Translating Cuba – Page 91 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Nobility of the Chess Player

La patria, homeland, that word that for some is barely an echo—is the largest chessboard that life gives us. And on it, each person must decide whether to play like a knight or to crawl like a pawn.

Capablanca knew that true glory in the game of chess couldn’t be sullied by dirty politics or by a despot’s ambitions. / CC

14ymedio, Jorge Luis León, Houston, 30 June 2025 – It was Savielly Tartakower who, with an acuity that distinguished him as much off as on the chessboard, uttered the following sentence which still resonates today with some force:

“Chess is only a game; any nobility attributed to it is owing, without a doubt, to any nobility in those who play it.”

This sentence contains a deep truth. Chess, in itself, is just a mixture of rules, pieces and movements. But when honest men take up the game and when they turn it into a way of life, those of them who don’t compromise themselves through lying then ennoble the game; it becomes dignified and reaches an ethical dimension that goes beyond any art or sport.

Capablanca: honour versus power

Cuba, cradle of one of the most immortal geniuses of chess, found in José Raúl Capablanca not just a world champion, but a man of principle. Few people know or remember that during Gerardo Machado’s dictatorship there were attempts at using him as a propaganda tool for the regime. Capablanca refused, with elegance but also with firmness. He knew that true glory in the game of chess couldn’t be sullied by dirty politics or by a despot’s ambitions. He was an example of that nobility that Tartakower had revered. He never betrayed his dignity, even when silence could have been easier.

Cuba, cradle of one of the most immortal geniuses of chess, found in José Raúl Capablanca not just a world champion, but a man of principle

Miguel Alemán: voice of the people and of conscience

In more recent times another name shone out in my memory as a symbol of courage: Miguel Alemán, ex national champion of Cuba, a modest gentleman, he stayed away from public focus but remained immense in his truth. I listened to him speaking when I was barely an adolescent in a small chess club:

“Living under dictatorship is unbearable.”

He said it without embellishment, without fear, and with the simple clarity of a pawn who sacrifices himself for the greater good. Years later, ill and continue reading

lying in a hospital bed, he reaffirmed to me the same thing: “The revolution is a swindle.” And with these words his consistency was confirmed. He was never recompensed for his talent, never exalted by the system, but today he figures as a giant in the face of many others’ cowardly silence.

Dignity on the chessboard

What has become of Cuban chess players in these our tragic times? Where is their nobility? Why are they so full only of analysis, of replayed matches, of calculated movements and detail, whilst Cuba is being pushed into the abyss of desperation?

Perhaps it’s simply enough for them to adjust their player’s seat and set the timer while the nation bleeds and dies beyond the edges of their chessboard? No need to defend anything more than a well-plotted chess move? Where are their voices whilst the fatherland is trapped, whilst the people – the same ones that applaud them during their tournaments – are drowning in misery?

Many of these chess players, some of them with enviable academic titles – lawyers, historians, sociologists – have preferred to stay silent. Or even worse, they’ve decided to repeat empty slogans about the “blockade”, joining in with the con like docile pieces in a match that lacks any dignity. In their social networks they show brilliant chess moves, digital chessboards, victories which save nobody. And not a word about the repression, not a single gesture in the face of all the people’s pain. They settle for a few crumbs here and there, a bit of travel, a medal. Some even openly declare “fidelity” to Cuba’s tormentor.

Other examples, same shame

In other parts of the world there’ve been chess players who raised their voices. Gary Kasparov, for example, openly confronted Putin’s regime, knowing he was putting his own safety at risk. He chose the truth. He chose to be a man over being a champion. He didn’t sell his voice for a title or for a chair on some committee.

In Iran, champion player Dorsa Derakhshani was expelled from the national team for not wearing the veil in one tournament. She refused to give in, refused to pretend

In Iran, champion player Dorsa Derakhshani was expelled from the national team for not wearing the veil in one tournament. She refused to give in, refused to pretend. Today she represents the United States and continues to speak up for the oppressed. What does this tell us about force of character?

Silences that are betrayals

I have put questions to a few Cuban chess players. I’ve spoken to them with respect, called on them to join the debate, to bare their souls. The majority told me I should just keep silent. Others, more cowardly, simply blocked me. Is that the fortitude of a chess master? Is that the spirit of Caïssa? No. It’s just the alternative sham for which they have preferred to bend the knee.

I say this to them, out of a passion I’ve had for the game since infancy:

Your dignity is worth so much more than any medal, than any trophy, than any foreign trip.

The fatherland – a word that for some is merely an echo – is the biggest chessboard that life has given us. And on it, each one of us must decide whether to play like a gentleman, or whether to be sold, as a pawn, and swept away.

The nobility of a chess player isn’t measured by their titles, but rather by their commitment to the truth. It’s in their refusal to be complicit.

Today more than ever, Cuba needs chess players to play the hardest match of all: that of dignity against oppression. And in that match there is no possibility of a draw.

Either you win with honour, or you lose forever.

Translated by Ricardo Recluso

Overwhelmed After Standing in Line in Sancti Spíritus, an Official Journalist Attacks the Authorities

Mary Luz Borrego, one of the most critical voices in the state press, tried to buy eggs and ended up with “discreet” bruises.

Egg production on the island has been calamitous in recent years / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 4 July 2025 — La Época, a dollar store located in the city of Sancti Spíritus, was the protagonist, according to an article in the official press this Friday, of a scenario that has been repeated for years on the island: the long and tumultuous lines with resellers lying in wait, and with stratospheric prices. The cause, says an official reporter stunned by the crowd, was the sale of eggs at $5.25 fulas (American dollars) per carton.

Relatively cheap – at least compared to meat – and rich in protein, eggs are a coveted food on the island that in recent years has seen a scandalous collapse in production. Usually chaos is unleashed when they are for sale, but Mary Luz Borrego, a journalist for Escambray and one of the most critical voices of government authorities, seems to have experienced it for the first time.

“I endured more than three and a half hours of battle in a kind of Roman coliseum, being shoved and bumped into, which not only bruises the body but also the spirit of those who were there,” complains the woman. She is most indignant about the “mobs of resellers who bought one, two, three, four or more times because they took several turns; they stood in line for each other, strategized, disguised themselves, blocked the door to only let in their allies, and fought with shouts and obscenities to get what they could before leaving.”

At the end of the day, she regrets, the resellers won: “they took as many cartons as possible to get their share”

At the end of the day, she regrets, the resellers won: “they took as many cartons as possible to get their share,” but they weren’t the only ones. The workers and owners of private businesses, “who apparently never have enough of their usual profits,” were also successful.

Contrary to the usual official discourse, which blames the “unscrupulous” for worsening the country’s economic situation, Borrego recognizes that “this sad reality is not based on the backs of a few scoundrels, but on the economic situation of the country, the productive-financial deficit that has turned the scarcity of everything or almost everything into fodder for the informal market with science fiction prices.” continue reading

The situation forces citizens to choose a cheaper product – even if that means lining up for several hours in the hot sun – and one that is easier to buy on the informal market, but at prohibitive prices. The eggs of La Época are not “given away,” but the price is up to 1,300 pesos cheaper, changing the dollar at street price, than if they were purchased on the black market, where even spoiled eggs are sold, she admits.

“When the wait was beyond funny, this reporter asked for permission and went to talk with the manager of La Época, who argued that they only had the responsibility to guard the goods of the store and the hard money in their cash registers but could not organize the line, that this was the business of the customers outside,” says the journalist, and she gives an eloquent example of the “questionable” methods of the sellers in these shops.

The manager not only refused to call the police – claiming that on other occasions they had not responded to the request to restore order – but also at one point, “when one of the most successful coleros [line standers] was about to enter for the umpteenth time, she poked her face out, stopped him and asked if we were going to allow it. Faced with the shocked silence because of what seemed to be an incitement to violence, she made an eloquent gesture – something like ‘if you don’t solve it, I will’ – and let him pass.”

Throughout the day, the employees were limited to “taking care of the products and the dollars collected”

After gaining several “discreet” bruises, the journalist managed to acquire the last carton of eggs. In the purchase she noticed the presence of several “close friends” of the store, “who managed to enter and waited furtively, perhaps to collect their own eggs, which remained safe and well guarded in the shade of some shelf.”

After the sale, the “mess” ended and most people went home empty-handed. Throughout the day, the employees were limited to “taking care of the products and the dollars collected,” as they are ordered to do from above.

Borrego, however, is reluctant to overlook the “impotence” and “shame” felt on that day. “Is it logical that a public institution like La Época should allow such arbitrariness in front of its nose?” she asked, appealing to a decorum that was lost long ago by the authorities.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Athletes and Coaches Complain That Sports Schools in Cuba Are Falling Apart Due to Neglect

Images and a video show the deterioration of the Eide Ormani Arenado, the Manuel Fajardo Faculty of Physical Culture and the 19 de Noviembre Multipurpose Hall.

The Eide Ormani Arenado hosted on June 15 the selection of the artistic gymnastics team in Pinar del Río / Facebook/Pinar Indir

14ymedio, Havana, 4 July 2025 — The foundation of Cuban sports is falling apart. Athletes, coaches, circus artists and users denounced on social networks the abandonment of the Ormani Arenado School of Sports Initiation (Eide), the November 19 Multipurpose Room (both in Pinar del Río) and the Manuel Fajardo Faculty of Physical Culture (Santa Clara).

They have had to remove pieces of rotten wood from the floor of the Eide Ormani Arenado, which looks like a minefield. One of the revolutionary emblems inaugurated in 1963 inside the Athenaeum is in ruins. “Seeing it like this causes immense pain,” lamented US-based Cuban boxer Yuniesky González, who shared the image of the facility. “Wow! I had to see it to believe it. How we ran around on that floor! How many of us went through there?”

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

The boxer’s post generated comments from athletes who visited his site. “In 1990 that part of the gym was flawless, but now it is unattended,” recalled Noel Tapia Morales, who practiced wrestling.

Circus artist Yandisley Leal commented that the deterioration of the facilities in the Eide Ormani Arenado “is not even half the conditions we had before, and they were bad.” The member of the German company continue reading

Circus Probst, Osmaikel Otaño, mentioned that in a decade the gym has “fallen into pieces.”

The investment seems insufficient. In June 2024, the vice president of Inder, Omar Venegas Echemendía, spoke about new developments for the sports infrastructure in Pinar del Río. As part of the advancement of 65×60=Fidel Program, the official highlighted two new dormitories for the more than 400 athletes participating in the National School and Youth Games, concluded this Friday.

Image of the Eide Ormani Arenado in Pinar del Río / Facebook/Yuniesky González

Venegas praised “the tangible repair work on the floor for artistic gymnastics, the wrestling mattress and the baseball field, which have received a transformation,” according to the official media Guerrillero.

However, the alleged improvements to the floor are not noticeable. During the selection of the artistic gymnastics team held on June 15 at Ormani Arenado headquarters, the lack of wood and paint in some places and the worn implements that athletes deal with every day are evident.

Handball coach Iván Roger Pérez Díaz said that the abandonment in the Eide is minimal compared to the deterioration of the infrastructure in the November 19 Multipurpose. “Don’t be surprised,” he warned.

Last year the sports authorities expanded the floor repair to the hallway, in addition to the judo tatami mats and surrounding areas. Work also continued on restoring the asphalt covering on the roof, which was torn away by Hurricane Ian.

In August 2023, the sports management told the official newspaper Granma that the waterproofing of the Multipurpose Hall 19 of November was “highly expensive,” despite the fact that at that time there was a donation of $15,000 from the Cuban Volleyball Federation and another 3,000,000 pesos allocated by the Provincial Defense Council after the passage of Hurricane Ian.

The waterproofing work continued but was a failure. Last March, Cubadebate reported that a few months after the work was completed, “the leaks persist.”

The main investor of the Provincial Direction of Sports, Luis Ricardo Ferreiro, said that the work “is poorly done in every way,” and, in addition, “the asphalt they used was expired.”

The specialist explained that the asphalt used for waterproofing has a type of small pebble that melts together with the rest of the material when steam is applied. “We have picked it up with shovels and sacks; it has obstructed the gutters up there. This means that it did not meet the required quality.”

Pinar del Río is the birthplace of champions. Mijain López, Marlenis Costa, Omar Linares, Pedro Luis Lazo, Yarisley and Idalys all come from there, promoted by Tele Pinar in 2022. At that time it warned that “for decades, in the midst of the difficult economic context of the country, the policy of the government and of Sports in Pinar del Río has been aimed at rescuing sports facilities to maintain results.”

The Faculty of the Manuel Fajardo Physical Culture (Santa Clara) is also abandoned. Ariel Martínez shared on Facebook a photo of the facade and the reactions from Internet users. Professor Maritza Aguila was sorry to see the center where she worked for 30 years in ruins.

Josefa Pons recalled that she started in 1976, “when it was inaugurated. It was a beautiful school, really a wonder. What a stage! There was everything.” She said that back then the place “had comforts, a culture and education. I was fourteen years old and enjoyed it very much. What I liked was modern gymnastics.”

From that time of glory only memories remain. The reality was shown in a video by Gabriel Nodarse. In the small area where football and basketball were played, only piles of rusty wood and iron remain, just like the judo area.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Central Committee, the Hard Core of the Communist Party, Is Strengthened by Two Generals

The 10th Plenary Session is committed to closing ranks and militarizing the political apparatus.

Major General Raúl Villar Kessel, head of the Central Army, is one of the new members of the Central Committee / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana, 4 July 2025 — The X Plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) began this Friday in the Palace of the Revolution with the usual speeches laden with a rhetoric of resistance. The meeting, which will conclude this Saturday, called for in-depth analysis and national mobilization, although the immediate result was a greater militarization of the political apparatus.

In a context where shortages, deterioration of essential services, mass migration and social disenchantment are reaching critical levels, the leadership decided to strengthen the core of the Central Committee with figures coming directly from the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. Major General Raúl Villar Kessel, head of the Central Army, and Brigadier General Oscar A. Callejas Varcalce, head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, were added as new members of the highest organ of the PCC. The “unanimity” that approved their admission is not surprising, as it follows the logic of total consensus that characterizes these events.

Brigadier General Oscar A. Callejas Varcalce, head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, was also added

The third person to fill the vacancies generated by the internal cadre movement was Magda Resik Aguirre, First Vice-President of UNEAC. A frequent face on official television, the presenter and screenwriter has called the population’s weariness that manifests itself in social networks as a work of “the enemies of the Revolution,” who “make every effort to offer a theoretical platform for the disenchantment and delegitimization of socialism.” continue reading

Chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel, first secretary of the Party and president of the Republic, the plenary began with appeals to unity and denunciations of the US embargo, in an attempt to justify the economic and social paralysis that is choking millions of Cubans.

The “vitally important” event began without the presence of Raúl Castro Ruz

Despite the fact that the event was classified as “of vital importance,” it began without the presence of Raúl Castro Ruz. His absence from such meetings has become increasingly frequent. Nor did he attend the previous plenary session held in December, although he was present on June 6 for the promotion of the main figures of the Ministry of the Interior.

Beyond the political theater, the incorporation of two high-ranking military officers into the party leadership structure shows a clear trend: the regime is facing the crisis by closing ranks rather than giving signs of political reform. Far from renewing ideas, they insist on shielding positions. Faced with economic collapse and the erosion of ideological control, the leadership is betting on military discipline as a guarantee of internal stability.

The leadership is betting on military discipline

Despite the symbolic references to Fidel Castro and the patriotic dates of the revolutionary calendar, this Plenary resembles more a declaration of political survival than a strategy for the future. Raúl Castro’s absence does not mark the end of an era, but the advance of a direction increasingly disconnected from the real country, locked in its epic narrative while the people face endless lines, blackouts, uncontrolled inflation and deep despair.

The Communist Party of Cuba, far from being a “compass and force,” as proclaimed by Organization Secretary Roberto Morales Ojeda, remains a wall. And this X Plenary is confirming it.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Pinar del Río Loses 400 Hectares of Tobacco Because of Blackouts

The managers of Consolación del Sur complain that part of the plantations have been ruined due to the lack of irrigation.

All varieties of the leaf grown in the municipality have been affected. / Tele Pinar

14ymedio, Havana, 27 June 2025 — The constant power outages are not only trying the patience of Cubans, but also affecting important sectors of the country’s economy. Tobacco, one of the privileged sectors because it is almost entirely exported, is one of the hardest hit. According to official press reports, in the municipality of Consolación del Sur in Pinar del Río alone, 385 hectares were lost due to the blackouts this season.

In a note published in the local newspaper, Guerrillero , the loss is reported, which damaged “all varieties of tobacco” grown in the area, including the sol en palo variety and Virginia.

The municipality’s initial production was also not expected to be high from the outset. At the start of the campaign, only 1,500 hectares of tobacco could be planted, which have been depleted due to the lack of electricity to operate the irrigation systems. “We estimate an impact of half the contract, which translates to 0.6 tons per hectare; as a result, we have a production of 1,301 tons, compared to an initial plan of 1,778 tons,” Mario Luis Zamora, director of the Comprehensive and Tobacco Company in the municipality, told Guerrillero.

According to the leader, by this date his company should have collected about 2.5 million cujes

According to the leader, by this date his company should have harvested nearly 2.5 million cujes, but the harsh conditions for maintaining the crops have left the amount at just 1.9 million, equivalent to 79% of what was forecast for this year’s campaign. continue reading

Zamora is hopeful that the situation will be different next season—an unlikely outcome given the state of the country’s electrical system—and that they will be able to reach 2,100 hectares planted. To ensure the current production of 327 tons and the next, he adds, 1,036 drying houses for the leaves have been built, and “we are receiving the zinc needed to roof another 85.” In total, he estimates that around 1,800 houses will be roofed next year.

As for the current crop, we’re working with what we have. “We already have all the selected crops working and processing the stored tobacco, and we hope to have more than 80% of the producers with their lands cleaned and their accounts settled by the 26th.”

With cigar production clearly in trouble, Habanos SA—half Spanish, half Cuban—has begun to pay more attention to machine-rolled cigars at the Internacional Cubana de Tabacos (ICT) factory in the capital. These aren’t Cuban cigars, nor do they have the prestige of being rolled by the sweat of the destemmers, but the profits the brand makes from the smaller, easier-to-roll, and more affordable sizes position them among its most profitable products. In 2024 alone, machine-rolled cigars brought in $38 million of the $827 million the company recorded.

With 400 workers, the International is the only industrial cigar factory in Cuba, and can deliver about 800,000 units daily.

With 400 employees, Internacional is Cuba’s only industrial cigar factory and can deliver around 800,000 cigars per day. Production delays, even minimal, translate into losses because everything produced, its managers assured AFP weeks ago, “goes on sale immediately.”

In 2001, the company became a joint venture with Tabacalera, a Spanish company that, according to AFP, belongs to “a consortium of Asian investors whose names have never been officially revealed.” It has 64 machines that can produce up to 42 cigars per minute, from the Cohiba, Partagás, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta brands. To maintain the pace, workers told the agency, the staff is divided into three work shifts per day, from Monday to Sunday.

However, Habanos SA can’t rely solely on machine-made cigars. Its clientele with luxurious tastes and deep pockets prefers thick, exotic vitolas that sometimes cost thousands of dollars. However, with the company’s $827 million in revenue in 2024—breaking its own record—it will surely be able to survive for a while.

* Cujes are sticks of attached tobacco leaves used in drying.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Matanzas, No One Believes That Félix Committed Suicide After Fleeing From Cuban State Security

“The bruises on the neck and arms, the stiffness of the body, and the marks do not match the official version of the drowning.”

The family of the young man, arrested during a blackout on June 23, claims he was beaten to death. / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2025 — The death of 32-year-old Félix Lázaro Reinoso Rodríguez, while in the custody of the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI) in Matanzas, Cuba, has sparked outrage both on and off the island. The family of the young man, arrested during a blackout on June 23, claims he was beaten to death and that authorities tried to cover up the crime. Images of his body, covered in bruises and showing visible signs of violence, contradict the official version of an alleged escape and subsequent suicide.

“The death certificate is absurd. He was buried in a common grave, like a stranger, without a wake or dignity,” his cousin told independent media. The police, according to her testimony, tried to justify the death by claiming that Reinoso jumped into the sea with a 43-pound rock tied to his body. “But that rock wasn’t there when we went to identify him,” she added. A forensic doctor told them that Reinoso had been dead for more than 48 hours, something that contradicts the official version.

“No one can escape from there.”

Matanzas intellectual Alina Bárbara López Hernández—who knows Reinoso’s family—also doesn’t believe the escape story. “No one escapes from there,” she told 14ymedi . “Those who were inside on 11J say it’s not clear whether it’s day or night.” López also describes how the workers enter through an iron gate where there’s a sentry box with 24-hour guards. Furthermore, there are several blocks between the place where he was detained and the coast. “It doesn’t make sense that that young man escaped to go throw himself into the sea and kill himself,” she added. continue reading

Reinoso was arrested Monday night at his home in the municipality of Jovellanos on charges of receiving stolen goods. He had apparently purchased car parts without knowing they were linked to a homicide . From then on, his family’s ordeal began.

“The head of the DTI confronted her and threatened to arrest her.”

On Wednesday, a maternal aunt tried to see him at the DTI station with a lawyer. “They told her she couldn’t enter without an appointment. When she suggested he might have been beaten, the DTI chief confronted her and threatened to arrest her,” her daughter recounted.

On Thursday, the family was informed that Reinoso had “escaped” due to an investigator’s carelessness. And on Friday, they received the worst news: his body had been found in Matanzas Bay. The blow to his family was doubled. Along with the pain came suspicion. “False news is being spread saying he participated in another crime. It’s not true. All he did was buy some car parts. They want to make him look guilty to justify what they did,” his family member lamented.

A doctor close to the family, who was able to examine photos of the body, also denied the official version. “A person who drowns turns pale, not purple, and their eyes don’t pop out. That happens due to asphyxiation,” she explained. Furthermore, “the bruises on the neck and arms, the stiffness of the body, and the marks do not match a fall or drowning.”

“They are crossing all limits”

The most unusual thing was the police’s insistence on burying him as “unknown,” claiming that the water had washed away his fingerprints. “They wanted to get rid of him quickly,” the cousin complained. Only after family pressure were they able to recover the body, but with no possibility of a wake or farewell.

The family has hired lawyers and says they will take this to the bitter end. “We’re going all out. The more that’s known, the harder it will be for them to get away with it,” the cousin asserted.

López compared what happened to the repressive practices of the Batista dictatorship. Even Caridad Suárez Díaz, a veteran of the clandestine movement, regretfully confessed to him, “This is not what we fought for,” upon learning of Reinoso’s case. “They are crossing all boundaries,” López warned. “We are in the final phase of a process that we knew would be very difficult. And the worst is yet to come.”

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Wife of Political Prisoner José Daniel Ferrer Arrested After Demanding Proof of Life

The leader of UNPACU began a hunger strike this Saturday to denounce the poor conditions at the Mar Verde prison.

“Two Castro hitmen arrested Nelva Ortega and took her to an unknown location” / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, July 1, 2025 — Around eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning, Nelva Ortega, wife of political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer, was arrested in Santiago de Cuba. The activist was also arrested while demanding a proof of life for Ferrer, who began a hunger strike on Saturday to denounce the bad conditions facing prisoners in Mar Verde prison, where he is detained.

The prison authorities denied the woman a visit to Ferrer, and “two Castro thugs arrested Nelva and took her to an unknown location,” according to a Facebook post by Ana Belkis Ferrer García, sister of the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU). To date, the whereabouts of Ortega are unknown, although she is presumed to be in the custody of State Security.

The two minors who accompanied the doctor, her young son Daniel José and Ferrer’s daughter Fátima Beatriz, had to return to UNPACU headquarters in Altamira.

Ferrer also seeks to denounce the decision of the Cuban regime to send him back to Mar Verde

The political prisoner’s hunger strike is not only a form of protest against “the abuses, hunger, rotten food and contaminated water that makes so many prisoners sick,” as his sister detailed in an earlier note. Ferrer also seeks to denounce the decision of the Cuban regime to send him continue reading

back to Mar Verde on April 29, three months after his release from prison.

The Supreme Court revoked the opponent’s parole, granted last January after a negotiation between Havana, Washington and the Vatican. According to Maricela Sosa, vice president of that court, Ferrer was found guilty of not going to court twice after his release.

“Not only did he not show up, but he also announced on his social networks, in flagrant defiance and contempt of the law, that he would not appear before any judicial authority,” Sosa told British news agency Reuters.

After his return to prison, several organizations issued an “urgent alert” for Ferrer. The Complaints Center of the Foundation for Pan American Democracy recalled that the opponent is “a beneficiary of precautionary protective measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH)”.

After his return to prison, several organizations issued an “urgent alert” for Ferrer

“We condemn this new aggression by the Cuban regime against those who are fighting peacefully for freedom and democracy, and we demand the immediate release of all detainees, as well as respect for their physical integrity and fundamental rights,” said the Center in a statement.

For its part, the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba issued a document where they not only demand the release of Ferrer but also give details about his legal status and assurance that he had already fully served his sentence of August 2024.

For the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights it is also “a new assault of the Cuban regime against opponents and human rights activists and reveals the increase in the repressive climate on the island”.

The organization fed hundreds of needy people in the city of the Cuban East

UNPACU and its leader lived through months of extreme tension with the political police for their humanitarian activities in Santiago de Cuba. During his release, Ferrer told in videos and statements the process by which the organization fed hundreds of needy people in the city of the Cuban East, and the obstacles that the regime has placed on his work.

Throughout this time, Ferrer assured that he would not accept conditions for his release, and that he would continue to denounce both the critical situation of the country and the responsibility of the government in the multisectoral debacle of the island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Tourism Minister Speaks Nonsense on His Desperate Tour in Latin America

After suggesting a regional ‘Schengen’, García Granda proposes taking advantage of the World Cup

Juan Carlos García ha visitado México tras su paso por Colombia y Brasil en un intento de impulsar el turismo en la región. / El Sol de México

14ymedio, Madrid, 2 July 2025 — Juan Carlos García Granda, Minister of Tourism, does not lack ideas; the problem is to concretize them. His Latin American tour has already left a proposal in Colombia, where he launched the suggestion of creating a regional common visa area similar to the European Schengen and now he has raised another idea: to create a joint promotion with Mexico with soccer (football) as its engine.

This idea slipped into an interview with El Sol de México in which, after García Granda talked about working with Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to reactivate sunken Cuban tourism, the journalist asked him if there is any tangible agreement. “We aren’t talking about agreements yet. We are talking about the willingness to agree to do many things, such as mutual tourism promotion for the football world cup that will take place next year. We want to bring many Mexicans to Cuba,” the minister replied.

This is how the article ends, without it being clear what Cuba has to do with a sports event that takes place in 2026 with a triple venue: the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is also not understood how the proposal to attract Mexican travelers to Cuba appears in this context, when thousands of sports fans from all over the world will want to go to one of the three North American countries that hosts the most continue reading

important international football competition in the world.

“We are defending and trying to justify multi-destination tourism. We are beginning to discuss it as a way of doing a lot of good for the region of the Americas”

García Granda, who had told El País of his idea for a Latin American Schengen, was more general this time. “We are defending and trying to justify multi-destination tourism. We are beginning to discuss it as a way of doing a lot of good for the region of the Americas,” says the minister, eager to highlight a twinning with the region that has taken him these weeks to Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. Although his meetings have been with entrepreneurs in the field, it is symptomatic that all three are countries with governments in ideological harmony with Havana.

“I talk about Cuba, but really when you visit the countries of Latin America you can see that we have many similarities. We are unique people, hospitable, with a lot of culture, but at the same time we have great possibilities because we are authentic. We all have those common qualities but we do it each in its own way, and instead of dividing us, this can unite and add to us,” he insisted.

When García Granda referred to Europe as a model, he did not take into account that beyond a common culture there is political unity among the majority of countries in the Common European Area (EU) and agreements for other members to be part of it, a feature that is not present in Latin America.

The Cuban minister admitted, to questions from the journalist, that the island is far from recovering the tourism figures it once reached, with 4.8 million international travelers in 2018 as a record. “Tourism at the moment is going through a rather difficult situation, which is multifactorial, but what we have done is analyze the causes and drawn up strategies and actions to solve the problems, and being here is proof of it,” he said, faced with the prospect of not reaching the official target of 2.6 million foreign visitors in 2025.

Cuba’s traditional markets, with Europe in the lead, have suffered a huge setback, which has led the island authorities to try fishing in other waters. The initial bet, which began in the best years of the sector, was Russia. But the Russians abandoned the destination for other areas of the Caribbean with similar beaches and greater abundance, and did so before the worst of the pandemic. Only the war in Ukraine, which marginalized Russian citizens by sanctions against their government, allowed Cuba to regain ground, but the prosperity soon faltered. After a promising 2024 in which it reached 185,000 travelers from Russia, so far this year the numbers have been reduced by half.

Cuba was already trying to gain the Chinese market, very desired for its immensity, as well as for the important spending by its people when they travel outside their borders. Now Cuba’s greatest hope is Latin America, especially Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Brazil, although only the first three bring relevant numbers of tourists to the Cuban market.

Cuba was already trying to gain the Chinese market, very desired for its immensity, as well as for the important spending by its people when they travel outside their borders

García Granda points out in the interview that Mexico has “a lot to contribute” and says that it is counting on its ally, President Sheinbaum. “Together, with the Mexican government, we could have a lot of support in promotion, advertising. We could also do things together to sell attributes of both countries as part of a service, a vacation, because we are bringing people from China and Russia, and these people need unique experiences after traveling so far. They want to experience something unique,” he persisted.

However, the most striking thing in this conversation has been his analysis of how Cuba faces the US sanctions, which have again taken center stage by insisting on the new memorandum of Donald Trump in the audit of travel from that country to the island, as he ordered in 2017. “Cuba does have a large part of its impact due to the intentional measures generated by the blockade, but we make an assessment of these impacts and do not cry in a corner but try to turn them into challenges,” he said. On the same day, the official press is filled with complaints about the “inhuman measures” of the United States.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Migrants Turn Around: Thousands Return Disillusioned With the “American Dream”

Donald Trump’s arrival to power has pushed for this return, which is not always easy.

Many migrants use land and sea routes to avoid the Darién Jungle and face limitations due to lack of documentation / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 1 July 2025 — A wave of migrants wanders along the road. After years of a steady flow north, more and more people in the region are returning to their countries of origin or stopping along their route, forced by lack of resources, obstacles at the borders or disenchantment with the “American dream,” a phenomenon that is beginning to be noticed in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, among other countries.

They tried to reach the United States, but the arrival of Donald Trump to power has pushed thousands of migrants back to South America. The return is not easy. Many migrants use land and sea routes to avoid the Darien Jungle and face limitations due to lack of documentation to access humanitarian flights or voluntary return programs, while remaining in vulnerable conditions.

In Panama, migrants collide with the Darién barrier and the high cost of continuing on a boat through the Caribbean. “Here we are held back by the sea and money,” they confess to EFE. In Miramar, a small coastal town in the Panamanian Caribbean, dozens of migrants, mostly Venezuelans, hope to embark for Colombia after running out of means to continue their journey.

In Miramar, a small coastal town in the Panamanian Caribbean, dozens of migrants, mostly Venezuelans, hope to embark for Colombia after running out of means to continue their journey

Marielbis Campos, mother of four children who traveled through the Darién carrying one of them on her back, waited in Mexico for more than a year for an asylum appointment. But with Trump’s return to the White House, the notification never came. It was then that she decided to return to Brazil, but the return has become another ordeal. Marielbis is accompanied by her four children, ages seven, four, three and one.

Marielbis’ journey is that of thousands of migrants. The tightening of immigration policies in the United States has changed the direction of the continue reading

flow. According to data from the Panamanian authorities, more than 12,700 migrants, 94% of them Venezuelans, have transited from north to south since November 2024, a reversal of the flow that previously filled the route to Darién, which over half a million people crossed in 2023 to go north. The number has been declining after a peak in April with 3,000 migrants, which fell to 1,779 in June.

Return journeys are marked by precariousness and fear. In Panama, some migrants such as Jesús Alfredo Aristigueta, a 32-year-old Venezuelan, report being kidnapped in Mexico and extorted on his return route. And he regrets that the help from the Venezuelan authorities that once made it easier to go north has disappeared for those who now need “a push to return.”

The phenomenon of “reverse transit” is also intensifying in Colombia. Between January and May, more than 10,200 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, have returned through the Darién, where they crossed rivers and areas of difficult access without any presence of officials or agents, exposed to trafficking networks and sexual violence. The Office of the Ombudsman has warned about the lack of protection channels for these migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors.

Migrants complain that the help from the Venezuelan authorities that once made it easier to go north has disappeared for those who now need “a push to return”

“Reverse migration is a challenge that requires binational cooperation and urgent protection,” says Mireille Girard, representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Many of these people return without resources or support networks and in the aftermath of violence and exploitation during the journey, she says.

The authorities of Venezuela claim to have reactivated a program called “Gran Misión Vuelta a la Patria,” which has facilitated the return of more than 5,600 Venezuelans deported from the United States between January and May this year, some on flights with stopovers in Mexico and Honduras.

This return occurs within the framework of a deportation agreement signed between Caracas and Washington despite the absence of diplomatic relations since 2019. Returnees receive medical assistance and reintegration support, with programs from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) providing training to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Ecuador has not recorded a massive return after the change in United States policies, but the country has undergone a change of destination for migrants. More and more Ecuadorians are heading to Argentina, where over 7,700 people have traveled since the beginning of 2025 without being recorded as having returned. Displacement is driven by the lack of opportunities and growing insecurity in the country.

It is estimated that about 100,000 Ecuadorians have emigrated annually since 2021 on a regular basis and not returned. Meanwhile, the Government is trying to promote circular migration programs, which have so far been limited in scope.

It is estimated that about 100,000 Ecuadorians have emigrated annually since 2021 on a regular basis and not returned

Peru also faces a complex situation. In addition to being a major recipient of Venezuelan migrants, with 1.6 million on its territory, the country is dealing with the suspension of international cooperation funds, which means limited attention to vulnerable migrant populations. At the same time, Peruvians in an irregular situation in the United States have been deported, with more than 12,000 returning since 2022.

In the Dominican Republic, the phenomenon of return has its own peculiarity. The policy of mass deportations of undocumented Haitians has led to an increase in voluntary returns. Between January and May of this year, more than 153,000 Haitians have been deported following measures that include requiring documentation even in hospitals, which is affecting pregnant women and people seeking basic health care.

This panorama of reverse migration in Latin America reflects the impact of migratory restrictions imposed by the United States, lack of resources, violence along the routes and disenchantment with the “American dream”. For the thousands of people starting their return journey, this change in the migratory flow is taking place without protective measures or initiatives of bi-national cooperation, and amid new dangers.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Regime Prevents Cuban Guests From Attending the 4th of July Party at the US Embassy

Several activists and opponents, in Havana and in the province, were arrested or surrounded in their homes.

Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, was arrested when she tried to leave the organization’s headquarters / Facebook / Ángel Moya Acosta

14ymedio, Havana, 2 July 2025 — As happens every year, the celebration of US Independence Day becomes an uncomfortable date for the Cuban regime. This Wednesday, several independent journalists, activists and opponents denounced the police surrounding their homes to prevent them from attending the official reception organized by the chargé d’affaires of Washington in Havana, Mike Hammer.

Journalist Reinaldo Escobar reported that agents of State Security prevented him from leaving his home in the neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, both to attend a family lunch and for the July 4 celebration, scheduled for 7:00 pm at Hammer’s residence in the municipality of Playa.

“I tried to go, I was going to a lunch, but an agent of State Security intercepted me and told me that I couldn’t leave,” he confirmed. Since the early morning, on the ground floor of the building where 14ymedio is located, a permanent operative was deployed, according to several neighbors.

For Escobar, the crackdown on party guests is “disrespectful to the American nation.” The reporter wonders “how ‘friends of Cuba in Washington’ would react if the FBI prevented them from attending the festivities for July 26 at the Cuban embassy.”

“A State Security officer intercepted me and told me that I could not leave”

In a similar situation is Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice-president of the Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba, who claimed to be under close surveillance at his home in Alamar, in the municipality of Habana del Este. Also, activist Marthadela Tamayo and rapper Osvaldo Navarro reported on social networks that the headquarters of the cultural project Di.Verso remains surrounded by agents dressed in civilian clothes. continue reading

The same measure has been applied against former political prisoner Óscar Elías Biscet and his wife, activist Elsa Morejón, in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton, as well as against the opponent Librado Linares, in the municipality of Camajuaní in Villa Clara, to whom “an officer on a motorcycle verbally announced” the movement restriction.

For her part, Lady in White Maria Cristina Labrada reported on her Facebook page: “My house is besieged by servants of the Communist Party and the Department of State Security.” Labrada described the presence of two women dressed as civilians stationed at the corner of their house on Cortina street, Milagros corner, in the neighborhood of Santos Suárez. A neighbor alerted her to the operative from early hours. “Always, even with fear, they sympathize with me,” she added, referring to her neighbors.

“An officer on a motorcycle verbally announced” the movement restriction

Labrada also published a list of other opponents under house arrest, including the leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler – who was arrested – and activists Bárbaro de la Nuez and Juan Alberto de la Nuez Ramirez. This newspaper was also able to confirm that journalist Boris González Arenas had surveillance around his house.

Another case is that of former political prisoner Ángel Moya Acosta, intercepted by political police agents around 9:30 am on Wednesday morning as he was walking along Calle E and Avenida Porvenir, in the Havana neighborhood of Lawton.

“One of the operatives, who identified himself as an officer of State Security, told me that I could not go to Martha Beatriz Roque’s house and urged me to return to the headquarters of the Ladies in White,” said Moya in a message sent from his mobile phone shortly before being held incommunicado. He said that his neighbors had alerted him to the presence of a patrol car and plain-clothes officers outside the headquarters of the opposition movement.

Arrests and similar operations have also been reported outside Havana

Roque, also a former political prisoner of the Black Spring, had declined Hammer’s invitation for health reasons. “I can’t walk,” she told this newspaper. The concentration of police around her house suggests that the intention was not only to prevent her attendance but also to avoid any meeting or connection between dissidents on the eve of the celebration.

Outside Havana, similar arrests and operations have also been reported in recent days, which could be related to both the 4the of July event and another key date: the anniversary of the 11 July 2021 protests.

On 23 June, during an interrogation in Pinar del Río of the two main members of the Centro de Estudios Convivencia, Dagoberto Valdés and Yoandy Izquierdo, an officer warned them that this year they would not allow “people from the provinces” to attend the Independence Day event.

The regime has been waging an intense campaign against diplomat Mike Hammer since his appointment

In Camagüey, journalist Henry Constantín – director of the independent newspaper La Hora de Cuba – has been detained since Sunday, when he accompanied his colleague Iris Mariño to a police summons. In Santiago de Cuba, Nelva Ortega, wife of political prisoner José Daniel Ferrer, was arrested on Tuesday while demanding proof of life for the opposition leader, currently on a hunger strike.

The regime has been waging an intense campaign against diplomat Mike Hammer since his appointment as head of mission at the US Embassy in Cuba. The media offensive has increased as Hammer has developed a style of direct diplomacy, going through neighborhoods, greeting passers-by and visiting the homes of activists and opponents, in contrast to his predecessors.

Traditionally, the American independence celebration is attended not only by independent activists and journalists but also by artists, Catholic priests and a wide diplomatic representation from other countries.

“This is not a meeting for guidance from the CIA or the State Department, as the regime tries to make it”

“In previous years there was no surveillance to prevent the participation of civil society at these celebrations,” recalled journalist Camila Acosta, also under house arrest on Wednesday. “But now, with a new administration in Washington that has increased the pressure against the regime, and an ambassador who has visited almost all of Cuba in a few months and has a more confrontational stance, they want to prevent us from going.”

Acosta stressed the informal nature of the event: “This is not a meeting to receive guidance from the CIA or the State Department, as the Cuban regime tries to make it. What is happening is a party. But their objective is to isolate us, to prevent us from having contact with US diplomats and with each other.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Photo of the Creator of the Drug Trofin Selling Coffee Shows the Reality of Cuban Retirees

Before, he sold wine, says his daughter, because “his retirement isn’t enough for anything.”

Café Raúl is the name of the business venture of doctor and researcher Raúl González Hernández. / Facebook/Elizabeth González Aznar

14ymedio, Havana, 1 July 2025 — “One day he told me, ’I’m going to sell coffee,’ and I swear my heart sank.” Elizabeth recalls the words of doctor and researcher Raúl González Hernández, whose 80th birthday was celebrated last Sunday. “My brain thought: My God, a retired scientist, creator of a product and its line like Trofin — a drug for the treatment of anemia — selling coffee? I froze.”

The woman shared the reality of every Cuban on social media and recalled that her father “already sold wine” because “his retirement isn’t enough for anything,” and when he left work, things worsened.

The scientist’s daughter expressed her admiration for the 80-year-old man who has been an example of tenacity. “You started milking cows as a child to help your parents, but you grew to become a scientist, a doctor of science, a senior researcher, and the creator of a product that helps so much and its patents. You’ve never tired, Dad.”

González has taught numerous courses and lectured in Cuba, Russia, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. His research was instrumental in obtaining donations for the island. Between 1992 and 1993, the Venezuelan firm Promed contributed $10,000 for clinical trials and registration of the drug Trofin, an anti-anemia drug.

“At 80 (years old) you split your sides and sell coffee without a hint of frustration, you know that it’s not you who is wrong, it’s them, and they should feel the shame, not us.”

However, some government officials took her words as a harsh denunciation, so in a second post on her Facebook account, continue reading

she clarified: “I’m telling the truth about my life, my father’s life, which unfortunately is the life of many Cubans. I didn’t provoke it, I didn’t invent it, I didn’t imagine it. On the contrary, I live it and suffer it like his daughter, because in my 46 years I never saw him tire, always working and fighting.”

Elizabeth says her father “listens to the news on the radio because the TV broke, and where do I get the money to fix it? Because the roof of the house is just rebar, and how much does a sack of cement cost today?” The scientist, she adds, “had to give up his car because it was rotting.” The woman emphasizes that her post “is not about crying, it’s not about complaining, it’s about indignation, helplessness, sadness, and the worst part is, I can’t help him anymore, no matter how much I want to, and it’s not fair, not to him or to any of those older adults.”

The daughter points out that many have suggested leaving the island, but in her case, it’s not an option. “Honestly, it would be killing him. Old age alone, even with money, isn’t joyful; it’s painful, a lot. Loneliness hurts, even if many don’t say so, and I say this because I see it every day with several people. That’s not the solution.”

The story of Raúl González Hernández is being revealed just as actress Miriam Mier received a walker, which she “urgently needed to improve her mobility,” Cubaactores reported. Elio Lázaro García Noa delivered the equipment to the La Victoria grocery store on D Street and 27th Street in Vedado, Havana.

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ICE Confirms the Deportation of One Cuban and Two Others Arrested for Serious Crimes

The country Rafael Ojeda Acosta was taken to is not disclosed; the arrests of Osmani Mompié and Vladimir Blanco Menéndez on serious charges are also reported.

The Cuban Rafael Ojeda Acosta was arrested and tried in New Orleans / X/@ERONewOrleans

14ymedio, Havana, 2 July 2025 — The Cuban Rafael Ojeda Acosta was arrested and tried in New Orleans for the crimes of “illegal carrying of a weapon, rape, sodomy, assault, escape from custody, theft and invasion of private property.” The Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) reported on Monday that he was deported without indicating to which country. The entity also reported the arrests of Osmani Mompié and Vladimir Blanco Menéndez.

The most recent flight of deportees from the US to Cuba was on June 18. The Interior Ministry confirmed the arrival of a flight to Havana with 89 migrants from the island- 76 men, 12 women and one minor. It was reported that one of the returnees was transferred to the investigative body, because at the time he illegally left the country he was on probation.”

In the last week of June, the Supreme Court gave free rein to US President Donald Trump’s administration to resume expelling immigrants to third countries such as South Sudan and El Salvador.

However, a month earlier, the Department of National Security deported Cubans Enrique Arias Hierro and José Manuel Rodríguez Quinones after Cuba refused to receive migrants with criminal records. The action sparked controversy, and Boston-based federal judge Brian Murphy said that the Trump administration violated a court order by deporting eight migrants to South Sudan without giving them an opportunity to object to the transfer. continue reading

One of the most recent cases is that of a Cuban identified by the initials C.R.L. According to official information, the transfer “was delayed because Cuba did not want to receive him and refused to facilitate his deportation.” The migrant, who spent three years in prison for serious crimes, resorted to habeas corpus and requested to be released until the US found a country willing to receive him. Mexico was the nation, but the detainee refused to accept it, so he remains in custody.

As for Osmani Mompié, ICE stated that he was sentenced for conspiracy to transport immigrants illegally, which put the lives of the people involved at risk. “He came here to traffic people. Now he’s the one who is being escorted back,” the agency emphasized in its publication.

The agency reported that Vladimir Blanco Menéndez was arrested and charged with child sexual abuse in Palm Beach County, Florida. It also published a number for people to report in the case of more victims.

The local newspaper The Palm Beach Post reported Blanco’s capture in 2019. The publication reports that a woman installed a tape recorder in her home on suspicion of a relationship with her daughter. The audios were used by the young woman to denounce her aggressor, whom she accused of forcing her to have sex. He was prosecuted by the authorities and fined $75,000 at that time.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The UN Manages Aid of up to $40,000 for MSMEs in Eastern Cuba

Applications will be received between July 1 and 31, and the selection process will take approximately three months.

The project is designed to provide resources and equipment for “new economic actors” in the east of the country / Sierra Maestra

14ymedio, Madrid, June 30, 2025 — From this Tuesday and throughout the month of July, both private and state-owned MSMEs*, non-agricultural cooperatives (CNA) and local development projects (PDL) from the east will be eligible for up to $40,000 in funding. The project, financed by the European Union as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with assistance from the French Government, is intended for acquiring resources and equipment.

The objective, described by UNDP in the call made public last Wednesday, is “that the new economic actors [NAE] strengthen their capacities, improve the quality of their products and services, and broaden their presence in the market, in order to promote the creation of employment and the activation of the local economic fabric, with a focus on women and young people.”

Thus, they intend to “contribute to the well-being of the Cuban population by encouraging a dynamic and revitalized economy and economic actors in their innovation, entrepreneurship, management and, where appropriate, access to international markets,” they say in a burst of optimism that contrasts with the deep crisis that the country is experiencing.

The agency also announces that it will soon launch another five calls, two regional and three national

The review of applications will be carried out by “multidisciplinary teams,” says the statement, “made up of an odd number of experts from the three regions of the country, who will never evaluate projects in their own region in order to facilitate transparency and impartiality.” continue reading

To apply, you must fill out a form and send it to convocatoriasnae2025@gmail.com, with the subject “Application,” from 1 to 31 July. The selection process will take, according to UNDP, no more than three months.

The agency also announces that it will soon launch another five calls, two regional and three national, focusing on “strategic sectors” such as sustainable agro-food systems, renewable energy, information technologies and “creative industries.”

On UNDP social networks, several users complain that self-employed workers (TCP) are excluded from these possible grants. Thus, Henry Chávez Góngora asks how a TCP could access funding, to which the organization responds that although the call “is aimed at other actors, it aims to promote experiences that encourage productive chains where other actors can participate.”

Chávez Góngora, who claims to have an agro-industrial project with “eight production lines potentially only 12 kilometers from the main port of Cuba” – Mariel – continues: “How good, but at the beginning and in the end it is the farmer who is directly in the field, with projects of mini-industries in my case, to process myself the productions obtained on the land. My suggestion is to look at the front line of the production chain and if we have chains in our businesses.”

To the question of whether the call covers farmers with land under usufruct, UNDP answers that “other forms of management” can participate by “associating themselves with these experiences as chains,” it says, referring to MSMEs, CNA and PDL. And the user argues: “The farmers are associated with all these forms, but we perform the same work as them and with a greater commitment to the people. We sell at much lower prices and make greater more sacrifices in order to produce. If your call is only for that ’robust sector’, it stinks in my opinion.”

A total of $35.3 million was allocated to Cuba last year by this UN program, according to its own report, “to support sustainable development” in more than 40 projects on the island.

Translated by Regina Anavy

*MSME – Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises

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With Half-Empty Hotels and Deserted Restaurants, Varadero, Cuba is Bleeding

Many workers return to their hometowns, Cárdenas and Matanzas, to seek alternatives outside the tourism sector.

After the shock of the Covid pandemic, Varadero is experiencing its worst crisis in decades / EFE]

14ymedio, Pablo Padilla Cruz, Veradero, June 30. 2025 — In the 1990s, during the so-called Special Period, the Cuban regime bet on international tourism as a lifeline for its faltering socialist economy. The Hicacos peninsula, better known as Varadero, became in a few years the emblem of the new economic model: all-inclusive hotels, rum, tobacco and a low-cost tourist package that attracted mainly Spanish hotel chains.

But the boom is only a memory. After the shock of the covid-19 pandemic, Varadero is experiencing its worst crisis in decades. The decline in tourism has left half-empty hotels, deserted streets and thousands of workers on the verge of subsistence.

“There have always been ups and downs, but nothing like the last five years” / 14ymedio

“After Covid we had to reinvent ourselves,” says Maria Carla, a 30-year employee of the restaurant Floridita in Varadero. “There have always been ups and downs, but nothing like the last five years. All inclusive hotels have affected us a lot: tourists no longer leave the hotel, they leave a tip inside to ensure good service and they go away without stepping inside a shop or restaurant outside the complex.”

Maria Carla remembers with nostalgia the days when the city was a hotbed. Today, except for some places frequented by locals, such as the brewery on 43rd street or the bowling alley on 45th, “Varadero looks like a desert.” Many workers are returning to their home towns of Cárdenas and Matanzas to look for alternatives outside the tourism sector.

During the last decade, the official press claimed to have exceeded four million tourists per year, of which more than one million would have arrived in Varadero, but that figure has been questioned even from within.

“Every December they said that they had reached one million visitors, but there was still a long way to go to reach that figure” / 14ymedio

“At Radio 26, where I worked, everyone knew that the numbers were inflated,” says a former technician from the provincial radio station. “Every December they said that they had reached one million visitors, but there was still a long way to go to reach that figure”.

Competition has also played its part. Punta Cana, Cancun, Puerto Rico, Isla Margarita and the Bahamas offer modern infrastructure and better service. The comparison is humiliating.

“The hotels here look like campsites,” says Anthony, a buffet worker at the Los Delfines hotel. “Shrimp and lobster are almost invisible. And if they come in, we workers fight for them. Our salary is not enough, and when tourists see the environment, the toilets without seats and the leaks when it rains, they don’t leave a tip. If you don’t believe me, pass by Cuatro Palmas on a rainy day.” continue reading

“The hotels here look like campsites”

Anthony bitterly recalls a week he spent in a modest hotel in Punta Cana: “In Varadero, it would be in the top ten.” It is not surprising that the state-owned chains – Cubanacán, Gaviota and Islazul – are increasingly turning to national tourism.

“It’s the third year that we come here with the family,” says Elena, a habanera living in Marianao. “My husband and I work hard and give ourselves this luxury. But you can see the drop in service and offers. Still, we had a good time, although every year we think it will be the last. Just three days in a three-star hotel cost us more than 100,000 pesos, and with that we can eat at home for several months.”

For many Cubans from Mantanzas and Cárdenas who work there, Varadero is not just a beach, it’s their livelihood. Every tip, every bag of groceries and hotel leftovers ends up in their homes. “If Varadero is fine, Matanzas is fine,” is repeated as a mantra among those who live on what “falls off the truck.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Remains Silent on the Historic Collapse of Venezuelan Oil Shipments

Reuters reveals that Caracas sent only 8,000 barrels of crude oil per day in June, instead of 55,000

Pdvsa is exporting more oil, but 90% ends up in China, while it decreases in Cuba / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 2 July 2025 — Havana, which has historically benefited from fewer scheduled power cuts, has already had its dose of blackouts for a few days. According to the authorities, the change “is due to the situation of extreme contingency of the electroenergetic system in the country, caused by the lack of fuel.” In recent days, the Electric Union (UNE) has placed at almost 900 megawatts the deficit of generating plants that depend on imported oil, and the population can’t take it anymore. The explanation is in the surprising data that Venezuela sent only 8,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) in June, a historic low.

The figure is far from the average of 55,000 bpd committed in 2000 in the agreements signed by Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, and it is also worse than the previous low record, which was 10,000 bpd last January. According to the statistics, the average received by Cuba from Venezuela in the five months for which there are data -in May the amount was not known- is 32,000 bpd, a figure exactly the same as the average in 2024, which was already 42% lower than that for the same period in 2023.

In June, Venezuelan oil had the worst deficit data in the recent history of Cuba, reaching 1,936 MW on Saturday the 28th

In June, Venezuelan oil had the worst deficit data in the recent history of Cuba, reaching 1,936 MW on Saturday 28. The Cuban government, which handles its crude oil imports as a state secret, has not published any data and has not given an explanation about the dramatic reduction in deliveries.

There is no apparent reason why Venezuela has delivered such a derisory amount of oil to Cuba in the midst of the alarming situation that its partner — and brother, as described by Maduro and Díaz-Canel — is experiencing. According to Reuters data, the Venezuelan state-owned Pdvsa exported 8% more than last month, a total of 844,000 bpd, and it went mainly to China, to compensate for the loss of US and European markets affected by Washington’s decision to suspend the license to Chevron and other partners authorized to market Venezuelan crude.

The Venezuelan oil company exported that amount, in addition to 233,000 metric tons of by-products and petrochemicals, with 27 tankers leaving the country in June. For China, the fuel is sold to “little known intermediaries that make deals with independent refineries in China,” according to Reuters. In total, Beijing received 90% of Venezuelan oil exports, compared to 75% the previous month, which indicates that the bet on the Asian market is clear.

In total, Beijing received 90% of Venezuelan oil exports, compared to 75% the previous month, which indicates that the bet on the Asian market is clear

Other products exported by Venezuela, in this case to Europe and India, were methanol and petroleum coke, a solid byproduct. The British agency also highlights the boost in sales of Boscán crude oil, with three shipments to Asia. The ultra-heavy product is used for asphalt processing and has proved to be key, according to Reuters, in preventing Pdvsa from cutting its production in this oil field, which is one of the country’s largest, with reserves estimated at 25 billion barrels, previously acquired by Chevron.

According to Reuters, Pdvsa did not import diluents this June, but it took the prevention of filling its refinery tanks before the licenses were canceled.

While Venezuela exploits its products in Asia, the island lives on the edge. The Cuban flag tanker Sandino, which according to the Mexican press will carry 296,000 barrels of crude oil to the Cienfuegos refinery, is still docked in the port of Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) this Wednesday, and the blackouts do not cease.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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