Translating Cuba

San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, Where Humor Has Given Way to Pain

Without electricity and Internet access, this is how its inhabitants spend a good part of their days

Calle Vivanco, in San Antonio de los Baños, this Wednesday / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, San Antonio de los Baños, 24 April 2024 — “It hurts to see this town like this,” is the laconic phrase released by a woman sitting in a park in San Antonio de los Baños when a newcomer asks her for an address and tells her how deteriorated he has found the so-called City of Humor. Destroyed sidewalks, facades that don’t conceal the brickwork and the taciturn faces of the people complete the sickly picture of this small town in the province of Artemisa.

A central hub between the agricultural towns of the area and Havana, the land of the Ariguanabo River copes very poorly with the economic crisis and the mass exodus that also affect the rest of the Island. “Blackout!” a neighbor was heard screaming today from inside his house to warn his wife who, sitting at the door, was trying to sell cigarettes one at a time. Seconds later, after the telecommunications towers that provide the web browsing service in the area stopped working, internet access on mobile phones was cut off.

Without electricity and without internet access, this is how the people of San Antonio de los Baños spend a good part of their days. All life is paralyzed when “the power goes out and this town becomes dead,” another local neighbor confirms to 14ymedio who remembers the times when “you had to look before crossing the street because so many cars were circulating.” Now, with the local economy having hit rock bottom, San Antonio de los Baños is not much different from any other place in deep Cuba, where the days are spent standing in line and flies buzz around everywhere.

All life is paralyzed when “the power goes out and this becomes a dead town”

In the streets and houses, drought and problems with the supply of drinking water have added a reddish patina to everything, and the clayey earth of the area is turned into fine dust that gets into every crack. Rosa María, another resident, wipes her face with a small towel. Her sweat adds a spot of brown to all the previous ones. She is waiting for some transport to take her away from the small town.

“I’ve been here for more than an hour but imagine that to go to Santiago de las Vegas they want to charge you 150 pesos. Quivicán is just as much; they have lost respect for money,” she says. A few meters away stands the intensely colored facade of the Los 3 Grandes bar and cafeteria, of the Palmares chain, which offers national cocktails, appetizers and musical shows on weekends, one of the few places for nightlife that is maintained.

“I came to visit my family, and I see that they are all thinner and sadder,” says the man from Havana who was asking for directions. “My brother-in-law who used to repair cars now survives by fishing, because he can no longer maintain the business, and his family depends on what he manages to catch.” His little niece has it worse. “For children there is no place, nowhere to have fun. They go from school to home and from home to school; there is nothing else.”

The Coppelia ice cream parlor is now in the hands of a small private company that sells each scoop of ice cream at 120 pesos and a bowl at 400 pesos. Of course, unlike the times when it was managed by the State, its menu overflows with flavors: chocolate, strawberry and dulce de leche were some of those offered this Wednesday, but the interior was practically empty. The new prices have driven away the previous clientele, frightened by inflation.

The new prices have driven away the previous clientele, frightened by inflation

“To satisfy your stomach, you need a pizza,” said a sign of another private business nearby, also with many ornaments and few customers. For 140 pesos each, the buyer can take home a piece of baked dough, with tomato sauce and cheese. In another, called Colorama, a more chic place for more well-off people, a slice costs 900 pesos but includes ham, chorizo and olives.

The rise in the cost of living makes it more difficult to spend, and in the community that once lived from agriculture, the nearby International Film School and the tourists who came to visit the Museum of Humor in the land of jokes and sarcasm, the depression is quite noticeable.

Along with the decrease in the flow of potatoes and bananas due to the drop in production, the school no longer has as many resources as before, when it resold thousands of cans of beer and packages of coffee at a better price than in the State stores. The exhibition with portraits and works of illustrious humorists does not attract as many visitors or as much laughter either. The river that runs through the town contains a green and stagnant water that many avoid approaching.

“A crippled house, like the whole town,” says a resident on the same block

In a corner of Vivanco Street, the neighbors have knocked down part of the facade of a house about to collapse. “A crippled house, like the whole town,” says a resident on the same block. “This is like a punishment; since we threw ourselves here into the street, the punishments have not stopped,” says the man about that Sunday of 11 July 2021 when San Antonio de los Baños was the place where the massive popular protests that shook the entire Island began.

Carrying a suitcase, a young man advances at noon this Wednesday to the point where the private trucks leave for Havana. “There goes another one who isn’t coming back,” says a neighbor. The wheels of the luggage cart kick up the reddish dust that remains in the air and sticks to everything. In the town where people once laughed until their stomachs hurt, now the days seem more like a wake than a party.

[From TranslatingCuba.com: Note to ‘anonymous translator’ – Our most sincere apologies, we will definitely follow up. Please feel free to email us directly about this at: TranslatingCuba < at > Gmail (dot) com]

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Cuba Approves the Financing of Construction Materials for Victims of the March Rains in Havana

The greatest effects, including severe damage to agriculture and electricity networks, were concentrated in the municipalities of El Cotorro, San Miguel, Arroyo Naranjo and Boyeros

El Cotorro was one of the municipalities most affected by the rains that occurred in March / Courtesy

14ymedio, Havana, April 24, 2024 — Once again, the Cuban Council of Ministers approved the financing for 50% of the cost of construction materials needed by the victims of the intense rains of March 22 and 23 in Havana, which caused 26 total and 122 partial building collapses.

The greatest effects, including severe damage to agriculture and electricity networks, were concentrated in the municipalities of El Cotorro, San Miguel, Arroyo Naranjo and Boyeros, according to the state newspaper Granma.

The Government’s decision is similar to that of other catastrophes, such as Hurricane Sandy, which devastated Santiago de Cuba in 2012, and Hurricane Ian, which did the same in Pinar del Río in 2022. However, it had little effect on the reconstruction of the lost assets.

One year after Hurricane Ian, barely 45% of the affected houses had been repaired

One year after Hurricane Ian, for example, and according to official data, it had barely been possible to repair 45% of the affected houses, and only 3% of the collapsed ones were raised again, not to mention the situations of Sandy’s thousands of victims, many of whom were abandoned to their fate.

The Unofficial Gazette, which in two paragraphs legalizes the help that will be given to the most recent victims, does not explain where the materials that will be sold to them will come from. In November 2023, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to analyze the development of the Housing Program, Dilaila Díaz Fernández, general director of materials of the Ministry of Construction, explained that to cover the needs of the Housing program, 83 million bricks are needed per year, but in 2022 only 39 million were available. continue reading

There is also no cement or steel for the manufacture of buildings. At the beginning of March, the newspaper Escambray published that the Siguaney cement factory, located in the municipality of Tabasco, will only produce 20,000 tons of cement this year due to the energy crisis in the country. The figure represents less than half of the 47,000 tons obtained in 2023.

The Unofficial Gazette does not explain where the materials that will be sold to those affected will come from

The terrible housing situation does not exclusively affect Havana, where according to the General Urban Planning Plan of Havana there are 946 properties at risk of collapse. In Ciego de Ávila, for example, more than 40,000 houses would have to be built to resolve the housing situation, which is not the worst in the country. Very close, in Villa Clara, 39% of the houses are in poor condition. In July 2023, the Granma reported that 61,559 families from all over the Island lived on dirt floors and that only 2,103 had solved the problem.

Other data from the Ministry of Construction indicate that the housing deficit in Cuba exceeds 856,000 homes. Between 2021 and 2023, only 50,000 had been built. By the middle of last year, only 13% of the state subsidy program had been implemented, and 154 of the 9,000 rooming houses had been eliminated.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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‘Sadly, For Us, Cuba is Over,’ Says a Canadian Tourist

Christian Maître recounts his wife’s time in a precarious hospital in Santa Clara after suffering from appendicitis

Christian Maître and Caroline Tétrault back at the airport. / Courtesy Ch.M. / Ici

14ymedio, Madrid, 25 April 2024 — “Sadly, for us, Cuba is over. I am sure that the world is full of very beautiful places to see.” This is how Christian Maître, a Canadian from the city of Shawinigan, in the province of Quebec, expresses himself in an interview with the radio station Ici . His vacation on the island was about to end when, one day before his return, scheduled for April 4, his wife suffered a sudden abdominal pain that changed everything.

Caroline Tétrault had lost her mother in mid-March, a victim of cancer. The whole family had planned a trip to Cuba at the end of that month they decided to go, expressly, in tribute to his wife. In total, 22 people enjoyed the trip without any major inconveniences other than the shortage of some foods. Until April 3, when Caroline began to complain of severe abdominal pain, which was initially dismissed.

Rest could not calm the discomfort, so they notified the hotel doctor, who referred them to a “small hospital” in Cayo Santa María. The diagnosis was very quick: in 10 minutes it was decided to transfer her to Santa Clara, where she had to undergo surgery for appendicitis.

Caroline Tétrault had lost her mother in mid-March, a victim of cancer

“The ambulance trip was very unpleasant, because she felt unbearable pain and the discomfort was total,” says Maître in statements to Le Nouvelliste. But the arrival was not much better. The tourists have not revealed the hospital to which they were taken, but from the videos they took inside everything indicates that it is the Arnaldo Milián, also known as the new continue reading

hospital by the people of Santa Clara, who go there to undergo some examinations and analyses, because it the largest hospital and the one with the most resources in the province.

For Canadians, however, the impression was devastating. The place seemed disused and without light, they point out. “Finally we reached an illuminated hallway, but you could hear the background noise of a generator, there were dogs, it looked like the scene of a horror movie, but with doctors in white coats,” says Maître.

“When entering the operating room, in the hallway, the ceiling was like it had been torn off, I even closed my eyes thinking to prevent it from falling on her. When I let go of her hand, I thought I was seeing her alive for the last time,” he says emotionally.

On the contrary, he does not have a bad word for the medical care. “The doctor tried to reassure me about the procedure, he told me: ’Here we don’t have the infrastructure, we don’t have the resources, but we have good staff.’ And that is 100% true. They saved my wife’s life – she had peritonitis due to her appendix exploding – so I couldn’t say otherwise,” he says emphatically. They took a liter of infectious fluid from Caroline.

Maître himself reveals that he had to go out to buy juices and ice cream for his partner, but there were difficulties in finding cash

After the procedure, things were not going to improve. At that moment they found themselves lacking food to follow the patient’s recommended diet, which the hospital could not provide. Maître himself reveals that he had to go out to buy juices and ice cream for his partner, but there were difficulties in finding cash, since the black market did not accept his cards or his currency.

Although there are no signs, next to the hospital there is an extension of the Los Flamboyanes – several blocks down – a small store where people can buy food for doctors and relatives who look for the diet prescribed for admitted patients and where it is likely they should have gone.

With Tétrault’s discharge, things did not improve, since then he had to buy antibiotics, also non-existent and on the black market. “Some acquaintances who went to Santa María, also on vacation, were able to bring medicine from Quebec. We also went to another resort to get more dressings and dollars. In addition, three people from Quebec sent us personal things. Luckily I had outside help,” acknowledges Maître, who admits that without it it would have been impossible to get through those days.

Maître and Tétrault, now at home, are recovering from the illness, scare and stress, but they still have to pay between 1,000 and 5,000 dollars

Maître and Tétrault, now at home, are recovering from the illness, the scare and the stress. They still have to pay between $1,000 and $5,000 once they resolve pending issues with the insurance, but they do not recommend anyone travel to Cuba.

The case coincides in time with that of Faraj Allah Jarjour, the Syrian who lived in Canada and died on March 22 of a heart attack while on vacation in Cuba, but his body has not been found and the body sent to his family was that of another person. The Cuban Government has apologized for this matter, which continues without any explanations or knowledge of where the missing body is.

In Canada there is an alert to travel to Cuba with caution due to the shortage of medicines and food, but Canadians continue to massively choose the Island and they are its largest market, far ahead of the second, which is Cubans living abroad. Last year, almost a million Canadians visited the Island.

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Letters From Readers: ‘If We Don’t Act Now, We Will Lose Cuba’

Actions speak louder than words and our country, which seems to be a victim of an unprecedented war, a bombed nation, is eloquent.

All that remains of our culture is travestied in tourist attractions / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Jorge Luis Leon, Houston (Texas), 24 April 2024 — Today there is nothing left of yesterday’s Cuba. “I didn’t know” or “I didn’t realize” are the excuses that many use to escape their responsibility to the Island where they were born. At this point, however, continuing to wear that blindfold, which dilutes the misdeeds of a dictatorship, is unacceptable.

Sugar, coffee and tobacco, worn symbols of a country in ruins, were once the engines of one of America’s most prosperous industries. Banking, the apparent emblem of this time, has instead become a joke in bad taste. The Government’s excuses, always ready on the tip of the tongue, do not hide this reality.

Actions speak louder than words and our country, which seems to be the victim of an unprecedented war – a bombed nation – is eloquent.

All that remains of our culture is travestied in tourist attractions, and of our riches, only the memory.

Cuba exhibits a panorama that seems insurmountable. The recovery of a country is not an easy task and denying what is happening, the atrocities of which our Island is a victim, contributes little to our future.

We need to choose our future with our own hands, educate new generations with ideals that have already disappeared among Cubans, such as democracy, freedom of the press, and leaving behind corruption and indoctrination. It is time to take off the blinders, we are concerned with the destiny of a country.

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Havana’s Cafe Baco, a Glamorous Interior and a Culinary Insult

Some tourists are seduced by the presence of lobster on the menu / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 21 April 2024 — “We are state-run and our prices are low,” says an employee in an impeccable white shirt on Friday. He is standing outside the building that houses the collection of Havana’s Museum of Fine Arts. The young waiter is trying to lure customers into the building where Café Baco, a rarely visited restaurant, is located.

A European tourist and his Cuban girlfriend scrutinize the menu that the man has handed them outside the imposing building, once known as the Asturian Center. “Nowhere in Havana are you going to find lobster at that price,” insists the employee, directing his gaze at a group of travelers who have just gotten off a Transtur bus.

“Nowhere in Havana are you going to find lobster at that price”

“Come in. You won’t regret it,” Dayana hears him say. The 45-year-old Havana resident, who was standing nearby, falls for the sales pitch and decides to give Café Baco a try. “I didn’t even know this existed because there’s no sign on the street or anything. I’ve brought my children to this museum several times but I didn’t know it had a restaurant, much less that it sold shellfish. So I’m going to try it and we’ll see how it goes.” continue reading

Unlike tourists, who are dazzled just by the sight of lobster on the menu, Cubans are focused on other details when choosing where to spend their money at a time of high inflation. “I normally don’t eat in state-owned restaurants because I know they’re inferior,” Dayana says as she climbs the imposing staircase with marble railings, elaborate balustrades and carved parapets.

The ambience causes the Havana native to salivate. It seems like the prelude to a lavish banquet. “The food must be at the same level as this staircase,” she says sarcastically, imagining that the decor is one thing but that what’s on the plate is another. No one else climbs the steps; no other customers come in. It is around 12:30 and the place seems deserted. The echo of Dayana’s footsteps is all that can be heard inside.

The only sound in the deserted restaurant is the echo of Dayana’s footsteps / 14ymedio

Wearing a crown of grape leaves and nude to the waist, Bacchus — the Greek god of wine and food — reigns over the dining room from a wall to one side. The walls themselves are covered in dark green tiles. Elaborate arches, supported by columns with flowery capitals, give the space the air of a Spanish tavern, a place where you could sink your teeth into a nice cod, pierce an olive with your fork and enjoy a good red wine.

The baronial Spanish touch, however, is limited to the tiles and a reproduction of Diego Velázquez’ painting “The Triumph of Bacchus.” Otherwise, it is cross between a place that serves bad food and a state-run workplace marked by apathy and supply shortages. “The menu is full of items they don’t have,” Dayana says in a phone call to her sister from inside the restaurant. “I was going to tell you to come here but changed my mind because it’s so bad.”

Without bothering to lower her voice so as not to be heard by the employees, she continues telling her sister about her experience. “Just imagine, I order a fruit juice and they bring me a glass that’s half ice and half instant soda,” she says, appalled. A few yards away, a tourist who has just entered the room is is taking photos of the Velázquez mural, more commonly known as “The Drunkards.”

“The view is nice but I sat on a balcony where it’s cool because it doesn’t smell good inside”

“Of course, the view is nice but I sat on a balcony where it’s cool because it doesn’t smell good inside. You know, it smells like burnt grease, like they haven’t cleaned in a long time.” Dayana continues as though she were dictating a review for a restaurant guide. “I came in because I was tired of walking and wanted to check the place out but I already know what to expect. They don’t have most of the things on the menu.”

A waitress approaches the table with a plate of rice, a pork cutlet, some cabbage, and a few slices of cucumber. For a moment the customer thinks she has scored a great deal. Only 900 pesos compared to the more than 1,500 pesos that such a meal would cost in a privately owned restaurant in a less historic and less sumptuous location. But the feeling passes as soon as she brings the spoon to her mouth.

The soupy rice is made up of grains from different sources, the cabbage is limp, the cutlet is under-seasoned and — to top it all off — the empty vinegar cruet is sticky to the touch. “Based on how quickly they brought everything out, and the temperature of the rice and the pork, you can tell it was already was prepared,” she reflects, her cell phone pressed to her ear. Over by the wall, an inebriated woman next to Bacchus stares at the Dayana with a scornful smile.

Soupy rice, limp cabbage, under-seasoned pork cutlet, and and an empty vinegar cruet that is sticky to the touch

Though the meal was as she predicted, Dayana nevertheless feels a pang of frustration. “I’m going to order a coffee to get over it,” she says. Minutes later, the waitress brings a cup that is missing its saucer. Mixed with milk and generously sprinkled with cinnamon, the imitation cappuccino seems like an opportunity to put the bland menu out of her mind.

“No surprise, the coffee is bad. It’s mixed with a lot of other things but at least it perked me up a bit so I get up and walk home,” she says during the umpteenth phone call to her sister to tell her about Café Baco. The experience has cost her 1,195 Cuban pesos, less than four dollars at the current exchange rate on the informal market.

After the last sip, a dark, sandy-textured sediment remains in the cup. Dayana leaves 1,250 pesos on the table, takes her wallet and exits. As she is walking out, two of the drunks in the Velazquez painting, their noses red and looking directly at her, seem to be laughing harder, mocking Dayana.

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Cuban Authorities Fail to Explain the Case of the Lost Body of the Tourist Who Died in the Melia Varadero Hotel

Faraj Allah Jarjour’s family paid $7,300 to transport his remains to Quebec and was given a coffin with the body of a Russian

Faraj Allah Jarjour next to his family in an image from 2021 / Facebook/Faraj Jarjour

14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — The family of Faraj Allah Jarjour, the Syrian who lived in Canada and died on March 22 of a heart attack while vacationing in Cuba, still has not received explanations from the island’s authorities, who sent the body of another person to Quebec . “Until now we have no answers. “Where is my father?” declared Miriam, the traveler’s daughter, to the Inquirer portal.

According to Miriam, they paid 10,000 Canadian dollars (7,300 US dollars) to transport her father’s body, as indicated by the Canadian consulate in Havana. However, at the end of last week they were given the remains of a “20-year-old Russian with several tattoos.”

The body of the young Russian was sent to his country, but as of Monday they had no news of the whereabouts of Faraj Allah Jarjour’s remains. The Canadian consular authorities in Cuba blame “the company on the island that coordinates the return of the remains,” Miriam said. The 68-year-old tourist’s family has emailed officials, including a member of Parliament, who offered to contact Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. continue reading

The death of Faraj Allah highlighted the shortcomings at the Meliá Varadero Hotel, where the family had arrived two days before to spend a week’s vacation with all services included, La Tijera published on its social networks.

Miriam said that the hotel does not have medical facilities, so her father’s body was covered and remained under the sun for more than eight hours. Furthermore, due to the lack of transportation, a vehicle transported Faraj Allah’s remains to Havana for certification.

The case of this lost corpse illustrates, once again, the state of the tourism industry in Cuba, which has not raised its head since Covid-19 and which, however, continues to have Canada as the first country in number of foreign visitors.

So far Faraj Allah’s family has spent 25,000 Canadian dollars (18,248 US dollars) throughout the process, including 15,000 Canadian dollars (10,950 US dollars) for funeral services.

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Warning of Upsurge in Violations Against Intellectuals and Journalists in Cuba

Image shared on her networks by Alina Bárbara López Hernández, after several hours of detention by State Security / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana,April 23, 2024 — The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) denounced on Monday that, “in the midst of the poverty” that the Island is experiencing, the Cuban Government “dedicates enormous resources to increase repression against intellectuals, trade unionists and independent journalists,” pointing out several repressive acts committed by the political police in recent days.

The organization, based in Madrid, mentioned the arrest of reporter Camila Acosta, a collaborator of CubaNet, this Sunday in Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas, “when she was on her way to visit relatives of political prisoners. Four police cars participated” in the operation, orchestrated by State Security.

In the same province, last Thursday, Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández “suffered bodily injuries due to police brutality during an arbitrary arrest.” The academic was detained for several hours at the Playa police station, and after returning home she denounced the mistreatment she suffered in a Facebook post. continue reading

“We warn of the upsurge in violations and call on the international democratic community to denounce these facts”

López Hernández reported that doctors diagnosed her with a “right humeral dislocation (sprain of the right shoulder)” and a “subluxation in the thumb of the left hand.”

Also in Matanzas, but this time in the municipality of Colón, the secretary general of the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba, Iván Hernández Carrillo, was summoned by the regime, “as part of the harassment campaign he suffers.”

Last week, in Camagüey, independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada was interrogated twice, explains the OCDH report. The former professor was ultimately fined 3,000 pesos “for violating Decree Law 370, a law used by the Havana regime to silence activists, journalists and citizens” after being accused “of publishing memes, comments and even “liking” other publications.”

Also, “the former political prisoner Luis Darién Reyes Romero was intimidated with a gun in the middle of the street in Old Havana by a repressor dressed in civilian clothes,” a fact classified by the OCDH as “serious.” The video circulated on social networks in which Reyes Romero showed the face and weapon of the State Security agent while chasing him.

“We warn of the upturn in violations and call on the international democratic community to denounce these facts. Likewise, we support the efforts of the Cuban Catholic Church to mediate the serious crisis that the country is experiencing,” the organization concludes.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cubans Without ‘Family in the Exterior’ Survive by Reselling on the Streets

Galiano Street, in Central Havana, has become a showcase for misery

An old woman has half a dozen disposable razors for sale, some that are also ’discarded’

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Cubans who emigrate to Miami have an expression for those who remain on the Island, those whom they support with their remittances: “Cubans with faith.” The word “faith” in Spanish is “fe,” which stands for “family in the exterior,” meaning relatives abroad. Eduardo, who left the country three years ago on the “route of the volcanoes” (through Nicaragua), doesn’t understand how “those who don’t have fe” can survive.

“Every week I have more and more acquaintances in Cuba asking me to send them money, because they don’t have children who can send them some. But I can’t handle everyone; I have children there too,” says this 40-year-old from Havana. “Distant relatives write my mom to ask for my help, as if I were a millionaire. I wish I could, but I know that’s not the solution.”

Aurora was an artist in the principal theaters of Cuba and always believed in the Revolution

If she ever dares to tell those relatives to ask for “saving” in front of the Plaza de la Revolución, they call her an “anti-patriot” and a “Trumpista.” The suffering of relatives who couldn’t emigrate becomes dramatic in the case of the elderly.

Aurora was an artist in the principal theaters of Cuba and always believed in the Revolution. Today, widowed and alone, with a pension that does not reach 2,000 pesos and not a single family member who sends her money from abroad, she barely survives. Eating, although little, is not such a problem: there is always a neighbor who has a slightly more comfortable life, either because of business “on the left” or from receiving remittances, and will help with a little rice or beans or both. The biggest problem is electricity. She can’t pay the new prices, so Aurora doesn’t even turn on the lights at night: one more risk to add to her 85 years and her reduced mobility. continue reading

On a step under the arches, an old man sells cigars and rubber parts for pots and coffee makers / 14ymedio

Like him, hundreds of thousands of elderly Cubans – two and a half million over 60 years of age on the Island – are on the verge of extreme poverty. Those who don’t even have a roof over their heads sleep in the streets. Several of them take advantage of the busiest roads of the capital to resell a few items, always scarce, always of poor quality. One of them is Galiano street, in Central Havana, a true showcase of misery.

An old woman had half a dozen disposable razors for sale this Tuesday, of those that are also discarded: few people can shave with those gadgets that they sell in state shops.

Later, on a step under the arches, another old man sells cigars and rubber parts for pots and coffee makers. Others offer sweets, liquid detergent, instant soft drinks or batteries.

“It’s not just that it’s not enough for them to live on, it’s that it’s useless for them,” said a woman who helps her 80-year-old mother as much as she can and who bought, out of charity, a battery pack in Galiano on Tuesday. “It’s just that 1,500 pesos of pension in this country is nothing. And look how hungry they are, how much need and sadness.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Two Years of Harassment and Pressure for Writing ‘Patria y Vida’ on Her House for the 11 July 2021 Protests

Sandra Hernández, at the door of her house, in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus / 14ymedio/Courtesy

14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Three words in blue ink – Patria y Vida… Homeland and Life – written on the facade of her house were enough for Sandra Hernández to understand State Security’s speedy response even in small towns like hers. After the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), there was not a single gesture against the Government in the municipality of Cabaiguán, except hers. A few hours later, an act of repudiation and numerous slogans on her wall awaited her.

“That day, July 13, my husband and I decided to put ’Homeland and Life’ on the front of the house, because my daughter was barely one year old and I couldn’t go with her to the street to protest,” Hernández tells 14ymedio from the Dominican Republic, where she has been living for several months. “We painted the words around four in the afternoon on the facade of my building, supposedly inviolable before the law, although they didn’t care about that,” she says.

The graffiti, which alluded to the song of the same name and which became the anthem of the protests of 11J, marked a before and after in the life of Hernández and her family. “At night the president of the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) arrived asking why I had written that and said we shouldn’t have done it in his CDR. He alluded to my deceased mother and grandmother, reminding me that they had been good revolutionaries, and told me that it was enemy propaganda,” she says.

When she finally thought that things would calm down, the family received another visit: “At 10 at night about 12 people arrived at my door. They were from the Federation of Cuban Women, the Union of Young Communists and other official organizations, saying that they wanted to ’converse’. I told them that that was not a good time to visit and that they could come back the next day.” The entourage left, says Hernández, but State Security did not stand idly by. continue reading

“In the early morning I was awakened by a strong chemical smell, similar to that given off by the Cabaiguán refinery. I realized that it was coming from the house itself, and I ran to open the kitchen door to ventilate,” she says. Before the family knew it, they had filled the front of the house with revolutionary slogans, and only the word “Homeland” remained. The strong smell came from the liquid asphalt that the regime’s agents had used – along with a blue paint – to scribble slogans and erase her sign.

Words painted by Sandra Hernández on July 11, 2021 / 14ymedio/Courtesy

“They used a blanket with chlorine that I had at the entrance for people to clean their shoes because of covid, and they painted with it. The substance they used, which is also toxic and flammable, is controlled by the State, and people aren’t supposed to use it. It’s made in the Cabaiguán refinery, and I don’t know how they dared to smear the walls with that. They didn’t care that we had a girl, and the substance irritated her eyes and parts of her body,” says Hernández. “They also urinated at the door.”

“At five in the morning,” she continues, “the act of repudiation began.” Hernández still has the recording of almost an hour of “anti-imperialist” slogans and communist hymns. Some acquaintances, incited by State Security, called her to ask her to remove her sign. “When I told them I wouldn’t, they hung up.”

The “act of reaffirmation” also had a police presence to block access to the street, flags and posters, broadcasters from Radio Cabaiguán – who installed a speaker system in the municipality’s maternal hospital – and many unknown people who were there by order “from above”.

“They monitored us continuously, especially when there were rumors of demonstrations, and they threatened our friends that ’there would be consequences’ if they approached us / 14ymedio/Courtesy

“After the event, reprisals began,” she said. “They monitored us continuously, especially when there were rumors of demonstrations, and they threatened our friends that ’there would be consequences’ if they approached us. People also came to ask us strange questions and tell us that they were on our side. They encouraged us to do acts of vandalism such as poisoning the aqueduct, attacking the thermoelectric plant or asking if we agreed to send the girl to school.” According to Hernández, during the two years they were in Cuba after the event, the family had to think carefully about every word they said in public. “They asked us nonsense to see if they could incriminate us.”

Finally, she and her husband were expelled from their jobs: she as an architect in a construction company in Cayo Santa María and he as a hydraulic engineer in the International Economic Association of the municipality. From there, everything became more difficult.

Before the family realized it, they had filled the front of the house with revolutionary slogans, and only their written word “Homeland” could be seen / 14ymedio / Courtesy

I have recordings of conversations at work where they tell us that it was an order from the Government, that they were ordered to chuck us out and that they were not interested in our job performance, just that we had to get out of there. Then we couldn’t find work; we were abandoned,” she relates.

“I tried a job as a photographer, but first they didn’t want to give me the license and then, when I insisted so much that they gave it to me, they did everything possible so that I didn’t have clients.” For the family, carrying out any procedure was an ordeal, since the authorities got in the way of every step. “If it took two days for a person to get a document in the civil registry, it would take me two months or more. When I applied for a passport, they didn’t want to give it to me either, because I was ’regulated’ (forbidden to leave the country), and I had to call many institutions and insist strongly that they give it to me,” she explains.

Two years after the protests, when her husband finally got the humanitarian parole to travel to the United States, the family had by then lost contact with many relatives, lost their professional careers and sold their property – including the house where they painted the sign – “to be able to eat.”

“Now I’m with my daughter in the Dominican Republic waiting for the parole to come to me as well. Of course, I arrived legally,” she explains. “In Cuba, with a government that is not worried about an architect and her family dying of hunger, we could not stay.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Alina Barbara Lopez Denounces Her Arrest to the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Matanzas, Cuba

The facts may constitute a crime of “injuries, illegal deprivation of liberty and disclosure of the secret of communications”

Alina Bárbara López Hernández during an interview in April 2023. / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández filed a complaint against the four agents who arrested her last week when she was traveling to Havana to hold a protest

The record of receipt of the complaint before the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Matanzas highlights that the reported events “could be related to the commission of the crimes of injuries, illegal deprivation of liberty and disclosure of the secrecy of communications,” all of which are contemplated in the penal code.

“As a victim, I can be part of the process and appoint a lawyer, which I will do,” the intellectual added on her Facebook account.

“As a victim, I can be part of the process and appoint a lawyer, which I will do”

In the document, to which EFE had access, the complainant describes the attacks she suffered from the agents last Thursday at the Bacunayagua police checkpoint, when she was traveling from Matanzas to Havana.

López, 58, claims in the complaint that she was forced to return to Matanzas “for no apparent reason” and that, as she “refused without receiving an explanation,” “they pushed her, hit her” and “they put her into the patrol car through the force.”

Once in the vehicle, the text continues, “after being immobilized in the lying position” they “attacked her by leaning on one of her knees, slapped her and twisted her right hand.” continue reading

Then they left her locked up, alone and in the sun for an indeterminate amount of time inside the police vehicle and, when she protested to be let out, one of the officers recorded her on video with his cell phone, which ended up being uploaded to social networks.

The complaint also states that the agent who attended to the historian assured that her arrest was “prophylactic work” and that a medical certificate of injuries was not going to be made because “she would not be charged.”

López also published on her social networks that last Saturday she went to the Faustino Pérez provincial hospital for an examination, since she continued to feel pain.

López also published on her social networks that last Saturday she went to the Faustino Pérez provincial hospital for an examination, since she continued to feel pain. “The X-rays diagnosed me with a right humeral dislocation (sprain of the right shoulder) and is immobilized with a sling, and a subluxation in the thumb of my left hand, which is immobilized with a cast for 21 days,” she added. “All of this is the result of the police brutality that was exercised against me yesterday.”

The professor was traveling to Havana to carry out her protest on the 18th of each month in the Central Park of the capital, which she has been carrying out for more than a year in the Parque de la Fraternidad in Matanzas, where she goes alone and with a sign in white.

For these symbolic protests she has been arrested several times in recent months and as a result, sentenced at the end of last year to pay a fine for the crime of disobedience.

The intellectual has declared herself in “contempt” with that sentence and refused to pay the fine, aware that this could put her in jail, as she has written in different articles on social networks.

The NGO Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, denounced that this trial “without guarantees” had “political motivations” and sought only to “repress the exercise of the fundamental rights” of López Hernández, whom it described as a “victim of conscience.”

Furthermore, the intellectual has denounced that she had been ‘regulated’ [the regime’s term of choice for being forbidden to travel] by the Ministry of the Interior and, therefore, was prohibited from leaving the country.

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The Church Offers a Dialogue to the Regime Despite the Fact That Its Relations Are Going Through the ‘Worst Moment’

The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba issues a statement supporting the bishops’ proposal

Meeting of the Cuban bishops with the Government, in April 2023 / Revolución Studies

14ymedio, Havana, 22 April 2024 — The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba (PDC) issued a statement this Monday in which it supports the Catholic Church as a “fair and impartial mediator” to “find a peaceful and inclusive solution” on the Island. The organization in exile does not mention it explicitly, but appreciates the “open, sincere, and well-intentioned offer, which can open the door to a better future for our people in freedom, respect, harmony, well-being and peace,” referring to the proposal for dialogue between the Government and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC), expressed by its secretary, Ariel Suárez, on the American NBC network last Thursday.

In the protests of March 17, Father Suárez said in that interview, the pain “became a cry,” which was “heard” and “accepted” by “all levels of the country.” “At least everyone has agreed in considering that that cry reflected anguish, it reflected desperation and that it was obviously asking for a situation different from the one that was being experienced,” the priest said.

The bishops “have invited us to pray,” Ariel Suárez also recalled, alluding to the prelates’ message issued this past Easter, but not only that. Furthermore, he mentioned, “they have confirmed the pain of the people and have also invited the Church, if the different political actors so consider it, to offer a space for dialogue,” so that “all these positions, different but not necessarily contradictory,” can help to “seek concrete solutions that this people needs.” continue reading

“We must say more clearly that we Cubans can love Cuba with different visions”

“We must say more clearly that we Cubans can love Cuba with different visions, with different perspectives, and that it is important to put the love for Cuba and the desire to improve the life of this people in its present and in its future above these differences,” the priest concluded.

Similarly, this Sunday the president of the COCC and bishop of the diocese of Holguín, Emilio Aranguren, alluded to that newspaper in statements to Radio and Television Martí. “In Cuba we use the words we all understand. It is important, therefore, to have the willingness and the space to talk about the common good, which is exactly our thing, which is why I consider that the important thing is to have the willingness. Logically, the Catholic Church desires, and is willing, to exchange with all the groups that make up society,” said the prelate.

A source from the archdiocese of Havana tells this newspaper that what Ariel Suárez expressed “is a subtle message” that the bishops send to the regime to say that the Church can mediate “despite the regrets.” The suggestion comes, in effect, at a bad time in the relations between the regime and the prelates, as was reflected in this year’s Holy Week.

During Holy Week, the Cuban Communist Party prohibited processions and celebrations in numerous churches. “At the diocesan level, the tension with the Party’s Religious Affairs Offices is worse than ever,” this source asserts.

In addition, he explains that “if there is dialogue” it is something “very timid” and that, in any case, as he insists, “the Government is very tense.” “The usual thing in this type of case is that things are known after the conversation, because the condition that the Government places on the Conference is that it maintains secrecy and does not leak any information.”

The general opinion within the Cuban Catholic Church is that the Vatican, at this time, “is not helping much either.” After last year’s meeting with the COCC, the island’s leaders froze any type of contact with the Church.

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A Carnival Cruise Ship Deviates From its Route To Rescue 27 Cuban Rafters

The moment when the 27 Cuban rafters were rescued by the crew of the Carnival / Carnival Cruise Line cruise ship ‘Paradise

‘14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — A group of 27 Cuban rafters was rescued this Sunday by the Carnival ship Paradise that was heading to Honduras. The ship, which was covering the route from Tampa (Florida) to Roatán, turned when it detected the migrants asking for help from a boat adrift 20 miles west of the Island, the Fox News portal published.

Fox News indicated that the people were taken on board, “received medical attention and were provided with food.” The wooden raft was in “poor condition” and “did not carry supplies” for all the migrants, the Cruicehive site highlighted.

After the rescue, the crew of the cruise ship notified both the United States Coast Guard and officials in Roatán, but it has not yet been known whether the rafters will be handed over to Honduran or American authorities. According to the logbook of the Paradise , which set sail from Florida last Saturday, the ship will make a five-night voyage through the Caribbean. continue reading

Carnival’s ’Paradise’ cruise ship has made four rescues in its short history, three of them of Cuban rafters / Carnival Paradise Cruise Ship

This Monday, the cruise crew must disembark in Roatán and after a brief stay, continue its route, which marks a visit to Cozumel (Mexico) on Tuesday. The return to Tampa is scheduled for April 25.

The Paradise ship records three rescues of this type in its recent history. The most recent are from 2022. In August of that year six rafters about to shipwreck were helped. In July the ship took on 20 migrants who were in a wooden boat propelled by oars.

The rescue of these rafters occurs a few days after the United States Border Patrol reported the disembarkation in Florida of 47 Cuban rafters between April 4 and 15.

Last Monday, the US Coast Guard intercepted 19 migrants from the Island and handed them over for deportation proceedings. The US authorities have reiterated to the rafters that when they are taken into custody, that they will be returned to their country of origin. Likewise, it is highlighted that “they will not be able to enter the United States for a period of five years, in addition to not being eligible to request asylum.”

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A Flotilla from Miami on March 17, One of Many Rumors from Cuba

Between the 11J protests in 2021 and those of this March there are multiple points in common, as ’14ymedio’ and ‘Yucabyte’ confirmed

A group of protesters in Miami protesting on a boat after the July 11 protests

14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 21 April 2024 — On March 17, the flood of rumors reached a fever pitch comparable to, though less intense, those of 11 July 2021 (which were quickly baptized ’11J’). Fed up with long blackouts and supply shortages, Cubans again took to the streets to protest the government’s management of the crisis. A few hours later, images of the demonstrations flooded social media.

The protests of 2021 and those of this March share several things in common, as 14ymedio and Yucabyte have found in their monthly audits. These include calls for the release of jailed protesters, anti-government graffiti and slogans, and the banging of pots and pans, which heralded the start of demonstrations. There were also rumors of a fleet of boats from Miami coming to the aid of the protesters as well as a counterattack by state media, which very quickly disseminated its version of events by all means possible.

Those who anticipated a harsh crackdown by the police were surprised to learn that repression was not widespread. Legal action against the protesters was taken later, after State Security – as it did after 11 July 2021 – analyzed video footage posted on social media. It quickly became apparent that the government would likely respond with more caution this time and would not issue a “combat order” like the one that an unsettled Miguel Díaz-Canel gave on 11 July 2021. continue reading

Those who anticipated a harsh crackdown by the police were surprised to learn that repression was not widespread

Though there were reports of plainclothes agents and truckloads of Black Wasp special forces circulating among the crowd, they never attacked the demonstrators, a fact that government television programs such as “Con Filo” and “Desde la Presidencia” — created ad hoc by Díaz-Canel to redirect the narrative about the demonstrations — boasted about.

Meanwhile, there were reports on social media, accompanied by unconvincing images, of monuments to Fidel Castro being burned in Cienfuegos and Mayabeque as well as of demonstrators allegedly throwing stones at movie theaters and state institutions. There were also photos of cardboard signs with slogans such as “Down with the dictatorship” in unidentified areas as well as trashcan fires in Havana.

Access to the internet, mobile phones and landlines were reported down in heavily militarized areas such as San Antonio de los Baños, the town where the 11 July protests originated. Several people posted on social media that there were more plainclothes police on the street than ordinary citizens.

Social media commenters in Bayamo reported telecommunication problems, slow connectivity and trucks ferrying brigades of special troops. Commenters in Camagüey province noted the presence of special police and State Security agents in parks and central locations in the city of Florida. Similarly, rumors were spreading that recruits in some military units from Mayabeque were being ordered to dress in civilian clothes in order to suppress protests.

Alongside the protests and closely related to them, speculation about other plots began cropping up on social media

Alongside the protests and closely related to them, speculation about other plots began to cropping up on social media. One of them was the purported killing of José Daniel Ferrer, an opposition figure currently imprisoned in Santiago de Cuba, one of the epicenters of the demonstrations. The rumor was fueled by similarities between Ferrer and Alexei Navalny, archenemy of Vladimir Putin’s regime, whose suspicious death in prison prompted comparisons with his Cuban counterpart.

Concern that Ferrer was at risk of becoming a Cuban Navalny was also the subject of statements and op-eds that circulated during the protests.

In what many saw as an imitation of Hugo Chávez’ long-running, unscripted TV talk show “Aló Presidente” (“Hello, Mr. President”), Díaz-Canel’s new program was a measure of just how concerned the government was not only about reality but also about the version being presented on social media. There was little doubt in the Cuban president’s mind about March 17. “These events were instigated by counterrevolutionary platforms and American politicians to generate a social upheaval on the island,” he said. In his view it was “virtual Cuba” that had gone through several days of protests, not “the real Cuba.”

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Cuban Leaders in Artemisa Attribute the Failure of the Potato Harvest to the Energy Situation

Coveted by clients, merchants and informal sellers, the tuber has also been the motive for several crimes on the Island.

A truck loaded with potatoes supplies the agromarket on Camilo Cienfuegos Avenue, in Lawton, Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 17 April 2024 — The potato harvest during this year’s campaign in the fields of Artemisa has been a failure. This is admitted by the official press, which reports that of the 5,600 tons projected for harvest in the municipalities of Güira de Melena, San Antonio de los Baños and Alquízar, only 3,600 tons were obtained.

According to the official media El Artemiseño, Miguel Sánchez García, general director of the Agricultural and Forestry Business Group of the province, said that the biggest problem of the harvest was that the 280 hectares (692 acres) planted, of which 270 (667 acres) have been collected, did not yield as expected, and barely 14.5 tons were obtained from each.

However, the manager is clear about the causes of this disaster: “We couldn’t apply the 16 irrigation sprinklers due to the continuous electrical impairments just when the crop needed it most; on top of that, the rains caused rot,” Sánchez said, blaming the country’s energy situation.

Although the potatoes harvested from state seeds complied with the plan, the imported seed did not. There were eight electrical interruptions at the peak of the growing cycle,” he lamented. continue reading

During this season, in which Cubans chase after potatoes and pay scandalous prices for them, customers notice not only their quantity but also their quality

The authorities insisted, despite the obvious losses, that in many parts of the province the national average for the potato harvest, which didn’t reach 10 tons per hectare (2.5 acres), was exceeded and even doubled.

With the tubers collected, “the potato has been guaranteed for the standard family basket of the province, seven markets in Havana and the Frutas Selectas Company,” in addition to the fact that, “since the beginning of the harvest, eight pounds of potatoes have been distributed to each person in the province,” celebrates the local newspaper.

During this season, in which Cubans chase after potatoes and pay scandalous prices for them, customers notice not only their quantity but also their quality. In the Cuban capital, for example, many complain that the tuber requires a lot of cooking time to soften properly. As confirmed this week by 14ymedio, the price of a pound of potatoes in the markets is 180 pesos.

Sought after by customers, merchants and informal sellers, the potato has also been the motive of several crimes on the Island. The most recent example: the theft of 1,293 pounds in the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución last March. Destined for the 431 residents of the area, the potatoes disappeared after multiple “violations” that left a notable shortage.

The administrator of the market where the robbery occurred was arrested and taken to the Zapata and C station, according to the official website of the municipal government, which assured that the event would be investigated. After an inspection at the premises, “an adulterated weight” was found that served to give customers a lower quota than they were entitled to.

However, the figures offered by Sánchez García were higher than those published on the Council’s page and were taken up in a report by Tribuna de La Habana. According to the preliminary count, it said, 1,609 pounds of the tuber were missing, destined for 536 consumers.

Another article published in Tribuna weeks ago warned about the theft of potatoes from state refrigerators, “where the tubers selected for seed for later harvests or reserves that allow normal distribution are concentrated.” The note regretted that, with the disappearance of the Soviet Union – which was supplying the Island “throughout the year” – potatoes have gone from piling up “rotting in sacks in front of any food stall” to being a “strategic” food.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Holguin is Dismissed

On Friday, the regime also announced the dismissal of Manuel René Pérez Gallego in Las Tunas after 19 years in office

Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez (center) next to Joel Queipo Ruiz (right) / Roberto Morales Ojeda

14ymedio, Havana, April 21, 2024 — The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) dismissed Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez this Saturday as first secretary in the province of Holguín, the second dismissal of this type in the week and the seventh so far this year. The position will be held by Joel Queipo Ruiz who, according to the PCC, “has maintained a link with the province in complex moments such as COVID-19.”

Queipo Ruiz, 52, served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department. The regime highlights his 28 years of experience in political direction, “initially in the Union of Young Communists (UJC) where he came to serve as first secretary of the provincial committee in Havana and as a member of the National Bureau to attend to the ideological sphere.” In addition, he is a deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power and states that he has a master’s degree in nuclear physics.

Queipo Ruiz served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department

About Santiesteban Velázquez, who took office on June 26, 2018, it was said only that “he will be assigned other responsibilities in the auxiliary structure of the Central Committee,” without specifying what they will be.

The dismissal of Velázquez, which the regime proclaims as the “integral strategy for the policy of cadres,” is in addition to those carried out in recent weeks in Havana, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Ciego de Ávila. continue reading

Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office. His place was occupied by Walter Simón Noris, who was a member of the PCC executive bureau in Camagüey.

At the beginning of April, the first secretary of Mantua, in Pinar del Río, Liusmara Rodríguez Soriano, was dismissed. A source told 14ymedio that this was a result of the official’s poor management in the territory.

Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office

“He made a lot of mistakes. There have been more homes affected by floods and cyclones in recent years in the municipality. There are still people who have been asking for materials and help to repair their little house for ten years and more,” said the source from Pinar del Río. In addition, “he gave power to people who used cement and roofs as if this were a private farm.”

Last February, three ministers were dismissed, one of them – the former head of Economy and former deputy prime minister Alejandro Gil – who is under investigation for an alleged crime of corruption, as announced a month later.

Likewise, in recent weeks, the president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), a trade union organization in the orbit of the PCC, was also replaced.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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