Translating Cuba – Page 79 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Recycled Containers and Corruption in Vivienda, Two Sides of the Housing Crisis in Cuba

In Las Tunas, authorities want to give a second life to solar panel containers by converting them into homes.

Reference image of containers converted into homes in Cuba. / Archive/Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, August 8, 2025 — In Las Tunas, where the housing crisis has been installed for years as an uncomfortable guest, the authorities have decided to resort to a “novel” solution: converting recycled containers into homes. The metal boxes are nothing less than those that transport solar panels to the Island, and the authorities-who assure that they are inspired by similar projects around the world-have decided to give them a second life.

Héctor Rodríguez Espinosa, provincial director of housing, announced with optimism that the first containers will be installed in the municipalities of Manatí, Puerto Padre and Majibacoa. Among their advantages are resistance, durability and low environmental impact.

“At present the province has 46 containers: Eighteen of them are assigned to the Electric Company for the construction of nine houses for its workers, and 28 are to be delivered through the popular councils by delegates, community groups and the government in each territory,” said the manager.

As for the frequent “concerns” about the metal material of the containers, which could turn them into ovens, he said that there is nothing to be alarmed about. Each improvised house will be covered inside with “anti-thermal elements,”which will also provide “aesthetics, comfort and a better continue reading

finish.”

They will have a plot of 150 square meters, so that “the family, if necessary and possible, can later expand by building other rooms.”

Each unit will have between 32 and 70 square meters-divided between bathroom, kitchen, dining room and bedrooms, according to the number of residents-and “ventilation” is assured with doors and windows, he highlighted. They will also have a plot of 150 square meters, so that “the family, if necessary and possible, can later expand by building other rooms.”

Meanwhile, the residents will have to adapt to living in the boxes of the refurbished metal containers. Some officials of the Housing Directorate itself were busy emptying other boxes, which came from the state budget.

In Matanzas, the People’s Provincial Court on Thursday tried two former employees of the sector-a director and an investor-for forging documents and embezzling funds. The trial, described as “exemplary” like so many others, ended with a sentence of five years in prison for the first and four for the accomplice, with the option to do correctional work without internment.

According to Girón, the former director had bypassed all procedures and signed a contract with a self-employed worker to rehabilitate a multi-family building known as the Transport Building, in the neighborhood of 13 de Marzo. The agreement was signed, clarifies the media, “behind the back of the unit’s Procurement Committee and without prior bidding.” The document did not contain “the work object; the person responsible for the supply; the representatives of the supplier and the customer; the terms of guarantee; the schedule of execution; and the list of persons authorized by the supplier and the customer to sign the certificates of conformity, acceptance and materials.”

There was no construction work on the building, which had “severe structural damage,” but there was a bill of more than half a million pesos.

There was no construction work on the building, which according to Girón presented “severe structural damage,” but there was a bill of more than half a million pesos for work that was never carried out. “No constructive action was taken to restore the original and functional values of this building as planned, and the property now remains in the same state of deterioration, although [the directors] arranged payment as if the construction had been carried out satisfactorily,” the newspaper said.

The investor, for his part, never verified that the construction had been completed with the desired quality nor requested the work file. He still certified the whole process.

Both were also prohibited from exercising any office related to “administration, care or availability of material and financial resources,” and their family members -it is not clear whether voluntarily- refunded the 531,486 pesos,19 centavos, so that Vivienda did not see its assets affected.

The trial, which was held in public, is yet another warning from the Government, among many that it has issued recently, to officials and low-ranking managers on the Island. However, the fact that such an obvious crime -since the building was never repaired- was ignored until the last moment casts doubt on the management and control of state enterprises over their resources. Justice was delivered, but, as is often the case, it was delayed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Yankiel, 13 Years Old, Student by Day and Can Collector by Night

Poverty is growing in Cuba and many families depend on their children’s work for their daily sustenance.

At La Salsa, Yankiel waits for the closing time, leaning on his sack of cans, to return to his work. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Pablo Padilla Cruz, Matanzas, 11 August 2025 — In the parking lot of the La Salsa nightclub in Matanzas, a teenager sleeps next to a sack half-full of cans. He’s waiting for the party to end before continuing his collecting work. His name is Yankiel and he’s 13 years old. His mother died a long time ago. “I remember her, but not enough,” he confesses.

Recent statements by the former Minister of Labor and Social Security, downplaying the extreme poverty suffered by thousands of Cubans, sparked a debate that many consider overdue. Even in the official press, cracks are beginning to appear. The Girón newspaper, the provincial newspaper of Matanzas and a smaller sister newspaper of Granma, published a two-part photo report on the plight of street begging.

In the images, the deterioration and precariousness can no longer be hidden. However, the editorial treatment maintained the usual script. Alongside each testimony of hardship, the government’s “efforts” to provide shelter for those without a place to live are emphasized—in bold and insistently—even if that shelter is 100 kilometers from their original place of residence or is a former school building converted into a damp and continue reading

corroded shell.

Beyond what the photos showed, it was striking that there were no children in the report.

Beyond what the photos showed, it was striking that there were no children in the report. The selection of images conveyed the idea that children in Cuba were safe, as if José Martí’s phrase, “Children are born to be happy,” had been strictly adhered to. Stories like Yankiel’s, however, contradict this sugary portrait.

His father does heavy labor: masonry, clearing land, collecting animal feed scraps, and, above all, the nighttime harvesting of raw materials. This task is a family business. To cover more ground, father and son split up. One walks through the city center and Narváez Street; the other goes from the El Tenis neighborhood to the Reinol García neighborhood, known as Pastorita. Together, they fill their sacks with bottles, plastic containers, and cans, which they then sell.

During school holidays, Yankiel takes advantage of the opportunity to harvest for longer hours. “I don’t have to get up early to go to school,” he says. But when the school year starts, the routine becomes exhausting. He combines classes with street work, a kind of childhood moonlighting, one he undertakes without fully realizing it. This year, he will enter eighth grade, although his priorities seem driven by a different logic: survival.

Beyond what the photos showed, it was striking that there were no children in the report. / 14ymedio

When asked what he wants to do when he comes of age, he hesitates for a few seconds. Then, with the sincerity of someone unaccustomed to embellishing words, he replies: “I want to work in something that makes money.” His straightforward answer reveals an urgent concern for the outcome, not the path to achieving it. When the goal is solely “making money,” the alternatives can be uncertain or dangerous.

In the park, someone gives him a cola. He drinks it slowly, with a mixture of shyness and relief. The empty container goes directly into the bag, along with the other collected cans. Yankiel’s case is one among many. Neither he nor other children in similar situations have ever appeared in the reports on Girón or in the speeches of ministers. They don’t fit the narrative of a protected and happy childhood. Childhood marginalization is rendered invisible, not only by media censorship, but also by political indifference.

The images in the official photo report showed adult faces, makeshift beds in doorways and vacant lots, stoves without fuel, and peeling walls. But the omission of children was not accidental. Showing a child sleeping on the street or carrying a sack of garbage would be an admission that the State has failed in one of its propaganda pillars: the care of childhood.

In Cuba, minors working in raw material collection, street vending, or animal care are not isolated cases. It is a widespread reality, especially in cities and the less developed surrounding areas. The economic crisis, inflation, the decline in purchasing power, and the inadequacy of social programs have forced many families to rely on their children’s labor to supplement their daily livelihoods.

The language used to define places softens the edges and dilutes the State’s responsibility

Extreme poverty is no longer an issue that can be hidden behind euphemisms. What was once denied or attributed to “isolated cases” now appears in the streets in broad daylight. The fact that a media outlet like Girón, controlled by the Communist Party, publishes a report on beggars in Matanzas indicates that even the official press has had to acknowledge that poverty exists and is growing.

But recognition is partial and conditional. Each complaint is juxtaposed with a justification: the promise of a transfer, a home repair, or the delivery of mattresses. The language used to define places softens the sharp edges and dilutes the responsibility of a State that, for decades, has presented itself as the absolute guarantor of social welfare.

Yankiel will continue walking the streets, his bag slung over his shoulder, while attending eighth grade. His father will continue working the toughest jobs, combining the hours of daylight with the early morning hours. Neither of them expects a sudden change. Poverty, for them, is not a temporary circumstance but a permanent context. And what is not published in Girón, nor mentioned in speeches, is what most defines today’s Cuba.

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In Order To Avoid a Further Flight of Personnel, the Cuban Government Will Redistribute Salaries for Vacant Posts

This measure will be temporary and will apply only in the budgeted sector, in particular Education and Health

In recent years, the workforce in State-owned enterprises has been drastically reduced.

14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2025 — The Cuban government will redistribute wages already budgeted for unoccupied state positions among employees who are currently working. This is stated in an agreement signed by the Council of Ministers and published on Monday in a special Official Gazette.

The legal prose does not hide the fact that the measure is intended to be an “incentive for the stability of the labor force” in the face of the “sustained increase in the labor fluctuation of the budgeted sector,” which means the loss of human resources in the State sector.

“It is considered to be additional pay and salary for all legal purposes, without its application constituting a payment system.”

The decision does not imply an increase in wages, as one of the articles clarifies: “It is considered to be additional pay and salary for all legal purposes, without its application constituting a payment system.”

It will apply to all occupational categories in the budgeted sector, including units with “special treatment” (such as military personnel or doctors on missions). However, there are exceptions to this extra payment: “The bodies and agencies of the Central State Administration and national entities that have approved differentiated salary treatments of wage increases, as well as the care units and educational institutions whose health professionals and teaching staff receive the benefit of maximum effort and overload of educational work.” continue reading

According to the resolution, it will be the heads of the various entities who assess whether “the non-implementation of the salary fund is objective” and ensure the redistribution with the salary expenditure plan allocated for the fiscal year. The distribution shall be made by means of an internal regulation drawn up by the Board of Directors of each unit, which shall include the frequency of payment.

The regulation should also contain the “source of funding”; that is, the amount of “non-implemented” money to be distributed.

“It may be granted only once or for a period of time to be determined, according to the characteristics of the work or the result that is stimulated, without this being permanent or massive,” insists the text. The regulation should also contain the “source of funding”; that is, the amount of “unimplemented” money to be distributed and the procedure for granting it, which will also depend on different factors. The “high performance criteria, differences with greater recognition of highly qualified human resources, holding positions of higher responsibility, the competency management approach and the individual distribution mechanism” will mark the differences.

Similarly, states the Gazette, the amount paid to each worker “is to be approved by the Board of Management of the budgeted unit, in agreement with the trade union organization, and reported to the General Assembly of Affiliates and Workers.”

The Government sets a deadline of 30 days for each agency to carry out an “analysis.”

From the publication of the measure, this Monday, the Government sets a deadline of 30 days for each agency to carry out an “analysis” that allows knowing “which entities are able to redistribute the salary fund” and approve the “general guidelines” to allow the payment to be redistributed.

The implementation of the resolution will also be subject to review over a period of one year and every three months, requiring an outcome report to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Prices.

In recent years, the workforce in the budgeted sector and State enterprises has been drastically reduced, mainly due to the migratory exodus and low wages, which are barely enough in a context of widespread crisis.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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July Books: Variations on the Orishas, the Lottery and the Cuban Incubator

Katherine Perzant’s book about the Cuban countryside has just won the Franz Kafka prize for essay and testimony

‘Cubensis’ is another reflection on a lost country that we now begin to understand. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 9 August 2025 — Katherine Perzant has rediscovered for readers the physical and spiritual desert of the Cuban countryside. A skeletal train that crosses a plain; oxen grazing casually by the road; miles of yellow grass and barren land. Anyone who says that Cuba is a tropical paradise would only have to travel through those villages of Oriente and Las Villas. “This is the Cuban nothingness,” writes Perzant.

Her book of vignettes and observations on the countryside of her childhood in Holguín during the Special Period has just won the Franz Kafka prize for essay and testimony. With a prose put at the service of reflection and charged with fatality, like that of Faulkner and Coetzee, La nada cubana (The Cuban Nothingness) evokes villages and hamlets and the distance between them. If you search the grass, you will find snakes, guinea pigs, mice and all kinds of vermin.

You will also find guajiros--farmers–in addition to country life and the women; they only know how to talk about one thing: La Charada.* If there is anything beautiful in the Cuban countryside it is La Charada,” writes Perzant in one of the best excerpts from the book. “People play the numbers and their meaning, looking for luck, although those who have played and know say that whoever plays by necessity loses by obligation. It doesn’t matter. If you grew up in the countryside, you know that a coyuyo (click beetle) turns upside down, and the number of its somersaults is the number of children you will have.” continue reading

The sacred combinational analysis leads a guajiro to place everything on five if he sees a nun and on 65 if he is pecked by a hen.

Chance is the only thing that dares to challenge nothingness: the sacred combinational analysis that leads a guajiro to play everything on the number five if he sees a nun and on 65 if he is pecked by a hen. “Number one is a horse; two, a butterfly; three, a little boy; and four, a cat,” enumerates Perzant. There has not been such a tremendous evocation of the countryside for a long time, which is the same as saying the Island, as if Havana did not exist.

Another reflection on a country that was lost and that we now begin to understand is Cubensis (Empty House), by journalist and film critic Alejandro Ríos. This collection of articles attempts to reconstruct Cuba from afar, in an exercise that the filmmaker Carlos Lechuga has described as a “rescue and salvation maneuver” for an identity that exile has not extinguished.

Mi último viaje en Lada (My Last Trip to Lada), published by the same publisher, is the first part of a collection of crime novels, la Trilogía de la Quinta Avenida (The Fifth Avenue Trilogy). Its author, Efraín Rodríguez Santana, explores the corridors of the Interior Ministry as he investigates an art theft in the 1990s. The crime novel, like other narrations of its kind, such as Leonardo Padura’s Paisaje de otoño (Autumn Landscape), is expected to be a pretext for social criticism.

Another crime novel, Lo que oculta la noche (What the Night Hides), by May R. Ayamonte, continues a tendency of popular Spanish novelists to use the Cuba of the 80’s and 90’s as an escape scenario. In 1987, a woman travels from Spain to Playa Larga with her lover and begins her initiation into santeria. Years later, a detective investigates to what extent this flight had to do with a crime that occurred in Granada, in which everyone sees the Devil’s hand, although these are innocent orishas.

Reina María Rodríguez is perhaps the most notable living female voice of Cuban poetry. With her book of poems Mazorcas (Corncobs), published by Rialta, the winner of the National Prize for Literature once again displays her intimate universe, composed of a series of images–the conversation of a poet with his daughter, a room with flowers, the corn fields in Wajda’s cinema–of a life that could not be lived.

In Salamanca, the Cuban poet Odalys Interián won the King David Award for Biblical Poetry for her poetry collection, Y la muerte se muere (And Death is Dying

In Salamanca, the Cuban poet Odalys Interián won the King David Award for Biblical Poetry for her poetry collection, Y la muerte se muere (And Death is Dying). The competition, organized by prestigious writers based in the city, like the Peruvian Alfredo Pérez Alencart, awards books in which spirituality and language are intertwined. Interián lives in exile in Miami and directs the publishing house Dos Islas.

Within Cuban literature, if there is a thunderous and unclassifiable author, it is Yoss. Nobody knows who José Miguel Sánchez Gómez is–a name that could be that of a baker or a mechanic–but everyone knows Yoss. Biochocolítica del caos (Biochocolytic of Chaos), published by Verbum and signed by Pedro Pablo Porbén, tries to get closer to the writer’s machinery without getting burned.

What is biochocolate mousse? What does it taste like? What is postmodernism? Who is Yoss? No one knows if Porbén will be lucky enough to answer those questions, but readers would do well to be afraid of the answers.

*Charada: Also called La Bolito, the clandestine game of numbers and symbols dates from the 1800s when Chinese workers arrived in Cuba. Although technically illegal, it is engrained in Cuban culture.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Hard-Currency Incentive Is Promised to the Charcoal Producers of Pinar Del Río, Cuba

This measure aims to increase exports to 250 tons, which barely reached 36 tons in 2024.

Charcoal producers in Pinar del Río / Granma

14ymedio, Havana, August 11, 2025 — The Pinar del Río Agroforestry Company only exported 36 tons of charcoal out of the 400 tons it produced last year, but it promises very different results for 2025. According to its director, Leduhan Menéndez Cardentey, it will produce less than in 2024, about 300 tons, but 250 of them will be for export.

That is, if last year only 9% of the production was destined for sales abroad, this would represent more than 83%. How will they make up that difference? Menéndez Cardentey’s explanations to the provincial press seem more voluntarism [the principle of relying on voluntary action] than reality and refer to the approval of a “financing scheme” in dollars.

Of the sales of charcoal, the official assures, most, 54%, will go “directly to the producer” (30% to the State budget and the rest to be “negotiated with the producing company and exporters”). “This can multiply the volumes of production from which the producer would have a profit in hard currency,” says Menéndez Cardentey. It is not clear, however, how and to what extent they will be able to achieve this.

At the end of last year, charcoal producers in Sancti Spíritus were complaining that they received 20 per cent of the revenue compared to 80 per cent for the State, and about the continue reading

difficulties of dealing with the government. “The company takes up to seven months to pay. They do not pay until the charcoal is sold outside the country,” a producer told this newspaper.

“Production has never been stopped, but the volumes that were previously made are not being produced.”

On the other hand, the explanation for the drop in exports in 2024 is found, for the director of the Agroforestry Company, in the US embargo of the Island. “Production has never been stopped, but the volumes that were previously made are not being produced,” he explains to Guerrillero. “In 2024, we had a complex situation with the shipping companies because of the blockade.”

The Government made another statement to the National Assembly last July, exposing the country’s economic collapse and the fall in production in almost all areas. At that time, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, acknowledged that although the export figures for tobacco, lobster and other fishery products had recovered, “these increases were not sufficient to compensate for the decline in nickel and other mining products, honey, charcoal, farmed shrimp and sea shrimp, and biopharmaceuticals.”

The reasons, listed by the minister himself, included not just the “blockade” but also the lack of inputs, energy and fuel, in addition to “logistical problems and the decrease of some prices on the international market.”

In the same place, Alonso Vázquez stated that of the entire plan for exports of goods in the first months of the year had been fulfilled by only 62%, compared to 78% in the same period of the previous year. This makes it more difficult to comply with the prediction of the Pinar del Río Agroforestry Company.

Marabou vegetal charcoal was black gold for the Cuban state. The Government, until now, has been awarded 50 per cent of $340 per ton for export. An article published in Granma last year reported that for each ton of charcoal the Matanzas Agroforestal paid around 200 MLC (freely convertible currency), equivalent then to 172 dollars. This same product is sold in the US for about 400 dollars and, in the case of premium, almost 490 in Spain, where a newly created company–Entre Brasas–imports it from the port of Santiago de Cuba to Vigo, in Galicia.

The difference between the price paid to the Cuban producer and the cost to the foreign consumer is $228 per ton or, in the case of premium, $318. This includes the Cuban State’s share, transportation and the profit of the final vendor. Granma’s data showed that the Cuban State kept 168 dollars per ton, since it gave 172 to the producer, which has traditionally received better treatment than those in other agricultural sectors.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Guantánamo Official Press Lashes Out Against the ‘Virus’ of Dollarization

Venceremos laments the loss in value of the MLC (Freely Convertible Currency) and its replacement by the “empire’s” currency.

In the street, a cash dollar is worth much more than a digital dollar in MLC (Freely Convertible Currency). / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 10 August 2025 — The official newspaper Venceremos, organ of the Communist Party in Guantánamo, has described the phenomenon of dollarization with an unusually critical tone. The text emphasizes the gradual disappearance of shops in freely convertible currency (MLC), as well as the prominence of bank cards, especially the Classic, which allows paying in dollars without standing in line or coming up agasint problems. Some interpret this change as the prelude to a major transformation.

What the official newspaper calls a “virus” has spread to the rest of the country from Havana. The emblematic 3rd and 70th market in the capital began to accept green banknotes, and almost immediately the MLC stores began to show more shortages than usual, while relatively well-stocked outlets operating only in physical dollars and with new cards emerged.

The informal exchange market, always sensitive to signals, reacted quickly. The gap between virtual “convertible currency” and physical currency widened, becoming a chasm. On the street, a cash dollar is worth much more than a digital dollar in MLC.

The ‘Venceremos’ report comes a little late for a problem that the independent media have already examined in minute detail many times.

The Venceremos report comes a little late for a problem that the independent media have already examined in minute detail many times. First, there are discounts on non-perishable products; then, a temporary “closed for maintenance” sign and some cosmetic touches; finally, the reopening as a dollar store. Inside, the sellers confirm what the official channels have not said: the merchandise is liquidated, and when the inventory runs out, the store reopens trading exclusively in US banknotes.

For those who still have savings in MLC or receive payments in that virtual currency, the situation is discouraging. The supply is limited to items of low demand that many buy hastily in order not to lose everything. The feeling of helplessness is growing, and with it continue reading

the perception that the MLC is doomed to disappear.

On the street, the issue is one of the most discussed topics. It is commented on in lines, public transport and social networks. At the official level, however, silence prevails. The Venceremos article criticizes, without naming, those responsible for the communication policy, pointing out that people do not receive clear and timely explanations about processes that directly affect them.

The only recent official reaction came from the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), which denied a rumor about the imminent disappearance of this virtual currency. Speculation had circulated after a maintenance of the country’s main payment platform. In a short statement, the entity stated that operations in MLC continued and that interruptions were part of routine technical work, and it called for reporting through official channels.

The denial did not dispel the concern. As Venceremos points out, it is difficult to blame the population for believing in rumors when there is a lack of accurate and timely information. In addition, the episode highlighted a missed opportunity to face reality. In three decades, the Cuban regime has created and eliminated the CUC, allowed and banned the physical dollar, introduced and restricted virtual currencies, and is now converting the currency of the “empire” into the only valid national currency on the Island, while condemning the MLC to irrelevance, all in the midst of a sustained devaluation of the Cuban peso and an unstoppable rise in the dollar, which this Sunday is approaching 400 pesos.

A monetary “solution” is introduced, presented as stable; its use is limited, devalued and eventually replaced by another.

The historical account made by the Guantanamo media itself, unusual in a Party organ, presents a repetitive cycle. A monetary “solution” is introduced, presented as stable; its use is limited, devalued and finally replaced by another. The MLC, which was born as a digital equivalent of the dollar and with the promise of stability, is now being replaced by direct transactions in physical currency.

In Guantánamo, as on the rest of the Island, each new store closure is interpreted as another step towards total dollarization. Consumers prepare, exchange MLC for dollars in the informal market at very unfavorable rates and prioritize spending their virtual balances before they lose value. The general expectation is that, sooner rather than later, the MLC will be history.

The Venceremos article does not pronounce against this possible transition, but its tone and structure say everything. The use of expressions such as “extreme unction” and “life support” to refer to virtual currency breaks with the usual triumphalist rhetoric and suggests that, in the provincial official press, some journalists are tired of making up fictitious advances like everyone else, which also explode in their faces. .

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba Bought $1.3 Million Worth of Motorbikes From the US in June

It is likely that a large part of this merchandise will be imported by the private sector.

In addition to motorbikes, used vehicles also represent a significant portion of the purchase.

14ymedio, Havana, August 9, 2025 — The Cuban government’s dependence on U.S. imports continues to trend upward, as evidenced by data from last June, provided by the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council (US-Cuba Trade). In June, US food and agricultural purchases by Cuba reached $38.4 million, an increase of 10% compared to the 34.9 recorded in June last year, and also above the $37 million of June 2023.

This monthly growth is only part of a larger picture: between January and June 2025, imports of US products to Cuba amounted to $243.3 million, representing a 15.5% year-on-year jump compared to the same period in 2024, when they accounted for $210.6 million.

Nor is the increase limited to the agricultural sector, as the Island has increased its purchases of a range of commodities, including marble, travertine and alabaster for $23,521, enzymes ($13,498) and wire processing machines (&12,000). Even products such as bicycles ($22,160), overalls ($19,500) and solar cells ($43,500) were imported to the Island last June. continue reading

Used vehicles still dominate much of the purchase, with a total value of $12 million in the first six months of 2025 alone.

However, used vehicles still dominate much of the purchase, with a total value of $12 million in the first six months of 2025 alone. Motorbikes also stand out with $1.3 million, showing the role that transport -probably mostly in private hands- plays in the demand for US goods.

Other products stand out, either because of their scarcity on the Island or because they are unusual, such as milk ($1.8 million), pork ($3.2 million), frozen ready-made foods ($876,215), communion wafers ($776,301) and coffee ($699,273). And, of course, chicken remains at the top of the list, with 55.5% of the total purchase value, about $21.3 million.

In June 2025, imports from the U.S. of health care goods were zero. However, humanitarian donations, which could include health inputs but do not specify outputs, amounted to $14.4 million.

In June 2025, imports from the US of health care goods were zero.

The figures do not lie: the Cuban economy remains tied to the need to import products -and not only from the US- to meet both the domestic demands of the state and the private sector, in the face of an almost absolute debacle of its industry and agriculture.

This was recently recognized by the Government during the sessions of Parliament, when it revealed that in the first half of 2025, purchases abroad, from the private sector alone, exceeded $1,000 billion, 34% more than at the same date in 2024. The main products imported during this period, added the Parliament’s Economic Commission, include raw materials and intermediate products (37%), food (22%), beverages (16%), and “machines, appliances and their parts” (13%).

Contrary to the agility and purchasing capacity of the private sector, in the first half of this year the state fulfilled its plan for imports of goods and services by only 67%. “Priority was given to food, fuels, medicines and medical supplies,” said the Minister of Economy and Planning, although he acknowledged that, compared to 2024, “there is evidence of a decrease in the volume of food, which continues to be the largest item.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Old Age Pension Increase Is ‘Nothing’ in the Face of the Hunger Experienced by the Elderly in Cuba

The measure was approved on Wednesday and will take effect on September 1.

The increase in the lowest pensions represents “one bag of milk or a bottle of oil” purchased from an MSME. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez/Olea Gallardo, Havana, 8 August 2025 — A liter of oil, a kilogram of powdered milk, a pound and a half of pork… Cuban retirees don’t think about numbers when asked how much their pensions will increase , but rather what they will be able to buy with it in well-stocked private stores. This is a common sentiment among those interviewed for this report, along with something else: they all think the increase, announced last month by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and implemented with the resolution published this Wednesday in the Official Gazette, won’t do much good.

“Prices are so high that this increase isn’t significant for basic needs, especially food,” says Manuel, a 68-year-old retiree from a state-owned commerce company who will benefit from the measure. In his case, he earns 1,500 pesos, and starting September 1—with payment at the end of August—his pension will reach 3,000. “For me, that doesn’t mean much; maybe a bag of milk or a bottle of oil, and that’s it.”

Still, he considers himself lucky because he has a daughter who sends him money from abroad. “Pensioners who have no other option, who aren’t healthy enough to find work to supplement their income, or who don’t have remittances, are destined to suffer hardship.”

“Pensioners without remittances are destined to suffer hardship.”

This is the case for Dulce, a Ministry of Culture pensioner. Her skepticism and annoyance are immense, after months of waiting to receive the oil from the bodega (ration store), thanks to her ration book. “Small bottles for single-person households didn’t arrive, and now I have to wait for several shipments to fill a bottle so I can continue reading

buy it,” she laments, adding ironically: “So I’ll use the extra money to buy the oil from an MSME [small private business].”

As established by law, an increase of 1,528 pesos is established for pensions up to 2,472 pesos, as well as an increase to to 4,000 pesos for pensions between 2,473 and 3,999 pesos. As for pensions due to death—such as widowhood or orphanhood—which also increase, they will be “recalculated” based on the deceased’s updated pension based on the number of beneficiaries: 70% more if there is one, 85% if there are two, and 100% if there are three or more.

Meanwhile, the Director General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Benito Rey González, told the official press that citizens entitled to more than one Social Security pension “will receive the increase in the amount of their unified pension.”

“Not even if they raise it to 4,000 pesos, or 5,000, or 6,000, or 7,000,” exclaims Olivia, a retiree from the Ministry of Education. “None of that can solve a problem for someone who has worked for 30 or 40 years.” She is particularly bothered by the attempt to sell this as an achievement. “In every country in the world, that money comes out of your salary, monthly, that’s why they deduct it, and from taxes for other workers. It’s not the State that gives it away.”

“In every country in the world, that money comes out of your salary; it’s not the State that gives it away.”

Despite 37 years of uninterrupted work, she tells 14ymedio, Olivia was left with a minimal pension. “They raised my pension a little on the first go-round, and then they raised it a little bit more, to 1,500 pesos,” she says. And she adds, resigned: “Well, the law is the law. You have to accept it, because everything they tell you has to be accepted. What are you going to do? Where are you going to complain? But I really don’t think that’s going to solve anything, when a pound of milk costs 1,200 or 1,300 pesos. That’s a mouthful for all the hunger and misery experienced by the elderly in this country.”

María’s pension increase, which has so far been 1,400 pesos, will be paid to a friend of hers. A resident of the United States, she prefers it to be received in Havana, “where they face so many hardships.” This is quite common: retirees who no longer live in Cuba continue to receive their pensions through third parties.

In a climate of extreme poverty, solidarity among citizens is a last resort. In this regard, Tania, a resident of Central Havana, says she helps her 96-year-old neighbor, who earns 300 pesos less than her: 1,200. “I’m not one to go to church and give a tithe; I try to help the people who come to me because I know they use it and need it,” she explains. She adds: “When I found out about the increase, I was happier for her than for myself. She’s an elderly woman, very sweet, very polite, from a very good family, but she worked very little, in a kitchen, and they left her with the bare minimum.”

The elderly woman lives in her home with her two daughters, who are also pensioners on the bare minimum. This is not only evidence of the hardships suffered by those over 60 in Cuba, but also one of the island’s main problems: the aging population.

Leonardo, a former police officer, won’t get a raise, as he earns 4,000 pesos. “With 26 years of service and loss of sight.” Disappointed, he approached a colleague at the Ministry of the Interior, who assured him: “We’re looking into it to see if there’s a small raise for December.”

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July Rumors: Murders Within the Cuban Regime and Theft of Documents

State Security crimes and new details about the death of Oswaldo Payá

Sandro Castro—Fidel’s grandson—is one of the clan members that Miguel Díaz-Canel has the power to eliminate in the near future if his controversial behavior continues. / Instagram

14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2025 — Rumors of various kinds of assassinations—political, commonplace, and historical—have characterized the month of July. In Cuba, killings are taking place in the streets, but also within the Central Committee and the Armed Forces, according to several on-line commentators, who say they see this wave of homicides as the harbinger of the regime’s final and bloodiest phase.

In the foreground are the high-ranking officials who hold compromising information about the top brass. According to this conspiracy theory, Raúl Castro has ordered the execution of officials and military personnel who have witnessed events whose publication would be a severe blow to the regime. The trigger: a theft of documents allegedly perpetrated by the martial arts teacher of his grandson, Raúl Guillermo, known as El Cangrejo (The Crab).

According to various rumors, not even the Castro family is immune from this operation. In fact, Sandro Castro—Fidel’s grandson and the protagonist of multiple scandals for several years—is one of the members of the clan that Miguel Díaz-Canel has the power to eliminate in the near future if his controversial behavior continues.

In the midst of a power struggle within Freemasonry, a rumor reports the alleged murder at the hands of State Security of Carlos Manuel Tejedor, 50, a Freemason critical of the regime. Tejedor was allegedly executed in the early hours of July 11 for his criticism of the political police’s interference in the fraternity and for the possibility that he might mobilize his fellow Freemasons in a protest.

In the midst of a power struggle within Freemasonry, a rumor reports the alleged murder at the hands of State Security of Carlos Manuel Tejedor, 50, a Freemason critical of the regime.

The assassins, it is said, were two men who intercepted him on a dark Havana street in the dark. They had two backpacks and stabbed him “treacherously.” Other explanations are also mentioned: that it was a personal settling of scores, that someone influential ordered his death, and that his death serves as an example for the rest of the opposition Freemasons.

This month, a rumor identified the alleged murderers of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. The suspects are: a lieutenant colonel continue reading

named Marqués; a major, with no last name, named Jairo; and an unspecified person, whose name is Luis Armando Palacios Suárez. That State Security played a significant role in the deaths of Payá and Cepero is recognized by international entities such as the Organization of American States (OAS), which published a well-documented report on this matter in 2023.

Other murders, at the street-level, have been reported this month. They are part of the reports about the rise in violence in Cuba and reflect the climate of citizen insecurity prevailing on the island. According to these rumors, a 16-year-old boy was murdered in Ciego de Ávila, while a 14-year-old stabbed someone in Las Tunas. The police, meanwhile, allegedly shot a man during a protest against power outages in Ciudad Nuclear [Nuclear City], Cienfuegos.

The energy situation, which hasn’t taken a break this summer, continues to trigger dozens of rumors of protests. The house of the governor of Matanzas was reportedly stoned several times this month by angry citizens during a power outage. Other acts of “protest and sabotage” have been reported on-line by users in Camagüey, Villa Clara, and Havana. In Santiago de Cuba, meanwhile, several anti-government signs have been spray-painted.

The police, meanwhile, allegedly shot a man during a protest against power outages in Ciudad Nuclear [Nuclear City], Cienfuegos.

Among the rumors surrounding diplomatic life in Cuba, there has also been talk of an alleged conspiracy to “scare” Mike Hammer, the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Cuba. The diplomat has already had numerous run-ins with State Security, including warnings from the Foreign Ministry.

Another series of rumors describes the shaky government apparatus. Embarrassed by the words of the recently dismissed Cuban Minister of Labor, María Elena Feitó, regarding the absence of homeless people in Cuba, several officials from the Economic Commission have resigned, according to one rumor.

There has also been talk of increased surveillance of Cuban diplomatic personnel abroad by the Foreign Ministry. Several commenters claim they are being targeted for corruption and because they will be the first to defect if there are signs of the regime’s demise. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is meeting with the heads of mission to “read them the riot act” and prevent a stampede that is described as imminent.

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American Evangelicals Provide Water to Dozens of Cuban Municipalities

In Matanzas, Living Waters has become a lifeline for hundreds of residents.

Living Waters is based in Texas and has been present on the island since 2006. / Courtesy

14ymedio, Pablo Padilla Cruz, Matanzas, 9 August 2025 — “Everyone is talking about itand getting outraged by the blackouts, and it’s true. Electricity is essential in modern life, it’s the first thing… until you run out of water. Then you realize how vulnerable we are.” The testimony of Lázara, a resident of Ayuntamiento Final Street in Matanzas, sums up the water supply crisis plaguing the city, which has gone from being merely difficult to critical.

Neighborhoods such as La Marina have not received drinking water since November 2024, forcing residents to resort to alternatives such as purchasing water trucks, collecting rainwater, or even using non-potable sources, such as the well-known Pompón, a natural water outlet near the Watkins Park Zoo in the capital located on the Yumurí River.

In the midst of this situation, which has been ongoing for months and is similar to what happens in other parts of the country, such as the East, the American religious organization Living Waters for the World has become a lifeline for hundreds of residents. Based in Texas, the NGO installs and maintains water purifiers in developing countries through a network of evangelical churches, primarily Presbyterian. continue reading

The Pompón is a natural water source near the Watkins Park Zoo. / 14ymedio

Present on the island since 2006, with the approval of the National Council of Churches, Living Waters for the World was officially established in 2012 and according to its website, its role is to “coordinate, train teams, and ensure the sustainability.” Currently, they report having 62 projects in Cuba—one of them “non-operational”—although they don’t specify where. From Matanzas, the Evangelical Theological Seminary, the Kairós Center—belonging to the First Baptist Church—and the Central Presbyterian Church are their focal points.

“It is worth all the effort when you see the acceptance and gratitude of the people who come from far away to fill their containers,” Julio César, head of the Kairós Center’s purification system, told 14ymedio. Despite Living Waters’ efforts, he doesn’t hide the difficulties of maintaining the equipment.

“It’s a complicated routine, even more so now that the power outage is hitting us hard,” a circumstance that, he says, “sometimes prevents the process from being completed.” Furthermore, he explains, the city’s water is rich in magnesium, so the purifier filters “don’t last more than six months.” The NGO, he asserts, “tries to make sure we don’t run out of filters, but even so, we’ve been visto apretados [stretched thin], as we say in good Cuban.”

The city’s water is rich in magnesium, so the filters in Living Waters purifiers “don’t last more than six months.” / Courtesy

Another problem is that they have to “rationalize” the amounts—that is, control how much water is distributed per person—”because we depend on pumping from the street, even though we have a large cistern and large tanks.” Even so, it’s the only alternative many Matanzas residents have.

Lázara is one of those who chooses to climb the steps of the Evangelical Seminary three times a week to fetch the water they purify there. “If there isn’t any, I know there are two other churches downtown that also provide the service.” Faced with this solution, she laments, she knows that “there are neighbors who drink the water they get from the gutters.”

Indeed, this newspaper has witnessed the lines at a gutter where someone, at some point, began haphazardly collecting water. Unable to pay for water trucks—which in Matanzas cost around 8,000 pesos—or unable to store water, some others resort to the Pompón — a natural water source near the zoo, even if it’s just to wash, clean, or flush toilets.

There are residents who draw water directly from a gutter. / 14ymedio

The city of Matanzas sits on Cuba’s most important urban water table, which extends from the Arcos de Canasí (Canasí Arches) on the border with Mayabeque to the Bello springs. This groundwater network, stretching over 70 kilometers, supplies water to a large part of the province and feeds a spring that runs underground through the historic city center, emptying into the aforementioned Pompón River, where it joins the Yumurí River.

This underground river, dubbed the “ghost river” by Ercilio Vento Canosa in his book Matanzas y sus secretos (Matanzas and its Secrets), has become one of the last resorts for many families who lack access to safe water.

Neighborhoods like La Marina have not received drinking water since November 2024, forcing residents to resort to alternatives. / 14ymedio

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Mexico Has Spent More Than $100 Million on Cuban Doctors But Has No Data on Their Performance

Neither the Ministry of Health nor the IMSS-Bienestar provide data on how many specialists are in hard-to-reach areas.

Cuban doctors in Zacualtipanito, Tepehuacan municipality of Guerrero, in the state of Hidalgo. / Facebook

14ymedio Mexico City, 8 August 2025 — Mexican health agencies do not know how many doctors were sent to marginalized areas, the primary objective for which 3,101 specialists from Cuba were hired. According to documents obtained via a request to government transparency agencies by the newspaper El Universal, there is a “lack of mechanisms” to evaluate the performance of the doctors for whom 92,525,569 euros (107,905,224 dollars) were paid between July 2022 and May 2025

The Transparency Unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute stated that the first collaboration agreement between the two countries establishes that the “results evaluation” would be handled by the General Directorate of Health Quality and Education, under the Ministry of Health, but that it does not have data on the participation of doctors from the island

The government agency argued that “the assignment of Cuban doctors was carried out in Medical Units of the Health Services of the Mexican Social Security Institute for Welfare–the free healthcare agency created in 2022 by the government of the self-proclaimed Fourth Transformation, headed by then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, replacing Seguro Popular–and in accordance with the coverage needs determined by the institution.

Last August, Cuban doctors arrived in the Yerba Santa community in the municipality of Acatepec (Guerrero). / Facebook/Yerba Santa

For its part, the Ministry of Health declared itself “incompetent” regarding the island’s specialists hired by Mexico. The agency delegated this responsibility to IMSS-Bienestar, stating that it continue reading

“administers and operates the Cuban Medical Specialists plan.”

However, IMSS-Bienestar responded to the request for information with a document in which it stated that “assuming without conceding that such documentary information exists (…) it is outside the scope of jurisdiction.”

Last April, a source from the Health Department told 14ymedio that everything related to doctors is coordinated through the Cuban Medical Brigade, headed by Cuban Alfredo González Lorenzo , who reports to Neuronic Mexicana, which in turn reports to Neuronic SA Cuba. Since 2018, this company, whose president is the Cuban Tania Guerra, has represented the products and services of the island’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

The initial contract with Mexico was through Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos SA de CV, a Cuban company accused internationally of human trafficking.

The presence of Cuban specialists has also been questioned due to the preferential conditions they receive. Between July 1 and the future, under the “logistical and operational support” scheme, Cuban doctors were given a diet that included “whole-grain bread and cereals, as well as low-fat dairy products and fruits, as well as vegetables, proteins, healthy fats, plants, and carbohydrates.” The food was supposed to be “satiating, yet easy to digest.”

Bribes to Cubans have been reported in 16 of Mexico’s 32 states. In Tabasco, 13,662,169 pesos (about $680,000) were allocated through Comercializadora de la Península del Mayab SA de CV. In Veracruz, 13,002,685 pesos were paid to Diego Valay Bernal for contracted services. In Sonora, the State of Mexico, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Morelos, 74,572,438 pesos were disbursed to Distribuidora Potosina Biofar. In a second installment, in Zacatecas, 9,784,097 pesos were paid to another supplier named Eduardo Escamilla Jaime, who in 2000 was awarded several bids by the municipal government of Fresnillo

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Pay for a Turn to Withdraw Money: Cuba’s Banco Metropolitano Implements the Ticket ‘App’

The system is already working, but “people still don’t know about it,” said an employee at the Obispo branch in Old Havana.

Branch 308 of Banco Metropolitano, in Old Havana, this Friday. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, 8 August 2025 — A line on the left for the outdoor ATMs; another on the right for the indoor cash registers; and a third line for checking balances and transferring money from the machines. Among the crush of people waiting this Friday outside branch 308 of Banco Metropolitano in Old Havana, not one of them knew that the establishment now offers the option of booking an ATM appointment through the Ticket app, as the bank announced on its social media.

Asked about it, an employee confirmed that the system is already up and running, but that “people still don’t know about it.” Today, in addition to that first branch, located on Obispo Street between Cuba and Aguiar Streets, Banco Metropolitano added seven more offices with pre-reservation via Ticket. The branches participating are: number 262, at Cuba and O’Reilly Streets; number 266, at O’Reilly and Compostela Streets, and also in Old Havana; number 247, at 23rd and Montero Sánchez Streets; number 250, at Línea and Paseo Streets, both in Plaza de la Revolución; and three more, in Guanabacoa (280), San Miguel del Padrón (286), and Marianao (313).

However, once a customer downloads the app, which until now has been used for various procedures, especially purchasing fuel at gas stations in Havana, it constantly produces errors. After several attempts, Nadia, a resident of El Vedado, was able to get her appointment. Each appointment costs 10 pesos.

Part of the line outside the Obispo branch of Banco Metropolitano, this Friday. / 14ymedio

A glance at Banco Metropolitano’s Telegram page, on the other hand, reveals a common complaint among many users: the bank is experiencing “technical problems” and transactions through Transfermóvil aren’t working.

“It won’t let me log in, I need to make an urgent transfer, please provide an answer.” “Is there a problem with the transfers? Do you know what’s going on? Weren’t they supposed to have updated it last week?” “How long will the problem with Transfermóvil last?” All these are questions asked by annoyed customers.

The picture was completed by the fact that the bank had no connection.

None of the complaints received a response, despite their numerous online submissions. To address them, the bank also requested appointments through Ticket. “The only difference between scheduling appointments for questions and complaints and for banking services of any kind is that the former is free,” Nadia joked.

How will they combine reserved appointments with Tickets with time in the “traditional” line, which doesn’t seem to be disappearing for the time being? It is an open question.

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A Blackout Facilitates the Theft of Millions of Pesos From a Small Company in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba

Four people involved are captured, including a former employee of the company.

There are no reports from the owners or administrators of the small town, which Escambray erroneously calls”Lancervi.” / Facebook / Landservi SURL

14ymedio, Sancti Spíritus, August 9, 2025 — In the early hours of July 11, a daring criminal operation was carried out amid a blackout in Sancti Spíritus. Landservi SURL, a wholesaler in the agri-food sector located in the Chambelon area, was the victim of a million-peso robbery. Four people, two of whom were identified as the main perpetrators, were arrested and confessed to their involvement, according to an official report issued by the Ministry of the Interior.

The assailants took advantage of the lack of surveillance and electrical power to access the premises. They climbed up, created a hole in the zinc tarp roof and entered the premises. One of those involved had previously worked at the company and knew every nook and cranny of the place and where the money was kept.

The two main perpetrators were arrested, confessed to their guilt and named two others involved.

The investigation did not require a large technical deployment by the police. Progress was made, as is usually the case in Cuba, thanks to information from the population, including a couple of anonymous complaints. Following the initial proceedings, the two main perpetrators were arrested, confessed their guilt and named two others involved. One of them would have transported the loot in a cart to his home; the other acted as an intermediary for the purchase of the means of transport that facilitated the theft. Both would have received considerable compensation. continue reading

The finding of material goods acquired with the stolen money, such as two modern motorcycles valued at more than one million pesos each, two electric motors, five high-end mobile phones, clothing, a cart, and the recovery of 2,500,000 pesos in cash show the magnitude of the theft.

Frequent blackouts have become ideal scenarios for the increase in criminal acts.

At the scene of the crime, expert work was able to identify fragments of fingerprints that matched samples from the detainees. Those involved are currently in pre-trial detention, while their possible link to other robberies in the town is being investigated.

Behind the official account, this theft highlights persistent structural problems. The frequent blackouts have become ideal scenarios for the increase in criminal acts. Weak surveillance in a strategic area shows deep cracks in institutional and business security.

The participation of a former company employee opens up an ethical and control gap in human resource management. The awarding of compensation to those involved, who received large sums for participating in the transfer and brokering of the theft, suggests a more complex level of criminal organization than a simple robbery. A script is developed with the assistance of various actors who seek to quickly gain economic benefits without taking the direct risks of the act.

The newspaper Escambray erroneously calls the company “Lancervi.”

The official narrative works with an economy of words. A criminal act is presented; the modus operandi is explained; the arrest and recovery of the loot are confirmed; and adherence to the law is affirmed. But faces, claims and voices are missing from this synthesis..

There is no testimony from the owners or from the managers of the small town, which Escambray erroneously calls “Lancervi.” There are no data on the impact of crime on commercial operations, nor analysis of the economic environment that drives these crimes. The Landservi robbery is not only a story of intruders sneaking out at night but also a reflection on an increase in the complexity of crimes in Cuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Witness of the Rain

As time went on, and with endless jumps, obsession began to outweigh even the memory itself.

As the years went by, he stopped jumping with the hope of changing the past; now he traveled only to witness the inevitable. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Milton Chanes, Berlin, 9 August 2025 — Five years had passed since that first leap through time. Seventeen since the first time he lost Ana in that absurd, cruel accident.

Now, tired and consumed, he could barely recognize himself in the reflection of the man who had once dreamed of defying his fate. After countless attempts and journeys—each one driven by the irrational hope of finding a crack in the inevitable—he had come to a bitter certainty: any intervention only hastened the tragedy, or worse, made him an indispensable piece of that relentless chain. It was as if time, far from taking pity, answered his defiance with ever harsher punishment, returning him again and again to the same ending. Ana always died, her head striking the bumper of the old ‘54 Chevrolet Bel Air, driven, invariably, by the same person.

As time went on, and with endless jumps, obsession began to outweigh even the memory itself. He was no longer sure what he truly loved: Ana, or the ever-elusive possibility of saving her. He resembled more and more that gambler who, even after losing everything, insists on one more bet, convinced that next time, at last, luck will be on his side.

No one at the laboratory suspected his nocturnal incursions. Hidden behind the monotonous routine of the cleaning staff, he had become practically invisible to everyone. That invisibility, patiently cultivated over the years, allowed him to become a clandestine expert at operating the machine. He took advantage of any slip—a door left ajar, a password scribbled carelessly on a sheet—to slip into restricted areas and activate the mechanism in secret, always returning before anyone noticed his absence. Unlike the official travelers, he did not receive regenerative treatments: every jump left its mark, and his body, more foreign to him each day, bore the accumulated wear of time.

As the years went by, he stopped jumping with the hope of changing the past; now he traveled only to witness the inevitable, scrutinizing the repeated details in search of a saving fissure, even though the ending was always the same.

Obsession had condemned him to be a perpetual spectator of his own defeat.

He no longer intervened: he simply studied, over and over again, the immutable choreography of the tragedy. He confined himself to being a witness.

He no longer intervened: he simply studied, over and over again, the immutable choreography of the tragedy. He confined himself to being a witness—sometimes a few meters away, other times half a block—watching Ana die, always the same, under the rain.

He noted every step, every gesture, every shadow of that endless night; he filled notebooks with diagrams, timed the intervals, memorized the faces of the witnesses, as if that could offer him some kind of answer.

But it was no longer a matter of willpower: his body, exhausted, could barely endure another jump without proper care. Resignation grew as his exhaustion became unbearable. He knew he might have energy left for just one last journey through time. At most, he could aspire only to be another observer at the final showing of his own tragedy.

He didn’t always choose the same place to witness the scene. Sometimes, he took shelter under an umbrella across the street, eyes fixed on the corner and the café door. Other times, he hid at the bus stop, searching for the best perspective without being detected by his younger selves. Occasionally, he took refuge in a dark doorway or in the entrance of a shop, watching through the misted reflection of the glass. He even waited inside a taxi, watching the fateful corner as if it were the stage of a play repeating to the point of exhaustion.

He tried every angle, every blind spot; he studied the rhythm of the neighborhood, the flicker of the lights, the scattered reflections on the wet asphalt. Nothing changed: the scene always led to the same outcome.

Sometimes he felt the scene itself rejected him, as if he could never fully grasp it: there was always something out of focus, a silhouette dissolving, a phrase lost in the rain.

On the loneliest nights, he lingered long in front of the café, watching from the shadows as his younger self waited for Ana by the window, oblivious to everything, absorbed in a hope that no longer belonged to him. During those vigils, he sometimes had the impression that the owner of the café, from behind the counter, was scrutinizing him with silent curiosity, as if sensing that this quiet, elusive customer carried an old secret. There was something in that gaze—perhaps a mix of suspicion and a faint echo of familiarity—that unsettled him. At times, he felt the owner guessed he didn’t quite belong there, that he was an intruder in his own time, a visitor from another life.

Thus, repeating the cycle of tragedy—always a witness, never a savior—he lost strength, desire, even hope. Each jump left him more exhausted, more distant from himself. He knew his body would not withstand many more journeys. He began to accept the need for a final break, to abandon forever this life of obsessive spectator.

That is why he decided to try one last time: a leap as far back in time as possible, in search of a definitive escape

That is why he decided to try one last time: a leap as far back in time as possible, in search of a definitive escape, perhaps of oblivion. But as he adjusted the controls of the machine, an unexpected doubt stopped him: did he truly want to leave forever, or did he simply wish to see her one last time? Perhaps—that thought sent an unknown tremor through him—the last farewell was the only thing he still could choose.

One day, he realized that to break the cycle he would have to look beyond the fatal instant: to search for clues before and after the crucial moment, to explore branches of time that had until then been forbidden to him. He saw only one way out: to go even further back, even knowing that might mean being trapped in the past forever. What was the point of returning, if Ana would no longer be there to receive him? The question hurt, but the possibility of discovering a hidden meaning in the days before the tragedy, or finding some loose thread capable of altering fate, became irresistible in the face of his own ruin.

In those preceding days, the laboratory buzzed with unusual activity. Technicians and scientists worked in shifts until late, absorbed in adjustments and calibrations that they rarely fully explained. Had they noticed his absences? Had they finally discovered him? Accustomed to moving in shadows, he noticed lights on at odd hours, whispered voices, a palpable nervousness in the air. Perhaps—he thought—something in the system was failing, an instability beyond his control.

Yet what disturbed him most was his own sense of rootlessness. He could barely distinguish what time period he was living in anymore. He saw more people in the past—again and again, in the same places and dates—than in any present interaction. It was becoming increasingly difficult to tell what was the future, or if, for him, the future even still existed.

He felt his body would not withstand many more jumps. That’s why he wished to go as far as possible, even if that meant getting trapped in the past and never being able to return. He knew, from rumors, that there was a way to achieve this, though he didn’t know how. Deep down, he wanted this to be his final jump. And yet, he also knew that with each trip to the past, something in his mind sharpened: his brain seemed to grow younger, granting him an almost supernatural clarity, while his body, increasingly tired, suffered more with each return.

That night, as he programmed the machine for the final leap, he finally thought he knew what he had to do to lose himself in the past.

That night, as he programmed the machine for the final leap, he finally thought he knew what he had to do to lose himself in the past. Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hallway. Someone was approaching the room. He hid behind a desk just in time. He saw feet pause at the doorway, hesitating. The door opened and closed softly. The person approached the machine; he could only see their shoes, not understanding what they were doing. He heard an electronic sound—perhaps an attempt to turn the device off. Then, the figure left as quietly as they had arrived. Were they going to fetch someone else? There was no time to find out. He had to act, or he’d be discovered.

In his haste, he barely checked the controls: a light blinked longer than usual, a number flashed out of place. Fear and exhaustion overrode caution. He pressed the commands almost mechanically, trusting habit more than certainty. He didn’t know if it was fatigue, fear, or simply a mistake, but in that instant, he activated the mechanism.

Only later would he understand that this leap had thrown him much further back in time than he had planned—and that perhaps, this time, there would truly be no return.

Translated by the author.

The series:

Twelve Seconds, Twelve Years Ago

Fifteen Seconds, Fifteen Years Ago

Witness of the Rain

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Hundreds of Migrants, Mostly Cubans, Leave for the North but No Longer Seek To Go to the US

Trump’s veto on travel from 19 countries, including Cuba, “puts at risk” the generation of taxes, warns a report.

Migrants report that work permits are available from Canada, Germany, Australia and Switzerland. / Archive / EFE

EFE (via 14ymedio), Tapachula/Washington, August 7, 2025 — Hundreds of migrants, mostly Cubans, set off on Wednesday in a new caravan from the southern border of Mexico, looking to reach the north of the country. There they hope to regularize their documents to be able to travel to Canada or other countries that offer work, in the face of the tightening of US immigration measures.

“We want to get to Monterrey because the embassies of Canada and Germany are giving us visas to work and to populate their cities,” Maydali Barajo, a Cuban woman who travels with her grandson, told EFE.

The woman explained that they had the illusion of making their dreams come true in Mexico, but the country “denied it.” Now, she says, they want to look for other horizons “where we can realize ourselves as human beings and be the honest people that we are. And fight and help those we left behind.”

La Cubana points out that she went to Mexico because she hoped that the government would welcome them and give them work opportunities after Donald Trump “closed the dream to the whole world” of entering the US. But both the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR) and the migration authorities “refused everything.” continue reading

‘La Cubana’ points out that she went to Mexico because she hoped that the government would welcome them and give them work opportunities.

In the caravan there are women and men, old people and children, who are undertaking this journey on federal highway 200 despite the risks and dangers.

This was after their stay in Tapachula, Chiapas, where they had been waiting several months for the resolution of an unsuccessful asylum application.

Prior to their departure, Father Heyman Vázquez Medina, pastor of San Andrés Apóstol in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, prayed with the migrants and asked them to remain united on their way towards their next destination.

The priest said that the migrants want to reach a city so they can work, have a better quality of life and live with dignity, but he regretted that the authorities intimidated them to avoid mobilizations.

“It’s a way of telling them: ’We’re going to hold you,’ of scaring and intimidating them so that they don’t have the courage to leave. The migrants are determined; it’s good, positive, that they come out, that the government and the world realize what is happening in Chiapas,” he said.

Juan Ríos, a Nicaraguan migrant, spokesman and coordinator of the group, told EFE that they organized themselves voluntarily because they do not want to stay in Tapachula. Although some have found employment, they face 12-hour working days for a salary of only 200 pesos per day (about $10.75), while conditions in the shelters are precarious.

“We have no destination in the United States. Our destination is to get to Monterrey, because most want to travel to Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Australia, which are giving work visas,” he said.

He also argued that they are not criminals, but working people. ” We are university students; here there are doctors and nurses who are suffering under a regime, for example in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.”

The Trump administration eliminated a number of immigration programs and benefits created by his predecessor, Joe Biden, including the Humanitarian Parole Program for Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti, and the CBP One application, which allowed people to request an appointment to legally cross the border.

As a result, more than half a million people have been left in legal limbo, while the courts decide on the legality of the programs, or directly on an irregular migration situation.

More than half a million people have been left in legal limbo, while the courts decide on the legality of programs, or directly on an irregular migration situation.

Trump is seeking to accelerate deportations and detentions to fulfill his campaign promise to expel the more than 11 million undocumented migrants living in the country.

Another part of his migration plan, the ban on travel to the US from 19 countries -among which is Cuba- puts “at risk” and impacts the generation of $715 million in taxes and $2.5 billion in purchasing power, according to a report by the American Immigration Council published this Wednesday.

“Those affected by this travel ban are students, workers and family members who pay taxes, support local economies and hold jobs in industries with massive shortages,” the report says.

According to the American Immigration Council, Trump’s measure puts the generation of 2.5 billion dollars at risk, because “thousands of workers cannot enter the country or move freely in the territory.” The analysis says that during 2022, the nearly 300,000 people representing the 19 banned countries generated $3.2 million in labor income and $715 million in taxes.

The human and social impacts also include family division, as some 2.4 million people in sanctioned countries are naturalized, but now many of their relatives will not be able to visit them.

Finally, the US Immigration Council considers that the veto is an exclusionary measure towards Muslim and African groups and questions the reasons Trump gave as justification for implementing the migration veto, recalling that at least 13 of the affected countries have very low rates of migration violations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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