds. However, the potential planting of these products could not be carried out.

“The seeds were found in the weeds of a farm where they had hidden them without taking into account the refrigeration measures, so, once returned to the corresponding entities and the laboratory analyses done, it was determined that they had lost germination ability, which brought with it an impact of 1,508,204 pesos to the country’s economy,” Escambray reported.

Weeks ago, in December, the official press dusted off the file of a crime committed in 2020 in Sancti Spíritus. The punishment of the officials who facilitated the theft of more than 23,775 gallons of soy yogurt from the UEB Pasteurizadora contains the same moral as the article on the theft of seeds: the State will not tolerate outrageous behavior in its institutions.

On that occasion, among senior managers of the companies involved, including drivers and warehousemen, 15 people were prosecuted and several of them are currently in prison. The robbery occurred on August 28 in the Frigorífico 800 warehouse of Sancti Spíritus. (Escambray)

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Will Pay Farmers More for Potatoes

A pound of potatoes in Havana reached 300 pesos this Tuesday and 200 pesos in Holguín. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 10 January 2024 — The Cuban State will pay more money to farmers this year for every quintal (220 pounds) of potato it buys, a measure whose real benefit – in light of inflation and the difficulty of obtaining agricultural inputs – is difficult to calculate. What will remain stable in 2024, according to the resolution of the Ministry of Agriculture published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette, is the price of potatoes in the retail market, which will continue to cost 11 pesos per pound.

Potatoes harvested with national seed will be paid at 1,204 pesos per quintal (26,175 pesos per ton), while the one grown with imported seed will cost 839 pesos per quintal (18,240 pesos per ton), the authorities reported. The cause: “the increase in prices of the essential inputs for potato production.”

The State cannot afford the luxury of generating “losses” or granting subsidies to producers

The State cannot afford the luxury of generating “losses” or granting subsidies to producers, it adds, so it empowers the Ministry to modify the prices which Acopio – the State Procurement and Distribution Agency – pays for food from the farmers. “The margin for the wholesale marketing of the potato will be shared between the parties by mutual agreement,” says the resolution, repeating the measure of past years. continue reading

This Wednesday, the Ministry’s website published a comment on the resolution in which it recalled its forecasts for the 2023-2024 potato harvest. The goal, they explained, is to plant 12,998 acres of potatoes to obtain an “estimated production” of 107,014 tons. Of the projected acreage, 2,224 will have national seed, and the rest will have imported seed.

“The country’s yields in the last five campaigns exceeded 21.53 tons, considering all the origins of the seed to be planted and the destinations of the production,” says the text, adding that in 40 years, since 1983, 29,564 acres of potatoes have been planted in Cuba.

In 2023, the price of potatoes in the retail market doubled, as it did in the previous year. Until then, a potato cost five pesos; through another resolution, the ministry argued that the increase in production costs forced drastic measures to be taken.

Potatoes harvested with national seed were then paid at 19,261.64 pesos per ton, while those obtained with imported seed had a lower cost, 15,174.52 pesos per ton.

In 2001, the record of 373,682 tons of potatoes was reached in Cuba, high quantities that were maintained for several years

In 2001, the record of 373,682 tons of potatoes was reached in Cuba, high quantities that were maintained for several years until, in 2010, the sale was liberalized. However, in 2015 bad data were recorded, with a harvest of 123,000 tons, which forced the Government to import potatoes to cover demand, mainly from the Netherlands and Canada. In 2017, potatoes returned to rationing, although those bad figures from the middle of the previous decade can be considered even enviable today.

Meanwhile, the black market is unfazed. A pound of potatoes in Havana reached 300 pesos and 200 pesos in Holguín on Tuesday, according to this newspaper. Even so, it is difficult to find the tuber, and, if the buyer succeeds, he encounters small, blackened and wet lumps, “as if the potatoes had been frozen.” This new variety, which the pushcart vendors sell on the street, is called “potato seed” by the people of Havana.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival Will Receive Up To 92 Artists From the United States

The Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival will be celebrated in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. (EFE)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 10 January 2024 — The 39th edition of the Plaza de Cuba International Jazz Festival, which will be held from January 21 to 28, will receive hundreds of international artists, including 92 from the United States, its organizers reported on Tuesday.

With the slogan “Pa’que flujazz,” the most important event of the genre in the country – in which more than 60 groups will participate – will be dedicated this year to the 50 year artistic career of the Cuban Joaquín Betancourt.

Likewise, the festival will be held, as usual, both in Havana, with 184 performances, and in Santiago de Cuba, with 74. continue reading

With the slogan “Pa’que flujazz,” the most important event of the genre in the country will be dedicated this year to the 50 year artistic career of the Cuban Joaquín Betancourt

Among the most important international figures who will participate is the American saxophonist and composer Ted Nash; the Mexican arranger Arturo O’Farrill and the American pianist Aaron Goldberg.

“It has grown so much (the Jazz Plaza), that we can say that it is a festival larger than ourselves, and the number of prominent musicians from different countries gives a measure of how, in 2024, Cuba continues to be a center for jazz,” Bobby Carcassés, first president of the Festival, told EFE.

One of this edition’s novelties will be the union of dance and jazz, with two shows. One will feature both Ted Nash and the Cuban collectives Acosta Danza and Malpaso, while at the closing of the Festival, the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca will perform together with the National Ballet of Cuba, featuring the director and first dancer, Viengsay Valdés, and the Muñequitos de Matanzas, exponents of the rumba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Two Thieves Rob the Owner of a Private Business in Holguin and Kill Him With a Machete

Frómeta had a vehicle repair and sales business, in addition to a café. (Facebook/Pedro Frometa)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — Pedro Luis Frómeta, owner of a private business in Holguín, was murdered at his home in the course of a violent robbery in the early hours of Sunday. A source close to the family told 14ymedio that the victim was taken to the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General Hospital at 3:00 am, bleeding and with fatal injuries caused by a machete.

According to Hortensia, a woman from Holguin who was in the Guard Corps and heard about what happened from Frómeta’s family, the altercation must have occurred between 12:00 and 2:00 am on Sunday morning. “It seems that Frómeta heard noises, his dog was barking , and he got up to see what was happening. He encountered two thieves, and while he struggled with them, his wife attempted to ask for help by phone.”

One of the criminals took the phone away and locked her in a room, says Hortensia

One of the criminals took the phone away and locked her in a room, says Hortensia. “It seems that there was another phone inside, because she managed to call and ask for help. Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, the thieves had already escaped and Frómeta was dead.”

The holguinera explains that the thieves managed to take several items, although she did not give details, and that the victim was left disfigured, with a “cut ear and and his head slashed down the middle.” “He bled to death,” she says and adds that the robbery could have been motivated by “people who knew that he had money.” continue reading

Other versions, such as the one disseminated by YouTuber Niover Licea, indicate that Frómeta had just sold a vehicle and the thieves were looking for the money, so they could be people who knew about it. He also stressed that the victim had been stabbed seven times and that the assailants did not take any objects from the house.

Hortensia, on the other hand, has not heard “anything about a car,” but agrees that the thieves “went after the money” of Frómeta, who was dedicated to the repair of vehicles for sale in addition to running a café in his home. “He had a very nice house on the outskirts of Holguín, before you come to a military unit and very close to the cabaret El Nocturno,” she explains.

“Frómeta lived very well, and his house had good security: padlocks, alarms and, I think, even cameras. The thieves managed to dodge all that,” says Hortensia.

The age of the victim, as well as the name of the business he owned are not known, although some posts on social networks suggest that he was 57 years old.

That is not the only case of violence that has occurred in Holguín. Just yesterday, a woman was assaulted in the cemetery in the city center

“That is not the only case of violence that has occurred in Holguín. Just yesterday, a woman was assaulted in the cemetery in the city center at 9:00 am. The criminals were on a motorbike,” says Hortensia. As she explains, gangs have recently been created in the city of “young boys who go on electric motorcycles assaulting people. They are organizing,” she regrets.

This Sunday in Holguín, a young man was robbed of a motorcycle near the tobacco factory. According to the victim’s wife, who reported it on social networks, three men threatened him with a knife in order to steal his vehicle. “One had a tattooed cross on his face,” she said.

Last December, in a speech to Parliament, Juan Carlos Poey, Minister of the Interior, warned that “in the adverse scenario” of the Island, it is very likely that “crime will evolve to a higher level of organization,” more complex than gangs or small networks of traffickers.

The leader assured that the police would be prepared to face any situation. However, the work of the authorities to stop the wave of violent crimes in recent years makes many doubt: “If they aren’t protecting us now, what can we expect later?”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Jamaica Prosecutes 10 Cuban Rafters Who Landed in a Luxury Hotel

The group of Cuban rafters have been detained since January 4 in Jamaica. (The Gleaner/Leon Jackson)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — A group of 10 Cuban rafters has been detained since January 4 in Jamaica for illegally entering the country. The migrants are waiting for a second hearing, next Thursday, before the Duncans Parish Court. In the first hearing, they pleaded “not guilty” before Judge Paula Hall, according to the newspaper The Gleaner.

The rafters, with support from interpreter Kimberly Watt, said that on December 29 they left the Island on a raft with the intention of reaching Florida. However, the bad weather damaged the raft and forced them to disembark at the Excellence Resort.

According to the Jamaican Embassy in Cuba, the inhabitants of the Island require a tourist visa, which costs 30 euros. continue reading

The rafters, with the support of interpreter Kimberly Watt, said that on December 29 they left the Island on a raft with the intention of reaching Florida

Since March 2023, Jamaica has required a visa for every Cuban who transits the country. The measure was taken in the face of the lack of control of people from the Island, who took advantage of the passage through Kingston to travel to Nicaragua and from there continue their journey to the United States.

Officials of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency confirmed to The Gleaner that “hundreds of Cubans traveled from the Island in the last three years to secure passage to Central and North America.”

The Government of Cuba maintains a close relationship with Jamaica. Last November, the Cuban Ophthalmological Care Program resumed with the sending of 18 specialists, after its suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic. These health workers joined the nine who arrived in July 2023 and are working in the Kingston public hospital.

Cuba’s ambassador to Jamaica, Fermín Quiñones, highlighted in May the bilateral relationship between the two countries in both health and education. Despite the fact that there is a considerable deficit of teachers in Cuba, agreements are maintained for the sending of teachers to Honduras, Mexico and Jamaica.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba, Even the Ration Books Are Scarce Due to Lack of Paper

Tamara Castillo, State director of Commerce in Matanzas, said that the delivery of the documents “will be assumed on a transitory basis.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2024 — For the third consecutive year, the distribution of the ration books in Cuba is delayed. The reason is the same again: the lack of paper to make them. In some neighborhoods of Havana, the distribution has been intermittent. In Luyanó, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, they have arrived, but in other areas, such as Cayo Hueso, in Central Havana, they have not.

They had already warned Olga in December, when, after losing the document on the street, she had to go and renew it from her corresponding Office of the Consumer Registry. “The employee told me not to worry because they weren’t going to give out the books anyway,” the old woman tells 14ymedio. “She didn’t know if it was going to be in January, in February or if it would actually happen, because they were ’very late.’”

In Nuevo Vedado, a municipality of the Plaza de la Revolución, the ration store clerk told his customers that “it will arrive next month.” Meanwhile, they are writing down the orders on the January sheet of the 2023 ration book. “For the little they give, there is plenty of paper,” Roberto, a resident of the place, protests with sarcasm.

Although the panorama is similar in other provinces – they have not given out the ration books in Sancti Spíritus, in Mayabeque, in Villa Clara, in continue reading

Santiago de Cuba or in Holguín, to mention some examples that this newspaper has been able to confirm – only the government of Matanzas has pronounced itself on the matter.

The solution proposed by the officials while they replenish stocks is the one proposed by the ration store clerk of Nuevo Vedado, which coincides with last year’s proposal and that of the previous year

“From the State Directorate of Commerce in Matanzas it is reported that financial limitations caused a delay in the import of the raw material for the fabrication of the ration books, which resulted in too much of a delay in their printing and distribution to make the changes for the 2024 ration books,” the agency acknowledged this Sunday on Facebook.

Tamara Castillo, State director of Commerce in Matanzas, said that the delivery of the documents “will be assumed on a transitory basis” and explained that “once the books for 2024 have been delivered to consumers, the retail establishment must update the annotations in them from the sales made previously,” a process that must be completed before this coming March 30.

The lack of “raw material” for fabricating the ration books has already stopped being surprising, but this year, the uncertainty about rationing lingers on. Among the economic measures announced for 2024 in the second ordinary session of the National Assembly last December, although without a specific date, was the end of the universal subsidy to the basic food basket.

“It’s not fair that those who have a lot receive the same as those who have very little. Today we subsidize the same thing to an old pensioner as to the owners of large private businesses who have a lot of money,” argued the Prime Minister of the Island, Manuel Marrero.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Good Bye, Fernando

The Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, together with the then Vice Minister Fernando Rojas, during the attack on some artists who were peacefully protesting, on 27 January 2021. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 10 January 2024 — These days the dismissal of Fernando Rojas, the vice minister of Culture, has been in the news. There are many who have publicly celebrated the end of the career of one of the cultural commissioners who arouses the most antipathy. There have also been many, too many, affected by the exclusive and abusive cultural policy that the regime has carried out for decades.

But Fernando has been one of the most enthusiastic and visible executioners. He never refused to spearhead a cancellation. And despite all his efforts to show himself worthy of occupying the highest position in the ministry of censorship and ultimatum, better known as Mincult, no one trusted him enough to be the standard bearer.

We have both been antagonists in several of the most recent episodes, so I think it is pertinent to give my opinion. I do not intend to add to the insults, which are already many, and which contribute little, beyond personal relief. I will try to give the most honest view possible about someone who has just lost the little power he had left and whose life is definitely going downhill. continue reading

I will try to give the most honest view possible about someone who has just lost the little power he had left and whose life is definitely going downhill

The first time I exchanged words with Fernando was during a small reception that the ministry offered to Antón Arrufat. They told the playwright that he could bring some friends and I was among his guests. Suddenly, amidst rum and Soviet jokes, Abel Prieto made an unexpected confession: he was retiring from the position. So he told the younger ones: “Go out and smoke with Fernando, because he will be the next minister.” I remember that Fernando took out his tobacco, he paused and appeared as if he had already received the official appointment.

A short time later the news would come out, but nothing about Fernando being named. The new minister was a certain Rafael Bernal. He would only last two years in office, being dismissed after an art theft scandal. Once again, Fernando was left quietly in his chair. The appointee was then Julián González, and this time it would be Rojas himself who would be in charge of sawing the floor for his new boss. His appointment seemed inevitable, but… not even! Abel Prieto himself would be brought out of his sweet retirement to resume his position until 2018. By that year, Díaz-Canel was betting on a closer friend: Alpidio Alonso.

When in 2016, during a meeting of the Hermano Saíz Association (AHS), I asked Luis Torres Iríbar 15 uncomfortable questions , it would be Fernando Rojas’ turn to answer me. His answers must be recorded somewhere. Fernando lamented that we Cubans could travel without an exit permit, buy a cell phone or a computer, or buy and sell our own houses. For him, all those decisions were painful and must be temporary. From that moment on, I think he began to see me as an annoying intestinal pimple every time we met at those useless AHS or Uneac assemblies.

He even visited me at my house on a couple of occasions, concerned about the direction my Facebook posts were taking

However, I dare to speculate that, despite everything, Fernando appreciated me. It took it personally to try to keep me in the “uncomfortable artist” zone and not cross that invisible line where you are considered “incorrigibly counter-revolutionary.” He even visited me at my house a couple of times, concerned about the direction my Facebook posts were taking.

But November 27th arrived. That day, we both held a long and tense telephone negotiation, until the protesters were able to enter the ministry, well into the night. The false dialogue would be broken two months later, with a simple slap of the hand and an unjustifiable beating .

The last time we saw each other was at the Argos Teatro headquarters, after a performance of one of my plays. In the dressing room, I told him: “Before we start discussing our differences, tell me how your son is doing.” Fernando burst into tears for about ten minutes straight. Apparently, no one in his camp had asked him about the boy’s health after a domestic incident.

I’m delusional if I think he really appreciated me. He did not hesitate to go house to house of some colleagues to publish videos against me. He didn’t hesitate for a second to close my group and ban all my works. He applauded the lynching that my family suffered in the same house that he himself visited one day.

Fernando is already ancient history, but the worst of all is that those who replace him today are made of the same material.

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Cuba’s Minister of Culture’s Aggression Against Artists Sparks International Condemnation (Article from 2021)

Alpidio Alonso (wearing a dark blue shirt) approached the group and physically attacked the independent journalist Mauricio Mendoza. (collage)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 January 2021 [Readers please note, this article is from 2021 and only recently translated] — The day of arrests and protests of artists that took place this Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Culture has not taken long to receive condemnation from several international organizations, among which stands out the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), based in Madrid, that has asked the European Union and the United States for sanctions against Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, who attacked the protesters yesterday.

The police violently broke up the sit-in held by several artists who managed to reach the Ministry after paying tribute to José Martí on the eve of the 168th anniversary of his birth. Alonso approached the group and physically attacked the independent journalist Mauricio Mendoza, which led to an exchange of slaps between officials and artists, who were quickly surrounded and stripped of their cell phones.

The OCDH condemned the “repressive action” and denounced that “then, the government mob, made up of officials from the Ministry of Culture, attacked the rest of the protesters in the vicinity of the Ministry in Havana.”

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The organization has proposed that the European Union “urgently” prohibit the entry of Alonso Grau and Vice Minister Fernando Rojas to the Schengen area and that both be “sanctioned”

The organization has proposed that the European Union “urgently” prohibit the entry of Alonso Grau and Vice Minister Fernando Rojas to the Schengen area and that both be “sanctioned” according to the newEuropean regime on human rights, in addition to their exclusion in any bilateral dialogue. In addition, it also demanded sanctions from the United States for both of them for their “direct participation in violent acts that violate the human rights of intellectuals and artists in Cuba.”

“In a normal country, Mr. Alonso Grau should have resigned. The images of the minister physically attacking people who are demonstrating peacefully in a public space is another example of the intolerance of the officials of the Cuban regime,” says Alejandro González Raga. , director of the OCDH.

The event at the door of the ministry resulted in several arrests. “They took them all away on a bus. They didn’t let me pass, they detained me almost upon arrival, there was a police cordon on every corner,” playwright Yunior García Aguilera told 14ymedio. The artists Solveig Font and Julio Llopiz-Casal tried to intervene so that García could gain access to the Ministry, but was unable to do so. “In the end a bus arrived, they did a kind of act of repudiation and took them all away,” he added.

Fernando Rojas even told those who participated in the protest, as heard in some videos recorded by themselves, that they could go to the institution’s headquarters, but the young people demanded the withdrawal of the police officers who were surrounding them before entering.

“There are police officers and people with guns, who come to strike and you know it, we are just artists,” Maykel Castillo Osorbo is heard saying. “Why such a level of repression with art,” claimed the rapper.

During the morning, the independent journalist Camila Acosta, the artists Tania Bruguera and Camila Lobón, and the writer Katherine Bisquet were arrested when they were preparing to attend the tribute and released hours later. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) denounced these arrests, as well as the surveillance of the homes of journalists Iliana Hernández, a collaborator of CiberCuba, and Luz Escobar, of 14ymedio.

“We condemn the worsening of repression, threats and censorship against independent media and journalists, activists and citizens” by the Government

“We condemn the worsening of repression, threats and censorship against independent media and journalists, activists and citizens” by the Government, said Jorge Canahuati and Carlos Jornet, presidents of the IAPA and the Commission on Freedom of the Press and Information of the entity, respectively. Both added that the Government uses the Penal Code and archaic decrees to punish them and silence the right to freedom of expression and asked the international community to “immediately raise its voice and denounce the atrocities and violations of human rights on the Island.”

This January 27, several members of the 27N artist group had called for a tribute to José Martí near the Ministry of Culture. Some of them took advantage of the queue in a store to camouflage themselves and be able to be in the place without being previously detained.

Among them were Llopiz-Casal, Font, Osorbo, Mijail Rodríguez, Ulises Padrón, Víctor Alfonso, Mauricio Mendoza, Carolina Cabrera, Reynier Leyva Novo, Sinder Riverí, and Miryorli García. The group that managed to arrive in front of the Ministry paid tribute to Martí in a bust located on the corner of 21st and 2nd in Vedado, where a statement transmitted through social networks was read.

“We gather again to cultivate and offer our white rose,” they say in their address. “That of peace, that of dialogue, that of civic friendship, that of reconciliation, that of forgiveness, that of transparency, that of kindness, that of good and beauty, that of poetry. A white rose for friends and for those who consider themselves enemies, as Martí proposed to us, because we believe in the importance of building Cuba with everyone and for the good of all, from the values of our apostle and poet.

From there they went to the Ministry, where Fernando Rojas demanded that they leave the area, citing the danger of coronavirus infection.

“It is a lie that they want dialogue, to be in a situation and call the foreign press and put on a little media show. They do not want any dialogue, they were invited several times to come in and they did not want to come in. We are not going to allow this here in the Ministry of Culture. They do not respect the entire artistic movement of this country, which is revolutionary. If they come in a challenging and provocative tone like now, they will find an energetic response from our people,” Alonso said before a group of officials from his ministry who, at the end, applauded him and shouted slogans like “fuerza Cuba” and “viva Fidel.”

The Ministry of Culture also issued an official note where it described the artists’ action as a provocation and referred to them as a “small group of people” related “to media paid by US federal agencies.” As the statement explains, those present were asked to leave on several occasions due to the “risk posed by the Covid-19 epidemic in crowds in public spaces.”

“The Ministry of Culture ratifies its willingness to dialogue with honest creators on any issue related to the cultural policy of the Cuban Revolution and reiterates its refusal to accept provocations or dialogue with mercenaries”

According to the official version, the Ministry of Culture workers “decided to react immediately” by urging them to leave, but “they confronted them and evicted them from the place” due to their refusal. “The Ministry of Culture ratifies its willingness to dialogue with honest creators on any issue related to the cultural policy of the Cuban Revolution and reiterates its refusal to accept provocations or dialogue with mercenaries,” the note concludes.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel has expressed himself along the same lines. “He who hides behind art to provoke by besieging institutions and public officials, while the nation fights tooth and nail against blockade, pandemic and death, is not honest. Our ministries are not media platforms. Hard work is done there,” the president wrote on Twitter .

The repressive actions against activists and artists come just two months after more than three hundred people gathered outside the Ministry of Culture on November 27 to demand the end of censorship and greater creative freedoms on the Island starting the arrests against members of the San Isidro Movement. After several hours of tension, caused by a significant deployment of police and State Security agents to stop the arrival of more artists, the authorities accepted that a group of representatives access the building.

During the call this Wednesday, the members of 27N released a statement. “Today we come, once again, to insist on dialogue, but also to demand to be heard, to exercise our freedom as citizens, and to celebrate the unity, serenity and perseverance that we have maintained around the events of 27 November 2020,” adds the statement. “We will not give up the demands of that night.”

The declaration goes on to demand the “right to have rights,” the recognition of civil society as an interlocutor and an end to harassment, repression and censorship. The official press, which has pointed to them and accused them of being counterrevolutionaries and mercenaries, could stop the defamation campaigns against them and put a “stop to hate speech.”

The group demands a channel of dialogue that leaves ideologies aside and focuses on Cuba and the well-being of its citizens and defends its commitment to a free, inclusive and democratic society. “We invite all Cubans not to be indifferent to suffering and pain, to not be apathetic to the reality that is offered to us as an opportunity for change.”

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Cuban TV Documentary on Mariel Masters the Art of Turning Setbacks into Victories

Raul Castro promised the “mighty” terminal would deliver a prosperous, socialist future. (Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, January 5, 2024 — “Fresh currency.” For more than ten years that has been the slogan of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM). Its directors, senior Cuban officials and foreign investors bluntly admit it in “Prow to the Future,” a documentary taped using Geocuba drones and accompanied by an original score from the musical duo Buena Fe (Good Faith).

The 28-minute video presents the ZEDM, which began operations in 2013, as the Cuban revolution’s greatest economic achievement, exalting its logistical capabilities. The stated purpose of the documentary, which was broadcast last Tuesday on Cuban television, is to attract foreign investment and commemorate the regime leaders who came up with the idea, from Fidel Castro to its current and “hardest-working” supervisor, Ramiro Valdés, the current vice-president of the Council of State.

But the mastermind behind ZEDM, the interviewees insist, was General Julio Casas Regueiro, the former government minister for the Armed Forces, who died of a heart attack in 2011, two years after its opening. They add, however, there were two other people who closely oversaw its development: the recently deceased Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, head of the military-run GAESA business conglomerate, and his former father-in-law, Raul Castro. continue reading

Osvaldo Bravo, director of the Mariel Engineering Services company, remembers personally seeing “Luis Alberto” every week during the feasibility phase of the project. The documentary includes a lot of images of Lopez-Calleja meeting with other senior officials over the years.

Lopez-Calleja, Raul Castro and Ramiro Valdés, ZEDM’s “hard-working” supervisors. (Screen capture)

Later came an “accelerated investment process” to create what Lopez-Calleja and Casas Regueir had seen in other countries, particularly in Panama. The first feature of the project was the port of Aguas Profundas [Deep Waters], completed in 2013 “despite no previous experience,” boasted Bravo.

If they were in a rush to finish the project, it was to make a good impression on the other Latin American heads-of-state who would be attending the second summit of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which was being held in Havana in January 2014. All the stars of 21st century socialism — among them, Nicolas Maduro, Dilma Rousseff and Evo Morales — were there to kick off ZEDM. The launch was successful; the more lasting failure came later.

The Mariel construction company that employed, and still retains, 3,000 workers was also in charge of complementary projects such as the container terminal and two railway lines that access the site. Raul Castro claimed the “mighty” terminal would ensure a “prosperous, socialist future” for Cuba

Some eleven kilometers of roadway and four bridges are part of a “robust” network of access routes into and out of ZEDM, the documentary points out. The canal that provides an outlet to the sea is 200 meters wide and 18.3 meters deep. The bay was dredged in 2022 to accomodate Neopanamax ships, the largest in the world, explained Martín Jose Spini, director general of the logisitics conglomerate PSA International, a company based in Singapore

The dredging, Spini adds, was a strategy used to gain a competitive advantage. Other ports in the region do not have the capacity to accomodate large vessels of the Neopanamax variety. Cuba does. The fact that Mariel has this feature makes it the preferred option among Caribbean terminals.

Its directors emphasize that everything goes through Mariel, from the parts for the new Parranda beer factory to rationed consumer goods. Technology for Mexico’s Richmeat’s sausage factory, as well as the raw materials to make its products, have passed through the port.

The chain of command at ZEDM is clear. Orders come from the Council of Ministers via the Rector’s Office and its deputy director, Yanet Vázquez. If an overseas company wants access to what the zone has to offer, it must go through the one-stop shop that handles all requests. At the moment, there are sixty-four businesses operating in the zone.

The Mariel construction company has been in charge of building other complementary projects such as the container terminal. (Screen Capture)

“We didn’t have to knock on Cuban officials’ doors,” says Arnoud Van Shaik, who is director of the public-private partnership Cervecería Cubana and is also in charge of Latin American operations for Bavaria, a Colombian company.

Luis Alberto Gonzalez Hernandez, the president of Richmeat, is of the same opinion. His company, which has been operating at ZEDM since 2019, hopes to produce about 7,000 tons of food annually within three years. Additionally, he would like to have closer ties to Cuban producers, especially those who could provide locally sourced raw materials.

Alexandre Carpenter — the president of Brascuba, a tobacco company which produces H. Upmann and Fresh cigarettes — admitted that investing in Cuba has had its “problems and challenges” but added, “The country is changing a lot.”

The Guajaibón solar farm, as well as Vietnam’s Thai Binh adult diaper factory and Suchel TBV are other businesses expected to expand this year. Suchel’s Vietnamese directors have said they will produce 70,000 tons of powdered laundry detergent and 20,000 tons of the liquid detergent annually. One Spanish, one Portuguese and two Vietnamese companies will share 119 hectares of the Mariel VI Industrial Park, which is now “ready for occupancy.”

ZEDM has one little-known feature: a plan to house workers’ families in the nearby town of Caguaarán at the rate of 130 homes per year. Dozens of buildings have already been built.

Getting Mariel off the ground cost three billion dollars, paid in large part by Brazil, which explains why Dilma Roussef cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony, as Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel points out. Despite the documentary’s upbeat tone, the project’s history is actually a string of disasters.

In 2022, Mariel barely earned 18 million dollars in exports. It pulled in about 13 million in the first half of 2023. Since the ZEDM began operations ten years ago, it has managed to bring in just 3.5 billion dollars in total, not the 2.5 billion annually that was forecast.

Some eleven kilometers of roadway and four bridges are part of a “robust” network of access routes into and out of ZEDM, the documentary points out.

Mariel’s business portfolio continues to grow. It now has 729 projects, twenty-one more than in 2022, for a total investment of nearly $34.5 billion dollars. However, the instability of the Cuban economy led to the failure of sixty-three planned projects in for 2023. Typically, the regime’s expectations for ZEDM have little to do with reality.

Several of the businessmen who now vehemently defend the ZEDM have had problems dealing with its bureaucracy. One of the most notorious examples involved Suchel TBV, whose Vietnamese managers halted its factory’s operations in early 2023 due to difficulties importing its machinery. The expected results, which are highlighted in the documentary, came to nothing.

Ten years later, all hopes for the regime’s survival remain pinned on Mariel and ZEDM. They are still following Raul Castro’s grandiose mandate: “Keep on building.”

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Cuban Authorities Announce Price Increases of More Than 500 Percent for Regular Gasoline and Diesel

Fuel prices will go up on February 1st. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 9 January 2024 — Fuel on the Island will quintuple in price starting February 1st. But Cubans, always thinking ahead, are more afraid of the dangers to come. These include even larger price increases on the black market and shortages at service centers, especially for those paying in Cuban pesos (CUP) rather than hard currency (MLC).

Vladimir Regueiro Ale, Vicente da la O Levy and Tania Danay Vives Alfonso — the respective heads of the ministries of Finance, Prices, Energy and Mines, and the deputy CFO of Cimex — sat down for a television interview on Monday to explain some of the most widely feared changes that were announced as part of a series of economic reform measures. These include increases in the prices of fuel, electricity and natural gas. In the case of fuel, the price will rise from 25 to 132 pesos, an increase of 528%.

Similarly, the price of premium gasoline will go from 30 pesos a liter to 156 (or 1.30 dollars at the official exchange rate) while premium diesel will go from the current price of 27.5 pesos to 150 (1.25 dollars). The price has yet to reach 200 pesos, a source with Cuba Petroleo told 14ymedio last week, but, continue reading

for now at least, the increases will be about 520% and 546% repectively.

Inflation in the month of February is certain. There will be a 428% increase in the wholesale price of regular gasoline, which will impact other prices and fees

Increases in retail prices will be less significant. Regular gas will go from the current price of 16.46 pesos to 24.30 pesos. Meanwhile the price of premium will go from 17.37 to 26.00 pesos and diesel from 15.12 to 28.00. The overall effect will be an increase in February’s consumer price index (CPI), says economist Pedro Monreal on his X account. “Inflation in the month of February is certain. There will be a 428% increase in the wholesale price of regular gasoline, which will impact other prices and fees. Until now, higher fuel costs have never had an impact on the CPI,” he points out.

However, the factor that most worries the public it seems, judging from comments made on information websites and social media, is not so much the high prices themselves but their potential impacts. The government has based its decision on the need to increase foreign reserves in order to replenish supplies. To achieve this, it is creating a network of twenty-eight service stations that will only accept payment in dollars.

The idea has little novelty. On the contrary, it has brought to the minds of citizens the moment when, during the Special Period — after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the loss of its subsidies to Cuba — dollar stores and their national equivalent, the CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso), were created, which marked the border between those who had access to that currency and could buy better products and those who did not have it and had to settle for the undersuppied stores in pesos. The situation was later replicated with the shops in freely convertible currency (MLC), and now it reaches the gas stations.

“Having in the same gas station the sale in foreign currency and national currency will only generate greater corruption and enrichment than the current one, which is already enough, among those who work in stations and the supply chain, because they will easily say that they have no fuel in CUP to force people to pay in foreign currency,” writes a reader of Cubadebate.

“I can imagine the dialogue,” another jokes.

“There is no fuel for CUP.”

“I don’t have MLC on my card. How can I do it?”

“Easy, give me 270 for each MLC and I’ll give you my card.”

The problem is that the clerk then pays with his card in CUP because the user has no idea if there is fuel in CUP and no one finds out.”

Vives Alfonso explained that the new gas stations in dollars are not just for tourists but for anyone who has a means of payment regardless of nationality. The accepted cards will be Visa, Mastercard, MIR (a Russian card), prepaid issued by Bandec, the ICE card, the Traveler card and the new Classic card, which will be purposely issued by the exchange houses soon. In no case will cash payments be accepted.

The Minister of Energy and Mines explained that so far Cubans are subsidizing tourists, since when they arrive in the country they buy 120 pesos with a dollar, but gasoline is at the official exchange of 24 pesos for a dollar. “There we can see the subsidy to tourism, to the foreigner, to that person who pays for gasoline at 1.30 dollars and here pays for it for at 30 pesos,” he said.

De la O Levy gave several data about the situation of fuel on the Island and the cost of acquiring it. In 2023, 203,000 tons of gasoline were imported (almost twice as much as in 2021), but the need is 360,000. “The enemy has blocked our access to fuel and there is no doubt about that,” he said. “A relentless persecution of fuel, ships, crossings, partners and allies has been applied… day after day,” he insisted.

Cuba requires about 1.8 billion dollars to be able to cover its annual needs, but last year it was only able to cover a third: 600 million dollars for 609,000 tons

The minister said that the majority of gasoline goes to the private sector, compared to diesel, which mostly goes to industries and transport, and whose imports were also small. Cuba requires about 1.8 billion dollars to be able to cover the annual needs, but last year it was only able to cover a third: 600 million dollars for 609,000 tons.

The new measures, he said, will “gradually achieve a stable supply,” although he let drop the worst fear by stating that “a good provision in both chains of service centers cannot be guaranteed from the first day of implementation.”

One of the sectors most affected by the changes is transport, which will have to reflect the increases by increasing costs, although for the moment no details have been offered for discussion. In the case of the industry, the increases are planned and will be supported with the budgets, but on a new episode of State TV’s Round Table program the officials warned of new announcements about the means of transport without a date in sight, “where it will be possible to explain rate by rate per service.”

Both private and state centers will be able to obtain the fuel at wholesale prices, they said.

In the coming days there will be campaigns for preparing workers and informing users in the service centers, and “there will be signage that shows the customer how to easily acquire the fuel by any of these means of payment. If there is a problem with any of them, there are other ways; at no time will the service be paralyzed because there is no connection or because it is not possible at that time to make a payment,” said the Cimex official.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Colombia Cannot Prevent Exiled Cuban Baseball Players From Playing Because It Is a ‘Private Event’

The Cuban Professional Baseball Federation announced its team last October at a press conference in Miami. (Fepcube)

14ymedio, Madrid, January 10, 2024 — The Cuban Government has embarked on a diplomatic struggle against a private competition and has enrolled in the task its ally, the Colombian Government, whose Ministry of Sport issued a statement on Tuesday in which it detaches itself from the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series, which begins in Barranquilla on January 26 with the participation of FepCube, the Cuban-American team founded in Miami last year.

The Ministry reported yesterday in a joint statement with the Colombian Olympic Committee that the organizer of the event “of a private and invitational nature” is Team Rentería USA, so the tournament “is not continue reading

organized by the Colombian Baseball Federation, nor is it part of the events of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, the only organization endorsed by the International Olympic Committee.”

The statement indicates that Team Rentería USA sent a proposal to the Ministry to contribute to its financing, but the project was rejected for not having complied with the formal requirements

The statement indicates that Team Rentería USA sent a proposal to the Ministry to contribute to its financing, but the project was rejected for not having complied with the formal requirements. According to the Colombian rule, for this type of public-private collaboration to exist, plans must be submitted to the national sports federations, something that was not done in this case.

So far, the arguments of the Colombian Government are limited to the facts, but they end up taking a step to the political by ruling on the possibility that FepCube can compete using “the name, representation and national symbols of the Republic of Cuba, without the respective authorization of the competent body of the country.”

The response specifies that “they reject the actions and demonstrations of the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation” in its claim to make use of those elements “without having the recognition of the Colombian Government” or its sports authorities.

“The use of these symbols would be interpreted as a clear violation of the constitutional and sports rights of the Republic of Cuba,” says the statement, which concludes by making an exclusive and legitimate recognition of the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation.”

The document has been disseminated by the official Cuban press, both sports and national, “because of its importance,” the media point out. The ruling party itself is confirmed as well as the main promoter of an event to which it is giving prominence precisely when it tries to detract from it.

The tournament will be the presentation of the FepCube team – if nothing prevents it – made up of exiled Cuban baseball players and competing with the nickname Patria y Vida

Team Rentería is a private company, founded in Colombia in 1989, in order to organize, market and develop professional baseball in the country. In its 35 years of life it has promoted different tournaments and events at the national level or with teams and private sports entities from Latin American countries and other parts of the world.

In the case of the Intercontinental Professional Baseball Series, heir to the Latin American Series that was played between 2013 and 2020, players from countries such as Japan and South Korea are now incorporated and will compete with Colombians, Americans, Curaçaoans and Cuban Americans until the first of February.

The tournament will introduce the FepCube team – if nothing prevents it – made up of exiled Cuban players and competing with the nickname Patria y Vida. The Cuban Government, visibly upset, has decided to deploy a campaign against the private group whom it has called “a monstrosity” and has not hesitated to carry out a diplomatic offensive, leading Colombia to pronounce on what should be a brief league between voluntarily associated entities.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Mother of an ’11J’ Political Prisoner Stands Up To Demand That Her Son Be Taken to a Hospital

Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón is “planted” outside prison 1580 in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón in Havana. (Cortesía)

14ymedio, Havana, January 10, 2024 — Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón, mother of political prisoner Brusnelvis Cabrera Gutiérrez, has planted herself outside prison 1580 in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón in Havana. The woman demands medical attention for her son — sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in the protests of 11 July 2021 — who has felt sick for weeks.

Gutiérrez Padrón refuses to move from the place until her son is transferred to a hospital center, since the young man feels depressed and has lost a lot of weight, according to what she told the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights. “Even if I’m alone, I’m not leaving until they take him to a hospital,” the woman said.

Brusnelvis Cabrera Gutiérrez, 24 years old, was transferred to the maximum security prison last August. “That prison is also called ’the dryer’ because everyone there is very skinny and hungry. In all prisons in Cuba there is 99.9% hunger, but in that one you suffer 100%,” the mother told this newspaper.

The change of prison occurred several days after the young man refused to eat or wear the prison uniform in the Combinado prison of east Havana. The mother saw the move with suspicion: “I don’t expect anything good from the dictatorship. The dictatorship doesn’t give anything good and we don’t want it,” she told 14ymedio at the time. “I see that it is a prison with many continue reading

complications. There is nothing favorable in this transfer.”

Cabrera Gutiérrez was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly demonstrating in the popular protests of 11 July 2021

Cabrera Gutiérrez was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly demonstrating in the popular protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’), a participation that both the young man and his family emphatically deny. Last year, his sentence was reduced to 10 years after an annulment verdict.

Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón has been one of the mothers of the 11J prisoners who has maintained a constant complaint in public spaces and social networks. In July 2022, the day of the first anniversary of the protests, she was detained for a few hours for wearing white.

Gutiérrez Padrón also alleges that the evidence against her son is spurious. During the first trial, which took place in March last year, the image of a young man on a motorcycle who, with the movement of his arm, summoned the demonstrators, was enough for the Court to condemn him, despite the fact that the mother has insistently refuted that he was her son: “The boy in the photo has no tattoos on his arm and my son is full of tattoos”

Now, Migdalia Gutiérrez Padrón is carrying out a new battle, and this time she is demonstrating outside the prison.

The concept of “planting yourself” began to be used in Cuba from 1959, when the first political prisoners were convicted after Fidel Castro came to power. Many of those inmates, the plantados, refused to accept rehabilitation in prison, to wear the prison uniform and to perform forced labor. For the relatives of the inmates, the concept means protesting and remaining intransigent until the prison authorities improve the prisoner’s situation or release him.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Recommends Wearing Masks in Crowds, but Does Not Require Tourists To Take Covid Tests

Image in Havana in August 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic (14ymedio/File)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 9 January 2024 — The Cuban Public Health Ministry this Tuesday recommended that people use masks in crowds and keep to the program of vaccination against covid-19.

The request, issued in an article from the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, came out just after the country kept to its position of not requiring covid-19 tests for tourists coming to the island, at the start of the economically-important high tourist season.

Portal Miranda affirmed that his ministry maintains “active” epidemiological and microbiological surveillance in its health system to detect the presence of respiratory viruses and new variants of covid-19.

He stressed that in Cuba “the current increase in these infections is not significant”, although he cited the recent alert issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) in view of the world-wide increase in respiratory diseases caused by covid-19, influenza and other viruses during the last few weeks. continue reading

However, he drew attention to the “need to comply with health protection measures, especially in vulnerable groups” during the coldest time of the year, which coincides with the seasonal period of acute respiratory infections.

So far in 2024 the most frequent covid-19 subvariants on the island are XBB 1.5, XBB.1.9 and XBB.1.16, classified by the WHO as being of interest or under surveillance

The health authority pointed out the importance of using masks “in places with high concentrations of people; the need to go to the doctor when respiratory symptoms appear, and to keep the anti-covid-19 vaccination schedule up to date”.

In this regard, he said that as part of the country’s health protocols, vaccination against covid-19 has continued to be carried out, with “special emphasis” on children from two years of age, pregnant women and people identified as vulnerable, who are receiving booster shots.

The Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) reported that as 0f January 5, 90.9% of the population (10,044,217 people) had received the complete schedule of the three Cuban-made anti-covid-19 vaccines: Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala.

Portal Miranda stated that control of the circulation of the covid-19 virus has been achieved on the island and that in 2023, of the more than 121,800 tests performed, only 2.5% were positive.

He added that in the last two months of 2023 and so far in 2024 the most frequent covid-19 subvariants on the Island are XBB 1.5, XBB.1.9 and XBB.1.16, classified by the WHO as being of concern or under surveillance.

A recent publication by the Ministry of Public Health explains that international travelers “do not have to present any negative test for covid-19” upon arrival on the island and pointed out that only those who present or are detected with respiratory symptoms will undergo a rapid test or PCR sample collection.

Recommendations to visitors include the use of face masks in airplanes and air terminals, as well as in crowds and on public transportation.

Translated by GH

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