Translating Cuba – Page 232 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Razors and Balsams

Picture of a barbershop in the 1920’s in Camajuaní, Villa Clara. (Author’s archive)

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 17 December 2023 – It is much easier for a boy to be friends with his grandfather than with his father. The older one understands you, he has time on his hands once again, he plays – dominoes, chess, cards – and he rereads the books he bought when he was a young man. An old man is just a boy, with ailments. A father shapes his son’s character through opposition, making war with him; a grandfather does it through being close to him, and by giving advice. The father is master of his time, he calculates it, knows how to use it well and how to dominate it. For the boy and his grandfather time does not exist. One is entering into life, the other is exiting. That’s why they play together.

My maternal grandfather was a barber and a musician; my paternal one was a pharmacist. These humble professions are often present in the books that I have written, they are ’of the people’. I would have liked also to have had for a grandfather a scissor-sharpener, an aviator or a ship’s captain, or a mortuary photographer – there were plenty of those on the island – or an antiquarian. Nevertheless, life was generous enough in offering me three worlds: those of barbers, chemists and municipal bands.

In 1944, when my great grandfather got married, he had already been working as a barber for years. I know the reason why, in the newspaper which announced the wedding – I still have the cutting – the newspaper’s delivery man wrote the word “barbershop” next to his name in impeccable calligraphy and took the trouble of highlighting the announcement in blue ink. (The best news of the day, I have to say, because the rest of the paper is dedicated to describing developments in the Second World War, and to asking the youth of the town to report to the recruitment committee and march on Europe).

In 1944, when my great grandfather got married, he had already been working as a barber for years

As soon as his son could manage a comb and a pair of scissors, he too took up the trade. I look at him now, formal, concentrated, white shirt and beige trousers. The photo, I estimate, is from the mid-sixties and it wasn’t long before he himself was called up for military service. Seated, and covered in a sheet, there is a man having a razor haircut. The locks are falling into his lap. A Guajiran man behind him leaves his own chair to check on the younger man’s handiwork. No one speaks, perhaps because of the presence of the camera. There’s a certain tenderness in the way in which the photo is taken. Translucent and ochre, the image feels more like a memory than a print. I’ve always thought that the person behind the camera lens must be my grandfather, proud of his new recruit.

In my village there was a detailed inventory of barbers, pharmacists and everything else. “At first the barbers practised like dentists”, remembers a writer in 1943. In the “1800’s”, he adds, one black man called Juan Rojo had arrived with his razor blades and shaving cream, and later on a Spaniard called Bruno Claraco, and it wasn’t long before the appearance of “Delfín Miranda, who had no qualification, and Delfín Barrena, who did have one”.

I don’t know when my great grandfather arrived but I do remember his last barber shop, the one he left to his son. There was a Koken swivel-chair – which later, after the death of the old man, made me sad, seeing it in the hands of another barber. It was in a bright and white room with a big mirror fixed to a structure that was fitted with little drawers. I’ll never forget the buzz of his electric clippers as it ploughed its way through grey hair and curls, and fleeces and manes and emerging bald patches and mops. Head shaving has always had something of a cleansing ritual about it: one attends the barbershop like one goes to confession or visits the doctor. One pays dearly for being unfaithful: the barber will always be able to detect someone else’s handiwork and knows how to punish an infidelity by leaving a “cockroach”, or one sideburn longer than the other.

Where the barbershop was all party-like, all cigarette smoke and conversation, then the pharmacy was all severity, and mystery

A barbershop is full of stories. Whilst my grandfather was describing how to shave the head of a priest – you put a circular cap over the crown, mark the tonsure with the razor and shave round the bald patch – it wasn’t considered wrong to interrupt him in order to look out of the window if a woman who looked a bit like Sofia Loren or Kim Novak (and knew how to move like them) happened to be walking by. They were different times, less toilsome ones.

Where the barbershop was all party-like, all cigarette smoke and conversation, then the pharmacy was all severity, and mystery. In another photograph – there’s no limit to my archives – my paternal grandfather manipulates his test tubes and his pestle and mortar. At that time, pharmacies were a paradise of coded names, powders and resins that one always took to be poisons. The shelves were full of porcelain jars, with names marked in indigo blue ink: agrimonia, phecula patata, folium eucaliptus, angelica, dens leonis. Chemists, and my grandfather was no exception, kept recipes for numerous unguents in a book with black covers. A book which was inaccessible to me, like any grandfather’s things, right up until he died.

Both worlds – no need to mention the band: music needs no explanation – have so much connection to writing, which only now, far away from the ghosts of that village, do I actually realise. Barber or pharmacist, both have to cut, clear, mix, find the right measure, make poisons or conjure up balsams. In any event, the occupations of each of those old men are not forgotten.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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Cases of Theft and Slaughter of Livestock in Cuba Have Increased by 360 Percent in Two Years

The theft and slaughter of livestock has caused the number of animals to decrease in an accelerated way. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Madrid, 22 December 2023 — It was expected that, among the results analyzed by Parliament, those of the agricultural sector would be the most regrettable. But expectations were, once again, exceeded, in particular when the collapse of livestock was known due to theft and slaughter, almost twice as much as last year and 360% higher than in 2021.

In 2022, the consequences of this practice already left very worrying figures. Throughout the Island, there were 82,445 cases of theft and slaughter, which meant 22 million fewer pounds of meat. Compared to the 33,690 head of cattle lost in 2021, the figure was already 2.5 times higher (145% more). But in a rapid acceleration, in 2023 the loss amounted to more than 155,000 animals, to which are added an indeterminate number of those who die and those not born due to “deterioration of the food base and the delay in the incorporation of the female into reproduction.”

The State, which owns almost 80% of the land, barely provides 22% of rice, 16% of food and 8% of fruits. Private individuals contribute, with less than 40% of the land, more than 70% of food, corn and beans, 40% of rice (more than the State and cooperatives) and 80% of the fruits

The report presented yesterday by Ramón Aguilar Betancourt, president of the Agri-Food Commission, did not skimp on harsh words and described the deterioration as “accelerated,” with a number of animals that “has been decreasing for years, and all the indicators present alarming results.” The official stressed that the animals spend too much time without enough food and water, and frequent irregularities are repeated: undeclared births and continue reading

unregistered reports of sex and category, among others.

To top it all off, the other animal protein is also in sharp decline. Pig production is limited and with “very high prices,” while poultry is scarce, including eggs that don’t hatch and chicks that don’t grow. When the chicks do survive they must be killed, because of “the lack of food for them,” the report says.

With such data, it is not surprising that the state livestock group has one of the worst results, along with the Agricultural, Agroforestry, Gelma and Acopio. They lead the losses of the agri-food system, which has negative results of more than 2,385 million pesos.

In agriculture, as expected, there was no room for hope either. The president of the commission was very clear: “The necessary transformations that could have an effect on the food for our people and on the economic development of the country have not been achieved.” Of course, he exempted the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government from any responsibility by pointing out that the bad results happened “despite” his recommendations and actions. However, he did not hesitate to ask the highest officials to take on a task that is too much for the department.

The official stressed that the animals spend too much time without enough food and water, and frequent irregularities are repeated: undeclared births and unregistered reports of sex and category, among others

“An important part of the problems affecting the Cuban agricultural sector exceed the scope of the capacities and powers of the Ministry of Agriculture, requiring more comprehensive attention from the Government of the Republic,” says the report, which suggests that more time should be devoted to a sustainable development strategy rather than to such concrete measures as the search for raw materials.

The outlook is discouraging, with only two of the 14 products considered essential meeting with the projections. Corn and vegetables escape, and paradoxically, the bean improves compared to last year, despite the fact that the figures and prices show its scarcity.

The document presented to the deputies makes it clear that “it is necessary to look for financial alternatives that allow access to basic inputs for grain production technologies, where investments have been made that are currently underutilized, with deterioration due to lack of exploitation.” And, as Aguilar Betancourt acknowledged, some of the worst practical problems of the Cuban countryside date back to the 90s, he said, referring to the obsolescence of the machinery and the lack of inputs, although not to the absence of policies aimed at carrying out a new direction.

An important part of the problems affecting the Cuban agricultural sector exceed the scope of the capacities and powers of the Ministry of Agriculture

It was stated, for example, that “in recent years investments in the agricultural sector do not exceed 5%” and it is surprising that this is not pointed out as one of the causes of the gigantic crisis of the sector and a serious incongruity with the message that the priority is food security, compared to investments of more than 30% in the hotel sector.

The comments that were made regarding coffee, described as a “cultivation of great relevance for the country” for being exported and, at the same time, replacing imports for domestic consumption – which is mixed 50% with peas, in that case – make it clear that the perspective is never to assume mistakes. “Despite the investments made to recover the areas and improve the technological processes in the industry, it is not possible to achieve the projected results. During the years 2012-2022, more than 15,000 acres were planted, but technological indisciplines, the effects of climate change and the limitations of inputs have affected agricultural yields, which on average reach 0.54 tons per acre,” they point out.

Exports, despite everything, were not so bad. Forecasts were met by 75% in 2022, and in the first half of the year they reached 92%, which is not catastrophic for the percentages that the authorities usually manage. Other disastrous data correspond to the workforce. In 39 cooperatives there is no president, and in 92 an economic representative is missing. The report confirms that the costs associated with the workforce are high and, in addition, the workforce is decreasing, not to mention those who do not carry out their activities “within the framework of legality.”

Other disastrous data correspond to the workforce. In 39 cooperatives there is no president, and in 92 an economic representative is missing

The document also speaks of an oversizing of state and business structures, as well as a growing number of cooperatives with problems. However, it does not mention, as Cuban economist Pedro Monreal points out, the private sector, “the component,” he explains, “of a significant part of Cuba’s food security.”

In the professor’s opinion, “agricultural policy must put aside the cooperative direction and focus on what it should: the national private sector.” The data show that private individuals contribute, with a percentage of land use of less than 40%, more than 70% of food, corn and beans, 40% of rice (more than the State and cooperatives) and 80% of the fruits. Meanwhile, the State, which owns almost 80% of the land, barely provides 22% of rice, 16% of food and 8% of fruits.

“All that narrative of ‘liberating productive forces’ should start by officially supporting a modern private agriculture that replaces the scheme of small commercial production of ’natural people’ with a diverse institutional model,” says the economist.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Flooded and Full of Rubbish, Havana Prepares Itself For More Storms this Weekend

This week’s winds took down one of the emblematic trees in Brotherhood Park. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 15 December 2023 – After the dearth of any official information or warnings prior to last weekend’s heavy rains, the Cuban authorities have been under pressure to put out warnings that this coming Saturday and Sunday there will be storms in the west of the country, and especially in Havana. In the capital, flooded after several days of rain, and with rubbish bins overflowing, residents were trying to prepare themselves, on Friday, for several coming days of being confined indoors.

In Central Havana one can see evidence of the continuous rainfall of the last few days. People queued outside bakeries, food ration stores and state-run shops that sell the so-called “free modules” which offered only detergent, vegetable oil, cigarettes and chicken picadillo. People have to get the rest of their provisions on the informal market or from private shops, at extremely higher prices.

In Plaza de Carlos III, the biggest shopping centre in the neighbourhood, the queue stretched right around the corner and one could see the desperation on the faces of many of those who were waiting. “They say things are going to get ugly”, one elderly woman feared as she waited to buy her family’s module, which is also called a “combo”. The institute of meteorology has forecast heavy coastal rain, with possibly very intense rainfall, for the weekend.

People have been becoming more worried as the morning has progressed: many fear that the city is defenceless in the face of any inclement climate effect. “All that rubbish which has accumulated over there, there’s no time to collect it, and not even bringing in the army could get rid of it in time before the weather gets worse”, says Javier, a resident who lives on the continue reading

corner of Royo and San Martín in central Havana, where a mountain of waste has been collecting over several weeks.

Rubbish on Royo and San Martín, Central Havana, on Friday. (14ymedio)

On San Francisco and San Rafael the picture is the same – the rubbish mounts up and spreads out from the corner to almost half way across the block. Much of it also blocks the drainage grates which ought to be carrying the rainwater away – another cause for concern for the locals. Although their principal fear continues to be the possibility of building collapses.

“We’re going to my mother’s house because this roof is in a very bad state”, Yamilé, a resident of Gervasio/Laguna (San Leopoldo) tells 14ymedio. “Here, there’s always the danger of seawater ingress”, notes a woman who lives just 100 metres from the Malecón sea wall. “But this time we’re leaving not because of that but because we fear the heavy rain”.

“Water up there and water down here, a terrible combination”, adds Yamilé, who lives in a building dating from the 1920’s. “As we live on the first floor*, the seawater affects us mainly by contaminating the water tank, but if it’s also raining for days on end then it’s certain that the roof is going to be leaking as well”.

The streets, awash from all the rainfall, and having faulty drains as well, wouldn’t appear to be able to take any more water if the rain continues. “I’ve had to keep trying to dodge the puddles but it’s difficult because they’re everywhere”, says a worker from a state business premises on Calle Infanta.

This week’s winds took down one of the emblematic trees in Brotherhood Park, a key passenger transport hub, given the number of bus stops and private taxi ranks nearby. “It’s been like that for more than 24 hours and they haven’t come to clear it up”, complained a local resident who not only feared even further and greater damage but she also believed that “this tree could still be saved”.

After midday, the situation became worse and the winds grew stronger across the city, which coincided with the meteorological forecast of an imminent arrival on the island of an extra-tropical cyclone.

*Translator’s note: The ’first floor’, in Cuba as in much of the world, means the floor above the ’ground floor’.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

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A Woman is Murdered in Front of her Four Children in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio Province

Entronque de Herradura, a town in the Pinar del Río municipality of Consolación del Sur. (Facebook/Horseshoe Junction)

14ymedio, Havana, 22 December 2023 — The independent platforms Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTC) confirmed this Friday a new femicide. The name of Misleidis Díaz, murdered on December 19 in Pinar del Río, is added to the painful record of femicides in 2023 on the Island, which already amounts to 85 cases.

According to the platforms, Díaz, 46, was murdered by her ex-husband in front of the four children they had in common in Entronque de Herradura, a town in the Pinar del Sur municipality of Consolación del Sur.

The activists also allege that the victim had reported violent treatment and death threats by the alleged aggressor to the police on previous occasions, but the authorities ignored her complaints.

The threats were so many and were so credible that four days ago Misleidis went to the PNR Unit to file a complaint.

“The threats were so many and they turned out to be so credible, that four days ago Misleidis went to the PNR Unit to make the complaint,” a source who claims to have known Díaz declared on social media. “They didn’t even draw up a report, they sent her back to her house,” she added, alleging that the authorities considered the attacker’s threats to be just “talk.” continue reading

On Thursday, the severity of violence against women on the Island has motivated a group of independent organizations and platforms to address an open letter to the Cuban Government. Their demands: that the State and the relevant institutions offer clear data on femicides and violence against women on the Island. The methods of the authorities, defined in the text as “patriarchal” and “authoritarian,” keep more people in danger of violence, specifically 16,116 Cuban women and girls, the activists denounced.

The document also highlights the constant efforts of these independent organizations to collect information on cases of femicides and violence against women, about which the State refuses to reveal official data or offer police collaboration.

The latest statistics presented by the authorities in this regard quantified 117 femicide murders on the Island in a period of three years, since 2020, while independent media and observatories have recorded almost the same number in the last two years alone.

The activists also noted the hundred women who remain imprisoned on the Island “for political reasons,” in most cases separated from their children and family and suffering inhuman treatment in prisons.

This is the case of Lizandra Góngora, separated from her five-year-old son, and Lázara Karenia, who will be sent to prison when her baby turns one year old. The report also reported on Brenda Díaz, a transsexual woman held in a men’s prison, and Aymara Nieto, a Lady in White accused for the second time after allegedly starting a riot in the prison.

Other names, such as those of the Garrido sisters, Sissi Abascal and Sayli Navarro, also appear in the list of women imprisoned by the regime for their role as activists and opponents in recent years, although they were not mentioned in the document.

Establishing and guaranteeing compliance with a Comprehensive Law against Violence is also one of the requests of these groups

It is necessary to take “effective prevention measures such as (the creation of) specialized police stations, gender prosecutor’s offices, shelters, comprehensive protocols and anti-racist programs,” continues the letter, which also questions the role of the Cuban authorities in controlling violence against women in the country, taking into account that this year 85 femicides have been recorded without the State having made mention of any of them or expressed its will to resolve the cases.

Establishing and guaranteeing compliance with a Comprehensive Law against Violence is also one of the requests of these groups, who have been demanding for years the appropriate inclusion and classification of violence against women in the Penal Code.

“A new stage cannot be opened for Cuba, of supposed confrontation with violence against women, if the criminalization of all civic activism in the country persists,” continues the report, which insists that Cuba must return the “right of association, of assembly, of demonstration and of expression to all the organizations of the Cuban civil society.”

The call for “seriousness” and “transparency” of institutions, especially those in charge of protecting the integrity and rights of women, such as the Federation of Cuban Women, was another of the points discussed by the activists.

Two weeks before the end of the year, the independent registry of femicides in Cuba has 85 cases of women murdered in Cuba because of their gender, generally by their partners or ex-partners, and generally violently. The bloody list also includes the names of teenagers who were under 18 years old, and elderly women over 65. In many cases, the aggressors also attacked family members of the victims.

All of this despite the Government’s efforts to appear to have an inclusive policy and concern for these cases, which led it to form, this year, an Observatory to record “in real time” incidents of violence against women and femicides. So far, the contribution of official figures to the improvement of this situation on the Island, which is getting worse day after day, is zero.

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LASA Condemns ‘Political Repression in Cuba’ in the Case of Alina Barbara Lopez

Alina Bárbara López Hernández during an interview in April 2023. (EFE)

14ymedio, Madrid, 12 December 2023 — After a couple of weeks of hesitations, the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) has taken the step expected by many of its Cuban members with the publication of a statement that “condemns political repression in Cuba” in general terms, as well as “in particular” in the case of the historian Alina Bárbara López Hernández, declared guilty of the crime of disobedience by a court in Matanzas on November 28.

“For several months, Dr. Alina López Hernández has been the subject of acts of repression and intimidation by the authorities of her country,” it states in the text, released through the website of the institution, based in the United States.

LASA specifically accuses Cuba’s Police, State Security and the Prosecutor’s Office of violating the human and citizen rights of the Matanzas intellectual, listing several instances including harassment on social networks, physical attacks, suspension of internet service, a travel ban and pressures on her immediate environment.

LASA specifically accuses the Police, State Security and the Prosecutor’s Office of violating the human and citizen rights of the Matanzas intellectual.

The association describes as “illegitimate and unconstitutional” the summons that the authorities issued to López Hernández and to which she refused to attend, a fact for which she was accused and placed under house arrest in June of this year. “The oral hearing took place in a militarized and continue reading

intimidating context, with clear demonstrations of force by the authorities, arbitrariness and violations of due process rights, both on the person of Dr. López Hernández and on the citizens who paid attention to the act,” it adds.

The text is accompanied by various media reports that document the “persecution” against the intellectual, specifically pointed out by the Spanish-based NGO Prisoner Defenders, the Cuba Próxima organization and the exiled in Mexico historian Rafael Rojas, brother of Cuba’s Vice Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas. Lasa describes all of them and others who have denounced the situation as “relevant intellectuals and organizations of Cuban and international civil society.”

“Consequently, LASA denounces and condemns the political persecution against the historian Alina López Hernández and against all those people who dissent from the policies of the Government of Cuba,” closes the text, adding that it reiterates its “commitment to freedom of expression and teaching, essential for intellectual and academic work.”

The Latin American Studies Association, with more than 12,000 members (around 60% residing outside the United States), is the largest professional association in the world and integrates people and institutions dedicated to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. Historically, the organization has been considered close to the Cuban Government.

In 2015, 14ymedio published a column by Cuban politician Manuel Cuesta Morúa who, after attending the association’s 49th annual congress, was satisfied with the “turn towards ideological plurality” that LASA had taken. In his opinion, the process had begun in 2011, when it began to “open itself to criticism of the left in power from the intellectual left.” The conclave in San Juan de Puerto Rico marked a before and after for him, when Cubans of all tendencies met without any incident occurring, among other reasons.

However, in May 2021 , a large group of at least 300 people signed an open letter criticizing Lasa’s lukewarmness in its statement against the repression of the imprisoned artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and several other Cubans.

“It is clear now, to us, that LASA has aligned itself, as far as Cuba is concerned, with illegal repression, threats and gags,” they said at that time

The academics demanded that the organization make a statement “against the continuous repression of freedom of thought” suffered by several compatriots, but the response took 20 days to arrive, a fact that caused indignation among several members who resigned from continuing to be part of LASA, among them them Mabel Cuesta, Guillermina de Ferrari, Walfrido Dorta and José Raúl Gallego.

“It is clear now, to us, that LASA has aligned itself, as far as Cuba is concerned, with illegal repression, threats and gags,” they said at that time.

In 2022, the association once again became the protagonist of a controversy in the same sense, when journalist José Raúl Gallego denounced that LASA had invited a “repressor” to a meeting about the anti-government protests of 11 July 2021. “Colonel Abel Enrique González Santamaría is not only a high-ranking officer of the Ministry of the Interior, but he was one of the closest people to Alejandro Castro Espín, son of the dictator Raúl Castro, in the powerful and now disintegrated Defense and National Security Commission,” it denounced.

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The Cuban Regime’s ‘Evidence’ Against the Miami ‘Terrorists’: A Jet Ski and Three Pistols

The official spokesperson Humberto López at a moment during the broadcast of the program on Cuban Television. (Razones de Cuba/YouTube/Screen capture)

14ymedio, Havana, December 10, 2023 — This Saturday in his usual space on the Cuban Television’s main news program, presenter Humberto López denounced Manuel Milanés Pizonero and Miguel Gómez Bartulo, Miki Terrori, for financing acts of sabotage on the Island. The report comes a few days after the National List of Terrorists was published in the Official Gazette, a list which includes both exiles.

López tried to show evidence of how, from the state of Florida, subversive actions are financed on the Island. The official spokesperson assured that a Cuban resident in the United States had arrived on the coast of Matanzas on a jet ski with a ’shipment’ of weapons and ammunition. According to the images presented, there are actually three guns and some bullets.

López tried to show evidence of how, from the state of Florida, subversive actions are financed on the Island

The audiovisual material, during which it was mentioned several times that the investigation is still in process, included interviews with two detainees for their alleged involvement in the plan. Those arrested, residents of Cuba, claimed to have received money to burn cane fields and tobacco storehouses, and even to attack public officials. continue reading

The two witnesses, despite being detained and subject to criminal proceedings, presented excellent appearances and communication skills in front of the camera. They insisted that those who direct them from “abroad” are Cubans residing in the United States: Manuel Milanés Pizonero and Miguel Gómez Bartulo.

López also exhibited the alleged criminal files of Milanés Pizonero and Gómez Bartulo, as well as those of Amijail Sánchez González and Michel Naranjo Riverón, known as Kiki Naranjo. The presenter also resorted, as he usually does, to morally discrediting those involved.

Manuel Milanés Pizonero is a Cuban influencer with more than 150,000 followers on his YouTube channel. In his programs he analyzes the Cuban reality and denounces acts of corruption by regime officials.

In his report of the alleged destabilization plans, López also included possible sabotage against the electro-energy system, which is currently going through a serious crisis due to fuel shortages and the poor state of the thermoelectric plants.

The spokesperson reinforced his complaint by assuring that, despite the destabilizing actions, Cubans are going to celebrate the end of the year “because they deserve it and it is tradition.” Cubans’ Christmas celebrations, however, are marked in 2023 by the lack of food, rampant inflation and mass exodus.

Politician Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, journalist Ninoska Pérez and presenter Alex Otaola are some of the 61 names from the National Terrorist List

Last Thursday, in an extraordinary Official Gazette, the Government published a list of Cuban residents in the United States whom Havana accuses of “stimulating, financing and carrying out acts of sabotage” and “promoting, organizing and carrying out activities against the functioning of public institutions.”

The politician Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, the journalist Ninoska Pérez and the presenter Alex Otaola are some of the 61 names on the National Terrorist List. The inventory also includes 19 organizations “that carry out actions against State security,” whose members, we are warned, are “wanted by the authorities.”

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Cuba: Spies to Order

The former US diplomat Manuel Rocha. (@AnthonyDaquin/Twitter)

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 10 December 2023 — Castro’s totalitarianism never rests, it does not take vacations or holidays. It avidly feeds on its hatred of freedom, on its desire to eliminate the United States, which is why its intelligence service will always be ready to destroy that nation, while the repressive forces inside the Island do not give up their efforts to crush the opponents. In short, the perfect terrorist state.

Hence I was not surprised by the discovery of a new Castro mole in the spheres of American power. Unfortunately we must be prepared for subjects who, due to moral disability, economic reasons or any other cerebral deficiency, serve regimes contrary to human dignity.

The case of Ambassador Víctor Manuel Rocha demonstrates once again how efficient the Castro intelligence trappers are and how confident the officials of this country are who favor closer relations with the Cuban regime, the best ally that Russia, China and Iran have in the hemisphere.

There is no doubt that Castroism publicly seduced a significant number of people on the continent, some admitted their enchantment, others, apparently, maintained it in pectore, such as the accused spy Rocha and the unforgettable Mrs. Ana Belén Montes, an analyst with the US Defense Intelligence Agency, who confessed to having spied for Cuba for 16 years, resulting in her being sentenced to long years in prison. On the Island she would have been shot. continue reading

Unfortunately we must be prepared for subjects who, due to moral disability, economic reasons or any other cerebral deficiency, serve regimes contrary to human dignity

Those who favor closer relations with Castroism, Americans and Cubans, in the best of cases have a terrible memory, are very ignorant or there is something more rotten in their brains.

The Castros know this society from the inside. Even before coming to power, supporters of Fidel Castro in the July 26 Movement formed cells in the most important cities in the United States to support the insurgents, exert influence on the media and on the ruling class, particularly in universities and intellectual sectors, the objectives they prioritized and managed to continue to develop fully and efficiently.

These parties insist on ignoring that the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, led a Fair Play for Cuba Committee; that a senior Immigration official, Mariano Faget, transmitted information to the Government of Havana; that dozens of Castro agents were expelled from the United Nations for espionage; and that the Wasp Network caused the death of four young people when their planes were shot down by a Castro Mig.

Other cases that once attracted attention have apparently been forgotten. José Rafael Fernández Brenes infiltrated the US station TV Martí and his information helped the Cuban Government to interfere with the station’s signal, and the academics Carlos Álvarez, doctor in Psychology, and his wife, the psychotherapist Elsa Prieto, were convicted of spying for the Cuban regime.

According to the indictment, Álvarez had spied since 1977 and his wife since 1982. Also forgotten is the married couple Walter and Gwendolyn Myers, who spied for 30 years in support of the Cuban regime. Myers, who worked for three decades in the State Department, acknowledged, together with his wife, responsibility for spying for Cuba.

Those who favor closer relations with Castroism, Americans and Cubans, at best, have a terrible memory, they are very ignorant or there is something more rotten in their brains

Cuban spies have a lot of blood on their hands. Manuel Hevia Cosculluela published the book Passport 11333 in Cuba, where he confessed to having infiltrated the CIA and having worked alongside Dan Mitrione in Uruguay, a US agent murdered by the Tupamaros, trained by Castroism.

It is unknown how much ambassador Víctor Manuel Rocha will have benefited the Island’s totalitarianism, however, if he is found guilty he should be punished with the greatest severity for spying in favor of a criminal dictatorship and against a country that gave him the opportunity to serve as ambassador.

It is assumed that the accused is not the last as he was not the first, if we accept the statement of Lieutenant Colonel Chris Simmons, working in counterintelligence in the United States Army, who once told The Miami Herald that, between 9 and 18 months after the dismantling of the Wasp Network, the number of Cuban intelligence agents and officers in Florida had returned to the levels prior to the capture of that infamous espionage network.

The danger exists and will exist as long as Castro’s totalitarianism rules in Cuba.

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Dispute Over the Essequibo Region in Guyana is a Maneuver by Maduro and Havana to Postpone the Elections

Photograph provided by the Miraflores Palace of President Nicolás Maduro holding a map of Venezuela with the Guyana area, at a Government event in Caracas. (EFE/Miraflores Palace)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 December 2023 — Havana’s silence in the face of the bellicose declarations of its Venezuelan ally to integrate the Essequibo region of Guyana into its territory seems to reflect a short-term calculation: to present itself as a mediator and use the risk of a conflict with small Guyana to postpone the elections, and thus stave off the risk of an opposition victory in Caracas, something totally unacceptable to the Cuban regime.

The tension between Venezuela and Guyana has reached its zenith since last Sunday, when after a referendum of very dubious validity Nicolás Maduro announced his plans to annex the territory, which include founding a state administered by Caracas, promoting the oil exploitation of the area by the Venezuelan-owned PDVSA and create, together with the Army, a “comprehensive defense zone.” After the announcement, Guyanese President Irfann Ali warned Maduro that he would summon his allies, including the United States Southern Command. The factors at play in Essequibo: oil, gold and geopolitics.

For his part, Cuban President Díaz-Canel gave a discreet show of support to Guyana this Friday, recalling the more than 50 years of diplomatic relations that both countries have behind them. Both “peoples and governments” are united by “deep ties of friendship and cooperation,” said the president, without referring to his meeting in the United Arab Emirates with Ali and other Caribbean friends from Havana, such as Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

In addition to the United States and the Commonwealth of Nations – an organization that brings together countries with historical ties to the United Kingdom – Guyana has found support among the leaders of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), whose headquarters are located in Georgetown itself, and which on Friday Díaz-Canel greeted in his X profile. continue reading

This week a newspaper clipping from 1981 circulated on social media where, next to a photo of an angry Fidel Castro, a headline appeared: “Venezuela is expansionist!

The Cuban president approached Georgetown in 2022, when he spoke by phone with Ali and agreed on cooperation agreements in several key areas, such as health. “Guyana has benefited enormously from the good will of Cuba and its people,” the Guyanese leader said then.

The alliance between both countries is historical and pre-dates Chavismo. This week a newspaper clipping from 1981 circulated on social media where, next to a photo of an angry Fidel Castro, a headline appeared: “Venezuela is expansionist!” The news item, which spoke of the dictator’s opinion on Essequibo, stated – citing Ricardo Alarcón, then chancellor – that the Island considered any attempt by Caracas to take “what does not belong to it” illegal.

That year, Havana and Georgetown had signed a pact that united them as members of the Summit of Non-Aligned Countries. That pact, those who recall it say, is still in force today, despite the Island’s alliance with Venezuela.

Ali’s request, last July, to “get nurses” from Cuba to help alleviate the shortage of health personnel in his country demonstrates the validity of the alliances between the two states.

As expected, the official Cuban press reflects the caution of the authorities in addressing the conflict in Essequibo. In a comment on the referendum held by Maduro, Cubadebate limited itself to saying that the day had passed with “complete tranquility” and that the authorities had had to extend the closure of the schools, a sign that the Caracas regime did not achieve the massive response it expected, although the Cuban news site does not say so.

The official media did not explain to its readers why Venezuelans were voting. They alluded, barely, to a decision “on the defense of Guyana’s Essequibo region,” or more precisely on “the recovery of it.” Of course, they did not spare adjectives about participation in the referendum: “splendid,” “immense,, “peaceful” and “victorious,”,as well as facilitating the “fusion between the people and the military.”

The official media did not explain to its readers why Venezuelans were voting. They alluded, barely, to a decision “on the defense of Guyana’s Essequibo region”

As for Guyana, they added, it was following the referendum “carefully” through the “front pages of the local press.” However, Cubadebate cited several international organizations that agree with Georgetown and remind Venezuela that it must “refrain from taking any measure that could modify the situation that currently prevails in the disputed territory,” as stated by the United Nations.

“Caricom advocated adhering to the principle of maintaining the Caribbean as a zone of peace and not engaging in any act contrary to the tranquility of the region, as it considered it an essential element for the economic prosperity and social well-being of all its member nations and those of Latin America,” the official media reports, without once alluding to Havana’s opinion on the conflict.

Essequibo, a territory of 159,000 square kilometers and 125,000 inhabitants, represents two thirds of Guyana. In the heart of the Guyanese Highlands, its mineral and oil wealth is considerable: it has gold, diamonds, aluminum, copper, bauxite and iron. As for oil, the discoveries made since 2015 by the American company Exxon have contributed to boosting the gross domestic product of the country, which has since become an oil power.

For Maduro, several analysts explain, annexing Essequibo would not only represent a great economic achievement, but also the ideal pretext to postpone the 2024 elections, in which he would face the very popular opponent María Corina Machado at the polls if the current government does not manage to permanently disqualify her candidacy.

This Thursday, Corina Machado expressed her concern about the ulterior motives of the conflict. “If the regime, knowing it is lost in the electoral process, opts for the path of repression or even an escalation of war, (the fact) could have terrible consequences, not only for Venezuela, but also for the region,” she stated.

This they know well in Havana, where there is more concern about what is at stake in the elections than about the situation in Essequibo, although the official press remains silent on that score.

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Obispo Street, the ‘Beggars’ Boulevard’ in the Cuban Capital

Orlando ‘El Barba’ [The Beard] begs for alms next to La Moderna Poesía, which at one time was the best bookstore in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 21 December 2023 — The belongings of old Orlando, whom everyone in Havana knows as El Barba [The Beard], can be counted on the fingers of one hand. With fingers left over. A quilt, a couple of shirts, some pants, his crutch and a small box. His 86 years are also part of the inventory – it is what weighs the most on him – and he has lived them, at least the last few decades, on the streets.

Every morning, Orlando opens his eyes and sees the facade of a bar, next to the dilapidated Saratoga Hotel. Since he sleeps in a corner of the doorway, the bar is the closest thing he has to a house. So that he can go out to “work,” the employees store the quilt and the clothes that he is not going to wear that day.

Like all beggars, Orlando remembers a previous life. “I had a house with everything inside, but my family made a mess for me. They sold it, furniture and everything, and left the country,” he tells 14ymedio from the sidewalk of La Moderna Poesía, the famous bookstore – also abandoned – in the Bishop Street.

Passing children point to Orlando’s long beard. Passersby greet him and leave what they can in the cardboard box, which used to hold bottles of Havana Club rum. “It’s all a story and a lie,” he insists to those who ask him why he has not demanded assistance from the authorities. “I have gone to the municipal government several times. They have never given me the time of day, they have never wanted to help me.” continue reading

William, a neighbor by trade and on the street of ’El Barba’, does not sleep in any doorway but in “a little house” on Avenida del Puerto. (14ymedio)

William, a neighbor by trade and on the street of El Barba, does not sleep in any doorway but in “a little house” on Avenida del Puerto. With all the patience in the world, and sometimes pushed by a neighbor, his wheelchair leaves the Malecón heading towards Obispo. He stops at the door of a store, in front of La Moderna Poesía, and – he clarifies – “I don’t call out to anyone.” It is the people who, “if they want,” leave him some money.

“I’m not selling my house because I can’t sleep in a porch,” he emphasizes, when it is recommended to him. He is right: with one leg missing – he lost it 25 years ago in an accident, when he was a Comunales employee and collected garbage – William has a hard time expressing himself. He smokes a lot, coughs often and his memory fails. “They pay me 1,000 checkbook pesos a month,” he says, and clarifies that that’s all: “No social assistance, no spare parts for the chair, no nothing.”

29 years ago, at the wheel of his Moskvitch, Osvaldo braked badly while crossing the train line. (14ymedio)

Every beggar is a story. Sometimes fantastical – pain rewrites the past – but always bitter: in the end, one of Fidel Castro’s countless promises to the people of Cuba was that with the Revolution there would be no beggars. Another lie. Osvaldo, who is missing both legs, knows it well. 29 years ago, at the wheel of his Moskvitch, he slammed on the brakes crossing the train line. It was the worst of times. Before he could react, a locomotive rammed into the vehicle.

With him was his wife, who died instantly, and his two daughters, who survived. In the crash he also lost both legs. Osvaldo lives in Old Havana and likes to drink. Alcohol, in any quality and caliber, helps numb pain and fosters sleep. Sleeping, in fact, is what a beggar does most in Havana. Huddled in the corners of Carlos III or in a doorway on San Rafael Street, in rags or without a shirt.

Osvaldo is also paid 1,000 pesos a month, and the wheelchair he has was not given to him by the State. There is nothing at all, was the response of every doctor or technician he asked, when he tried to get it through official means. “The worst thing is that no one told me lies: they really didn’t have even a single screw,” he admits.

Now he can just “sit there,” he admits, and witness the movement of the city. In the box where people deposit a note there is always a statuette of Saint Lazarus. The beggar and lame saint – who is also the sickly orisha Babalú Ayé – is the patron of one of the many hidden Havanas: that of those who, like Osvaldo, William or El Barba, only aspire to a quiet corner to remember and sleep.

Sleeping is what a beggar does most, curled up in the corners of Carlos III or in a doorway on San Rafael Street. (14ymedio)

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‘Why Should I Kill Myself Studying?’ Is the New Motto of Young Cubans

High school students in Havana look for their grades on a bulletin board. (Juventud Rebelde)

14ymedio, Havana, December 19, 2023 — Of the 2,175 students from Camagüey who promised to take the university entrance exams, 907 attended; of them, only 508 passed the Spanish, Mathematics and History syllabus. The situation of the province, which was described in detail this Monday by the official press, is just a sample of the educational debacle of the Island, where the slogan of the students has become – according to Adelante – “Why should I kill myself studying?”

The article is accompanied by several graphs that illustrate the gravity of the panorama. In the province, the worst result corresponds to the main municipality, with only 37% passed, and the best to Sierra de Cristal, where 100% passed. Not even the Vocational Pre-University Institute of Exact Sciences – in the past an “elite” school – was up to the task: it passed a little more than 72%.

Another graph shows the drop in those passing since 2017, when more than 80% were able to pass the exams, to the current 59% held by the province in the 2022-2023 academic year.

The relaxation of the mechanisms of entry into higher education, the possibility of entering the university even after failing the exam and the immigration stampede that the country is going through – in which the first to leave are the young people – has given a mortal blow to a system that already had multiple deficiencies. continue reading

The entrance exams have lost their function as a “filter,” reports the newspaper, to become a mere “computer” of the promotion ladder

Adelante licks the wounds of the Ministry of Education and attributes the demotivation of the students to the lag of school years after the coronavirus pandemic. The readjustment claimed numerous victims, not only in primary and secondary education, but also in the university itself, which has not yet managed to return to the pace that was maintained before 2019.

Resolution 119 of 2021 tried to mitigate the swell of disapproved by reducing the consequences of failing the exam: since then, even if the student strikes out, he can access a career, although “those who pass have priority.” The entrance exams lost their function as a “filter,” laments the newspaper, to become a mere “computer” of the promotion ladder. The law, he adds, “encourages making things easy and lack of effort.”

The emigration of school-aged young people is mentioned in the text only in passing, since Adelante prefers to emphasize the “insufficient vocational training work” and the discouragement towards studies that prevails, also, in families.

Among the arguments about the need to toughen the mechanisms of entry into the university, according to the newspaper, is the fact that the careers that keep their aptitude tests as a filter – such as Journalism and International Relations – have the best records of each generation.

“The revolutionary principle of free and equitable access for all to universities continues to stand, and we defend it, but it cannot be used as a pretext to graduate more professionals”

“The revolutionary principle of free and equitable access for all to universities continues to stand, and we defend it, but it cannot be used as a pretext to graduate more professionals,” the article says. The alarms about the educational situation had already risen, in the national press, at the end of November, when Cubadebate published a report about admission days to the university, which were ones “of anxiety, despair and effort.”

The article commented with concern about “the true figures” of the exams: of 21,942 applicants at the national level; only 11,063 passed, a drop of 8.9% compared to the previous year. Most of the failures were in Mathematics (52%), while in Spanish (92%) and History (76%), the numbers were acceptable.

The students, it continues, had complained that the Mathematics exam was “too hard,” while the training during that course had not been the best. The officials interviewed by Cubadebate were shielded by the fact that “for more than ten years” similar questionnaires have been used, although the grades were not so disastrous.

Like Adelante, Cubadebate also avoided talking about the high number of students who emigrate before finishing high school. The abandonment, not infrequently, is calculated and kills two birds with one stone: to avoid the tension of the tests and escape, just in time, from the list of recruits for compulsory military service.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Eight Blocks in Line, the Price To Get End-of-Year Gasoline in Cuba

The line of cars extends for three blocks from San Rafael at Infanta and turns on Zanja to stretch for five more blocks. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 December 2023 — The faces of the drivers who were waiting this Thursday morning in the line in front of the San Rafael and Infanta gas station left no room for doubt: the feeling of helplessness was widespread. “Eight blocks long!” complained the drivers who were waiting in the hope of buying a few gallons of gasoline in a line without end.

In the second block of the line, the driver of a Lada belonging to the official newspaper Juventud Rebelde empties the remains of fuel left in the tank with a hose and deposits it in an old jam or tomato puree can. “That’s to be able to fill the tank in the service center and buy as much as possible,” explains the owner of the almendrón (shared taxi), pointing out the “maneuver” of his neighbor in the line.

“We all do the same thing because there is no fuel anywhere, and these opportunities must be taken advantage of,” he explains. Others simply bring their vehicles to guarantee the purchase of fuel and resell it later if they can’t use it.

Two cars behind, a young driver tries to calm his partner through the phone. “Take it easy, the line is very long and this is going to take a while,” he counsels. continue reading

The more they advance in the line, which starts at San Rafael and Infanta, follows three blocks and turns at Zanja to stretch for five more blocks, the more sullen the drivers seem. This end of the year, they say, getting fuel has become particularly difficult.

“I’ve never seen such a thing. Having a car I have faced very long lines, sometimes in the early hours and for several hours, but this is the longest I’ve been in,” says another driver who sees several dozen vehicles ahead of him. “I’m here because I have no choice. I need gas, but at this point I don’t know how long it will take to get to the service center or if I will get fuel,” he says. Behind him, several more feet of the line wait on the corner of Zanja and Soledad.

The driver of a Lada from the official newspaper ’Juventud rebelde’ uses a hose to empty the remains of fuel that remain in the tank. (14ymedio)

The scarcity of such an essential resource leaves many in a state of uncertainty. In the capital, where there are more vehicles than anywhere else in the country, the streets have seen traffic decrease in a worrying way in recent months. “There are times of the day when not even a bicycle passes along 23rd Street, which is the vital center of Havana,” says the driver.

One piece of news in particular worries drivers, who take refuge from the unexpected drizzle: the Government is going to raise the price of fuel. This was announced a few days ago in Parliament by the Island authorities, who, in the face of the economic crisis, plan to raise the price of many other products in an attempt to recover the country’s finances.

At the moment, what was discussed in the parliamentary sessions does not reveal the new price, although the leaders clarified that the fuel that is purchased by foreigners will be charged in foreign currency.

To top it off, the drivers add that every habanero knows how to read the signs of the approaching crisis: “The refinery has been shut down for days.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Alleged Murderer of ‘Snow White’, a Well-Known Cuban Drag Queen, Is Arrested

After the first investigations, the authorities confirmed that the cause of death was a stab wound to the lung. (Luis Alberto Castillo/Facebbok)

14ymedio, Havana, 16 December 2023 — Rudy, a Cuban drag queen known in the LGBTI community as Blancanieves, (Snow White) was murdered this Thursday by his partner, who was arrested shortly after by the Police. The crime, which could be classified as femicide when the details are known, occurred in the town of Santiago de las Vegas, in the province of Havana, where the victim lived with Yordano, who caused her violent death with a knife.

After the first investigations, the authorities confirmed that the cause of death was a stab wound to the lung. According to Cubanet, the testimony of a neighbor states that Blancanieves and Yordano returned home in the early morning hours and had a heated argument while the former’s cries for help could be heard. However, no one came to offer help because they claim that the couple often had heated fights.

On Friday morning, upon noticing a suspicious attitude on the part of Yordano, who said that Blancanieves had gone on a trip, the neighbors decided to go to the house, where they found the body and immediately called the Police. When the aggressor returned to the scene, they detained him and handed him over to the authorities, according to this same version of the events.

No one came to offer help because they claim that the couple repeatedly had heated fights.

Last June, 14ymedio published a story about the murder of a 30-year-old trans woman, Samira Lescar, known as La Loba, at the hands of her ex-partner, who refused to leave the relationship. La Loba died from the four stab wounds that were inflicted on her, one of which fell directly on her heart. continue reading

In November, the platforms also reported a violent attack against a transsexual woman in Cárdenas, an event that Alas Tensas then considered an attempted trans-feminicide. It was Roxana Suárez, 22 years old, who suffered several skull fractures and had to be transferred to the Faustino Pérez hospital in Matanzas in serious condition.

The work of feminist groups and their dissemination in independent media has contributed to making visible the cases of sexist murders and of women who have disappeared in recent years.

This Saturday, Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba included in their registry of femicides the murder of Yamilet de Jesús Domínguez Torres from Holguín, a case that 14ymedio reported last December 13. After verifying the manner of her death, they indicated that her body was found buried under the floor of her own house after being reported missing on November 24.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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Mexicans Flee From the Cuban Abdala Vaccine and Line Up for the Pfizer

The Pfizer vaccine sold out on its first day of sale in Mexico. (Facebook/The Economist)

14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 21 December 2023 — “Prevention is better than death,” Raúl Noé Dorantes tells 14ymedio. This Wednesday he was one of the 4,500 people who was able to buy Pfizer’s Corminaty vaccine in the Farmacia San Pablo before it was exhausted . “At my age (78), a certified drug is preferable than than being tested, with Abdala or Sputnik, which are the ones that the Government is giving,” for free in hospitals and public health centers.

Cinthia Martínez, 67, went at 9 in the morning to one of the branches of the same pharmacy, located on Universidad Avenue but was told that she had to go to another one, over 10 miles away. “No matter the time or distance, it’s worth getting vaccinated,” she says.

Martínez says that the dose against seasonal influenza was applied in the Health Sector clinic, but she did not accept “the Abdala vaccine because it is not approved” by the World Health Organization. “When they gave me the Russian (Sputnik), I got sick, and I don’t want to go through the same thing.”

Farmacia San Pablo was the only one of the four pharmacies authorized by the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks that offered the dose of Pfizer against the Omicron XBB 1.5 variant, along with the Spikevax (Monovalent XBB 1.5) from Moderna, which has not yet arrived in Mexico. This Thursday, the franchise indicated that it has 16,000 doses. The pharmacy is now asking those interested in being vaccinated to call the customer service number to find the pharmacy closest to their home. continue reading

Esteban Ordorica arrived at 8:30 in the morning at the Tecamachalco branch. “They had me see the doctor, to whom I explained the doses I had and after filling out an authorization form they gave me the vaccine. It didn’t take even ten minutes to get vaccinated. It’s worth the expense of 848 pesos, and they even gave me a card with the drug’s data.”

Four pharmacies were authorized to sell vaccines against COVID-19 from Pfizer and Moderna. (Facebook/The Economist)

The director of operations of Farmacias del Ahorro, Gabriel Zavala, confirmed to 14ymedio that to the extent that the distributor delivers the vaccine to them, people will be able to buy it in one of 400 branches of the 1,800 that they have in the country. On his website he shared a list of 371 locations where one can buy the COVID-19 vaccine for less than 1,000 Mexican pesos.

Faced with the euphoria about the doses of Pfizer, the Government of Mexico City noted that between December 21, 2022 and December 4, 2023, it has applied 562,991 doses of Abdala and that they already have the Sputnik. The Cuban vaccine, he said in a statement dated December 5, is in more than 200 Health Centers to “immunize vulnerable groups: those over 60 years of age, pregnant women, girls and boys from 5 to 17 years of age and over 18 years of age with comorbidities.”

On his social networks he shared images of the venues where several people are observed, but he omitted to point out that the seasonal influenza vaccine is also being given.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proclaimed last Tuesday that he had fulfilled the responsibility of guaranteeing vaccines against COVID-19 and influenza. “The important thing is that there is a vaccine for the people, for everyone, for the rich and for the poor, and it costs them nothing because in accordance with article 4 of the Constitution, the right to health must be guaranteed. Health is not a privilege; it is a right of the people.”

The Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Ruy López Ridaura, said that 3.8 million doses applied against the coronavirus have been counted since the start of the campaign last October, which represents 18% of the target contemplated. However, he specified that the campaign against influenza has an advance of 53% of the population, 35 million people, and 19 million vaccines have been administered so far.

Módulo de vacunación para aplicar dosis Abdala y contra la influenza en Aguascalientes. (Facebook/¿Que Pasa Aguascalientes?) — Vaccination site to apply Abdala doses against Covid and a vaccine against influenza in Aguascalientes. (Facebook/¿Que Pasa Aguascalientes?)

The doctor, a deputy of the National Action Party, Éctor Jaime Ramírez, insisted to this newspaper that the vaccines offered by the Government “do not work for the current variants” of the coronavirus. He regretted that López Obrador fails to comply with the obligation to “assure that older adults, people with diabetes, with cancer, have a vaccine that works.”

Jaime Ramírez said that the current Administration has 13 billion pesos earmarked for the Vaccination Program. If “that money is not used, it will go to the Maya Train, the Dos Bocas refinery, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport.” He recalled that last year “it had 14.4 billion pesos for the health sector and only used 20%.” This year, a budget of 13 billion pesos was approved for 2024.

“It is striking that they continue to pay in the dark the Government of Cuba and the Government of Russia to buy vaccines that are useless,” says the legislator opposed to López Obrador. “The same will happen with the Mexican vaccine Patria, a project in which almost 1 billion pesos have been invested and is still just a promise. The money was badly invested, because the vaccine is made based on the initial strain; it will be of no use in the face of the new variants.”

Despite the fact that López Obrador indicated in his fifth government report that only 114,008 Abdala vaccines had been applied out of the 9,000,000 that he bought from the Island, in October he acquired another 3,000,000 doses. The Government of Mexico insisted on continuing to favor its partner Cuba, regardless of the fact that thousands of doses have expired and still continue to be used.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Rotten Fruit

Cartoon published in 1897 in the American newspaper ’Puck’ with the title ’Patient waiters are not losers.’ (Cubainformación)

14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 21 December 2023 — The Cuban regime and its ideologues have, time and again, recycled a statement made in 1823 by John Quincy Adams. The then American Secretary of State wrote about gravity, or rather about Cuba, comparing us to a fruit. He predicted that, when the island broke away from Spain, it would inevitably fall to the ground. Or, in other words, towards the U.S.

But Adams, who would later become the sixth president of the United States, never got past Isaac Newton and did not live long enough to learn about the theory of relativity. Many years later, Albert Einstein would redefine gravity, not as a force but as a deformation of space-time. And though some Granma librettists still cling to that quasi-vegan phrase, history has witnessed, on more than one occasion, space-time deformations.

If we put ourselves in his shoes, Adams words make perfect sense for someone of his time and place

If we put ourselves in his shoes, Adams words make perfect sense for someone of his time and place. Cuba enjoyed an enviably strategic position. In enemy hands, it could constitute a real threat to the United States. Our island was also the world’s largest producer of sugar, the white oil of its time. And in the coming years U.S. actions did indeed follow the “low-hanging fruit” logic, whether that meant trying to buy the island, supporting the insurgency or entering directly into the conflict with Spain, as it ultimately did. continue reading

The Teller Amendment, however, expressly prohibited eating the fruit. So what happened? Was it sudden reluctance? Fear of unfamiliar foods? In fact, not all Americans wanted this particular new star on their flag. Some were genuinely committed to our independence. Others rejected annexation because of the threat that Cuban sugar competition posed to their own businesses. And quite a few simply did it out of racism. At the time, Cuba had half a million people of African descent in a country with barely a million and a half inhabitants.

The first period of military occupation (1899-1902) has been widely studied by a broad range of historians. I personally recommend Viento Norte (North Wind) by Ignacio Uría — a sharp, intelligent, well-documented study that does not come with the embarassing Castro-Stalinist baggage that afflicts so many of our history books.

The fact is the Americans left. Years later, Cuban president Estrada Palma begged them to return. They came and left again. What was up with the fruit? This inconsistency in the American diet has confounded more than one Marxist historian. But as for the fruit, they really don’t seem to be too interested.

What John Quincy Adams never imagined was that the United States was not the only place where the apple — or, to be more tropical, mango or papaya — could fall. It took until 1959 for gravity to pull it towards Moscow. That rollercoaster of a fall was like a second Platt Amendment.

The rot in the fruit became so obvious that Fidel Castro began to see “worms” everywhere

The rot in the fruit became so obvious that Fidel Castro began to see “worms”* everywhere. He was convinced that only the Soviet cherubim could prevent the Yanks from going into full Adam-and-Eve mode on the little fruit. But the Cold War ended and the United States still showed no appetite, even though they had the opportunity to bite down hard. The balsero crisis in 1994 gave them the perfect excuse but they didn’t do it. Nor did they do it after widespread anti-government protests in July of 2021.

Some have theorized that there are those in Washington who prefer that the Cuban regime survives if for no other reason than to serve as a bad example. But one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch as we have seen in Venezuela, Nicaragua… The “defective sample” theory has been worse useless; it has been downright dangerous.

Regardless of how Washington or anyplace else sees us, we do know how important it is for us to be free. And if we have to do it on our own, we had better be realistic. Because freedom is not just about taking to the streets to celebrate and throw streamers. The country we will be inheriting is a pile of rubble.

There is much we can learn from that first transition, when the republic took its first steps. We have often looked to others such as the countries of Eastern Europe or post-Franco Spain for inspiration. But looking at ourselves can also shed a lot of light. And we must stop believing, once and for all, that we are a fruit.

*Translator’s note: “Gusanos” in Spanish, a term Castro often used in his speeches to disparage Cubans who opposed his regime.

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Devoid of Tourists and Locals, Only the Turkey Vultures Remain in the Plaza of the Revolution

The guide, always attentive to curious visitors, leads them to a narrow perch with acrylic windows. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Pedro Espinosa, Havana, 13 December 2023 — A few years ago a line of taxis and old convertibles regularly filled the esplanade in front of the Plaza of the Revolution’s tower. But the decline in tourism has also led to a decline in visitors to what was once the nerve center of political power on this Island.

On Wednesday, guards stood watch over the broad rectangle in front of the statue of José Martí that the writer Eliseo Alberto de Diego described as the saddest one that had ever been made. Its faded contour and melancholy pose suggest a sculpture that has melted under the tropical sun while observing the city spread out at its feet.

Adding to the sense of ossification is the stillness. Nothing in the scene moves, not even the uniformed guards. Hours pass before a lone person walks up the ramp towards the José Martí Memorial. The view provides a different vantage point, allowing us to see what most Cubans have only observed from below, when they participated in May Day events or stood listening to a very long speech by Fidel Castro. continue reading

The leader known for waving his index finger when shouting into microphones there died in 2016 and the site lost its political importance

But the number of political rallies in the plaza have been decreasing over the years as have visits by foreigners. The leader who used to wave his index finger while shouting into microphones there died in 2016 and the site lost its political importance. The same thing has happened to other official spaces such as the Anti-Imperialist Grandstand and, more recently, La Piragua, the esplanade next to the National Hotel in Vedado. The latter, with its proximity to the sea and location at the foot of a cliff, allows for far more effective security precautions for party leaders.

But despite its decline as a revolutionary symbol, visitors still get the sense they are entering the sancta sanctorum, or peeking into the inner workings of the Cuban regime, when they take the elevator or walk past the marble benches that so often held the posteriors of Communist Party bigwigs. Even though everyone knows it was Fulgencio Batista who built the place, and that before the Revolution it was originially known as Civic Plaza, the site has become an emblem of Castroism.

Motivated by curiosity and the almost desperate public pleas by its caretakers for people to visit the site, the visitor climbs the hill and heads straight to a small ticket office to purchase a ticket to the viewing platform, galleries and temporary exhibitions, which are open, Monday to Saturday, from 9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

Those in charge of the monument took advantage of the sudden attention from goverment media outlets to point out that entry to the museum is 20 pesos for Cubans. Since currency unification, foreigners can now also pay in the local currency, for which they will need 150 pesos, less than a dollar at the unofficial exchange rate.

Its faded contour and melancholy pose suggest a sculpture that has melted under the tropical sun while observing the city spread out at its feet.

After buying a ticket, a guide will explain, upon request, that the tower was built on the highest point of the site, formerly known as Loma de los Catalanes. He will discuss details of the design competition that led to two of the proposals being combined into one and will describe the marble that was transported from the what is now known as the Isle of Youth.

One of the employees, most of whom are women, will provide details, names, figures and dates but will avoid mentioning the slogans about “¡paredón!” — to the wall! — that were chanted in the plaza during fits of collective hysteria demanding the executions of opponents after Castro came to power. Nor will she talk about the unsavory characters, trigger-happy figures or authoritarian leaders who have been invited to appear at the memorial. And she will certainly not allude to the turkey vultures that constant inhabits of the hilltop.

Then, after listening to this speech in which the guide takes the opportunity of to denigrate the former republic and praise Castro, one will be allowed to cross the threshold and enter an odd series of spaces. Laid out in a configuration dictated by the star shape that the tower maintains from its base to its pinnacle, the first thing that stands out are the walls with quotes by the “apostle,” José Martí. And what quotes!

“Unify, that is the word of the world.” And “Silence is the modesty of great characters.” Or the politically incorrect “The people who want to be free shall be free in business.” These are among the seventy-nine musings by Martí that can read in a mural by the Cuban painter and ceramist Enrique Caravia, all of them inscribed in 22-carat gold on a greenish blue background.

Photos, facsimiles of letters and personal objects on display in the galleries provide a snapshot of a man who only lived for forty-two years. (14ymedio)

Photos, facsimiles of letters and personal objects on display in the galleries provide a snapshot of a man who only lived for forty-two years. Among the large format images on display, a head-to-toe photo of Fidel Castro stands out. A dark snapshot that often puzzles tourists, it shows him holding a Cuban flag on a narrow stretch of beach at Cajobabo that recalls Martí’s landing on that coast in 1895.

The image of Castro, dressed in a khaki uniform and assuming a rigid posture, clashes with the warm civility of Mariano and Leonor’s son, who has accompanied the visitor to the memorial here. Wielding the flag like a spear, the ruler seems to want to lay claim to any space or reference having anything to do with José Martí. By planting a flag, he is signaling that this is also his museum.

It is no surprise that one of the temporary exhibitions on display is titled “Fidel’s Hands.” It includes photos by Alberto Korda and Roberto Chile as well as a painting by Oswaldo Guayasamín in which Castro looks more like a saint in an El Greco painting than a stern tyrant who held power for almost half a century without allowing free elections.

Finally, it is time to go up to the lookout. The guide, always attentive to those who are curious, leads them to a narrow perch with acrylic windows. Up there, where vehicles driving along Rancho Boyeros Avenue look tiny and the Council of State building looks it was designed for the Third Reich, the guide begins to share details about the size of the building: 142 meters tall.

One of the temporary exhibitions on display is titled “Fidel’s Hands,” and includes photos by Alberto Korda and Roberto Chile. (14ymedio)

According to urban legends, of which there is no shortage when it comes to this topic, there is a regulation which prohibits the construction of any building in Havana taller than the José Martí Monument. But, at 154 meters, the imposing Tower K, which can clearly be seen from the windows at the top of the monument, makes it clear that this is just a hoax. Or that politics lost out to tourism in the battle over height.

The absence of human presence in the plaza, the imposing buildings and lack of trees is more noticeable from the top. One can make out, in a foreshortened view, the outline of Che Guevara’s face on the gloomy Ministry of Agriculture building, the same portrait that is slyly included in official photos so that he appears in the frame alongside official visitors such as Barack Obama and King Felipe VI of Spain.

The immediate impression one gets is that the entire architectural complex has not aged well. While the world is moving towards more people-friendly public spaces, the center of Cuban power is not a place where people choose to go voluntarily, where friends meet and mothers walk their babies in strollers. The gray marble also gives it a funereal quality that is only reinforced by the completely empty esplanade.

A turkey vulture pervades the space beyond the window. On the other side are scavenger birds drawn to high elevations and tall buildings. One cannot help but see a parallel between the rotting meat they feed on and the decadence of the Cuban system that the Plaza of Revolution represents. The guide doesn’t even glance at the huge bird just outside. Instead, she quickly wraps up her speech and warns visitors that it’s time to head down.

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