Salvador Valdes Mesa Reproaches Cuban Producers for Selling ‘To Whoever Pays the Most’

Salvador Valdés Mesa considers it an “indiscipline” for producers to shy away from State contracts. / Estudios Revolución

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, April 17, 2024 — Salvador Valdés Mesa, annoyed, reproached Cuban producers on Tuesday for “getting used” to taking their products “to the highest bidder, the one who pays them the most.” The surprising argument encouraged a few days of bureaucratic meetings around the “Government’s projections to boost the economy” from which, despite having been informed profusely, no one made anything clear.

“The information given refers to a number of actions and identification of problems although it does not specify what they are or what they will be. He talks about a schedule that is not known. I was not satisfied with the information although what was discussed seems interesting,” a reader commented on the article published this Monday in Cubadebate about Manuel Marrero’s meeting with the Council of State.

The article was a string of figures about detected problems, implemented actions, productive programs, with not a single explanation of them. “The implementation of the projections and the advances require verifiable results. I don’t doubt that they exist but in this article I can’t find them,” was another of the many complaints that appeared in the comments.

“The implementation of the projections and the advances require verifiable results. I don’t doubt that they exist but in this article I can’t find them”

This Wednesday, the official press is once again dedicated to the same issue, although this time it is the consequent meeting of the prime minister with the provincial governors to transfer the content of the previous day. The curious article finished with the discomfort of Valdés Mesa over the fact that the farmers don’t want to contract with the State, to the point of considering it a personal affront if they seek someone who pays better. continue reading

“There are indisciplines that are becoming habits. It makes me mad, and we have to be more strict about ordering, organizing, controlling and disciplining. We have to reach everyone,” he scolded, after hearing Deputy Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Foncesa say that the demand for food is not covered due to the low level of contracts with the farmers.

“One of the causes is the lack of demand, of control, the preparation of the cadres and the lack of systems. Today the production rate for contracts is only 60% for the farmers who are hired. To that must be added the quality of that process,” he said, ignoring the insistent claims of the farmers, who complain not only about the low prices offered by the State but also the high levels of non-payment and the legal consequences – penalties – in case of not being able to comply with the agreements, something frequent due to lack of raw materials, fuels, fertilizers and even thefts.

At the end of the first quarter, all the provinces were “in decline” in the Housing program

Apart from this, the only data that surfaced this Tuesday was the negligible fulfillment of the housing program in which, at the end of the first quarter, all the provinces were “in decline.” According to the general director of the area, Dilaila Díaz Fernández, the plan to recover the housing deficit in 10 years has not progressed. The loss of housing capacity continues, and the construction of basic units has not been completed for three months. The proposal to use the native red clay for building has not been adopted, and reviving the production of marble for export was also planned.

The official also regretted that “the social and State microbrigades have not been activated as the main housing construction force,” a proposal by Ramiro Valdés just a year ago. Yesterday an angry Valdés Mesa urged the recovery of the movement created by Castro in 1971 and in force until the ’90s, based on the idea that homeless workers build their own houses.

As for the economy, which worries citizens so much, little could be known. Manuel Marrero said that there is “dispersion in the way the measures are being implemented” and that it is necessary to be more dynamic and hardcore. “We are lacking a strong hand in many places; we need to take exemplary measures in defense of our people,” he warned. It can be assumed that he was talking about corruption and the diversion of products.

The issues addressed were a priority for Cubans, from food production, to the “resizing” – euphemism for reducing – the State sector and the future Business Law and electronic payment systems, among others, but the explanations were, once again, null. “We are updating the action plan from the content, structure, program … to guarantee the active participation in its construction by the organizations, the Osde (Higher Organizations of Business Management) and the territorial governments, because no projection is alien to the functions and missions that we fulfill from our institutions,” said Mildrey Granadillo de la Torre, Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning, speaking without saying anything.

“We are missing a strong hand in many places; we need to take exemplary measures in defense of our people”

Marrero added that the problems detected must be identified and classified to see who can solve them, and he took advantage of the moment to divert responsibility to the smaller administrations: “The work of this structure, although I do not generalize it, in a large percentage is insufficient, very weak, because they are not taking advantage of all the powers that a Board of Directors has,” he said, specifically referring to the “battle against prices.”

He followed this by criticizing the provinces, in his opinion better attended to by the Government than by local leaders. “They are not getting into the communities, they do not meet with the people, there is inattention to the communities in many places, and this is experienced by several of the national leaders who visit a place, a community, and people take the opportunity to transfer the countless dissatisfactions they have, because they do not always find that space.”

In the meeting they also apparently talked about the reduction of the fiscal deficit, the development of the country’s business system and the integration of all economic actors, especially the private enterprises. Also about the advance of the maternal and child program and illegal mining. What was said? At the moment, it’s a mystery.

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.

The United States Has Processed 47 Cuban Rafters for Deportation So Far in April

The raft with 19 migrants was located on Monday by an air patrol / @CBPAMORegDirSE/X

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, April 16, 2024 — The United States Border Patrol recorded the arrival in Florida of 47 Cuban rafters between April 4 and 15. On Monday, the Coast Guard intercepted 19 migrants from the Island and handed them over for their deportation process, according to social networks.

The US authorities told the rafters that they would be returned to their country of origin. Similarly, they “they will not be able to enter the United States for a period of five years, in addition to not being eligible to apply for asylum.”

The raft was detected in an overflight by the authorities who patrol by air to “deter” migration. Last March, the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, ordered the deployment of 250 police officers and soldiers to the Florida Keys to arrest the rafters, mainly Haitians fleeing the violence. continue reading

“We do not tolerate illegal immigration, much less anarchy at the hands of illegal foreigners,” said Ron DeSantis

In that same month, DeSantis signed projects that tighten penalties against migrants. For example, law SB 1036, which increases prison sentences for people convicted of serious crimes after having been deported for illegal entry; law HB 1589, which prohibits irregular foreigners from obtaining a driving license, and law HB 1451, which prevents counties and municipalities in Florida from accepting identification cards issued by other jurisdictions to irregular foreigners.

“We do not tolerate illegal immigration, much less anarchy at the hands of illegal foreigners who, in the first place, should not be here,” the Republican said.

Between January and the first week of April, the acting head of the Border Patrol of the Miami Sector, Samuel Briggs, documented the arrival of 83 rafters. On his social networks he reported a group of 24 migrants from the Island who landed on March 19 in Duck Key, in Monroe County, Florida. Another contingent of 20 Cubans landed on the last day of February in the Florida Keys, while 25 more made landfall in January in Biscayne National Park.

The Governments of Havana and Washington have a bilateral agreement for all migrants arriving by sea to U.S. territory to be returned to the Island, and since April 2023 they resumed deportation flights for “inadmissible” people detained on the border with Mexico.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Lack of Transport Limits the Delivery of Salt From Las Tunas to the Rest of Cuba

Workers of the Puerto Padre saltworks load bags of the product from the processing plant. / Periódico 26

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, April 15, 2024 — The Las Tunas Puerto Padre saltworks employees are forced to walk 1.6 miles from the center of the mounds “where the sun burns mercilessly” to the factory several times a day due to the company’s lack of transport, said Periódico 26, the provincial newspaper, on Monday.

It is not the worst data for the “lost salt.” The salt pan produces so much that it could expand its goods beyond Las Tunas, Holguín and Villa Clara. If it does not do so, they say, it is “due to the lack of cargo transport to move the productions to their destinations,” a problem that has left the tables of the population understocked.

The saltworks of Puerto Padre is the second in the country in production, behind that of Caimanera, in Guantánamo. Annually, according to official accounts, it extracts about 80,000 tons, which converts into approximately 40,000 tons of salt, although the data are not entirely clear. The information published on Monday states that in 2023, the company produced more than 25,000 tons of salt, compared to the 40,000 that were announced in November of that year. continue reading

Annually, according to official accounts, it extracts about 80,000 tons of salt that converts into approximately 40,000 tons

For 2024, the plan is “similar”: to extract 32,000 tons of raw material to produce 16,500 of coarse salt that is destined for the Electrochemical Industry of Sagua la Grande, in Villa Clara, for animal feed, while 8,500 tons go to the basic basket and social consumption.

“Even in the midst of material and structural difficulties, workers hope to re-export the salt as they did years ago, given the quality of their product,” said Yenisleydys Domínguez Sánchez, technical chief of the factory.

The official said that at the Industry and Commerce Fair of 2023 they spoke with the representative of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) about the possibility of exporting the product. There was a potential customer, an electrochemical company, that might be interested, but for now it’s only an idea.

In February, the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy pointed out that up to 9,000 tons of salt were in the warehouses of Cuba’s factories without being able to be transferred. “Problems with transportation have affected the delivery to consumers,” the leader said.

This April, the official media Cubadebate published an extensive report in which it addressed the situation in depth. The experts then said that the geographical and climatic conditions of the Island complicated the obtaining of the product in certain conditions: rains dissolves the salt pans and hurricanes devastate the facilities. As a result, Cuba had to import salt last year.

The managers of the salt companies estimate the demand for the basic basket at 7,300 tons per quarter, which is done unevenly

The managers of the salt companies estimate the demand for the basic basket at 7,300 tons per quarter, which is done unevenly. “The distribution is made according to the number of people living in each household. Thus, in the first month of the quarter, which is March, 4,100 tons are distributed, and all families receive one bag of salt per nucleus,” said the director of the Ensal Salt Company, Jorge Luis Bell Álvarez.

“In the second month of the quarter, 2,800 tons are distributed, and only families that have more than four people receive salt. In the third and last month of the quarter, between 900 and 1,000 tons are distributed, and many families receive salt plus those who are owed a bag from the last distribution,” he added, speaking about the rest of the year.

In addition, the CEO of Geominsal, Fabio José Reimundo, announced several investments with which they aim to increase the production capacity from four to ten tons per hour of salt. “We have already bought most of the equipment, but we need another 1.5 million dollars. That would help us increase the production and transport of the salt,” he said.

The authorities affirmed that the objective is to prevent the population from spending 150 pesos on a bag of salt, although this newspaper found that in many areas of the capital up to 250 pesos are charged.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Havana’s May Day Rally Moves to the Anti-Imperialist Platform, a Venue One-Fifth the Size of the Plaza of the Revolution

The main event of the International Workers’ Day will not be held at the Plaza de la Revolución to save on fuel 

The Anti-imperialist Platform, which is completing remodeling works that began in 2019, is just over 13,000 square meters. / Cubadebate

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 15 April 2024 — The celebration of May 1, international workers’ day, once again dispenses with what was its usual venue for decades and moves to the Anti-imperialist Platform in Havana. The news was given by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, general secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Union (CTC) this Sunday, who pointed out fuel savings as the reason for moving the event.

He indicated that, “There, we will ratify that the Cuban working class will continue to pay particular attention to everything related to the recovery of the economy, efficiently taking advantage of the resources we have to increase the supply of goods and services, as a way to rescue the purchasing power of salaries and pensions.”

The leader of the CTC, also a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party, explained that the intention this year is to celebrate the date “with gatherings in squares, towns and work centers that do not require massive use of transportation”. For this central event in Havana, the authorities are counting on the assistance of 200,000 workers and their families, residents of the municipalities of Plaza, Old Havana, Centro Habana, Cerro and the closest areas of Playa. continue reading

The CTC leader explained that the intention this year is to celebrate the date “with gatherings in squares, towns and work centers that do not require massive use of transportation.”

“This is another scenario in which we have demonstrated the spirit of unity, rebellion and struggle of the Cuban Revolution,” he stressed in relation to the location of an event which, in most countries of the world, serves for workers to demand from Governments the labor rights that they do not yet enjoy.

This is the second consecutive year in which the authorities renounce the traditional celebration at the Plaza de la Revolución for economic reasons, after last year’s event transformed into a march along the Malecón and small events in other municipalities and cities. On that occasion, Guilarte de Nacimiento attributed it to “the complex economic situation (…) and, in particular, the limitations of fuel assurance.”

A year ago, the leader called to “reformulate the celebration, maintaining its commemoration, but in conditions of rationality and maximum austerity”, but it is not the only problem that is resolved with these changes. The Anti-imperialist Plaform’s size is just over 13,000 square meters, compared to the 72,000 square meters of the Plaza de la Revolución, one of the largest in the world. Reducing the stage to a fifth of its former size makes it possible to overshadow the lackluster nature of an event in which there are fewer and fewer attendees, despite that the vast majority have been transported to the capital.

In 2016, about 600,000 people attended the event, according to official data, of which 200,000 (the same total number expected for 2024) were self-employed. Even in 2018 there were about 800,000 participants.

But just a year later, the event had visibly deflated and the cancellation of bus routes used to carry the marchers did not go down well with the population. On that occasion, to make matters worse, there was not even a speech: Díaz-Canel, already President, did not speak; nor Raúl Castro, dressed in a military uniform and saluting; nor even Guilarte de Nacimiento, head of the only union allowed in the country. The only thing that was heard was a speech by the deceased Fidel Castro played through a loudspeaker.

The arrival of the pandemic forced the day’s celebration to be suspended in 2020 and 2021, until its return in 2022, when an attempt was made to recover its lost brilliance without achieving much, despite having mobilized all the buses, which Cubans had not seen in months.

For this year’s event, Guilarte de Nacimiento foresees “a moment of reaffirmation of the unrestricted support of the vast majority of the people for their social project”

For this year’s event, Guilarte de Nacimiento foresees “a moment of reaffirmation of the unrestricted support of the vast majority of the people for their social project.” In addition, he wants it to be used to “denounce the criminal nature of the [US] blockade*, the main obstacle to Cuba’s economic and social development.”

The Anti-Imperialist Platform, where an event in support of Palestine was also recently held, is about to wrap up remodeling works that have been dragging since 2019. The renovations have undergone a myriad of calamities, among them, a shortage of cement.  Last week, TV’s Canal Caribe dedicated a brief report explaining that the project is in its final phase, after native plants have been added and having completed the last modifications, though the exact day of the project’s completion is not known.

*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the US embargo. Originally imposed in 1962, the embargo, although modified from time to time, is still in force.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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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.

Cuba: The Head of Comunales de Santa Clara Was Arrested for Reselling Garbage Containers

The trash collection containers were resold for up to 15,000 pesos, reported the official Fuerza del Pueblo website.

Citizens arrested for the diversion of garbage cans / Collage

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, April 15, 2024 — The head of Comunales de Santa Clara, in Villa Clara, has been arrested for diverting garbage collection cans for resale in the informal market. According to the state Fuerza del Pueblo page on Facebook, the official, Dianel García, was arrested along with three other individuals who collaborated with him.

The information indicates that García provided the containers to someone named Jorge Luis, presumably one of the detainees, who marketed them in the informal market at 12,500 pesos. Another citizen, whom they name as Felix, and his son-in-law, whose identity they do not reveal, sold them for 15,000 pesos. Fuerza del Pueblo points out that the origin of the containers is being investigated and if others are involved.

Among the many comments that the publication received, that of user Nancy Alemán stands out, who indicates that she resides in Santa Clara and works in Communal Services. “These garbage containers were stolen in areas of the Pastorita and XX Anniversary Buildings. I hope that the police will act on this case,” she says. continue reading

“Yes, there are containers. They should control the garbage more so that these things don’t happen”

Another citizen, Omar González Rojo, uploaded a photo showing a mountain of garbage in the middle of the street. “Look, we have gone through all the channels to solve the problem of the micro landfill on Peña Blanca Street [in Santa Clara], and they tell us that they don’t have any containers. Where did they go? Yes, there are containers, and they should control them more so that these things don’t happen. Isa’s Alley is still waiting for a dumpster to help the community,” he said.

Several users also commented that the garbage cans are bought by the so-called plastic collectors. After melting them, they use plastic to make various items: hangers for clothes, food storage containers (pots or storage containers) and broomsticks, which they then market.

The situation of solid waste collection throughout the Island is critical. On repeated occasions 14ymedio has reported the shortage of fuel and measures to collect garbage and the proliferation of landfills.

The residents of Playa and Luyanó have contacted, more than once, this newspaper to denounce the serious situation of the garbage dumps which smell bad and are overrun with rats. Another risk is that the mountains of garbage are being set on fire, causing serious consequences to the community.

On March 12, the official newspaper Escambray published that in Sancti Spíritus, the lack of personnel to collect the garbage is turning the province into a giant landfill. They also do not have enough transport: only eight of the 21 vehicles and none of their 25 tractors operate.

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.

Vietnam Donates 1,650 Tons of Rice to Cuba

Díaz Canel met with the first deputy minister of Vietnam, Tran Luu Quang, who has spent two days on an official visit to Cuba / Revolution Studies

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, April 16, 2024 — Cuba and Vietnam agreed on Monday to a protocol that covers more than 50 new agreements to strengthen bilateral cooperation in numerous sectors of the economy, trade, investment and other areas, such as education and science. The document is the result of the 41st Intergovernmental Commission for bilateral economic and scientific-technical collaboration, finalized by the first deputy ministers of Vietnam, Tran Luu Quang, and Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz.

“The occasion is propitious to reiterate the most sincere gratitude from the Communist Party of Cuba for the Government for Vietnam’s donation of 1,640 tons of rice, which will soon arrive in our country,” said Cabrisas, who is also head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment.

The arrival of the product has been celebrated by all the senior officials of the Government, starting with the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero. “I want to thank you on behalf of the Party, the Government and the people of Cuba for the announcement of the new donation of rice for our country. It is an issue that has a lot of impact for the people in this complex moment that we are going through and is also part of that sensitivity that the Vietnamese leaders have had to contribute to the food sovereignty of our country,” he added during his meeting with Tran Luu Quang. continue reading

“It is an issue that has a lot of impact for the people in this complex moment that we are going through and is also part of that sensitivity that the Vietnamese leaders have had

Also in the appointment with the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reference was made to the donation, as well as to a credit granted for the purchase of the grain – “a very important gesture for us,” he said – which has guaranteed the distribution of the rice for several months through the family basket.

Although not enough to solve the demand for a fundamental product in the Cuban diet, free shipments of Vietnamese rice are common. In 2023, the official press announced at least three shipments, one of 5,000 tons in May, another of 2,000 in September and 1,200 at the end of October, in addition to the cooperation for grain production until 2025.

However, the collaboration of Vietnam’s technicians in the municipality of La Sierpe, in Sancti Spíritus, failed. The Asian professionals, who had come to Cuba 20 years earlier with equipment and machinery, never achieved the expected returns and ended up departing the Island in mid-2022, leaving the project mortally wounded.

Despite this, Díaz-Canel praised “the sensitivity and support of Vietnamese entrepreneurship, which has bet on its business in Cuba, despite all the financial difficulties” and reflected on its common history. “We are two nations that have heroically confronted our enemies; we are two nations committed to socialist construction; we are two nations that respect, love and admire each other,” the president said.

The rest of the agreements extend to all kinds of areas: from agriculture and fishing to biotechnology, health, construction, transport, finance, science, technology and environment; from culture, tourism, sports and education to industry, energy and mines; from information, communications, higher education and finance to customs, work, social security and justice.

“We are two nations that have heroically confronted our enemies; we are two nations committed to socialist construction”

In addition, it was agreed to promote the development of Vietnamese investment projects in Cuba, mainly those established in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).

Cabrisas highlighted the purpose of increasing commercial exchanges with Vietnam on a “mutually beneficial” basis and contributing so that Vietnamese companies invest in priority sectors, such as agribusiness, tourism and renewable energies.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Residents in Manzanillo, Cuba, Receive Water Every 30 Days, and a Part Is Lost Due to Leaks

Puddles under the new plastic pipe are accumulating and now begin to fill with foam, stones and grasses / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Matos, Manzanillo (Granma province), April 11, 2024 — With orders from the municipal company Aqueduct, a backhoe opened a long ditch in the central Martí Street, in the port city of Manzanillo. The objective: to install a new central pipe to replace the old one, which had multiple leaks. But the cure, say the neighbors, given the ditch and debris that make the street impassable – is worse than the disease. In its path, the vehicle not only tore off the pavement and the remains of the old pipe but also broke the secondary connections that take water to the houses. Asked by 14ymedio, the workers brush it off: “Those  connections aren’t a priority; we’ll see what to do with them later.”

According to the workers, “a lot of water is lost in the main pipes,” which is why the State managers have made their replacement an objective. “We have positioned ourselves to eliminate the leaks so as not to lose water in the pumping process,” they explain.

Commenting on the shortage, the government’s Round Table TV program said this Wednesday that the water cycle – the frequency with which it is pumped into homes – is 10 days. The reality, however, is that the water is arriving once a month. The interval is painful and forces families to carry the water or, if the pocket book allows, to buy it. The replacement of the connection on Martí and other streets in the city center complicates the situation and has caused multiple complaints in the neighborhood.

The backhoe not only ripped off the pavement and the remains of the old pipe but also broke the secondary connections / 14ymedio

“They finished with the pipes of all the houses,” says Orlando, 47, while pointing to small tunnels on both sides of the ditch. The connections for each household passed through there, and in many of them you can still see fragments of the pipe. “I don’t know what problem they solved. The main continue reading

pipe water keeps leaking and doesn’t get to us,” he says. In fact, puddles are accumulating under the new plastic pipe and are now beginning to fill with foam, stones and grass. The neighbors know what they have to do until the arrangement is finished: “Carry water,” says Magaly, a housewife and resident of Martí Street. What many fear, she adds, is that the State will delay the solution of the problem and, in the long run, those who live there will have to solve it.

Nearby, at a neighbor’s house with a well, a group of boys gathers around the pump to fill gallon-jars and bottles, which they then transport back to their homes in construction trucks.

“They haven’t told us when they are going to redo what they have destroyed. As prices are today, it is impossible for us to fix this with our own means,” he says. Others look at the plastic structure with suspicion and predict little future. “There are still leaks there,” they insist, among the mountains of excavated earth that have already been blocking traffic on Martí for several days.

The neighbors know what they’ll have to do until the arrangement is finished: carry water / 14ymedio

The water situation, fueled by the terrible state of the pipes and the inefficiency of the Government, goes from one end of the Island to the other. The crisis does not reveal any leader, to whom – desperate for the lack of supply – the neighbors can come in the first place. In Santa Fe, one of the poorest neighborhoods of Guanabacoa, in Havana, officials do not agree on the reasons for the shortage. From the drought of the reservoirs to the pollution of the water, they spare no excuse for those who demand an explanation. In the mouths of leaders in whom no one believes, multiple causes are attributed to the same phenomenon. In the hard way, families have learned that the leaders only react when the same vessels they use to conserve water resonate during a cacerolazo*.

The hope of many is the water trucks, which the State sends sporadically and without the necessary equipment to pump to the tanks that families usually install on the second floors. The elderly of the neighborhood go to the tanker truck, without hoses, and carry what they can as they can, because they don’t want to resign themselves – neighbors told this newspaper – to “drinking from the puddles.”

In the case of Santa Fe, water comes more frequently, but the service is unstable. It’s “abusive,” the neighbors explain, that the State sends only one pipe for a whole block. From Santa Fe, on the outskirts of Havana, to the eastern municipality of Manzanillo, the feeling is unanimous: “Their pipe is worn out”

*Translator’s note: A common form of protest in Latin America where people beat on pots and pans

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Only Half of the Cuban Population Receives Water in Adequate Condition

4,500 people, spread over five rural communities in the municipality of Yaguajay, have to resort to costly water trucks or buckets. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Madrid, 11 April 2024 — Barely 48% of the Cuban population receives water daily in conditions of quality, availability and accessibility. Despite the fact that the Government is committed by article 76 of the Constitution, which establishes that all people have the right to it and obliges the State to “create the conditions to guarantee access,” only 5,400,035 Cubans of the 11,089,511 who, according to official statistics, resided on the Island in 2022, enjoyed this human right.

The official media Cubadebate has convened for this Thursday at 10 a.m. an open forum in which readers are invited to leave their impressions, complaints and claims on this subject. There is no expectation of complacency; after the publication last March of a report on the water supply situation in Cuba, protests rained down on the newspaper.

To prepare the ground, State TV’s Round Table program – produced by Ideas Multimedios, the same group mentioned in Cubadebate – reviewed on Wednesday some indicators that make clear the bleak panorama. In part: 79.4% of the population has a supply, a total of 8.8 million people – always taking into account the official population data. Of these, 94.8% have intra-home service, 5% have reliable water trucks and 0.07% have easily accessible sources. continue reading

Some 94.8% have intra-home service, 5% have reliable water trucks and 0.07% have easily accessible sources

But in turn, we must break down the data of those who have service in their home, the “privileged,” which amounts to just over 8.3 million people; divided among those who receive it daily, just over 4 million; every other day, 2.1 million; in cycles of three to nine days, 1.6 million people; and, finally, the 566,000 who have it every ten days or more.

But there is still a worse rung on the ladder than the latter, those who do not have any supply service. That group is made up of 535,876 people, 6.1% of the population, who in turn are divided among those who do not have it because of: an “eventuality” (299,000); those with a service cycle greater than 7 days (386,530); those affected by catchment works (79,681); lack of electricity (4,110); and, finally, the large group: those who receive it intermittently in water trucks: 475,404 inhabitants who have water in periods longer than 15 days.

José Antonio Hernández Álvarez, president of the OSDE Agua y Saneamiento, offered all these data in last night’s broadcast and gave details about what the plans are to solve such a serious situation. “The main problems are in the eastern areas of the country, while in the center we have difficulties, especially in some mountainous territories and in the city of Santa Clara. Right now, the number of people affected in Cuba is around 500,000, although well below what was reported at other times.”

According to his explanation, there are three programs underway with investment – no figures provided – to replace the pumping equipment, improve the measurement and change the energy matrix.

“The main problems are in the eastern areas of the country, while in the center we have difficulties, especially in some mountainous territories and in the city of Santa Clara”

The official devoted part of his screen time to regretting that the water supply depends so much on electrical energy and only a few pumping systems have generators. “These systems are located in densely populated areas, but in recent years they have worsened due to their exploitation and present important problems related to the electricity supply,” he said.

Hernández Álvarez explained that these systems, unlike electricity, take hours to recover after a blackout, since the pipes must be filled first and then the pressure rises and is distributed over distances of several kilometers, which complicates the situation. To alleviate this, batteries have been bought that support the generators and that, in his opinion, have moderately improved the problem.

Despite this, the solutions seem to come more from outside, since the official spoke of the “acquisition of pumping equipment,” the response that produces the most impact. “So far, 1,063 pumps have arrived, and we have already installed 803 of them in several areas of Cuba. The arrival of other equipment is expected in the coming months. In addition, we have had success in recovering 733 pieces of traditional pumping equipment since the previous year.”

One of the most common reproaches of citizens is that, since the Ordering Task*, the price of water has risen seven times, an excessive cost for the terrible service received. Hernández Álvarez gave signs of understanding the annoyance but argued that the cost for the entity has increased 16 times and for fuel, 19 times.

“This results in a real cost of more than 200 pesos, while the population only pays about 7 pesos

“The cost of one cubic meter of water is around 70 pesos, and one person consumes approximately three cubic meters. This results in a real cost of more than 200 pesos, while the population only pays about 7 pesos. This affects the company’s liquidity, and at the end of February there are nine companies that are registering losses,” he added.

The conglomerate, created in 2009 and employing about 24,000 workers, was made up of 29 companies of which 24 were in charge of water and sanitation and five of construction activities. Since 2022, two international economic associations, two subsidiary companies and state-run private companies have joined them, one of which “has the task of repairing the sanitary lines inside the homes.”

Leonel Díaz Hernández, general director of the Water Company of Havana, was there to talk about the specific situation of the capital, which has experienced many problems in recent weeks that improved, he said, after the rains at the end of March.

“We continue with the projects related to the use of renewable energy sources, and in the coming months we will acquire two other power generators from solar panels, while we introduce other equipment such as water trucks that work with this type of energy,” he added.

In 2020, the Mission of Cuba to the United Nations responded in writing to a note from the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment in which he asked about “human rights and related relations related to water pollution, water scarcity and floods.”

In it, the regime gave all kinds of details about the many measures (plans, programs, legislative incorporations, etc.) taken by the Government to provide water to the population and thus guarantee a service that in 2010 the UN declared “essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” However, the last three paragraphs were dedicated to holding the United States responsible for limiting the Island’s resources, and this time not because of the “blockade” but “due to the illegal usurpation of our territory by the United States Government, with the imposition, since 1903, of a naval base in the province of Guantánamo.”

The text detailed: “One of the consequences of this illegal usurpation for the full enjoyment of the right to water and sanitation is that we cannot comprehensively manage the surface and groundwater that form in the mountains of the Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo provinces because they conclude their journey in the occupied area.”

*Translator’s note:  The Ordering Task was a collection of measures that included eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) 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

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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.

Cubans, Between the Battle of Ideas and the Cultural Battle

The majority of Cuba’s young people — those who left and those who stayed — are no longer interested in mass rallies

Almost all the speakers whom Fidel Castro thrust into stardom later faded under the brightness of the four stars on his little brother Raúl’s shoulder straps / Centro Fidel Castro

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, 13 April 2024, Madrid — Those open mass rallies in which Hassan Pérez Casabona stunned the crowds with his rapid-fire barrage of words are still fresh in the minds of many Cubans. At the end of each Saturday, the streets were a sea of trampled flags, empty plastic bottles and chewed-up chicken bones. People went home not understanding why these events were called “open.” In reality, they were a closed circuit in which every speaker just repeated what the previous one had said. A highly rehearsed monologue of multiple voices, it was the culmination of the Castro liturgy. Almost all the speakers whom Fidel Castro had thrust into stardom later faded under the brightness of the four stars on his little brother Raúl’s shoulder straps.

The vast majority fell into disgrace. For example, Otto Ribero, the former first secretary of the Young Communist League and vice president of the Council of Ministers went into a drunken, downward spiral before going through a public catharsis on Facebook. He proudly confessed on that platform to having personally signed the regulation preventing Cubans from leaving the island even though his children were already living overseas. Never before has the expression “other people’s shame” made more sense. That poor devil was full of praise for his executioners from the Ministry of the Interior, thanking them for every slap in the face, every kick in the groin.

Hassan Pérez Casabona managed to survive by sneaking away, lowering his profile by retreating into the basement

Hassan Pérez Casabona managed to survive by sneaking away, lowering his profile by retreating into the basement. He emerged two weeks ago in an appearance on the Venezuelan state television network Telesur, spouting the same rhetoric as before but now breathing like someone with chronic continue reading

asthma. He appeared gray and gaunt but with a belly acquired in the Communist Party Central Committee dining rooms. Hassan’s tongue has lost its former horsepower, which once allowed him to go from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. Instead, he attempted to distract the interviewer with quick hand gestures like those used by katas in Shotei-style karate.

Over a five-year period, dozens of these rallies were held, wasting the flow of oil that Hugo Chávez had given us. The last one took place on March 12, 2005, in Caimanera, thus concluding the cycle of a larger project: the Battle of Ideas. The emperor’s last act of madness worked like a temporary suppository. For five years the country had been entertained by demands for the return of a shipwrecked boy and the release of five would-be spies. From time to time Díaz-Canel tries to resurrect this ethos but, with no causes of his own, he has to inspire people by pretending to be Palestinian.

The majority of Cuba’s young people — those who left and those who stayed — are no longer interested in mass rallies. However, some have enthusiastically signed up for a new crusade: the Cultural Battle. Now the rhetoric is coming from the other end of the spectrum. Dozens of Cuban social media users spout paleo-conservative slogans with religious zeal. Some have become shepherds  — instructing their flocks in the theories of some Austrian economist — with the same effusiveness with which others previously indoctrinated us with Marxist ideas. New mirror-images of Otto and Hassan have emerged, trying to impose absolute truths, worshiping new commanders-in-chief, or shouting “we don’t want them, we don’t need them” at those who do not think like them.

New mirror-images of Otto and Hassan have emerged, trying to impose absolute truths

First of all, I consider the ideology of these Cubans to be as valid as that of anyone else. I also believe they have every right in the world to passionately defend it with arguments, to choose the leaders they prefer, to share beliefs as a group, to participate in whatever public discussion they desire and even to win out in the end. However, the alarm bells go off when democracy stops making sense for them, when they reject pluralism or when they try to present themselves as the only possible option in a future Cuba. We have suffered from authoritarian thinking for too long. The best antidote to decades of dictatorship would be a diversity of opinions, a search for consensus between opposing views, and political alternatives.

Believing that we are right and everyone else is wrong is as human as blushing. But killing the tyrant we carry within us is essential to overcoming this long totalitarian period and building something truly different. Nothing is more boring than a meeting between those who think the same way and share the same opinions. Nothing stagnates a country more than the imposition of a single doctrine. That most beautiful word, freedom, should not be limited to discussions about economic freedom. It has to also be about freedom of mind and body.

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Ceballos, the Declining Company That Tries To Impress the Cuban Government

After four years “without honoring its commitments,” the fruit exporter of Ciego de Ávila has little success

In 2022 Ceballos had losses of 70 million pesos and another 75 million were stolen or wasted / Invasor

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 13 April 2024 —   It is rare for the official press to retreat in its predictions of success for a state-owned company. But the collapse of the exports of the agro-industrial Ceballos, in Ciego de Ávila, made Invasor admit this Saturday that the entity had not been able to survive the “blow to the chin” that was given to it by the Ordering Task* in 2021.

Since then, when 426 state companies were ruined by the umpteenth recipe for economic salvation for the Island, the provincial newspaper of the Communist Party put its hands in the fire in favor of Ceballos. “But they didn’t just end that period in the red but also in 2022,” it now says, when the managers struggle – with average success – to return to the “path of efficiency.”

The “very adjusted mathematics” with which Ceballos returns to the game is a bad omen  

The “very adjusted mathematics” with which Ceballos returns to the game is a bad omen: in 2022 they reported 70 million pesos in losses, and another 75 million were stolen or wasted, information that Invasor hides after a verbal pirouette: they didn’t have the money, and “at the time, the accounting by the country’s management had the consequent impacts.” continue reading

The Government was not happy about the waste, judging by the litany of obstacles it imposed on the company in 2023. To this was added the failure to export a shipment of coal that no international buyer wanted, and that was “stalled” in Mariel while Ceballos managers saw a multitude of “competitors with less expensive products” closing deals abroad.

Havana also did not allow them to enter the group of companies that could carry out transactions enjoying an exchange rate of 120 pesos for a dollar, a decision that the managers described as “contradictory,” Ceballos being “a leader of the Avileño exporting pole.” The solution was to cut heads: from 12 floors they went to eight; they fired workers in charge of “indirect work” and “centralized resources” to tackle corruption.

From October to February there were 310 employees of Ceballos, most of them professionals or directly involved with production / Invasor

A few days ago, “after four years without honoring their commitments,” they achieved a figure of which they are proud: 1.1 million pesos, in terms of foreign sales of coal, hot pepper and mango puree. They regained, they say, the confidence of the Government, which allowed the French Development Agency to approve the delivery of 4.9 million pesos this year to buy supplies that have not yet arrived. Their star product: the pineapple, on whose success they have bet everything.

Its “young general director,” Exnier González, regrets that 60% of its workers are old and 30% are women, who “look for options other than strong field work under the sun.” Many have left for “other sectors that offer greater benefits, such as private forms of management.” From October to February, there were 310 employees of Ceballos, most of them professionals or directly involved with the production.

Invasor again resorts to euphemisms to say that, unlike what happens with the leaders, they can’t afford to pay for certain employees, who must leave: “The competition is very unequal, because while the state entity obeys control systems that do not allow it to overcome certain limits in the formation of wages, the private sector can increase payments from the inflation of the sales and marketing prices, an aspect of great weight when the real possibility of satisfying the basic needs of the worker and his family is relevant.”

González’s plan: a “dignification and rescue program” that will work by offering the worker food and future “payment systems that respond to the increase in production.” All this appears, for the time being, on paper. No decisions have been made, and the manager admits that he is “still far from compensated for his needs.”

Of those 3,170 gallons of fuel that the entity received, the figure fell drastically to about 185   

Now, the head of Ceballos demands from the Government “a little more fuel.” “Of those 3,170 gallons that the entity received in times of bonanza and that literally allowed ’bathing in oil’, the figure dropped drastically to about 185 in most days and become a real headache when it came to allocating them,” the newspaper explains.

Resentful, with a small workforce and little money – a business system that González calls, with optimism, “a new type” – Ceballos has 27,182 acres at its disposal over which it is difficult to “maintain control.” It is “a changing scenario, exposed to multiple factors, where there are no certainties of resources,” says the newspaper.

The truth is that, compared to the agro-industrial entities of neighboring provinces, Ceballos is almost a successful company. In Sancti Spíritus, for example, the official press activated the alarms this Saturday for the catastrophic collapse of potato production. In an article of consolation for the losses, Escambray revealed the magnitude of the failure: the total production amounted to 1,392,881 pounds of potato, “far below what was expected.” Conclusion: the tuber is not expected to “reach everyone in the province,” who are now accustomed – like most Cubans – to its intermittency.

*Translator’s note: The Ordering Task was a collection of measures that included eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) 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
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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.

The Hard Life of a Cuban ‘Mule’ to Supply her Business

María travels to Guyana, Russia, Peru, Colombia or Venezuela to sell Cuban products and buy as cheaply as possible for her store in Camajuaní

Cubans who travel to Caracas look for shops that offer good prices / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Yankiel Gutiérrez Faife, Camajauní (Villa Clara Province, Cuba), 13 April 2024 — At age 42, María does not allow herself to waste one second. She gets up at 7:30 am, prepares breakfast for her children and runs to open her store, “L & B”, on Camajuaní Boulevard. With the trips she makes as a mule to different countries – bringing clothes, shoes and perfumes to Cuba and carrying rum, tobacco and wines to other destinations – she has managed to set up a business that she tries to keep well stocked.

Her years of experience as an entrepreneur have earned her a reputation as one of the best business people in the area and she has gained a fairly loyal clientele, who trusts her to purchase quality products.

Before her apparent success, however, María had to make many sacrifices and work very hard. A few years ago, she found the opportunity to travel to several countries and buy wholesale merchandise to resell in Camajuaní. This idea came accompanied by her desire to start her own business, and she had to save every penny for months to pay for tickets and have money for purchases.

In the La Hoyada market you can buy cheap clothes such as overalls, coats and shorts for 5 dollars each / 14ymedio

After going once to Guyana (in 2017), twice to Russia (in 2018), three times to Peru (in 2019) and two more times to Colombia (in 2022), this year she left for Venezuela with a detailed list of what she was looking for: blouses, pants, shirts, perfumes, appliances and everything that is difficult to find in Cuba or is in high demand. continue reading

Through Facebook groups she found accommodations for the four nights she was in Caracas and, although the place was not in very good condition, she decided to stay with a Cuban residing in Venezuela who rents rooms and offers an affordable rate.

At 20 dollars a night for a room, the price also covered breakfast, lunch, and shuttle service to and from the airport was available to her. However, those days she had to take the nine-kilometer journey by buseta, the Venezuelan bus, to go to the stores.

María knows that on this type of trip she must moderate her expenses and not waste money, since the increase in the price of the dollar in Cuba reduces the economic benefit that the merchandise she acquires gives her. However, she always looks for attractive items that are not on her list and that might interest her clients.

In Caracas, she explored shops and markets in search of the best deals, which are not difficult to find. The shops that offer good prices, and where Cubans go, are often managed by Chileans, Colombians, Chinese, Turks and Arabs. Each seller has their own trick, and travelers like María create their own map of the places that can be approached and which ones will try to overcharge.

At the La Hoyada market, for example, she can buy cheap clothes: overalls, coats and shorts for $5 each, or three sweaters for $10. On Sabana Grande Boulevard, however, it is better to buy shoes. There you can find brands popular among young people, such as Jordan, New Balance, Nike and Adidas at bargain prices, between 15 and 35 dollars, while the originals can cost up to 200 dollars.

Those days, María had to travel nine kilometers from the stores to the rental at her expense in a ‘buseta’ / 14ymedio

One goes to Arab stores in search of fragrances. Perfumes that are popular among customers, and that are highly valued in Cuba, can be found for up to a dollar. On the other hand, in Chinese stores it is better to buy cosmetics and jewelry.

In the streets surrounding the Cemetery Market there are also many different things to buy: sets of sheets for 8 dollars, mixers for 15, Reina-brand pots for 50, fans for 12, hair dryers for 10, irons for 20, and they are sold by Turkish merchants.

After the last search, and after loading the merchandise into two 23-kilogram suitcases, María does not know if she will ever repeat the journey again. The trip back to Cuba is full of anxiety and stress, especially when passing through the eyes of airport officials and customs restrictions. At times, she recounts, she has been mistreated, or, in addition they have made her lose part of the merchandise.

Once the controls have been cleared comes the “hardest” part: selling the products in Camajuaní.  Arranging the goods on display, making calculations and examining the goods – which sometimes arrive in poor condition – do not always guarantee success.  María knows that she competes with mipymes (MSMEs) and other Camajuaní merchants who, like her, travel and sell for a living.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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The Cuban Regime Erases ‘Barbarroja’ from State Security History

Manuel Piñeiro died in strange circumstances while preparing his autobiography

Comandante Manuel Piñeiro, known as ‘Barbarroja’ / La Pupila Asombrada

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, 26 March 2024, Havana — This Tuesday, not a single official newspaper alluded, in the eulogies dedicated to the anniversary of State Security, to its most famous founder, Commander Manuel Piñeiro, known as Barbarroja. On the other hand, there are many tributes to the “true heroes of silence” – such as centenarian Julio Camacho Aguilera and Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, two incombustibles – and reports of numerous awards to active agents in various provinces.

This was the case of a group of ten G2 officers in Sancti Spíritus who received medals for their work as “outstanding combatants” in surveillance at the local level. Of those decorated, only three colonels “with high responsibilities” in State Security allowed themselves to be photographed and identified. In a speech by Julio Jiménez, from the provincial bureau of the Communist Party, there were quotes from Fidel and Raúl Castro, in addition to Ramiro Valdés, but Piñeiro was also omitted.

Crossed out of official history and having died in suspicious circumstances – an alleged accident while driving his own car– in 1998, Fidel Castro’s spy chief also did not find his place in the delirious history of the regime’s counterintelligence published by Cubadebate and the official state newspaper Granma, which seeks its antecedents in none other than the War of Independence of 1895. Back then, a certain “agent Luis” received instructions from José Martí to develop “original methods” to outwit Spanish intelligence.

 Having the Military Leader leave the Sierra Maestra unharmed was “the most important mission” of a group of agents who, in the long run, constituted the Rebel Intelligence.

After multiple historical ramblings – which also turned Julio Antonio Mella and Carlos Baliño, among others, into spies – Cubadebate insists that State Security meant, in its origins, the security of one man: (Fidel) Castro. That the leader left the Sierra Maestra unharmed was “the most important mission” of a group of agents who, in the long run, constituted the Rebel Intelligence and its “peasant observation service,” in charge of interrogating guajiros (rural farmers) suspected of collaborating with Fulgencio Batista. continue reading

Although Barbarroja – who was part of the column led by Fidel Castro himself and then by his brother Raúl – had a leading role, before and after 1959, in the creation of Cuban espionage bodies, the regime’s role in the infiltration of Batista’s troops.

The Cubadebate text alludes to other “protagonists” of the State Security foundation, such as René de los Santos Ponce, Camilo Cienfuegos – to whom it attributes the dismantling of Batista’s espionage bodies – and Ramiro Valdés, Prime Minister of the Interior, of whom Piñeiro was vice minister.

The regime describes Havana’s Columbia Camp as an “idyllic residence surrounded by trees” where Castro’s spies set up their headquarters, later moved to the centrally located Fifth Avenue in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana, under the command of Colomé Ibarra.

After multiple historical ramblings, Cubadebate insists that State Security meant, in its origins, the security of one man: (Fidel) Castro 

In the eyes of Granma, the Army and State Security are “twin brothers” of the regime, “under the direct attention of Fidel and Raúl.” It asserts that 108 Cuban spies have died in the exercise of their profession and that thousands more have neutralized “terrorist plans” and “subversive activities” within the Island.

The writing concludes with a warning. State Security currently remains “vigilant”, especially on social networks and “especially” around young people. Infiltrators, alleges Granma, quoting Fidel Castro, “have the very bitter task of passing themselves off as counterrevolutionaries to serve the Revolution.”

This past February 8, Cuban Television very discreetly premiered a documentary by Rebeca Chávez dedicated to Piñeiro. The audiovisual piece, titled I’m Still Barbarroja, was not published – as is usual with the content of its programming – by the Educational Channel on YouTube.

Chávez, to whom Cuban counterintelligence has previously offered unpublished recordings (those of the self-incrimination of poet Heberto Padilla, for example), used fragments of an interview that Barbarroja gave to CNN in 1997, shortly before he died. The material describes Piñeiro’s role in the kidnapping of several US Marines – the so-called Anti-Aircraft Operation of 1958 – and alludes to the time he received training from the KGB, under the false name of Celestino Martínez, in the Soviet Union.

State Security continues “keeping a close watch” currently, above all on social networks and “especially” near young people.

Videos of the former head of the Departmento América of the Communist Party had not appeared on national television since 2023, when cultural commissioner Iroel Sánchez tried to rehabilitate him on his program La Pupila Asombrada for the 25th anniversary of his death. His biographical sketch published by the official encyclopedia Ecured – another Sánchez project – suggests that he stepped away from political life in 1997 to undertake “with great intensity and enthusiasm” an autobiography that has never been published.

The son of wealthy Galicians – his father was the manager of the Bacardí Rum Factory – he studied at Columbia University, in New York, and collaborated with Castro from the beginning of the July 26 Movement. Bloodthirsty during the trials against former officers of Batista’s Army, starting in the 1960s he took to sowing guerrilla movements throughout Latin America and Africa, devised from Havana.

He was close to senior officials of the German Stasi and the Soviet KGB, whose structure inspired the Cuban State Security. The official version of his death states that he “crashed into a tree while driving to his house, in the middle of an episode of diabetes.” The “loss of consciousness” occurred while he was returning from a reception at the Mexican Embassy in Havana, although Ecured omits the party, and insists that he had previously participated “in a tribute and commemoration” to the second Eastern Front.

Translated by Norma Whiting

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In Cuba Couriers Have a New Scam To Sell Cooking Gas Cylinders

Sonia explains how the ‘balita’ — gas canister — business works in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba

The business is more effective if the courier has more balitas (cooking gas cylinders) / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spíritus, 13 April 2024 — The first time the seller brought Sonia a balita (cooking gas cylinder) that wasn’t hers, so that she “could cook for a few days,” she was uncomfortable but accepted it. A resident of Sancti Spíritus, retired, with two grandchildren for whom she frequently prepares lunch, it took her a while to understand how the “business” worked: postponing the deadline for returning the deposit – and with a smile on his face – the courier used the empty cylinder to sell gas on his own. The business is more effective the more cylinders the courier has. If the cycle is kept alive, the cylinders go from hand to hand, and the dealer will be able to shorten the waiting times and attract less attention from his customers. If something fails, there are always “tricks,” Sonia explains, like telling a sob story so that the person doesn’t lose patience.

When this happens, even the most skillful of dealers must get their act together and knock on all the doors. They have to go to the point of sale, to state employees or to emergency reserves, such as the provisional balita that Sonia received. Time is, like in no other profession, gold.

“A neighbor explained to me what was happening, and I changed couriers,” says Sonia. “He started well. He arrived at eleven in the morning and returned with the balita at eleven thirty. But it began to take longer and longer, until he brought me that one from his home. I told my neighbor, and what happened happened.” continue reading

“He started well. He arrived at eleven in the morning and returned with the balita at eleven thirty. But it began to take longer and longer”

Now, she hopes that the person who is filling his orders will not fail him. The last time she went to look for the gas herself – several days ago – using the Ticket application, the experience in line was overwhelming. “I returned with a headache,” she says. She had booked an appointment with the application since the beginning of February.

Her pension of just over 2,000 pesos is not enough for Sonia to pay a “high rank” courier, who for 1,000 pesos makes his way quietly in the line and, through contacts, gets a privileged position. The line was a “disgrace, a disaster,” says Sonia, who saw twenty people ahead of her who, she knew, had already taken their turns a few days before.

“They sold 20 places in line ‘on the left’ and gave them the balitas. The line, if you do it by Ticket, doesn’t move. Where did they get those 20 positions from, if I bought my turn in February?” she asks. Between the crowd and the corruption, Sonia’s case is frequent among Cubans who must go through official channels – or by “economic” means, such as hiring cheaper and unreliable couriers – if they want to acquire a gas cylinder.

If they are lucky they will make money, but often even that is not enough. On the other hand, in Holguín, 14ymedio found, the lines to buy gas are formed in the usual way: you buy on a first-come, first-served basis. Virtual platforms have been inactive for more than a month.

But from Pinar del Río to Guantánamo, the same law prevails: fighting for a turn in line is only the first step. Then comes the sun – more inclement as the summer approaches – and the endless wait among overwhelmed young and elderly people who threaten to faint at any moment.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Cuba One Egg, a Common Food, Now Costs More Than the Daily Pension of a Retiree

Eggs cost 3,500 pesos per carton of 30 in the informal market, compared to 2,000 a year ago

The shortage of eggs in the rationed market has pushed consumers into informal trade networks / 14ymedio

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 14 April 2024 — In the ’80s, when the Soviet subsidy had created the mirage of prosperity in Cuba, in primary schools, along with names and mockery for physical appearance, it was common to insult each other by saying “in your house you only eat eggs.” The product accumulated in the markets and was rejected with disdain in the labor canteens. No one could foresee its conversion into an exclusive and longed-for food.

Four decades have passed, and there is nothing left of that stigma attached to the egg. Instead of disdaining it or making it a target of children’s jokes, now many Cubans long to have it on their plate, whether it’s fried, boiled or poached. This April, a carton with 30 eggs costs 3,500 pesos in the informal market of Havana, while a year ago the same carton cost 2,000.

This Saturday, at the Galiano Street fair in Centro Habana, customers raised their eyebrows when they read the price on the egg carton. “But last week I bought it for 3,000 pesos; how did it go up by 500 all of a sudden?” a woman protested in front of one of the many kiosks that exhibited very white eggs, apparently imported given their size and cleanliness.

“I need my daily retirement and a little more to be able to buy one egg” 

“Are these the Colombian eggs?” asked another possible buyer, but the seller only shrugged her shoulders without knowing what to answer. “I ask because the last time I bought Cuban eggs the yolk was so pale that it was confused with the white, and I read on the internet that Cuba is buying eggs from Colombia. I hope those aren’t as anemic,” she said sarcastically. continue reading

“I have a pension of 3,400 pesos per month, so I need my daily retirement and a little more to be able to buy an egg,” complained a man who also came to inquire about the price of the product. “To top it off, you have to buy the whole carton because they don’t sell them one at a time, so I don’t even have enough in my pension.”

Indispensable in multiple recipes, the egg affects the price of many other products. When it gets more expensive, so do the offers of pastry, birthday cakes, cold salads, breaded dishes, croquettes, meringues, tortillas and whatever mixture you need that requires some white or yolk.

“People complain because the small marquesitas (cheese pastries) cost 180 pesos and the large cost 250, but because of the price of eggs, I have had to raise everything,” the owner of a small sweet shop on Primelles Street in the neighborhood of El Cerro explains to 14ymedio. “Right now, for example, we are not making cappuccino cake because it needs a lot of eggs, and we can only make two or three meringue sweets a day.”

Evolution of the price of eggs in Cuba during the last year in the informal market and ‘MSMEs’ / 14ymedio

“I have several suppliers who give me a discount if I buy more than ten cartons, but I don’t like to have so many eggs at once because they spoil, and if a long blackout occurs I lose everything,” explains the entrepreneur. “I’ve bought some dehydrated egg but it’s not the same; it’s good for some recipes but not for all.”

“Imported eggs at 3,000 pesos a carton. Minimum purchase of ten cartons,” reads an ad on Facebook. “We are located in Playa and don’t have transport at home,” added the classified with a photo of some light brown eggs, most appreciated by Cubans who associate them with the Creole product that was once available from farmers or non-industrialized farms.

The shortage of eggs in the rationed market – there are places where the product has not reached the State stores for months – has pushed consumers to the informal trade networks and private companies. In all of them, the price has increased by 75% in one year, and the supply varies according to the imports that arrive in the country.

Plump and fragile, the egg now appears at an excessive cost. Those who grew up laughing at a friend who only had scrambled eggs for lunch at home now swallow their jokes and dream of an intense yellow yolk into which they sink a piece of bread. Then, when they are about to put the delicacy in their mouth, they wake up suddenly with the screams of a street vendor who proclaims: “Let’s go, the eggs have arrived, at 3,500 pesos the carton!”

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.

Converted Into a Company, the Propaganda Section of the Communist Party Sells ‘Stamps’ and Flags

The new status means more money and resources, in addition to brand-new printing machines

To make wholesale banners, the company has modern printers from the Japanese multinational Roland /  La Demajagua

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 13 April 2024 — The purpose is to “market the image of Cuba,” and the means are furnished by the Communist Party. Protected and paid for by the highest authority of the country, the Propaganda and Events business unit, with its main factory in Granma province, doesn’t disguise its objective: to supply the entire Cuban East with banners, flags, slogans and portraits of leaders.

Although it is still attached to the Central Committee, the eastern section of the former Propaganda Department has just been converted into a company. The new status means more money and resources, suggests La Demajagua, the provincial digital newspaper, which showcased the business in an elaborate report. Before the cameras, the brand-new company took out the artillery: modern printers from the Japanese multinational Roland, electric saws to create “awards and diplomas” for the leaders, giant posters, shirts, fence panels and dozens of “symbols.”

In the video published by the newspaper there was also a collection of “stamps” with the faces of Fidel and Raúl Castro

In the video published by the newspaper next to the report, there was also a collection of “stamps” – similar to those sold in Cuban churches – with the faces of Fidel and Raúl Castro, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Che Guevara, Vilma Espín and Camilo Cienfuegos.

The workers aren’t complaining. “We get a good salary. There are months that I earn 6,000, 7,000 pesos, depending on the content of the work. I like the craft,” says the company’s carpenter, who says “the equipment is modern, which makes the job easier. Now we are waiting for an assembler, because the workmanship must be very good quality,” he adds. continue reading

The designers play with one motif in their designs: the Cuban flag. They make sure that the symbol “waves” at events, on shirts and “along the roads.” They use the image with abandon, and despite the Government’s tension over the “improper use” of the banner, which has cost years in prison to activists Aniette González and the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, they make sure that the work is “proper.”

The company states that it provides services not only to the local governments of the eastern area but also to natural persons “who contract with us.” However, it does not clarify what type of customers – national or international – buy, for personal use, the revolutionary fanfare produced by the entity.

The workers aren’t complaining. “We get a good salary. There are months that I earn 6,000, 7,000 pesos, depending on the content of the work”

A moment of pure effervescence, they say, is when an event is approaching. “The work is constant,” of course, because in a country like Cuba there are more than enough historical dates, such as the imminent May 1. The Workers’ Parade is a prosperous time for Propaganda and Events, which must hire more employees “because companies demand many items in order to ensure the colors of their workers.”

In cash or by card, the company is open to any method of payment. They feel, their managers say, “a high responsibility” and consider themselves “makers of history.” They themselves have a place in the parade; they pronounce harangues using microphones that they have installed and fly banners that are printed in their workshop. Propaganda and Events marches with such a favorable wind that the authorities, not knowing what more they can do to honor the entity, will even dedicate the parade itself to it.

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.