Translating Cuba – Page 67 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Tobacco Growers of Pinar Del Río Are Leaving Tobacco and Planting Food

Farmers demand a share of the “fresh dollars that go into the State coffers”

We are experiencing one of the worst times in the sector in terms of farmers’ incomes, profitability and indebtedness.” / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2025 — The month of October is an ordeal for the tobacco farmers (vergueros) of Pinar del Río. The heavy rains of recent weeks have complicated the early stages of the tobacco campaign, a battle now taking place in the seedbeds. The lack of inputs and the authorities’ refusal to pay producers in dollars also complicate the picture.

From the municipality of San Luis, Orestes predicts that they will have a diminished harvest when the campaign ends. ” We are experiencing one of the worst moments in the sector in terms of income, profitability and the indebtedness of farmers. Anyone here who is not committed on one side is committed on the other,” the farmer tells 14ymedio.

In addition to the rainfall that has flooded plots and compromised the development of seeds, Orestes points out the lack of foreign exchange as among the greatest difficulties he is experiencing on his farm. The land has been owned by his family for almost a century, and the planting of tobacco had been the main agricultural activity until reality forced them “to plant more food in order to survive.”

“We are still paid for part of the tobacco we deliver in MLC (freely convertible currency), and, of course, right now that currency is in the pits,” he says. This week the virtual currency is traded at 200 pesos, less than half the dollar exchange rate, which has now reached 468 pesos. Every day that passes means less for the MLC.”

The vegueros‘ constant demands that they be paid in dollars seem to have fallen on deaf ears, and the disappointment of the farmers is affecting their decision to use their tobacco plantations to sow other products that they can market more freely. continue reading

In 2024 the Spanish-Cuban company Habanos S.A managed to raise 827 million dollars

The hardships of the farmers contrasts with official figures, which point to tobacco as one of the few businesses that thrive on the Island despite the crisis, and the Regime’s propaganda claims to treat the sector with care. In 2024, the Spanish-Cuban company Habanos S.A managed to raise $827 million, $106 million more than a year earlier, which represented an increase of 14.7% in revenues shared by the two partners. The achievement was attributed to the more than 4,700 cigar sales points it has worldwide, the main ones in China, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and Germany.

“One thing is the international market and another is Cuba,” says Orestes. “Right now they are giving a stimulus in national currency and a small rebate to producers of shade-grown tobacco that is planted early.” In this technique, the leaves are crimped onto a string after being harvested and hung upside down on posts covered with translucent fabric so that they dry slowly in the sun. “But the Cuban peso is not encouraging.”

In San Juan y Martínez, another of the main tobacco growing centers of the province and part of the so-called Pinareño tobacco massif, the opinion is shared by Juan José and his family. “There is very little enthusiasm, because this stimulus that is being given — at most 30% above the gross value of sales from the producer to the State — is very little compared to the expenses we have to just begin planting.”

“There is a strike on the part of many farmers, who without solvency are unable to start the campaign and move to food crops,” he says. He sees a more profitable option in the cultivation of yucca, malanga, tomatoes and beans. The percentage of land devoted to these products is increasing on his farm, but this October, the penalization for those who choose to reduce the amount of land used for tobacco threatens to be harder.

“We have been told that the inspectors are going to check everything and fine those who are planting something else”

“The tobacco company intends to solve everything with threats of repressive actions against those who use the terrain destined for tobacco for something else,” warns the veguero. The message sent by the authorities in the sector is clear: “We have been told that the inspectors will check everything and impose fines on those who are planting something else. Even those with land in usufruct can lose it if they don’t comply with what is established.”

Another of the threats that have been received by tobacco companies in Pinar del Río is the cancelation of credits already approved if they insist on devoting part of their plots to other crops. “The truth is that the approval of credits goes very slowly, and the amounts are insufficient. On average, under the calculations that are made, they could cover more than 40% of a campaign’s expenses, but due to irregularities in the balance sheet and current inflation, they end up covering only 25% of the costs.”

Access to inputs also hampers the campaign. Recently, Marino Murillo Jorge, president of Tabacuba, opened a supply store in Las Ovas, in the municipality of Pinar del Río, with hardware, masonry and electrical components for sale in MLC. The authorities boast that the tools have a price “25-30% cheaper than the current domestic market,” but for Juan José the discount is insufficient.

“The Las Ovas store has many problems of access and connectivity to make payments in MLC”

“For this measure to be favorable, it must never be less than 70 per cent,” he states. The rebate should also include the cost of repairing the tobacco curing sheds.” The Las Ovas store has many problems of access to and connectivity to make payments in MLC,” explains the veguero, who has not seen the promise that this type of trade would also extend to San Luis and San Juan y Martínez.

“Here more than 50% of the producers intend to expand the planting of food and get rid of the tobacco, because they lack the fight to continue in the field,” he says. “Many are now planting the tobacco areas with food under the justification that they will join the late planting of tobacco, after January, but everyone knows that if we don’t get the food we need for the family first it is impossible to face the tobacco campaign.”

For Juan José, everything could change in the coming weeks if the sector authorities increase the incentives or decide to cross the red line they have maintained in relation to the payment in currencies. “This is the flagship of export, the item that brings fresh dollars to the State coffers, and we also want some of that money in a real currency.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Great-Nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro Is Promoted to Deputy Prime Minister

Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga heads the strategic Ministry of Foreign Trade
A technocrat who combines family legacy, Party discipline and continuity

An important detail distinguishes Pérez-Oliva from most of his colleagues in the Council of Ministers: he is not a member of the National Assembly. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2024 — The Cuban government announced this Friday the promotion of Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. The appointment, approved by the Council of State on the proposal of the President and with the approval of the Political Bureau, reinforces the trend that the highest responsibilities in the country are concentrated in figures closely linked to the political and economic power.

At the top of the Cuban regime there is no place for surprises or outsiders. Although official media have omitted any reference to his family ties, Pérez-Oliva is the grand-nephew of Fidel and Raúl Castro, son of biologist Mirsa Fraga Castro and grandson of Ángela Castro, sister of the founders of the Revolution. He is also the nephew of José Antonio Fraga Castro, who presided over the powerful company Labiofam until 2014.

His surnames, therefore, are not foreign to the upper power structure. The new generation of technocrats, to which Pérez-Oliva belongs, moves within a closed elite that combines family legacy, Party discipline and absence of public questioning of the prevailing model.

Now he assumes the responsibility of Deputy Prime Minister, replacing Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, who died in mid-September

With a degree in electronics engineering, Pérez-Oliva has spent his entire career within State structures. He headed the Maquimport Company – – one of the key State importers — subsequently took over the Business Evaluation Directorate in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and later was promoted to Deputy Minister and First Deputy Minister in the portfolio he has been directing since May 2024. Now, a little more than a year later, he adds the responsibility of Deputy Prime Minister, replacing Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, who died at the age of 88 in mid-September.

The area managed by Pérez-Oliva is strategic. In the midst of the productive decline and the collapse of government revenues, continue reading

the Government has relied on foreign capital as a lifeline. His portfolio is responsible for attracting investment, managing contracts and, above all, controlling the gateway of foreign exchange to a system that desperately needs it. In fact, it is a post with more real power than many social ministries.

An important detail distinguishes Pérez-Oliva from most of his colleagues in the Council of Ministers: he is not a member of the National Assembly. In a country where legislative “elections” are closed processes and controlled by the structure of the Party itself, this condition shows that its power does not come from any popular mandate — although symbolic — but directly from the Party leadership.

If this situation is maintained until the “elections” of 2028, Pérez-Oliva could become one of the most visible faces of the executive without having passed through Parliament. Nor would it be an isolated case, as several ministers and senior officials have held key positions without being deputies, confirming the practical irrelevance of the legislature in actual decision-making, although being a member of parliament would be indispensable to the office of President of the Republic.

His technical and reserved profile fits perfectly into the logic of “continuity”

Pérez-Oliva’s promotion does not point to a change of course. The Government maintains a strategy of recycling mid-level cadres who have grown up within State structures, without incorporating external voices or figures with some degree of autonomy. His technical and reserved profile fits perfectly into the logic of “continuity” that has dominated the political scene since Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez took over as president.

During his ministerial tenure, Pérez-Oliva has not presented any proposals for significant opening or structural reforms. He has defended the policy of attracting foreign capital under iron State control and has reiterated the official discourse that the US embargo is responsible for domestic economic problems, avoiding any mention of planning errors and the lack of legal safeguards for investors.

In view of the renovations planned for 2028, the leadership is betting on managers who can guarantee the continuity of the model without internal challenges. In this sense, Pérez-Oliva is an ideal person: disciplined, with a family pedigree, without his own political base and with experience in a strategic economic area. He is a new face for an old structure that remains immovable.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The U.S. Embassy Warns of Increased Robbery and Violence in Cuba Amid the Economic Crisis

The message includes a series of recommendations to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

The Embassy’s warning not only calls for caution, but also instructs its citizens to “be good witnesses.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, October 18, 2025 / Cuba’s economic crisis is reflected not only in shortages of food, fuel, and medicine. The collapse is also reflected in an increase in crime. This Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Havana issued a security alert on its official social media account, warning its citizens about an “increase in robberies and violent incidents” on the island.

The warning comes at a particularly sensitive time for the population, with increasingly prolonged power outages and inflation that has driven up the prices of basic goods. “The deteriorating economic conditions have led to an increase in robberies and violent incidents, including knife robberies, minor attacks on mission vehicles, and home invasions and theft of property,” the diplomatic note states.

The message includes a series of recommendations to avoid becoming a victim of crime: lock doors and windows at night, remove valuables from patios and balconies, keep cell phones charged, and avoid displaying cash in public places. The Embassy also advises people to “limit alcohol consumption” and “never accept drinks from strangers.”

Although the Cuban government avoids openly acknowledging the increase in violence and common crime, citizen reports and social media posts highlight a reality that many residents experience daily.

For months, users in various provinces have shared testimonies of street robberies, home burglaries, and assaults on drivers and passengers in private vehicles. The deterioration of public safety is exacerbated by fuel shortages and constant power outages. Power outages, which in many places have lasted for more than 30 hours at a time, create fertile ground for criminal activity.

The diplomatic headquarters in Havana maintains its emergency telephone line active.

Neither the Cuban Ministry of the Interior nor the state press have published recent statistics on violent crime. The most recent official figures correspond to previous years and tend to be fragmented. The regime’s usual strategy has been to minimize the problem or attribute it to “media campaigns” abroad.

However, even in state-controlled media, signs of concern have crept in indirectly. Reports on police operations, warnings to the public, and the insistence on “increasing public vigilance” demonstrate that authorities, internally, recognize a rise in crime. “The blackouts are being used as a pretext for criminal activity,” the U.S. Embassy warned directly, in a tone that contrasts with the silence of Cuban institutions.

The feeling of vulnerability isn’t limited to marginalized neighborhoods. Central areas of the capital, traditionally considered safer, have also experienced an increase in robberies. Several diplomats and workers from international organizations have reported incidents in recent months, according to sources close to the foreign community on the island.

Insecurity is closely linked to economic collapse. With soaring inflation, wages in devalued peso, and a growing informal economy, crime has become a desperate means of survival for some. The Embassy’s warning not only urges caution but also instructs its citizens to “be good witnesses,” meaning to observe details of appearance, clothing, vehicles, and license plates if they witness a crime. This recommendation reflects an implicit recognition that incidents could increase.

The diplomatic mission in Havana maintains its emergency telephone line and reminds U.S. citizens that they can contact their consular section for assistance.

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Cuban Regime Censors a Tribute in Havana to Celia Cruz on Her Centenary.

Specialist Rosa Marquetti warns that what happened “adds another chapter to the history of the application of political commissioner methods within Cuban culture.”

Mural of Celia Cruz, flanked by Benny Moré and Compay Segundo, at the Antojos restaurant in Old Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, 17 October 2025 — / The Celia Cruz centenary gala, organized this Sunday, October 19th, by the El Público theater group at the Cuban Art Factory (FAC) in Havana, has been canceled. The National Center for Popular Music announced this Thursday in a brief message that did not even mention the name of the Queen of Salsa.

“The programming subdirectorate of the National Center for Popular Music informs that the performance by the theater group El Público, scheduled for this Sunday the 19th at 8:30 p.m. in Nave 3 of the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, will not take place,” were the words chosen by the state agency.

Actor Danielito Tri-tri (Daniel Triana), who is part of the cast of the show, reproduced the official publication, attacking: “The tribute show to Celia has been censored, thanks to the same people as always.”

This Friday, Rosa Marquetti, a specialist in the life and work of the Guarachera de Cuba, who was born on 21 October 1925, commented on the cultural authorities’ decision in a long post, feeling “more pain than anger” about the incident and titling her text: Celia Cruz: the brilliance of a name in the face of cultural indigence. In it, she says that the “prohibition” of the tribute that El Público and the FAC intended to carry out “adds another chapter to the history of censorship and the application of political curatorial methods within Cuban culture.”

The musicologist reports that “some of those involved in this heartfelt initiative, after days of rehearsals and work, report incidents of personal summons, irrevocable orders, and threats anticipating negative continue reading

consequences for those who dare to disobey,” although none of those affected have yet published details of this pressure.

“They’ve been afraid of that voice for 60 years, trembling with fear at the mere mention or writing of its name.”

Likewise, she criticizes the “erratic statement from a bureaucratic entity that has nothing to do with the performing arts,” in which “they don’t even mention Celia Cruz’s name.” Regarding this, Marquetti adds: “They have been fearing that voice for 60 years, trembling with fear at the mere mention or writing of her name, terrified of her extraordinary power to summon people, knowing full well that her cry of “sugar!” and her joy are far more compelling and convincing than the bitterness and karmic negativity with which they impose orders, deal out blows, and threaten with the only thing they have: the force of the powers that be.”

Those same ones, the specialist continues, persist in trying “unsuccessfully” to tarnish Celia Cruz’s career, “attacking her, overwhelming her, inflicting upon her the misogyny and root racism that has characterized many of the decisions and policies in the cultural sphere, while she stood tall in the world as the greatest representation of all things Cuban, the most globally known, the most beloved, the most applauded, the most honored.”

They don’t forgive her, Marquetti explains, “her cimarronaje [‘runaway-slaveness’] in defending and displaying her right to think differently and act accordingly,” despite the fact that “the world today doesn’t remember, and many don’t even know, what her political stance was: they only remember her music, her voice, and her Cubanness, that is, her wonderful art.”

Directed by Carlos Díaz and written by Norge Espinosa, the show, announced by El Público, also featured the La Mansión Castillo restaurant. It was scheduled to take place in Nave 3 of the FAC. It would feature actors Estrellita, Lucho Calzadilla, Freddy Maragoto, Roberto Romero, Georbis Martínez, Brian Pérez, Chai Deivis Torres, and the aforementioned Danielito Tri-tri.

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Private Companies Have No Interest in Sponsoring Cuban Baseball

The Sports Law approved last July opened the door to investments, but no firm has approached the clubs

Sponsorships, in general, have not been successful in Cuban sports. / Jit

14ymedio, Havana, 16 October 2025 — The National Series baseball teams continue to fail to attract sponsors and advertising for uniforms and stadiums. More than two months after the Sports Law approved the opening of the program to state and private companies, none have approached the clubs. “The opportunity is legal,” Karel Pachot, legal director of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation (Inder), told the program Bola Viva.

Pachot is certain that “if it is used as intended, it can yield the best results for all parties involved in this action.”

The current regulations, which were placed under the control of INDER, aim to generate revenue, a portion of which would be used to restore sports venues and guarantee resources to organize events, cover transportation costs, and provide food for baseball players.

For now, the outlook remains bleak. The lack of transportation, of water for the players, and of electricity has led to the suspension of games. Last June, the U-23 match between Cienfuegos and Mayabeque had to be canceled because “the bus that was supposed to take them to the stadium didn’t arrive,” according to reporter Fabián Morales. continue reading

“Theft, abuse, and constant problems are the daily bread of Cuban baseball. The incidents continue to accumulate, and it seems there’s no end to these evils,” explained the specialized media outlet Swing Completo.

Thus, Pachot appealed to companies, reminding them that they can all apply for advertising and sponsorship. “In the case of the National Baseball Series, the application is made through the Cuban Baseball Federation and the event’s Organizing Committee. These bodies submit the application to the appropriate authority.”

The [Cuban bottled water] company “Ciego Montero, for example, is a regular at some of our competitions, and has been a sponsor that has guaranteed the water,” explains Pachot.

The Cuban bottled water company “Ciego Montero, for example, is a regular at some of our competitions; it has been a sponsor that has guaranteed the water,” Pachot explains.

In the case of uniforms, the official emphasized that “they may allocate up to a third of their total surface area to sponsor logos, seeking to maintain a balance between team identity and economic needs.”

Based on the success of Cuban baseball, the measure is intended to be extended to other disciplines, including soccer, volleyball, and athletics.

Sponsorships, in general, have not borne fruit in Cuban sports. In 2021, authorities opened the door to privatizing the management of sports facilities. The first venue to pass into the hands of the “new forms of economic management,” as the federations called the non-state sector, was the iconic Estadio Latinoamericano, home of Havana’s Industriales baseball team.

The goal is for these facilities to “be financially autonomous and self-sustaining,” said Juan Reinaldo Pérez, National Baseball Commissioner, at the time. The changes didn’t go as planned, and the facility underwent another renovation last March.

Now, work continues on the souvenir shops , restaurants, cafes, pizzerias, and ice cream parlors, as well as the arcade, screens, and tents in outdoor areas.

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As in Cuba’s Special Period, Authorities Hope the “Popular Rice” Will Reduce Imports

The Agricultural Group has set out to sow 200,000 hectares (494,212 acres), half of which are under the responsibility of “large enterprises and specialized centers”

Half of the projected figure -100,000 hectares- will be managed by “large enterprises and specialized centers” in Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey and Granma. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, October 15, 2025 — The lack of production in Cuba is not easy to solve, but it usually finds compensation in a corresponding show of ‘voluntarism’. This is the case for rice, of which the Government intends to sow 200,000 hectares next year.

According to a note published this Wednesday in Granma, the task, “indicated by the highest leadership of the country” is of the “first order” and is expected to be launched this coming November. The program, reported the newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba based on statements by Orlando Linares Morel, president of the Agricultural Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, aims to cover almost the entire country — 14 provinces, 133 municipalities and 23,000 producers.

Of the planned figure, half — 100,000 hectares — will be in the charge of “large companies and specialized centers” of Pinar del Río, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey and Granma. The rest will be devoted to the cultivation of the so-called “popular rice,” much criticized by experts for being inefficient, although the official report says nothing about this.

“Anyone can join this second modality,” says the official, “both for purposes of self-consumption and with intentions to contribute to industry and the national balance sheet.” The planting, he continues, “will be supported by national seed, while the Vietnamese side, which will participate in the program, will contribute its own seeds.” continue reading

The sowing, he continues, “will be supported by national seed, while the Vietnamese side, which will participate in the program, will contribute its own seeds.”

This refers to the projects in Pinar del Rio (in the municipalities of Los Palacios and Consolación del Sur) and in Artemisa Province, where the Vietnamese company Agri VMA is working on land under usufruct whose yields are much higher than those of the State: seven tons per hectare compared to the 1.5 average of the country..

The statements made by officials on October 7 in a meeting devoted to the subject made it clear that the private sector has become the main producer of rice on the Island, although the Round Table TV program acknowledged that, even with the non-State contribution, the future was bleak. According to the authorities, the current campaign will not be good, even with outside help.

In 2024, Cuba produced 80,000 tons of rice on 79,000 hectares, just over 10 per cent of its domestic consumption with a yield of just over one ton per hectare. By 2025, according to a report from Granma published last March, the goal was to plant 100,000 tons and obtain 100,000 tons of rice.

The latter would imply a growth of 20% compared to 2024, something complicated with the energy deficit. For the remaining 100,000 hectares of self-consumption and small production by 2026, the target seems unattainable under current conditions.

Last March, the Agricultural Group insisted on the need to develop, in some 70 municipalities, the cultivation of “popular rice,” a modality that “already proved its effectiveness during the hard years of the Special Period, in the 1990s.” The authorities’ aspire to return to agriculture with oxen because there is no fuel and no “technological package” to improve yields.

However, they acknowledged the inadequacy of domestic production to meet domestic demand and the need to import the product. “Last year, the rice harvested in the country was sold only in markets, fairs and some destinations of the Ministry of Internal Trade. But the basic basket [via the ration system] was 100% imported, and in 2025 it is also expected to be so,” said Orlando Linares.

That is why the fanciful intentions expressed in Granma this Tuesday are surprising. It also ensures that the State will provide the necessary fuel to producers, up to 70% “directly,” 10% in debit cards, and the rest in dollars, “in order to achieve deliveries and sales to industry, so they can count on cash to cover the high costs of cultivation and compensation for temporary workers.”

The plan even foresees the “accelerated introduction” of drones to increase performance and decrease water consumption. To “back up” the goal, they plan to use “the return of sales financing in US dollars from tourism and other sectors, which could help the rice program under current conditions, basically in the acquisition of tires, parts, tools and accessories for tractors, combine harvesters, industrial inputs and other resources.”

Today, the rice distributed in the basic basket comes from outside. On September 20, 19,000 tons of grain arrived at the port of Havana — without the national television revealing its origin — to be distributed throughout the country.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Control of Prices in Havana Is “A Dead Letter,” Recognizes the Official Press

Cubadebate proposes “basic measures” that “in the long run” regulate prices “naturally”

Prices on view in a private store in the neighborhood of San Agustín, in the municipality of La Lisa. / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, October 16, 2025 — After Cubadebate visited a market in Havana for a report published this Thursday on the price regulations established by the capital’s government just two and a half weeks ago, it reached an indisputable conclusion: the measure is now “a dead letter.” Very few businesses are complying.

Thus, for example, at the fair of the Palatine People’s Council in Old Havana, where, according to the text of the state media, “the value of products showed a direct relationship with inflation and with the price of the dollar on the informal market,” the prices were more expensive than those established by the authorities. Specifically, doubled: papaya at 80 pesos per pound against the 40 stipulated; pumpkin at 50 pesos when it should be 25; and malanga at 150 when the fixed price was 75 pesos.

“No, we don’t have the chalkboard today, but there’s no charge for asking,” was the answer of one of the sellers to the reporter after she inquired about the official price list. Despite complaints from buyers, most were realistic about the measure. “Capping prices is like putting a band-aid on the wound. Nobody complies with the established price, and the inspectors are noticeable by their absence at best. At worst, the sellers buy them off with a string of onions, which is very expensive,” declared a woman identified as Monica.

“Capping prices is like putting a band-aid on the wound. Nobody complies with the established price and the inspectors are noticeable by their absence”

The problems now are similar. “All inputs to make the land productive remain scarce and sky-high. In addition, it is increasingly difficult to find workers who accept less than 10,000 pesos a month, and that makes everything more expensive. How can I sell the malanga at the price they say, if planting it alone costs a fortune?” asks Herminio, a farmer from La Salud, in Quivicán, Havana.

It is impossible for all the links in the business chain to sell at the imposed rate. “The problem is that we continue to buy at the same prices. The fuel is in US dollars; how can we travel to the countryside to buy from the farmers?” reasoned Pedro, another seller. “The continue reading

government lowers prices without taking those things into account.”

“A comprehensive strategy,” he proposes, would require “measures to tackle these root causes”

The situation is inescapable, despite the inspections that the official press claims have been reinforced and which, according to Cubadebate, has led to the imposition of thousands and thousands of pesos in fines. The solution, states the text, “goes beyond simple control. Although control is necessary, reports from farmers and sellers point to a structural problem: high production costs, intermediation and access to inputs.”

A comprehensive strategy, he suggests, would require “measures to tackle these root causes,” such as: “facilitating access to fertilizers and fuel at affordable prices, directly supporting producers in shortening the supply chain and promoting a stable supply that will eventually regulate prices naturally.”

The text goes so far as to state that the “divergence between the decree and the reality in the markets of Havana reveals that the current mechanism is insufficient.” The population is “caught in an impossible dilemma,” it continues: “either comply with regulations that are not fulfilled or pay abusive prices to be able to eat.”

“The resolution, well-intentioned on paper, seems to have been caught in a limbo between the decree and the land,” says the report, with a sense of reality unusual in the official press. “As long as the price of inputs and logistics continue to soar, the order to reduce them seems an imposition disconnected from the root of the problem: a production that does not take off and a chain of intermediation that the resolution fails to stop.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Four Street Children Survive in the Basement of Havana’s Largest Dollar Supermarket

The problem “has spread to several places, where children ask for money, even late at night,” admits deputy Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes

When asked if they sleep there, two say yes, that they do it “under the stairs.” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, October 16, 2025 — “Those from the Minors* go by here.” says one of the four children that 14ymedio interviewed this Wednesday after photos were published on social networks where they appear sleeping on cardboard in the basement of the Gran Muthu Habana. This luxury hotel is adjacent to the 3rd and 70th dollar supermarket, opened earlier this year in the affluent neighborhood of Miramar.

When asked if they sleep there, two say yes, that they do it “under the stairs” and have no parents or other adults to take care of them.

How do they eat? They reply that they “eat from the carts.” They watch the exit door of the market, where people leave with carts to go to their cars. They depend on charity, customers giving them some money or something from their purchases.

The image of these children sleeping on cardboard, at the foot of a hotel offering luxury tour packages, is a reality that the official discourse has always tried to deny. The humanitarian crisis on the Island can no longer be hidden behind the “We are happy here” or “Children are the hope of the world” signs.

When they speak of “the one from Minors” they are referring to a worker of the Integral Training Schools or the driving schools. / 14ymedio

The children of the Gran Mathu are afraid, and when they speak of “the one from Minors,” they are referring to a worker from the Integral Training Schools or the driving schools, which depend on the Ministry of the Interior. There are 12 such institutions in Cuba, each with an average of 200 residents.

So far, on the official side, only the businessman Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes, a member of Parliament for the municipality of Playa, has reacted to the complaint. “The Council for the Care of Minors of the Ministry of the Interior is the body responsible for these cases, and there are numerous complaints on file. This was confirmed to me by neighbors in the area, although I still have to review this issue in detail with the institution. The municipal authorities confirm that continue reading

this is a recurring problem that requires a comprehensive response,” said the man, who is also president of a private business, Dofleini Software.

The deputy also acknowledged that the problem “has spread to several areas, where children ask for money on a daily basis, even late at night.” He called on institutions to “provide a comprehensive treatment to the situation,” since “reporting and rounding up minors does not solve, by itself, the root of the phenomenon.”

These minors face violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, trafficking and criminalization. / Social Networks

The original publication generated a wave of comments among Internet users. Some also warned about the risks faced by these children: violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, trafficking and criminalization. “They are completely exposed. There is no responsible adult, no authorities to deal with. They are easy prey for any exploitation,” warned one user who claimed to have also seen children in the area.

In July 2025, the then Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó, was dismissed after declaring on television that “there are no beggars in Cuba,” a phrase that caused outrage inside and outside the country. The statement, perceived as a blatant denial of reality, exposed the official strategy of making poverty invisible rather than confronting it.

The presence of people in street situations is neither new nor unique to Havana. In recent years, economic decline has pushed entire families to live in public spaces. The lack of housing is compounded by inflation, food shortages and the collapse of social care systems. According to independent organizations, there are more and more children on the streets, many of them orphans or children of emigrant parents, under the care of elderly people who are ill, or children who come from broken homes.

Child begging in Cuba is already a proven fact and is spreading. / 14ymedio

Child labor is also increasing in Cuba. Denied or officially minimized, this phenomenon has become a palpable reality, driven by the economic crisis, the black market and social deprivations. In Las Tunas, for example, children and adolescents sell sweets, food or various articles on the streets, something that even the local official press was forced to acknowledge.

Although the State has laws prohibiting child employment and allows some regulated exceptions, in practice these rules are broken, with a lack of protection, extreme poverty and institutional omission. This brutal contrast between the letter of the law and the daily life of hundreds of children highlights the fact that more than an anomaly, child begging in Cuba is already a proven fact and is spreading.

Luxury and poverty in Havana: abandoned children live outside the doors of a dollarized supermarket

*Explained later in the article

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Forgotten Crime of the Castro Regime, Cubana de Aviación Flight 495

Filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana and activist Reinol Rodríguez attempt to expose a crime that had the complicit silence of many, including authorities and numerous important press media of the time

Image from the documentary The Hijacking of Flight 495, made by filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana and activist Reinol Rodríguez. / Lilo Vilaplana

14ymedio, Miami, Pedro Corzo, October 12, 2025 — Decades have passed, overwhelming days and hours, to the point that those of us who live in these dark times hardly remember it.That is why it makes sense for the new generations of the hemisphere to know that Castroism has developed many of the most violent and criminal strategies known in the Americas.

It is very important to delve into the past. No crime should go unpunished and forgotten; hence, the importance of the work made by filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana and activist Reinol Rodríguez, with a historical documentary about ill-fated Flight 495 of Cubana de Aviación, from Miami to Varadero, which crashed in the vicinity of Nipe Bay after being hijacked by followers of Fidel and Raul Castro.

Rodriguez and Vilaplana try to expose a crime that had the complicit silence of many, including authorities and numerous and important press media of the time. The US Government itself declared that the event was outside its jurisdiction. Apparently, it was seduced by the paraphernalia of Castroism.

These two Cubans, committed to historical truth, thoroughly investigated the above-mentioned events and interviewed survivors of the disaster, including Omara González, a passenger on that flight.

The US Government itself stated that the event was outside its jurisdiction

Castroism was violent in the insurrection and much more so as a government. In its time they placed explosives in public places to force the population to stay in their homes, murdered police and military to provoke ferocious government repression, which must also be remembered, and which had as its climax the Castro strategy continue reading

of “the three Zs [C in Spanish]: zero cinema, zero cabaret and zero c… in reference to brothels.”

This threat was quickly confirmed by the explosion of a bomb placed in a woman’s abandoned purse in a cabaret in Havana, wounding several young women, one of whom had to have her arm amputated, according to writer Jose Antonio Albertini in a conversation. He was also one of those who attempted to rescue Flight 495 from oblivion in his WLRN TV program.

Violence sometimes ravaged the insurgent ranks themselves, as when two young students in the city of Santa Clara were carrying a bomb that fatally exploded prematurely.

The bombs and kidnappings carried out by the rebel forces in compliance with the disastrous orders of the Castro brothers pale before the horrendous crime that occurred on November 1, 1958, exactly two months before a darkness that has extended for 66 years and 10 months arrived in Cuba. It happened two days before the last pluralist, albeit fraudulent, elections in our history.

As a sign that the spiral of violence was ready to operate outside Cuba, Raül Castro issued Order 30 authorizing the kidnapping of US citizens, which led in June 1958 to 49 Americans, including 20 civilians, employees of the US-owned Moa nickel mining plant and 29 Marines being kidnapped in the Sierra.

Incomprehensibly, the painful events of Flight 495 were hardly mentioned among the Cubans. The rescue involved Gerardo Reyes, a notable Colombian journalist who dedicated 10 years of his life to an investigation that culminated in a book entitled Flight 495, in which he sees innocent people involved in complex situations that can end with their own death.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 495 was the first aircraft hijacked in US airspace

The passengers had no connection with the Cuban government and were not a political objective; simply, the kidnappers apparently intended to transport weapons, ammunition and perhaps money to the eastern guerrillas.

The trip to Varadero, just over 300 kilometers, 45 minutes long, never reached its destination. On board the Vickers Viscount turboprop, there were 16 passengers, including a pregnant woman.

The aircraft was captured by five young militants of the hapless July 26 Movement. It is claimed that they were following orders from Raúl Castro, and the operation ended in tragedy, according to the newspaper Gente in its edition of November 16, 1958. Seventeen people died, including six American citizens.

None of the guilty paid for the crime: another Cuban tragedy that “nobody wants to hear about and least of all see.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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More Than 1,000 Cubans Have Served in the Russian Army and 96 Have Died, According to Kiev

Russia has attacked Ukrainian infrastructure with more than 300 missiles and 37 drones, according to Zelensky

A group of Cubans recruited to fight on the Russian side in Ukraine. / Mario Vallejo/Facebook

EFE (via 14ymedio), Kiev, 16 October 2025 –At least 1,076 Cuban citizens are fighting or have fought so far in the ranks of the Russian Army in the war launched on February 24, 2022 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to figures provided by Ukrainian intelligence (GUR) to the Kyiv Independent.

According to the same source, 96 of those Cuban soldiers have died in hostilities or are missing.

The GUR also noted that Cubans recruited by the Russian Army receive two weeks of training in Moscow before being sent to the battlefield. The vast majority of these combatants perform assault or motorized infantry or dismounted roles.

Some of the Cubans who end up fighting come to Russia attracted by construction jobs posted on social media.

According to Ukrainian military intelligence, some of the Cubans who end up fighting come to Russia lured by construction jobs posted on social media. The process is carried out through private intermediaries.

Despite being an ally of Moscow, the communist regime in Havana has repeatedly denied any involvement in the recruitment of Cuban soldiers into the Russian army. continue reading

Both Russia and Ukraine recruit soldiers from third countries to reinforce their troops in the war.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked infrastructure in at least five Ukrainian regions last night with more than 300 drones and 37 missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on social media.

“Last night brought with it attacks against our people, our energy sector, and our civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky wrote, denouncing that some of the Shaheds used by Russia to attack were equipped with cluster munitions.

“Last night brought attacks against our people, our energy sector, and our civilian infrastructure.”

The Ukrainian president also condemned Russia’s subsequent attacks on the same sites, which were believed to have targeted medical and emergency workers responding to the victims of the initial bombing.

According to Zelensky, Russia attacked infrastructure in the central regions of Vinitsia and Poltava, and Sumi on Wednesday. In the northern region of Chernihiv, Russian bombing damaged a post office and injured one person. In Kharkiv, a region bordering Russia and in northeastern Ukraine, critical infrastructure and a Ukrainian emergency services headquarters were attacked.

The Ukrainian president recalled that Russia has attacked the country’s energy infrastructure almost daily this fall.

This latest bombing comes before Zelensky travels to the US to meet with President Donald Trump this Friday.

Zelensky called for “strong decisions” to force Russia to end the war. “And this depends on the US, Europe, and all the partners on whose power the end of the war depends,” the Ukrainian leader said in his message of condemnation.

Zelensky insisted that the “momentum” of the Middle East peace agreement forged by Trump must be used to end the war in Ukraine.

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Two Protesters From October 7 in Marianao Are Transferred to Preventive Detention in Cuba’s Valle Grande Prison

Yuniel Serrano Batista and another resident of the Pogolotti neighborhood were charged with “public disorder”

The demonstration, which took place at night, brought together dozens of residents who came out to demand the restoration of electricity service. / Screenshot / X

14ymedio, Havana, 14 October 2025 — Two of those arrested during the neighborhood protest on Wednesday, October 7, in the municipality of Marianao, Havana, were charged with “public disorder” and remanded in custody at Valle Grande prison. At least 15 citizens had been arrested in connection with that peaceful demonstration and taken to the detention center known as El Vivac, in Arroyo Naranjo.

As confirmed by Martí Noticias this Monday, one of those transferred to Valle Grande is Yuniel Serrano Batista, accused of allegedly setting fire to a garbage container. The name of the other person, who was arrested for trying to prevent Serrano’s arrest, is still unknown. Both are residents of the Pogolotti neighborhood.

The demonstration , which took place at night on 51st Avenue, brought together dozens of residents who came out to demand the restoration of electricity, which had been intermittent for four days, and to denounce the lack of water and freedoms. Chanting “We want light!” and banging on pots and pans, residents partially blocked the road, using burning containers and objects to provide light during the blackout.

At least 15 citizens had been arrested in connection with that peaceful demonstration and taken to the detention center known as El Vivac.

The police intervened within minutes. Witnesses reported that several patrol cars and plainclothes officers forcibly dispersed the protesters, arresting more than a dozen people.

The organization Cubalex denounces that the Cuban regime “has repressed protest participants and criminalized a legitimate act of dissent as a mechanism to silence citizen discontent in Cuba.”

Among those arrested was activist Liván Gómez, coordinator in Havana for the Union for a Free Cuba party. Gómez was arrested the day after the demonstration and accused of leading the protest, even though, as later continue reading

confirmed in recordings, he was not present at the event.

After reviewing the images, authorities decided to release him on Friday, October 11. However, Gómez was warned that he could be imprisoned if he was linked to anti-government graffiti that appeared in the area. “During the interrogation, they also accused me of being behind some posters. They made it clear to me that they are watching me,” the activist stated.

The transfer from El Vivac to Valle Grande usually indicates that the Prosecutor’s Office has formalized the charges and that the detainees could face trial. This step further complicates their legal and personal situation, as it implies further isolation, greater state control, and difficulties in accessing defense counsel and family visits. In political or protest cases, it also acts as a deterrent to the rest of the community.

The month of October has been marked by increased social tension in Cuba.

Although most of those arrested have been released in recent hours—some with fines and others with warnings—the fact that two protesters have been sent to pretrial detention in Valle Grande, one of the capital’s most frequently used prisons for opponents and protesters, demonstrates that “social protest is treated as a crime, not as an expression of a citizen’s right,” Cubalex noted.

In recent weeks, this newspaper has documented an increase in spontaneous demonstrations in neighborhoods of Havana and other provinces, motivated by the energy crisis, water shortages, and the lack of official responses.

The previous week, a group of residents in the Casino Deportivo neighborhood banged pots and pans during a power outage, in an area historically privileged for not experiencing prolonged power outages. Days earlier, women with children and empty buckets blocked Monte Street to demand water. Although they were confronted by police officers, a water truck arrived on the scene shortly after.

The month of October has been marked by heightened social tension in Cuba. Daily blackouts, which in many areas exceed 12 hours without power, have exacerbated the population’s frustration. Added to this are inflation, food and medicine shortages, the spread of epidemics, and political repression.

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“With So Many Young People Like You, Tyranny Doesn’t Last a Week”

From Miami, this is how José Daniel Ferrer addressed Luis Robles, “the young man with the placard,” at a press conference held in Madrid.

Luis Robles and his mother, Yindra Elizastigui, at the end of the press conference. The sign reads, “In Cuba there are more than 1000 political prisoners just for asking for Freedom” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 15 October 2025 — “I had already served my sentence, but I was still a hostage,” Luis Robles told 14ymedio a few hours after arriving in Madrid on Monday, after serving five years in prison in Cuba for marching in Havana with a placard demanding freedom. In the Spanish capital, he was accompanied by his mother and six-year-old son, while his brother Lester remains imprisoned on the island.

“The goal of my protest was to break the silence,” Robles said, because “I didn’t want to be complicit in the abuses being committed, in the hunger… Someone had to do it.” The young man saw that everyone around him thought like him, but fear prevented them from defending their opinions. He didn’t consider himself a politician or a leader, just a citizen tired of remaining silent in the face of injustice. “That day I decided to break the fear,” he said with a firm voice and gaze, without losing the humility and simplicity that characterize him.

Robles and his mother, Yindra Elizastigui, spoke about the call they received from the State Security officer in charge of harassing them. “Where is Luis?” the officer asked over the phone in a clearly annoyed tone, although news of his arrival in Spain was already circulating in independent media and on social media. His mother answered without a tremble in her voice: “You know, he’s already out of Cuba.”

He did not consider himself a politician or a leader, just a citizen tired of keeping silent in the face of injustice.

The officer criticized them for not having informed him directly about Robles’s efforts to leave the country. Despite knowing of his intention to leave the island, they pressured him to handle any arrangements through them, in order to maintain absolute control over his actions. “They constantly threatened my mother with me, and me with her. They made us believe that any word or action could land me back in prison, despite having fully served an unjust sentence,” Robles told this newspaper.

The phone call suggested that Officer “Michel”— as he calls himself —had been reprimanded by his superiors for not being able to keep track of every movement of Robles and his family. Although the state’s repressive continue reading

machinery monitors and controls its targets down to the smallest movement, it doesn’t always operate as smoothly as they would have us believe.

The officer admitted in the call that “everything belongs to them,” referring to Villa Marista and other places where Robles had to go to complete his exit procedures, but his discomfort was not having been able to properly carry out his task of following his steps and finding out everything before his superiors.

Regarding his time in Combinado del Este prison, Robles says he stood up for his position as a political prisoner. He never admitted to having committed a crime, but rather to exercising and defending a human right. In prison, he faced threats, punishment, and repression, but he also felt the respect of other prisoners who admired his firm stance.

Robles says he defended his position as a political prisoner. He never admitted to having committed a crime, but rather to exercising and defending a human right.

Robles, his mother, and his son arrived dressed in white, bearing with them the justice of their cause and their commitment to the other political prisoners still in Cuba. His mother, a Guantanamo native who doesn’t hesitate to confront injustice, can’t stop thinking about her son Léster, who remains imprisoned in Cuba awaiting trial. “In a regime like Cuba’s, any citizen runs the risk of having a crime fabricated against them,” she tells us, but she won’t rest until Léster and the rest of the victims of the dictatorship are also free.

His mother recounted her ordeal at a press conference this Wednesday. “My life changed completely since my son Landy started the campaign for Luis Robles’s release. I realized I was just another prisoner who had to follow orders.” They began harassing her at work; they even went to a niece’s school to ask about Luis. “I was forced to leave my job at Housing in Guantánamo; I had to take a leave of absence to go to Havana to see my son’s situation, but all these setbacks we went through because Luis made me grow up.”

“Fear prevails in Cuba, but there are many people who are in touch with reality and have discovered that they are outraged and are not afraid,” he added. He also highlighted the role of families and the harm that silence causes to those in prison. “Many prisoners feel abandoned by Cubans themselves; they raised their voices for everyone. What better way than for those Cubans to support them. We are more than the authorities, the police, or State Security.”

José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, also participated online from Miami.

The press conference was organized and moderated by Javier Larrondo, president of the Prisoners Defenders organization. Also participating online from Miami was José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), who praised the valor of Luis Robles: “With so many young people like you, tyranny doesn’t last a week.” Ferrer was exiled the same day Robles arrived in Madrid. Also in attendance were Javier Nart, a Member of the European Parliament, and Spanish lawyer Blas Jesús Imbroda.

A representative of the Cuban exile community gratefully welcomed Robles and his family. Several activists had been discreetly organizing his arrival for months to prevent the regime from impeding his departure. “I will continue fighting for those who remain there, and for Cuba to be free,” stated the man who became known as the “young man with the placard,” who is determined to continue raising his voice from Spain.

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The Scavengers Feast on the Ruins of the Café Boulevard in Havana

The collapse of a state cafeteria leaves an extensive reservoir of building materials for the scavengers

In less than two months the usable fragments have been disappearing from the structure. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya, October 14, 2025 — Matter is neither created nor destroyed, it only changes hands. What until recently was a state cafeteria, which was left in ruins after a tragic collapse, is now the main reservoir of steel bars, gravel and pieces of wood from a neighborhood with serious construction problems. At the corner of Galiano and San Rafael, in Centro Habana, scavengers carry everything they can pull from the rubble of Café Boulevard. Anything can be used to repair another house or sell on the black market.

“They have been carrying away everything like ants,” the employee of a nearby parking lot for motorcycles and tricycles tells 14ymedio. He has seen the remains of the property parading past in the hands of the most needy. The collapse of the ceiling of the state business, in mid-August, claimed the life of an employee working on the ground floor. On that day, the exterior of the Café Boulevard and the cracked upper part still exhibited doors, windows and even clothes laid out on the balconies.

Like their peers in nature, these scroungers are guided by noise and smell. / 14ymedio

However, in less than two months the pieces that can be used to prop up a barbacoa (loft) or as a hot plate for cooking have been disappearing from the structure. “Some things were taken by the owners before they left, but others have been cannibalized at night and in the early hours, the same people who live here,” explains the employee.” I have seen toilet seats, complete blinds, electric cables and many planks of wood.”

If in nature scavengers remove cadavers from the environment and recycle them, in the Cuban capital the scavengers sweep through any ruin, empty the wide rooms that once had walls, grab the bidet from the old bathroom of the stately house that fell with the last rains and skillfully remove the bricks from a facade. Like their peers in nature, they are guided by noise and smell: the shouting that comes after the collapse of some pillars and the stench of moisture that spreads through the debris of a collapsed building.

In a couple of months, it is very likely that, on the corner of Galiano and San Rafael, there will remain only some unadorned pillars and the memory of shared laughter, conversation and beer.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuban Regime Suggests That the US Is Behind the ‘Suspicious Coincidence of the Virus in Cuba’

It is a question of discrediting tourism, since this “may affect the greater inflow of foreign currency to the country in times of the economic crisis on the Island”

Fumigation in Matanzas, where the outbreak began to worsen this September / Girón

14ymedio, Madrid, October 14, 2025 — After several days of circulation on quasi-independent blogs and state media, the official press has decided to publish an article in which the political analyst of Razones de Cuba, Arthur González, insinuates that the epidemiological situation did not happen “by chance” but forms part of the “biological war” against Cuba, which the US, he claims, is behind.

The article, entitled Suspicious coincidence of virus in Cuba obliges us to remember the past, was originally published in El Heraldo Cubano, an official blog dedicated to “divulging the truth that is censored by the media monopoly.” This does not refer to Cuban state media but to the press supposedly linked to the US. It was reproduced this Tuesday by the provincial newspaper of Cienfuegos, 5 de septiembre, to give official support to the conspiracy theory.

The author points out that chikungunya has not been in Cuba since the 2015 epidemic, but only this July, ten years later, was the first outbreak detected in Matanzas, “where Varadero beach is located, one of the most important sun and beach tourist destinations in the country, with the largest number of visitors. It is considered among the best beaches in the world according to international institutions, with excellent hotels run by prestigious international chains.”

The author points out that chikungunya has not been in Cuba since the 2015 epidemic, but this July, ten years later, the first outbreak was detected in Matanzas

After a description of Varadero in July 2025 that little resembles the reality — that month, the whole island received just 190,747 tourists — the post identifies the point where the first cases began to be reported: the municipality of Perico, almost 70 kilometers from the resort, located on a key. From there, it says, it spread to Máximo Gómez, more than 50 kilometers away.

The Ministry of Health identified several cases of chikungunya in July, a focus that was almost exclusively confined to Perico, although health brigades were sent from different parts of the province. In the middle of the month, that focus was controlled, although surveillance continued due to the increase of Aedes Aegyptis mosquitos during the season.

It was not until September that the situation worsened again in the province of Matanzas, in this case affecting more virulently the capital city and Cárdenas. After weeks of warnings on social media and the independent press, the official media ended up admitting the gravity of a situation in continue reading

which lack of water, blackouts, garbage and shortages of medicines and health facilities have been ideal breeding grounds for the spread of dengue, oropouche and chikungunya.

González argues that this is not by chance and he is right. The above cases have been recognized by the official press itself in recent days. But for him it is, at the very least, something that could impact tourism, since this “may affect the greater inflow of foreign exchange into the country in times of the economic crisis that Cuba is going through.”

For the author, the beginning of the crisis coincides with the launch of Cuban tourism in several international fairs and the holiday campaign of different destinations — summer or winter — depending on the latitude. “The outbreak quickly advanced in the municipalities of Matanzas and Cárdenas, where most of the tourism workers in Varadero reside. They can get sick and transmit it to tourists,” he says.

In the midst of the worsening situation, the US issued a warning to travelers two weeks ago, giving health recommendations to those who eventually have Cuba as their destination. These measures are normal. Almost all countries advise their nationals of the risks or measures to be taken into account when going abroad, whether to warn them of natural phenomena, the possibility of terrorist attacks, shortages of products or precautions against theft. But for González these warmings are a suspicious act.

For González, the situation recalls “what happened in May 1981, when the hemorrhagic dengue epidemic was similarly detected” in Boyeros, where the José Martí International Airport is located

It is striking that on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, the U.S. government issued a health alert for its citizens in Cuba before the outbreak of chikungunya, when Americans are forbidden to travel to the Island as tourists and President Donald Trump removed the licenses that allowed them to visit Cuba, which sends an alarm to all possible visitors from other parts of the world,” he says. “Why did they issue this alert when the number of American visitors to the Island is minimal?”

For González, the situation recalls “what happened in May 1981, when the hemorrhagic dengue epidemic was similarly detected” in Boyeros, where the José Martí International Airport is located. “We can never forget what Eduardo Arocena, a terrorist killer of Cuban origin and member of anti-Cuban organizations in the service of the CIA declared to the New York Court in 1984: ‘I belong to a group whose mission was to obtain certain pathogenic germs and introduce them into Cuba’.”

The text goes on to mention the articles dedicated to biological warfare against Cuba written by journalist Warren Hinckle and former FBI agent William Turner. It argues that the Island “has been the victim of dozens of actions” by the US to “affect its economy,” including African swine fever, which led to the slaughter of the country’s pigs.

“Chikungunya was first detected in 1952 in Tanzania, and Cuba never suffered from this virus until a few years ago. Therefore, these epidemics cannot be by chance.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“We’re Going To Take Them Down, These Are the Last Days of the Tyranny,” Says Ferrer on His Arrival in Miami

The opponent insists that “the peaceful way remains the most valid action”, but quotes Saint Augustine: “When the enemy tries to slaughter you you have the right to self-defense”

José Daniel Ferrer, between his brother, Luis Enrique, and his wife, Nelva Ortega, this Monday at the Cuban American National Foundation. / Capture

14ymedio, Miami/Madrid, October 13, 2025 — With “mixed feelings,” joy at being able to arrive in the United States with his family and grief for the remaining political prisoners in Cuba, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer appeared before the press a few hours after landing at Miami airport on Monday. “Cuba’s prisons are hell, Dante in his Divine Comedy does not describe a hell like the Cuban prisons,” said Ferrer at the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), after mentioning political prisoners including Félix Navarro, Sayli Navarro and Lizandra Góngora, who are still serving time on the Island.

“I never thought of leaving Cuba. Of course, I didn’t think the dictatorship would last until 2025 either,” said the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU). Accompanied by his brother, Luis Enrique, his wife, Nelva Ortega, and three of the children who also made the trip -Daniel José, Fátima Victoria and Ana Laura- in addition to her mother, Yusmila Reyna. Ferrer appeared with a Cuban flag on his shoulders and promised to return “as soon as possible” to “put an end to the dictatorship.”

“My intention upon coming here is to continue making my modest contribution in the search for the greatest unity and effectiveness” in the fight against the regime, he explained, stating that “we must put the screws to them inside and outside of Cuba.” He explicitly stated his desire to return several times during his speech, alluding to the “heroes of the homeland,” such as José Martí and Antonio Maceo, who “left but returned.”

“My intention upon coming here is to continue making my modest contribution in the search for the greatest unity and effectiveness”

The opponent also took advantage of the event to congratulate María Corina Machado for having received the Nobel Peace Prize, something that, he said, “has caused suffering to the communists of Venezuela and Cuba. If there is a dictatorship in Caracas it’s because in Havana there is a dictatorship that gives it support,” he recalled.

Asked about the details of his departure, Ferrer said that it was not until yesterday, Sunday, that a prison officer arrived in his cell “very affectionate, laughing” to tell him that “everything is ready for the departure.” As he had denounced in the letter in which he made public his consent to go into exile, the regime had delayed the process because it continue reading

intended that the opponent serve as an intermediary with the US administration and the Vatican to achieve “things they want.”

Since his letter came out, the authorities have kept the whole family in limbo. According to both José Daniel Ferrer and Nelva Ortega, this uncertainty remained until the moment they met, already on the plane that brought them from Santiago de Cuba. On the one hand, Ferrer doubted if they would take him out but leave his family on the island, and she, on the other hand, that they would get out and he would stay in jail.

Before the media, Ferrer thanked the US ambassador to Cuba, Mike Hammer, who called him before leaving the island; Secretary of state, Marco Rubio; President Donald Trump; and the US administration for having helped his release. “We need the greatest possible support so that before this administration ends we put an end to the dictatorship,” he said.

“José Daniel Ferrer is a free man, and saving himself has been his commitment to continue fighting against that tyranny,” said Rosa María Payá

As Luis Enrique Ferrer had said in the morning, two officials of the State Department arrived in Santiago de Cuba a week ago and warned the regime that they would not return to the US if it was not with Ferrer and his family.

“We are going to take them down; I do not hold a grudge against them, but we must take them down,” said the opponent, who predicted, “These are the last days of the tyranny.” And he sends a message to the Cuban people: “The struggle continues, with redoubled efforts, inside and outside Cuba.”

Asked by the media, Nelva Ortega was moved to remember family members, friends and “social cases,” the unprotected, who remain in Cuba. “It hurts so much to see that, but as my husband says, we’ll be back.” She also said that it was State Security which escorted them, woodenly, to the airport, and even threatened to not let them out if they requested transportation on their own. “It’s an extremely difficult situation, because you can think about leaving but not like this.”

“Is the peaceful way opened by Oswaldo Payá canceled?” a journalist asked Ferrer. “The peaceful way is not the one that has failed, it is we Cubans who have not been able to exploit it in all aspects,” replied Ferrer. For him, it “is still the most valid action” but without overlooking, quoting Saint Augustine, that “when the enemy tries to slaughter you you have the right to self-defense.”

Rosa María Payá, the leader of Cuba Decide and member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, also present at the event, assured that Ferrer’s “will be a short exile.” Similarly, she warned: “The regime is lying, has lied before and will continue to lie. José Daniel Ferrer is a free man, and saving himself has been his commitment to be able to continue fighting against that tyranny.” She added: “He is a hero of all Cubans.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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