Translating Cuba – Page 97 – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

A Cuban-American Congressman Asks That Remittances and All Trips to the Island Be Banned

“China is prepared to capitalize on its diplomatic, economic, and military initiatives with Cuba’s support,” says the head of the Southern Command.

Republican Congressman for Florida Carlos Giménez / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, 3 April 2025 — Cuba-born US congressman Carlos Giménez sent a letter to Donald Trump’s government on Wednesday to formally request that all trips to the Island be banned and all remittances be eliminated, with humanitarian exceptions approved by the State Department. “I have sent the formal request to the White House to eliminate all remittances and all flights to the murderous dictatorship in Cuba,” the politician, a Republican member of the House of Representatives for Florida, wrote on his social networks.

And he argued: “President Trump has been the best ally that the people of Cuba have had, and now it is time to eliminate all the channels of income that the regime has to continue repressing and massacring our people.” In his letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, Giménez states that the Cuban regime “is listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, shelters fugitive criminals from US justice and represents a clear threat to the security of the United States and our citizens.”

This, he explains, is “of great importance” for the Cuban-American community, which, he says, received the tightening of restrictions on travel and remittances during Donald Trump’s first term as “a very necessary measure to limit the regime’s access to resources and foreign exchange to continue exploiting and oppressing the Cuban people.” continue reading

“President Trump has been the best ally that the people of Cuba have had, and now it is time to eliminate all the income channels of the regime”

The congressman also applauds the recent measures of “prohibiting the arrival of boats from Cuba,” although what was approved consists of enabling the Coast Guard to inspect any ship that reaches the US coast that had the Island as one of its last five destinations. And he urges the secretary: “we need to do more.”

Since Trump assumed the presidency two and a half months ago, Giménez has shown himself to be one of the most active supporters of tightening the policy towards the Island. On March 20, he sent the Department of Internal Security a list with the names of more than 100 people whom he asked to investigate and deport for having alleged links to the Castro regime.

Giménez represents a district with a large Cuban population in particular and Hispanic in general in South Florida and was mayor of Miami-Dade County between 2011 and 2020. He concluded his message this Thursday with a warning to the regime: “The time has come. You have little left.”

Also this Thursday, Martí Noticias reported Giménez’s speech in a
hearing before the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives in which national security challenges were evaluated. To the Republican’s question of whether Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were a threat to the security of the United States and, if so, how serious it would be, the head of the Southern Command, Alvin Holsey, replied that the Island remains a “very challenging” threat, but that they have aircraft and ships to “block those maneuvers.”

The congressman also asked him if he considered Cuba to be “the head of the snake,” by facilitating the presence of Russia, Iran and China in Latin America, to which the officer replied in the affirmative.

“The time has come. You have little left”

“Instead of addressing the economic disaster that [Cuba] created with its failed policies, it is strengthening its ties with US adversaries,” said Holsey: “Cuba’s evil actions weaken our relations in the region, encourage irregular migration and threaten the security of the United States.”

Likewise, he said that “China is prepared to capitalize on its diplomatic, economic and military initiatives with the support of Cuba” and added that Havana receives telecommunications infrastructure built by Huawei, TP-Link and ZTE, “used to spy on its population and discourage political dissent.”

Cuba serves, he said, as a place “for the collection of intelligence and the deployment of force by our adversaries, which is particularly worrying given its proximity to the United States.”

In the same hearing, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson referred to Vladimir Putin’s “resurrection of the failed Soviet Union,” which includes “maintaining the few murderous allies they have in the world,” starting with Cuba.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Regime Celebrates That Trump Has Not Included It on the List of Global Tariffs

Russia, North Korea and Greenland are also not included, while the rest will be charged between 10% and 54%, although Mexico and Canada will have special treatment.

Experts predict a significant disruption in the global economy / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2025 — “This time Cuba is not on the list of countries penalized by the United States. It is perhaps the only punitive list of the imperial government which doesn’t include Cuba. Is this a miracle?” Cubadebate wonders this Thursday, in a celebratory tone, in the face of the news that the Island – along with Russia, Belarus and North Korea – will not be affected by the imposition of Donald Trump’s tariffs on almost all countries of the globe.

At the moment, no senior Cuban official – including Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez – has reacted to the news.

According to a senior White House official interviewed anonymously by The New York Times, the regimes excluded by Trump already have “extremely high tariffs,” which are a death blow for any “significant” commercial possibility.

This Wednesday, Trump held up a poster with a list of countries and announced global tariffs of 10% to 49%, as reciprocity for countries that, he considers, pose a trade obstacle for American products.

The highest tariffs are for Vietnam and China – the economic enemy par excellence of the United States – with 46% and 34%, respectively, followed by India, with 26%, and the European Union, with 20%. Vietnam, where continue reading

Chinese factories moved to avoid U.S. tariffs, was only surpassed in the region by Cambodia (49%) and Laos (48%). The three are key partners of China.

Washington’s allies are not spared either, since Taiwan is punished with 32%, South Korea with 25%, Japan with 24% and Israel with 17%. The Taiwanese Government described the new tariffs on Thursday as “deeply irrational” and stated that it will present a formal protest to Washington.

On the other hand, Latin Americans are saved with 10%, except Venezuela (15%) and Nicaragua (18%). This Saturday the base tariff of 10% will come into force, and, on April 9, the additional tariffs by country.

According to Trump, these restrictions will pressure companies to move their factories to the United States

According to Trump, these restrictions will pressure companies to move their factories to the United States and will generate jobs. For the experts and the affected governments, however, the news could not be more catastrophic, and they foresee a significant disruption in the world economy.

Reactions across the planet have been virtually unanimous. China declared its “firm opposition” to Trump and promised reprisals. “The encumbrances ignore the rules of international trade and seriously undermine the rights and legitimate interests of the parties involved,” said a trade official. The country already had tariffs of 20%, so that imports from China will total 54% from this month.

Beijing declared that the White House violates the “balance of interests” in which both countries have been working for decades and described the measure as “intimidation.” At the beginning of March, China responded to the United States with reciprocal tariffs on its agricultural products.

Japan reacted similarly, and its Minister of Economy warned that the interest of Japanese investors in the US will fall after Trump’s announcement. Yoji Muto stated that the North American country will be the first loser in this scenario, since Tokyo is one of its main business partners and thousands of Americans are employees of Japanese companies, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Europe claims to have prepared a “solid plan of firm countermeasures.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stressed that the bloc is interested in a “negotiated solution,” but said that Washington had left no other option to the European Union. “Today, no one needs this: neither the United States nor Europe,” she said.

“Tariffs are taxes that will be paid by the people. Food and medications will be more expensive for Americans. Tariffs will only boost inflation. Exactly the opposite of what we want to achieve. American factories will pay more for components produced in Europe. This will cost jobs,” she added.

Central America, a region that exports bananas, coffee, tobacco, textiles and other goods to the United States, will receive tariffs of 10%, except Nicaragua, which will have an 18% tariff. These governments have reacted cautiously and asked for “more information” before giving an opinion, although Guatemala considers the measure a violation of its rights.

The reactions in South America have varied in their criticism of Washington. Brazil – with exports to the US of 40 billion dollars in oil, planes and coffee – for example, has already approved a trade retaliation bill, while other governments “are studying” the impact that tariffs will have on their economy.

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, said that Trump had made “a big mistake for believing that raising tariffs on imports in general can increase U.S. production, wealth and employment.” As for Chile, its president, Gabriel Boric, celebrated the fact that its main exportable product – copper – is exempt from tariffs.

Venezuela has mocked the news, despite the fact that it will have tariffs of 15% imposed, the highest in the region after Nicaragua and Guyana

Venezuela has mocked the news, despite the fact that it will have tariffs of 15% imposed – the highest in the region after Nicaragua and Guyana (37%) – and the president of its Parliament, Diosdado Cabello, said that Trump intended to impose tariffs “even on Mars.”

In the US business sector itself, there are reactions of concern and uncertainty. The Business Round Table, which brings together executive directors of large companies, said that the measures will have a direct impact on factories and their employees. “The damage to the U.S. economy will increase the longer tariffs are maintained and could be exacerbated by retaliatory measures,” they added. They also foresee a significant increase in prices.

The two great absentees from Trump’s list – in addition to the authoritarian regimes – have been Mexico and Canada, neighbors of the United States with whom the Republican has maintained a commercial tension since the beginning of his mandate. Nor does Greenland appear, an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark and which Trump intends to annex to the United States.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had met with her cabinet to reinforce the Mexico Plan, an initiative for the economic restructuring of the country. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs preserve “important elements” of the bilateral relationship. However, he promised to be on guard against tariffs on steel, aluminum and other metals.

One of the mining giants of that country, Sherritt International, has a close relationship with Cuba, where it exploits nickel and cobalt deposits.

Copper and gold, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, wooden articles, energy and minerals not available in the United States are excluded from the tariffs, along with other products subject to the trade treaty with Canada and Mexico. These exclusions are based on a section of U.S. federal law for cases of war and national defense, and the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which empowers federal departments and agencies to request the Department of Commerce to investigate the national security implications of certain imports.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘We’re Going To Be More Surgical, More Effective’ To Bring About Change in Cuba, Says Trump’s Envoy

Mauricio Claver-Carone believes that banning travel and remittances are “old tools.”

Mauricio Claver-Carone, during the conversation this Thursday at Miami-Dade College. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, 4 April 2025 — The United States special envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, stated this Thursday that the Donald Trump administration will exert more pressure on the Cuban military and intelligence apparatus, and estimated that the economic pressure applied to date on the island’s regime has been insufficient. “We are going to be more surgical, more effective,” he said at an event in Spanish, held at Miami-Dade College alongside Aaron Rosen, president of the Miami Global Affairs Council, and reported by local media.

Asked about the letter sent to the White House by Republican Congressman Carlos Giménez, in which he called for a ban on travel and remittances to the island, Claver-Carone opined that, while it’s a proposal that “comes from a very good place,” it involves “old tools.” “I think we can be more creative,” he affirmed, insisting that “the Cuban government must understand that our tools and President Trump’s willingness in this regard are different from what they’ve seen in the past.”

“The sanctions themselves are based on old laws that sometimes have no side effects,” he explained, unlike in Venezuela, where “the instruments are much more targeted, effective, have side effects, and are therefore more powerful.”

There is, he said, “a historic opportunity for political opening, for a transition.”

During the current president’s first term (2016-2020), he stated, “we ran out of time to focus on the economic pillars, particularly the regime’s military and intelligence services.” The first objective, he asserted, was “to repair the damage left by the Biden administration.”

He declined to comment, however, on the draft measure, revealed by The New York Times on March 14, to include Cuba on a red list of whose citizens would be banned from entering the United States. “I neither affirm nor deny,” he said, “that’s still being discussed, I have nothing to add.”

During the conversation, the official unreservedly defended the current president’s tightening of immigration policy, whose intentions, he asserted, differ from those of previous administrations. There is, he said, “a historic opportunity for political openness, for a transition.”

He especially supported the deportation of members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group to Venezuela, as part of a “broader strategy” to pressure Nicolás Maduro’s regime. He compared the latter’s strategy to that of Fidel Castro in 1980, when he released criminals from Cuban prisons, who were among the 125,000 Cubans who reached the shores of Florida during the Mariel boatlift. He added that unlike other presidents, who weren’t decisive enough to expel them, “President Trump is decisive.”

Trump, despite ongoing global crises such as the war in Ukraine, “remains very focused on Venezuela.”

Regarding criticism of widespread deportations and the equating of all Venezuelan migrants with criminals, he stated: “We understand that there are challenges, and it’s painful. There is short-term pain.” Expanding, he argued that “another thing that all these regimes and dictators have also learned, starting with Cuba, is that the easiest way to achieve totalitarian control is if you don’t like it, you leave.” It happened in Venezuela and it’s happening in Nicaragua, he said.

Claver-Carone noted that Trump, despite ongoing global crises such as the war in Ukraine, “remains very focused on Venezuela” and that they will work toward the goal of making it a democratic country.

He also justified the “pain” the measures could cause to the Cuban and Venezuelan people: “Either it’s short-term pain for long-term benefits, or there will be long-term pain for no benefits. In the short term, there are things that may seem annoying or disruptive. But honestly, if you don’t do them, they don’t work. So we have to go all in, go big, or go home.”

As a member of the Cuban-American community, he urged: “If you don’t want to spend 60 years in exile, then stop that process now, make the short-term sacrifices now, because otherwise, you won’t get anywhere.”

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Transsexuals Aligned With the Cuban Regime Also Suffer Medical and Social Scarcities

They have been led for years by Verde Gil Jiménez, a young trans man from Santa Clara.

Trans people “suffer humiliation in their homes, schools, and workplaces” / Facebook/Cuban Trans Male Group

14ymedio, Havana, 3 April 2025 — A small group of 70 Cuban transgender men has the approval of the government and, more importantly, the protection of Mariela Castro. They have been led for years by Verde Gil Jiménez, a young trans man from Santa Clara who travels to Havana weekly—he doesn’t explain how he navigates the transportation crisis—to organize them, and whose pro-regime activism has opened all doors for him.

Despite this, Gil gave an interview to Alma Mater magazine this Tuesday in which he details the difficulties of the group, which has had to self-organize to solve its problems: the lack of medicines, medical care, and public space. Furthermore, their voice has been “traditionally mediated by institutional policies and cultural taboos.”

The Alma Mater report publishes a series of photos of the “jaba” [bag] given to him by the group members: along with sweaters and stickers, there is also a package of testosterone: 250 grams in five intramuscular injection vials. Boxes of this drug—essential for physical transition—with signs in Portuguese and likely originating in Brazil, were on sale in Revolico last February for $44.

The ‘Alma Mater’ report publishes a series of photos with the “bag” given to him by the members of the group.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the group hasn’t recovered. At that time, Gil says, not only did they lack specialist consultations—”they were paralyzed”—but “hormones were unavailable in pharmacies, and access to gender-affirming surgeries was practically impossible.” Some also saw their health conditions worsen due to the after-effects of the pandemic itself.

Seeking to gain visibility, the group saw the National Center for Sexual Education (Cenesex), run by Raúl Castro’s daughter, as a way to legitimize their activism. It’s one of the few centers allowed in the country, and not without “mandates” from above. When they wrote to the Ministry of Public Health with their “demands,” they already had Mariela Castro’s approval.

Now, when all initiatives—even those aligned with the regime—are viewed with suspicion, the group is more of a “mutual support” society, both for its more than 70 registered members and for those who prefer to remain discreet and not join the official figure. Registration is done via WhatsApp or Facebook, or by speaking in person with a member.

Gil alludes to “various avenues of aid,” but suggests they rely more on themselves and the support of foreign collaborators than on their allies in the government. In addition to Cenesex and other state entities, they are now working with the Father Félix Varela Cultural Center—run by the Catholic Church—and its Liberating Masculinities initiative.

Gil alludes to “different avenues of aid,” but implies that they depend more on themselves and on the support of foreign collaborators than on their allies in the Government.

Other organizations, such as the Christian Student Movement—a pro-regime movement founded in 1960—and the Metropolitan Community Church, which has played a pivotal role in LGBTI rights in the US, also work with the group, which is “thriving in a resource-constrained environment.”

Despite their frequent trips to the capital, Gil says the fuel crisis is taking its toll. “We’ve designed our activities to be both in-person and virtual, recognizing that many colleagues are from the eastern and central parts of the country and can’t travel to Havana, where most of the meetings take place,” he says.

Larian Arias, who shares the group’s leadership with Gil, believes that in Cuba, transgender people are “constantly rendered invisible” at the institutional level. To the challenges his colleague points out, he adds “access to medication, regular medical care, greater information about trans identities , and more inclusive general education.”

In another article, published in 2023 in the same magazine, Gil warned of other problems facing the trans community. He admitted that he had not personally experienced many “episodes of transphobia,” but asserted that there was “a lot of domestic violence” against transgender people in Cuba. “They suffer humiliation in their homes, in educational and work settings. It’s even difficult for them to find stable work,” he asserted.

Just this week, the Translúcidos group—another support network for the trans community, not supported by the government—reported that the board of directors of Havana’s Napoleonic Museum had canceled several activities they had planned to hold at the institution. They also demanded that they remove “all promotion and association of trans people with the Museum’s name from social media.”

In his 2023 interview, Gil alluded to these kinds of obstacles with state institutions.

“This action is not only disrespectful to the trans community, but also reflects a discriminatory and transphobic attitude that has no place in our Cuban society,” they stated, without detailing the reasons for the cancellation. “We will take all appropriate action to ensure that this act does not go unpunished.”

In his 2023 interview, Gil alluded to these kinds of obstacles with state institutions. However, he focused on the practical side of the group’s problems, although he blamed the blockade for all the problems: “The shortage of medicines interrupts or prevents hormone therapy, and it’s difficult to maintain the transition process without stability. The informal market isn’t an option either; the products are often adulterated and sold at expensive prices. I would have to invest a month’s salary to buy one ampoule, which only covers four weeks, and the treatment is for life.”

If nothing is ordinary in the lives of Cuban trans people, Verde Gil’s life is even less so. A resident of Santa Clara, with a Spanish father and a Cuban mother, he graduated in Social Communication from the Central University of Las Villas. Since then, he has unconditionally supported Miguel Díaz-Canel as an activist and has participated in pro-government sit-ins, such as the 2021 Red Handkerchiefs protest in Havana’s Central Park, in response to the Civic March called by the Archipiélago platform.

Gil then asserted that he wasn’t there “to respond to Yunior [García Aguilera, one of the Archipiélago organizers and forced into exile days later], nor to go to Vedado or the Malecón if he marches there.” The sit-in was followed by a period of repression and exile of opposition activists.

Verde’s father, Mariano Gil, traveled to Cuba in 1994 “for love of the Revolution,” as he has said in several interviews . He won the favor of Fidel Castro by giving him one of his paintings, and in 2015, he opened a tourist establishment next to the Armored Train, derailed by Che Guevara’s guerrillas in Santa Clara and transformed into a monument. Filled with objects related to both the regime and the Republic, and with prices unaffordable for the people of Santa Clara, Gil could not have given the place any other name than Café Revolución.
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A Comrade Has Died

The regime is trying to recuperate painter Hugo Consuegra, a member of the Eleven and a critic of Fidel Castro.

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 29 March 2025 — What happened in Cuba that made Hugo Consuegra have to wait six decades between his last solo exhibition and the one recently organized in Havana? He was 35 then, wore a jacket or a guayabera, perhaps smoked—there is no art without smoke—and hadn’t left the country. Now he’s a ghost, a fairly young ghost because he died in 2003, but no more than that. The specter of an exiled painter, who cultivated abstraction and to whom critics barely dedicate a place in any enumeration.

Thirty-five years passed between this man’s birth in 1929 and his last exhibition in Havana; 60 between that show and the one still housed at the National Museum of Fine Arts; and more than 20 between his death and this page. In those hiatuses, time disrupted everything. A revolution was waged and perverted, millions were exiled, art also experienced its small revolts, but they dissolved. An entire country dissolved.

Consuegra appears in Havana like a ghost among ghosts, to bear witness to that great upheaval.

Consuegra appears in Havana like a ghost among ghosts, bearing witness to this profound upheaval. The titles of his 41 pieces—15 of them drawings that are almost stains—become echoes of the story he lived and heard from his exile in New York. It is an act of complete sincerity that the exhibition that attempts to recover him is called (Des)Arraigos (Roots ).

Very disturbing was the intervention of the museum’s director, Jorge Fernández, for whom Consuegra is a phenomenon that predates our era: B.C., before Castro. An animal that belongs to the “complex decade” of the 1950s, “which is being revalued.” He claims that two of his works were left out, and one is dying to know why. Fernández is bothered by titles like Bienvenidos al infierno (Welcome to Hell ), with the solidity of a punch, or by his idea of ”protest paintings” in 1966, when he returned to figuration as a warning gesture against the regime. continue reading

In Rey Obsecado [Headstrong King], a small drawing from 1959, a strange figure raises his fists as if on a platform. You don’t have to think long to guess who it is. A Compañero Has Died #1 , from 1962, represents the shadow of a hanged militant. In #2, the deceased is on the ground, and from his chest—or rather, from his entrails—emerges a stain that could be his soul, the soul of a communist terrified by his immortality. And finally… the negation of the negation : the supreme tongue-twister of Marxism completes the theorem.

The artist showed that he wasn’t going to be faithful to any canon. Abstract Expressionism, yes, but in his own way.

Consuegra, of course, is much more complex than his ideology. A member of the “controversial group”—once again, the museum’s political correctness takes over—of Los Once [The Eleven], the artist demonstrated that he wasn’t going to be faithful to any canon. Abstract Expressionism, yes, but in his own way. His autobiography, Elapso tempore [Time Lapse], published by Ediciones Universal in Miami and which Fernández confesses to having read almost secretly, is already quite difficult to obtain.

A native of Havana, trained as an architect and pianist, and recipient of dozens of awards, Consuegra’s works can be found in such unconventional venues as the orthodox Casa de las Américas and the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington DC. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes had quite a few of his pieces in storage, but hadn’t given them prominence—how dare they?—until now, at the initiative of curator Yahima Rodríguez.

“Too many creators have been turned, at best, into non-people on the Island.”

One of the scholars, Armando Álvarez Bravo, summarized the Revolution’s war against Consuegra in an anthology paragraph: “Too many creators have been converted, at best, into non-persons on the Island; they have been erased from official records and, if exiled, have had to suffer, in addition to their expulsion into outer darkness, the antagonistic weight of the complicit academic, cultural, political, and media machinery sympathetic to Castroism or in its service. A machinery that, in addition to denying true values, has exalted too many mediocre people.”

Go see Hugo Consuegra now that you can. I’m not talking to the happy ghosts who, like me, are no longer there, but to those who can afford to pay 30 pesos—a Judas figure!—to see the umpteenth exhumation of a dead comrade take place in Cuba .

’El ahorcado’ is back in town. / Xavier Carbonell

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For a Monthly Salary Equivalent to $15, Díaz-Canel Demands ‘Quality’ From Cuban Teachers

The coverage of teaching positions was at 84.4% in 2024, which represents approximately 26,871 vacant positions throughout the country.

In the midst of the economic crisis, education has become a secondary issue for the government. / Invasor

14ymedio, Havana, 2 April 2025 — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wants Cuban teachers to return to school, to be better trained, to learn languages, and to teach “quality” classes. The problem, the same reason teachers fail to meet any of these expectations, is the lack of incentives and a monthly salary of less than 6,000 pesos, about $15. However, the president offered no assistance to teachers, much less the hope of paying them better salaries.

During a working meeting of the Ministry of Education held this Tuesday in Havana, the president praised “the wisdom of Cuban teachers” and asserted that educational institutions and the government are working to ensure that “they participate more in decision-making, so that they feel heard, recognized, and taken into account.”

The praise, however, could not obscure the critical situation of education on the island. According to data presented during the meeting, at the end of 2024 teaching positions were filled at 84.4%. In percentage terms, the number does not seem serious, but in terms of the number of teachers, some 26,871 positions remain vacant nationwide. In pedagogical institutes and vocational pre-university schools for the exact sciences, occupancy is even lower, at 76% and 79%, respectively. continue reading

The praise, however, could not obscure the critical situation of education on the island.

The authorities did note that the state of education is truly precarious, especially in pre-university, junior high, and elementary science schools, although they did not provide specific data. The provinces with the worst teacher coverage rates are Havana, Matanzas, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, and Holguín.

Education Minister Naima Trujillo Barreto defended certain “discrete advances” in the quality of secondary education and teacher training—some 100,000 teachers took advanced training courses and 5,000 enrolled in English courses. She also said that staff had been rehired, although the method used was to attract retired teachers, not those who had left the classroom to pursue private sector employment.

Thanks to “the measures implemented during 2024,” she said, referring to the salary increases for certain professionals (including teachers) last year, it was also possible to maintain a good portion of the positions that were already filled. Although she acknowledged that “the completion of the workforce and its stability continue to be a concern.”

Regarding plans for 2025, Trujillo asserted that her ministry is focused on “perfecting”—another of the government’s favorite terms—the education system, providing “comprehensive care” to teachers, and ensuring “quality.” Concrete measures to achieve this were overlooked, although she explained that a budget increase is being considered, depending on “the difficult conditions in the country.”

In any case, Díaz-Canel’s request to “improve teacher care, both materially and spiritually” rest on the usual voluntarism.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero also made a similar statement: “We cannot allow a single child to drop out of school due to financial difficulties or distance from school. This is our responsibility, and local authorities must take responsibility for it,” he emphasized, leaving the responsibility in the hands of the provincial education departments.

“We trust in the creativity and capacity demonstrated by the workers of the Education system to seek new solutions, based on commitment and dedication, to guarantee the training of new generations, which is required for the development of our society,” he concluded.

The concrete measures to achieve this were overlooked, although he explained that a budget increase is being considered.

Identifying students in vulnerable situations, combating drug use in schools, providing care for children without parental support, and promoting the childcare program—”which has had a huge impact on working mothers and fathers”—were other proposals that fell flat.

In the midst of the economic crisis, education has become a secondary issue for the government, which even reduced its investment in the sector by approximately 400 million pesos in 2024 compared to the previous year. Added to the health sector, another supposed “pillar of social justice” of the Revolution—as Díaz-Canel himself defined it at the meeting—investment barely amounts to 3% of the state budget, compared to the 37.4% allocated to the tourism sector.

The lack of state support has resulted in a precarious state of education, which has been constantly interrupted by power outages and crippled by a lack of resources and teachers.

In 2024, the government announced a salary increase for education and public health workers and also improved incentives for seniority and earned degrees. Salaries, which did not increase significantly compared to the real cost of living on the island, were not enough to stem the exodus of professionals to exile or to better-paid sectors, such as the private one.

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‘Collapse,’ the Ubiquitous Sign in Guanabacoa, a Town of Movie Theaters, Patriots, and Santeros

The Carral cinema-theater is one of the buildings that illustrates the town’s decline.

Painted green and blue on a lime background, the Carral Theater in Guanabacoa has closed its doors. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo / José Lassa, Havana, 30 March 2024 — Guanabacoa, the Havana town that gave the strongest battle to the English invaders in 1762, has not survived the neglect inflicted by the Revolution or the ravages of time. Home to Santería, famous for its history and its ancient nightlife, and the setting for vibrant, tropical novels, walking its streets today is despairing: the heat and poverty erode every wall.

The Carral cinema/theater is one of the buildings that illustrates the town’s decline. Its striking arches, somewhere between Baroque and Moorish, innocently mimic the grand buildings of the neighboring capital. Now, painted green and blue against a lime background, the building’s doors are closed.

The wide-open balconies on the second floor offer a certain sign of life. Like other buildings, the Carral is prime territory for another invasion, not of the English, but of what the prose of the state newspaper Granma calls “homeless” or “destitute.” Until very recently, however, films were shown inside.

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In front of the facade, Jenny recalls that it had been almost 15 years since she last entered El Carral. It was 2011, and Habanastation was premiering, a film that illustrated the differences between rich and poor Cuban children. The widespread poverty that has engulfed the country has quickly rendered the film outdated. “The theater was packed, and there were even people continue reading

sitting on the floor,” she recalls.

Carral and cinema are synonymous in her head. Jenny saw almost every Cuban film of the last 30 or 40 years there. Entre ciclones [Between Cyclones], Zafiros: locura azul [Zafiros: Blue Madness], El Benny, and Amor Vertical, she lists. And others she can’t even remember, plus clown shows, children’s matinees, and all kinds of screenings. “There were no DVDs back then,” she jokes.

There is a painful memory: the day in 1993 when the usher blocked her and a friend’s entrance. A huge line formed in front of the Carral Theater to see the movie. When it was finally their turn to enter, the man pointed to a sign: “Suitable for those over 16 only.” It was the premiere of Fresa y chocolate [Strawberry and Chocolate].

When it was finally their turn to enter, the man pointed to a sign: “Suitable for those over 16 only.” It was the premiere of Fresa y chocolate [Strawberry and Chocolate].

As a young woman in her twenties, Jenny says, she saw the Carral theater gradually lose its “capacity.” The projector, worn out by the years, began to fail. One day, the air conditioning also broke down. “They gave you a piece of cardboard at the entrance, and people would watch the movie, cooling off with the makeshift fan.”

El Carral is one of many buildings crushed by time. In similar conditions are the Casa de las Cadenas—a miniature of Havana’s mansions; the Fausto Theater, of which only the façade remains; and the Santo Domingo Convent, famous for an 18th-century anecdote: a drunken Englishman, during the invasion, tried to despoil the image of Saint Francis Xavier and steal a gold ring from his hand. He tried to climb onto the altar, but the saint stumbled and fell on the thief. The people of Guanabacoa celebrated his death as divine revenge for the desecration.

The only things that survive in the town are the government headquarters—the old Municipal Palace—the Casa Grande currency exchange store, and a new dollar store belonging to the Caribe chain. Gone are also the days when Guanabacoa was a sort of Vatican for Cuban santeros, like Palmira (Cienfuegos) or Cárdenas (Matanzas). The great Yoruba priests resided there, to whose authority all practitioners on the island submitted.

In 1958, when Fulgencio Batista called upon all human and divine powers to get rid of Fidel Castro, he called for a grand ceremony at the Guanabacoa stadium. His intention: for all the country’s santeros to unite in a common ritual. It was “a great egbó,” Guillermo Cabrera Infante, the best chronicler of this desperate ceremony, would later say. He was there accompanied by filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.

“The three dictators that republican Cuba has endured were or are witches,” the novelist commented, referring to Gerardo Machado, Batista, and Castro. It has been the same, with frequent consultations with their “godfathers” in Guanabacoa, for countless Cuban leaders, including the current ones.

But neither the orishas, nor Saint Francis Xavier, nor the mythical Pepe Antonio—an authoritarian leader who resisted the British—have saved Guanabacoa. The most devastating aspect of the site is not the decline of its main buildings, but of the other, no less historic, buildings where the architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries is still visible to Cubans today.

Ruins of the House of Chains, in Guanabacoa, a miniature of Havana’s mansions. / 14ymedio

These mansions, whose walls are now completely gray, covered in mold, scraped by scavengers, covered in graffiti and vines, are the true tragedy of the town. A young José Martí slept in one of them when he worked—unpaid—for the lawyer Miguel Francisco Viondi, who had been mayor of the town in 1879. “Danger,” reads a whitewashed sign next to the doorway which the patriot, exiled shortly after, crossed many times.

Other signs, on dozens of walls, send a message to passersby that could serve the entire city: “Collapse. Do not stand here.”

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An Academic Meeting Will Bring Together More Than 300 Dancers and Experts in Havana

The event, which will be held from April 11 to 20, will be dedicated to Cuban ballet master Ramona de Saá.

Cuban National Ballet, in a file photo. / Cubadebate

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 1 April 2025 — Nearly 300 teachers, choreographers, critics, and students from dance schools in twelve countries will participate in the 30th International Meeting of Ballet Academies from April 11 to 20 in Havana, its organizers announced Tuesday.

The event, with few international equivalents, seeks to exchange experiences and methodologies among teachers and experts, as well as stimulate the creativity of dancers and choreographers.

The director of Cuba’s National Center for Art Schools, Elizabeth Castro, explained at a press conference that the event will be dedicated to Cuban maestro Ramona de Saá (1939-2024), one of the most notable figures in dance pedagogy in the country.

It will also pay tribute to Cuban filmmaker Alfredo Guevara (1925-2013), who founded and chaired the state-run Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industries (ICAIC) for several years. continue reading

“It will be an opportunity to view the film productions about ballet that are in the ICAIC film archives.”

Castro added that “it will be an opportunity to view the film productions about ballet that are in the ICAIC film archives.”

British choreographer Ben Stevenson is one of the international guests at the event, which aims to be “a continuation of the Cuban ballet school and has also allowed us to develop our school’s potential,” the Cuban official said.

“This will be an ambitious event with multiple venues and events such as workshops, conferences, and cultural galas,” commented Dani Hernández, director of the National Ballet School.

Hernandez, who is also the principal dancer of the Cuban National Ballet (BNC), announced that another goal is to become a “regional benchmark for other ballet academies, as well as to raise the technical and artistic quality of the international competition for ballet students that will also be held.”

The program includes classes, conferences, workshops, courses for teachers, and also competitions in the children’s, youth, and choreography categories, with judges including BNC dancer and director Viengsay Valdés and Lizt Alfonso, leader of the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba company.

The Cuban ballet school, founded by legendary dancer Alicia Alonso (1920-2019) along with brothers Fernando and Alberto Alonso, has set a standard for style and mastery in ballet and has been internationally recognized for its defined personality and unique characteristics.

The BNC, the island’s most important classical dance company, was declared a National Cultural Heritage in 2018 for being the “highest expression of the Cuban school of ballet.” This status extends to the company’s repertoire, its image archive, and objects and documents related to the institution.

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Since Their ‘Parole’ Is Revoked, Activist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca and His Wife Will Ask for Asylum in the United States

Both have contacted a law firm to begin the process and have requested the support of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, upon his arrival at Miami International Airport, last June / Screen capture

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 31 March 2025 — Cuban activists Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca and his wife, Eralidis Frómeta, have initiated asylum application procedures in the United States and have requested the support of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after the revocation of their Humanitarian Parole.

Frómeta explained this Monday, in statements to EFE, that she and her husband, who worked in Cuba as an independent journalist, have contacted a law firm to start the asylum process to avoid having to return to Cuba, which they left last June.

“We are now in contact with some lawyers and are waiting for them to send us the document that we need to apply for the asylum process. We have to try,” said Frómeta, who added that after almost nine months in the United States they continue to recover “physically and psychologically.” continue reading

The activist explained that they have already contacted “several influential people” to try to generate support in their favor

This weekend the couple received the official communication informing them of the revocation of their humanitarian parole by executive order and their obligation to leave the United States before April 24.

Frómeta indicated that the lawyers were confident that the implementation of the political asylum procedure will suspend the self-deportation order, although she acknowledged that uncertainty is currently high.

The activist explained that they have already contacted “several influential people” to try to generate support for them and that their case has already reached “congressmen and senators,” in addition to the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Cuban activist Rosa María Payá, founder of the NGO Cuba Decide.

Valle and Frómeta left Cuba for the United States last June under humanitarian parole. Valle was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 for contempt and sharing enemy propaganda and was released on the condition that he leave Cuba. His state of health had deteriorated significantly.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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US Deports 60 Irregular Migrants to Cuba

This is the third flight of this type since Donald Trump became president.

Two of the new deportees are in detention / Granma

14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 28 March 2025 — A group of 60 illegal Cuban migrants arrived from the United States on Thursday in Havana in the third deportation operation since President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January.

This return – of 55 men and five women – took place “as part of the bilateral migration agreements” between the governments of Havana and Washington, according to official media.

With this operation, including those carried out from the US on 23 January and 27 February, there have been 13 returns to different countries in the region so far in 2025, with “a total of 367 people”.

With this operation, including those carried out from the USA on 23 January and 27 February, there have been 13 returns to different countries in the region.

Two of the persons included in this new deportation are in detention, one of them “for allegedly committing criminal acts before emigrating” and the other because “he left the country illegally while on parole”.

The authorities stress that they remain “firm” in their commitment to “regular, safe and orderly” migration, while emphasising the danger and life-threatening conditions posed by illegal departures from the country by sea. continue reading

Cuba and the US have a bilateral agreement that all migrants arriving to US territory by sea will be returned to Cuba. For the moment, nothing has changed on the return of such migrants carried out under the previous Joe Biden Democrat administration.

In April 2023, deportation flights resumed, mainly for those deemed “inadmissible” after being held at the US-Mexico border.

According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, 217,615 Cubans arrived in the United States during the 2024 fiscal period, ending on 30 September.

Likewise, a total of 8,261 Cubans were registered by US border authorities last October, the first month of fiscal year 2025, and, according to the CBP, in the last four years more than 860,000 migrants from the island have entered US territory.

In 2024, 93 returns were carried out to different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 illegal migrants returned, according to official media.

In 2024, 93 returns were carried out to different countries in the region, with a total of 1,384 irregular migrants returned, according to official media.

With its severe economic crisis, Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented exodus of migrants, with food, medicine and fuel shortages, galloping inflation, frequent and prolonged power cuts and partial dollarisation of the economy.

The situation has depleted the population to such an extent that an independent demographic study by the renowned Cuban economist and demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos concludes that it now stands at just over eight million people, with an accumulated drop of 24% in just four years. Specifically, there are 8,025,624, a lot less than the 9,748,532 in the figures of the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei).

Translated by GH

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Cuban Regime Mounts an Operation Around José Daniel Ferrer’s House in Santiago de Cuba

Political police officers detain an elderly man, steal food from activists, and prevent messenger service.

A traffic police officer with a plainclothes State Security agent near the UNPACU headquarters. / Facebook/José Daniel Ferrer/Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, 1 April 2025 — State Security continues its ongoing harassment of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and its leader, José Daniel Ferrer. The organization’s headquarters in the Altamira neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba was surrounded Tuesday by an operation of plainclothes officers.

“They are arresting collaborators and stealing money and food,” Ferrer warned on social media. “They want to prevent us from feeding the people who the regime is starving. We expect further repressive actions.”

In a first video posted on his Facebook wall, the opposition leader denounced the arrest by the political police of a “social case who went out to buy chili peppers” and the attempted arrest of activist and former political prisoner Fernando González Vaillant.

The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) confirmed in a statement that the detainee, who “was put in a police patrol car,” is a vulnerable 60-year-old man named Jorge Luis Colá Montané. However, they were unable to take González Vaillant “due to the swift protest and intervention of the president of the CTDC and general coordinator of UNPACU, José Daniel Ferrer.”

“They want to prevent us from feeding the people who the regime is starving. We expect more repressive actions.”

In the middle of the broadcast, the opposition leader shouted at the officers: “Down with Canel, down with tyranny, down with the thieves of the political police,” echoed by other voices present. He also accused the officers of stealing the food they use at the soup kitchen located at the UNPACU headquarters, the home of Ferrer, his wife, Nelva Ortega, and their youngest son.

“Tell him to take a look at that henchman, a thief and a wretch, stealing food meant for the elderly who are starving to death,” he continues shouting. He also points to a group of plainclothes officers on the corner of continue reading

his house: “This is the head of the provincial political police hiding from the camera.”

In another video, Ferrer shows a traffic officer, who the opposition leader claims was “sent” by State Security to “clean up the Altamira motorcycle parking lot, to scare away the motorcyclists who provide the fastest transportation service in this area of the city.”

https://www.facebook.com/100025267088029/videos/1172038174467408/?ref=embed_video&t=57

The activist explains that that UNPACU often uses the motorcycle service to go buy products in other neighborhoods when they can’t find them in their own.

In its statement, the CTDC explains that the “ostentatious police deployment” was led by “the top leaders of the political police”: “the lieutenant colonels who call themselves Lázaro and Bruno, and Major Julio Fonseca.” “Surrounding the [UNPACU] headquarters, they are attempting to prevent access to both the house and the surrounding area. Arrests, intimidation, and threats are part of the process,” the organization continues.

The text defends the work of UNPACU, led by Ferrer and Ortega, who “assumed with determination, sensitivity, and competence a self-imposed mission that the Cuban state, now in a terminal and failed phase, cannot fulfill.” Each day, the CTDC reports, the headquarters receives more than a thousand people and provides medical care to around twenty.

“Surrounding the headquarters, they are trying to prevent access to both the house and the surrounding area.”

They also hold the authorities responsible “for any harm to the safety of those who receive or voluntarily support this immense work of solidarity,” and ask the international community to provide “all possible support for the humanitarian work” of the organization.

The situation Ferrer and his family are experiencing is nothing new. In fact, since his release in early January as part of the negotiations between the US Biden administration and the Cuban regime, mediated by the Vatican, the opposition leader—sentenced to 25 years in prison during the Black Spring of 2003, released in 2011 after negotiations with the Catholic Church, and arrested again on 11 July 2021—has been harassed by State Security.

On February 7, another massive police operation surrounded his home after the UNPACU leader refused to appear before a judge. Harassment of anyone approaching the UNPACU headquarters has included arrests, summons, and threats, both in public and at the police station, and even robberies and sexual harassment.

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Cuba’s UMAP Camps or the Slavery of Youth

The UMAP lasted several years; it is estimated that at least 25,000 young people passed through its camps.

To say that the UMAP was implemented to seek the social re-education of repressed individuals is false. / Archive of “El Nuevo Herald”

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, 31 March 2025 — Cuban filmmaker Lilo Vilaplana and the tireless fighter against Castro’s totalitarianism, Reinold Rodríguez, have committed to bringing to the big screen one of the most painful tragedies suffered by Cuban youth: the camps known as Military Production Assistance Units (UMAP).

They did an excellent job with the film Plantadas*, without overlooking Plantados*, so we are confident that this will be a testimony of immense value like the previous ones.

The sadism of the Castro regime’s highest hierarchy—Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, and Ernesto Che Guevara, with the complicity of the entire upper echelons of government—arranged a repressive scheme that sought to severely harm young people who expressed their opposition to the Revolution in various ways. First, they were militarized; second, they were forced to perform work contrary to their abilities; and third, they foisted upon the conscripts a web of lies and manipulations aimed at socially crippling them.

The first and permanent targets were the Church, the political opposition, the free press, and independent economic activities, part of a long and continue reading

painful relationship.

The UMAP was a sophisticated instrument of political repression that, based on existing prejudices, sought to discredit the victims.

In 1960 and 1961, Guevara and Raúl Castro launched an official persecution against prostitutes, pimps, and homosexuals, but also against any individual who did not hide their rejection of the new order.

Those arrested in the raids were concentrated on the Guanahacabibes Peninsula. The official version stated that these individuals had to be rehabilitated, and according to reports at the time, more than 4,000 people of both sexes were imprisoned in that region. As a document from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denounced in May 1963, “all of this without a written sentence, carried out by a police captain, without procedure or legal basis, much less a constitutional one.”

While this was happening, the prisons were filling up with political prisoners. The firing squads grew deafening, and the harassment of those who decided to leave the country gave rise to the ever-present protest rallies.

In November 1963, the Castros implemented Mandatory Military Service (SMO), a novel method of imprisoning young people. The SMO was another instrument of oppression and forced ideology that should be thoroughly studied.

The creative capacity to repress and control was inexhaustible, and they invented the UMAP, a sinister plan aimed at subjugating the citizenry.

Thousands of young people were literally kidnapped. They were taken from their homes, schools, and religious seminaries. They were deceived and rounded up by the police, with no grounds to justify their arrests, much less the forced deportation they were subjected to. They were never formally charged, much less tried by a court, however spurious.

Thousands of young people were literally kidnapped. Taken from their homes, schools, and religious seminaries.

Most of them were of military age, but they weren’t called up to the SMO because the dictatorship considered them even more “disposable.” The regime didn’t want them armed. They weren’t trustworthy. They were disaffected young people who committed the original sin of not believing in Castroism.

They were forcibly transported to barbed-wire concentration camps. Guarded by soldiers. Forced to survive in extreme poverty. Held in inhumane conditions, forced into involuntary agricultural labor. Their visits were monitored. They were frequently punished. Beaten by uniformed henchmen who relished the pain they inflicted. Some committed suicide, others were murdered by the jailers, and some were shot, like the young Alberto de la Rosa.

The UMAP lasted several years. It is estimated that at least 25,000 young people passed through its ranks. Raúl Castro, its architect, said: “The first group of comrades who joined the UMAP included some young people who hadn’t had the best conduct in life, young people who, due to poor upbringing and environmental influences, had taken the wrong path in society. They were incorporated in order to help them find a correct path that would allow them to fully integrate into society.”

The UMAP was a sophisticated instrument of political repression that, based on existing prejudices, sought to discredit the victims. To say that the UMAP was implemented to seek the social re-education of those repressed is false; its sole objective was to destroy them for being opposed to the regime. It’s as absurd and irrational as defending the Castro brothers’ dictatorship or believing that when the UMAP disappeared, the repression ended—a mistake, because other brigades like the Centenario Youth were soon created.

*Translator’s note: Plantado literally means “planted” (with plantada the feminine form), and refers to “the most uncooperative of Cuba’s political prisoners.”

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Without Technicians To Reactivate the Shortwave Transmitters, Radio Martí Does Not Reach Cuba

On the 1180 kHz AM frequency, only Radio Reloj and Radio Rebelde can be heard, “and between them, a huge noise”

On the 1180 kHz AM frequency, “you can only hear Radio Reloj and Radio Rebelde, and between them there is a huge noise” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 1 April 2025 — Not in Havana nor in other places in central Cuba, such as Villa Clara, nor by climbing onto rooftops, nor even by adapting antennas to old equipment. The task of tuning into Radio Martí on the island, via AM radio, has been fruitless these days, almost a week after the station resumed part of its programming.

On the 1180 kHz frequency, the AM band on which the station reported broadcasting, “you can only hear Radio Reloj and Radio Rebelde, and there’s a tremendous noise between them,” testifies a resident of the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución. “The band is empty; there’s a dark void there,” says a technician who tried to pick up the signal from Central Havana with a Cuban antenna, “installing a spiral of copper wire with six turns, which is what’s used for AM.” This signal is frequently jammed by the regime and barely reaches the island’s northern coast.

Last Wednesday, the 26th, around 50 federal employees of Radio and TV Martí and its website returned to their jobs, and that same day, some of its programs, such as Las Noticias Como Son (The News As It Is)mreturned to the air. However, the measure did not extend to the 20 or so “contractors,” that is external collaborators of the state-owned company. continue reading

Those who are federal employees at the headquarters, on the other hand, “have not been authorized to return to their posts.”

This is one of the reasons why the station doesn’t yet broadcast on shortwave, which avoids interference and reaches Cuba more effectively. The technicians in Greenville, North Carolina, where these transmitters are located, are not federal employees. And those who are federal employees at that headquarters, moreover, “have not been authorized to return to their posts,” a worker who requested anonymity told 14ymedio. “The contractors’ contracts were canceled.”

Last week, optimism prevailed. Opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and one of those who had raised his voice for the reestablishment of Martí Noticias’ operations, stated that he had received “positive news that it could resume operations later.” Today, the outlook is bleaker. The media employee laments: “Management is making efforts, but the bureaucracy doesn’t understand.”

As part of the drastic cuts recklessly implemented by his new administration, Donald Trump ordered the suspension of federally funded media operations through an executive order, citing, among other reasons, that they represented a high cost to taxpayers without any return.

On Saturday, March 15, Radio and TV Martí employees received a letter informing them of the start of an “administrative leave” for all employees, without suspension of pay. A day later, the employees also received an email informing them that they must cease their work “immediately” and that they would not be allowed access to the agency’s facilities or operational systems. The message indicated that the dismissal would be official as of March 31 at 11:59 p.m.

“I haven’t listened it on the radio in a long time,” “I tune in through the internet,” “I don’t even have a radio.”

The situation has kept all of the outlet’s channels, which belong to the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), grounded. This includes Voice of America (VOA) and other outlets, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), also suspended by Washington.

Last Friday, Manhattan federal judge J. Paul Oetken declared that he would temporarily block the dismantling of the USAGM. After an initial hearing in the case brought by VOA lawyers, the judge ruled that the decision to shut down several public media outlets was “arbitrary and capricious,” given that the budget for this year had already been approved by the United States Congress.

Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia Court also granted a motion filed by the station against Usagm, stating that it “cannot, with a single sentence of reasoning that offers virtually no explanation, force RFE/RL to shut down, even if the president has ordered it to do so.”

The lawsuit, filed on March 18, argued that denying Congressional appropriations violates federal law and the Constitution, which grants Congress sole control over federal spending.

The return of the shortwave signal doesn’t, in any case, guarantee the return of Radio Martí’s audience inside Cuba. “I haven’t listened to it on the radio for a long time,” “I tune in online,” “I don’t even have a radio,” are some of the impressions of residents on the island.

“I think the audience had dropped significantly by the time the signal was cut off,” estimates a Havana resident from El Vedado, who nevertheless laments the loss of a voice that was so important in helping Cubans understand the reality outside of what the regime was telling them, especially in the first decade after its founding by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1985. “Unfortunately, Facebook and WhatsApp finished off Radio Martí.”

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Cuba and Iran Advocate Closer Economic Ties in Response to US Sanctions

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Jatibzadeh met in Havana.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Jatibzadeh met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Tuesday / Islamic Republic of Iran

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 1 April 2025 — Cuba and Iran rallied this Tuesday against US sanctions on both countries and reiterated their willingness to continue promoting bilateral relations and cooperation in economic and commercial areas. The governments of these two allied countries presented their positions during a meeting in Havana between the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, and the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Saeed Jatibzadeh, according to a statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“During the meeting, which took place in a cordial atmosphere, the brotherhood and solidarity between both peoples and the positive progress of bilateral ties were highlighted,” the article said.

In the meeting held at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry in Havana, both diplomats also addressed “the unilateral coercive measures and other aggressions that the government of the United States and its allies apply against various countries.” continue reading

“The brotherhood and solidarity between both peoples and the positive march of bilateral ties were highlighted”

They also spoke about “the situation in the Middle East, the escalation of attacks by Israel and the dangers to regional and international peace, stability and security.”

Iran is one of Cuba’s closest allies in the world. Both countries established relations in 1975, which were interrupted in 1976 and re-established in 1979, after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution.

Two years ago, during the visit to Cuba of then Iranian President Ebrahím Raisí (who died in 2024), the two countries signed a total of six agreements for comprehensive cooperation between governments, political consultations between Foreign Ministries and cooperation in telecommunications, information technology and computer services.

In addition, they signed two memoranda of understanding in customs matters and another between both Ministries of Justice.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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State-Owned Rice for the Poor in La Princesa, Private Rice for the Rich in La Calzada

In Cienfuegos, you either have to wait in long lines to get a pound for 150 pesos or you need a deep pocket to buy it for 290.

The mirrored columns of La Princesa just look tired / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Cienfuegos, 1 April 2025 — Anyone from Cienfuegos who wants to eat rice—and what Cuban can do without it—has a decision to make. Either they go to the state-run La Princesa market, knowing that the sweat, the lines, and the discomfort will make them feel the antithesis of royalty, or they go to La Calzada, a private establishment, designed, yes, for the buyer who has the pockets of a duke or a marquis.

One pound is 150 pesos—a capped price and only five pounds per person allowed—at La Princesa; at La Calzada, it’s 290 pesos. This huge and significant difference sums up the customer’s dilemma. Furthermore, as everyone knows, the price in local currency must be added to another price: the one paid in stress and disappointment.

The mirrored columns of La Princesa reflect the shoppers’ tired faces. Surrounding them is a crowd of very similar faces, shoulders pushing each other, and hands making gestures of weariness. The line is so dense that, if it weren’t for practice, no one would know where it begins and where it ends.

The line is so dense that, if it weren’t for practice, no one would know where it begins and where it ends. / 14ymedio

Who’s last?” Antonio asks* again and again until someone responds. He ran away from work as soon as he heard they were going to sell rice and beans. continue reading

In recent weeks, shortages have worsened in Cienfuegos. Hunger and people’s ability to obtain food are inversely proportional, he explains.

Antonio is one of those who knows how the contrast between La Calzada and La Princesa works. “That place was empty today,” he comments. It makes sense. Everyone mobilized when they learned that the grain had arrived at the state market. “Let’s see how it goes for us,” he says gloomily.

Man does not live by rice alone. At La Princesa, there is spaghetti for 320 pesos; a chocolate bar for 190; instant soup for 200; and a bottle of soda for 620. For the more refined palates, at least by the standards of affluent Cuba, there is butter for 480 pesos, condensed milk for 520 pesos, and chorizo for 800 pesos.

The walls of La Princesa have been closing in on the shoppers. The heat and the ever-increasing arrival of people have turned the market into a hotbed of chaos, and the sale hasn’t even begun. Antonio despairs, but he quickly recovers. “Things are bad,” is his mantra. Instead of distressing him, this thought gives him a certain equanimity, essential for taking on the line.

At La Princesa, spaghetti costs 320 pesos; a chocolate bar costs 190; instant soup costs 200; and a bottle of soda costs 620. / 14ymedio

“They always delay everything until a problem arises,” he says. He’s not wrong. The most fed up, the youngest, those who have to return—like him—to work, begin to mutter protests. There have been several arguments. In such a heated space, everything explodes faster.

The beans, a secondary but also coveted target, are 350 pesos. Those already craving their bowl of stew have lined-up twice, an old trick to take home twice as many beans. That’s what Vicente did, repeating his strategy to everyone and telling dozens of stories to kill time.

The tension reaches its boiling point at midday. The sun beats down on the rooftops of Cienfuegos and the mass of hot air enters La Princesa. Vigilant shoppers are keeping an eye on the usual line-cutters. They won’t make any concessions: everyone wants to take home some rice.

“Listen here. There’s plenty of rice and beans, but we will only sell five pounds per person, so everyone can buy,” the clerk announces. The crowd cheers up, but there’s disappointment in the air.

“I was right about it,” Vicente protests. “These people don’t make a loss even selling disposable cups. You’ll see that in a while they’ll say they’re all gone or find an excuse to stop selling. Their business is on the outside, selling in bulk to whoever pays them well. And the people, may they be struck by lightning.” The people pretend not to hear him.

Hours pass, and those who finally get their sack of rice suspiciously explore its contents. “Sometimes it’s even sold with weevils,” explains an old woman. Discovering the blackish vermin playing among the grains arouses a rage that’s impossible to quell by complaining to the seller.

Those who haven’t been able to buy anything head to La Calzada, ready for “la puñalada”… “the stabbing”… a word that couldn’t be more expressive to describe the drain on Cubans’ wallets. If there’s no money, there’s a third option: hunger.

*Translator’s note: Cubans join lines by asking “who’s last” and then, as soon as the next person joins behind them, they can move around freely without anyone ’losing their place’.

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