Translating Cuba – Page 4 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Publishing Houses Are Dying in Cuba, in Contrast to the Abundant Literary Production of the Diaspora

On the island, printing presses remain paralyzed due to a lack of electricity, paper, and resources

In a landscape of blackouts and paper shortages, the literary map of March was drawn, above all, from exile. / Collage

14ymedio, Havana, April 12, 2026 — The energy crisis, which has paralyzed printing presses, suspended book launches, and reduced print runs to symbolic numbers, has left many provincial publishing houses empty and has turned the publication of a book into an exceptional event in Cuba. Against this backdrop of blackouts and paper shortages, the literary landscape of March was shaped, above all, by exile and the diaspora.

In Havana, editors and proofreaders describe a routine marked by uncertainty. Power outages force work to stop for hours, computer equipment frequently breaks down, and printing shops can barely meet even the most urgent orders. Adding to this precarious situation is the lack of transportation and fuel, which hinders the distribution of the few copies that do manage to come off the presses. Thus, the book printed on the island has become an increasingly scarce commodity.

Meanwhile, in other cultural spheres, new releases were announced that keep the discussion about Cuban identity and its intellectual legacy alive. One of the most talked-about titles in March was El Monte’s New Itineraries, by researcher Alberto Sosa, presented as the first volume dedicated entirely to the study of El Monte (1954), by the Cuban author and ethnographer Lydia Cabrera.

Considered one of the most influential texts in Caribbean cultural history, Cabrera’s book intertwines ethnobotany, popular oral and Afro-Cuban traditions, and has exercised a notable influence on disciplines as diverse as anthropology, theater, and even the science fiction literature in the region. Sosa’s work aims to examine this legacy from a contemporary perspective, highlighting its continued relevance in spiritual and medicinal practices of the Hispanic Caribbean.

Obejas’s new work “dismantles the myth and makes it flesh,” by placing its characters in recognizable Havana settings.

Another noteworthy publication this month was Humo y otros cuentos [Smoke and Other Stories], by Cuban-American writer and translator Achy Obejas. The volume brings together stories that explore memory, desire, and violence from an intimate, urban perspective. According to Puerto Rican novelist and essayist Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Obejas’s new work continue reading

“dismantles the myth and makes it flesh,” by placing its characters in recognizable settings in Havana, Los Sitios, Vedado, and Old Havana, where the city ceases to be a mere backdrop and becomes a force that shapes the decisions and silences of its inhabitants. In these stories, exile appears as an emotional and narrative experience that is constantly rewritten, a wound that opens and closes with each memory.

In the realm of poetry, March was marked by the announcement of a publishing project aimed at rescuing silenced voices. Poet Katherine Bisquet reported that she is working on selecting authors for the anthology Poemas escritos en la cárcel. Desde los primeros presos de Castro hasta la Primavera Negra [Poems Written in Prison: From Castro’s First Prisoners to the Black Spring], a work in progress that seeks to highlight the literary production of Cuban political prisoners. The project aims to gather texts written under conditions of confinement and censorship, where writing became a form of resistance and a symbolic space of freedom. The initiative has sparked interest among cultural organizations and human rights defenders, who see poetry as a tool for preserving the memory of repression.

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo presented his book ‘Olvidos y obituarios’ (Forgotten Things and Obituaries), a volume that collects chronicles and short texts characterized by their experimental and provocative style.

Also in March, in Madrid, writer and photographer Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo presented his book Olvidos y obituarios [Forgotten Things and Obituaries], a collection of chronicles and short texts characterized by their experimental and provocative style. His prose, which the author himself describes as a “vocabulary,” combines wordplay, irreverent humor, and cultural references that engage with the Cuban literary tradition. For essayist Miguel Correa, these pages embody the discourse of those marginalized by the official narrative, while critic Gustavo Pérez Firmat has noted that, behind the linguistic acrobatics, one perceives “a sadness bordering on despair.”

The contrast between the vibrant creativity abroad and the paralysis of the publishing industry on the island was starkly evident on March 31st, during the official commemoration of Cuban Book Day. The ceremony, held at the José Martí Memorial in Havana, had a tone more political than cultural. While the event commemorated the founding of the National Printing Office in 1959, the main address was delivered by Michel Torres Corona, director of the Nuevo Milenio Publishing Group and host of the television program Con Filo, who transformed the day into an exercise in ideological reaffirmation before officials from the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Ministry of Culture.

Far from being a fiesta for readers, the event left the impression of a cultural sector trapped between material scarcity and political subservience. Bookstores with empty shelves, book fairs canceled due to power outages, and publishing houses barely operating make up the current landscape of the book industry in Cuba.

______________________

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.

Cuban State Security Intensifies Harassment of Anna Bensi and Her Family Following a Visit From U.S. Mission Head Mike Hammer in Havana

The influencer reports threats against her sister and the blocking of her WhatsApp account

“It was a great pleasure to finally meet Anna Sofía Benítez and her mamá,” Hammer wrote after the meeting. / X / U.S. Embassy in Cuba

14ymedio, Havana, April 9, 2026 / Mike Hammer, head of the U.S. mission to Cuba, visited content creator Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente, known online as Anna Bensi, at her home in Alamar, Havana, on Tuesday. The meeting took place amid the ongoing criminal proceedings against the young woman and her mother, Caridad Silvente, and the continued harassment of her family by Cuban authorities.

“It was a great pleasure to finally meet Anna Sofía Benítez and her mamá. They told me about their situation and that they are under house arrest,” Hammer wrote after the meeting. The diplomat added that the young woman told him that “all she has done is express her ideas, her faith, and her aspirations as a Cuban who loves her country.” “She is a brave young woman who speaks her mind. She is admirable,” he concluded.

The pressure on her inner circle intensified just hours after the visit. This Thursday, her sister, Elmis Rivero Silvente, a U.S. citizen who has been visiting Cuba for several days, was summoned to the Immigration Unit in the Playa municipality under the pretext of an “interview for immigration control of her stay,” according to Cubanet. During the questioning, officers tried to determine if she had coordinated Hammer’s visit to the family home in Alamar.

According to the same media, the conversation quickly escalated into threats. Rivero stated that the agents warned him that both Anna Bensi and her mother could end up in prison and asked him to speak “especially” to his sister “to make her shut up, to stop denouncing the regime and speaking freely.” The officers also attempted to portray the diplomat’s visit as a provocation and even alluded to a supposed US invasion of Cuba, in another attempt to frame a case of political harassment within the regime’s defensive rhetoric. continue reading

Hammer arrived accompanied by Leslie Núñez Goodman, counselor of the Office of Education, Culture and Press of the diplomatic headquarters

Hammer has spent over a year traveling around Cuba, meeting with activists, religious leaders, independent journalists, and opposition members. His visit to Anna Bensi is part of this series of meetings with Cubans under surveillance, pressure, or persecution for political reasons.

The meeting on Tuesday also took place during a power outage. Hammer arrived accompanied by Leslie Núñez Goodman, counselor at the Office of Education, Culture, and Press of the diplomatic mission. Also present at the residence were the young woman’s mother, her sister Elmis Rivero Silvente, and Pastor Rolando Pérez, known as el Pregonero de Cristo [Herald of Christ].

Anna Bensi has become one of the most visible young voices on social media in Cuba. Through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, she has denounced abuses, expressed her religious convictions, and defended a vision of the country openly contrary to the official narrative. According to her own account, her exposure began to grow with a video in which she denounced the obstacles she faced in receiving her university degree after graduating. Later, she also ventured into music with “Mi Tierra” (My Land), a song dedicated to Cuba and Christ, which has already appeared on Billboard’s recommendation list.

The mother and daughter were reportedly prosecuted after recording and posting a video showing two men in civilian clothes delivering an official summons to Caridad Silvente. Authorities allege that one of the men, a non-commissioned officer from the Ministry of the Interior, felt “threatened” after his identity was revealed. The accusation, however, reinforces the impression that the case is not intended to protect individual rights, but rather to punish the public exposure of agents linked to the repressive apparatus.

The young woman said she felt “disgusted by this whole situation, by all the repression,” but stressed that her faith, her conviction, and her ideals “remain stronger than ever.”

Far from softening her discourse, Anna Bensi has responded with more directness. This Wednesday, she reported that her WhatsApp account had been suspended. “It won’t let me log in; when I request the code, it doesn’t arrive on my number. And when people message me, it appears as if I’ve delivered the messages,” she wrote. The young woman said she felt “disgusted by this whole situation, by all the repression,” but emphasized that her faith, her conviction, and her ideals “remain stronger than ever.”

During the meeting with Hammer, she insisted that she doesn’t believe she’s doing anything wrong. “I’m calm because I’m convinced I’m doing the right thing, that I’m on the right side,” she stated. She also expressed her desire for a Cuba where young people don’t have to emigrate to aspire to a decent life and where they can express themselves without fear of repression.

At the end of the visit, Hammer presented Anna Bensi with a small bell as a symbol of the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. The young woman, in turn, sang them a song in English. The gesture does not alter her legal status nor stop the harassment. But it leaves an image that will be difficult for the regime to neutralize: that of a 21-year-old woman, monitored and prosecuted for speaking out, receiving in her home, in the midst of a blackout, a foreign diplomat interested in hearing precisely what the regime is trying to silence.

______________________

Seven Cubans Deported by the US Find Support in a Shelter in Tapachula

“These people have spent more than half their lives in the US and they have no one in Mexico.”

A group of deported Cubans in Tapachula. / Video capture

14ymedio, Angel Salinas, Mexico City, April 10, 2026 / Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, has become the epicenter of deportations from the US of Cubans, Haitians, Mexicans, and Salvadorans. “Mexico is doing the dirty work; today it accepts people that the Donald Trump administration doesn’t want—people with criminal records and the elderly, people who are abandoned without papers or money,” says lawyer Jacinto Gómez.

At the Jesús el Buen Pastor del Pobre y el Migrante shelter, there are seven Cubans. The oldest, Olga Sánchez Martínez, the center’s director, tells 14ymedio, is about 65 or 75 years old. “These people have spent more than half their lives in the US; they have children, family, property, but they were deported and have no one in Mexico.”

Doña Olga, as the migrants call her, has accepted these Cubans regardless of their history. “They need help; most are between 40 and 50 years old, and many of them have spent days without food and sleeping on the street.”

At the shelter, located almost 20 minutes from downtown Tapachula, migrants find a place to sleep, shower, and eat, “for as long as they need.” The facility, which has been receiving migrants for decades , has a capacity for 1,500 people, but is currently housing only 90. In addition to Cubans, “there are Nicaraguans, Haitians, Salvadorans, Africans, and Mexicans.”

Despite being expelled, the island’s nationals, Sánchez says, “are hoping to return when Trump leaves the White House. They are waiting for continue reading

changes.”

The Jesús el Buen Pastor del Pobre y el Migrante shelter has a capacity for 1,500 people. / Facebook

More than 500 Cubans have been deported by the US between March and the beginning of April. The director of the Center for Human Dignity, Luis Rey García Villagrán, denounced the apathy of the authorities toward their requests for immigration regularization. They are allowed to fill out the forms and “in the best-case scenario, are told to wait three to four months to receive an email that will never arrive.”

The shelter is sustained by Sánchez Martínez, who also owns a small store: “That’s where the money comes from to cover the electricity, water, and food expenses.” The state government helped him this year with bathroom renovations. “Health authorities come to the shelter twice a week to provide medical care.”

Sánchez began supporting migrants in 1992, helping those who “fell off the train and lost legs or an arm,” she says, referring to the freight train known as La Bestia (The Beast), which travels north-south through Mexico carrying all kinds of goods, while migrants sneak on for a ride north. She continued even when authorities pressured her to stop the aid. “The train left, but the migrants kept arriving, first a few, then thousands, and they know they won’t lack food or shelter.”

During the day, the migrants go out in search of work; “there is work on the farms, harvesting bananas, papayas, and coffee.” Because of their circumstances, the wages are low; they earn 150 pesos a day (a little over $8) when the average wage is 270 pesos ($15.60) per day.

While some deported Cubans hope to return to the United States, others have expressed their desire to go back to the island. One of them is William Herrera López, who told Diario del Sur last March that, given the lack of opportunities in Tapachula, he was seeking Mexico’s support to return to his country. “I’m 53 years old and I’d like to be sent back to my country. There I have my mother, siblings, nephews, and a humble little house where I can stay, not here in a place I don’t know and am completely alone.”

Óscar Rodríguez, another of those expelled by the US, lamented: “Work is hard here, it’s poorly paid, and it’s not enough. The truth is, all we can do is ask to be sent back to Cuba or given the opportunity to move to another part of Mexico, because things are complicated in Tapachula.”

______________________

The Prison Sentence Against the Artist Nando OBDC Is Confirmed, and Félix Navarro Was Beaten Again in the Agüica Prison

The Cuban regime intensifies its crackdown on dissidents as discontent grows across the country

Rapper Nando OBDC and opposition leader Félix Navarro, political prisoners suffering mistreatment in Cuba. / Collage from social media

14ymedio, Havana 10 April 2026 — Cuba’s Supreme People’s Court ratified the five-year prison sentence against artist Fernando Almenares Rivera, known as Nando OBDC, after dismissing the appeal filed by his defense.

The decision was communicated to his family this week, according to Almenares’ mother, Eva Rivera, who spoke to 14ymedio: “Unfortunately, it was denied. I expected that to happen. I don’t expect anything better from this government.”

The appeal filed by the artist’s defense alleged a lack of substantiation in the assessment of the evidence in its previous sentence and errors in the appreciation of aggravating circumstances.

The ruling established that Almenares wrote messages on pieces of bedsheets intended to incite the population “to take action against the government,” which he then placed in visible locations for public dissemination. As an aggravating circumstance, it noted that the accused had received money from abroad to carry out the action.

The court maintains that these acts constitute the crime of propaganda against the constitutional order, considering it proven that the accused acted with the purpose of “inciting against the social order and the socialist state”; and confirms the sentence “in all its parts and declares it final. No appeal is authorized against this sentence.”

The Court “confirms the judgment in its entirety and declares it final. No appeal is permitted against this judgment.”

After nearly a year in detention without charges, Almenares was sentenced on December 22, 2025 to five years in prison. The sentence was continue reading

one year less than the prosecution’s initial request of six years.

The process began with a search warrant issued on January 2, 2025 for an alleged crime of sabotage, but the record only records the seizure of a Cuban flag, without evidence related to that charge.

Months later, the charges were reformulated as propaganda against the constitutional order, based on the artistic action of painting slogans such as “Cuba Primero en las calles por los derechos humanos” [Cuba First in the streets for human rights] on pieces of fabric and placing them in visible locations. The court considered that these acts were intended to “disturb public peace” and “create discontent,” according to the ruling, to which 14ymedio had access.

The artist’s family and civil organizations have questioned the validity of the proceedings. Eva Rivera has denounced errors in the basic information of the case file and the lack of conclusive evidence. Cubalex points out contradictions in the process and demands the artist’s release. The Cuban Youth Dialogue Table described the trial, held in November 2025, as “a farce” and condemned its political nature.

Julie Trébault, director of Artists at Risk Connection, also expressed concern about the case: “The Cuban government’s sustained strategy of exiling or imprisoning dissenting artists must end, Nando OBDC must be released, and freedom of expression must prevail.”

The Cuban government’s sustained strategy of exiling or imprisoning dissenting artists must end, Nando OBDC must be released, and free expression must prevail.

Almenares remains imprisoned in the Cuba-Panama prison in Güines, Mayabeque, a facility for inmates with HIV, although he does not suffer from that disease, but rather from sickle cell anemia—a genetic disorder that causes anemia—according to his mother. Last July, he staged a hunger strike to protest his situation. His mother has also reported restrictions on communication with the artist and his deteriorating emotional and physical health.

The criminal offense of “propaganda against the institutional order,” incorporated into the 2022 Penal Code, penalizes any critical expression that the State considers “incitement against the social order or the socialist State”, without precisely defining what acts constitute that crime, which makes it a legal instrument to persecute dissent.

CTDC warned this Friday about a “brutal beating” suffered by the historic political prisoner Félix Navarro Rodríguez, 72.

The Cuban regime’s repression of dissidents continues to intensify amid the current crisis on the island, with violence against political prisoners within the prison system. The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) reported on Friday a “brutal beating” suffered by long-time political prisoner Félix Navarro Rodríguez, 72, in the Agüica maximum-security prison in Matanzas, and warned that his life could be in danger due to his fragile health.

The organization held State Security and prison authorities responsible for the attack and any resulting consequences, and denounced that, following the attack, Navarro was transferred to solitary confinement, which worsens his situation. It also demanded his immediate release and guarantees for his physical safety, while calling on the international community to take urgent action.

The case was reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) by the Cuba Decide Complaints Center, which filed an urgent appeal regarding the events, as reported by Martí Noticias. According to Juan Carlos Vargas, director of Cuba Decide, the attack occurred on April 9, after a family visit, when the opposition member was intercepted by prison officials, handcuffed, and beaten while defenseless.

Félix Navarro, vice president of the CTDC and recipient of the 2024 Patmos Award, is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for his participation in the Island-wide 11 July 2021 [’11J’] protests. In 2003, he was among the 75 opposition members and independent journalists convicted during the Black Spring. His daughter, Sayli Navarro, a member of the Ladies in White, is also serving a politically motivated sentence.

______________________

A Man Dies While Attempting To Steal Dielectric Oil in Santiago De Cuba

Two brothers were extracting the product when a transformer exploded, causing the death of one and severe burns to the other

Transformers where the incident took place, in Songo La Maya, Santiago de Cuba. / Santiago de Cuba Electric Company

14ymedio, Havana, April 11, 2026 – A man died and another was seriously injured on Friday night in Santiago de Cuba while attempting to steal dielectric oil* from a bank of transformers in the locality of Alta Esperanza, in the municipality of Songo La Maya.

According to the official publication of the provincial Electric Company, at the moment when the two brothers were attempting to carry out the theft, a fault in a transformer caused an explosion that directly affected those involved, instantly killing one of them and severely burning the other.

The statement emphasizes that this type of crime against the National Electric System (SEN) is punished under Law No. 151/2022, Article 125, of the Penal Code, which constitutes “sabotage” as it is an “attack against the infrastructure that sustains daily life and the country’s economic development.”

The risky theft of dielectric oil is not new in Cuba, and its recurrence demonstrates the level of desperation the population has reached in the context of needs and shortages resulting from the current crisis on the Island.

The risky theft of dielectric oil is not new in Cuba, and its recurrence demonstrates the level of desperation the population has reached

In addition to being dangerous to the physical integrity of the perpetrators, as seen in this and other cases, the crime is defined and severely punished by law. Penalties can range from four to twenty years in prison and even reach life imprisonment if there are aggravating circumstances. In some cases reported by 14ymedio, perpetrators have received sentences of up to 15 years in prison. continue reading

Dielectric oil serves an essential function of insulation and cooling, crucial for extending the lifespan and efficient operation of electrical transformers. In a situation of scarcity of all kinds of supplies in the country, this substance has become a valuable commodity, stolen from power poles to end up lubricating motors of household appliances, among other uses.

The explosion of the transformers caused a power outage in the municipalities of Songo La Maya and Segundo Frente, following the fall of a 33 kV line that supplied the area. The Electric Company warned that the extraction of dielectric oil can cause breakdowns, explosions, and blackouts as occurred in this case, in addition to generating a shortage of this essential resource for the system, with direct effects on supply to the population.

The state entity reported hours later that the perpetrators were brothers, and that authorities managed to recover 70 liters of the stolen oil 100 meters from the scene of the incident.

*Dielectric transformer oil is a specialized insulating fluid used in power transformers to provide electrical insulation and cooling.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

A Pair of Oxen and a Cart, the Latest Innovations in Cuba’s Military Strategy

What must they be thinking in Washington and Moscow about the bovine logistics introduced by Havana in the “war of all the people”?

Following the same logic, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed with a pair of barracudas. / Screenshot

14ymedio,Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, April 11, 2026 – Social media of the regime have once again delivered one of those scenes conceived halfway between parody, mockery, and Cuban-style ridicule. In the videos of defense preparations circulating this Saturday, several half-malnourished uniformed men deploy around a rural house, crouch down, take positions, and simulate a military operation with the seriousness of someone who believes they are participating in the prelude to the Normandy landings. Except that in the middle of the scene, a camouflaged cart bursts in, pulled by a pair of oxen, as if it were a secret, decisive, and impregnable weapon.

In some Pentagon office, one imagines U.S. generals watching the videos in silence, first with confusion, then rewinding them to make sure they are not looking at a meme, and finally wondering whether it is a military exercise or a Gaesa agricultural fair. Perhaps one of them has concluded that there is no need to deploy drones, satellites, or precision missiles against an adversary that still seems to fight its battles in the Middle Ages.

On the other side, it is also easy to imagine the discomfort of Havana’s allies. In Moscow, perhaps someone has looked away to avoid admitting that, after sending weapons, oil, and political support, the great showcase of Cuban “resistance” ends up making such blunders. Even in Tehran, perhaps some strategist has thought that, following the same logic, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed with a pair of barracudas, three sharks, and a boat covered with dry grass. continue reading

It’s one thing is to improvise in a ruined country and quite another to turn precariousness into military doctrine

While the world discusses autonomous drones, electronic jamming systems, highly precise guided missiles, and wars fought thousands of miles away through screens, satellites, and sensors, in Cuba the defensive epic seems to continue relying on bovine logistics. The ox, slow and completely alien to the rhetoric of the “imperial enemy,” thus enters the cast of the “war of all the people.”

There will be no shortage of those who say it is ingenuity, adaptation to shortages, or a display of “creative resistance.” But it’s one thing to improvise in a ruined country and quite another to turn precariousness into military doctrine and, on top of that, to showcase it. In the images, soldiers run around, smear their faces with mud, cover themselves with grass and bushes, as if thermal weapons, night vision, and satellite surveillance had not yet been discovered.

What is laughable, however, stops being amusing when the context is observed. Since January, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and the cutoff of Venezuelan oil shipments, the Cuban regime has intensified its military maneuvers and the staging of defense exercises. In parallel, the energy crisis has worsened to extremes that affect daily life, the electrical grid, and essential services.

That is where the oxen from Villa Clara come into the scene, not as a tactical innovation, but as a prop resource to disguise waste

The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived with about 730,000 barrels of crude, a limited amount whose real dilemma is not its volume but what the authorities will decide to spend it on. That aid will not last long if it ends up squandered on absurd war drills. While operations in hospitals are suspended, supplies are scarce, and the healthcare system operates at the limit due to blackouts and lack of fuel, the State continues to find thousands of liters, week after week, to move tanks, helicopters, and heavy equipment, as has been seen in previous maneuvers.

Now propagandists seem to have understood that it is no longer effective to denounce to the world that there is no fuel for pediatric services but there is for weekly military deployments. The narrative of permanent victimization runs into the evidence of a power that, when it comes to shielding itself, always finds reserves, diesel, mobilization, and staging. Perhaps that is where the oxen from Villa Clara come in, not as a tactical innovation, but as a prop resource to disguise waste.

In a collapsed country, wasting fuel on useless exercises to reassure a nervous leadership does not convey strength. It conveys fear. And also disconnection. The distance between power and the needs of the people is measured today in hours of blackouts, canceled bus routes, lost harvests, and exhausted hospitals. But also, it seems, it can be measured in the length of a cart pulled by oxen and presented as if it were a strategic resource.

The scene provokes laughter, yes. But then it leaves something worse: the certainty that, while the country sinks, those in power continue playing at war with the fuel they deny the population. And so, among dry grass, mud camouflage, and the weary pace of military cattle, the Revolution ends up demonstrating that it no longer knows how to run a country and barely manages to herd its own decline.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Russia ‘Is Working on an Energy Supply Plan’ That Includes Sending Another Oil Tanker to Cuba

An envoy from Moscow gives no details about this cooperation and limits himself to noting that it involves restarting the Antillana de Acero plant, paralyzed by the lack of electricity

Antillana de Acero, halted since 2020, continues without stable operations due to the energy crisis and decades of deterioration. / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, April 11, 2026 – Speaking Friday, the Russian Deputy Minister of Industry Roman Chekushov said, “We discussed with our Cuban partners that Russian companies would have access to the management of industrial enterprises in the Republic [of Cuba].” Chekushov is in Havana as part of a delegation led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Last Thursday, Chekushov had stated to the same outlet that both parties have agreed on “an energy supply plan” as a basis for reactivating production at the Cuban metallurgical plant.

“We will try to launch rolled steel production once the small remaining outstanding debt is settled, which will increase the turnover of metallurgical product sales and allow further development of that business with those funds,” the Russian official noted.

Chekushov stressed that Cuba’s current economic priority is the restoration of normal electricity supply. “All industrial projects are linked to this,” he said.

“We discussed with our Cuban partners that Russian companies would have access to the management of industrial enterprises in the Republic”

The most important project within this bilateral cooperation is the modernization of the Antillana de Acero José Martí metallurgical plant, whose rehabilitation was agreed upon in 2015 by both governments. According to the Russian official, the contract is 93% completed in terms of value, which he described as “practically the end.”

The completion of the project would allow an annual production of around 160,000 tons of rolled steel, in a context where Cuba’s heavy industry has operated for years with serious energy and investment continue reading

limitations.

He also noted that in the case of the assembly of Russian vehicles in Cuba, suspended last month as a result of the energy crisis just one year after its launch, is expected to resume once the energy supply is normalized.

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, at a press conference following his meeting with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel last Thursday, stated: “Ensuring the Island’s energy security is a priority. It is premature to talk about next steps. It is widely known that we are not limited to the supply of the batch of oil that has already arrived on the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin.”

A second tanker loaded with 251,000 barrels of diesel and coming from the Baltic port of Vysotsk is heading toward the Caribbean, probably to Cuba

Following the arrival in Cuba on March 30 of the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, with 100,000 tons of oil, a second shipment appears to already be en route to the Caribbean.

However, Ryabkov did not confirm the departure of the second Russian tanker promised a few days earlier by Energy Minister Sergei Tsiviliov, who boasted of having “broken the energy blockade” imposed by Washington.

According to maritime tracking agencies, the tanker Universal, loaded with 320,000 barrels of fuel and coming from the Baltic port of Vysotsk, has just crossed the English Channel and is heading toward the Caribbean, with an arrival date of April 23, probably to Cuba, although it keeps its final destination secret, as do all Russian ships sanctioned by the United States and Europe.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

A Cuban Man and Others Deported by the U.S. to Eswatini Will Have the Right to a Lawyer

Roberto Mosquera del Peral, who had served a sentence for homicide in Miami, was sent to that African country last summer

In October 2025, the Cuban’s lawyer said her client had begun a hunger strike to protest his detention. / DHS

EFE / 14ymedio, Nairobi / Madrid, April 11, 2026 – The Supreme Court of Eswatini, the former Swaziland, ruled in favor of four of the migrants deported by the United States to that small African kingdom and recognized their right to meet with a lawyer, after spending nine months without in-person access to legal assistance. Among them is the Cuban Roberto Mosquera del Peral, sent to the country last summer as part of the new policy of expulsions to third states promoted by the Trump administration.

The court’s decision confirms an earlier ruling by a lower court, which had been challenged by the Eswatini government. The case refers to the first group of deportees that Washington sent to Eswatini in July 2025: initially there were five men, although one of them was later repatriated.

The judicial resolution does not end the case nor immediately improve the underlying situation of the deportees, but it does represent a defeat for the Eswatini executive, which had argued that those men did not have the right to a defense because, formally, they were not detained nor had they been charged with any crime in the country. It also claimed that they did not wish to meet with the local lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi, who acts on behalf of the attorneys representing them from the United States and who until now had only been able to speak with them by phone.

Amnesty International (AI) welcomed the ruling, although it warned that the main problem remains unchanged. “The Supreme Court’s ruling represents an important step in defending the right to access a lawyer for people who have been illegally transferred by the U.S. to Eswatini,” said Vongai Chikwanda, regional deputy director of the organization for East and Southern Africa.

“No one should be transferred to a country in violation of international law guarantees, only to then be secretly detained without a clear legal process”

The NGO, however, stressed that access to a lawyer does not correct the most serious violations reported for months. According to AI, these transfers are part of an abusive practice that leaves deportees trapped in continue reading

countries with which they have no connection, without a clear judicial process, and without guarantees against a new expulsion.

“No one should be transferred to a country in violation of international law guarantees, only to then be secretly detained without a clear legal process, without access to lawyers, and without protection against a subsequent illegal expulsion,” the organization insisted.

The case of Mosquera del Peral illustrates this policy. The Cuban man had served a sentence for homicide in Miami and was one of the individuals sent by Washington to Eswatini after his country of origin, like others, refused to accept him. He traveled with nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, and Yemen. Over the months, the number of deportees transferred to that African kingdom grew to at least fifteen people, although two of them have already been returned to their countries, Jamaica and Cambodia.

Last October, Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, reported that the Cuban had been held for more than three months without charges in the maximum-security prison of Matsapha, in Eswatini. The attorney said at the time that her client had begun a hunger strike to protest his detention and warned that his life was in danger, while demanding that he be allowed access to a lawyer in that African country.

Washington agreed to pay 5.1 million dollars to the Eswatini government, as acknowledged by the kingdom’s authorities

According to complaints filed in court and by human rights organizations, the deportees have remained detained without charges and in isolation in the maximum-security prison of Matsapha, near Mbabane, the capital of Eswatini. The local government denies that these are illegal detentions, but that has been precisely one of the central issues in the litigation.

As early as last February, Eswatini’s judiciary rejected an appeal that sought to halt the deportation of third-country nationals from the United States. That lawsuit had been filed in August, shortly after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the transfer of the first five foreigners to the African country.

The agreement was not free. Washington agreed to pay 5.1 million dollars to the Eswatini government, as the kingdom’s authorities acknowledged. That figure further fueled criticism from activists and legal experts, who see in these agreements an externalization of the U.S. migration system: those expelled leave American territory but do not necessarily return to their countries of origin, instead being sent to third states willing to receive them in exchange for financial compensation.

Nine months after their arrival at a maximum-security prison in a foreign country, they remain in a situation of legal limbo

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has hardened his migration policy and promoted rapid expulsions with the support of several countries. In addition to Eswatini, Washington has reached similar agreements with El Salvador, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Humanitarian organizations believe these agreements expose hundreds of people to a chain of abuses: arbitrary detention, mistreatment, isolation, and the risk of being sent to places where they may face persecution, torture, or degrading treatment. For this reason, they have called on several African governments to refuse to become destinations for migrants expelled from the United States.

In the case of Eswatini, the Supreme Court’s ruling opens a legal window for the deportees but does not clarify how long they will remain detained or what their final destination will be. Nor does it resolve the underlying issue: whether a country can accept people expelled from another state and keep them detained for months, without charges, without transparency, and without explaining what will happen to them.

For Mosquera del Peral and the other men, the ruling means at least a possibility of defense that had until now been denied to them. But nine months after their arrival at a maximum-security prison in a foreign country, they remain in a situation of legal limbo, turned into pawns of a migration policy that has moved the problem far from the U.S. border.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

The Eight Basic Problems of Cuban President Díaz-Canel

His illusion of power, with the symbolic capacity of all representation, is a serious problem for the new consensus that needs to be built.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a 2024 photo. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, Havana, April 10, 2026 / Faced with a country in crisis in its three fundamental dimensions—infrastructure, nation, and model of state—Miguel Díaz-Canel should step aside. He should not insist on presiding over Cuba. His delusion of power, with the symbolic capacity of all representation, is a serious problem for the new consensus that needs to be built. His withdrawal, moreover, would salvage something of what we might call his legacy.

Here are eight reasons why the current president should resign:

1. He has the legitimacy of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) to be its general secretary, but not that of 99% of the people to be the president.

2. Because the PCC is a selective party, in which the people do not elect its leaders, it lacks the popular legitimacy to designate, from within its ranks, who will lead the country. Its membership comprises less than 1% of the active population, those with the right to vote.

3. He only has the legitimacy of those who, in his district, voted for him as a candidate for the National Assembly, without competing against any other candidate. It is worth noting that he, like many others, was nominated directly by the Nominations Commission, which has the power to directly nominate 50% of the candidates to serve in an Assembly where there is no competition for each of its 416 seats. We must keep in mind that ratification is achieved through a vote for one candidate per seat.

He lacks the popular support that, in seven years, could have generated a certain legitimacy of function if he had possessed the intellectual competence.

4. Nor did he even compete within the National Assembly with other candidates, so he only had one ratification vote, after the triple designation on the part of Raúl Castro, the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and the Candidacy Commission, the latter composed of mass organizations, now empty, which, within the electoral system are above the popular will.

5. He does not have the popular support that in seven years could have generated some legitimacy of functions if he had had the intellectual competence and the competencies of the mandate granted to solve the problems of the people.

6. He lacks—crucial in a regime that rewards personality—the empathetic legitimacy that comes from popular sympathy. The thing is that the guy can’t solve problems, but at least he’s likeable. But—worse still—his lack of sympathy doesn’t end in indifference, but in antipathy. I don’t recall a public figure as detested in Cuba as Díaz-Canel. And this is a serious problem for governing a country, because it obstructs communication between the government and the people.

7. He is not a factor of critical power factor, because he lacks the capacity and competence to determine the main lines in the most fundamental political and diplomatic relations for Cuba, those that have to do with the United States.

8. Finally: he is not an ideologue or an intellectual, a popularizer of any political doctrine, nor a particularly gifted communicator, which would give him respectability at least within a certain segment of the elite.

______________________

Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Denounces the United States’ “’Obsession’ With Expelling Russia From the ‘Western Hemisphere’

Moscow reiterates its “100% solidarity with Cuba” and its intention to remain in the region

Díaz-Canel conveyed to Sergei Ryabkov a hug for Putin. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Madrid, April 10, 2026 – Nine days after the Anatoly Kolodkin docked at the port of Matanzas with 730,000 barrels of crude oil, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, entered the Palace of the Revolution ready to receive praise from Miguel Díaz-Canel. “There is value in countries like the Russian Federation in not allowing themselves to be subjected to imperial policies,” said the Cuban leader.

The meeting also comes after Moscow announced the shipment of a second tanker to the Island, although it has not provided details about it. “Russia is not going to abandon the Western Hemisphere, no matter what they say in Washington, which is obsessed with the idea of expelling Russia, as well as China, from this region,” he said.

“At the present time, Russia is one hundred percent in solidarity with Cuba; despite the complexity the country is going through, we are by your side,” Ryabkov told the Cuban leader.

Díaz-Canel thanked the deputy foreign minister for his support and stated that “it is proof that Cuba is not alone.” According to the Cuban leader, the shipment of crude oil to the Island “supports a concept that we are defending, which is that we have every right to receive oil and that other countries have every right to export oil to Cuba.” continue reading

“It supports a concept that we are defending, which is that we have every right to receive oil and that other countries have every right to export oil to Cuba”

The decision to send the tanker Anatoly Kolodkin to the Island seemed like an impossible mission at the time it became known. After the order signed by President Trump at the end of January imposing tariffs on countries that sent oil to the Island, none were willing to take the risk, even though both Russia and Mexico stated several times that they were seeking solutions. The decision by the Supreme Court, which declared the mechanisms by which Washington intended to apply those tariffs illegal, seemed to open a window, but no one made a move knowing there were other possible penalties.

Another possibility opened with the announcement by the United States of suspending sanctions on Russian crude for one month to ease energy problems resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Sea Horse, flying the flag of Hong Kong (China) but loaded with Russian oil, began heading discreetly toward the Island but changed course almost at the same time that the White House added an amendment stating that Iran, North Korea, and Cuba were excluded from that relief.

However, the Anatoly Kolodkin continued its route without opposition from the United States. “They have to survive! (…) I have no problem,” Trump himself said when asked about that ship. “I said, if a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with it. Whether it’s Russia or not,” he added. Subsequently, the White House clarified that it was a humanitarian decision and that it would be reviewed case by case, making the future of that second shipment announced on April 1 by Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsiviliov unpredictable.

Ryabkov spoke yesterday of the “special nature” of relations between Havana and Moscow and described as “very productive” the meeting of political consultations between the foreign ministries of both nations held that day, which he considered “very useful in carefully evaluating different issues.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

March Rumors Fantasized About Russian Oil and the Fall of Díaz-Canel

La ‘bola’ — the rumor — about free internet access through Starlink revealed that more and more Cubans and small private businesses are obtaining this expensive and illegal system

The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin at the dock of the Supertanker Base in Matanzas / Facebook/Oliver Zamora Oria

14ymedio, Havana, April 10, 2026 – March once again showed that in Cuba, rumors are not mere gossip but a way of surviving informationally in a country where official silence takes up too much space. In the absence of data, institutional opacity, and the habit of announcing everything after it has already happened, people fill the gaps with conjectures. Rumors circulate by word of mouth, jump from a WhatsApp chat to a Telegram group, and become the soundtrack of daily life. This month, amid blackouts, lines, and geopolitical shocks, rumor-mongering reached an intensity rarely seen.

The undisputed protagonist of March was the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin. Since it set sail from Primorsk at the beginning of the month, every mile it advanced toward the Caribbean fueled new speculation. In Havana neighborhoods, its position was discussed as if it were a hurricane during cyclone season. Some claimed that Washington would prevent its arrival, in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump at the end of January, which imposes tariffs on countries that supply fuel to the Cuban regime. Others, more dramatic, spoke of a possible military confrontation between the United States and Russia in waters near the Island. Ultimately, the tanker docked in Matanzas without issue.

Others, more dramatic, spoke of a possible military confrontation between the United States and Russia in waters near the Island

Another rumor that gained traction in March was the supposed political decline of Miguel Díaz-Canel. Since the leader himself publicly confirmed negotiations between Washington and Havana, an open secret already reported by international media and the independent press, many began to see him as a leader on his way out. The question is not whether he will fall, but when and how. Will he leave the country on a discreet plane? Will he be removed by the Castro clan to make way for a figure more acceptable to Washington?

Recent statements by Sandro Castro, grandson of Fidel Castro, claiming that Díaz-Canel “is not doing a good job,” were interpreted as a sign that the president has become a fuse ready to be burned. In political circles and in bread lines, his fate seems sealed long before any official announcement. continue reading

Militarization also occupied a prominent place in the month’s rumor mill. Drivers traveling at dawn along interior highways reported convoys of trucks loaded with soldiers and equipment. In Havana, military exercises and explosions associated with defensive maneuvers caused concern among residents. Helicopters flying over urban areas, practice gunfire, and unusual movements in military facilities reinforced the sense that something is being prepared behind the scenes. In a country accustomed to secrets, any loud noise becomes a coded message.

Amid so much speculation, one of the most frustrating rumors for Cubans was the one claiming that access to the Starlink internet system had been opened on the Island. For several days, social media filled with messages promising fast and stable connection just by activating a mobile phone. The illusion did not last long. To use the service, a reception kit is still required, an expensive piece of equipment pursued by the General Customs Office of the Republic, along with a monthly subscription unaffordable for most people on this Island. The promise of free internet once again turned out to be a technological mirage.

The promise of free internet once again turned out to be a technological mirage

Statements by Donald Trump, in which he said he hoped to “take” Cuba soon, also unleashed a wave of conjecture. Some imagined discreet negotiations that would lead to an orderly political transition. Others spoke of more violent scenarios, from a military intervention to an internal collapse of the regime.

The social outbreak in Morón, Ciego de Ávila, was another focus of speculation. After the burning of items at the municipal headquarters of the Communist Party and the subsequent internet blackout in the locality, versions began to circulate about mass arrests and a strong military presence in the area. There was talk of young people being pursued in their homes and of fear spreading throughout the community. The lack of official information and restrictions on connectivity fueled distrust, reminding many of what happened during the Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021.

Precisely, problems with internet connectivity have become a constant rumor. Every digital blackout generates suspicions of deliberate censorship. Many Cubans believe that interruptions are not only due to technical failures or the energy crisis but also to the intention of preventing citizens from organizing and sharing information in real time. In a country where social media has become a public square, disconnecting the signal is equivalent to closing the street.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

The IACHR Demands Explanations From the Cuban Regime Over the Imprisonment of the Minor Jonathan Muir Burgos

The organization gives the Cuban State five days to report on the situation of the teenager imprisoned for participating in the Morón protests, accused of the crime of sabotage

Jonathan Muir is being held in a maximum-security prison under conditions not officially clarified.

14ymedio, Havana, April 10, 2026 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) sent an official request to the Cuban Government demanding urgent information about the situation of Jonathan Muir Burgos, the 16-year-old who remains deprived of liberty after participating in the protests last March 13 in Morón, Ciego de Ávila.

The request, addressed Thursday to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, gives a period of five days for the State to respond about the conditions of Jonathan Muir’s detention, his state of health, and the measures adopted to guarantee his integrity.

The IACHR clarifies that this request does not yet imply a decision on the granting of such measures but underscores the urgency of verifying the teenager’s situation. The request has been made following a petition for precautionary measures submitted by the organization Cuba Decide (Defensa CD).

“The case of Jonathan has ceased to be an isolated complaint and has come under formal international observation,” Juan Carlos Vargas, executive director of Cuba Decide, told Martí Noticias. “The regime now has to respond within a very short timeframe. What is happening with a minor who is imprisoned, held incommunicado, and at risk?” he added.

“The regime now has to respond within a very short timeframe. What is happening with a minor who is imprisoned, held incommunicado, and at risk?”

The teenager’s family is denouncing what they consider a pattern of torture. Initially, the calls Jonathan was allowed to make from prison took place at 1:00 a.m. Both the time and his cries describing his situation and his pleas – “Please, get me out of here” – were unbearable for his parents. But since Thursday, April 9, those calls have stopped completely. Furthermore, the first scheduled visit was canceled, which has heightened the family’s concern. continue reading

In its request, the IACHR asks the Cuban authorities for clarification on three key aspects: the official position regarding the request for international protection; a detailed report on the conditions of detention, including access to medical care since Jonathan suffers from skin conditions and is not receiving treatment for them in prison, according to his relatives; and a risk assessment detailing whether the competent authorities have analyzed the danger the minor faces and what measures have been adopted to guarantee his safety.

Jonathan David Muir Burgos was charged with the crime of sabotage, an accusation that could cost him at least seven years in prison. The authorities ordered his transfer to Canaleta prison, a facility that in February was the scene of a riot violently repressed by regime forces after a young man committed suicide following complaints about the prison’s poor food.

While the dictatorship responds or not, Jonathan remains inside a maximum-security prison. Time is running against him

The teenager is one of the cases of several minors detained in Cuba in the context of the anti-government protests that have taken place since last March 6, following the deterioration of the already serious energy situation. Jonathan Muir is being held in a maximum-security prison under conditions not officially clarified. Relatives and civil organizations have reported psychological pressure against the young man and mistreatment in the conditions of his confinement.

“While the dictatorship responds or not, Jonathan remains inside a maximum-security prison. Time is running against him,” Vargas warned Martí Noticias. “This request is not just another procedure; it is an urgent tool to prevent the situation from escalating into something irreparable.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Díaz-Canel Disliked the NBC News Question About “His Willingness to Resign to Save Cuba”

The president asserts that only the Cuban people can remove him from the Presidency if they believe he is “incapable” or not “up to their standards”

Díaz-Canel during the NBC News interview, which will air in full on Sunday / Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, April 10, 2026 – “Resigning is not part of our vocabulary,” Miguel Díaz-Canel told Kristen Welker, host of NBC News’ Meet the Press, in a preview of an interview that will be broadcast in full next Sunday. The last time a Cuban leader was interviewed by this U.S. television network was in 1959, when Fidel Castro appeared on that very same program.

The clip begins with a moment of high tension between the president and the interviewer. “Would you be willing to resign in order to save Cuba, the Cuban people?” Welker asks. Díaz-Canel, dismissing the critical questions, spends more than a minute pushing back against the journalist, insisting on whether she asks that type of question to other presidents, whether she is doing so on behalf of the State Department, and whether she would ask it to Donald Trump, apparently ignoring the strained relationship between the U.S. president and NBC. Welker, unfazed, clarifies what everyone knows: “I ask very tough questions to the president.”

With that settled, Díaz-Canel addresses the issue. “In Cuba, the people who hold leadership and government responsibilities are not chosen by the Government of the United States, nor are they appointed by the Government of the United States. We are a sovereign, free state. We have self-determination, we have independence, and we do not submit to any dictate of the Government of the United States,” he argues.

“We are a sovereign, free state. We have self-determination, we have independence, and we do not submit to any dictate of the Government of the United States,” he argues

The president then defends his humble origins and reaffirms Cuba’s electoral system. “Any one of us, in order to hold a responsibility, must be elected at the grassroots level in an electoral district by thousands of Cubans and then the Cubans who represent those others in the National Assembly of People’s Power elect those positions through indirect voting, as happens in other countries around the world,” he repeats.

He does not clarify, however, that it is impossible to be elected if continue reading

one does not belong to the Communist Party or one of the organizations endorsed by the regime. On the contrary, he defends the single-party system. “When we assume a responsibility, we do not do so out of personal ambition, nor corporate ambition, nor even for a party position, because our party is not electoral. We do it by a mandate of the people, and in the concept of revolutionaries, surrender is not an option.”

Díaz-Canel, despite being fully aware that he is not a popular leader — unlike his more charismatic predecessors — asserts that the population can show him the door. “If the Cuban people believe that I am incapable, that I am not up to their standards, that I do not represent them, they are the ones who must decide whether I should be in leadership or holding the position of president or not,” said the man who governs a country where criticizing him personally constitutes a crime of “propaganda against the constitutional order,” punishable by long prison sentences.

The president continues by saying that policy in Cuba is decided by collective bodies and that under no circumstances can the United States demand anything of him, especially given what he describes as decades of “hostile” policy toward the Island. “They do not even have the moral authority to say they are concerned about the situation of the Cuban people and that the Cuban Government is the one that has led Cuba to this situation when they bear all that responsibility,” he continues, urging Washington to take a critical look at itself and see “how much their policies have cost the Cuban people in suffering and limitations, and how much they have deprived the American people of a normal relationship with Cuba.”

Díaz-Canel has maintained, as in all his recent appearances, that the regime is willing to engage in dialogue, as long as it is not conditioned on changes to the system. “We would not demand changes to the American system, about which we have endless doubts and endless criticisms,” he argues, and he calls for talks to focus on what can unite both countries. “Once again, I repeat, to avoid confrontation and to have a future for both peoples of benefit, of relationship, of friendship, and also of solidarity,” he concludes.

The excerpt of the interview was broadcast alongside a message the president sent to the II International Conference on Unilateral Coercive Measures, held in Geneva, in which he again denounces the “strangulation” that the United States imposes on the island. “Cuba is the victim of a prolonged collective punishment that seeks to bring its people to their knees through hunger, disease, and severe shortages of basic supplies,” he said in a video.

“Cuba is the victim of a prolonged collective punishment that seeks to bring its people to their knees through hunger, disease, and severe shortages of basic supplies”

The president reviewed some of the consequences he attributes to the worsening energy situation following Trump’s oil blockade. Among them, he cited the suspension of surgeries for more than 96,000 people (including 11,000 minors), 19,000 patients who are undergoing oncology or hemodialysis treatments being at risk, shortages of gas and water, and industrial production at minimal levels. “What right does the world’s leading economic power have to commit such an abuse against a small country?” Díaz-Canel asked, describing the situation as a return to “barbarism and servitude.”

“It is impossible to quantify the physical and psychological exhaustion, the daily shortages, the postponement of dreams, and the media war that is inflicted, out of sheer malice, on a noble, resilient, and supportive people like ours,” he argued, also taking a few minutes to thank those who have chosen to stand by Cuba, such as Mexico and Russia, coinciding with the announcement that a new oil tanker from that country will arrive on the Island, although Moscow has not indicated a date.

Translated by Regina Anavy
______________________

After Nearly Two Months Imprisoned Without Evidence, the Cuban Regime Releases a Man Accused of Graffiti Against President Díaz-Canel

Moisés Legrá Díaz was held in conditions of overcrowding and malnutrition despite a police expert report that exonerated him

Moisés Legrá Díaz’s mother denounced the poor conditions in which he was being held. / Social media

14ymedio, Havana, April 9, 2026 – Moisés Legrá Díaz was released by the regime on April 7, after spending nearly two months deprived of liberty under pretrial detention as a precautionary measure, accused of the crime of “propaganda against the constitutional order.”

The arrest had taken place on February 13 in Havana, after the young man responded to a summons from State Security in Villa Marista, following the appearance of graffiti in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo with the phrase “Patria y Vida” and insults against President Miguel Díaz-Canel. From the political police operations center, he was transferred to Combinado del Este, a maximum-security prison.

According to Javier Larrondo, president of the NGO Prisoners Defenders, speaking to 14ymedio, the precautionary measure was lifted after handwriting analysis could not prove that the posters matched his writing. Therefore, he clarified, Legrá Díaz’s release is not part of the 51 political prisoners the regime promised to release after the agreement reached with the Vatican last March. Nor is it part of the 2,010 prisoners that the Cuban government announced it would release starting this April, who so far are all common prisoners.

Legrá Díaz, a father of three with no criminal record, was released as innocent. However, he had been held since his arrest in conditions of overcrowding and malnutrition, according to complaints by his mother and civil organizations. During the weeks he remained in pretrial detention, activists and relatives warned about the deterioration of his health. continue reading

During the weeks he remained in pretrial detention, activists and relatives warned about the deterioration of his health

One of these independent organizations was Cubalex, which denounced that, although Legrá had undergone handwriting analysis to determine whether he authored the posters, with a negative result, he remained detained.

Legrá Díaz’s return to his home, where his family was waiting for him, was confirmed by a call from his mother to Martí Noticias: “Since around two in the afternoon Moisés is now here at home with the children,” who, she describes, “cried and hugged their father.”

The criminal offense of “propaganda against the constitutional order,” incorporated into the 2022 Penal Code, penalizes any expression of criticism that the State considers “incitement against the social order or the socialist State,” without clearly defining which acts constitute the crime, making it a legal instrument to persecute dissent.

The case exposes the abusive use of pretrial detention as a preventive punishment, as well as the use of ambiguous criminal charges to target freedom of expression

Cubalex points out that the case of Legrá Díaz, a family man with no criminal record or activist background, exposes the abusive use of pretrial detention as a preventive punishment, as well as the use of ambiguous criminal charges to persecute freedom of expression.

The same offense has been applied, with prosecutors requesting up to nine years in prison for posters or street graffiti, as in other recent cases reported by 14ymedio, but also for social media posts or direct criticism of the government, among which the example of the conviction and imprisonment of the young creators of the digital collective El4tico stands out.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Imports of Chicken From the U.S., the Main Source of Protein for Cubans, Have Fallen by Nearly 50%

Food sales are declining overall, while car deliveries are holding steady, and, for the first time, small private businesses are authorized to purchase fuel

Frozen chicken has been the most imported food product into the country since 2012 / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, April 9, 2026 – The crisis in Cuba is also being reflected in the drop, since the beginning of this year, in food imports from the United States. Chicken, the product most purchased by both the State and small private businesses since records have been kept, plummeted this February both in tonnage and value compared to the previous month.

A total of 13,121 tons were purchased for 15.87 million dollars, a drop of 19.6% in quantity and 21% in value compared to January. Moreover, compared with the month of December, when around 23,000 tons arrived, the situation is much worse. Regarding the year-on-year decline, in February 2025 Cuba imported 25,474 tons for 32.46 million, which means that the availability of the Island’s main source of animal protein has been reduced by nearly half in one year.

The data comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and reflects limitations in the purchasing capacity not only of the State, but also of private actors. Long blackouts, which prevent the maintenance of the cold chain, and distribution difficulties from ports, as a result of the oil restrictions imposed by the U.S. on the Island at the end of January, are worsening the already diminished purchasing options for the population.

The data comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and reflects limitations in the purchasing capacity not only of the State, but also of private actors

The figures are consistent with those also published this Wednesday by the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which revealed a 36.6% drop in imports of food and agricultural products, including frozen chicken, compared to February 2025. In the second month continue reading

of the year, the Island paid 30,187,420 dollars for food, down from 47,636,633 dollars last year, although slightly above what was reported in February 2024, at 27,204,788 dollars.

In the first two months of the year, the value reached 65,831,522 dollars, also below the 93,168,816 dollars recorded in the same period of 2025, equivalent to a year-on-year contraction of 29.3%.

The report shows that frozen chicken continues to be, since 2012, the most demanded product by Cuban importers and accounts for nearly half of total food purchases in February. Next on the list is rice, with 1,926,996 dollars. It is followed by sweetened milk and cream, frozen pork, juice mixes, roasted coffee, and bone-in pork cuts.

In total, the 10 main products purchased in February amounted to 22,140,544 dollars, which represents 73.3% of the total exported by the United States to the Island under the framework authorized by exemptions to the embargo, which mainly allow the import of food, health products, and automobiles, always paid in cash and in advance.

The figures continue to show that the much-discussed food sovereignty remains far from being achieved. During the first nine months of 2025, Cuba imported 355 million dollars in agricultural products from the United States, 15% more than recorded in the same period of 2024, according to figures from that country’s Department of Agriculture. At that time, one of the products that increased the most was pork. Between January and September last year, the Island purchased 33.6 million dollars of that product from its northern neighbor, more than double the same period in 2024, when it spent 16.3 million dollars.

This month’s report also notes that, once the Trump Administration added fuels to the list of products authorized for export to private actors in Cuba, there were purchases totaling 2,573,594 dollars.

This month’s report also notes that, once the Trump Administration added fuels to the list of products authorized for export to private actors in Cuba, there were purchases totaling 2,573,594 dollars

In that regard, growth in exports of cars from the United States is also reported, with a total amount of 16,238,357 dollars in the first two months of this year. The cumulative value since 2022, when the first license to import vehicles to the Island was issued, exceeds 416 million dollars. Of this figure, more than 243 million correspond to electric and gasoline vehicles, both new and used, as well as bicycles, trucks, motorcycles, and mopeds, in addition to parts and components. The year with the highest spending on these products was 2025, closing at 149,413,031 dollars.

The spending figures presented in the report only include the price of products exported from the United States, without including transportation or other associated charges.

In February, Cuba also ranked 51st among 215 U.S. agricultural export markets. In 2004 it reached position 25 in annual data and 29 in 2008, before falling to 49 in 2024 and 2025.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________