“Everyone knows that the Castros were born in this province and whoever controls Holguín controls Cuba”
14ymedio, Miguel García, Holguín, 8 February 2025 — If there is a name that these days is pronounced in Holguín with a grimace and biting your lip, it is that of Joel Queipo Ruíz, first secretary of the Communist Party (PCC) in the province. Since the official took office last April, he has unleashed a witch hunt against entrepreneurs and farmers that has resulted in fines, confiscations of products and numerous closed shops.
The Chinese Fair, one of the most important points of sale in the Holguin capital, is among the main objectives of the Queipo crusade. “This, since the end of last year, has become a constant battle, and now they want to evict us,” José Alberto, owner of one of the stalls at the popular market, tells 14ymedio. Although the merchant has his papers in order, he has already begun to liquidate his products in order to leave.
The authorities have warned the merchants that the municipal ceremony of the next event on July 26 will be held on site, and that there should be no vestiges of the market. In the streets, it is rumored that “Queipo wants to make Raúl Castro happy in his birthplace.” The General spends more and more time in the nearby Cayo Saetía, where he has a retreat from which he frequently leaves for official events and meetings.
“When Queipo made his debut in office, more inspectors arrived, and the raids multiplied”
“They’ve been harassing us for months. When Queipo made his debut in office, more inspectors arrived, and the raids on the fair’s kiosks multiplied. People started closing their awnings thinking it was temporary, that it would pass, but we’ve been feeling this tension for almost a year,” he explains. “First they said they were going after the illegal stalls, some tables and pallets that didn’t have a license, near the road, but they have also made life impossible for those of us who have papers.”
José Alberto points out that the offensive reached a limit this February. “We have just been warned that we have to sell all the merchandise because they are going to close the Chinese Fair to prepare this entire area for the event of the 26th. Those who do not comply with that guideline before February 16 will receive a fine of 30,000 pesos,” he says. The announcement has raised a controversy that even reaches the official media.
“You have to find a solution to the problem, not remove it,” emphasizes a journalist from the program “In the Foreground” of the Telecentro Telecristal that alludes to the popular metaphor of “throwing away the sofa” in the face of any problem,* eliminating its visible expression but not its causes. Evidently upset with the order to remove the merchants from the fair, the reporter recognizes that “there are illegal sellers but also legal ones who are authorized.”
It is estimated that more than 1,000 people work among the merchants, transporters and other intermediaries in the place. “It is true that it’s very disorganized, but this won’t improve the operation of the fair,” José Alberto tells 14ymedio. In the large market you can find food, fruits and household goods, plus a wide range of informal offers that include anything from medicines and gambling games to blood donations.
The residents of the surrounding areas are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the market is their main source of food, but many point out the disorder and lack of hygiene at the fair. “It’s not about closing, but investing to improve all this, so that we have water, paved areas and stores,” explains José Alberto, defending himself from criticism. “One of the problems we have is that they want to impose prices on us, but the inspectors evaluate our merchandise at the official dollar rate of 123 pesos, and nothing sold here was bought at that rate. We have to pay the actual exchange rate: 340 pesos or more.”
When the official press announced the dismissal of Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez as first secretary of the PCC in the province and the appointment of Joel Queipo Ruíz to the position, many in Holguín held their breath. “We already knew him from the days of the pandemic when he was here organizing this as if it were a military unit, so people knew what was coming,” says the owner of a MSME that sells food and toiletries near the city center.
“Unfortunately, we were right,” says a woman who prefers anonymity. “Queipo is trying to compete with Díaz-Canel, who was also secretary of the Party in Holguín and where he began a political career to get to where he is today.” The Cuban leader unleashed during his mandate in the province, between 2003 and 2009, an offensive against illegalities. The now-President put the spotlight on the smuggling of milk that arrived from private farms to the interior of the city.
Police operations on the roads, the confiscation of thousands of liters of milk and the arrests of those involved spread fear in a territory where the rationed market barely has enough milk for children under seven and the chronically ill.
The heavy hand extended to all kinds of commercial operations. “People say he did it to ingratiate himself with Fidel and Raúl Castro,” says the woman, who then worked in a state entity. “Everyone knows that the brothers were born in this province and that whoever controls Holguín controls Cuba,” she says. “The strategy helped him, because soon after we saw him rise to where he is now.”
That raid of controls, fines and arrests was baptized by the people as “Operation Rake”
That raid of controls, fines and arrests was baptized by the people as “Operation Rake,” because it raked up the legal and informal commercial network. “People were afraid even to leave their house with a bag or a package because at any corner the police could stop you and check what you were carrying,” recalls the entrepreneur. “My grandmother prayed that Díaz-Canel would be transferred to another position, and in the end it happened, but as we say here, ‘he fell up’.”
Queipo seems to be re-enacting the script of the current president, and there are many reasons to believe that he will end up in a position of power similar to that of his model. At just 53 years old, the secretary of the provincial PCC is one of the names being considered to be appointed as president of the Republic of Cuba in April 2028. The current electoral law establishes that to sit in the presidential chair one must not exceed 60 years of age but be over 35 years.
If what the Constitution says is fulfilled, Díaz-Canel will not be able to extend his presidency with a third term, and Queipo meets another of the indispensable conditions: to be a deputy to the National Assembly. Among the non-written requirements, but taken into account when “selecting” a president, is that it is a cadre who already holds positions in the partisan and governmental nomenclature. If a reputation for being a heavy hand is added to that, the equation benefits the Camagüeyan, a graduate in nuclear physics.
“I’m not surprised that Queipo is on that path of flattering Raúl Castro by repressing the people of Holguín, because, to be honest, he is a man of few talents,” a former colleague of the Máximo Gómez vocational school of Camagüey tells 14ymedio. “In our group he was the most mediocre of all, and he did not stand out, not even in basketball despite his good height,” he recalls.
For Maykol, a private carrier that moves products to the Chinese Fair, the main reason for “the cleaning that Queipo is doing” is the presence in Holguín of Raúl Castro. “Everyone knows that he is spending more and more time here and wants to keep everything calm around him,” he says. “It’s also a way to show off, to tell Raúl ‘look how well I’m doing, you have to take me into account for bigger things’.”
“Now the inspectors go all the way to San Germán and stop everyone they see moving something,” says the driver of an electric tricycle used to transport products from several nearby farms. “The first thing that has happened is that the people who had a stall in that area have closed it, whether legal or illegal, because they fall on you and do not let you go until they give you a fine or confiscate some merchandise.”
The people most affected are the customers, says the carrier. “There are a lot of poor people in this area who have to buy on the side of the road because there they sell a lot a lot at retail, and you can find small packages of cookies that they repackage with some detergent for washing.” Maykol believes that the current attack has increased corruption among inspectors. “With one hand they give you the fine and with the other they ask you for money to cancel it.”
Controls redoubled in December. In the first week of that month, the so-called National Exercise for the Prevention and Confrontation of crime, corruption, illegalities and social indiscipline was carried out. But in Holguín the inspections that characterized the offensive were maintained after the closing date. In the streets it was then rumored that Queipo had “oriented” to continuing the offensive against the illegalities in the territory throughout the first half of December, but the controls have continued to this day.
That’s why when José Alberto heard the inspector who this week repeated to him again that he has to sell off all his merchandise because “on February 16 there can’t be a single tent in the Chinese Fair,” he knows that the man only verbalizes a message that comes from above: “Queipo already sees himself as president of Cuba and that’s how he’s acting in Holguín.”
*Translator’s note: A Cuban joke where the solution to finding your partner being unfaithful on your sofa is to throw away the sofa.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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