Translating Cuba

For the first time, the employer will be able to participate in the selection of his workforce

The scheme recalls other deadlines announced in various sectors and never met. The question remains the same: what will prevent agencies, historically reluctant to relinquish control, from using other ways of blocking what they do not wish to approve?

Another point raised by the Deputy Prime Minister concerns recruitment. For the first time, the employer will be able to participate in the selection of his workforce, partly breaking with the model in which State agencies acted as compulsory intermediaries. Even so, the reform does not eliminate these agencies, and it remains to be seen how it will be applied in hotels, the first sector that should benefit from this measure.

The Government will also authorize the payment of foreign exchange bonuses, an incentive that implicitly recognizes the inadequacy of wages in pesos, unable to sustain daily life. These bonuses, which do not replace the official salary, have existed for decades, always under the shadow of informality. Recognizing their existence is a step, although these payments will have quite strict limitations: they can only be made from profits, through bank payments and provided that the company generates external revenues.

The innovations also include the authorization for foreign-owned companies to trade “without restrictions” with domestic economic actors. They will also be allowed to import fuel directly if they deem it necessary. Thus the government opens a hard currency highway for those who can generate income for the State, escaping from the annoying blackouts, which will continue to affect the rest of the population.

To this is added the announcement of new special development zones

In fact, nothing in the package suggests that the benefits granted to foreign capital will extend to Cuban entrepreneurs, who continue to deal with obstacles, inspections, regulatory uncertainty and a very unfavorable exchange rate.

The minister also spoke of the possibility of investors having access to underutilized facilities. The country has hundreds of abandoned factories, semi-derelict industrial buildings, disused warehouses and hotels without guests, all State-owned. To this is added the announcement of the creation of new special development zones, whose location and timing were specified. Some experts point to the Antilla project in Holguín, designed to rehabilitate the aqueduct distribution system.

The experience of the Mariel Special Development Zone, after more than a decade of operations, serves as a reminder of an attractive structure on paper that does not guarantee results when the macroeconomic environment is unstable, access to foreign exchange is uncertain and the State reserves control of all the processes.

The Deputy Prime Minister clarified that “none of these proposals has any contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, the guidelines of the economic and social policy of the Party of the Revolution or the conceptualization of the Cuban economic model.” All the decisions explained, he said, are perfectly possible and can be implemented without difficulty under existing regulations.

The government admits that the materialization of foreign investment remains low, perhaps because the real deterrents are still intact. These include the lack of legal certainty, to which has recently been added the freezing of all foreign currency funds in the bank accounts of foreign companies.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

This would also partially alleviate the serious crisis of public transport in Havana, already marked by the shortage of fuel and aggravated by the poor state of maintenance of the buses.

The situation is further complicated by the lack of operational vehicles. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial Company indicate that of the 435 buses which should be circulating in the capital, only 130 are able to operate. This represents only 35% of the fleet, with serious consequences for urban mobility. Of the 17 main and 112 secondary routes, less than half are in regular operation, affecting especially the working community, students and people who have to travel for health reasons.

The lack of buses is compounded by damage caused by misuse and vandalism: broken windows, chipped glass, damaged door systems and stolen parts, even in the new Foton minibuses from China, of which only 34 out of 50 were recently serviced. In the face of this shortcoming, many citizens are forced to resort to taxi drivers, but the prices of these private taxis have become significantly more expensive in recent years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

Particularly eloquent are two graphs on migration included in the article by the independent demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos: next to the figures of Cubans who left their country are those of Cubans who entered the United States, which are, year by year, inversely proportional, like an inverted mirror.

The main focus of the text is economic data, including the collapse in tourism, high inflation, devaluation of the peso and the fact that output is at its lowest in more than a century, resulting in an 11% contraction since 2019, a number recognized by the Government itself.

The latest ECLAC report, made public last Wednesday by the Cuban economist resident in Spain, Pedro Monreal, points out that the island appears as “one of the three countries with no growth in the value of projected exports of goods (worse than Haiti but better than Venezuela). For this expert, “the reduction in the estimated value of exports of goods from Cuba in 2025 would be explained by the poor sugar yield and the fall in the price of nickel.”

“Because of Cuba’s high import dependence, the contraction in imports must have a negative impact on economic growth”

Monreal also highlights the results of the first half of 2025, which indicate a simultaneous reduction in exports and imports, the negative balance of trade in goods (exports-imports) and the fact that the government does not report its data on trade in services. And he states: “Due to the high import dependence of Cuba, the contraction in imports must have had a negative impact on economic growth.”

“The only ray of hope is the rise of private enterprise,” states The Economist, which then warns of the constraints faced by small entrepreneurs. “The Government seems unable to decide whether to simply tolerate private activity or encourage it,” notes the article. The owners of private firms, it continues, “are constantly frustrated by the government’s lack of clarity in interpreting the law and its persistent mistrust of free enterprise.”

They quote an interviewed businesswoman, Marta Deus, who runs a tax consultant and distribution company, Mandao, (with 200,000 users): “Everything is done in circles. There is no clarity. Nobody knows the rules. We expect a change. But it seems that the government lives in another world.”

The fundamental reason for the regime’s reluctance is the fear that the system will collapse if the private sector expands. “They see private enterprise as a nest of worms that will infiltrate, destabilize the country and end up driving out the Party,” says another interviewee. And a third: “When you see the first McDonald’s in the Plaza Vieja, you will know that the Revolution is finished.”

The text of The Economist, which regrets that “no Mikhail Gorbachev” is still visible within the regime, as there was in the Soviet Union, and that the opposition is “weak and fragmented,” concludes with the words of a taxi driver: “This system is so bad that it is irreparable. The only thing you can do is get rid of it and start from scratch.”

The military conglomerate is “the real power in Cuba and has led the country to the worst financial crisis of its history”

It is the same conclusion reached, in other words and by other means, by Emilio Morales in his most recent report for the organization Cuba Siglo 21, published last Wednesday. “The only way to abort this financial crisis that has practically paralyzed the country and plunged the population into extreme poverty is to eliminate the system of governance that created it,” he writes.

For Morales, the fault lies with the Grupo de Administración Empresarial (Gaesa). The military conglomerate is “the real power in Cuba and has led the country to the worst financial crisis of its history.”

The expert recalls various data such as the shortage of dollars, the general fall in national production and the increase in external debt, explaining them around an idea: “The government headed by Miguel Díaz-Canel does not in practice have control over the country’s finances. The Central Bank of Cuba, which is the institution that should govern the management of the nation’s finances, is completely subordinate and subject to the interests of Gaesa.”

A proof of this -which Morales does not mention- is the trial carried out against the former Minister of Economy and right hand of Díaz-Canel, Alejandro Gil Fernández, accused of spying for the CIA and other serious crimes of corruption.

In any case, and given the new measures it is publicizing these days, the regime will continue on the wrong track. Although the official claims that “the Government Program is made up of 10 general objectives, 106 specific objectives, 342 actions and 264 indicators and targets, all closely interrelated,” it does not really offer anything new.

First, they attribute the economic disaster to “the effects of permanent aggressions resulting from the economic blockade and internal inadequacies.” The tone of words expressed by officials continues with controls on private businesses: The “distortion in relations between economic actors today impedes the fundamental role of the State enterprise,” declared Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo, head of the Economic and Productive Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCC). Another example is the campaign against El Toque, accused of being in the service of the US to devalue the national currency.

As for the energy crisis, far from proposing an innovative approach, they return to the “classics” of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), with the words of Broche Lorenzo: “Let us remember that Lenin was clear on this: communism in those conditions is translated as the power of the soviets plus the electrification of the country. If our electrical system is not reactivated to the level required by economic management, it will take work to move forward in the process of socialist construction.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

“There were 200 or so houses here and there are 40 left,” she explained

Although the government has praised the effort of the Electric Union linemen who came from different provinces in eastern Cuba to collaborate in repairs, the work has not been as exemplary as it appears, some complain.

“It’s been more than 20 days without electricity, and yesterday the linemen were up in Guayabo, where our transformer is located. They put on the power in one part and cut the cables that go to our neighborhood, on 21st street at the bottom, leaving out 11 houses. They did not want to continue because it was raining, there was mud, and they had to cross a bridge. So I ask you: Where are those hard-working linemen who are mentioned so much, leaving children, the elderly, the sick and working mothers without electricity? The residents themselves had to fix the fallen lines and keep the poles from falling down. The linemen only had to bring a ladder and connect the lines that go to the houses, but they didn’t do their work. It could have been done in less than half an hour, but it was easier to cut the lines and leave us without power. They reported that all the lines were on the ground and left,” said a resident of Mayarí, who continued with a warning: “We call the command post and they hang up the phone. So, what do we women and children have to do? We’ll throw ourselves into the street if they don’t connect us, like they did in Seboruco.”

The reference was to the protest that took place last Thursday in this community, where the neighbors went to the streets after 23 days without electricity or running water, an alarming situation amid the epidemic of arbovirosis affecting the island. “We called all sides; the mothers went to the Party (Communist Party of Cuba, the PCC), and there was no response from anywhere. We carried water from the rivers and were told every day that they would come, but it was a lie. Mothers with children went to the government, and we didn’t get a clear answer, so we could no longer stand it and threw ourselves into the street,” a resident, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals, told Martí Noticias.

There, before the dozens of people who demanded solutions, a PCC representative arrived and asked for understanding because the problem affected the entire locality. “Well this is all of Mayarí, not just Seboruco. If you want I will explain it to you; otherwise, I’ll shut up and keep walking,” he said. Empathy ended when he realized that he was being recorded: “You can’t record me because it’s against the law,” he said. Several hours later, according to various reports, electric service was restored to the community.

“We call the command post and they hang up the phone. So what do we women and children have to do? We will throw ourselves into the street if they do not give us electricity, like they did in Seboruco”

Pontezuela, another rural area of Mayarí, came out banging pots and pans on Friday night, in a type of protest more usual than the other two, which occurred in broad daylight with faces uncovered. There, the mayor and a political police officer stated that they did not yet know the extent of the damage or when services would be restored, and they asked for more patience from the population.

The last clear count of those without electricity in Holguín was on November 14, when there were still more than 52,000 residents without power. “We know that there are still areas waiting for attention. We have not forgotten anyone. We continue to try to reach every affected site, repair every malfunction and return every home to normal. Already this Tuesday 336,521 people in Holguín have been serviced, and we’re not stopping. Thank you for your patience, solidarity and trust,” added the provincial electricity company on day 19 in a Facebook post, where it showed the unsuccessful repair of the poles of Guairajal.

In the midst of this situation, the La Tijera Facebook page has reported rumors supported by countless commentators. In a post this Sunday, it described a dispute between local Electric Union administrators and residents of Manzanillo, in the province of Granma, who charged the workers with influence peddling and bribes.

“Neighbors complained that the power cuts were not due to the population but to an uncontrolled increase in private businesses, including illegal bakeries, welding workshops and refrigeration centers for sausages and meat, that were operating thanks to bribes paid to Electric Union officials, managers and linesmen,” said the post. It added that the inspection does not work and pointed to some specific businesses that paid to connect to circuits prioritized for leisure, among other irregularities.

A former worker of the electric company of Matanzas has confirmed to Martí Noticias that it is not only true, but the same thing happens throughout the island. “I saw the corruption in the Electric Company. It goes so high that you can offer any lineman money and get the service you need without having to go through the State channel,” said specialist Yanan Camaraza Medina.

“There are two transformers that feed the nearby neighborhood of the Cooperative, which has service 24 hours a day, because there are interests of millionaires based in the United States”

Living in Unión de Reyes, he said that the village of Juan Gualberto Gómez has been without service for weeks, but there are “two transformers that feed the nearby neighborhood of the Cooperative, which has service 24 hours a day, because there are interests of millionaires based in the United States who have their businesses, their investments here in Cuba, and, of course, they pay bribes.”

Camaraza Medina states that it has also been reported that the Provincial Freight Office accepts bribes in exchange for improving the conditions of the circuit and that there are more provinces where cases of this type have occurred, including Cienfuegos. In the municipality of Aguada there are four circuits that are exempt from the long blackouts, among them those that host facilities of the Party and the Government.

“If you pay they connect you to the protected area. That has happened in several houses here that have been reconnected in the neighborhood of the cooperative because they paid and are close by, and the linemen come and do the work stealthily and connect them,” the specialist told Martí Noticias. He describes several more cases of a situation that is not new, but that has become more desperate in these times of deep energy crisis.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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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.

This would also partially alleviate the serious crisis of public transport in Havana, already marked by the shortage of fuel and aggravated by the poor state of maintenance of the buses.

The situation is further complicated by the lack of operational vehicles. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Transport and the Provincial Company indicate that of the 435 buses which should be circulating in the capital, only 130 are able to operate. This represents only 35% of the fleet, with serious consequences for urban mobility. Of the 17 main and 112 secondary routes, less than half are in regular operation, affecting especially the working community, students and people who have to travel for health reasons.

The lack of buses is compounded by damage caused by misuse and vandalism: broken windows, chipped glass, damaged door systems and stolen parts, even in the new Foton minibuses from China, of which only 34 out of 50 were recently serviced. In the face of this shortcoming, many citizens are forced to resort to taxi drivers, but the prices of these private taxis have become significantly more expensive in recent years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

____________

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

The former presenter of De la Gran Escena on Cuban Television believes that “the least guilty of all that is happening with my brother is President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez,” because he was unaware, she claims, of the case being set up against Gil, who was his right-hand man. And she mentions, in this regard, the information about the prime minister that her source shared: on February 1, 2024, Marrero called Gil and told him that “his work as Minister of Economy and Planning has not yielded the expected results, that his work was poor, and, therefore, the next day he would be dismissed and must begin to hand over all the documentation relating to the ministry.”

The following day, continues Vicky, it was reported that her brother had been dismissed. “What is Miguel Díaz-Canel doing? Congratulate my brother for the good work,” she says about the tweet that the president posted on X on February 6, Gil’s birthday. On the other hand, according to her, the now-dismissed minister agreed to go to Marrero’s office for the delivery of the portfolio. “When my brother arrived there with all the documentation, he found that along with Manuel Marrero Cruz there were two officers from Cuban State Security,” who informed him that “he was under investigation.”

From that moment on, they took him and his wife, Gina María González García, “to one of those famous houses that the Ministry of the Interior has that are wonderful, that I know, that are in Nuevo Vedado, in Miramar…” “How do you know of them, Vicky?” asks Pentón. “I know two in Nuevo Vedado, because I was an agent for a short time, and I didn’t do well because I chickened out,” she confesses, specifying that she was picked to monitor the trafficking of artwork on the Island.

Gil instead went straight to the high security prison of Guanajay, in Artemisa, where his family has been able to visit him for “15 minutes every 15 days”

In any event, Gil and his wife stayed in that house for four months, during which time nothing was known of them publicly. It was then, imagines Vicky, that a criminal investigation was ordered. Her brother was prosecuted, and her sister-in-law was acquitted and returned to their home in Miramar, one of the most affluent neighborhoods of the capital. Gil instead went straight to the high security prison of Guanajay, in Artemisa, where his family has been able to visit him for “15 minutes every 15 days,” says the former presenter.

To Pentón’s question about whether the prime minister is the one behind her brother’s arrest, María Victoria Gil reaffirms: “Yes, Marrero is the person in front and behind this whole trial against Alejandro Gil,” which she considers “a racket.” As for the crimes of corruption that are attributed to the former head of Economy, she adds, “Marrero has committed five times more.”

The confrontation between Gil — who comes from the civilian world — and Marrero — a colonel — evidences a possible operation mounted by the military-controlled Group of Business Administration (Gaesa), which would thus hold the former minister responsible for having affected its business and contributing to the widespread collapse of the economy with the Ordering Task*, the process of monetary and exchange unification that began on January 1, 2021.

For Vicky, it may come from somewhere else: “Perhaps my brother wanted to put a stop to Marrero’s shameful waste and disloyalty.” Without giving more details, she adds, “We know how corrupt that world is. What more proof of the corruption do you need, and how little does the Cuban government care about the people of Cuba that when you put them all together, they can’t even close one button on their guayaberas?”

*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] was a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy. 

Translated by Regina Anavy