Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Accuses the NYT of ‘Slandering’ His Government, but Does Not Comment on ‘El Congrejo’

The US continues its carrot-and-stick policy: Trump alludes to dialogue while his Defense Minister speaks again of a possible military intervention

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, alias ‘El Cangrejo’ (The Crab), grandson of Raúl Castro, in an archive photo. / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa

14ymedio, Madrid, August 13, 2026 / Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, on Wednesday, denounced as a “new slanderous fabrication” the article published by The New York Times (NYT) linking Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro and nicknamed “El Cangrejo” (The Crab ), to a Cuban human trafficking network in Mexico. He made the statement via his X account, as usual.

In his tweet, the foreign minister stated that the NYT article “has no basis whatsoever” and was published “in fulfillment of a service to the US government.” He emphasized: “There is no link or any particiption between the Cuban government and human trafficking operations in Central America or Mexico.”

However, the minister at no point does the minister deny the possible involvement of Castro’s grandson in the criminal activities reported by the NYT. He merely distances his government, to which El Cangrejo does not belong .

Rodríguez asserts that “the authorities of that country were repeatedly advised to investigate the matter, but they never responded.”

What is “absolutely true,” he says, “is that, in bilateral conversations between the Cuban and United States governments on migration issues, with the participation of high-ranking officials from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, between 2022 and 2024, the Cuban delegation repeatedly warned about the existence of one or more operations trafficking Cubans to the U.S., whose coordinating center was in South Florida.” Rodríguez asserts that “the authorities of that country were repeatedly advised to investigate the matter, but they never responded.”

The New York Times article, published Tuesday, linked El Cangrejo to the group known as the Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo, in southeastern Mexico. His name was mentioned, the U.S. newspaper says, by at least two members of the organization itself, who were arrested in the United States.

One of them is José Miguel González Vidal, who was sentenced in 2023 to 25 years in prison. He reported that he gave a boat to Raúl Castro’s grandson, along with a Rolex watch, a Suzuki motorcycle, and Louis Vuitton clothing. The gifts, according to court records, were given in exchange for allowing merchandise purchased by the network in Mexico with stolen credit cards to pass continue reading

through Cuban customs.

The most serious aspect, however, is the role that the boats and other stolen goods played in the activities attributed to the Cuban Mafia in Quintana Roo. The organization was principally dedicated to trafficking thousands of migrants from Cuba to Mexico and, ultimately, to the United States. To this end, the Times noted, the mafia stole luxury boats and nautical equipment “for years,” at least since 2009, in cities across southwest Florida, from Sarasota to Naples and Marco Island.

Speaking to the US newspaper, the New York Times called the accusations “slander,” although Rodríguez Castro did not respond to requests for comment.

“As I’ve said before, and I think you’ve seen what’s happened in other cases, all options are on the table, including military ones.”

Although the Times indicated that Raúl Castro’s grandson has not been charged and it is unclear whether he is the subject of an ongoing investigation, the fact that his name appears in such a news story is significant because of the role he has played in recent months as an interlocutor and key figure in the negotiations with Washington in the dialogue that both countries have opened.

With respect to bilateral relations, on Wednesday US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeated his threat of a possible military intervention in Cuba. “As I’ve said before, and I think you’ve seen what has happened in other cases, all options are on the table, including military ones,” Hegseth told reporters during his visit to Panama, where he participated in an event for the military coalition led by Washington against drug cartels.

Likewise, the Secretary of Defense stated that Havana “would do well to pay attention” to the “will” of President Donald Trump, to “assert the strategic prerogatives” of the US.

After that, he boasted that “no one can compare to the United States.” Hegseth elaborated: “What foreign influence has been able to accomplish in your hemisphere has been quite insignificant.” He added: “The Russians, Cubans, Iranians, and Venezuela… The way those countries have moved closer to the United States and the Americas Cartel Coalition (A3C) shows that they understand where the balance of power lies, especially in this hemisphere. And that, without a doubt, applies to Cuba.”

Since its incursion into Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro in early January, the Trump administration has repeatedly raised the possibility that the same could happen with Cuba at any moment. The island is subject to an oil embargo—except for the relief provided by US imports of gasoline and diesel through private companies —and sanctions have been tightened.

At the same time, the US president has affirmed that he maintains a “flexible” posture and has publicized the opening of a dialogue. “Cuba has great properties and a beautiful coastline,” Trump said in June, after stating that unlike Venezuela, the island has no oil, in remarks in which he asserted that Cuban authorities are “very eager” to engage in dialogue with Washington.

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Military Personnel Deployed to Locations Identified As the Sites of Attacks on Motorcyclists in Guanabacoa

Residents of the area are wondering if the aim is also to repress the population, especially in light of the events commemorating the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth.

Several surveillance points have been deployed throughout the municipality / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, August 10, 2026 / A large military deployment has been extended throughout Guanabacoa, including the areas where witnesses told 14ymedio that assaults had occurred. This Sunday, several soldiers could be seen early on the corner of La Cotorra Park and the Amphitheater.

The operation, however, has generated suspicions among residents of the area, who are wondering if it is an attempt to eradicate the increasingly frequent robberies or if it is an effort to repress the population, especially given the upcoming centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth this Thursday. In recent months, protests against the endless power outages have multiplied across the island.

“They’ve set up checkpoints in many places,” a resident told this publication. He added, “There’s one right around the corner from my house. They pretend to solve the problems, but they’re really full of police, just like in dictatorships.”

From Lawton, also in Havana, a resident reports that internet speeds “have slowed” because they are expecting some kind of protest. There are plenty of reasons for this. “Yesterday we had a 20-hour blackout. Now there’s electricity, but the connection is unstable,” he adds. continue reading

“Yesterday we had a 20-hour power outage. Now there is electricity, but the connection is unstable.”

The deployment in Guanabacoa, some residents of the area agree, goes beyond simply being present in an area prone to robberies, and in fact seems to be a preventative measure against any protests against the increase in blackouts, the prices of oil and other basic necessities.

Another neighbor claims that the deployment of soldiers throughout the municipality is to prevent any “shady dealings” surrounding Fidel Castro’s birthday, a date that the regime will exploit from August 13th to December 4th.

Residents say that “checkpoints have been set up in many places” in the municipality / 14ymedio

At one point, a group of four soldiers can be seen. All of them, young, are simply chatting on what is a sunny and peaceful afternoon. Nearby, two other young men are passing the time. The weather is kind, but the arrival of night brings other challenges, among them, the increasingly frequent insecurity.

The Havana municipality becomes a “wolf’s den” when the sun goes down. The combination of power outages, deserted streets, and poor lighting has multiplied insecurity. This Sunday, this newspaper reported the theft of a moped from a couple riding after 11 p.m. “We went out because we had no other choice,” they said. In minutes, their life savings vanished before their eyes, leaving them powerless to do anything.

The combination of blackouts, deserted streets, and poor lighting has increased insecurity.

She needed internet access for her work as a community manager; he, a barber, was taking advantage of the trip to shower at a house in Regla where there was running water. They were returning home when two hooded men intercepted them and stole their electric motorcycle at knifepoint.

“They appeared from behind on a combustion engine motorcycle. The one in the back was carrying a knife. They slashed at them and pushed them with their feet to knock them down,” a person close to the victims told this media outlet.

In recent months, social media has also seen a surge in reports of stolen electric motorcycles and tricycles, along with posts from family members and neighbors trying to locate stolen vehicles or identify the perpetrators. Thefts of these vehicles are on the rise because they can be sold on the black market for up to $2,300, compared to their original price of around $1,300.

Insecurity has also affected businesses. On July 29th, a robbery was reported at the 28 de Enero MSME in the community of La Jata. Journalist Niover Licea posted a video showing two men, in broad daylight and surrounded by shoppers, waiting for the staff to be distracted before stealing equipment.

On July 29th, a robbery was reported at the 28 de Enero micro-enterprise in the community of La Jata.

At the end of June, a Cuban woman identified as Yanet Pérez publicly reported on Facebook that her home in Pueblo La Gallega was robbed on a Sunday morning, around nine o’clock, while she was not at home.

Another case involved a doctor. Three armed men broke into her home in the early hours of the morning. They threatened her with firearms, pointing them at her head and neck, and stole money, jewelry, a motorcycle, and all her belongings, including her shoes.

The complaint was filed in early July by Cuban writer Yoana Hernández Suárez, the victim’s aunt, through her social media, after receiving a message from her niece that said: “Auntie, we were robbed last night at home by three individuals with weapons. We are alive. Don’t worry.”

For one of the residents of Guanabacoa, with the military deployment in various parts of the municipality, “I suspect thieves will think twice,” especially late at night when the streets are deserted. “It might be a little easier to go out,” he says.

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US Senator Marco Rubio Compares the Transition in Cuba to That of Eastern Europe, Which “Took Between Three and Five Years”

“Our country is interested in having a secure, stable Cuba aligned with the United States. I feel the same way about Venezuela,” the Secretary of State said in an interview on Katie Miller’s podcast.

Marco Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, during their interview with Kate Miller. / Screenshot/Katie Miller Podcast

14ymedio, Madrid, August 12, 2026 / “I am certain that Cuba, before this administration ends, will be on an irreversible path toward a very different future.” This was the emphatic statement made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with his wife, Jeanette, on Katie Miller’s podcast, published this Tuesday.

Asked whether the Island is next on the list after the capture and removal of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Rubio seemed confident, but warned: “You can’t have something in the same place for 70 years, with deep roots, and think that overnight you can uproot it all and plant something completely new. A transition and a process have to occur.” In that respect, he cited the fall of the Berlin Wall in Eastern Europe as an illustrative example.

“We saw that it took between three and five years for the countries of Eastern Europe to become what we know today,” he recalled. “Poland is probably the best example.” And he emphasized that “Cuba will be on that path, well advanced on that path,” given the priority given to the island by the current administration. “Nothing can ever be guaranteed,” he added, “but it is certainly a priority, because it is in our national interest.”

“I worry about Cuba, obviously I have a personal connection, but I don’t work for Cuba, I work for the United States.”

On this point, he emphasized: “I worry about Cuba, obviously I have a personal connection, but I don’t work for Cuba, I work for the United States, and I believe it is in our country’s national interest to have a secure and stable Cuba aligned with the U.S. I feel the same way about continue reading

Venezuela.”

Regarding the incursion against Maduro, Katie Miller asked Jeanette Rubio if she noticed him nervous at home during those days, and if she could guess that something big was happening in the world because of his change in behavior. She said that she “knew something was going on because he was constantly going in and out; we didn’t do anything during the holidays, but I didn’t know exactly what.” Jeanette maintains that aside from being “busier, on the phone, and thinking,” her husband always remains “calm and relaxed.”

In a relaxed tone, the reporter alternated questions between the two, focusing more on informal topics than on matters related to Rubio’s position. When asked if his predecessors had given him any advice before taking office, the official said, “Yes, some,” but that “more than advice, they shared their impressions.” The Secretary of State affirmed that, in any case, “much of what we do depends on the times you live in.” He continued, “If you were Secretary of State in the middle of the Cold War, or after 9/11, it was a very different world from the one we’re facing right now.” Ultimately, he said, it’s a position that “works for the president,” and depends on who occupies the White House, in his case, Donald Trump.

The program included a segment in which, during the 2016 Republican primaries in which they faced off, Miller referred to him as “Little Marco” after asking if he had considered a rapper name for him, such as “Lil Marco,” given his fondness for that music. The Secretary of State dodged the joke: “No, I wouldn’t be a good rapper, but I could be a good producer.”

Rubio also recounted, amused, the moment Trump offered him the position: “He just called me and told me,” he said. “I think I had even posted it already, and then he told me. And I was happy to do it, I felt honored. He’s not so much about ‘are you interested in being?’ as ‘hey, you’re going to be,’ and I said, ‘okay, let’s do it.’”

They both agreed to answer the question about the secret to a happy marriage. “You answer that question,” Jeanette urged. “There’s no secret,” he countered. And she continued, “You have to have a friendship.” After explaining that he forgives offenses more easily than she does, Marco Rubio concluded, “People watch movies and think that marriage is something where you’re happy all the time. And it’s not. You enter into a partnership to share life, and life is hard.”

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New Record Number of Political Prisoners in Cuba, Including a 13-year-old

Prisoners Defenders documents 36 new additions to its list and denounces the increase in arrests following the blackout protests

Alex Javier Hernández González remains in the prison known as El Combinadito / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, August 12, 2026 / The intensification of repression in Cuba has resulted in a new record number of political prisoners in July. According to the most recent report from the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD), 1,327 people are currently imprisoned in Cuba for political reasons, including Alex Javier Hernández González, a 13-year-old minor.

“Repression reaches a child beaten and imprisoned,” PD reports in a publication this Wednesday. The minor was detained without an arrest warrant or judicial supervision on July 22nd following protests in Santiago de Las Vegas, Boyeros, Havana. According to his mother, the teenager was walking along the road connecting that town to Wajay, near the Mulgoba neighborhood, when police officers, in response to the protests, began chasing and arresting people in the area.

Alex Javier “was found observing what was happening and tried to get away when he noticed the presence of the agents, but he was quickly caught. His mother reported that four uniformed police officers hit him on the head, neck, and back. During the assault, the minor pleaded, ‘Don’t hit me anymore, I’m a boy.’ When she was later able to see him, the woman confirmed his injuries and found her son crying and asking her to call his father,” the NGO stated.

After his arrest, he was taken to the Calabazar police station. Although he was supposed to be taken to a clinic to have a medical certificate issued documenting his injuries, the police suspended his transfer, claiming that “a signature was missing.” “At the same time, they tried to blame the protesters for the beating, a version that the minor himself contradicted by identifying four uniformed police officers as the perpetrators of the assault,” PD points out. continue reading

“They tried to blame the protesters for the beatings, a version that the minor himself contradicted by identifying four uniformed police officers as the perpetrators of the attack.”

For now, Alex Javier remains in El Combinadito, a juvenile detention center run by the Ministry of the Interior in Guanabacoa. His arrest occurred without a warrant or any judicial oversight, and the charges against him and the authorities’ decision regarding his situation are not publicly known.

The minor was one of 36 new additions to the Prisoners Defenders list, 15 of them linked to protests, in a month marked by the fifth anniversary of the mass Island-wide protests of 11 July 2021. Of those cases, 13 were concentrated in the east and east-central parts of the country, where prolonged blackouts,the lack of water, and the collapse of other essential services have created fertile ground for the population to stage new pot-banging protests [cacerolazos] and demonstrations.

The detentions, according to the organization, affect a broad mosaic of society: protesters, artists, journalists, activists, and people who were simply performing acts of solidarity.

Prisoners Defenders also reported that the persecution “was not limited to those who took to the streets. Two artists were arrested for staging and recording a performance against the blackouts; other activists were imprisoned for denouncing the crisis and calling for demonstrations, and digital creators were investigated for disseminating critical content.”

In addition, patterns of malnutrition, torture, and deprivation of medical care continue to be observed among those who remain imprisoned: 459 political prisoners suffer from serious medical conditions, the Madrid-based organization warned.

Patterns of malnutrition, torture, and denial of medical care continue to be observed among those who remain imprisoned.

The report also highlights the recent enactment of Decree 160/2026, which prohibits periodical publications and information activity by all non-state economic actors, legally closing any loopholes for the independent press, which is already persecuted in practice.

The document emphasizes the increasingly frequent use of forced expatriation. Examples include the cases of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, deported after serving his full sentence; Yosvany Rosell García Caso, whom the prison administration informed would be “sent out of Cuba,” a fact his family denounces as a violation of his right to remain in the country; and Roilán Álvarez Rensoler, whose release depends on his family buying him a ticket to leave Cuba.

“Leaving the country is presented as the only alternative to regaining freedom,” notes Prisoners Defenders. Exile, the report emphasizes, “adds uprooting, family separation, and the silencing of a critical voice within the national territory.”

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Three More Cuban Athletes Defect During the Central American Games in Santo Domingo

Cuban Fencers Adam Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz and softball outfielder Yasmani Álvarez did not return to the Island

Fencer Hershey Daniela de la Cruz. / Facebook/Dporto ArtSports

14ymedio, Havana, August 11, 2026 / The regime has remained silent about the escape of Cuban fencers Adam Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz, as well as softball team center fielder Yasmani Álvarez, during the Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Cuba finished third in the medal count after winning 51 gold, 48 silver and 46 bronze medals.

The state-run media Jit praised the return of the last group to the island. Rolando Yero, a member of the Party’s Central Committee and head of its Social Welfare Department, asserted that “sport continues to be a cornerstone of the Cuban Revolution.” Meanwhile, Cubadebate described the Cuban delegation as “a giant,” citing the competitors’ “sacrifice and dedication” and their unique way of “competing against all odds, even against the invisible.”

Nothing was published about the absences of Núñez and De la Cruz, who, according to the Facebook page Dporto Sports News, decided to flee on the last day of competition. Núñez was a substitute on the saber team and “left the village before the final competition.” De la Cruz, on the other hand, had finished fifth in the individual event of the same discipline as her teammate and, in the team competition, “finished in eighth and last place after losing her match against continue reading

Venezuela.”

The other escape was carried out last Thursday by Yasmani Álvarez. / Dporto Sports News

Journalist Yasel Porto noted that fencing had a lackluster performance in Santo Domingo, “the worst in decades at these games after the team épée team only managed a bronze medal.” According to the reporter, “economic and administrative problems have made this sport the worst combat sport on the island.”

The other defection occurring last Thursday was that of Yasmani Álvarez. According to the news program Al Strike Softball, the Havana native separated from the group the day before Cuba’s game against Colombia. “The news broke after the country’s participation in the Central American Games concluded.”

The escapes of Núñez, De la Cruz, and Álvarez come on top of that of Moisés David Torres Puig, the goalkeeper for the men’s field hockey team, who left Cuban sports just hours before the tournament’s official opening without having played a single match. The athlete from Las Tunas pretended to have been hit by a ball during training and asked for ice to treat the supposed injury. After announcing he was going to throw the ice away, he took advantage,, in collusion with another person, to escape in a vehicle requested through the Uber app.

Days later, rower Leah Daniela Almeida, who won gold alongside Ana Jiménez, also fled. Little information was released about the competitor, born in Máximo Gómez, in the Matanzas municipality of Perico. Journalist Francys Romero stated that there were “no further details about the circumstances or the whereabouts” of the competitor.

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Havana Chronicles: What Kind of Country Will I Find When I Walk Its Streets Again?

After two weeks of illness, I contemplate a Cuba that seems to have plummeted even further.

The giant garbage dump at Reforma and Rodríguez, in the Havana neighborhood of Luyanó. / 14ymedio

Two weeks of convalescence is a long time. In those days, a body can become exhausted from fighting fever and pain, a neighborhood can sink even deeper into the health crisis, and a country can plummet even further than it was the last time I walked its streets. I feel like the end of July and the beginning of August have been stolen from me, bringing me back to a moment where everything is worse than when I left it.

From the rooftop, I can see the trash dump on the corner of Factor and Conill, which has become a veritable country. It has hollows, peaks, burnt areas, a growing ecosystem of flies, mosquitoes, and rodents, as well as regular visitors rummaging through the garbage looking for food. My sense of smell barely functions because of the virus that has kept me in bed these past few days. It is almost a blessing, because I’m told the air smells of rotting waste and burnt filth.

I haven’t dared to go down the 14 flights of stairs. I still don’t have the strength. Waiting for the electricity to come back on so I can use the elevator might be pointless. The most recent blackout lasted 28 hours. When the power returned, we were so exhausted we didn’t even have the energy to celebrate. With aching joints and eyes red from the illness, I rushed to connect the backup batteries, turn on the washing machine, and try to store water. This crisis doesn’t care about ailments.

With joint pain and eyes reddened by the illness, I rushed to connect the backup batteries, turn on the washing machine, and try to store water.

A neighbor says that we are being punished with long hours without electricity so that on August 13, the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth, we can have electricity all day and thus give thanks for the gesture of allowing us to drink some cold water, bathe with a light bulb on, and even soften some beans in the electric pot.

My brain is still working very slowly, so I don’t get the irony. I’m numb, but I feel rage. The rage continue reading

hasn’t subsided, not even with the swollen joints or the headaches.

I read the news. There are demonstrations for the victims of earthquakes, calls to alleviate hunger in conflict zones, and appeals to ensure the safety of thousands of people caught up in surging migrations. I don’t read a single headline about the declaration of a national state of emergency in my country. No mention that the Cuban authorities have publicly acknowledged the catastrophic situation we are experiencing, which would allow for the implementation of urgent protocols to save our lives—the lives that are still standing.

There is a lack of field hospitals because the country’s healthcare facilities have neither the supplies nor the conditions, or sufficient staff to confront the epidemiological crisis we are experiencing. Food distribution points are urgently needed to curb the hunger that is claiming lives. It is also urgent to distribute drinking water, medicine, and basic supplies to alleviate the power outages and prevent those currently on the brink from succumbing in the coming weeks.

My friend died early this morning. It has affected me deeply. Always optimistic and always supportive, she passed away at a very dark time for Cuba. I think about her life, but also about all the difficulties her family will have to face now, after her death. Because dying doesn’t put an end to problems; rather, it begins another path of difficulties, from transporting the body in a city where a liter of gasoline costs around 3,000 pesos, to buying a bouquet of flowers amidst an official crackdown on private businesses that has kept many shops and businesses under lock and key.

Last night was the least bad of the last two weeks. The pain in my legs wasn’t too bad. Tomorrow will be better, I tell myself, though I don’t really believe it. When the numbness from the painkillers wears off, my nose is working properly again, and my feet can once more explore the streets, what kind of country will I find?

The “Havana Chronicles” series can be read here.

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The Links Between Raúl Castro’s Grandson and the Cuban Mafia in Mexico Have Been Revealed

The New York Times reveals that “El Cangrejo” supported an organization that stole boats in Florida to take Cuban migrants to the US
Baseball players Yasiel Puig and Adeiny Hechavarría, along with thousands of other Mexicans, were taken off the island via Quintana Roo.

Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro received a boat, a Rolex watch, a Suzuki motorcycle, and Louis Vuitton clothing from the group, according to investigations in the US / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, August 11, 2026 / Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as El Cangrejo (The Crab) and grandson of Raúl Castro, appears to be part of the Cuban Mafia network in Quintana Roo, in southeastern Mexico. His name was mentioned by José Miguel González Vidal, a member of the organization who in 2023 was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States.

The link was published this Tuesday in The New York Times, which notes in an extensive account that the interlocutor and key figure in the negotiations with Washington in the dialogue that both countries have opened has not been accused as part of the plot.

González Vidal, 38, one of at least six members of the mafia who pleaded guilty in the United States, reported that he gifted a boat to Raúl Castro’s grandson, along with a Rolex watch, a Suzuki motorcycle, and Louis Vuitton clothing. According to court records, the gifts were given in exchange for allowing goods purchased by the network in Mexico with stolen credit cards to pass through Cuban customs.

The Cuban government called the accusations involving Rodríguez Castro “slander,” and El Cangrejo did not respond to requests for comment, according to the New York newspaper.

The Cuban government described the accusations involving Rodríguez Castro as “slander.”

The claim that a boat was handed to Raúl Castro’s grandson is significant because of the role that boats and other stolen goods played in the activities attributed to the Cuban Mafia in continue reading

Quintana Roo.

David Bolton, a veteran private investigator quoted by the newspaper, described the group as “the true pirates of the Caribbean” and “ruthless killers.” The organization was primarily dedicated to trafficking thousands of migrants from Cuba to Mexico and, ultimately, to the United States. To do this, the Times reported, the mafia stole luxury boats and nautical equipment “for years,” at least since 2009, in cities across southwest Florida, from Sarasota to Naples and Marco Island.

Through Operation Sisyphus, a special unit of the FBI and the Office of Investigations of Homeland Security, after more than 10 years of investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice was able to link the thefts to human trafficking from the island. In 2020, it filed charges against several Cubans residing in Mexico for smuggling thousands of migrants out of Cuba.

According to prosecutors, they charged around $10,000 for the transfer. Those who couldn’t pay were held captive in Mexico and were “tortured with stun guns, and their families were extorted.” According to court documents, some women were forced to work in strip clubs, the US media outlet reports.

According to court documents, some women were forced to work in strip clubs, the US media outlet reports.

“We used physical punishment,” one of the traffickers, Reynaldo Crespo Márquez, testified in 2023, after pleading guilty in a U.S. federal court in Miami. “Sometimes we beat them with a wooden board or a Taser gun,” he confessed.

According to the Department of Justice, members of the criminal organization contacted the victims’ families and threatened to torture, starve, and kill them if the families refused to pay. Those who did pay were sent by bus to the U.S.-Mexico border and instructed on how to apply for asylum.

Authorities were able to document that around 25 people died during the journeys.

Among the migrants smuggled were professional baseball players, including shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría, who played for several teams in the Major Leagues from 2012 to 2020, and Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig.

Another area exploited by the Cuban Mafia was the purchase of goods with stolen credit cards to smuggle them into Cuba.

Another area exploited by the Cuban Mafia was the purchase of goods with stolen credit cards to smuggle them into Cuba – a task in which the presence of El Cangrejo was vital – and sell them in Cuban government stores.

Some members of the organization also trafficked boats, cars, and trucks. Some were used as bribes, as noted in the case of Raúl Castro’s grandson, or sold to pay off foreign officials, according to the documents.

The group suffered its latest blow in April, when a key financier of the Quintana Roo cartel was arrested. Remigio Valdez Lao, 59, known as El Milo, was a “priority target” and was wanted for extradition to the United States on charges of human trafficking and organized crime, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

According to the Mexican government report, El Milo was located when security agents were conducting patrols in the Residencial Arbolada subdivision of the municipality of Benito Juárez, on the Caribbean coast. Along with Valdez Lao was Joseline García Biscaino, an alleged member of the same group, from whom 38 doses of marijuana and a pickup truck were seized.

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Nicaragua Erects a Statue of Fidel Castro for His Centenary, and Vietnam Gives Cuba 100 Billion Dong

The 13-meter-high monument will be erected in the middle of a forest of pink ‘arbolatas’ created by co-president Rosario Murillo.

Metal sculpture of Fidel Castro surrounded by the pink trees created by the co-president of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo. / The 19 Digital/J. Poveda

14ymedio, Madrid, August 11, 2026 / The Nicaraguan government announced on Tuesday that it will install a sculpture in homage to the late Fidel Castro Ruz (1926-2016), on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, this coming August 13.

The monument consists of an enormous full-body image of the former president in metal, surrounded by a forest of trees, also metallic and pink in color, which the locals disparagingly call “arbolatas” or “chayopalos,” alluding to the country’s co-president, Rosario ” Chayo ” Murillo, Daniel Ortega’s wife and the inspiration behind what are officially called “trees of life.” The sculpture will be installed in an amusement park next to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit headquarters, and across from the National Assembly.

Rosario Murillo announced through official media that it is being installed “with great honor and pride, on Avenida de Bolívar a Chávez, honoring the leader of the American and Caribbean revolution, Commander Fidel Castro Ruz, who was with us, who visited Nicaragua and who inspired the revolutionary struggles.”

Murillo added that the unveiling of the sculpture is part of other tributes to Fidel Castro in Nicaragua, which will include activities in universities and in different municipalities.

The monument consists of a huge, full-body image of the former president in metal, 13 meters high, surrounded by a forest of trees, also metallic and pink in color.

On the other side of the planet, and with the motive of marking the same centenary, the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam, in coordination with the Cuban Embassy in Hanoi, held a ceremony on August 11 to present 100 billion Vietnamese dongs. The large sum is due to continue reading

the sharp devaluation of the Vietnamese currency: one dollar is currently worth about 26,000 dongs. Nevertheless, it is a significant amount: approximately 3.82 million dollars.

The sum was raised through the Humanitarian Month 2026 campaign to support the Cuban people, according to official media.

During the ceremony the president of the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam, Do Thi Thu Thao, recalled Fidel Castro’s visit to the liberated zone of Quang Tri province in 1973 and his words: “For Vietnam, Cuba is prepared to shed even its own blood.”

Thao acknowledged that the people of the Island have continued to face many difficulties in their daily lives during recent years and wanted to emphasize that the aid constitutes not only material support, but also “the gratitude of the Vietnamese people towards the Cuban people.”

Thao acknowledged that the people of the Island have continued to face many difficulties in their daily lives during recent years

The Cuban ambassador to Vietnam, Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, who was present at the ceremony, expressed his gratitude for the gesture and noted that the aid comes at a time when the island is facing numerous difficulties, and will therefore help to alleviate the impacts on Cubans’ lives.

Polanco also recalled the program launched in 2025 by the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam and the Vietnam Fatherland Front, which closed with more than 23.3 million dollars raised to “support the Cuban people”.

The Cuban ambassador presented the Central Committee of the Red Cross of Vietnam with a work entitled Fidel Castro Ruz – Cuba in the heart of the Vietnamese people , composed of more than 6,600 small photographs.

These were not the only international gestures to honor the former Cuban leader on his centenary. The Mexico City government decided to erect statues of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, similar to others that had been removed from the Cuauhtémoc district for having been installed “irregularly” and “without official permits.”

This is actually an ideological disagreement between the leaders of Mexico City. The Cuauhtémoc borough mayor is a liberal, while the city’s mayor supports the Cuban regime and is aligned with the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

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Cuba: Along the Vía Blanca, Stalls Selling Gasoline in One-Liter Bottles Are Popping Upp

In and around the old Shell station in Guanabacoa, three types of transactions coexist: legal ones, ‘underground’ business, and street vendors.

“Gasoline 2,600,” reads the sign held by a vendor standing by the Vía Blanca, like someone advertising mangoes or avocados. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, August 8, 2026 / The gas station at the Roundabout of the former Shell station, in Guanabacoa, has become a hub for the fuel business where three options compete: legal sales managed by a micro-enterprise, which rents the pumps to Cupet; black market sales, which depend on another company; and the newest variant, which consists of placing young people with one-liter bottles of gasoline in the vicinity of the gas station.

“Gasoline 2,600,” reads the sign held by a vendor standing by the Vía Blanca, like someone advertising mangoes or avocados. A few meters ahead, three bottles filled with a yellowish liquid are offered for 2,800 pesos each. Here, the product is sold in Mexican pesos, unlike at the gas station itself, where transactions are in dollars, but only by contract and with prepayment.

The legal practice is no longer entirely legitimate, as there is a noticeable presence of state vehicles refueling in violation of the authorization granted by the US solely to the private sector , both for import and sale. The name of the micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (MSME) managing the gas station is unknown, but an investigation by 14ymedio has established that the company selling fuel illegally belongs to the YES Group.

“You get there and pay three dollars per liter. They tell you to go to the Shell roundabout, but I don’t know if they have other service stations as well.”

Like other micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that have ventured into the lucrative fuel business , doubts arise about their ties to the state and whether continue reading

they are genuinely private companies or government fronts. In this case, the numerous investments of the Y.E.S. Group are noteworthy, including an appliance store on Galiano Street, a restaurant in the same area of Central Havana, a beauty salon in the La Copa shopping center, and a “coastal estate” 20 minutes from the capital.

The group has no activity linked to the energy sector, and yet customers can go to one of its offices in Playa to buy fuel. This newspaper spoke with Ernesto, a regular user of this service. “The process begins in a building with rather tangled hallways,” he explains. “You get there and pay three dollars per liter. They tell you to go to the Shell Roundabout, but I don’t know if they have other service stations as well. You have to ask for someone named A. He has a list. You arrive, they verify that you’re on it, and you practically go straight in to fill up.”

While dozens of vehicles, including PedroCars buses, yellow taxis, and Transmed vans, wait their turn, the customers on the YES Group list access the pump without much delay. “I saw people taking ten liters and others filling up huge tanks. One guy left with a thousand liters. I took fifty,” he recounts.

The description matches the pattern that 14ymedio has been documenting in recent months. Since April, several investigations have revealed that the state has begun leasing Cupet gas stations to private companies that import and sell fuel, allowing them to use state infrastructure to serve their own customers.

Shell roundabout in Guanabacoa (Havana). / 14ymedio

Those operations had already drawn criticism because they coexisted with the official rationing system. Now, according to several testimonies gathered by this newspaper, the business appears to have evolved into a much more organized mechanism.

“I was afraid it was gasoline mixed with water or something weird that would ruin the engine,” the driver admits. “But it smells exactly like Cupet gas. The car hasn’t given me any problem.”

Meanwhile, the street market continues to grow around the service station. Vendors display handwritten price signs and wait for customers along the roadside.

“If you don’t want to go through offices or pay in dollars, you buy it from them,” commented a motorcyclist watching the coming and going of buyers. “Everyone knows where they are.”

The 2,600 pesos advertised on the sign even represents a decrease compared to prices just a few weeks ago, when some resellers were asking up to 3,500 pesos per liter. The drop could indicate greater fuel availability in the informal market or increasing competition among the intermediaries themselves.

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In Lawton, 137 Hours of Blackout in One Week: “More Than Five Days in the Dark”

In Luyanó, another Havana neighborhood, residents collected 70,000 pesos to replace a broken transformer, but in the end it couldn’t be done.

In addition to being without power for more than five days, the Havana neighborhood is also suffering from a lack of water / Amy Goodman/ Flickr

In the Lawton neighborhood, in Havana’s Diez de Octubre municipality, residents experienced a power outage lasting all of 137 hours, from August 2nd to 8th. “That’s like five days and a bit more without electricity. Completely in the dark,” a resident told 14ymedio. “Then I’ll tell you about the water shortage, which is even worse,” he added.

in Luyanó the crisis is repeated . After three days without power, desperate owners of small and medium-sized businesses in the area and their neighbors organized to collect 70,000 pesos so that local linemen would replace their transformer. “Paying for their work,” said one resident, who, with a prophetic voice, predicted: “You can’t say anything, because if you do, they won’t fix it. What has this country become? My God.”

Hours later, the plan fell apart. “A neighbor went to the command post and snitched on the money for the transformer, and now the linemen have backed out,” he said. Now, he said, “you already know what that means—we just have to keep waiting.”

The energy situation in the country is driving Cubans to desperation, and the situation is far from improving this Monday. According to the daily report from the National Electric Union (UNE), the national situation for Monday, August 10, looks critical. At 6:00 a.m., the National Electric System (SEN) had only 930 MW available, compared to a demand of 2,820 MW. At that time continue reading

, there was already a deficit of 1,880 MW, and by midday, the UNE estimated a shortfall of 1,700 MW.

During peak demand hours, when solar energy no longer contributes anything to the SEN, the state-owned company anticipates an impact of 2,280 MW.

The prognosis for tonight is even worse. During peak demand hours, when solar energy no longer contributes to the National Electric System (SEN), the state-owned company anticipates a shortfall of 2,280 MW, although this is far from the record deficit of 2,411 MW registered last week .

Currently, seven of the country’s 16 thermoelectric generating units are not operational. Unit 6 at Mariel, Unit 4 at Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, and Unit 2 at Felton are experiencing “breakdowns,” while Unit 3 at Santa Cruz, Unit 5 at Nuevitas, and Units 5 and 6 at Renté (Santiago de Cuba) are undergoing “maintenance.”

Thermal power plants contribute 40% of the energy mix and are fueled by domestic crude oil. The other 40% comes from generators, but this energy source, which requires diesel and fuel oil, has been shut down since January due to US government sanctions.

The Cuban energy crisis is explained by the combination of a situational element, the United States oil embargo, an action that the Cuban government has repeatedly denounced as “energy strangulation,” and a structural factor, a profoundly obsolete energy system that needs at least $6.612 billion just to upgrade its electricity generation capacity, according to a report by the US research center Cuba Study Group published last March.

The technical recovery of the national electricity system depends on institutional and economic conditions.

The study, conducted by Cuban economist Ricardo Torres, notes that the “technical recovery” of the national electricity system “depends on institutional and economic conditions that allow for sustained investment and operational reliability” and, in general terms, an “economic transformation.”

The cleanup, Torres points out, involves on the one hand, recovering the generation of thermoelectric plants and distributed generation (diesel and fuel oil engines) and, on the other hand, promoting a transformation of the energy mix by boosting renewables (solar, wind and bioelectric plants based on sugarcane biomass).

The serious energy situation in Cuba – which has caused 12 national blackouts in the last two years – has almost completely paralyzed the state economy, which, according to independent estimates, could contract by 6.5% this year, after an accumulated drop of more than 15% in the previous five years.

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The Lamentable Legacy of Castro-Chavismo

The Cuban tyrant had attempted, through violence and systematic manipulation of reality, to impose governments in his own image and likeness in the hemisphere

A coalition in which their respective hatreds of democracy, freedom, and human dignity merged. / La Pupila Insomne

14ymedio, Pedro Corzo, Miami, August 9, 2026 / I don’t know if we are near the end of the regimes inspired by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, namely Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, not forgetting Ecuador, which was able to escape thanks to the arrogance and conceit of Rafael Correa, one of the most conspicuous clowns to have misgoverned a Latin American republic, only comparable to the coca grower Evo Morales, although very far from the lethal Daniel Ortega.

However, all the subjects mentioned are characterized by a populism that bordered on the absurd, a profound and expanded corruption, plus an ineptitude to govern their respective countries coupled with the ability to proclaim a nationalist vision, while transferring the sovereignty of the country to the most promising ally.

The Castro-Chavista proposal arose from the alliance between Castro and Chávez. Previously, the Cuban tyrant had attempted, through violence and systematic manipulation of reality, to impose governments in his own image in the hemisphere, a project that only yielded failures, given that, although Daniel Ortega came to power through terror, he had the support of some neighboring countries and others not so geographically close, such as the Venezuela of Carlos Andrés Pérez.

The Castro brothers provided their subversive, repressive, and reality-distorting capabilities, while Chávez and Nicolás Maduro contributed all of Venezuela’s wealth.

Castro, with thirty uninterrupted years in power, witnessed the arrival of Hugo Chávez to the highest office in Venezuela, a fateful coexistence that resulted, whether by prior agreement or understanding on the fly, in a coalition in which their respective hatreds against democracy, freedom and respect for human dignity were fused together with the resentful envy they professed towards the United States, forging the indecent proposal that today we call Castro-Chavismo, not without having proclaimed that they were in favor of 21st Century Socialism.

The new alliance, it must be acknowledged, was successful. The Castro brothers provided their subversive, repressive, and distorting capabilities, while Chávez and Nicolás Maduro contributed all of Venezuela’s wealth, pocketed by Chávez and Maduro who like good sharks spread the wealth to their offspring, subsidized Castro’s totalitarian regime, and bought political support with oil diplomacy that bankrupted the Venezuelan treasury.

This program quickly gained numerous supporters, among whom stood out the corrupt and deceitful Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the most aberrant hypocrite among all Latin American politicians, and the no less nefarious Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, although to honor the truth these scoundrels never lacked allies, so much so that there was a movement called the “pink tide,” which was always ready to continue reading

support their proposals, among those who remember the former president of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández.

Rafael Correa left power in 2017 and the country still suffers from his legacy

Shedding the legacy of Castro-Chavismo is not easy because it leaves deep and painful scars. Rafael Correa left power in 2017, and the country still suffers from his legacy. The clientele he cultivated during his presidency remains anxious for his return.

The example of Bolivia is even more challenging. Evo Morales attempted to perpetuate himself in power indefinitely by cloaking himself in a false legitimacy. However, the fraud was uncovered, and he had to resign, causing a complex period of ungovernability in the country until one of his most prized cronies, Luis Arce Catacora, came to power and, like a voracious piranha, sank his sharp teeth into Morales, his former protector.

However, the Andean nation remains steeped in Castro-Chavismo. Current President Rodrigo Paz Pereira has not been able to steer the country toward genuine democracy, and numerous problems continue to threaten freedom and the path to a free society.

The land of Rubén Darío suffers under a two-man dictatorship that overshadows the Somoza governments.

Venezuela is even darker. The dictator is imprisoned, but the dictatorship continues. There are numerous political prisoners, exiles have no guarantees for their return, and elections that guarantee everyone’s rights are nowhere in sight.

Cuba and Nicaragua leave us almost speechless. The land of Rubén Darío suffers under a two-man dictatorship that overshadows even the Somoza regime. Their abuses are innumerable: political prisoners, mass exiles, crimes, and the ultimatum that there will be no elections in a country where the Ortega-Murillo regime’s elections have always been fraudulent.

Finally, Cuba is ruled by totalitarianism, under an ineptitude taken to the extreme and a people who, it seems, are on the verge of annihilation by their own rulers.

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“All of Cuba is a Wolf’s Den”

A couple from Guanabacoa recounts the brutal assault by two hooded men who stole their motorcycle during a blackout.

The combination of power outages, deserted streets, and poor lighting has increased nighttime insecurity. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Dario Hernandez, Havana, August 9, 2026 / “We left because we had no other option.” That’s how a couple from Guanabacoa explains the decision that ended up costing them the electric scooter they had bought with years of savings and the support of a relative who had emigrated. She needed internet access to work as a ‘community manager’; he, a barber, used the trip to shower at a house in Regla where there was running water. They were returning home when two hooded men intercepted them and stole the electric scooter at knifepoint.

The assault occurred shortly after 11 p.m., as they were returning along a poorly lit avenue near the entrance to Guanabacoa. “They appeared from behind on a motorcycle. The passenger was carrying a knife. They slashed at them and kicked them to the ground,” a person close to the victims told 14ymedio.

When they both fell to the pavement, the aggressors seized the moped. “They already had the moped, but they still stabbed the boy in the arm. The wound was four fingers deep,” the continue reading

testimony adds.

“There’s not a soul in the street. People are waiting for the electricity or water to come back on, or they’re simply locked inside their homes.” / 14ymedio

The couple filed a police report, but say they haven’t heard anything since. “They haven’t called us, and we haven’t seen any activity,” they lamented.

The moped, bought less than a year ago for about $1,300, is now worth nearly $2,300 on the black market. “That was practically all our savings,” they explained. And, in addition, they lost their main work tool. He used it several times a week to travel from Guanabacoa to a barbershop in El Vedado and to make deliveries for coffee shops; she depended on the moped to reach places where she could still access the internet during the frequent power outages.

Now, they calculate, just the one-way trip by private transport to El Vedado will cost around 1,000 pesos.

“They were renters, they don’t have children because they were saving to emigrate and they also planned to sell their moped when that time came. In a matter of minutes they lost years of sacrifice,” the relative summarizes.

Beyond the robbery, the incident reflects a reality that many Havana residents have been describing for months. The combination of power outages, deserted streets, and poor lighting has increased insecurity at night.

“You go out at ten o’clock at night and it feels like three in the morning,” the same source says. “There’s not a soul in the street. People are waiting for the electricity or water to come back on, or they’re simply locked inside their homes. All of Cuba is like a wolf’s den.”

“After 10 p.m., run every red light,” a stranger advised a motorcyclist while riding through Havana. / 14ymedio

The victims say that, while filing the report, they learned of another case that had occurred a few days earlier. “They told us that a tricycle had been stolen using the same modus operandi in the Puente del Ahorcado area of Regla,” they stated. They also believe that “the police know these robberies are occuring, but the impression we have is that they’re doing nothing.”

Other residents consulted by this newspaper mentioned areas they consider particularly dangerous at night, including Primelles and Vía Blanca, 23rd and Paseo, and Lacret, in the Diez de Octubre neighborhood. Their accounts coincide in describing thefts or attempted thefts of mopeds and tricycles, although there are no official statistics to quantify the problem.

“After ten o’clock at night, run every red light,” a stranger advised a motorcyclist as he rode through Havana. “If you stop, you become very vulnerable.”

On social media during recent months reports of stolen motorcycles and electric tricycles have multipled, along with posts from family members and neighbors trying to locate stolen vehicles or identify the perpetrators. While some of these cases have been solved by the police, many victims maintain they never received any updates on the progress of the investigations.

Without public figures from the Ministry of the Interior on these types of crimes, it is impossible to determine whether robberies have increased. What does seem to be growing is the fear of those who depend on a motorcycle to work, get around, or simply survive in a city where the lack of electricity, water, and transportation forces more and more people to travel through dark and nearly empty streets at night.

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The Sun is Also Quoted in Dollars in Cuba

On a street in Sancti Spíritus, solar panels at $320 each put a price on the dream of escaping blackouts.

How much does it cost to escape, even partially, from blackouts? The sign reads: ‘Panels for Sale’ / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Mercedes García, Sancti Spiritus, August 9, 2026 / On a street in Sancti Spíritus a solar panel is on display. It is not behind a shop window, nor under the lights of a specialized store. It rests directly on the sidewalk, leaning against the facade of a house, with a piece of cardboard in the center that announces, in improvised calligraphy: “Panels for sale.”

In a country where every day people have to calculate the cost of rice, eggs, oil, transportation, and even phone credit, Cubans now have another figure to add to their mental calculators. How much does it cost to escape, even partially, the blackouts? The answer starts, in the case of Sancti Spíritus, with a price that this Saturday reached $320, but it can continue to rise with batteries, inverters, controllers, cables, and other components needed to convert a rectangle of sunlight into a few hours of domestic autonomy.

“Soon they’ll be more expensive than batteries,” a neighbor complains as she walks past the panel. She doesn’t linger. She glances, asks a question, and continues on her way with that familiar expression of someone who has just confirmed that something they need is far beyond their budget.

The energy crisis has even changed the landscape of Cuban cities.

Others slow down. They examine the dark panels the way people used to look at an electric motorcycle or an air conditioner behind a shop window. Each person seems to place their own wish list before them: keeping the refrigerator running so the food doesn’t spoil, recharging a fan to relieve continue reading

the sweltering nights, turning on some lights, or making sure their cell phone still works the next morning.

The energy crisis has even changed the landscape of Cuban cities. Electric generators, so-called power stations, batteries, and solar panels have gone from being specialized equipment to becoming part of the domestic vocabulary. Watts, amperes, and storage capacity are discussed with the same naturalness as discussions about pounds of rice or shared taxis. Necessity has resulted in a crash course in electricity nationwide.

But learning the theory doesn’t mean being able to afford the practics. The $320 per panel represents a huge fortune for someone who earns their salary in Cuban pesos. And they don’t even solve the problem on their own: they’re just one piece of the puzzle that allows for some independence from an increasingly unstable national energy grid.

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Does Communist Cuba Deserve a Priority 1 Intelligence Threat Classification?

The CubanAmerican Voice, Julio M. Shiling / The elevation of communist Cuba to “Priority 1” status within the National Intelligence Priority Framework places the island on the same plane as China, Iran, and Russia. Some will scoff at the decision. They will measure Cuba by the size of its navy, the range of its missiles, or the volume of its GDP, and declare the ranking absurd. That metric is the wrong one. National security priorities are not a ranking of conventional military mass. They are a ranking of the threats that can most effectively wound the United States—through subversion, intelligence penetration, ideological warfare, and the cultivation of domestic radicalism. By those measures, Castro- Communism has earned its place.

Cuba does not confront America with carrier groups. It confronts America with a doctrine refined over six decades: the deliberate export of Marxist revolution and the systematic penetration of the institutions that shape American political, academic, economic, and cultural life. The State Department’s recent report, “Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” maps this strategy with clinical precision. Havana long ago abandoned any pretense of merely defending an island fortress. It positioned itself as the operational and ideological hub of a global project aimed at the internal erosion of Western societies. That project did not end with the Soviet collapse. It adapted, mutated, and found continue reading

new hosts among the far left in the United States itself. It should not be forgotten that the Cuban communist revolution geometrically fortified what we today know as the “New Left” and cultural socialist precepts.

From the 1960s onward, Cuban intelligence cultivated symbiotic relationships with domestic communist and terrorist networks inside the United States. These were not romantic gestures of solidarity. They were operational partnerships. Training, funding channels, propaganda coordination, and intelligence sharing created durable pipelines between Havana and American radicals. The result is not ancient history. It is a living architecture of influence that continues to shape narratives, recruit cadres, and erode institutional trust. When a foreign power maintains decades-long access to the domestic far left—supplying it with ideological oxygen, tactical experience, and a sense of international legitimacy—that power becomes a force multiplier for America’s adversaries. China, Russia, and Iran understand this. They cultivate Cuba precisely because Havana offers something they cannot easily manufacture: intimate, long-cultivated access to the American radical ecosystem.

Communist Cuba’s value to those powers is not limited to rhetoric. The island hosts sophisticated signals-intelligence facilities operated by Russia and China. These installations sit ninety miles from Florida and are designed to intercept sensitive American communications. Hosting such capabilities is not neutrality. It is active participation in the intelligence war against the United States. Add to this Cuba’s alignment with Iran, its support for transnational terrorist groups, and its role as a logistical and ideological node, and the picture clarifies. Havana, as a matter of fact, functions as a force-projection platform for America’s principal enemies, one that operates below the threshold of conventional conflict yet above the threshold of mere nuisance.

The sophistication of Cuban intelligence itself has been underestimated for too long. The services provided by the Castro regime have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to run agents inside American institutions, to harvest sensitive information, and to shape cultural and academic discourse. Their tradecraft is patient, culturally fluent, and ideologically disciplined. They punch far above the island’s economic weight because they are not constrained by the need to produce consumer goods or maintain a modern industrial base. Their product is influence and information. In an era when information and internal cohesion are decisive, that product is strategically lethal.

The Trump administration’s decision to raise communist Cuba to Priority 1 and the subsequent creation of a dedicated CIA task force simply align resources with reality. The unit—staffed with case officers, analysts, cyber specialists, and covert influence experts—exists to generate the intelligence and operational options necessary to exploit fractures inside the Cuban dictatorial elite and to pressure for the collapse of the kleptocratic Marxist dictatorship. Increased intelligence assets on and around the island are not theater. They are the minimum required to understand a regime that has spent 67 years perfecting the arts of secrecy, denial, and asymmetric warfare. Without current, granular knowledge of Castro-Communist intentions, capabilities, and internal dynamics, any policy—diplomatic pressure, economic isolation, or contingency planning—operates in the dark.

Critics will claim this is overreach, a revival of Cold War paranoia, or a distraction from “real” threats. The opposite is true. Ignoring a dedicated revolutionary state that systematically cultivates domestic subversion, hosts adversary intelligence bases, and serves as a transmission belt for anti-American ideology is the true strategic malpractice. Priority rankings exist to force the intelligence community to allocate scarce resources against the most consequential dangers. Cuba’s military is modest. Its capacity to damage the American body politic from within is not.

Communist Cuba has never been a status-quo power. It has been a permanent revolutionary project directed against the United States and the civilization that produced it. Elevating it to Priority 1 is not an exaggeration. It is overdue recognition that the threat Havana represents is measured not in divisions and warheads, but in the depth of its penetration, the durability of its ideological networks, and the strategic value it provides to America’s most determined enemies. The classification is correct. The only remaining question is whether the resources and resolve that accompany it will be sustained long enough to make the regime confront the consequences of its own history.

Author Julio M. Shiling

Petro Returns from Cuba with an Openly Coup-Mongering Speech

The outgoing president refuses to recognize Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory, encourages “resistance,” and erodes the legitimacy of the presidential handover

Colombia’s outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, in a file photograph. / EFE/Carlos Ortega

14ymedio, Clara Riveros, Bogota, August 7, 2026 / Gustavo Petro closed out his international agenda as president and head of state of Colombia with a visit to Cuba. That trip brought his total to 85 international trips. He was in Cuba for barely 48 hours – a trip with no apparent relevance for Colombia, but one that will hold some significance for the Colombian politician given the regard he holds for the Castro regime.

This Friday, August 7, President Abelardo de la Espriella takes office, with a foreign-policy program markedly different from the one carried out by the Historic Pact, Petro’s political movement, which prioritized the Colombian president’s ideological affinities, even at the expense of the country’s traditional diplomatic interests and guidelines. Among the new government’s foreign-policy announcements, it stands out that it will break relations with the dictatorships of Cuba and Nicaragua and will repair the damage Petro inflicted on the bilateral relationship with Israel.

In the twilight of his term, the outgoing president remains convinced that he plays a leadership role in what progressivism calls the Global South. Hence his call to fraternize with the Havana regime when he urges that “humanity show solidarity with Cuba.” Petro’s has not been a call for solidarity with the Cuban people, who suffer poverty and repression and who are demanding change, openness, rights, and freedoms – the kind of call Yotuel made on Saturday night in Bogota during the 7th Concert of Hope. Hollman Morris must have taken little pleasure in that dose of reality from the Orishas vocalist. Morris is the widely questioned manager of the Public Media System, which has been turned into a propaganda apparatus for the Historic Pact and, further still, into a conveyor belt for the populisms and autocracies aligned with it.

The soon-to-be former president of Colombia is addressing his base with the aim of keeping the spark alive and generating chaos, “civil disobedience,” and insurrection once he leaves power

Petro also said from Havana that he had asked the Trump Administration to “respect the diversity of peoples” and that “by coming here I’m getting myself into trouble,” a reference to his inclusion, since 2025, on the list of those sanctioned by the United States. Since returning from Cuba, the Colombian president has kept up a tone even more inflammatory and continue reading

authoritarian than the one he had struck in recent weeks and throughout the election process.

Petro never acknowledged Abelardo de la Espriella’s victory and continues to declare his own candidate, Ivan Cepeda, the winner – a man who has been unable to break from his boss and who has named him leader of the opposition. Petro is stirring up delirious accusations of fraud, all of them theories and speculation with no foundation whatsoever.

The soon-to-be former president of Colombia is addressing his base with the aim of keeping the spark alive and generating chaos, “civil disobedience,” and insurrection once he leaves power. On Tuesday night, Petro openly refused to recognize the president-elect while addressing his supporters in a public square. It can be inferred from his words that he is urging them to form a kind of Chavista-style militia – that is, paramilitary groups – to defend his legacy and to refuse to recognize the new government.

The president’s words have been rejected by public opinion, though not by his fellow party members and militant intellectuals. “How long will the effects of that fraud last? They’re already saying, in Marco Rubio’s offices, ‘Abelardo the brief’ – they already sense that he won’t even last the full four-year term, that the Colombian people will force him to resign,” Petro declared. His crowd then chanted in response: “Cepeda for president. Resistance.”

“Petro is a coup-monger. He’s no longer just talking about fraud and refusing to recognize the president-elect – now he’s openly calling for him to be removed from power before his term even ends”

Santiago Velez, a columnist for El Espectador, noted on X this week that despite governing badly, lying, and improvising, Petro “completely dominates the public conversation” – proof of this being that nine of the ten most-liked tweets in Colombia over the past 30 days are his. Following the president’s inflammatory remarks, Velez stated in a couple of tweets that “Petro is a coup-monger. He’s no longer just talking about fraud and refusing to recognize the president-elect – now he’s openly calling for him to be removed from power before his term even ends. He is practically calling for a coup d’etat. That cannot be normalized.”

In another tweet he expanded on his observation: “Petro calling for the formation of paramilitary groups and calling for the president-elect to be brought down doesn’t surprise me. After all, he has always been an insurgent who took up arms against the State and never stopped holding legality and institutions in contempt. What is truly terrifying, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, is not the shouting of bad people, but the silence of good ones: the silence of so many important, educated, influential, and supposedly institutional people who today prefer to say nothing. In two days Petro has called for the formation of paramilitary groups and for a coup d’etat. And I am not exaggerating,” the lawyer stated.

This state of tension and uncertainty toward which the outgoing president is pushing the country – unprecedented until now in the recent history of Colombian politics – no longer merely reflects a bad loser and an antidemocratic politician, but confirms the enormous damage Gustavo Petro has caused to the dignity of the office he holds, in addition to using that position to damage and erode trust in institutions, as well as the forms, customs, and practices governing the transfer of political power in Colombia – practices that, until his arrival at the Casa de Narino, had been respected regardless of the sitting president’s political and ideological leanings.

The widespread suspicion is that Petro does not act this way because he genuinely believes all the outlandish claims he makes, without evidence or any real basis, but because he needs to distract from and downplay the multiple corruption scandals that have erupted around him in recent months, adding to those that have been piling up since he took office.

Translated by GH.

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