Translating Cuba – Page 66 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Santiago De Cuba Police Investigate the Discovery of a Human Head in a Dumpster

The event has caused a social commotion in the eastern capital, where violence is growing.

Many residents of Santiago doubt that the authorities will reveal the details behind the appearance of human remains among the waste.

14ymedio, Havana, August 26, 2025 — Workers of the Comunales of Santiago de Cuba found this Tuesday a human head “swollen and in decomposition” inside a dumpster at El Salao, Micro 3 of the Abel Santamaría Urban Center. The finding occurred when employees were emptying a dumpster onto a tractor cart and, among the waste, the macabre evidence stood out.

So far, no details have been provided about the identity of the victim, the whereabouts of the rest of the body or whether there is a confirmed link with reports of missing persons in the city.

Thousands of social media comments repeat the same question: “Until when?”

The news was initially given by the official profile Heroes of Moncada, on Facebook. It was later replicated by the local radio station Radio Revolución and the newspaper Sierra Maestra, although they limited themselves to reproducing the information published at the beginning. The official voices emphasize that the police are working to “promptly” find those responsible and described what has happened as “an extremely serious and rarely seen” occurrence in Cuban and Santiago society.” However, on social networks there are thousands of comments that repeat the same question: “Until when?” in reference to the increased violence in Cuba.

A resident in the area lamented that the Micro 3 is “full of rubbish everywhere, behind a semi-boarding school and one step away from starting the school year.” She also denounced the lack of water in the neighborhood, forcing elderly people to carry heavy containers and live with plagues of flies. “We have to ask ourselves the same question: when is it going to end?”

“The crimes multiply and so does the fear.”

The discovery occurred in a particularly busy place, where a school continue reading

cafeteria, a point of sale for propane and a shop for products in freely convertible currency (MLC) are located. The proximity to these spaces generates even more alarm among neighbors, concerned about the impact that the event may have on children and teenagers.

The lack of official information fuels uncertainty. Many people doubt that the authorities will reveal the details behind the appearance of human remains among the waste. “They always hide or mask it, but the reality is there. The crimes multiply and so does the fear,” said one user on social networks.

In mid-June, the body of a baby was found inside a dumpster in Havana.

The find in Santiago de Cuba adds to a chain of violent events that have rocked the island in recent months. In mid-June, the body of a baby was found inside a dumpster in Havana. Just this Monday, an intentional traffic crash left one fatality and eight wounded in the capital. To this are added murders in the east of the country, knife attacks on the street and violent deaths linked to personal disputes or robberies. In August alone, this newspaper recorded five femicides in different provinces.

Although the Government insists that crime in Cuba is lower than in other countries of the region, recent events have fueled the perception that violence has become more visible and brutal.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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With the Reservoirs Dry, the Water That Reaches Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, Is Dirty and ‘Has a Bad Smell’

Several residents told the official press that maggots, mosquito larvae and snails come through the pipes.

Image of one of the chlorination points of the Aqueduct and Sewer company. / Image capture, Escambray

14ymedio, Havana, 8 August 2025 — Earth, maggots, mosquito larvae and even snails have arrived in recent days in the homes of the residents of Sancti Spíritus through the water pipes. With the reservoirs at minimum capacity due to drought, the Aqueduct and Sewer company scrapes the bottom of the reservoirs and has had to increase chlorination of the water so that it remains, as the service requires, “potable.”

In a news report from Escambray, the local newspaper, residents of the city went so far as to say that the water even arrives with a bad smell. “In my house the water -I’m not kidding- comes out black,” said one of the interviewees. Others even explained the problems that the water quality has brought. “Sometimes a company worker comes to a house, checks the tanks and says, ‘You have bugs” and wants to impose a fine, but those bugs already arrived in the same water,” said one lady.

Another resident confirmed the report: “We have noticed at the educational institution where I work that it comes with bugs. There are times when the water is just arriving; we put it in a clean tank, and there are bugs and it’s very dirty.”

In the worst cases, however, the residents said they received water of “poor quality” with “maggots coming through the pipe, snails and all kinds of mosquito larvae.” continue reading

In the Aqueduct and Sewer company, director Roberto Nápoles did not deny the claims. “There have been many reports that are true.”

In the Aqueduct and Sewer company, director Roberto Nápoles did not deny the claims. “There have been many reports that are true.” The complaints, he said, have forced the company to visit homes where the water arrives with very poor quality, especially in the Kilo 12 neighborhood. The solution has been to drain the pipes, clean them and increase chlorination, a method that “has had a good response.”

The director, however, dismissed some popular claims that even live fish have come through the pipes. “That is uncertain. No live fish can come out of a reservoir; it’s impossible.”

“We are going through a crisis in the two supply sources of Sancti Spíritus due to the drought. At the moment we have the water treatment plant of Yayabo pumping only 100 liters per second of the 283 it has of maximum capacity,” explained the director.

As for the poor quality of the water, he added that the company works with the management of Hygiene to address critical points in the city, which has the worst situation in the province, especially in the south. In the main municipality, he added, “water is not distributed through wells but through dams and rivers.” As a result, he explains, the rivers do not increase and are not clean because of the low rainfall, so the water in homes arrives dirty and “has a bad smell.”

The company is carrying out a “differentiated chemical treatment” on the water in order to “improve service” and increase the dose of chlorine.

According to Nápoles, the company is carrying out a “differentiated chemical treatment” on the water in order to “improve service” and increase the dose of chlorine, something that the official said is not harmful, at current levels, for consumers.

The authorities have acknowledged that in August, a month of low rainfall, the situation is not expected to improve. When asked by Escambray what measures the company intends to take to guarantee the supply, Nápoles explained that it is not a situation that is in the power of “human beings” but rather is a “matter of nature.”

Water has indeed been distributed in tanker trucks to the most critical areas, he said, but an extra fuel allocation had to be made by the government because the company “does not have enough fuel to support that activity.”

The official press of Sancti Spíritus has warned on several occasions about the low level of water reserves in the province. In an article published this Thursday, Escambray regretted that the rains of the first half of the year had barely reached 47.7% of the forecast for the territory, with La Sierpe being the municipality most affected by the low rainfall.

The rains of the first half of the year barely reached 47.7% of the forecast for the territory.

“At the end of July, with little accumulated and taking into account that historically August does not have significant rainfall figures, the province is not expected to considerably improve its hydrological situation, so the severe drought category in the territory will be maintained,” said Yusliadys Lorenzo Coca, technical director of the provincial delegation of Water Resources.

Among the nine reservoirs in the province, including Zaza, the country’s largest dam, Sancti Spíritus has only 200 million cubic meters of water, just over 19% of its capacity. Seven of them, she told the newspaper, are below 50%.

When we compare the volumes stored at the same date of the previous year, all the reservoirs in the province have lower levels, except Higuanojo,” added Lorenzo.

The authorities avoided talking about the particular state of Zaza, which not only supplies Sancti Spíritus but also Villa Clara, and its water is also used largely for agriculture. In May, the reservoir was below 12% of its capacity, an even worse situation than in 2024, when levels were also very low, recording its most critical level in the past five years.

Since then, contrary to the saying, it has rained little, so that it is foreseeable that of the largest reservoir in the country only a puddle remains.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Milagros Batista Was Killed in Holguín by Her Ex-Partner, Whom She Had Denounced for Theft and Extortion

The 56-year-old woman was stabbed with a knife in her home.

Batista resided in the Álex Urquiola neighborhood. / Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, 7 August 2025 — Another femicide occurred this Thursday in Holguín, where Milagros Batista Estévez was killed during the early morning hours. The 56-year-old woman, neighbors and family members reported on social networks, was assaulted by her former partner, who allegedly has a criminal record for violence, theft and extortion.

The alleged killer, identified with the initials J.M., had been reported by Batista at least three times for stealing money and threatening her with worse consequences if she did not withdraw the complaint. However, according to witnesses, he was never arrested.

According to reports, the femicide occurred in the Alex Urquiola neighborhood of Havana. The assailant attempted to rob the home of Batista’s daughter, who called the police. The response of the agents, they say, was pitiful: “There are no patrols available; if he comes back we will try to send some.”

The assailant tried to rob the home of Batista’s daughter, who called the police.

The assailant returned and tried again to enter the house but was stopped by a neighbor. Then he went to the house of Batista, close to her daughter’s, and killed her, stabbing her 14 times with a knife. In the residence, a six-year-old girl and a nine-month-old baby were present. continue reading

On social networks, many have mentioned the authorities’ inaction and stressed that the crime could have been avoided.

Including Batista, so far in 2025 the Island has reported 21 cases of machista murders, according to the records of 14ymedio. Unlike other platforms and media, this newspaper does not consider as femicides the murders of nine-year-old Orlis Daniela last June in Granma, nor that of Odalys Bataille last March in Havana. In both cases, it has not been possible to find links between the aggressor and the victims.

Last Sunday another Cuban woman was killed by her partner. This is Kenia Rodríguez Mora, living in Luyanó, Havana, and mother of a 7-year-old girl. According to what one of the residents of the block told 14ymedio, her partner and father of the minor threw her from the roof of the house they shared.

“The brawl started last night, and in the morning he continued hitting and threatening her,” one of the residents of the block told this newspaper.

“The brawl started last night, and in the morning he continued hitting and threatening her,” one of the residents of the block told this newspaper. She also reported that Kenia ran up to hide on the roof, where the alleged assailant chased her and threw her off. “The man is an alcoholic and beat her constantly. They say that the woman had been enduring beatings for years until today, when he killed her,” she added.

Three other femicides have been reported this 2025 in Holguín. The first occurred last January in Cacocum, where Elizabeth Ramirez Fernandez was killed by her former partner. The following month, Aliana Laborde Díaz was also the victim of a machista murder, assaulted by her former partner at her workplace.

The latest case was that of 41-year-old Yailín Requejo. Her assailant killed her on a public road and was arrested by police shortly after.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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A Fake Nurse Is Reported in the Holguín Maternal Hospital in Cuba

Belkis Bauzá was caught posing as medical staff, while mothers face extreme shortages on the island.

Photo of the General University Hospital Vladimir Ilyich Lenin / Facebook

14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, August 10, 2025 — In a country where medical resources are scarce and health centers deal with shortages on a daily basis, the case of a woman who pretended to be a nurse at the Lenin Hospital in Holguín has set off alarms. According to the complaint published on the official profile Cazador Cazado, Belkis Bauzá was surprised while pretending to perform medical work without having a diploma, course or official accreditation.

The report says that, in addition to the deception, the fake professional set up her own “business” within the delivery area, combining the use of hospital beds with an improvised sale of health supplies. “It’s more than a hustle; she is playing with peoples’ health,” warns the post on Facebook, which called for sanctions “without anesthesia” for those who “profit from the needs of others.”

“She had been pretending for a while, but everything exploded when she offered a bed, paid of course, to the companion of a patient, who reported her thinking that she was a real nurse,” according to a source in the hospital. ” This case got on the internet and caused a scandal because someone reported it to the management, but that happens every day here: workers have to do their deals to survive.” continue reading

Holguín’s Vladimir Ilyich Lenin University General Hospital does not escape the problems of the network of gynecology and obstetrics centers throughout the Island.

With its dark corridors, dirty bathrooms and fewer staff to care for pregnant women due to the occupational and migratory exodus, the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General University Hospital in Holguín is no exception to the problems of the network of gynecology and obstetrics centers throughout the country. “There are people who try to do their job with dignity, but that is increasingly difficult,” acknowledges the same source.

“We lack security staff, stretcher-bearers, anesthetists and even pantry staff,” she says. ” So it is a miracle that we continue to bring children into the world here because it is increasingly difficult.”

The episode with Bauzá comes at a time when the crisis of Cuban mothers is becoming increasingly visible. At the Provincial Gynecological Teaching Hospital José Ramón López Tabranes, in Matanzas, pregnant women must also overcome the lack of basic supplies, as this newspaper recently reported. There, Yamila, 22 years old, had prepared her bag for giving birth a few days ago, not only with the baby’s clothes but also with syringes, sutures, gloves, a fan, cutlery and even a washbasin to bathe.

The deterioration of the facilities is evident: cockroaches on the walls, nurses smoking by the windows and consultations that prioritize those who arrive with “gifts.”

The deterioration of the facilities is evident: cockroaches on the walls, nurses smoking by the windows and consultations that prioritize those who arrive with “gifts” for staff. Even pregnant women at risk, such as Leticia -diabetic and bleeding- report waiting hours for lack of priority attention.

The province of Matanzas has gone from registering almost 8,000 births per year to just over 4,000 in 2024, with a birth rate of 6.6 per 1,000 women, one of the worst in the country. The emigration of young women, homelessness, high prices and low wages complete the picture of a crisis affecting both demography and public health.

In this context, cases such as that of Belkis Bauzá reflect not only the vulnerability of the health system but also the loss of confidence in a population that, between fear and resignation, knows that giving birth in Cuba is today an obstacle course. On the list of concerns, the presence of fake personnel is just another risk that adds to a picture already marked by scarcity and deterioration.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“We’re Not Going To Be Like Cuba,” Promises an Honduran Minister Indoctrinated on the Island

Educational programs exported by Havana arouse suspicions of ideological manipulation.

Luther Castillo Harry has had a close and public relationship with Cuba since 1999. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 21 August 2025 — Honduras and Colombia are opening their doors wide to Cuban “literacy” programs, just when local voices are warning about ideological indoctrination and agreement opacity. Honduras’s own Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Luther Castillo Harry, mocked those who criticize the government for “turning the country into Cuba.”

Castillo Harry defended the so-called “Cuban Scientific Pole” and played down the poverty that is observed on the Island. “The same conditions are found in Honduras and any developing Latin American country,” he said. He also claimed that Cuba created “five vaccines” with which it immunized its population free of charge, without mentioning that the country had one of the highest mortality rates in the region during the Covid-19 pandemic. The minister attributed all the hardships of the Cubans to the “inhuman genocidal blockade,” and, as a finishing touch, closed his speech with a raised fist: “¡Hasta la victoria siempre, compañeros and compañeras!”

In 2024, he declared to his country’s press that “Cuba is the beacon that lights the way for the world.”

The Garifuna* doctor and current official of the Honduran Executive, Castillo Harry has maintained a close and public relationship with Cuba since 1999. That year he began his training at the Latin American School of Medicine, in Havana, and since then has maintained full political harmony with the regime, with constant praise for the Revolution. He has been interviewed by the Round Table and other official media, where he has defended Cuban medical cooperation with militant fervor. In 2024 he declared to the press of his country that “Cuba is the beacon that lights the way for the world.” Now in office, he has relentlessly continue reading

promoted bilateral agreements to facilitate the entry into Honduras of more “missions” from the Island.

In 2023, the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo revealed the literacy agreement signed with Havana: 123 Cuban teachers for 10,000 lempiras a month (about $400), for an amount exceeding 14.7 million annually (more than half a million dollars). The newspaper also noted fears that the plan would include “ideological indoctrination” and “political proselytism” in Honduran classrooms. Added to this are the international allegations of “modern slavery” that weigh on professionals exported by the regime.

The myth of the Island as a pedagogical reference does not hold up in concrete results.

While in Tegucigalpa the Cuban brigades defend themselves with Castrist slogans, in Colombia they are also given the red-carpet treatment. A commission headed by the National Director of Adult and Youth Education of the Cuban Ministry of Education, Maura Tomasén Leon, and the Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Aida Terrero Lafita, arrived in the capital of the department of Magdalena, with the goal of teaching literacy to 30,000 older adults.

The goal, according to the organizers, is to “strengthen” Phase 2 of the Yo Sí Cambio, Todos Alfabetizados program. The reception was enthusiastic: “a world power country in education,” proclaimed the local administration about Cuba. However, the myth of the Island as a pedagogical reference is not supported by concrete results.

Shanghai University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Ranking, published this August its list of the 1,000 best universities on the planet, selected after evaluating more than 2,500 institutions with objective indicators such as Nobel prizes, highly cited researchers, publications in Nature and Science and per capita academic performance. The list included 18 universities in Brazil, four in Chile, two in Mexico, two in Argentina and even one in Colombia. No Cuban university appeared in the famous ranking of Shanghai.

Colombia boasts of “learning” from the Island’s educational model, but local media and opposition groups demand content controls, transparency in contracts and guarantees against sectarianism in classrooms. It is not a question of rejecting literacy, they say, but of preventing the entry into schools of closed packages of Cuban State pedagogy, which, according to critics, includes textbooks, teachers and political narratives.

* Wikipedia: People of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Bringing Drinking Water to Hotels in the Keys Is a Costly Operation

Tens of kilometers of pipeline in poor condition and four pumping stations serve the tourists.

File photo of repairs to the pipeline of the Ciego de Avila causeway / Gobierno de Ciego de Ávila

14ymedio, Havana, July 20, 2025 — In Cuba, tourists also should be grateful for the Revolution. This, at least, is the suggestion of the news media Invasor, which this Wednesday defended the titanic task of bringing water from Ciego de Ávila to the hotels on the north coast. Behind the simple gesture of opening a tap in one of the spas are dozens of kilometers of pipelines built with the “sacrifice” of the country, says the newspaper, a service which is taken for granted by vacationers, who are very busy enjoying their rest.

The article comes one day after 14ymedio gave the news of the closure of the hotels, all luxury, of Cayo Cruz in Camagüey, because of problems with the water supply, and the transfer of guests to other facilities of Ciego de Ávila. However, the official newspaper never mentions the incident and instead presents its report in a triumphalist tone.

Invasor exhausts itself exposing numbers and data to show that, in practice, the supply to the keys is big enough for the province. The water, it explains, comes from the municipality of Morón, specifically from the basins of Patria III and Los Satos, which face “the strategic challenge of responding to the demand of 1,831 users, of which 1,665 are nuclei of the residential sector based in the popular council Turiguanó and the rest are real estate or State structures: 24 hotels, two villas and 140 non-hotel facilities.” continue reading

167.9 kilometers of water pipes and other supply networks have been installed “all along the causeway and beyond.”

In total, it adds, 167.9 kilometers of pipeline and other supply networks have been installed “all along the causeway and beyond.” In recent years they have repaired about 64 kilometers, plus 48.7 kilometers of sewage networks.

To move that amount of water, it points out, four pumping stations are needed, located in Cayo Coco (two units), Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Romano. They are all “properly equipped,” the newspaper claims, and can store together up to 5,000 cubic meters.

In the high tourist season, during the winter months when demand grows, the key can need up to 200 liters per second. “Patria III and Los Satos, however, are able to contribute 140 and 210 liters per second, respectively, a flow rate that could respond even to the demands of the area with the insertion of new facilities provided for in the territorial management plan,” says Invasor.

If the situation is optimal, as the provincial newspaper argues, and the same is expected of other hotel facilities, what happened then in Cayo Cruz? Invasor does not say, but it’s bombastic defense makes two things clear: even with the necessary means, bringing water through a causeway exceeds the capacity of Water Resources, and in the midst of a disastrous drought and with most supply systems interrupted or broken, tourism remains a priority.

Just yesterday the newspaper reported on the water situation in the province, describing “ruptures, hydrological drought -on average, dams are 41% filled- and important complications due to the energy crisis.” As a result, in Havana alone the water supply comes only every nine days, and in any one day up to 10,000 inhabitants can be affected.

“The fuel deficit also has other implications, such as the water pressure per tanker truck.”

According to the general manager of Aqueduct and Sewage, Miroslava Reyes, out of 196 water pumps in the territory, five are “inoperative due to technical problems.” The number is not significant, says the local newspaper, but “exacerbates a situation riddled with problems.”

Alternative sources do not solve anything either: “The fuel deficit also has other implications, such as the limitation of water pressure per tanker truck. To ensure supply, up to 15 tanks are used during a day, especially for vital services, without meeting the entire population’s demand,” the newspaper admits.

However, while the pipelines for the keys are regularly renewed and the pumps work like Swiss clocks to bring water to tourists, the only solution found by Aqueduct and Sewage for the poor supply to the population has been to fix drains -300 in the last two months- to avoid further wasting of water.

The situation in Cayo Cruz is therefore surprising and has not been explained. A post this Wednesday from Dairon Castro, social media administrator of one of the enclave’s luxury establishments, Sanctuary White Sands, regrets that the situation remains the same.

“It is with great regret that I inform you that, despite the efforts made, it has not yet been possible to solve the problem of water supply at the Cayo Cruz tourist center. Intensive work continues. The guidance so far for foreign customers is to keep in touch with their travel agents, who will explain how to proceed; and for domestic customers, they should contact the bureaus where they made their reservations to give them information about everything,” he wrote.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Tabacuba Aims To Encourage the Vegueros With More MLC, a Devalued Currency

The state company wants to sow 20,000 hectares nationwide, of which 14,623 -70%- will be in Pinar del Río.

Tabacuba has not been able to guarantee the wood for building the necessary drying barns. / / Tele Pinar

14ymedio, Havana, August 23, 2025 — Desperate to boost a sector that is not doing as well as they hoped, the authorities of Tabacuba told the official press this Friday that for the new 2025-2026 campaign, they have planned incentives for the vegueros (tobacco growers) to produce more. Not only will they increase the freely convertible currency (MLC) payment to producers by 3.6 per cent, but “inputs in MLC will not be charged.” The catch, however, is that they will continue to be paid for part of the harvest in this currency, which is increasingly devalued and on the way to disappearing.

In the informal market, the MLC, which was created in 2019 as equivalent to the dollar, was quoted on Sunday at 195 Cuban pesos, while the dollar continues to rise and exceeds 400 Cuban pesos. Its purchasing power in the State’s own shops has weakened, and with it the confidence of citizens and producers themselves, who continue to receive part of their payments in that virtual currency.

What Tabacuba offers is not so much an incentive as an unequal treatment in which the farmers accumulate devalued MLC, which they can’t spend.

The incentives are also not for everyone but for tobacco companies that are dedicated to the cultivation of second-growth tobacco (lower quality leaves, used for the filler of cigars) and the so-called sun-on-stick tobacco, and it includes a 30 percent increase in the collection payment for those who incorporate themselves into this system before May 31. New producers or those moving from shaded tobacco to sun-on-stick will not be charged for MLC inputs or materials in that currency to build drying barns.

In short, what Tabacuba offers is not so much an incentive as an unequal treatment in which the farmers accumulate devalued MLC, which they can’t spend, since the shops that sell in this virtual currency are increasingly undersupplied. continue reading

The news comes at a time when Cuban tobacco is not exactly experiencing a golden age. The previous campaign, 2024-2025, which is in its final stretch, left rather modest figures: 10,459 hectares were planted in Pinar del Río -fewer than those planned for the next campaign- of which about 15 million cujes (sticks of tobacco) were harvested. For the time being, with some companies having already closed their plan and others about to do so, 90.7 percent of the planned 10,536 tons has been collected.

Production increased last July by 357 tons of tobacco compared to July 2024.

After a 2023-2024 campaign that did not meet expectations for the sector, which is one of those that supplies the most foreign exchange deliveries to the State, the authorities tightened their belts and decided, as of now, to motivate the farmers by creating an “exceptional stimulation system.” It consists of selling food products monthly to those who work on tobacco selection and destalking.

With the new system, production increased last July “by 357 tons of tobacco compared to July 2024, and by 180 tons more than the previous month,” applauded the tobacco authorities. That putting food on the table of workers would increase the profit so much is an eloquent statement about the needs of Cuban workers, even in a sector as lucrative–at least compared to others–as tobacco.

For this campaign the hope is more ambitious: sowing 20,000 hectares nationwide, of which 14,623, 70%, will be in Pinar del Río. The irrigation of seedlings will officially begin on September 6, although companies such as Viñales, La Palma and Consolación have already started the process, said Granma. Some 120,000 plots out of a total of 269,400 are expected to be irrigated during the month. Sowing will be divided between October (10%), November (55%), December (30%) and the first days of January (5%).

Tabacuba will also install 40 new irrigation tunnels in Vueltabajo.

Not willing to lose more ground, perhaps under pressure from its foreign partners, Tabacuba will also install 40 new irrigation tunnels in Vueltabajo to ensure that the covered (shaded) tobacco receives water.

However, 7,876 drying barns are needed to cover the more than 14,000 hectares in Pinar del Río. Most of them, 6,175, have already been built, but the missing ones are stalled due to lack of wood. “Here is the fundamental problem of the increase in planting in the province, because despite the links with agroforestry companies, we still do not reach the daily average of 5,000 pieces” of wood to support the planned hectares of tobacco, said Tabacuba.

There are more than 3,000 tons of fertilizer available.

For once, said the company’s managers, there will be no problems with fertilizers, a resource that has disappeared in the furrows: there are more than 3,000 tons available for seedlings, and those intended for planting must arrive between the end of August and the beginning of September.

At the beginning of August, 14ymedio reported on the difficulties faced by the vegueros in Pinar del Río due to the fall in value of the MLC. The currency functioned as a kind of backup against the increase in the price of materials to construct tobacco plantations and the accumulation of debts. Until recently, one of the producers confessed, it was “the only incentive for farmers, so we built the economy on the informal value of MLC. Today, it has fallen dramatically due to the latest changes in the country by the partial dollarization of the economy.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At the Havana Yacht Club, Luxury Turned to Rubble

If a visitor with no knowledge of Cuban history were to arrive at the dilapidated building that stands on the seafront near Miramar’s Fifth Avenue, they would hardly imagine they were standing before the old and glamorous Havana Yacht Club. / 14ymedio

1/8 The walls show the plunder of those who tore away bricks to build their homes. The interior now serves as a public urinal. The doors and windows are only hollow, and the stained-glass windows are a mere memory. Part of the roof has also collapsed, completing the landscape of ruin.

2/8 Founded on October 27, 1886, and moved to its current location seven years later, it became one of Havana’s most prestigious clubs. Its lounges and terraces, with privileged views of La Concha Beach, were for decades a symbol of luxury and exclusivity for the Cuban and foreign elite.

4/8 Today, the building is abandoned and in ruins. It is frequented only by curious onlookers seeking to witness its deterioration, homeless people using it as a shelter, or passersby in need of a makeshift bathroom.

5/8 Traces of its former grandeur can still be seen on the floor: a large mosaic in the shape of a nautical rose and several fleur-de-lis motifs inlaid on the floors, ornaments that looters have been unable to remove.

6/8 The walls, erected under the supervision of Mexican architect Rafael Goyeneche, are now covered with shrubs and climbing plants that advance over the structure.

7/8 Walking inside the building involves constant risk: some upper walls seem to be holding up only by sheer miracle, after the looters’ sledgehammers and hammers tore away entire sections of the structure.

8/8 Beyond the old Havana Yacht Club lies a blue sea, serene under the August sun. There, the remains of a staircase and a ruined dock survive, now converted into a diving board by children who dive into the water, not even knowing the name of the building crumbling behind them.

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The Ground Floor of Havana’s Focsa Building Becomes Dollar Territory

The new CIMEX-GAESA supermarket is operated in partnership with the Spanish-owned Panamanian company IPSA.
On Tuesday, cashiers were only accepting cash because card readers lost their internet connection.

The newly opened market is jointly managed by Cimex, a subsidiary of the military-run conglomerate Gaesa, and Inversiones Pucara S.A. (IPSA), a Panamanian company founded by Spanish shareholders. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 20 August 2025 — Dollars in hand, Marcial entered the newly opened dollar store on the ground floor of Havana’s Focsa Building on Tuesday. The store is part of a government effort to dollarize the Cuban economy, which began in earnest in January. Even with U.S. greenbacks, however, customers still face obstacles. With no coins to give customers their change, and with internet bank connections often disrupted, retail stores like this one are operating at half speed.

“We are handing out pieces of candy as change,” explains a uniformed cashier at Supermix Market, a recognizable brand name in Havana since the opening of another such store on 20th Street between Third and Fifth streets. In this new location in Focsa, the name is now on the walls, the shopping carts are brand new and the shelves are packed with merchandise, all signaling to anyone who might not have noticed that this is U.S. dollar territory.

“I haven’t been here in awhile so I was surprised to see that everything was painted and the entrance was clean. But if you walk a few yards from the front door, the spell is broken,” said a local resident who stopped in to buy some ground chicken. To reach the market, the woman had to dodge a man sleeping on the sidewalk right in front of the entrance to the Focsa Building, a structure considered one of the Cuban capital’s architectural marvels since the 1950s.

“I haven’t been here in awhile so I was surprised to see that everything was painted and the entrance was clean. But if you walk a few yards from the front door, the spell is broken”

The newly opened store is jointly managed by CIMEX, a subsidiary of the military conglomerate GAESA, and Inversiones Pucara S.A. (IPSA), a Panamanian company founded by Spanish shareholders which as been operating in Cuba since 1997. The company boasts on its social media platform of being “one of the most respected and prominent importers of quality food and beverages on the island.” A quick glance at the shelves reveals that it imports everything from wines to basic foodstuffs to pet food.

“It’s well stocked and prices are on the moderate to high side,” notes an elderly woman who has come here with her partner to buy yoghurt and powdered milk. Her tab comes to $9.65, which she pays with a ten-dollar bill. Instead of change, the cashier hands her a chocolate candy. “There’s not a lot of it,” the cashier says, an explanation that does not entirely satisfy the customer though it comes as no surprise. continue reading

“I’ve been told that the store at 3rd and 70th streets is also like this but hearing is one thing and seeing is another,” says the woman before leaving. Right behind her in the checkout line, a Cuban man from Miami is paying for his items with a hundred-dollar bill, which slows down the line. On a multi-column form, the cashier writes down his full name, passport number and the address where he will be “staying for the next few days.”

The recently opened supermarket is operated by CIMEX, a subsidiary of the military-run business conglomerate GAESA, in partnership with Inversiones Pucara S.A. / Facebook

“There’s lots of products on display but no machine that can do a quick scan for counterfeit bills,” the man complains. He had previously asked if he could pay with a Visa card issued by a Spanish bank. “No, the POS (electronic point of sale) hasn’t been connected to the bank since yesterday,” the employee explained. “We don’t know what’s going on. We are only accepting cash for now.”

The supermarket offers products from brands such as El Pozo, Pascual and La Menorquina from Spain, Parmalat and Ferrero Rocher from Italy, and Pringles from the United States. IPSA is also one of the main distributors of the Spanish beer Belgastar, a major rival to Cuba’s own Bucanero and Cristal brands, whose operations have been greatly curtailed.

IPSA’s Spanish general director in Cuba is Fernando Rovira Murillo, who has become a darling of state media both for his work at Pucara as well as for his participation in the 2023 International Wine Festival. He is described in official press reports as a “reliable partner” and “highly professional.” The company, which employs more than 100 people, also has agreements with local private businesses, to which it provides wholesale services.

” I just came in for a little fresh air from the air conditioning and was amazed by all the lights”

Faced with a 1,820-megawatt power shortage, the entire country can be plunged into darkness for hours at a time on any given day. In contrast, all the light fixtures at the Vedado store lend a certain surreal quality to a business located in an area plagued by ongoing blackouts. “I just came in for a little fresh air from the air conditioning and was amazed by all the lights,” a customer comments ironically to one of the employees. “You can tell it’s a dollar store because you don’t see this in peso stores anymore,” he concludes before leaving.

Others are carefully inspecting every shelf, mulling over future consumer choices. “There’s lots of options but I also see things that are very exclusive while some basic foods aren’t even available,” says one customer near the meat section. “There don’t seem to be many meat options. I also thought they would have a wider variety of cured meats.” A young employee explains to her, “This is just the beginning. There’s more merchandise on the way.”

The location of the new dollar store could not be more telling. The Focsa Building was one of the symbols of the Cuba’s once thriving bourgeoisie. With Fidel Castro’s rise to power, however, many of its luxurious apartments were nationalized and reallocated to trusted officials, government ministers and people close to the supreme leader. Soviet technicians, Latin American guerrilla fighters, and foreign artists committed to the revolution all lived here.

Now, however, the supermarket on the ground floor of the architectural colossus only accepts dollars, the currency many of those former inhabitants once said they hated.

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In Addition to Being Cuban, the ‘Former Bodyguard’ of Fidel Castro and ‘Terrorist’ Is Ecuadorian and Lives in Mexico

Ex-major Rogelio Enrique Bolufé Izquierdo, detained with cocaine, has no legal status in the U.S.

Bolufé was transferred to a migrant detention center in Texas. / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, August 23, 2025 — Held in a Texas detention center in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE), a former Major in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, Rogelio Enrique Bolufé Izquierdo, faces potential deportation after being arrested in Florida for possession of cocaine. With Ecuadorian nationality and legal residence in Mexico, both countries are among the possible destinations if an immigration judge orders his departure from the U.S., where he has no legal status, instead of sending him to the Island, where he is officially considered a terrorist.

The information was disseminated by Martí Noticias, which cited sources close to Bolufé and the case, including his son, who described the arrest of the former soldier on August 17 as “odd.” “It’s weird that he was arrested for drugs. He drinks alcohol, but I didn’t know about the drugs,” said Carlos Rogelio Bolufé García, a close friend of Sandro, Fidel Castro’s grandson/influencer.

According to the media, Bolufé does not have a work or residence permit in the U.S., but he did in Mexico, where he ran a bar in Yucatán called La Nota before emigrating to the U.S. in January 2020. The former soldier also has Ecuadorian nationality after marrying a citizen of that country. continue reading

Although there is no court decision yet on his future, his transfer from Florida to a Texas detention center and the reports collected by Martí Noticias suggest that he may be deported.

His transfer from Florida to a Texas detention center and the reports collected by Martí Noticias suggest that he may be deported.

Further details about his arrest, which took place in Hialeah during a routine police check, were also revealed. The agents stopped his vehicle and searched it, finding in his pants a bag with white powder that looked like cocaine. According to the authorities’ report, Bolufé offered no resistance.

The case of the former soldier has gained public attention for his alleged history within the security apparatus of the Island regime. He said that he lived for awhile in the home of Fidel Castro and that he is included on the terrorist list published by Havana, in which they describe Bolufé as a “ringleader” of the organization La Nueva Nación Cubana, which orchestrated sabotage against the national electricity system.

However, many doubt that Bolufé is really a deserter from the Ministry of the Interior, for which he declared having worked for 15 years, and they point to him as a possible spy or “double agent” of the regime in Miami. In the ex-soldier’s own statements after arriving -with a tourist visa – in the U.S. in 2020, he said that he had not deserted and that, nevertheless, he would be the “liberator of Cuba,” fueled suspicions.

He commented in an interview with a Miami media, “I have not deserted and will not desert, because I am proud of what I am.” He also claimed that many military personnel on the island are aware that they were working for a dictatorship and disagree with the government.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: A Mother Denounces the Abandonment of Children of the Canoeing Team at a Train Station

The woman accused INDER of neglecting the children after they participated in events by not covering the cost of tickets and transport.

Members of the group of canoeists between 13 and 15 years old at the train terminal in Santa Clara / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, August 6, 2025 — The National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) on the Isle of Youth abandoned a group of canoeists aged 13 to 15 at the Santa Clara train terminal after they participated in the National School Games. Arianny, one of the mothers of these athletes, reported that they went “more than 20 hours without food or water.”

The woman reported on the Dporto Sports LLC Facebook page that the children on the canoeing team, the flagship sport of the municipality, slept on the floor “for lack of management on the part of INDER.”

The group ended their participation on July 31, but because they did not have transport for their return, their only option was to wait for the train that would pass around two o’clock in the morning. Faced with the claims of some parents, an INDER official promised them that after the event, “when they arrive at the transit school of Mayabeque more than 300 kilometers away, they can eat and rest.”

The woman also denounced the shortcomings of INDER on the Isle of Youth. The athletes do not have a K4 canoe to compete. “INDER has not wanted to buy from a private company that makes them in Villa Clara,” she said. Neglect has led the canoeing team to be unable to participate in events. The authorities do not manage the “transport to move the canoes (in a truck rented by INDER) nor a bus that can take them, in addition to the tickets.” continue reading

The woman also denounced the shortcomings of INDER on the Isle of Youth. The athletes do not have a K4 canoe to compete.

The complainant regretted that the sports development of children is not in the interest of INDER. “The principal does not pick up the phone” to meet the training needs in schools.

“The effort of coaches and parents is overshadowed by the lack of support and resources from INDER, which creates a disconnect between sacrifice and institutional abandonment,” denounced activist Yamilka Lafita. “Why organize sporting events if the minimum conditions for athletes are not guaranteed, not even when they are children?”

The activist questioned INDER for “hiring high-level foreign coaches, such as the Brazilian Luiz Omar Moura (whom I know perfectly well),” when “they should prioritize the basic well-being of their own athletes.”

Athletes, coaches, circus artists and users denounced on social networks the abandonment by the Ormani Arenado School of Sports Initiation School (EIDE), the ’19 NovemberMultipurpose Room’ (both in Pinar del Río) and the ’Manuel Fajardo Faculty of Physical Culture’ (Santa Clara).

The teacher of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, Adriana Lazaga, recognized that EIDE has been forgotten for years. “Nobody cares about sports anymore, let alone the well-being of our athletes. When I entered in 1997, at the height of the Special Period, it was 100 times better than now, 28 years later.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

’The Rock’, the Cuban Fighter Who Has Been Waiting for a House and a Car for 30 Years

Last year he went to the Commission of Attention of Athletes to request a change of housing, and they argued that there was no housing fund.

Roberto Limonta Vargas, ’The Rock,’ says that he lives in “abandonment and oblivion.” / Facebook/Roly Dámaso

14ymedio, Havana, August 5, 2025 — Roberto Limonta Vargas, “La Piedra” (The Rock), is experiencing “abandonment and oblivion.” The history of the retired wrestling multi-medallist joins that of other athletes who have been relegated to the shadows by the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER). In three decades none of the promises made to him by the authorities after his retirement have been fulfilled.

“When I retired from the national team in 1995, I was promised many things: a change of house, a vehicle… but none of that has happened up to today,” Limonta told retired athlete Roly Dámaso. “Nobody remembers; no one responds,” he says, to the requests he has made to the authorities.

La Piedra lives among the nostalgia of his achievements, in Santiago de Cuba, on the fifth floor of a building in the Abel Santamaría neighborhood. It’s a nightmare for a man with two hip prostheses as a direct consequence of his life in sports.

Last year, the wrestler posted on the Facebook page for DPorto Sports LLC that he approached the Athletes’ Care Commission to request a change of housing, because the injury prevents him from climbing the stairs, but continue reading

the authorities said that “there was no housing fund.”

The Olympics portal recognizes his career in the category of 90 kilograms, in which he won the national championship 15 times, as well as two medals at the Central American Games and three others at the Pan American Games. He also has five gold medals in the Pan American Championship, six silver and four bronze medals in World Cups, a fifth place at the Olympic Games and multiple trophies in Grand Prix tournaments and international preparatory events.

Roberto Limonta has among his achievements 15 world wrestling championships in the category of 90 kilograms. / Facebook/Roly Dámaso

Despite his physical limitations, Limonta keeps his spirits up and, supported by a walker, he manages to take some steps. Limonta sees with sadness the case of the coach of the five-time Olympic champion Mijaín López and other medalists, like Raúl Trujillo. Despite his achievements, Trujillo was given a car with more than 190,000 kilometers on it and worn-out and mis-matched tires, three 14-inch and one 16-inch. Yilian Rondón Velázquez, the captain of the Granma and Cuba softball team, was given a run-down house of poor construction, that appeared more like a warehouse.

A similar case is boxing champion Idel Torriente Sáez, who a few months ago denounced the lack of attention. “They have me on the sidelines waiting for me to retire,” said the coach, who survives on 7,690 pesos monthly (approximately $20 at the current informal exchange rate).

Torriente spends his days at the Casino Deportivo, in the municipality of Cerro, Havana. In 2022 the Kid Chocolate and judo boxing gym was reopened, where they placed a ring and a punching bag. However, the site requires gloves, shorts, bandages and helmets. “We lack many things -sports equipment, transport, food: the sport of boxing has gone downhill.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Drought, Breakdowns and Blackouts Leave 2.9 Million Cubans Without Water in August

If it doesn’t rain, Water Resources authorities warned, the situation will be serious at the end of the month.

Archive photo of people stocking up on water from a tanker truck / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, August 22, 2025 — Many Cubans had hoped that Hurricane Erin’s passage through the Caribbean would bring some relief to the country’s reservoirs. But it barely rained on the island, and far from improving, the water situation has become more critical. This Thursday, on Cuban Television news, the Water Resources authorities reported that 2.9 million people have been affected, totally or partially, by the low supply of water, mainly due to the drought.

Other causes mentioned were equipment failures and electricity shortages, which severely limited the operation of conductors and pumping stations. The authorities acknowledged that the current scenario is “critical” and warned that if there are no significant rains by the end of August, the situation at the end of the month will be similar to that experienced in 2004 and 2005, when the drought hit hard.

The president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) also confirmed in the news that only four territories are currently free of drought impacts: Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Isla de la Juventud and Matanzas. Even in Havana, which was also on that list, the use of wells has already begun to be regulated.

Other provinces, such as Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Las Tunas and Ciego de Ávila, currently face the worst scenario.

In Sancti Spíritus province, the Aqueduct and Sewage Company reported on Thursday that 111,590 inhabitants have service interruptions. The causes are broken pumps (18,557 people affected), partial drought (35,686) and energy deficit that prevents pumping (56,851). According to Roberto Nápoles Darias, director of the company, several key pumping stations are also paralyzed due to lack of spare parts.

In many areas the supply depends exclusively on tanker trucks, but those available are barely sufficient to supply in cycles of 15 and 18 days.

The volume of water in rivers and reservoirs has also dropped dramatically. The San Juan de Letrán springs, which supplies 42% of Trinidad, went from 80 to 90 liters per second to only 15 to 20. And in La Yaya, which serves almost half the city of Sancti Spíritus, water can only be pumped between 5:00 and 11:00 in the morning. As warned by Nápoles, in many areas the supply depends exclusively on tanker trucks, but those available are barely sufficient to supply in cycles of 15 and 18 days.

Two weeks ago, a report from Escambray exposed the quality of the water that the residents were receiving: dirty, with mosquito larvae and a bad smell. Faced with the situation, the authorities admitted that the problem was out of their hands. Until it rains, they will continue to pump what little water remains at the bottom of the reservoirs.

In Las Tunas, Periódico 26 confirmed that more than 90,000 people in the capital city are suffering from the drought. According to David Legrá Hernández, local director of Aqueduct and Sewage, pumping from sources such as Piedra Hueca or the Cayojo reservoirs is slow and constantly interrupted by blackouts. Electrical failures are frequent, and sometimes the pumping stations spend the whole night without power. This delays distribution cycles and leaves much of the city without water for hours.

Legrá explained that, although critical areas are prioritized, there are places like the La Cana basin, where it has rained “very little, almost nothing,” and precautions are useless against the lack of water. He also regretted that the supply mechanisms have become obsolete in the face of a “city that has grown, in which its sources of supply and distribution mechanisms now fall short.”

The lack of drinking water in homes has even triggered protests, such as the one last Tuesday in Centro Habana.

The drought, which had been causing alarm for months, has taken a critical turn in recent weeks. The lack of drinking water in homes has even triggered protests, such as the one last Tuesday in Centro Habana, where a group of people with buckets cut off Reina Street in protest after going more than seven days without water.

Earlier this month, another popular protest took place in Cajimaya, a village in the municipality of Mayarí, in Holguín. According to reports on social networks, where videos and images were also shared, several people were arrested by the police.

While families are desperate to find a neighbor with a well or a relative who is still getting water through the pipes, the authorities do not seem to have a coherent plan. On the one hand, they acknowledge the alarming water shortage, and on the other they persecute those who complain in the streets that their wells have been dry for weeks.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Sherritt Registers Losses in Nickel and Must Import Foreign Technical Personnel to Cuba

Businessman William Pitt says Canada will send food aid to improve the company’s image in the areas where it operates.

The Comandante Ernesto ’Che’ Guevara plant has even turned to university students to fill technical positions /Ecg Minera

14ymedio, Holguín, August 5, 2025 — The collapse of nickel and cobalt mining in Cuba is proceeding apace, with direct consequences both for the economy of the island and for Canada’s historic mineral extraction partner, Sherritt International. According to its most recent quarterly report, the company is experiencing multi-billion dollar losses, a drastic reduction in production and major cuts in its workforce in Canada, while operating conditions in the country are deteriorating.

Sherritt’s second quarter 2025 revenue fell to $43.7 million from $51.4 million in the same period of 2024.

Pitt Wasmer is the heir of one of the families that owned mines confiscated by the Cuban government in 1960.

Businessman William Pitt Wasmer, heir of one of the families that owned mines confiscated by the Cuban government in 1960, shared with 14ymedio a detailed analysis of the crisis facing the nickel industry on the island. The document reveals that the production of mixed sulphides, the base for refining nickel and cobalt, did not meet expectations due to worsening conditions on Cuban territory. Renewed pressure from U.S. measures, shortages of skilled labor and frequent blackouts have contributed to the degradation of results.

The situation led Sherritt to lay off more than 10% of its staff in Saskatchewan (Canada), where it operates the refinery, and another 10% in its corporate office in Toronto. The executive leadership has also been continue reading

reduced from seven to five members, and several expansion plans in both Cuba and Canada have been postponed.

Following these announcements, the value of shares fell by 3.45%, closing at 0.14 Canadian dollars, very close to its low in the last 52 weeks (0.12). This represents a fall of 63 per cent over the previous year, reflecting the sustained deterioration.

Environmental sanctions in Indonesia and the closure of operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo could reduce global competition.

Sherritt revised downwards its 2025 production forecast from 33,000 to 27,000 tons of nickel and from 3,600 to 3,000 tons of cobalt. Even so, the company clings to a moderate optimism based more on external factors than on local improvements. The imposition of environmental sanctions in Indonesia and the closure of operations for labor conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo could reduce global competition, thus providing a respite.

The company has admitted, for the first time in direct terms, that the situation in Cuba is critical. The lack of trained workers has forced it to import technicians from outside to ensure maintenance at the Moa mine, while electrical instability has forced the company to operate with limited resources. Sherritt maintains its own generation capacity, but the availability of diesel and petrol remains uncertain, and a complete shutdown of the system would seriously affect the chemical refining process.

Nickel revenues fell by 15% in prices and 14% in volume.

The situation affects not only the Pedro Soto Alba plant in Moa but also the operations in Punta Gorda, and the Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara plant has even turned to university students to fill technical positions.

Nickel revenues fell by 15 per cent in prices and 14 per cent in volume. Cobalt reported a 27 per cent increase in prices but failed to offset the lower volume losses. According to Yasmin Gabriel, chief financial officer of Sherritt, combined revenues were lower mainly due to the decline in nickel sales, which has pushed the company into an aggressive cost-containment policy.

The availability of gas has also been limited by problems in the extraction wells.

In the electricity sector, the plants operated by Sherritt in conjunction with Energas continued to face setbacks. In particular, the Varadero plant operated with frequency control to stabilize the national network, which reduced production but kept revenues stable thanks to agreed offsets. However, the availability of gas has also been limited by problems in the extraction wells.

At the same time, the Canadian Government announced that it will provide food aid to more than 78,000 people in areas where Sherritt maintains energy and mining operations on the island. The decision raises questions: Why now? Why right in these locations? Pitt Wasmer suggests that Ottawa is seeking to dampen social rejection of Sherritt because of the polluting effect of its activities and to avoid further erosion of the Canadian image among the Cuban population.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘La Libertad Es Un Verbo’ (Freedom Is a Verb), an Intimate Look at the Art of Cuban Artist Edel Rodríguez, Now Launching

“I wanted this story to be told because in places like Spain and other countries in Europe they think that Cuba is an ideal country”

Rodriguez usually depicts the US president’s face completely orange and always without eyes / EFE

EFE (via 14ymedio), Hugo Barcia, Miami, 8 August 2025 — Illustrator Edel Rodríguez, known for his covers of Time, The New York Times and Der Spiegel magazines, is used to portraying what is happening around him, but in the documentary ‘Freedom is a Verb’, which will be released digitally next Tuesday, he is the one being portrayed.

Edel Rodriguez: Freedom is a Verb

His time in Cuba, where he was born in 1971, his exile to the United States during the Mariel exodus in 1980 and his progressive path to his current fame have been compressed into just 18 minutes to create a documentary that reviews Rodríguez’s artistic career. “The documentary tells a lot about the Cuban experience, about what it is like to be a Cuban born in Cuba and to be a refugee”, the artist told EFE in a virtual interview.

“I wanted this story to be told because in places like Spain and other countries in Europe they believe that Cuba is an ideal country and that the Revolution was very good for the country,” Rodríguez added.

Freedom has always been the artist’s driving force. It was what pushed his family to leave the island when Rodríguez was a child and it is what now influences his covers, which are seen all over the world. “When I do my work I always have that in mind: people in Cuba are looking at me, people in Iran are continue reading

looking at me. I have friends in Iran who write to me in secret,” the illustrator admitted.

And while he fled Cuba in search of freedom, Rodríguez said that in recent months, after President Donald Trump came to power, he has been reacquainted with an old friend in the United States: fear. “It’s not Cuban-style fear of a dictatorship that is going to lock you up”, Rodríguez said, but it is a kind of self-censorship for fear of “pissing someone off” and that it might affect his work or the funding a gallery or media outlet receives.

It’s not a Cuban-style fear of a dictatorship that you will lock you up,” Rodriguez said, but it is a kind of self-censorship for fear of “pissing someone off”.

The artist regretted having witnessed this fear first-hand, assuring that “there have been several situations” in which galleries or media have been reluctant to publish his work, although he maintains that he knows how to deal with it. Trump has been the subject of some of Rodríguez’s most famous covers, and in the documentary he tells how he usually depicts the US president’s face completely in orange and always without eyes. “I want people to pay more attention to what he is doing. When you make eye contact with someone, you have more empathy with that person or with the illustration,” the artist is heard saying in the documentary.

‘Freedom is a Verb’ was released in November 2024, but until now it has only been available at festivals in the United States and Europe. From next Tuesday it will be available in digital format on YouTube. “The film invites you to reflect on the fragility of democracy, censorship (…) and the value of activism, of people taking to the streets”, said Creus.

Translated by GH

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