Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Kidnapped for Nine Hours by Cuba’s Political Police, Yoani Sánchez Is Accused of Threatening the Constitutional Order

The arrest of the journalist, director of ’14ymedio’, sparked a wave of solidarity and outrage in international media, organizations and institutions

Yoani Sánchez, director of ’14ymedio’, was arrested by the political police this Thursday at 9:30 a.m., after leaving her home. / Screenshot/14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 5, 2026 / Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymedio, has been released by State Security after being held for nine hours. The political police detained her this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. as she left her home in Nuevo Vedado, in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality, to go shopping at the neighborhood market.

According to her own testimony, she has been charged with “attack against the constitutional order.”

The journalist notified her colleagues at this newspaper of her brief absence and announced she would return soon, but barely ten minutes later she managed to send a message in which she explained her situation in just four words: “The police kidnapped me.” According to the testimony of some neighbors, the State Security agent who calls himself Bruno was seen loitering in the lower part of the building when the arrest took place.

The incident has sparked a wave of outrage and solidarity among Cubans both on and off the island, journalists, activists, and organizations. Numerous international media outlets have reported the story, including El País, El Mundo, and The Objective in Spain; Martí Noticias and the Miami Herald in Florida (USA); El Universal in Mexico; and even the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong .

Juan Pablo Segura, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated on X: “The arrest of Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez this morning is part of the Cuban regime’s sustained campaign to crush the independent press.” He then recalled the arrests of fellow journalists Adelth Bonne and Camila Acosta this week, and the imprisonment of Henry Constantín since September, through which “the Cuban regime demonstrates its cowardice.” The official concluded by calling for “Freedom Now” in a tweet that was retweeted by the U.S. Embassy in Havana, in Spanish. continue reading

Reporters Without Borders has condemned Sánchez’s arrest, calling it an “attack on independent journalism on the island.”

Reporters Without Borders has condemned Sánchez’s arrest, calling it an “attack on independent journalism on the island,” and demanding that “the authorities disclose her whereabouts, guarantee her safety, and release her.” Amnesty International and the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) have also condemned her arrest in a social media post .

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement strongly condemning the arrest of the newspaper’s director and recalling recent attacks on independent journalists living on the island. “Cuban authorities should immediately release Yoani Sánchez and reveal her whereabouts,” said José Zamora, CPJ’s regional director for the Americas, adding, “Her detention is part of a broader crackdown on independent journalists. Authorities must end these arrests and allow journalists to report without fear of reprisal.”

On Thursday members of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler and María Cristina Labrada, were also arrested in the street . As of 2:34 p.m., according to Soler’s husband, Ángel Moya, they were still missing.

Last Monday, Adelth Bonne Gamboa, a contributor to CubaNet, was violently arrested by police officers who handcuffed him and took him away in a patrol car. Hours later he was released, but with a fine for his social media posts, several pieces of equipment confiscated, and renewed threats of imprisonment.

On Tuesday, it was Camila Acosta‘s turn. Acosta, also a contributor to CubaNet, was arrested in the street that morning by State Security agents who took her to a police station in handcuffs. The reporter explained on Wednesday that, in addition to disabling her cell phone, the authorities gave her a warning notice urging her not to disseminate images of a public official again, as she could face charges for violating personal privacy.

Several journalists from ’14ymedio’ have been victims of this type of repression since its founding in May of 2014.

Acosta had recorded an officer on October 28 preventing her from leaving her house, and the recording was released by the media outlet she collaborates with and countless social media accounts, similar to the events that led to the influencer Anna Bensi being sentenced to two years of restricted freedom.

In mid-September, State Security also arrested Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba. In his case, far from being released, he was taken a few days later to Kilo 7 prison in Camagüey, where he remains in pretrial detention accused of disobedience.

Several journalists from 14ymedio have been victims of this type of repression since its founding in May 2014. Reinaldo Escobar has been detained on numerous occasions, most coinciding with important events such as Barack Obama’s visit in 2016 or Pope Francis’s visit to the island in 2015. The journalist has been subject for years to immigration regulations that have prevented him from leaving Cuba.

Luz Escobar has also suffered countless detentions at her home, with situations of harassment in front of her minor daughters, which were the trigger for her exile in Spain, where she has lived with asylum since 2022.

Other collaborators of this media outlet were detained, from José Gabriel Barrenechea in 2024 – sentenced to six years in prison – to Yudiel Hernández, who was imprisoned for three months for investigating drug trafficking in a school in Matanzas in 2025.

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Havana Chronicles: A Four-Syllable Word is Circulating in Havana: Hepatitis

Fear of contagion is changing daily habits in a city where obtaining safe water has become a luxury.

I find the La Cubana hardware store (Feíto and Cabezón) closed. Outside, on a makeshift table with various products, a water bottle stands out at $2.20. / 14ymedio

Yoani Sánchez – Journalist, founder and director of 14ymedio, Havana, November 3, 2026 / There’s a word that, this Tuesday, has been haunting me since I left home. It appears in conversations, jumps from one sidewalk to another, and even sneaks into my text messages. It has four syllables and a sound that is beginning to sound all too familiar: hepatitis. In Havana, where bad news travels faster than water through the pipes, the fear of contagion is changing even our daily habits.

I walk up Belascoaín Street behind a woman and a child of about six. They both avoid the uneven surfaces and the dirty puddles that collect in doorways. A vendor passes by with a basin full of chiviricos, fried dough balls, on his shoulder. “Delicious and cheap!” he calls out. The little boy asks for one of those sugar-coated fritters, but his mother quickly dashes his hopes: “You can’t eat anything on the street, there’s a lot of hepatitis.”

An elderly woman recounted that her two grandchildren were ill, with yellowish skin, inflamed livers, and an exhaustion that barely allowed them to get out of bed.

By then, I had already heard the term three more times during the walk. A little earlier, an elderly woman was saying that her two grandchildren were sick, with yellowish skin, inflamed livers, and an exhaustion that barely allowed them to get out of bed. In front of a clinic, a nurse was warning a young man that he needed to rest because “hepatitis isn’t something to play with.” Further on, in a café, the waitress was boasting about the cleanliness of her glasses: “Clean, clean, nobody’s going to catch hepatitis here.”

The disease has entered our everyday vocabulary, alongside other words like blackout or mosquito. No one knows for sure how many are sick, but reports are multiplying, and fear of contaminated water and food is forcing people to take extreme precautions. Even an innocent-looking candy can arouse suspicion. continue reading

Hepatitis has entered the everyday vocabulary, along with other words like blackout or mosquito

Upon reaching Reina Street, I turn left, heading towards Fraternity Park. My phone vibrates. A friend has just written in a WhatsApp group that his nephew has hepatitis. The fifth time this morning I’ve encountered that dreaded word.

A little further on, I find the La Cubana hardware store, popularly known as Feíto y Cabezón, closed. It frustrates me not to be able to go in, but outside some employees are sitting behind a makeshift table with various products. Among them, a large bottle of water stands out at $2.20, a price that encapsulates the new priorities of Cuban commerce.

An elderly woman stops to examine the merchandise. She asks questions, looks around, and eventually walks away when she realizes everything is sold in foreign currency. There are no saws, screws, or even adhesive tape. The once-famous Havana hardware store, where generations of Cubans once sought tools and materials to repair their homes, has now joined the business of quenching thirst.

Because it is no longer enough to get water. It has to be safe. The prolonged blackouts and interruptions in the gas service make boiling water difficult, while home water filtration systems are prohibitively expensive for many and not entirely effective against certain pathogens. The sealed water bottle thus acquires the prestige of a preventative medicine, a promise of protection against the decay spreading through the city.

At Reina and Rayo, a mountain of garbage invades the sidewalk and spills into the street. / 14ymedio

I continue on to El Curita Park, where I manage to catch an electric tricycle to go home. At the corner of Reina and Rayo streets, a mountain of trash spills onto the sidewalk and overflows into the street. Cardboard, bottles, bags, and other waste are piled up in front of the dilapidated doorways. In the distance, the spire of the Sacred Heart Church stands out against a pristine blue sky. I avoid touching the seat of the tricycle because I might unconsciously put my hands to my mouth afterward. I take the opportunity to pull the water bottle I’ve been carrying all morning out of my bag and take a long sip of boiled water. I feel privileged.

Sherritt Lays Off Nearly Half of Its Workers in Canada

Despite the authorization granted by the U.S. to import fuel to resume its operations in Cuba, the company has run out of nickel and cobalt.

Sherritt maintains that its Alberta plant is the only major cobalt refinery in North America. / Sherritt International

14ymedio, Madrid, November 5, 2026 – Nearly half of the Canadian workforce of mining company Sherritt International will be laid off over the next three months as a result of the suspension of operations in Cuba, according to an announcement by the company itself. The number of employees affected totals 280, or 47% of the company’s entire workforce.

The Fort Saskatchewan refinery in Alberta had to halt operations in June after running out of nickel and cobalt from the Island, following the suspension of activities at the Cuban mines as well. That decision was announced on May 7, following the entry into force of an executive order signed by U.S. President Trump just three days earlier, warning of sanctions against any entity or individual conducting business with the Cuban regime.

“Sherritt has not been formally designated under the executive order. However, such a designation could occur at any time. In any case, its mere issuance creates conditions that materially alter the Corporation’s ability to operate in the ordinary course of business, including activities related to the operations of the Cuban joint venture,” the company said at the time in a statement. The decision was accompanied by two other measures: the resignation of the entire board of directors and the return to the Island of the Cuban employees working at the Canadian plant. continue reading

The decision was accompanied by two other measures: the resignation of the entire board of directors and the return to the Island of the Cuban employees working at the Canadian plant

The mining company has spent months since then trying to find a way out of the situation, which has seriously jeopardized its financial position, while also exposing an “unusual vulnerability in North America’s critical minerals supply chain,” Bloomberg reports. According to the company, the Alberta facility is the region’s only significant cobalt refinery and one of just three nickel refineries, but it depends on supplies from Cuba. Cobalt is used in the technology industry, alloy manufacturing, medicine, and biology.

On Wednesday, the company’s interim president and chief executive officer, Peter Hancock, said that Sherritt remains focused on restoring operations, which depend on approvals from the U.S. government.

On October 19, it was announced that the Treasury Department had granted a specific license to purchase and deliver fuel, fuel oil, and sulfur to the Moa Nickel plant in Holguín, which Sherritt operates jointly with the Cuban state. This was the first in a series of emergency licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that the company is pursuing together with U.S.-based Gillon Capital to restore the business, both in extraction and processing, which depend on the Island, and in refining in Alberta.

Everything points to Gillon Capital, which is linked to Ray Washburne, a former Trump administration official, taking control of the mining company. In May, it emerged that the U.S. company had signed a preliminary, nonbinding offer to acquire 55% of the Canadian company’s shares. In August, it became known that another proposal was on the table, from a consortium led by Swiss giant Glencore, with a U.S. “anchor” investor, oil businessman Albert Huddleston.

However, the October statement announcing the granting of the license suggests that Gillon Capital has prevailed, since both companies asked the U.S. Treasury Department to consider a broader transaction in which a U.S.-based investment fund would acquire a majority stake. According to Sherritt, this license is the first of those Gillon would need to complete the acquisition.

The authorization issued by OFAC to Sherritt covers the sale, transportation, export, delivery, and payment of fuel, and includes the supplier, banks, vessel operators, and insurers involved

The authorization issued by OFAC to Sherritt covers the sale, transportation, export, delivery, and payment of fuel, and includes the supplier, banks, vessel operators, and insurers involved. The company expects the first shipment to depart during the current quarter and says it is already “in the process of finalizing the initial fuel shipment.”

For its part, the Cuban government has reportedly given the green light to these operations, which involve the entry of U.S. capital into the Island, according to a source familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the Miami Herald. Cuba’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, partially confirmed the information last month in an interview with Reuters, in which he said he saw no objection to a transaction of this kind.

“We have always made it clear that what the U.S. company would purchase are shares in Sherritt, not in the joint venture. The Canadian company is publicly traded, and any investor has the right to buy its shares,” he argued.

“But any restart would require discussions about how to supply fuel and spare parts, and also how to handle payments for exports and production inputs,” he said, referring to Washington’s sanctions. “If the intention is to resume nickel production, all those issues would have to be resolved.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba’s Purchases from the U.S. Have Already Exceeded $1 Billion This Year

This represents a 91% increase compared with the first nine months of last year, and fuel accounts for 30% of the total.

Illuminated sign for A Granel, the first company to advertise itself as a seller of fuel imported from the United States. / 14ymedio/>

14ymedio, Madrid, November 5, 2026 – U.S. sales to Cuba continue to grow exponentially, despite the sanctions against Havana, the regime’s complaints about the “blockade,” and verbal confrontations at international venues, such as the one that took place last week at the United Nations General Assembly. While in July exports from the U.S. to the Island during 2026 reached $674 million, surpassing those of Spain and China over the same period, by September 30, they had reached $1.0965 billion, a 91% increase compared to the same period the previous year ($572.8 million), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

August and September, in fact, set new records for exports to Cuba since the agency began tracking them in 1992 with $202.5 million and $220 million, respectively. The reverse flow, imports from the Island, once again barely reached $600,000 since January.

Undoubtedly, the figures reflect the major role played by fuel purchased from the U.S., which has turned Washington into the Island’s leading energy supplier despite the continued sanctions imposed by Trump’s May 1 executive order. In August, fuel accounted for approximately 37% of the total value of U.S. exports to Cuba.

Based on the data available since January, petroleum derivatives are estimated to have accounted for 30% of the Island’s total purchases continue reading

Based on the data available since January, petroleum derivatives are estimated to have accounted for 30% of the Island’s total purchases.

That month, the latest for which detailed figures on fuel shipments have been published, the U.S. exported 562,000 barrels to Cuba, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This volume exceeded the 467,000 barrels shipped in May, although it was below the 778,000 barrels in June. (Presumably, the calculation error made in July will not be repeated, when the Census Bureau itself detected an error in one of the shipments sent from Miami, initially recorded as 310,753 barrels of gasoline and subsequently reduced to 127,471.)

In economic terms, fuel imports from the United States reached $74.8 million in August. Between January and August, the value of these shipments totaled $231.7 million, primarily in diesel, gasoline, and lubricants. Washington authorized the business last February, provided that the products were intended for Cuba’s private sector, although it has already acknowledged something documented by 14ymedio: that the regime diverts fuel to the state sector.

Meanwhile, in recent months, previously unknown companies have emerged with remarkable speed. One example is A Granel, a foreign-capital micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) that became the first private company to promote itself as a seller of U.S.-imported fuel in Havana and the first sports sponsor of a sports team in Cuba, the Industriales, whose players wear its logo on their jerseys during this 65th National Baseball Series. Its latest achievement has been venturing into a new and lucrative field: selling water tanker trucks, amid an unprecedented water crisis in the country. Its prosperity is evident even in its sign: on Wednesday night, while much of the capital was plunged into the usual scheduled blackout, the illuminated sign bearing the company’s name shone brightly in the darkness.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Díaz-Canel Insists the 176 Reforms Do Not Include Privatization of Cuba’s State Enterprises

Experts consulted by EFE see signs of an opening toward the free market in the package

Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel. / EFE/Necati Savas

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, November 3, 2026 / Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the transformations of state enterprises linked to the 176 economic reforms “do not amount to privatization,” after legal backing was given to 97% – 171 – of these measures on the island, state media reported this Monday.

Díaz-Canel stated that “215 legal norms” related to these measures had been put in place in three months and reiterated that “the transformation into commercial companies with shares or stakes” of state enterprises “does not amount to privatization.”

The leader defended state companies against the growing private sector on the island and said that “the socialist state enterprise is not a residual actor or an appendage of the administrative apparatus, but the main subject of the national economy and the fundamental link.”

“We will always protect the state enterprise from privatization,” Díaz-Canel emphasized, stressing that “business ties of different kinds may be created” so that “every state enterprise that can be saved does not have to go bankrupt.” continue reading

“Business ties of different kinds may be created” so that “every state enterprise that can be saved does not have to go bankrupt”

The head of state specified that the objective of the 176 economic reforms approved in June “is to separate ownership from management, attract capital and improve efficiency.”

In addition, the measures aim “to make better use of underutilized capacities in the state enterprise, while maintaining social ownership as a non-negotiable principle,” Díaz-Canel added.

The Cuban president made these statements during a meeting with Cuban state business leaders to assess “the first stage of implementation” of these reforms and “the progress of the process in about a dozen business groups from various sectors,” the official newspaper Granma reported on Monday.

According to official data, some 16,100 private companies currently operate in Cuba, following the approval of 3,600 new entities of this type over the last three months as part of the economic reform process.

All the legal scaffolding related to them “can confirm that Cuba is heading toward the free market,” experts say

Independent experts have told EFE that the package of measures positions the private sector as a necessary link and a fundamental pillar in the face of the deep crisis the island is going through and that all the legal scaffolding related to them “can confirm that Cuba is heading toward the free market,” they said.

The measures have come at a time when Cuba has been mired in a deep economic crisis for six years, a situation that has worsened since last January after the US applied a policy of maximum pressure, with an oil blockade and additional sanctions aimed at achieving political and economic changes on the island.

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Yoani Sánchez, Kidnapped by the Political Police in Havana

Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists demand the immediate release of the journalist, director of ’14ymedio’

Yoani Sánchez, director of ’14ymedio’, was kidnapped by the political police this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. as she was leaving her home. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 5, 2026 / Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymedio, was kidnapped by the political police this Thursday at 9:30 a.m. as she left her home in Nuevo Vedado, in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality, to go shopping at the neighborhood market. More than seven hours later, there is still no news of her whereabouts.

The journalist notified her colleagues at this newspaper of her brief errand and announced she would return soon, but barely ten minutes later she managed to send a message in which she explained her situation in just four words: “I was kidnapped by the police.” According to the testimony of some neighbors, the State Security agent who calls himself Bruno was seen loitering in the lower part of the building when the arrest took place.

The incident has sparked a wave of outrage and solidarity among Cubans both on and off the island, journalists, activists, and organizations. Numerous international media outlets have reported the story, including El País and The Objective in Spain, Martí Noticias and the Miami Herald in Florida (USA), and El Universal in Mexico . continue reading

Reporters Without Borders has condemned Sánchez’s arrest, calling it an “attack on independent journalism on the island.”

Reporters Without Borders has condemned Sánchez’s arrest, calling it an “attack on independent journalism on the island,” and is demanding that “the authorities disclose her whereabouts, guarantee her safety, and release her.” Amnesty International has also condemned the arrest in a social media post.

For its part, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement strongly condemning the arrest of the newspaper’s director and recalling the recent attacks on independent journalists residing on the island. “Cuban authorities should immediately release Yoani Sánchez and reveal her whereabouts,” said José Zamora, CPJ’s regional director for the Americas, adding: “Her detention is part of a broader crackdown on independent journalists. Authorities must put an end to these arrests and allow journalists to report without fear of reprisal.”

These events occurred during a week that saw two similar incidents. Last Monday, Adelth Bonne Gamboa, a contributor to CubaNet, was violently detained by police officers who handcuffed him and took him away in a patrol car. Hours later, he was released, but with a fine for his social media posts, several pieces of equipment confiscated, and renewed threats of imprisonment.

On Tuesday, it was Camila Acosta’s turn. Acosta, also a contributor to CubaNet, was arrested in the street that morning by State Security agents who took her to a police station in handcuffs. The reporter explained on Wednesday that, in addition to disabling her cell phone, the authorities gave her a warning notice urging her not to disseminate images of a public official again, as she could face charges for violating personal privacy.

Several journalists from ’14ymedio’ have been victims of this type of repression since its founding in May 2014.

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A Nurse Dies in Cienfuegos After Being Attacked for Demanding That a Child be Vaccinated

The case reopens the debate over the pressure and sanctions faced by Cuban healthcare workers.

The General Health Directorate of Cumanayagua confirmed the death this Monday and offered its condolences to her husband and daughters but omitted any reference to the attack. / Maribel Pupo/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, November 2, 2026 – Maribel Pupo, a nurse in the Vaccination Department of the Aracelio Rodríguez Teaching Hospital in Cumanayagua, Cienfuegos, died after spending several days in critical condition following an assault last Thursday by the father of a child whom she had asked to be brought in for vaccination. The victim was struck, causing her to fall and suffer serious head injuries, according to a report by independent communicator Niover Licea.

The municipality’s General Health Directorate confirmed the death this Monday and offered its condolences to Pupo’s husband and daughters, but omitted any reference to the attack, which had previously been reported by Licea and the Última Hora profile.

The nurse underwent surgery in Cienfuegos and remained in critical condition. Licea places her death between seven and eight in the evening on Sunday, November 1, while the Health Directorate says it occurred this Monday. Funeral services were announced for this afternoon at two o’clock at the funeral home in Cumanayagua. continue reading

Niover Licea reported that the alleged assailant remained free while Pupo was hospitalized

The independent communicator also reported that the alleged assailant remained free while Pupo was hospitalized. No official information has been released about his legal situation.

“My aunt was not a news story, she was not a name in a post,” wrote Alianny Villazon Pupo, who identified herself as the victim’s niece, in the comments on the Facebook post in which Niover Licea reported the death. “She was a daughter, a mother, a sister, an aunt, and a working woman who dedicated her life to caring for others by working as a nurse.” The young woman demanded justice and said the family would not allow her death to be forgotten.

In the comments on that same post, several healthcare workers denounced the pressure they face to ensure that families comply with childhood vaccination schedules and other medical tests.

Rosa América Castillo Ferrer described the demands made by her superiors when children were behind on their vaccinations. “I witnessed constant harassment from my supervisors and area managers over some children’s overdue vaccinations,” she wrote. At times, she said, she had to visit homes and wait for parents to pick up their children from daycare so they could be vaccinated. “The Cuban healthcare system has to change its practice of holding healthcare personnel responsible for patients’ irresponsibility,” she demanded.

Liuby García warned that a nurse could be “severely sanctioned for noncompliance” if she did not do everything possible to get a patient vaccinated. “It is definitely not the healthcare personnel’s choice,” she maintained.

For her part, Niuvys Pérez, who identified herself as a nurse, defended patients’ autonomy and “your right to receive or not receive treatment.” She also questioned whether some healthcare workers go so far as to “demand compliance or verbally mistreat a patient or family member.”

The pressures described by these healthcare workers also have consequences for patients. A resident of Havana told 14ymedio that for years the nurse at her local doctor’s office insisted that she undergo a pap smear at the neighborhood polyclinic, even though she preferred to have it done at other medical centers. According to her account, the insistence went so far that her name appeared on a public bulletin board listing women who had not undergone the test.

“The pressure on medical personnel to report that all those required tests and vaccinations have been carried out is insane, and they pass that pressure on to the patient,” says a Havana resident

“The pressure on medical personnel to report that all those required tests and vaccinations have been carried out is insane, and they pass that pressure on to the patient,” says the woman, who clarifies: “Nothing justifies the horror of what happened to this nurse.”

For her part, Idalmis Echevarría Bermúdez, who identified herself as Pupo’s friend, commented on the condolence post published by the Cumanayagua Health Directorate: “A life lost without being ill, because an illness can be understood, but a death caused by another person’s actions is unforgivable. It is something that could have been prevented.”

Maribel Pupo’s death adds to other cases of nurses murdered in Cuba in recent years. In February 2023, 29-year-old Neisa López was murdered in Bayamo. The assailant was a former police officer whom the young woman had treated as a nurse and who, according to her family, harassed her after she quit her job.

In January of this year, another nurse, 58, who worked at a prison camp in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, was killed by a former inmate while returning home.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Granel, the Regime’s Pampered Private Business, Sells Water as Well as Fuel

An employee confirms to this newspaper that water trucks are available immediately in Havana for 100 dollars

La entrada a las instalaciones de la empresa luce este cartel. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Diego Hernández, Havana, November 3, 2026 / The foreign-capital mipyme [small or medium-sized private enterprise] A Granel continues its unstoppable growth and is diversifying its business. After becoming the first private company to advertise itself as a seller of fuel imported from the US in Havana, it has now just ventured into what looks set to be another of the most lucrative fields of commerce: selling water by the tanker truck. All this after making history by becoming the first sports sponsor of a team in Cuba, the Industriales, who wear its logo on their jerseys in this 65th National Baseball Series.

The company sprang the surprise last October 28, when it published a post on its Instagram account announcing the new service with the slogan “May you never be without water!” The offer is aimed at all kinds of customers – homes, businesses, institutions and construction sites – and the poster includes a phone number to contact via WhatsApp. “Order your service today,” it says.

Availability is immediate, as 14ymedio was able to verify after asking the company through that channel for the price of a water truck for two Havana municipalities, Cerro and Guanabacoa. In both cases the answer was yes: for one hundred dollars you can get drinking water delivered to your door, although the operator was not very clear about the quantity supplied, implying that it would be enough to fill all the containers the customer has. continue reading

A reporter from this newspaper also went to the company’s warehouse this Monday, but although it was not very late in the afternoon, the premises were closed. What was striking, from outside, was how brightly lit the area was even though it was still daytime. The compound has powerful floodlights that contrast with a capital in permanent blackout. In addition to the isotanks, already well known, a tanker truck – the star of the new business – could be made out in the background.

At the entrance, a huge sign with the company’s logo is preceded by the words “We are all [A Granel],” a slogan as close to officialdom as the mipyme itself, which this Sunday also announced its own gasoline pumps. “We have our own fuel station, where you can fill up your vehicle directly or take the fuel away in your own containers. Gasoline and diesel available, at excellent prices,” the post says. As usual, there is no address, no prices and no other information for the public, who keep asking insistently and with growing annoyance.

But it is the water that has exhausted users’ patience. “The only question I have now is: Where does that water come from? Isn’t there supposed to be no pumping, for whatever reasons? Where are those trucks being filled?” one commenter protested on social media. “They create the need and then sell you the solution,” another snaps. This Monday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said publicly that Cuba is still socialist – “the state enterprise is not a residual actor or an appendage of the administrative apparatus, but the main subject of the national economy and the fundamental link” – but the population has more than its doubts.

“So now everything in Cuba is private. Great, a step toward capitalism. And now I ask: When are salaries going to start rising so that ordinary Cubans can buy from the private businesses? How absurd it all is!” another user tells A Granel.

Not far from the mipyme’s headquarters is one of the offices of Aguas de La Habana [Havana’s state water utility] where, according to sources at this newspaper, you have to wait in line, be insistent and offer the employee some money if you want to get the same service for which A Granel charges 100 dollars.

The water crisis is also boosting business for small shops. As 14ymedio reported this Monday, in Luyanó five liters are sold for 2,000 pesos (2.2 dollars at the current exchange rate), while a liter goes for 400 (0.40 dollars). “Today I called Aguas de La Habana at 4 in the afternoon and the operator told me they were turning the water on at 4:30. I waited until 5, called again, and the operator answered that it was for the neighboring area,” says a resident of the Diez de Octubre municipality. “I got so upset… because more than a week without water, not even to drink, is like being sentenced to death.”

Exactly one month ago, the Government put the number of consumers with total or partial disruptions to their water supply at 2.7 million, the same figure that the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (Inrh) acknowledged at the end of May, which means that the problem, far from improving, has at the very least stayed the same. In this context, with 28% of the population without an essential service, a new opportunity comes along for A Granel, whose investors and owners remain a mystery, although its ties to the regime are an increasingly widespread suspicion.

Translated by GH.

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Havana Coffee Roasting Plant Switches from Diesel to Gas to Roast Coffee

The official media present as a “technological innovation” a practice that is standard in the industry worldwide, while acknowledging that domestic production of the bean is insufficient

Trabajadoras de la Torrefactora de La Habana empaquetan bolsas de Café Serrano. / Canal Caribe

14ymedio, Madrid, November 2, 2026 / For at least a week now, residents of Havana’s Nuevo Vedado neighborhood, near this newspaper’s newsroom, have once again noticed the haze and the unpleasant burning smell in the air, unmistakable signs that the Café Selecto Roasting Plant of Havana has resumed roasting domestically harvested beans.

The Roasting Plant, which belongs to the Ministry of the Food Industry, had halted production due to the fuel crisis, which prevented it from using diesel for roasting. Now the factory has announced its switch to manufactured gas, which has allowed it to resume operations. Gas roasting had already been adopted years ago by most of the coffee industry worldwide, owing to its low cost, availability, and ease of measurement and regulation. Gas also allows for more controllable roasting than diesel and is more efficient in terms of heat and radiation.

However, the official press now presents it as a “technological innovation” and “an unprecedented experience in the country,” a symbol of “resistance and talent” in the face of the “economic war imposed by Washington,” which threatens to “completely paralyze the industry.”

According to Canal Caribe, it was this paralysis under US pressure that led “experts and specialists” from the Agri-Food Business Group to “turn to science and to the study of practices in similar industries internationally.” continue reading

“The levels of domestically sourced beans being processed are still insufficient for the installed industrial capacity”

“Around the world, the fuel normally used in the coffee roasting industry is liquefied gas,” acknowledged the technical director of the Cubacafé company, who went on to explain how they made the “unprecedented” logistical decision: “What happened? Because of the harsh imperialist blockade, we were forced to replace the diesel we normally used with manufactured gas.”

However, the report also admits that “the levels of domestically sourced beans being processed are still insufficient for the installed industrial capacity,” which means that the country’s coffee harvest is not enough to keep the Roasting Plant running at full capacity. To “boost production and export more,” the report continues, they are prioritizing industrial management in partnership with “other economic actors.” One such case is Nescor, the joint venture formed by the Swiss multinational Nestlé and the Cuban state-owned Corporación Alimentaria S.A. (Coralsa), producers of Café Serrano, the brand the Roasting Plant was processing at the time of the report.

Café nacional a la venta este lunes en una tienda estatal en dólares de Carlos III. El kilo de Cubita cuesta 18,50 dólares. / 14ymedio

The general director of the Roasting Plant welcomed the fact that, thanks to the 176 economic reforms implemented by the Government, there is now the opportunity to open a retail outlet that will benefit both workers and local residents. Although she did not specify the prices of the products on offer, coffee from this Roasting Plant is sold to Cubans themselves in dollars. A kilogram of domestic coffee can cost, for example, 18.50 dollars, which at today’s exchange rate is equivalent to 16,650 Cuban pesos, that is, much more than the monthly salary of a Roasting Plant worker.

This was confirmed by one of the company’s own employees. Yonier Simeón told Canal Caribe that he used to earn 4,000 pesos a month, but his salary has now risen to 13,000 – 14.44 dollars at today’s exchange rate – although with quarterly incentives and sales bonuses he can earn up to 20,000 – just over 22 dollars. That would be enough to buy perhaps two packages of Serrano, the very coffee they produce.

Also asked about the 176 economic reforms, the technical director of Cubacafé – which belongs to the Ministry of the Food Industry – welcomed the government measure that puts them “on the same level as non-state actors, and that makes the state enterprise more competitive.”

The Roasting Plant, however, still does not have a photovoltaic system to mitigate the problems caused by prolonged blackouts

Roasting this “100% domestic” bean with manufactured gas, according to the specialists cited by Canal Caribe, shows parameters of “quality, efficiency and financial savings.” As an example of the benefits of this “technological innovation,” they compare it with the consumption previously required: producing ten tons of coffee used to take 1,280 liters of diesel. Engineer Yordis Roja explained that gas roasting improves the quality of the final bean (aroma, flavor, essential oils) because the roasting is slower and more even.

The Roasting Plant, however, still does not have a photovoltaic system to mitigate the problems caused by prolonged blackouts. According to the Cubacafé executive, they plan to begin the first stage of this installation in the first quarter of 2027.

The various problems with domestic production of the bean mean that it is offered to the public in dollars and at prices beyond consumers’ reach. As a result, the coffee Cubans drink most is not the one produced on the island – which is geared more toward the international market – but the one imported from the US: La Llave, Bustelo, Pilón, La Carreta, and Cubanazo.

According to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei), domestic coffee production fell by 84.8% between 2021 and 2025. In Santiago de Cuba, the country’s main coffee-growing province, the forecast for the 2026-2027 harvest is to collect just over 1,390 tons, compared with the nearly 4,000 projected two years earlier. But coffee is not the only example of the collapse of domestic production. With the exception of tobacco, beer, detergent, and lobster tail, every productive sector has collapsed over the last five years: rice, shrimp, coffee, pork, yogurt, cement, and televisions fell by between 65% and 98%, according to official Onei figures.

Translated by GH.

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The Dollar Accelerates Its Unstoppable Rise and Reaches 900 Cuban pesos on the Informal Market

Just 17 days ago, the U.S. currency reached 800 CUP and was trading at 435 at the beginning of January.

In less than a year, the exchange rate has risen by nearly 120%. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 2, 2026 – The dollar reached 900 pesos on the informal currency market in the early hours of November 2, according to the real-time tracking carried out by the media outlet El Toque. Although Monday’s daily chart still places the U.S. currency at 890 CUP [Cuban peso], the rate of 900, reached at 5:16 a.m., could become established if the trend continues throughout the day.

The currency’s movement has been very rapid over the past week. Just seven days ago, the dollar was worth 840 CUP on the informal market and rose by five each day until, from Thursday to Friday, it rose by ten CUP. On Saturday, the jump was even greater, from 865 to 880 in just 24 hours, and this Sunday it rose another 10 CUP. Furthermore, it is worth remembering that only half a month has passed since the previous round number was reached on October 15, when the U.S. currency hit 800 CUP.

Only half a month has passed since the previous round number was reached on October 15, when the U.S. currency hit 800 CUP

The gap with the official rate has once again become significant. This Monday, the Central Bank of Cuba is maintaining the dollar at 768 CUP for what is known as Segment 3, the floating exchange rate introduced by the Government at the end of 2025 to “organize the economy and move toward a future monetary unification.” At that time, the financial authorities had two rates. On the one hand, the first segment, at 1×24, applied to centralized state allocations for goods and services considered essential, such as fuel, medicines, electricity, public transportation, and the basic food basket. On the other hand, the second, at 1×120, applied to entities capable of generating foreign currency, particularly the tourism sector. continue reading

With this third rate, known as the floating rate and intended for individuals and non-state forms of economic management, the aim was to better reflect reality at a time when the exchange rate on the informal market stood at 440 CUP per dollar and the BCC started with a relatively close rate of 410. But in less than a year, the dollar has risen by 119.5%.

The rapid depreciation of the national currency is also evident in the euro, whose price is on the verge of reaching 1,000 CUP. This morning, the European currency reached 990 after rising by 20 in a single day. Although the euro is used less than the dollar in daily transactions by the population and private businesses, it has a significant following because it is in high demand for procedures at the consulates of countries that are particularly important in this regard, such as Spain. Furthermore, the Cuban exile community in that country now accounts for nearly 10% of all migrants from the Island, so many remittances also arrive in this currency. The official euro exchange rate stands at 856.6, according to the BCC website.

The rapid depreciation of the national currency is also evident in the euro, whose price is on the verge of reaching 1,000 CUP

The creation of private currency exchange offices has also failed to stem the decline of the CUP. The first and for now the only one whose existence has come to light is ADT 64, located in Santa Clara. It opened in late August and became known in mid-September. The micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise began buying U.S. currency at 710 CUP and selling it at 730, while the State’s rate that day was 664 and El Toque’s was 700 CUP.

At the time, economist Pedro Monreal warned that the lack of transparency
surrounding the start of this “experiment,” which was supposed to be extended throughout the country, was one of its many drawbacks, along with the absence of regulations and information about how prices were determined. “For the BCC, the risk is twofold. On the one hand, the Segment III rate (private actors) could end up moving closer to the rate on ‘the street’ and lose its current anchor of 1 dollar = 660 CUP.

On the other hand, if the central bank ignores the pilot program’s initial data and maintains the administered rate, the experiment would become an expensive showcase that is inconsistent with the exchange rate published by the State itself,” he said. It has taken very little time for his warning to prove correct. And the U.S. dollar’s rise is on an unstoppable course toward 1,000 CUP, something unthinkable just a few months ago.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Hospital in Banes Suffers Collapse Amid Deterioration of Health Infrastructure

The incident caused no casualties, but once again highlights the maintenance problems at medical centers

The collapse occurred in an area where family members and companions are almost always waiting / Facebook

14ymedio, Havana, November 2, 2026 / Part of the front structure of the Carlos Enrique Font Pupo Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital in Banes, in Holguín province, collapsed on Sunday afternoon. The report of the incident came not from the public but from an official journalist, who thanked “God that there was no loss of human life to mourn.”

The collapse occurred in an outdoor area where “relatives and companions almost always wait,” according to Flabio Gutiérrez, who has been a contributor for seven years to the provincial newspaper Ahora, which, so far, has not reported the incident.

In his message, the journalist noted that “this hospital has been giving people something to talk about since it was founded. It’s not possible that just a few days after its inauguration (in 2001) it already had leaks. Its comfort was always highly questioned, as was its service.” The images he shared along with his text show a large section of collapsed roof just a few meters from an entrance door to the hospital.

“I thought it wasn’t true, but I went by there a few hours ago. Incredible, a relatively new hospital, substantial resources, and a lot of propaganda. There’s the result, and silence as the response,” a user replied to the journalist’s report. continue reading

“Incredible, a relatively new hospital, substantial resources, and a lot of propaganda. There’s the result, and silence as the response”

According to other testimonies posted on social media, that entrance had been closed months earlier because of the risk of collapse. “About three months ago, that part was shut down because of a possible collapse, leaving that entrance closed, and the hospital lobby entrance was opened instead, which patients and workers have used ever since,” another user indicated. However, there is no record of whether any repair work was carried out during that period or whether there was any plan to restore the structure.

The collapse in Banes is not an isolated event and adds to several episodes that have revealed infrastructure problems in the country’s health centers in recent years. The previous recorded case occurred last May at the Manuel Fajardo Hospital in Havana. In a Facebook post, pro-government journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso reported that there had been a fire in a low-activity area of the institution. That circumstance made it easier to contain and quickly extinguish. Even so, both medical staff and patients had to be evacuated.

A month earlier, a fire broke out at the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Provincial Hospital in Cienfuegos. The incident forced the evacuation of patients, companions, and health staff from several key areas of the medical facility, with no injuries reported.

Days before that, another fire was reported at the Saturnino Lora Torres Provincial Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital, the most important hospital in Santiago de Cuba. A nurse confirmed to CiberCuba that the incident occurred in the intermediate care ward, where there were patients from that unit as well as from intensive care, the latter affected by leaks coming from the floor above.

Another fire was reported at the Saturnino Lora Torres Provincial Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital, the most important hospital in Santiago de Cuba

Before that, in June 2023, part of the ceiling came down at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, forcing patients to be moved. “Today is the second time that pieces of the ceiling have fallen in the post-operative room at Calixto García in Havana. Tiles from the false ceiling fell. The first time was three weeks ago, when some debris fell on top of a doctor and a patient,” an internet user identified as Diarmuid wrote on X at the time.

That same year in Camagüey, the floor of the Ophthalmology Center at the Manuel Ascunce Domenech University Hospital suddenly buckled. It was the institution itself that reported that the event “caused a loud crash, frightening the patients who were attending outpatient appointments. One woman was injured as a result of the incident, caused by people rushing out.”

In that same province, the José Martí polyclinic, located in the center of the city of Camagüey, had closed its doors months earlier due to the imminent danger of collapse. As a result, all its services had to be transferred to other centers.

While health centers suffer these incidents due to lack of investment and neglect, in the political sphere they boast that “health is a central social achievement of the country and for that very reason admits no neglect; it is the sector where the population is most demanding and where any failure is immediately felt in family life,” Miguel Díaz-Canel said this Sunday during a report on various visits authorities made to health sector institutions.

“Health in our country is a fundamental human right, an achievement of the revolution, and not a commodity or a privilege”

The president stressed that “health in our country is a fundamental human right, an achievement of the revolution, and not a commodity or a privilege.”

However, Díaz-Canel’s message comes in a context in which the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) itself admitted last May that Cuba lacks 91.5% of medicines and medical supplies.

The shortage was already evident as far back as December 2021, when it was reported at 50%. From then on, the situation worsened by leaps and bounds. In March 2022 the rate rose to 56.6%, in August 2023 it was already at 66%, and in September 2024 it reached 85%. Barely two months later (November 2024) it hit an unprecedented peak of 90.9%, but in 2025 it was held in check.

Translated by GH.

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A Man Is Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murdering a Police Officer in Palma Soriano

According to the Santiago de Cuba court, Guillermo Sánchez Gutiérrez stabbed the officer until he was certain he had killed him and acted out of revenge.

In imposing the life sentence, the court took into account “the significance of the incident” and the “high degree of social dangerousness” of the act. / Sierra Maestra

14ymedio, Madrid, November 1, 2026 – The First Criminal Chamber of the Provincial People’s Court of Santiago de Cuba sentenced Guillermo Sánchez Gutiérrez to life imprisonment for fatally stabbing the head of the National Police substation in the area where he lived, in the municipality of Palma Soriano, according to a report published this Saturday by the official newspaper Sierra Maestra.

The First Criminal Chamber of the Provincial People’s Court of Santiago de Cuba sentenced Guillermo Sánchez Gutiérrez to life imprisonment for fatally stabbing the head of the National Police substation in the area where he lived, in the municipality of Palma Soriano, according to a report published this Saturday by the official newspaper Sierra Maestra.

The verdict was announced this Saturday following a trial described as “exemplary,” corresponding to case 73 of 2026, in which the defendant was sentenced for murder, illegal possession of a knife, unlawful entry into a residence, and threats, with the aggravating circumstance of acting out of revenge.

The crime dates back to July 19, 2025. According to the court’s account, that day Sánchez Gutiérrez encountered the National Police auxiliary officer, dressed in civilian clothes, at a neighbor’s house. There, he unexpectedly attacked him with a knife, inflicting a deep wound to one leg, “telling him that this was the last time he would see him.” continue reading

Although injured, the officer managed to run about 60 meters and take refuge in another neighbor’s home. The assailant pursued him there, broke down the door, and stabbed him again in the abdomen, back, and legs. The report specifies that he left only after making sure he had killed him.

In imposing the life sentence, the court took into account “the significance of the incident” and the “high degree of social dangerousness” of an act that targeted a person carrying out his duties as a police auxiliary officer.

The sentence applies Articles 344 and 380 of the Penal Code, which punish murder with 20 to 30 years of imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty, and unlawful entry into a residence with two to five years. The court also considered the aggravating circumstance of acting out of revenge or retaliation, provided for in Article 80.

The convicted man was also deprived of his public rights and ordered to pay a pension for each of the victim’s two minor children, as well as cover the funeral expenses.

In imposing the life sentence, the court took into account “the significance of the incident,” the “high degree of social dangerousness” of an act targeting someone performing duties as a police auxiliary officer, and the defendant’s characteristics, describing him as having poor social conduct and a criminal record.

In comments on the report published by the official media outlet, numerous users criticized the fact that such a severe sentence is not applied with the same rigor when the victims are civilians, something that, according to several commenters, occurs especially in cases of femicide. The number of such crimes in the first ten months of 2026 has already surpassed the total for the previous year, according to this newspaper’s tally. “When a woman or another person is murdered, why isn’t the same procedure followed?” one user wrote. Another commenter summed up the discontent this way: “Once again, a sentence that is not applied equally to murders of women, children, and rapists. It isn’t fair.”

“Once again, a sentence that is not applied equally to murders of women, children, and rapists. It isn’t fair.”

This is not the first time the Cuban justice system has resorted to life imprisonment when the victim is a police officer. In February of this year, the same Santiago de Cuba court sentenced three young men to life imprisonment for murdering a police officer and stealing his motorcycle. In March, the Provincial Court of Camagüey imposed a life sentence on Osvaldo Fernández Pichardo for stabbing a female officer who survived. Authorities classified that case as “terrorism” and claimed that someone in the United States had offered him $600 to carry out the attack.

These are just some examples from this year, but such cases have been reported before, presented by the official press as exemplary trials. In 2020, another young man was also sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a police officer at a police station in Calabazar, Havana, and injuring two others.

The official report does not give the name of the murdered officer. A few days after the crime, independent media outlets reported that a police officer identified as Yoleysi had been fatally stabbed in the Paraná neighborhood of Palma Soriano while attempting to deliver a summons to a young man. The similarities in location, approximate date, and weapon suggest that this is the same case.

The sentence comes at a time when the eastern part of the country is experiencing a spate of crimes that the authorities do not report officially. In Palma Soriano, for example, three murders were independently documented in just three months. Women have also been among the most frequent victims of violence in the province: in June, 23-year-old Rosaidis Donatien was murdered by her husband, also in Palma Soriano; in July, 17-year-old Merlin Noay died days after her stepfather attacked her in Yerba de Guinea, in Songo La Maya; and in September, 25-year-old Yadelaine Roque Torres was murdered by her former partner in a rural area near El Cobre.

Crime in Cuba shows signs of increasingly lethal violence, advancing alongside the country’s alarming crisis. According to monitoring by Cubalex, 52 homicides were documented in August, 40.5% more than the 37 recorded in July, marking a record for the independent organization’s data for the second consecutive month. That month, a total of 314 incidents of violence and insecurity were also recorded, including homicides, robberies, and assaults.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Even the Telephones Don’t Obey the Cuban Government: The ‘Non-Change’ of the Clocks Unleashes Chaos

The Cuban government’s decision to extend summer time to alleviate the electricity crisis clashes with device programming and further complicates daily life.

Several users criticized the institutions for not informing the public, especially the elderly, with sufficient advance notice. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, November 1, 2026 /Even knowing what time it is has become a problem in Cuba. This Sunday, numerous smartphones and computers woke up an hour behind the official time, after the automatic switch to winter time. The government had decided, however, to keep the clocks ahead in an attempt to alleviate the electricity crisis. The result has been a tremendous technological mess, with users searching for instructions, modifying settings, and asking for help to get their devices to obey the authorities.

In Luyanó, a Havana neighborhood, a resident insists that the elderly are among the most affected. “The old folks in the neighborhood who don’t know how to manipulate a phone are going crazy with the time change,” she tells 14ymedio. She herself has had to become an impromptu technician: “I already fixed mine and my mother’s.”

Faced with a avalanche of complaints, Etecsa issued an explanation this Sunday. In a statement published on Facebook, the company asserted that its technicians had worked for recent days to adapt the telecommunications systems and that the process was completed “satisfactorily.” However, it recognized that many phones did automatically change their time because their operating systems retained the previous settings. Its recommendation is to disable automatic time adjustment and manually advance the clock by sixty minutes.

“Out of the eight devices I have at home, I had to manually change the time on all eight!”

But the difficulties don’t end with finding the right settings. “Houston, we have a problem!” another user quips. “That claim that the time change was ‘successful’ needs an urgent review, because out of the eight devices I have at home, I had to manually change the time on all eight!” continue reading

From Sancti Spíritus, a resident explains that she set up her Xiaomi phone the night before, following the instructions, but the device still displayed the wrong time. “I had to put my foot down,” she summarizes.

The explanations have failed to appease the protests. Below Etecsa’s own statement, numerous complaints have accumulated from users who claim to have lost their mobile data connection, especially via the 4G network. “I called Customer Service and they told me I had to reconfigure the Nauta APN and restart my phone. I did that, and I’m still having problems,” says Sergio David Roche Díaz.

Another internet user adds a striking detail: “I have two lines on the same phone, and one works fine, but the other doesn’t.” There are also complaints about certain Cubacel numbers and Samsung models, which are unable to access the web browsing service this Sunday. Some recommend temporarily switching to the 3G network, while others claim they can’t connect using that technology either.

In a notice specifically for Cuba, Google acknowledges that the decision was announced too late to update Android before November 1st.

“I’ve tried thousands of times and my phone just won’t connect. It only works through tethering,” writes Yulieta Hernández Díaz. Elaine de Cárdenas Riol also says she can’t use Transfermóvil.

This newspaper had reported on the situation on Friday. Even Google had alerted users to the problem. In a specific notice for Cuba, the company acknowledges that the decision was announced too late to update Android before November 1st. As a temporary solution, it recommends selecting a time zone that remains in UTC-4, such as the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.

The problem reached international time zone authorities. On October 24, a user identified as Tuenvio sent an urgent request to the IANA public mailing list to warn of the Cuban decision. Two days later, specialist Tim Parenti confirmed that he had located the official announcement but warned of difficulties in distributing the update in time. The new version of the database was released on October 27. Microsoft also announced a fix for Windows during November.

The government estimates that maintaining daylight saving time will prevent a 126-megawatt increase in electricity demand during the evening peak. The measure will remain in effect until November 2027 and requires schools and workplaces to start half an hour later during the winter. For several weeks, the sun will not rise in Havana until after 8:00 a.m.

Morocco’s experience offers a warning.

The decision has precedent. In 2004, during another serious energy crisis, Fidel Castro’s government extended daylight saving time and modified school and work schedules.

Morocco’s experience offers a warning. In 2018, the North African country decided to permanently adopt summer time, also arguing that it would save electricity. However, after nearly eight years of controversy surrounding dark mornings and sleep disruptions, the government reversed course on September 20th. An analysis published in April 2016 estimated that the electricity savings represented only between 0.3% and 0.5% of national consumption. The Minister for Ecological Transition herself had acknowledged that no significant reduction in demand attributable to the measure was observed during the winter.

In Holguín, one resident interprets what happened as yet another example of official decisions that end up complicating daily life. “All they do is pretend to work. They spend the whole year inventing measures so that people think they’re doing something, but the measures end up creating more problems, like that infamous ‘Tarea Ordenamiento’ (Ordering Task),” he tells this newspaper. “Then come the corrections, and more measures. This is never-ending.”

Yanet Durán García, for her part, criticizes the institutions for not informing the public, especially the elderly, with sufficient advance notice. “Stop leaving the people to fend for themselves when it’s your responsibility,” she protests after spending the morning helping several neighbors.

But perhaps Mercedes Fundora Carrasco best sums up the mood of many Cubans. “For my part, I don’t care about any schedule if we don’t even have one anymore, and if we do, it’s only half the time,” she writes on Facebook. “My phone can change whenever it wants,” she adds, before mentioning that many workdays don’t even reach eight hours anymore. For many, the real problem isn’t that the phone is an hour behind, but that daily life stopped functioning normally a long time ago.

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In Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, a Pharmacy Swaps Natural Remedies for Detergent and Shampoo

As the old state apothecary loses its purpose, a nearby parish hands out medicines free of charge to sick people who cannot find them

The establishment occupies a building constructed in the 18th century. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Sancti Spíritus, Mercedes García, November 1, 2026 / The old ceramic jars still sit in their place behind the wooden display cases, as if nothing had changed at the historic natural medicine pharmacy in Sancti Spíritus. On the counters, however, where for decades neighbors came looking for passionflower, linden and other traditional remedies, small plastic containers of shampoo, hair dye, peroxide and detergent are now lined up. The apothecary retains its centuries-old appearance, but it has lost what gave its existence meaning: the medicines.

Located at number 38 South, Máximo Gómez Street, opposite the Iglesia Parroquial Mayor and very close to the Hostal del Rijo, the establishment occupies a building constructed in the 18th century. Its stone floors, its large dark-wood cabinets and its porcelain containers are part of a heritage that has survived the passage of time, though not the deterioration of pharmaceutical services.

“This pharmacy has always been here, for as long as I can remember, with natural products that were in demand among the population,” a neighbor who regularly came to buy passionflower and linden for her mother tells 14ymedio. After finding the premises closed on several occasions, she managed to get in this week and discovered that the remedies she was looking for were no longer there.

“I have nothing against them selling those things, but losing access to natural medicines is something I really don’t like.” / 14ymedio

“Now they sell products that seem to be criollo (domestically made and artisanal), like shampoo, hair dye, peroxide, detergents and mosquito repellent lotion,” she explains. The woman also points to the way the goods are presented, in small plastic bottles with rudimentary labels. “I have nothing against them selling those things, but losing access to natural medicines is something I don’t like at all,” she laments. continue reading

The photographs taken by this newspaper show long rows of blue, yellow and white containers on the pharmacy’s old furniture. Behind them, protected by glass cases, sit the ceramic vessels with inscriptions recalling the names of plants and medicinal preparations. Some shelves are practically empty. The traditional jars seem to have been left behind as decorative pieces in a business that now offers other merchandise.

The transformation is especially striking given the building’s history. A heritage guide to the city notes that the building was restored in 1986 and fitted out as a green medicine pharmacy, with furnishings inspired by the town’s old apothecaries. The recovery of traditional medicines was expressly listed among the objectives of that restoration.

“This pharmacy has always existed, for as long as I can remember, with natural products that were in demand by the community.” / 14ymedio

The case of Sancti Spíritus is not unique on the island. In September 2026, the Peralta Pharmacy, in Holguín, had also been turned into a sort of variety store, with private products sold on consignment and barely a handful of medicines available. One customer who went there looking for drugs found that the offering came down to a few bottles of eye drops.

The disappearance of natural remedies has been underway in Cuba for some time. In July 2025, a pharmacy in Matanzas presented a similar picture of empty shelves. “They have no bottles, they have nothing,” a customer summed up at the time, recalling the days when the establishment itself used to make its own preparations.

In September 2024, the pharmaceutical authorities in Camagüey acknowledged the difficulties in obtaining garlic, onion, oregano, aloe vera, sugar and alcohol, as well as imported raw materials essential for making syrups, extracts and creams. The collapse of agricultural production had ended up affecting even the remedies that for years were promoted as an alternative to industrial medicines.

The irony is greater in Sancti Spíritus, where, just a few steps from this old pharmacy, the Catholic Church distributes medicines free of charge to patients who cannot find them in state establishments. Every Saturday, chronically ill people and their relatives come to the parish with their prescriptions in search of treatments for hypertension, diabetes and other ailments. Anyone who walks into the Máximo Gómez apothecary today looking for a remedy to relieve a headache may leave, at best, with nothing but a bottle of shampoo.

Translated by GH.

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The Prosecutor’s Office Seeks Up to Five Years in Prison for a Protest in Bayamo, Cuba

Nine citizens face prison sentences for demonstrating against power outages and shortages.

Screenshot from one of the videos circulated on social media showing the protest that took place in Bayamo in May 2025. / Social media

14ymedio, Madrid, November 1, 2026 – The municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Bayamo, Granma, has requested sentences of up to five years in prison for nine citizens charged for their participation in the May 23, 2025, protest in that city, according to the provisional conclusions obtained by Martí Noticias. The document concludes the investigative phase and paves the way for a request for an oral trial, with the acts classified as contempt, public disorder, incitement to commit a crime, and resistance.

According to the prosecution’s account, the events took place near the intersection of Vicente Quesada Avenue and 22nd Street, close to a city roundabout. The report describes a gathering of about 120 people, some with their faces covered to avoid being identified, who used cooking pots and other metal objects to make noise and express their discontent.

Among the slogans heard was “We want food, electricity, and water!” The prosecution maintains that “offensive” remarks were also shouted against President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other “historic leaders,” Martí Noticias reports.

One of the main grounds for the prosecution’s request is the alleged altercation with officers from the Ministry of the Interior who arrived at the scene. According to the text, after authorities attempted to engage in dialogue and address the residents’ concerns, the protesters “disrespected them and threw bottles and stones but didn’t injure them,” which, the judicial document adds, “led the police forces to arrest those primarily responsible for the events.”

“They are asking for years in prison because they demanded basic rights from the Government, such as access to water, food, and electricity”

The harshest sentence, five years in prison for public disorder, has been requested for Pedro Luis Zamora Isac. For Alexander Guzmán Silva, the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking four years for contempt, public disorder, and incitement to commit a crime; and for Ever Ernesto Pérez Aliaga, three years for contempt and public disorder.

Also charged is Arael Rodríguez Escalante, who is accused of inciting hostility toward the police through shouting and hostile remarks. The others, Alejandro Vargas Ortiz, Luis Manuel Zamora Guevara, Rosa María Socarrás Moralez, Aleyda Valera Álvarez, and Katia Sucel Estrada Valera, are accused of offenses including resistance and incitement to commit a crime.

The families reject the charges. Ernesto Pérez Aliaga, Ever’s father, categorically denied the charge of contempt in statements to Martí Noticias after learning of the prosecution’s request. “He did not disrespect them,” he said. “In an elegant, peaceful, and calm manner, he did not disrespect anyone.” Meanwhile, Rosa Escalante, Arael’s mother, stated: “They are asking for years in prison because they demanded basic rights from the Government, such as access to water, food, and electricity.”

The protests took place on May 23, 2025. A resident warned Martí Noticias at the time: “This is going to explode again at any moment, because we still have no electricity.”

This is not the first case of its kind in Bayamo. Another 15 Cubans were tried in September 2025 for demonstrating on March 17, 2024, against prolonged power outages and deteriorating living conditions. In that case, the defendants were sentenced to prison terms of up to six years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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