Translating Cuba

Cuban Regime Presents the Jet Ski ‘Terrorist’ To Distract Cubans From the Crisis

Humberto López’s program gave little news, except for the detainee’s statement and his links with the self-styled group “The New Cuban Nation in Arms”

Ardenys García Álvarez on Canal Caribe identifying the members of The New Cuban Nation in Arms / Capture

14ymedio, Madrid, 9 July 2024 – Not much that was new was announced in a national television program which was supposed to reveal details about the “terrorist plot against Cuba, organized and financed from the United States,” which was finally dismantled by the Police and the Armed Forces. The 30 minutes that the special lasted, led by the spokesman of the regime Humberto López, had abundant information about the case that became known last December, when a man was arrested for trying to illegally enter the Island on a jet ski with three pistols, which this Monday became five.

The only news was the name of the detainee, who made himself known the day before: Ardenys García Álvarez, a 40-year-old Cienfueguero, allegedly emigrated and resident in the United States since 2014. His statements and the videos and images of the group to which he supposedly belonged were the most spectacular part of López’s program, which had two guests — Colonel Víctor Álvarez Valle and Prosecutor Eduard Roberts Campbell — to give a theoretical basis to what some members of the exile have already considered propaganda to divert attention.

His statements and the videos and images of the group to which he allegedly belonged were the most spectacular part of López’ program

The program began by reviewing the events, which occurred in November, when García Álvarez entered Cuba illegally through Matanzas on a jet ski “with the intention of carrying out violent actions.” A few days later, the famous National List of Terrorists was approved, which includes 61 people – including the politician Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat and the influencer Alex continue reading

Otaola – in addition to 19 organizations “that carry out actions against state security,” whose members, they warn, are “sought by the authorities.”

García Álvarez, according to his testimony, was a member of one of them, the self-styled New Cuban Nation in Arms, captained by Willy González – who mocked last night’s program on social networks – and who claims that a recruitment group in Florida is willing to use violence to liberate the Island from communism. The group said it was the author in 2022 of the fire against the Provincial Court of Havana, but despite everything, it has only 800 followers.

In the video broadcast by Canal Caribe, García Álvarez recounts how he came into contact with the group through Telegram – although he never indicates if he did it out of conviction or for money – and began to carry out training activities on shooting ranges with several of its members, including Willy González. He also identifies in the photographs Jorge Luis Fernández Figueras El Lobo and Dayan Quiñones, among others.

The individuals appear equipped with a military uniform and the logo of The New Cuban Nation in Arms, which includes the national flag, three stars and two crossed machine guns

The individuals appear in military uniform with the logo of The New Cuban Nation in Arms, which includes the national flag, three stars and two crossed machine guns, and they are seen practicing with weapons that the accused identifies. In another of the fragments, one of them reads a statement: “We, the New Cuban Nation in Arms, believe that the fastest way to achieve it [liberation] is armed struggle, putting the lives of a group of determined men at risk in order to save the lives of many others.”

Humberto López, who describes the fragment as “interesting,” reviews the facts with Colonel Álvarez Valle, including the arrival on the Island of the accused – currently in pretrial detention – on a jet ski with a Florida license plate and “in perfect navigation condition.” In addition to the vehicle, he adds, “a large number of ammunition that had been in a plastic bottle” and scattered by the boat was confiscated, as well as five pistols – which in the December version were three – of the American Tactical brand and two different models of Smith & Wesson, manufactured in the United States, along with a Steyr, from Austria, and a Taurus, created in Brazil. All, the researcher remarked, “were acquired in the United States.”

In addition, the rest of the team had binoculars and wore balaclavas “suitable for violent activity.” López goes so far as to ask – aware of the dubious importance of the story – if a man with this minimum amount of equipment would be dangerous for a country, but those present emphasize that it is not about that but rather about the implications and seriousness of his intentions.

García Álvarez accumulates accusations for multiple crimes, the most serious: acts against state security, punishable by ten to 30 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death penalty.

García Álvarez accumulates accusations for multiple crimes, from illegal entry into the country – which already implies three years in prison -to the most serious: acts against state security, punishable by ten to 30 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death penalty, for “those who violate the territorial space on board a ship or aircraft, clandestinely enter the nation or organize or are part of armed groups to intervene in the commission of crimes contemplated in the Criminal Code.”

Some secondary individuals, also accused, appear in the program, including the father of the main actor, Roberto García Ávila, who was allegedly involved in the son’s plans, and Pavel Fernández Alfonso, with whom he allegedly shared his intentions. Fernández Alfonso had the idea of looking for a farm in which to house more people he would recruit, with particular emphasis on members of the Army, for having training and access to weapons.

The program reserved the final ten minutes to characterize Willy González and broadcast some of the videos he posts on his social networks threatening the Cuban regime, as well as José Luis Fernández El Lobo, to whom several sabotages of the electrical system are also attributed. Both are part, they observed, of the national list of terrorists, and they accused the United States of doing nothing to arrest or extradite* them.

“They are making an effort to ’legitimize’ the list of alleged terrorists in order to continue using it

Humberto López claims, citing a Resolution of the United Nations Security Council, that States must “adopt all measures to pursue investigating and punishing those who are linked” to terrorist acts. Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Democracy Movement, told Miami television, at the end of the program, “They are making an effort to ’legitimize’ the list of alleged terrorists to be able to continue using it, not only for propaganda but also in possible meetings with the United States.”

Anti-Castrist journalist Ninoska Pérez Castellón, who is also part of the aforementioned list, said on her radio program that this is a new maneuver of the regime, overwhelmed by its internal problems. “It’s all about drawing attention away from the real situation of the country, and this is the kind of thing that worked for them for a while with Fidel Castro. I don’t think it will work for them anymore, given the current situation of the people of Cuba,” she said, adding that the goal is to “calm the population, keep it subdued and make them believe that they are defending it from something monstrous that comes from outside.”

Humberto López, on the other hand, considered his program a public service, despite the fact that nothing was said that was not already known, and the staging indicated more of an effort to generate unity in the face of an alleged external enemy. “Here we are going to continue defending the truth and objectivity of the phenomena. We will continue to look for all the information and make it available to the public. Impunity will never, never be the answer to such serious acts of this nature.” His last sentence, on the other hand, revealed a disturbing glimpse of doubt about the strategy. “I believe that the repudiation of the people of Cuba exists and will continue to be energetic.”

*Translator’s note: Cuba and the U.S. do not have an extradition treaty.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

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

Committed Diplomacy Award for Switzerland’s Ambassador to Cuba on ’11J’

Cadal praises the work of Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the repression

The former Swiss ambassador to Cuba, Mauro Reina /CADALTV/YouTube/Capture

14ymedio, Havana, 9 July 2024 — The former ambassador of Switzerland to Cuba, Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the police repression during the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), received the Award for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights on Tuesday. From Buenos Aires, where the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal) has its headquarters, he celebrated the support of the people who were “democratic referents” during the demonstrations and who ended up in “forced exile.”

Reina, born in 1964, resident on the Island from 2019 to 2023, witnessed the repressive wave of the regime after 11J. He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks they face in their freedom and security.”

Cadal remembers the series of messages sent on the social network X by the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana after the protests. The first of them, published on July 15, expressed the Embassy’s “concern” over the events and unambiguously demanded respect for “freedom of assembly and expression.” It was one of the first institutions to call for the release of political prisoners and to directly ask the authorities for an “inclusive dialogue” with the protesters. continue reading

He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks to their freedom and security”

The Embassy also publicly lamented the exile of jurist Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, a “close contact” of the diplomatic headquarters. In the same message it condemned the stampede of professionals and citizens who, due to their opposition to the regime, had felt forced to leave the country.

Fernández, who was until recently in the Academics at Risk Program of Harvard University, congratulated Reina on the award and said he had been an “example” of a diplomat committed “to his responsibilities to his government and to his respect and sensitivity for the problems of the Cuban people.” He also pointed out that Reina had developed his work in the diplomatic context of Havana, where it is uncommon for diplomats to ask the regime to account for its actions against human rights.

Maintaining the balance and decorum inherent in his profession, Fernández said that Reina understood “the pains and greatness of the Cuban people,” and he kept abreast of the political events that he had experienced on the Island.

Reina also received praise from the journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa, a resident of Spain, who congratulated him for accompanying those who “were pushing to change the course of life in Cuba.” He agreed with Fernández that it was “a gesture that very few foreign diplomats in Cuba have the courage to carry out.”

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion”

Finally, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion” and his “sensitivity to the great problems faced by Cuba and the issues of democratization and civil society.” He stressed the tact of the diplomat when transmitting the vision of his Government without losing his close relationship with the opponents, which he expressed “openly” at all times.

In an interview given on Monday to the Argentine journalist Jorge Elías, Reina explained that “in human rights issues, neutrality does not play any role.” He described his days in Havana as “very interesting and sometimes difficult.” Relations between Cuba and Switzerland, he alleged, are “quite intense,” so that any support for the opposition was a delicate issue. He assured that at all times, during his mission, he had been supported by the Swiss authorities. He assessed the current situation of the country as a “multidimensional crisis” because the authorities do not want to give up their “dogmas.”

Born in Lugano and graduated in Law from the University of Geneva, Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana. Since August 2023, he has been Ambassador of the Swiss diplomatic mission in Denmark.

Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana and Denmark

Since 2003, Cadal has awarded the Prize for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights to 16 diplomats who have resided in Cuba for some time and have stood out for their firm position in the face of the regime’s abuses. The organization also presented a special prize to the Chilean writer Jorge Edwards, whose book, Persona Non Grata can be read as the chronicle of a diplomat carrying out his work in a dictatorship.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Tin Can Carpets Are Back on the Streets of Havana

In Havana, it has become common for recycling collectors to leave containers on the street / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 18 July 2024 — The man is about 50 years old and carries two sacks loaded with empty soda, malt and beer cans. He heads to Lealtad Street, in Centro Habana, where the neighbors already know him, and sit on the threshold of their houses to watch his routine. The job, long-standing on the island but almost extinct due to the pandemic – which scared away tourism, a great consumer of these drinks – consists of precisely placing the containers on the asphalt and waiting. When a car finally crushes them, they will be ready to sell as raw material.

For at least four years – since Covid hit hard and the Yumas [foreigners] and the food disappeared – the collectors have hardly been seen in Havana. Their momentary disappearance, however, has not made them strangers to Cubans, whose imagination since childhood, along with other jobs on the Island — such as sharpening scissors or buying empty perfume bottles — still remembers “the old men who collect cans.”

They are almost always elderly, bent over by age and the weight of their bags. Most are men, but occasionally you see a woman.

The profession has a range of different collectors with regards to opportunities and resources. Some have tools to make their work easier, like the man who was carrying — on a tricycle and a wheelbarrow — sacks of cans of old Tu Kola, imported beers or the national Cristal and Bucanero beer this Wednesday on Belascoaín Street. Others, those in a worse situation, combine the activity with searching for food in the garbage, they go around in tattered clothes and with tanned faces. continue reading

Whether self-employed or not, collecting cardboard, aluminium or plastic has been one of those jobs that have always existed. It has achieved fame with buyers of “any little piece of gold,” and its worst moments with thieves of bronze statues and plaques. In any case, the metal always ends up melted down in a private workshop and turned into rings or water taps.

Lealtad Street, in Centro Habana, also displayed cans this Wednesday / 14ymedio

The job has even become mechanized: now it is the drivers who crush the cans with their vehicles, although there is always the risk of puncturing a tire. The collectors choose streets with little traffic because, although it takes longer to crush the cans, they are not visible to the police and inspectors. This also allows them to place and then remove the containers calmly, without being run over.

Others continue to use more “artisanal” methods, and press the containers with sticks, stones or with their feet.

The demand for flat cans is set by buyers, who ask for empty, clean and crushed containers. The most demanding are the private ones, who also pay more. For the collection of raw material for recycling, the State offered at the beginning of the year about 30 pesos per kilogram of aluminum. The same amount that the collectors must pay monthly for their license, not including social security. Private individuals will pay up to 100 pesos for the cans.

The collectors are almost always elderly men / 14ymedio

Although there are still those who “bite,” since the State company Materia Prima stopped paying due to lack of funds during the pandemic, few have returned to work with the State. Instead, they sell what they collect to scrap dealers who make tin cans, pots and aluminum cutlery.

For some, the work of the collectors is a curious example of the “productive chain” and the “circular economy” that the Government yearns for its own companies. What today is a malt in the hands of a Canadian, tomorrow will be a can crushed by a vehicle and the day after a jug to heat milk.

____________

ATMs in Cienfuegos “Die” at Any Time of the Day

The lines to withdraw cash begin to form from dawn, with the arrival of the first ‘coleros’ who charge 1,000 pesos to wait in line for others

It is common for Cuban banks to replenish ATMs with bills once a day / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Cienfuegos, 19 July 2024 — The ATMs located at the Banco Popular de Ahorro branch on Cienfuegos Boulevard seem to be working this Friday. Customers are encouraged when they see the screens lit up, but then start typing and immediately realize that there is no money available. It is barely two in the afternoon and the machines are already “dead.”

The ATMs at this bank branch had been putting money in at around 9:30 in the morning. The line to make withdrawals had been organized since dawn, with the corresponding coleros who charge 1,000 pesos to wait in line for each person willing to pay them for their service. A similar scene occurred a few blocks away, at the Banco de Crédito y Comercio (Bandec) located on San Carlos Street. There, since 5:00 am, Victor had been waiting, after trying to collect his pension for more than a week.

The employees of both banks warned, as if they had agreed, that only 500 peso bills would be dispensed, and that only two cards per person could be inserted. “They treat us as if we were sheep,” complained a female shop worker, who said she had been on the verge of withdrawing money several times, but “when it’s not the cash that runs out, it’s the power that goes out or the equipment that breaks.” continue reading

The lines, which have been forming for hours, dissolve as soon as the cash runs out / 14ymedio

The lines are slow and grow longer as the morning goes on. Two hours after the first withdrawal, Victor felt that nothing had happened, and he had the additional fear that order of the line* would be lost when several customers left and gave up on their attempt. It was then that the only ATM in service at Bandec jammed, to the disbelief and displeasure of the customers who were left without cash.

“Right now the BPA on the Boulevard and the Bandec on Argüelles Street have run out of money. They say they will put in a little cash after noon,” explained a man in a white coat, without much hope of achieving his goal. While people continued to arrive to grow the line, an employee of the bank itself verified that the problem with the ATM had been solved. Despite the reproaches of the angry crowd, he also took advantage of the opportunity to insert several cards and withdraw a few bills.

A card ejected like a spring confirmed the collective feeling: “That’s all it’s going to give!”

Looking at his old automatic watch**, Victor sensed the inevitable. Although he still had the option of going to the bank in Argüelles, he would probably have to go back to work in the early morning, exhausted by an unresolved issue. A card that was ejected as if spring had been thrown out confirmed the collective feeling. “That’s all it’s going to give!” said the owner of the card, who was close to achieving a miracle.

Those who had been there since the early hours of the morning remembered the words of the bank employee: “Today we are only going to put money in once.” After the disappointment, some people decided to march in procession to the bank on Argüelles Street. Among those who decided to try their luck in the new line that could already be seen in the distance, was Victor, who walked along writing on WhatsApp to his grandson, who lives in Spain: “This looks like a wake. Here the ATMs die at any time of the day.”

Translator’s notes:
*When Cubans join a line they ask “who’s last” and then watch that person to know when their turn is. In this way people can mingle, wander around, even run other quick errands and still ‘be in line.’
**An automatic watch has a mechanism in the movement that automatically winds the watch through the wearer’s movements, and does not require a battery.

____________

Cubans Will Have To Wait Until 2025 for the Access to Information Law To Come Into Force

Raúl Castro himself admitted that the regime is in no hurry to “eliminate the excess of secrecy”

Raúl Castro greets Miguel Díaz-Canel, reappointed to his position as President of the Republic in April of last year / Screen Capture

14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2024 — A request from Raúl Castro 15 years ago – “to eliminate excessive secrecy” – was cited as a leitmotiv when drafting the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, approved this Thursday in Parliament. The document supports, at least in theory and for the first time in the country’s legal history, the right of Cubans to obtain official information in a “truthful, objective and timely” manner.

This right is part of the Constitution – it is prescribed in articles 53, 97 and 101 – but until now it has been ignored by the State. The complaint about the lack of information has even reached the official press, which has lamented that the authorities are secretive when it comes to offering data and figures to support the news.

The emblematic case last year was the number of femicides. At least two official newspapers – Girón and Escambray – described the difficulties in addressing the issue when no authority provides the total number of women victims of gender-based violence.

The also official newspaper Invasor, for its part, was much more direct in describing the State’s “inventory of silences” and invoked – for not being able to offer truthful information – the Communication Law, approved in 2023, “given that ministries, business groups and agency directorates had parceled out at their convenience who, how, when and what to say.” continue reading

This right is part of the Constitution – it is prescribed in articles 53, 97 and 101 – but until now it has been ignored by the State.

Supposedly the law – explained this Thursday by the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, Eduardo Martínez Díaz – is supposed to oblige “the organs of the State and others responsible for providing public information” to respond to those who request information. The text, Martínez Díaz said, is based on a “comparative” reading of 123 other international laws and 11 decrees approved in Cuba, which touch on the subject.

In the presentation, the minister quoted Castro several times to remind that, despite the existence of the law, “a State will always have to maintain a logical secrecy in some matters, that is something that no one disputes,” although, he considered, “it is necessary to put on the table all the information and arguments that support each decision.”

The regulations, according to Martínez Díaz, to which Miguel Díaz-Canel paid special attention, are aimed at the “system of public registry, document and archive management, the government information system, the computerization of society, the protection of personal data and the social communication of the Cuban State and Government.”

According to the minister, “making state management transparent” means using more technology in the Public Administration and ensuring that people have “wide availability of public information about its actions, by all possible means, without having to request it.” He believes that there are “subjects obliged” to respond to this particular law, including “higher State bodies, Central State Administration bodies, their subordinate and attached entities; provincial and municipal entities and other national entities and companies that provide public services.”

The law will supposedly force “State bodies and other subjects responsible for providing public information” to respond to those who request information.

The law, as the minister warned, provides for the limitation of information for “exceptional reasons”: if it is classified data, if its disclosure is considered “dangerous to, affects or violates sovereignty, defense and national security,” if it violates intellectual property rights or damages the environment. “Applicants are responsible for the use of the information they access,” the text explains. “Doing so improperly may generate administrative, civil or criminal liability, in accordance with current legislation.”

The law will come into force 180 working days after its publication in the Official Gazette and it remains to be seen to what extent the “obligated subjects” will respect it. Until now, the policy has been “I keep quiet, then I inform,” as Escambray summed up a year ago. “Every obstacle in access to information is one more step towards censorship,” said the official newspaper at the time, denouncing the wall of ice that the leaders had “directed” to be erected between reality and the press.
____________

A 60-Year-Old Man Dies in the Collapse of a Building in Guanabacoa, Cuba

The person was identified by neighbors as Miguel, a resident in the area.

Municipal authorities shared images of the collapse / Municipal Administration Council of Guanabacoa

14ymedio, Havana, 19 July 2024 — A building collapse that occurred this Wednesday on Cadenas Street, between División and Versalles, in the municipality of Guanabacoa, in Havana, left at least one dead. The information was shared on social media by the Municipal Administration Council and by several residents.

According to the report, the collapse of the facade of the building at number 61 on the street injured one of the residents of the neighborhood, who “was treated quickly.” The man, recognized on social media as Miguel, age 60, later died.

At the bottom of the post, which did not offer any further details, many users criticized the state of the houses in that area, many of which, they say, are over 100 years old and in poor condition.

“I am speechless. This has all of us neighbors in a bad mood. That collapse killed a person, a beloved neighbor. If they don’t get their act together, the houses in Cadenas are going to kill many more people,” warned a neighbor, who claimed that the rubble had reached her door. continue reading

In the images and videos shared on social media, firefighters can also be seen searching through the stones and wood that have fallen from the building, which are blocking the entire street. Some residents also ventured into the interior of the collapsed building in search of the injured. Only a few walls of the building remained standing.

Such incidents are a frequent occurrence in the capital, especially when rain and bad weather soften the foundations of buildings already in danger of collapsing. At the end of June, when Havana experienced several days of storms, at least 19 buildings suffered partial or total collapses, according to a source for 14ymedio who preferred to remain anonymous.

The collapse of a villa on Calle 26 between 27th and 29th in the municipality of Playa, which was recorded by several passers-by and neighbors, was one of the most widely reported incidents of that time, in which it is estimated that there was at least one death and several injuries.

____________

Cuban Activist Angélica Garrido Is Released After Serving Three Years in Prison for 11J Protests

Political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales was hospitalized in Santa Clara on the 21st day of his hunger strike

Angélica Garrido at home after her release this Wednesday / Screen capture

14ymedio, Madrid, July 11, 2024 — Activist Angélica Garrido was released on Wednesday, July 10, a day before the third anniversary of the 11 July 2021 (’11J’) anti-government protests for which she was imprisoned and after having served her sentence in full. Her sister, the writer María Cristina Garrido, still has four of the seven years of her sentence left to serve. “I have just served three years of an unjust sentence for crimes manufactured by State Security. I leave with my sister María Cristina my soul, my heart and my spirit,” she said in a video shared on Facebook from her home.

The activist also sent regards to all the 11J prisoners as well as to the common prisoners, “victims of this nonfunctional and tyrannical system that has kept the people in constant misery and repression.”

Garrido emphasizes that the struggle of political prisoners is, despite being “non-violent” – she says it several times – “illegal and prohibited” by the Government, which prohibits free expression, demonstrating that in Cuba there is no democracy and that exercising rights is punished with imprisonment.

“Our non-violent struggle is to raise our voice for an entire people who urgently demand change and ask for a life in freedom,” she says, ending with a call for the liberation of political prisoners and of Cuba. continue reading

She ends by saying, “Don’t be discouraged, my brothers and sisters, the homeland is proud of us.”

She ends by saying, “Don’t be discouraged, my brothers and sisters , the homeland is proud of us.”

Garrido has served the three years in prison confirmed by the Provincial Court of Mayabeque, ratifying the sentence imposed in the first instance after rejecting an appeal. The activist and her sister participated in the 11J demonstration of San José de las Lajas and were later arrested and accused of contempt and attack for Garrido, and of double attack for her sister; hence, the difference in the penalty.

Since then both have remained in the Guatao prison, in Havana, where they have denounced torture and repression and have led some protests, such as the one they carried out in September 2022, refusing to wear the uniform of common prisoners and initiating a hunger strike.

A few days later, both partially lifted the protest, refusing to eat the prison food, only what their families could bring them. Luis Rodríguez Pérez, Angélica’s husband, was able to go in to give her some food and explained that she was “plantada. She rejected the food of the prison, a mattress and the common prisoner’s uniform, and she would not live in the barracks with the common criminals,” he said.

In November, the activist (now 42 years old) was punished and put in an isolation cell, where she spent more than 50 days, according to her family, who said that the Criminal Code provides for a maximum of 10 days of imprisonment in these cubicles.

“In that cell, the water she has for bathing and drinking comes from a small pipe that is a few centimeters from the latrine; that is, from the hole in the floor where she takes care of her needs – it mixes there,” her husband told the press. He was able to take Garrido medicines and said that her cell was “the smallest and roughest of all,” and the lack of hygiene was causing her health to deteriorate.

In 2023, when Angélica Garrido began to get passes, both she and her sister received the Patmos prize, along with the brothers Jorge and Nadir Martín Perdomo, also 11J prisoners. The award, which the religious organization presents annually at the end of October, was awarded for the first time to more than one person, and although none of the winners could attend the ceremony, State Security tried to sabotage the announcement, which mentioned several of the organizers.

Garrido’s release took place just one day after the hospitalization of political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales, due to a hunger strike that lasted 21 days. This Wednesday, the CubaDecide platform warned of his critical state of health.

[[“The deterioration is progressive and could be irreversible. We hold Raúl Castro, Díaz-Canel (president of Cuba) and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, responsible for the life and physical integrity of Carlos Michael Morales”]]

“The deterioration is progressive and could be irreversible. We hold Raúl Castro, Díaz-Canel (president of Cuba) and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, responsible for the life and physical integrity of Carlos Michael Morales,” said the organization, which accuses State Security of having kept the prisoner incommunicado in a punishment cell because of his strike.

The opponent’s family has not been able to see him or talk to him since the beginning of his hunger strike, and doctors have warned about the consequences to his health.

Morales was transferred this Tuesday to the Provincial Hospital of Villa Clara from the Guamajal prison and is, they warn, in danger of suffering a cardio-pulmonary arrest or kidney failure and dying.

CubaDecide denounces that Morales “has been unjustly imprisoned since May 4, 2024, in retaliation for his publications on social networks,” and he has been subjected to “constant rape and torture, which forced him to start his second strike on June 19, with a single demand: his immediate release.”

The platform has asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the international community to support his demand.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

‘Some Cars That Are Incompatible With Our Society Are Entering Cuba’

Prime Minister warns that imports of luxury cars will be controlled

A recently imported Mercedes with a private license plate in Camajuaní, Villa Clara. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 18 July 2024 — A black and white, 650-horsepower Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 parked in front of a shabby house in El Guaso, Guantánamo. A brand-new Rubicon jeep moving through the outskirts of Morón, in Ciego de Ávila. A brand-new Mercedes-Benz, which a soldier “on foot” looks at in amazement as he turns a corner in Havana where someone has painted a sign: “Fidel among us.”

“They are on board,” said Prime Minister Manuel Marrero on Wednesday, referring to the owners of luxury cars. “Haven’t they realized that the gasoline in Cuba is not good for that?” he concluded, in a joking tone, before launching a warning: “There are some cars that are coming in that are really not compatible with our society, they are not necessary, and we have to limit the amount based on the interests of the country.”

In Cuba, known around the world for its vintage cars – actually survivors of a shortage of parts and vehicles after 1959 – there are hundreds of luxury cars in circulation, as confirmed by car enthusiast groups on Facebook. They started out as “diplomatic” cars, since only embassy personnel drove vehicles of that calibre, but the term was extended to all types of recently imported cars, which no longer go unnoticed. continue reading

They started out as “diplomatic” cars, as only embassy personnel drove vehicles of that caliber, but the term was extended to all types of cars.

“We have regulated how the importing of vehicles into the country should be,” Marrero began, describing in his speech the “new policy for the transfer of ownership of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, their commercialization or importation,” of which all the details are not yet known.

The State decreed, first of all, that all vehicle sales within the Island – including used bodies – will be made in national currency. Only the state-owned company Servicios Automotores will be able to import and sell car and motorcycle parts in foreign currency, but “exclusively as replacement parts.”

Diplomats, Cubans on “missions” and Cuban businessmen abroad will be able to continue importing cars from abroad, he added. However, there will be “requirements to guarantee technical compatibility” so that the cars that enter the country do not “melt down.”

According to Marrero, the transfer of ownership of a vehicle is authorized. The Government welcomes the importation of tricycles – “it helps a lot with the needs,” he added – in which the current Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, has placed his hopes. “These regulations are in the process of being implemented,” he clarified.

The circulation of luxury cars in Cuba began as a rumor – the first photos of a Tesla or a Lamborghini were fake – but it is now a fact. Camajuaní, the mecca of Cuban footwear in Villa Clara and where shoemakers – converted into elite SMSEs – have built real mansions, is a good example of the proliferation of “diplomats.” This newspaper collected images of recently imported cars – such as a Mercedes-Benz with a private license plate, parked in the peripheral neighborhood of La Ceiba – by shoemaking families such as the Chávez, the Cintra or the Fernández.

A brand new Mercedes-Benz, which a soldier on foot looks at in amazement as he turns a corner in Havana where someone has painted a sign: “Fidel among us.” / RR.SS.

But it is in Facebook groups, such as Diplomatic Cars in Cuba , where the wide circulation of these vehicles – often without license plates – is best evidenced. In this type of group, advertisements for the sale of high-end cars are also published, such as a 2019 Dodge Challenger whose owner gave a full demonstration on a track and demanded that payment be made in the United States.

Fans warn of the many drawbacks to maintaining such a vehicle in Cuba, including a lack of fuel and the poor state of the roads. While one user praised the power of his Aston Martin, another pointed out the pothole in front of the wheels with a comment: “There we can see one of the many holes that will quickly destroy your very expensive suspension.”

Several collectors, even in the midst of the crisis, have the money not only to import new cars, but to restore old gems, such as the 1977 Pontiac Firebird whose photo was shared by a user. One of the enthusiasts knew the vehicle well and identified it as an old car from the Mexican Embassy in Havana during the 1980s. The diplomats, he reported, sold it to a wealthy family from Playa, and it was “missing” for years but has now been restored, it is not known by whom.

Many of these cars have been linked on numerous occasions to the families of the regime’s military leadership. Fidel Castro’s grandson, Sandro Castro , confirmed these suspicions in 2021, when he published a video while driving a Mercedes-Benz, which he described as his new “toy,” at 140 kilometers per hour.

The average Cuban – an expression that has reached its most literal meaning with the transportation crisis – without money to import the expensive “jeeps” to which Marrero referred, asks himself in groups only one question: “What do I have to do to be a diplomat?”

____________

A Cuban Mother Is Murdered by Her Husband of 30 Years

Damaris Rondón, 48, was a teacher at the Fladio Álvarez Galán School of Sports Initiation

Damaris Rondón was 48 years old / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, July 11, 2024 — Damaris Rondón, mother of two children, died at home in a rural town on Isla de la Juventud, after being assaulted by her husband on June 22. The attack left irreversible damage that caused her death on June 29, reported the Observatory of the Cuban feminist magazine Alas Tensas. As has happened on other occasions, the news had been reported on social networks, but independent platforms had not yet confirmed it. The 48-year-old woman was a teacher at the Fladio Álvarez Galán School Sports Initiation School, on Isla de la Juventud.

The first reports said that Rondón’s husband, identified as Luis Yero, “waited for his two children to leave the house and struck his wife on the head with a bat.” After the attack, the man committed suicide.

The attack left her with irreversible damage, which caused her death on June 29

The same Facebook post pointed out that, after the attack, Rondón was rescued and taken to a hospital, where she remained alive for four days; however, “she died from the blow to her head.” The couple had been married for 30 years, and although they lived in Isla de la Juventud with their children, they were natives of El Sitio, in Manzanillo, Granma. continue reading

Alas Tensas also confirmed the femicide of Yunaisi Bruzón Almaguer, reported by 14ymedio on June 25. The 54-year-old woman was murdered in the town of El Llano, in Holguín, and hers was the sixth death due to gender violence perpetrated in Cuba last June, including the death of Rondón.

Posts on social networks by activists and people close to Bruzón related how she died after receiving multiple stab wounds, allegedly from an unknown person. He was later identified as Carlos Rodríguez Cruz, and he surrendered to the police the next day.

Alas Tensas’ report included, for “gender reasons,” the murder of a man on July 8, in the town of Suferry, in Ciego de Ávila, at the hands of his daughter’s former partner. The man, his sister and a neighbor were injured in the attack and hospitalized.

The observatory urged the authorities to investigate at least six cases of sexist violence to determine if they are femicides

With the confirmation of both femicides, 27 are now registered on the Island in 2024, according to the count of this media. In 2023, there were 87 murders due to gender violence counted by independent platforms and media.

Likewise, the observatory urged the authorities to investigate at least six cases of gender violence to determine if they are femicides: three in Havana, two in Santiago de Cuba and one in Villa Clara.

Last January, the regime recognized that more than 16,000 Cuban women and girls who live in a situation of violence and are at risk of being victims of femicide in their own homes. No specific steps to prevent these crimes have been announced to date.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

One of the Few Hearses Still in Operation in Cuba Crashes

Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after the vehicle crashed into a tree in Holguín

The crash happened at the intersection of Martí Street and Central Highway / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Holguín, 15 July 2024 — Two people were injured, the driver and the co-pilot, after crashing the hearse against a tree this Saturday at the intersection of Martí Street and the Central Highway, in Holguín.
The vehicle, which was not transporting a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk, a witness to the accident reported to 14ymedio. The wounded, with minor injuries, were immediately rescued.

In recent years the Cuban government has received several donations for hearses, but the transfer of coffins by means of this transport is increasingly deficient. The service has had to be assumed by private and state cars not licensed to carry coffins, or even by carts pulled by horses and oxen.

The vehicle, which was not carrying a coffin, apparently “lost its brakes” and went through a garden of one of the residential buildings until it embedded itself in a tree trunk

Due to the poor condition of many of these vehicles and the lack of maintenance, they often break down on the way to the cemetery or on the road. In Las Tunas, for example, last February, of the 13 hearses that the province had, only four were in working condition. Two are in the capital, and the other two are in Colombia and Jobabo. continue reading

“The fundamental cause of the low technical availability of these cars is the lack of tires and electrical components, mainly batteries,” the deputy director of Hygiene and Necrology of the province, Raúl Ernesto Martínez, explained at the time. To this is added, of course, the general lack of fuel, spare parts and modern vehicles on the Island.

In any case, the families are the ones who suffer the most. The delay of the drivers to pick up the deceased and the bureaucracy of the Communal Services are well known. The sector is constantly criticized, and many Cubans, feeling helpless, go on social networks to denounce the ineffectiveness of the authorities.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

The Economic Debacle of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Abandoned by International Tourism

Artisans complain about the increase in the price of raw materials / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, July 7, 2024 — Cienfuegos was never a tourist enclave of great importance like Havana or Varadero, but its architectural charm, more republican than colonial, attracted those looking for city tourism but without the bustle of the capital. In recent years, however, the number of travelers passing through the Pearl of the South has fallen, and, at least since the COVID-19 pandemic, the businesses that depended on that movement are fewer and poorer. A few meters from the city’s boulevard, next to José Martí Park, the artisans of the Cultural Heritage Fund have a space dedicated to the sale of their products. From wooden sculptures to textiles and costume jewelry, the stalls that offer handmade merchandise have been losing their prosperity.

María Luisa, an artisan who manages one of the tables, has witnessed the debacle. “Sales have been greatly affected. Just a few years ago, up to ten buses with tourists stopped here every day, and, although almost everything we sell is for them, from time to time some Cuban would come here to shop too,” she tells 14ymedio.

“Then we could even have the luxury of giving discounts, because we had enough profit to live on,” recalls the 43-year-old cienfueguera, who sells all kinds of memorabilia that can attract interest from abroad: paintings by Compay Segundo, maracas adorned with Cuban flags, cow bone necklaces and Che magnets. continue reading

Other private businesses that lived off tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle / 14ymedio

In the current situation, María Luisa explains, the prices of raw materials have risen so much that “it is not only difficult to get them, but also to make a living from handicrafts… If before those who did better had enough to hire a seller, now it is the artisans themselves who sell the products. Between investments, taxes and paying for table space, many have had to abandon the sales,” she says.

Other private businesses that lived on tourism in the city have also experienced the consequences of the debacle of the sector. This is the case of the small hostel managed by Alberto, who is worried that this off-season will be the last. The cienfueguero has a two-story Republican era house that he fixed up a few years ago to receive tourists. However, with his age, 72, and how difficult it has become to get food and cleaning supplies, “it’s hard to provide services.”

The costs per night in a private hostel range between 20 and 50 dollars, or, if the owners accept the exchange, its equivalent in MLC (freely convertible currency), depending on the characteristics and location of the place. “Before, food service could be provided to guests, but now between how expensive the food is and how difficult it is to find varied and quality products to offer them what they want, we have almost begun to provide only a simple breakfast.” Offering other services such as the internet, common in other countries, is also a challenge. “It’s spending money on something that most of the time doesn’t work, or the connection is very slow,” he explains.

The house has also begun to show humidity in some corners, which causes Alberto headaches in advance since, if he needs any major repair, the materials will not only be impossible to find, but they will also cost him “an arm and a leg .”

Even so, many of the foreigners who pass through the city prefer a private hostel, which offers a more personalized service, rather than staying in state facilities. It is to be expected, therefore, that these will also suffer from the lack of customers. The La Unión hotel itself, in the city, with a four-star category, recently had all of its 46 rooms empty.

Most of the customers of state hotels are nationals / 14ymedio

“We try to make up for the absence of international tourism with the authorization of services for domestic customers. Although not everyone can afford the prices of our pool or cafes, at least we try to please our visitors, although sometimes we have broken elevators and other deficiencies that cause logical inconvenience to both tourists and employees. Our profits are below what was planned, but we do our best to pay good attention,” a worker of the complex managed by the Spanish Meliá, who has accommodation from 70 dollars a night, explained to this newspaper.

At the end of the chain are the restaurants of the city, many designed to exclusively receive tourists, which have now suddenly been left without a clientele and have had to “adapt.” Facing José Martí park is the El Palatino cafeteria, whose current customers are – contrary to their initial purpose – “cienfuegueros who come to have a coffee, a beer or a drink from the canteen.” Musicians no longer play there, and there are no tips for the waiters, condemned to survive with “very low wages for these times.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Food Production in Cuba Is Going Through Its Worst Moments

Deficiencies in all sectors, non-payments to producers, lack of fuel and an exodus of labor

In the first quarter of the year, 6,723 state workers and 7,418 cooperative members abandoned tasks related to the sugar harvest / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, July 16, 2024 — If anything became clear this Monday after the analysis in the National Assembly of the performance of the Food Industry and Agriculture so far this year, it is that none of the sectors – very dependent on each other – is progressing at a good pace. No improvement is expected either, since the problems that hit them the most persist: fuel continues to be scarce; wages are insufficient to prevent workers from leaving; and producers, who are owed millions of pesos, prefer not to do business with the State.

As acknowledged by Alexis Rodríguez Pérez, Director General of Economy and Agricultural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, of the ten fundamental categories, only four have met their targets since 2023 and so far this year: produce, vegetables, corn and rice; whereas, meat, milk and egg productions are in a critical state.

The official warned that “the indices of beef and horse meat production have been affected by the poor organizational work between the companies and the slaughterhouses for the hiring of producers, the insufficiency in the transport of animals to the slaughterhouse due to lack of fuel, the low weight of the animals slaughtered due to the deficit in animal feed and the drought in some territories.” continue reading

Of a plan for 20,400 tons of beef for the first half of 2024, only 15,200 were achieved

Of a plan for 20,400 tons of beef for the first half of 2024, only 15,200 were achieved. For pork, only 3,800 tons were reached in the same period, out of the 11,300 projected. The figures are alarming when compared to those of 2022, when, for beef alone, 172,300 tons were produced in the year.

Eggs remained at 94,070,000 units, below the 231,900,000 units agreed. “Other products also reflected the downward trend with respect to the plan: beans, tobacco, milk, coffee, cocoa and honey,” adds Cubadebate without mentioning figures.

With such numbers, it is not surprising that 74 companies in the sector have closed the semester with losses of 1,199,946,100 pesos, with the worst situation being Avicola (poultry), Tabacuba (tobacco), Agroforestal (agroforestry), Ganadera (livestock), and Labiofam (pharmaceuticals). Likewise, the non-payments to farmers, due to the huge debt of Acopio — Cuba’s State Procurement and Distribution agency — is another burden. The two most critical cases are the debts of Artemisa province, 167,694,630 pesos, and Mayabeque province, 15,166,378.

“The fundamental cause is the debt of Acopio-La Habana with the companies,” explains the official press, which says that to “solve” the problem, the Central Bank of Cuba approved a credit of 400 million pesos, in addition to a revolving credit line (which can be re-requested if paid on time) of 100 million that will allow Acopio to “pay for the current purchases from the marketing agricultural companies, among other credits approved to other companies that carry debts from the year 2022.”

The measure, however, is far from making the real problem disappear: the lack of the State budget and the failed business models that do not guarantee production. “The Government seems to have normalized that great ‘distortion’ of the Cuban economy called Acopio, which continues with its eternal mania of not paying its debts, a bad practice that today is rewarded with generous credits from the state bank,” the economist Pedro Monreal laments on his X account.

It’s not just the salaries for the producers that put the food industry at stake. In the first quarter of the year, 6,723 state workers and 7,418 cooperative members abandoned jobs related to the harvest, mostly in search of “job opportunities with higher remuneration and the demand for skilled labor by the new economic actors,” according to the authorities.

“To conclude the last harvest and fulfill the plan, extra personnel had to be sought, including 113 inmates who joined the task”

“To conclude the last harvest and fulfill the plan, extra personnel had to be sought, including 113 inmates who joined the work,” they add. The “discovery” that wages are insufficient is, at the very least, “absurd at this point in the game,” Monreal says.

The sugar campaign not only lost an important part of its workforce, but the shortage of fuel, the lack of fertilizers and the burning of cane — 750,000 tons were lost for this reason — in addition to about 16,000 hectares that remained uncollected, also weighed down production. The poor quality of the plant was also a cause for complaint among the producers.

During the first months of 2024, the laws and resolutions implemented, such as the Fisheries and Food Sovereignty Law, have not managed to improve the situation either. The greater flexibility to deliver licenses to fishermen, among other measures, have managed to increase permits by 48% compared to 2022, but fewer and fewer fishermen enter into contracts with the State — since it is no longer mandatory to obtain authorization. As a result, “the catches declared by these economic actors amounted to 1,029 tons in 2023 and 214 tons up to April of this year, but fishing companies have only bought 104 tons, 48.8% of the declared catch,” the authorities calculate.

“The catches and industrial production [targets] are also not complied with, reaching only 68% of what was planned,” which has its main cause in the shortage of fishermen, “the lack of better living and working conditions for them” and neglect of the reservoirs.

The Island’s assessment is exactly what the deputies warned about from the beginning of the sessions about the Agriculture and Food Industry: in the Cuban economy there is a “tendency to non-compliance” and very few clear solutions.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Cuba’s Attorney General Is Congratulated for Compliance With ‘the Policy of Severity’

The authorities believe that the Constitution, approved in 2019, is based on “legal guarantees”

Yamila Peña explained that 91% of the prison sentences that prosecutors have requested have been ratified / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, July 16, 2024 — Yamila Peña, Attorney General of Cuba, celebrated that “the policy of severity is being complied with,” during a meeting on Monday with senior officials of the Public Ministry and the Interior. Her assessment came after offering a fact: 91% of the prison sentences that Cuban prosecutors have requested this year have been ratified by the judges. The members of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the Parliament – lawyers, judges and police – meeting this week, commented on a remark by the president of the Supreme Court, Rubén Remigio Ferro, on the 2019 Constitution: “We have given ourselves extremely supportive laws, which are a challenge for those involved in procedural management.”

The legal situation is aggravated if it is considered that Cuba only has 69% of the judges and 74% of the prosecutors it needs to operate with the required “severity” – a word repeated by all the members of the Commission. The Prosecutor’s Office is in the middle of the “preparation and reorganization of the force,” Peña said, at the worst of times: the country is in crisis and crime has proliferated.

Prosecutors have asked to pay more attention to the investigation and police instruction. The officers, it was explained at the meeting, drafted in the first half of this year more than 29,000 reports – documents in which a police investigation is recorded – and reviewed 39,000 files in the preparatory phase. continue reading

Some 57% of the accused whose names appeared on the reports ended up in jail

Some 57% of the accused whose names appeared on the reports ended up in prison, a sentence that was also applied to 84% of the defendants who appeared in the files in the preparatory phase, according to Peña. For the following semester, the priority of the Prosecutor’s Office is to improve its connection with the Ministry of the Interior in the literal sense: they aspire to the “technological interoperability of data.”

The idea, according to the president of the commission, José Luis Toledo, is”not to delay the criminal response” and that the “confrontation” be prioritized. Ferro agreed with this assessment and asked to respect the “quality of the processes,” which for the president of the Supreme Court means that the Police “be consistent” with the investigation, but that the Prosecutor’s Office maintains its role of “controlling.”

The commission demanded changes to the 2021 Law of Criminal Procedure and agreed to prepare a draft of suggestions that will be delivered in October. Prosecutors and other provincial officials also presented the difficulties “of the base”; in particular, the small staff, their lack of preparation – these are young graduates – and the fact that, also in a sector as rigid as the judiciary, they tend to leave the country or for other jobs.

Deputy Yensei González, from Granma province, warned that there are more “facts of violence and crimes against the patrimony,” and that the files of the prosecutor’s office are often closed with excessive delay and many breaches of protocol. Edelso Pérez, from Ciego de Ávila, complained about the “exodus abroad,” and asked his interlocutors and the Ministry of the Interior to “focus on the issue as a priority of the State.” “Human capital, technology and more resources are required,” he said.

Ledys María Labrador, deputy for Las Tunas, drew attention to the increase in technology-related crimes

Ledys María Labrador, deputy for Las Tunas, drew attention to the increase in technology-related crimes. The accused, she reported, are mostly “young people who are not professionals” but who have “deep knowledge” in the field of computer science, against whom, she warned, the government does not have enough tools. These are, above all, “digital scams” for which Cubans aren’t prepared.

First Colonel Moraima Bravet spoke on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior about digital crimes and said that criminals have become increasingly “sophisticated” in their methods of action, so detecting them has become more complex. “We are not behind,” she clarified. Her preventive measure: the television program Tras la Huella (Following the Tracks), funded by the Police, “is showing cases of different kinds” to tell Cubans how to protect themselves from digital scams.

Bravet was optimistic about the Ministry of the Interior, which, judging by its assessments, does not suffer the lack of personnel that the Prosecutor’s Office does. Its people work to ensure the “retention” of young recruits, and “there are many,” she stressed, working in the ranks of the Police. Also for them, she explained, the order of “severity” is given.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

Mexico Hires Another 2,700 Cuban Doctors, in Addition to the 1,200 Previously Agreed On

The island’s government only gives doctors a stipend to cover their basic needs.

The director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, Zoé Robledo, confirms the hiring of more specialists from the Island / Presidency

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, July 16, 2024 — The Government of Mexico announced on Tuesday what the “strengthening of health cooperation” agreed with Cuba last May translates into: in the coming months it will import another 2,700 doctors from the Island. At the daily presidential press conference the official said that, with this hiring, “hospitals and small centers” in rural areas will be able to have “at least 12 doctors,” which will ensure that there is service seven days a week in all work shifts.

The director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Imss) explained that 282 hospitals with 20 beds have been detected in rural areas where only four doctors worked, affecting health services. “Many times you could have the anesthesiologist but the surgeon was not there, or vice versa, so, we gave ourselves the task of putting out the call for doctors,” Robledo said.

The 2,700 specialists will join the 950 that, according to Robledo, are in Mexican territory

The 2,700 specialists will join the 950 who, according to Robledo, are in Mexican territory, specifically distributed in 23 states. These are part of a first agreement, signed in 2023, by which the Island would send 1,200 doctors to work in remote areas in the country. Among the new doctors will be specialists in “internal medicine, pediatrics and emergency procedures,” Robledo said, adding that surgeons, anesthesiologists and gynecologists are needed. continue reading

The official also indicated that Cuban doctors will be part of the Imss-Bienestar, the free health organization created by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace the Seguro Popular, in force until that time. However, he did not talk about the payment they will make to the company Neuronic Mexicana, a subsidiary of Neuronic S.A. Cuba, which since 2018 has been a representative of the products and services of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry of the Island, and is under the presidency of the Cuban Tania Guerra.

A Mexican Health source confirmed last July to 14ymedio that specialists attached to the Imss-Bienestar will receive salaries of 50,000 pesos (2,732 dollars per month), in addition to a bonus of 10,000 pesos (545 dollars), for a total of 3,277 dollars.

In February 2023, a Cuban doctor stated that they only receive “a stipend for their needs” and that their “salary is in Cuba.” Of the amount paid by the Administration of López Obrador, the Government of the Island is left with most of the salary. Organizations such as Prisoners Defenders (PD) have questioned the Government of Mexico over the hiring of Cuban professionals in “conditions of slavery.”

The temporary migration program of health workers with “friendly countries,” said PD, is nothing more than the main inflow of foreign exchange for the Cuban regime, which receives compensation for each professional. Meanwhile, the health workers bear the cost, through being subjected to contractual conditions that violate the international rules of decent employment and insult “the human condition to the limits.”

Precisely as part of the Imss-Bienestar, Robledo reported that 7,123 doctors have been hired in Mexico City and Guerrero

Precisely as part of the Imss-Bienestar, Robledo reported that 7,123 doctors have been hired in Mexico City and Guerrero. As of August 1, another 11,934 health workers will be sought.

He also reported that the call for the hiring of nursing staff remains open, with 3,646 vacancies: 1,027 for nursing assistants and 2,619 for general nursing staff in 27 entities.

Although none of the parties mentions it, specialists suspect that the import of doctors is the counterpart for oil shipments from Mexican ports, which are increasingly frequent. In any case, relations between the two countries will continue to strengthen during the presidency of Claudia Sheimbaum, who will take office on October 1.

For this, the figure of Lázaro Cárdenas Batel is key, who serves as head of advisers of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and who will be the next head of the Office of the Presidency of the Republic, as announced by the president-elect on July 12. He is unofficially credited with the initiative to import Cuban doctors, as well as to establish different trade relations between the two countries.

Translated by Regina Anavy
____________

The Day Fidel Castro Admitted the Assault on the Moncada Barracks Was a Flop

On a program intended to commemorate the event, Castro ended up saying publicly that he should have skipped it and gone “straight to the Sierra Maestra.”

Fidel Castro during a July 24, 2000 appearance on State TV’s Roundtable program in which he spoke about the attack on Moncada. / Screencapture / Roundtable

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, July 17, 2024 — During a taping of the “Roundtable” program in 2000, Fidel Castro showed up unexpectedly at the television studio. “The problem is that I was listening to the program on television like everyone else,” he said on camera, “but I didn’t know that you were going to address these topics. And suddenly I see you asking a question. Someone interprets it one way, someone else another. And then I’m left thinking, ’Wow… I’m still here!’”

Needless to say, the panic on the faces of the panelists was immediately obvious. You could tell that everyone was trying to figure out where the hell they had screwed up. One of them, the most obsequious, nervously blurted out, “Who better than you, commander?” so they handed him the microphone. No one knows what brand of whiskey the dictator was drinking that day but it threw him for such a loop that it resulted in a stream of gibberish of biblical proportions.

The entire liturgy of the Castro regime is basically a celebration of failure. Mountains of books have been written on this topic but, if you ask any average Cuban student about it, the only thing he has been taught to say is: “It was the small engine that drove the big engine.” An example of how common it is in our classrooms to confuse history with mechanics.

No one knows what brand of whiskey the dictator was drinking that day but it threw him for such a loop that it resulted in a stream of gibberish of biblical proportions

The young Castro’s plan seemed simple enough: dress up some boys to look like sergeants, walk into the second largest military barracks in the country, take it over in ten minutes, give orders to the soldiers, grab the weapons Black-Friday-style and mobilize the entire party-going population of Santiago de Cuba. Such was Fidel’s confidence in the town that he decided not to recruit anyone from the area except for one person who, out of obligation, had previously cased the surroundings. In short, if the town continue reading

turned out to be too hungover to follow the beat, the fallback plan was to flee to the mountains. Piece of cake! The strategy dreamed up by this “genius” was primarily based on the assumption that the barracks’ soldiers were all as dumb as rocks.

It is not my intention in this article to rehash what happened at Moncada. Readers themselves can find thousands of accounts circulating online. Much better than listening to opponents demystify the event is being able to appreciate the personal frustration of its protagonist. Castro himself had already said in other interviews how, as a child, he became a ringworm killer. From his own mouth we found out that he learned at university it was better to bring a gun to the classroom than a book. But the Roundtable interview to which I refer is a real gem. In it, he confesses to a lot of unusual things. For example, we learn that Raúl Castro never led his battalion but that historians had just assumed he had been its leader. Or that he literally recruited a bunch of young people to support him so that he could become “the first professional revolutionary.”

In his usual smug tone, he started out characterizing the plan as “perfect,” then immediately added, “If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing. But then things got out of hand. As he was recalling the events, he began realizing how crazy it all sounded and his body language started to give him away.

“That’s why I say it. . . what I’m not going to say. . . but I’m not going to say it because, once I’ve said it, some people might, you know. . . somewhat disagree.”

The old tyrant began to doubt his own words on camera. A few seconds later, he was already admitting to a huge disappointment. I quote: “That’s why I say it. . . what I’m not going to say. . . but I’m not going to say it because, once I’ve said it, some people might, you know. . . somewhat disagree.”

The Roundtable propagandists went into full Shakira mode: deaf, dumb and blind*. The program they had prepared was supposed to celebrate the achievements at Moncada, not dismiss them. Finally, the khaki-clad fossil had had enough and categorically disavowed the whole Moncada affair. He admitted in front of everyone that he should have skipped it and gone “straight to the Sierra Maestra.” He looked at his subjects as though he had just relieved himself of a heavy burden and said: “There, I’ve said it!”

That is how Fidel Castro himself upended the whole Moncada myth.

*Video…. and Lyrics in English

____________

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: