Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

The Freedom to Inform Requires No Permission

“Henry Constantín is not in pretrial detention. He is being held unjustly and illegitimately”

Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the Inter American Press Society (SIP). / Facebook/Henry Constatín

14ymedio, Havana, September 30, 2026 – No one should be imprisoned for expressing their ideas or for reporting on what those in power seek to conceal. Freedom of expression is a right, not a concession from the Government. The imprisonment of journalist Henry Constantín once again demonstrates that the Cuban regime treats freedom of expression as a privilege conditional on obedience.

Henry Constantín, director of La Hora de Cuba and regional vice president of the Inter American Press Society (SIP), was detained on September 16, 2026, in Camagüey. The authorities have ordered his transfer to Kilo 7 prison under pretrial detention. The official justification was his failure to appear for a summons from the Identification, Immigration and Foreigners Directorate. The formal charge: “disobedience.”

The offense is included in Article 189 of the Cuban Penal Code currently in force. But invoking a legal provision is not enough to make an imprisonment legitimate. Even less so when we are talking about a country like Cuba.

Constantín’s defense was unable to file a habeas corpus petition on Friday, September 18, because it was a day of “change of duties”

According to information released about the case, Constantín’s defense was unable to file a habeas corpus petition on Friday, September 18, because it was a day of “change of duties.” They had to wait until Monday the 21st. For that reason, the hearing to decide on the habeas corpus petition, which under Cuba’s Criminal Procedure Law should have taken place before Friday the 25th, did not take place either.

Cuban judges are formal judges from Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, they “change duties.” For that reason, the Provincial Court of Camagüey informed Henry’s relatives and defense that the essential habeas corpus hearing, which should have been held within 72 hours after the petition was filed, would take place four or five days later, if they decided to hold it.

The uncertainty is inadmissible. Habeas corpus exists to subject a deprivation of liberty to urgent judicial review. Its effectiveness depends on that review taking place as quickly as possible. Every delay prolongs the detention and the risk to a person who has been unjustly detained. continue reading

But in the same country that quickly invokes an article of the Penal Code to justify the imprisonment of a journalist, there is no urgency for a judge to assess the violation of his rights. It might seem like a euphemism, but it is not: Cuban judges changed duties many years ago. In many cases, they are mere legitimizers of a despotic power in which the law is not a limit on that same power, much less a guarantee for the citizen.

In a context like Cuba’s, the law serves to punish those who question those in power but rarely reaches those who serve or wield that power

The Penal Code used to charge Henry Constantín also provides for sanctions against officials who maliciously delay the processing of matters, unjustifiably fail to perform their duties, or issue rulings that violate the law. Despite the foregoing, none of the judges who have delayed the review of Henry’s imprisonment shares a cell with him. Because in a context like Cuba’s, the law serves to punish those who question those in power but rarely reaches those who serve or wield that power.

Faced with a context like that, only disobedience remains because disobeying is the only way to exercise rights.

Henry Constantín and the rest of the independent journalists, in the eyes of the Cuban regime, have been disobeying for years. To a power that demands absolute obedience, the simple act of reporting freely is insubordination. For that reason, anyone who wants to practice independent journalism in Cuba will have to disobey the regime that prevents it.

This is not our idea. Martin Luther King wrote it from a cell in 1963. In his Letter From Birmingham Jail, he said: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” And invoking Saint Augustine, he recalled that “an unjust law is no law at all.” Four decades earlier, while being tried for sedition before a British colonial court, Mahatma Gandhi had said something similar: “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good.”

Both understood that unjust regimes relabel rights as crimes. What in a free society is called exercising freedom of expression, in the vocabulary of totalitarianism is called “disobedience.” It is the power’s “newspeak”: naming as a crime what in many democracies is a natural and universal right.

Likewise, the pretrial detention imposed on Henry Constantín marks a qualitative leap. It is no longer a matter of the few-hour detentions he has suffered so many times. The regime has decided that it will no longer tolerate his determination to continue exercising his rights. If it previously tried to silence him with cuts to electricity and Internet service and with detentions, it now resorts to the most absolute form of deprivation: the total loss of freedom. It does so, moreover, under the euphemism of “temporary” or “provisional.”

Pretrial detention is an exceptional precautionary measure that allows a person to be deprived of liberty before trial when there are concrete risks that justify it

Pretrial detention is an exceptional precautionary measure that allows a person to be deprived of liberty before trial when there are concrete risks that justify it, such as flight or obstruction of the investigation. It does not constitute an advance punishment nor does it eliminate the presumption of innocence.

However, in Cuba it is used for another purpose: to keep a person like Henry Constantín locked up without the need to bring him to trial and without exposing the regime that imprisons him to the public scrutiny that, for any political system, comes with putting a journalist in prison.

Henry Constantín is not in pretrial detention. He is being held unjustly and illegitimately.

We demand that pretrial detention not be used to prolong the repression of Henry Constantín for weeks or months. We demand that he be released immediately and unconditionally so that pretrial detention does not become the instrument that allows the Cuban regime to achieve what it has so far failed to achieve: breaking the journalist’s will and forcing him to choose between prison and exile.

Doing journalism should never be considered disobedience. Because reporting is not a crime.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Generation Y: Inflation in Cuba is Also Measured in the Empty Spaces in the Market

A purchase of just one onion and twelve chili peppers costs 1,000 pesos in a market in Nuevo Vedado

A silent negotiation begins in front of the stall: this yes, that no; the tomatoes can wait; I’d better buy fewer eggs; the fruit will have to wait another day. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, September 30, 2026 / There are purchases that it is better not to take out of the bag right away. Leaving them in it for a few minutes, as if to delay the moment of placing them on the table postpones the discomfort of doing the accounts. This Tuesday I returned from the Tulipán Street market in Nuevo Vedado, with an onion, and a dozen cachuca peppers. I stood looking at that little haul’ some green peppers, two already red, others starting to get their color and the golden onion to one side.

One thousand pesos.

I counted them again, not the pesos, but the chili peppers. Twelve. There was still only one onion. Nothing else justified the expense, no hidden tomatoes, no bunch of scallions, not even a couple of lemons adding zeros to the number. One onion and twelve chili peppers for 1,000 pesos in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 3,210.

An onion and twelve chili peppers for 1,000 pesos in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 3,210 pesos. / 14ymedio

Going to the market has long since become a series of renunciations for Cubans. One arrives thinking about what you need and end up buying what you can. In front of the stall, a silent negotiation begins: this yes, that no; the tomatoes can wait; better I buy fewer eggs; the fruit will have to wait for another day. The shopping list shrinks as the uncertainty of how much those same products will cost tomorrow expands.

Even memorizing prices is useless. That familiar domestic memory that for years allowed us to know when something was expensive and when it was worth taking advantage of a sale has now become worthless. A price we heard three days ago might seem cheap today. For example, I try to remember how much malanga cost last week, but I can’t. Everything goes up too fast.

With the dollar at 750 pesos on the informal market, we no longer measure the cost of living solely by what we manage to bring home, but by everything we have to leave behind in the market. Each bag weighs less in our hands and much more in our pockets.

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A Partial Collapse Puts More Than 300 Centro Habana Residents on Alert

Part of the fourth-floor ceiling of a former hotel at Águila and San Miguel collapsed without causing injuries.

On the top floor of the building, a large section of the ceiling collapsed and now allows the sky to be seen directly from inside. / Courtesy/14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, September 30, 2026 – Part of the ceiling of the fourth floor of a building located at Águila 368, on the corner of San Miguel, in Centro Habana, collapsed this Wednesday at around 6:10 in the morning. The collapse caused no injuries, but residents fear that it is a warning of a larger collapse in a building where more than 300 people live.

“Fortunately, there were no human losses and no one was injured,” Juan Goberna, director of the Cuban Network for People with Disabilities, who lives with his wife on the second floor, told 14ymedio. The activist warns, however, that the deterioration of the building and the lack of repairs leave residents under the threat of a total collapse.

On the top floor of the building, a large section of the ceiling collapsed and now allows the sky to be seen directly from inside. Below, pieces of concrete, dust and other debris cover the floor and accumulate near the metal railing of the staircase. Alongside the exposed and rusted reinforcing bars of the structure, damp stains spread across the sections of ceiling that are still standing. continue reading

“A neighbor began screaming and people jumped out of bed to see what was happening, but it wasn’t until it began to get light that we could see how serious what had happened was”

“I was already awake when I heard the crash and the whole building shook,” Goberna says. “A neighbor began screaming and people jumped out of bed to see what was happening, but it wasn’t until it began to get light that we could see how serious what had happened was. To make matters worse, it has been raining since early this morning, so water has been coming in through the opening.”

The activist explains that “there are neighbors who are on the street right now and don’t want to go into the building for fear that more fragments will continue falling.” Those in the worst situation, he continues, “are the people on the fourth floor, but the collapse also damaged part of the third-floor ceiling because of the weight of the debris that fell.”

Goberna clarifies that “this is the first partial collapse the building has suffered, but pieces had already fallen from the ceiling of the top floor, although until now they had been only superficial pieces.” An initiative to shore up the structure with wood failed because of the lack of fuel, which made it difficult to hire a truck to transport the beams.

From the street, the signs of prolonged deterioration are also evident. The art deco façade has windows without frames, open gaps and areas blackened by dampness. Built in 1936 and originally intended as a hotel, the building eventually became a huge collective residence, with numerous families spread among rooms and subdivided spaces.

Built in 1936 and originally intended as a hotel, the building eventually became a huge collective residence. /Courtesy/14ymedio

The building is located in the Colón Popular Council, one of the most densely populated areas of Centro Habana. There, former mansions, hotels and guesthouses transformed into tenements house several generations of the same family or numerous households under a single roof. Overcrowding and structural deterioration are part of the daily landscape of a municipality where it takes only a few blocks of walking to find structures shored up, closed-off balconies and façades on the verge of falling apart.

Wednesday’s partial collapse occurred just days after a fatal collapse in the capital. On September 22, two people died when the porch of their home collapsed in Lawton, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre. Neighbors told 14ymedio at the time that the home’s residents had repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the building, without obtaining a solution from the authorities.

Partial collapses also often become a long ordeal for those who remain inside. Many families continue living in buildings declared uninhabitable or at risk of collapse because they have nowhere to move, and State shelters do not provide an immediate solution either. Each rainy season increases the risk in a city with a very old housing stock and decades of inadequate maintenance.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Government Points Out That Washington’s New Sanctions Also Affect the Private Sector

Some Cubans are pleased that they target the “regime’s front men” who managed to open bank accounts in the US

Some Cubans believe the only ones harmed by the new US restrictions are business owners close to the regime. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, September 30, 2026 / Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez sought solace in irony with a post on his X account about the new restrictions imposed by the US on travel and financial operations. “Less than 24 hours ago, the Secretary of State said that ‘Cuba has already fallen,’ and it turns out that now he needs to apply additional measures,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote shortly after the new document became known.

“The US Government issued another wave of blockade measures against the Cuban people. Among them, they eliminate people-to-people exchanges and further limit academic and research exchanges. Also, the prohibitions on private entities in Cuba doing business directly with the US and US banks are reinforced, in addition to the prohibition of U-turn transactions. Indirect operations with entities on the State Department’s unilateral list of restricted entities are prohibited,” the foreign minister summarized.

In his opinion, this package attempts “to obstruct the process of economic transformations underway” and “openly attacks both the public sector and the private sector, the one that some US officials say they want to help develop.” continue reading

In his opinion, this package “openly attacks both the public sector and the private sector, the one that some US officials say they want to help develop”

The measures take effect this very Wednesday and have been described by the official press as proof of the “cynicism of the US claims that its actions are aimed at the Cuban Government, since they limit US citizens, who are prevented from traveling freely to Cuba, and threaten the private businesses of Cuban citizens, in addition to the direct effect they have on the people’s standard of living.”

Readers of the official press have cried out against the new measures, which, in their view, confirm the existence of constant persecution. “Gentlemen, good thing the blockade doesn’t exist and that we don’t develop because we’re bad and inefficient…,” wrote one reader. “What will those who hoped that the remedy for our ills would come with the fall of the revolutionary government, or that the right thing was to negotiate our freedom, independence and sovereignty, think now? How naive!” says another.

Some have attributed it to the proximity of the November elections in the US. “These measures have only one first name: DESPERATION. And a last name: IMPOTENCE. Time is running out for the Trumpists against Cuba, the nut is about to jam because it can’t turn any further, and the bolt doesn’t break,” stresses another user. Only one has pointed to the consequences that the restrictions imposed on accounts in the US will bring for the majority of the population.

“With this new batch of sanctions, the window that allowed Cuban private entrepreneurs to buy all kinds of products in the United States is closing; although these were later sold in national currency at exaggerated prices with high and abusive profit margins, making them impossible for the majority to acquire, at least they existed and, in the complete absence of the State, supplied the bodegones and shops of neighborhoods and cities with products, many of them basic necessities,” he wrote.

Opinion among some Cuban entrepreneurs differs. Yulieta Hernández, a Havana engineer and entrepreneur, asked on social media: “What business owner managed to open an account?” The responses mostly went in the same direction and, although there were some who objected that she seemed to justify or minimize the consequences of the US measures, they pointed to a kind of privileged few as the only ones harmed. “We all know who,” “The front men,” or “The ones from before. The ones from now. The same ones as always,” proliferated among the comments.

We all know who,” “The front men,” or “The ones from before. The ones from now. The same ones as always,” proliferated among the comments

On the scarcity of accounts opened by Cubans in the US, they agreed with what had been pointed out hours earlier by Oniel Díaz Castellanos, founder of the consulting firm Auge, who in any case did note that the bad news lay more in the signal it sends as a brake on the future.

The modifications approved this Tuesday indicate that a specific license – and not the general one – will be necessary for a Cuban to open accounts in the country. Operations that allowed US banks to act as intermediaries in transactions between Cubans residing on the island and companies or individuals located in other countries will also be left without authorization.

In addition, travel restrictions are included: trips may only be made “under the auspices of an organization also subject to US jurisdiction” and in the company of “a representative of the sponsoring organization.” Group educational “people-to-people” exchange trips are also dropped from the list, although family visits, currently the largest source of tourism for Cuba, are still allowed.

Last week, the Associated Press agency reported that White House sources had told it about a draft with possible changes to travel, although the aim of the restrictions was to carry out “stricter controls” on regime officials, with the alleged purpose of preventing Bruno Rodríguez from being at the United Nations on the day the resolution against the embargo is voted on. For the moment, nothing is known about this specific point.

Translated by GH

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The Chinese Ambassador in Havana Gives ‘Cubadebate’ a Lesson in Market Economics

Beijing “is making maximum efforts to help” the island, says Hua Xin: “Now, we are building 15 solar parks of 85 MW and materials have arrived for 200 MW photovoltaic energy storage”

China’s Ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, and Randy Alonso, during the interview. / Screenshot/Cubadebate

14ymedio, Madrid, September 30, 2026 / The second season of the podcast Es la idea [It’s the Idea], hosted by Randy Alonso, premiered this Tuesday with the participation of the Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin. The program, an interview show with politicians, academics and diplomats, has already featured former Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, Cuban political scientist Rafael Hernández and The People’s Forum activist Manolo de los Santos.

The conversation covered a whole constellation of topics, ranging from the BRICS group to climate change, touching on China’s trade relations with Latin America and Beijing’s solidarity with Cuba, with the unavoidable mentions of Fidel Castro along the way. But what Randy Alonso tried hardest to get out of it was how a country ruled with an iron hand by a Communist Party has achieved China’s levels of development.

Hua did not hold back. There are three pillars: leadership belongs to the CPC, international opening is unavoidable and the economy must be a market economy. All of it, mind you, in its own way. As far as the first point is concerned, the diplomat stressed that each communist party must adapt to the peculiarities of the country in which it operates. “President Xi said that the wind of the October Revolution blew through China, but the Communist Party of China did not become a Soviet party,” he argued. continue reading

Hua noted that it is imperative “to give full play to the decisive role of the market, always combining socialism with the market economy”

On the second point, Hua highlighted the importance of being open to the world, which represents – he stressed – a general benefit for the Global South. “China is Cuba’s main trading partner and we are also the main trading partner of many countries in the region. Now many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are exporting their typical products and their resources to China and, at the same time, Chinese products such as industrial goods, household appliances and machinery are more welcome every day among the people of the region,” he explained.

More weight was carried by the brief statement he made regarding the economy, key to the Cuban case. Hua noted that it is imperative “to give full play to the decisive role of the market, always combining socialism with the market economy and establishing and perfecting the socialist market economy system, fully respecting the initiative of the people so that they become the protagonists of the reform.”

It was Alonso who pointed out that China had made food production the cornerstone of its transformations – something that has not been a priority for the Cuban regime beyond words, as shown by the meager investment allocated to this sector. However, China has now become one of the foremost leaders in technology. Hua then had the opportunity to expound on robots, artificial intelligence, robotics and medicines, the only area – the last one – in which it collaborates with Cuba, for which the rest of these matters are still a pipe dream.

The program was already past the halfway mark when Randy Alonso began to be more direct: how does Havana-Beijing cooperation materialize? Hua spoke of storm-resistant royal palms at the Cuban embassy in his country as a symbol of the union between the two countries and from there moved on to Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong. However much he tried to be specific, rambling on about the Belt and Road Initiative – of which Cuba is a part – sports or ballet, the question remained unanswered.

What was already in port is “the first batch of materials for the 200 MW photovoltaic energy generation and storage project”

Hua came down to more tangible ground when he began to talk about energy, the sector in which the Chinese presence in Cuba is most genuinely felt. “China is making maximum efforts to help Cuba. Last year, the 35 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic park project with Chinese assistance was synchronized, and now we are building the 85 MW photovoltaic energy project, which is divided into 15 solar parks, each of 5 MW,” he summarized. The diplomat then announced that this phase should be completed by October and that what was already in port is “the first batch of materials for the 200 MW photovoltaic energy generation and storage project”; with that, he assured, results will be seen.

In addition, the ambassador referred to the 5,000 solar systems that arrived last week to be installed in social centers, senior day-care centers and polyclinics, and to the 60,000 tons of rice promised months ago, the last batch of which has already arrived. “Cuban families have surely tried the Chinese rice,” he joked.

Randy Alonso, however, wanted to press the ambassador further, since China has not gone beyond verbally supporting Havana – and Hua repeated it on the program – against US sanctions. “How does China assess this US blockade against Cuba, and what other cooperation initiatives could be developed to confront it?” he insisted. The diplomat could not offer more than what China has offered all year: rejecting, demanding, asserting and condemning interference. No real measure that would set it against the US Government, with which it has shown great harmony in recent days.

As Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, stated in an interview in the US last Sunday: “We are aware that we are alone. If we have to face foreign aggression, we must bear in mind that perhaps no country will come to our aid.”
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Translated by GH.

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Cuba’s Economy Minister Denies Contacts Between Trump Companies and the Cuban Government

Óscar Pérez-Oliva accuses the U.S. of maneuvering to displace foreign companies established on the Island and impose its own.

Cuban Vice Minister and great-nephew of Fidel Castro, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, in an archive image. / X/@CubaMINREX

14ymedio, Madrid, September 29, 2026 – Cuban Vice Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga denied in an interview with Reuters published Tuesday that businesspeople linked to U.S. President Donald Trump had met with Cuban officials this year seeking business opportunities on the Island.

“I am not aware of any company directly linked to President Trump having contacted Cuba,” said the vice prime minister, who is also Minister of Foreign Trade and Fidel Castro’s great-nephew. He emphasized that neither he nor any other Cuban official had met with representatives of companies connected to the U.S. president.

However, he insisted that they are open to negotiations with U.S. investors: “It is not our policy to prohibit U.S. companies from investing in Cuba, trading with Cuba or doing any kind of business with Cuba,” Pérez-Oliva maintained. “What prevents this possibility is the existence of the trade embargo.”

As the British news agency recalls, businesspeople linked to Trump have been associated with possible business opportunities in Cuba for years. Reuters specifically mentions meetings held in 2016 by people in the now-U.S. president’s circle that caused a stir at the time because of the possibility that they were violating embargo laws. continue reading

“It is not our policy to prohibit U.S. companies from investing in Cuba, trading with Cuba or doing any kind of business with Cuba”

The Guardian reported two weeks ago that several Trump Organization executives had traveled to Cuba in recent months and held meetings with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Raúl Castro, known as El Cangrejo [The Crab] to “explore opportunities” amid the departure of Spanish hotel companies.

The British newspaper questioned the maneuvering by the U.S. president’s circle, seeking control of Cuban assets by taking advantage of the vacuum left by the withdrawal of major international companies, such as Spain’s Meliá and Iberostar and Canada’s Sherritt, which operated on the Island after being threatened with sanctions by the U.S. Government itself.

A similar idea was outlined by Pérez-Oliva on Tuesday in the interview: “On the one hand, international companies – Cuba’s traditional partners around the world – are being threatened and pressured to halt their economic and commercial relations with our country,” he said. “On the other, efforts are being made to promote the activities of U.S. companies.”

The minister was referring to the State Department policy that allows U.S. companies to export fuel to Cuba’s private sector, which he described as an attempt to return Cuba to a dependence on the U.S. reminiscent of the colonial era. “[That policy] is aimed at forcing Cuba’s economic dependence,” Pérez-Oliva said, and he insisted: “We will never again be a colony of any country.”

“In light of these sanctions, these companies are evaluating alternatives to determine how to continue their operations”

Those exports are conditioned on their being received by private small and medium-sized enterprises, although, as 14ymedio has documented, the State sector has managed to enter the business. The U.S. has become Havana’s main supplier, ahead of Spain and China, historic commercial partners of the Island.

Pérez-Oliva also told Reuters that the stalled dialogue between Washington and Havana has left international investors in a situation of uncertainty. The minister recalled the situation of Canadian mining company Sherritt International, which suspended its participation in the joint venture it maintained with the Cuban Government in May.

In recent months, U.S. businesspeople have shown interest in taking control of Sherritt. The eventual entry of U.S. capital would allow the company to obtain authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to continue its operations in Cuba. One of the most lucrative offers comes from Texan Ray Washburne, a former Trump Administration official.

The Australian company Antilles Gold, which owns a copper and gold mine in Cuba, also suspended its participation in the operations of the joint venture with the Cuban state-owned company GeoMinera, after the U.S. State Department sanctioned the project.

“Neither Antilles Gold nor Sherritt has withdrawn,” Pérez-Oliva maintained. “In light of these sanctions, these companies are evaluating alternatives to determine how to continue their operations.”

Washington, for its part, maintains that these measures do not go far enough and has called for political changes with “free and fair” elections

Like Sherritt, Antilles Gold has proposed changes to the structure of the joint venture to the State Department that would allow U.S. entities to assume more than 50% control and, as a result, seek the lifting of the sanctions or an OFAC license to operate in Cuba.

Pérez-Oliva highlighted the economic reforms being implemented by his government and accused the U.S. of obstructing that process. Washington, for its part, maintains that these measures do not go far enough and has called for political changes with “free and fair” elections.

In response to a question from Reuters, the vice prime minister rejected rumors that he was being prepared as Cuba’s next president: “I have no aspirations in that regard,” Pérez-Oliva said. “I am simply a public servant and I will work wherever I am needed, without aspiring to any particular position.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Ángel Santiesteban is Elected New Sovereign Grand Commander of Cuban Freemasonry

José Ramón Viñas Alonso took over as lieutenant grand commander, equivalent to the vice presidency within the Order

Ángel Santiesteban, in an archive image shared by him on his social media. / Facebook/Ángel Santiesteban

14ymedio, Havana, September 28, 2026 – The writer, former political prisoner and Cuban opponent of the regime Ángel Santiesteban Prats was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba. According to CubaNet, the vote took place last Saturday, September 26, during an extraordinary session held in Havana, and ended with 19 votes in favor and one against.

Santiesteban replaces José Ramón Viñas Alonso, who had headed the Supreme Council since 2015. Following the election, Viñas took over as lieutenant grand commander, a position equivalent to the vice presidency within the Order, and was also declared “sovereign grand commander ad vitam of honor and dignity,” according to CubaNet.

Less than two months ago, Santiesteban was at the center of the dispute with the Ministry of Justice over Viñas’s continued tenure. As grand chancellor of the Supreme Council, he was the one who reported on August 6 that an official from the agency intended to impose a replacement decided by the authorities and called on Freemasons to appear the following day at the headquarters in Centro Habana.

Less than two months ago, Santiesteban was at the center of the dispute with the Ministry of Justice over Viñas’s continued tenure

About a hundred people went to the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree in Centro Habana to support Viñas, and the replacement was never carried out. “For the authorities I am not the Sovereign; for my brothers I am,” the leader responded to the Justice official at the time. State Security agents remained in the vicinity of the building.

The confrontation escalated on August 19, when Viñas was summoned to a police station in Havana on charges of “disobedience.” He had refused to hand over the keys to his office and maintained that his position depended exclusively on internal elections. A source close to him told 14ymedio that the police tried to have him detained, although his lawyer managed to prevent it. continue reading

The offensive against Viñas dated back to 2025. In May of that year, the Ministry of Justice attempted to recognize Lázaro Cuesta Valdés as head of the Supreme Council and threatened to freeze the institution’s bank accounts if it did not accept the decision. Santiesteban attributed the maneuver to State Security at the time.

In April 2025, Santiesteban was expelled from the symbolic degrees of the Order, but retained degrees 4 through 33, the highest rank of the Scottish Rite. This allowed him to remain within the Supreme Council, from where he continued to denounce the infiltration of State Security into the fraternity.

The clash between Viñas and the regime also has a political precedent. Following the Island-wide 11 July 2021 protests, Viñas endorsed a letter addressed to Miguel Díaz-Canel in which the Supreme Council rejected the “combat order” issued by the president to repress the demonstrators. Since then, members of the Supreme Council have denounced pressure and interrogations against Viñas, as well as attempts to remove him from the institution’s leadership.

Santiesteban, a persistent critic of the Cuban regime, wrote the screenplay for the film Plantados, an approach to the situation of political prisoners following Fidel Castro’s rise to power in January 1959. He has also received the Václav Havel Foundation Award for Creative Dissent.

Translated by Regina Anavy

See also Santiesteban’s blog: https://blogloshijosquenadiequiso.wordpress.com/

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Cuban Foreign Minister Laments That UN Aid Cannot Reach the Island Because of US ‘Pressure’

Rodríguez thanked the United Nations agencies for their effort “to facilitate the arrival of material aid” to the island “in these difficult circumstances”

The UN has indicated that the difficulty of shipping cargo by sea forces the use of air freight, which is more expensive. / UNICEF

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, September 29, 2026 /
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez lamented on Monday that part of the humanitarian aid the UN has earmarked for the country is among the “more than 7,000 containers” that, he maintains, have been unable to reach the island because of US “pressure and threats” on international shipping companies.

Rodríguez made this point to the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), Tom Fletcher, during a meeting they held during the UN General Assembly in New York.

The head of Cuban diplomacy said on X that he updated Fletcher “on the daily harm to Cuban families caused by the extreme tightening of the blockade, the energy siege and the secondary sanctions of the US government against Cuba.”

He also expressed his gratitude for “the effort of the UN and its agencies to facilitate the arrival of material aid” to the island “in these difficult circumstances.” continue reading

He also expressed his gratitude for “the effort of the UN and its agencies to facilitate the arrival of material aid” to the island “in these difficult circumstances”

In May of this year, the French shipping company CMA CGM and the German company Hapag-Lloyd announced the suspension of shipments because of Trump’s decree expanding US sanctions on trade with Cuba to include “any foreign person” operating in the “energy, defense and related materiel, metals and mining, financial services, or security sectors of the Cuban economy, or any other sector of the Cuban economy.”

At the end of July, the Cuban government stated that the measures were keeping more than 7,000 containers held in various Caribbean ports with food, supplies for the energy and water sectors, and medicines. At the end of August, the United Nations System in Cuba denounced the “challenges” it has faced in transporting humanitarian aid to Cuba by sea, which has forced it to arrange for those resources to be sent by air, “with higher costs and delays.”

During that month, 14ymedio verified that CMA CGM cargo was already arriving on the island, something corroborated shortly afterwards by Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who confirmed that the French shipping company had resumed shipments, although only of food, medicines and medical supplies.

“There are foreign companies that have given in to these pressures and have withdrawn from the country. Others remain and continue working with us,” he stated.

Likewise, this summer the state-owned company Medicuba denounced the immobilization of two containers carrying a medication for the treatment of epilepsy in the Colombian port of Cartagena de Indias, because the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd had refused to deliver the freight, citing compliance with the US embargo.

Translated by GH.

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Rubio Warns: “If It Doesn’t Make the Changes Now, the Consequences Will Be Even Worse for the Cuban Government”

The Secretary of State laments that too many of the regime’s supporters “still believe they can hold out until the end of this Administration without doing anything”

Marco Rubio this Monday in an interview with Fox News Fox News. / Screen capture

14ymedio, Madrid, September 29, 2026 / The constant back-and-forth of the US Administration in its policy toward Cuba had a new episode yesterday with statements by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In an interview with Fox News, the Republican warned “certain individuals” who control the regime to “open their eyes to the reality they face” or “the consequences will be even worse for them.”

Rubio stated that Washington has no intention of allowing the island “to become a base of operations against the United States.” The Secretary of State insisted that the regime cannot keep wasting time and urged it to choose “a different path.”

“Unfortunately, the people who are still there chanting revolutionary slogans, many of them, still believe they can hold out until the end of this Administration without making changes or doing anything. They are wrong, and they will learn the lesson the hard way if they don’t change their attitude,” the Republican insisted. continue reading

The Secretary of State expanded on the idea that Cuba is a “failed state” and stressed that, in reality, “it has already fallen.” “It doesn’t have a functioning economy, and it is governed by people who keep preaching about a revolution that has been dead for 20 years. It has never worked; that’s the problem they have,” he added.

The Secretary of State expanded on the idea that Cuba is a “failed state” and stressed that, in reality, “it has already fallen”

“They have a functioning regime, one that has jailed and killed people, but it is not a functioning government or a functioning country. It simply isn’t. On top of that, it is a country driven by corruption and theft,” he continued. Rubio also maintained that the Cuban people are shut out of the economy.

“Anything that had the chance of generating money in Cuba was controlled by the Cuban Armed Forces and the Cuban Communist Party, to line the pockets of a handful of individuals at the expense of the entire country. Since 2021, at least close to 20% of the population has left the country. They left because it is a failure, an absolute failure,” he observed.

The Secretary of State once again hardened his tone compared with the one he took last week in New York, when he stated: “There are some individuals in that regime we will never be able to work with because they have blood on their hands. But there are people there I believe we could work with if they are willing to steer the country toward political and economic freedom and toward the process that will lead us to that final goal.”

Thus, he once again toyed with the military route when he implied that the time for dialogue may run out. “Our president’s preference is to resolve these things diplomatically and in a way that allows him to reach an agreement and put Cuba – or any country – on a path of possible and irreversible change that includes economic freedoms, but also political freedoms,” he said. And he insisted on this point, as is being demanded from Florida: “You cannot have economic freedom if you don’t first have political freedom. Both have to happen at the same time, because that will require a period of transition.”

Right afterwards, just 30 seconds before the end of the interview, he was asked about Venezuela, where the transition seems to be dragging on longer than the opposition expected in January. “Two things are happening in Venezuela: one, its economy needs to keep recovering because the people have suffered too much. We are talking about 25 to 30 years of corruption. The other thing that has to happen, and that we are focused on, is a democratic transition: they need to have free and fair elections in that country. We are working very hard with the National Assembly to establish the necessary conditions and have free and fair elections as soon as possible,” he said, without mentioning María Corina Machado, about whom he did speak last week in New York, when he was asked about the opposition leader’s return.

“María Corina is very brave, and we respect her. But there are some eight million Venezuelans outside their country, and our policy seeks to allow the entire community to return safely and rebuild what it lost”

“María Corina is very brave, and we respect her. But there are some eight million Venezuelans outside their country, and our policy seeks to allow the entire community to return safely and rebuild what it lost,” he argued.
Hours after Rubio delivered a relatively conciliatory message toward Cuba last week, CBS News published a report that made headlines around the world about alleged preparations by the US Army Reserve to support Southern Command in the event of a possible military operation related to Cuba.

Hours later, the network scaled back the scope of that report and, citing an expert, stated that the documentation did not necessarily imply “an invasion order.” Asked by the press, Donald Trump emphatically ruled out that option: “I would say Cuba and we will make a deal. I don’t think we need the military,” he said on Saturday.

Translated by GH.

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The Cuban Regime Continues Its Effort to Reform the Economy Without Making Political Changes

Pedro Monreal maintains that liberalization will remain limited as long as the State maintains control over the rules governing access and decision-making.

Cuba’s President, Miguel Díaz-Canel (left), applauds alongside Prime Minister Manuel Marrero in an archival photograph. / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, September 28, 2026 – Cuba’s Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, reported that, of the package of 176 economic and social reforms approved by the Government in June, 89% (158) are currently being implemented, with 197 supporting legal regulations, according to reports by Cuba’s official media on Sunday.

These measures seek to liberalize and decentralize the Cuban economy amid the profound polycrisis the Island has experienced for decades, attributed to both internal and external factors. The package of reforms has been criticized by independent economists, including Spain-based expert Pedro Monreal, who maintains that without political reforms, the economic ones are unlikely to be effective.

“The 176 measures start from a State-based foundation that remains essentially intact,” Monreal has pointed out. “If it retains control over licenses, foreign currency, and inputs, the State enterprise does not compete: it rations. The non-state sector may be authorized and still remain subordinate. Handing over the management of public assets without modifying the ownership structure, the residual capacity for decision-making, or the rules governing access does not create parity either, but rather guardianship over State assets.” continue reading

“If it retains control over licenses, foreign currency, and inputs, the State enterprise does not compete: it rations”

This Sunday, at the conclusion of a training session on the reforms with the presidents of state Business Groups and Boards of Directors, the Cuban prime minister declared that “changes that will boost productive capacities are already becoming apparent, and with this there will be greater supply, which going forward should contribute to a gradual reduction in prices and to containing inflation, which causes so much damage.”

Regarding the reforms, Marrero stressed that their objective is for the State enterprise to be “more agile, efficient, and coordinated” with the rest of the economy and insisted on “taking advantage of the opportunities” contained in Decree Law 114, which regulates associations between State and non-state business entities, with the aim of “increasing the production of goods and services, replacing imports, making use of available productive capacities, increasing business competitiveness, and generating jobs.”

The head of government also pointed out that transforming the State enterprise into a commercial company “through shares or ownership interests is not synonymous with privatization.” In this regard, he indicated that the aim is to “separate ownership and management, attract private, national, and foreign capital, and improve efficiency, competitiveness, and exports.”

The package of 176 economic and social reforms now underway, grouped into 23 thematic areas, focuses, among other aspects, on decentralizing to the municipal level a series of responsibilities, including administrative, human resources, budgetary, financial, local tax, environmental, and climate-change management, as well as project management, knowledge, and training. It also contemplates changes intended to stimulate agriculture, foreign trade, private and foreign investment, and the real estate sector, in addition to decentralizing decision-making, granting greater “autonomy” to State enterprises, and authorizing private capital to participate in financial activities.

“Coordinating an economy does not mean authorizing coexistence, but creating interdependence among actors under common rules governing access, contracting, risk, and decision-making”

Monreal’s criticisms, for their part, focus on the need for an economic model that coordinates, rather than merely “allows.” “Coordinating an economy does not mean authorizing coexistence, but creating interdependence among actors under common rules governing access, contracting, risk, and decision-making. That is where the main flaw lies. Easing an annex of permitted activities or granting permits unilaterally facilitates entry but does not create linkages,” the economist says.

The expert has also focused his criticism on the aforementioned Point 17, in which he sees “the ‘crony capitalism’ of the Russian transition.” “With the rule of law nonexistent, the accelerated privatization of State enterprises without robust legal safeguards usually ends with State assets being captured by insiders well connected to those in power. One thing leads to another without intermediate steps.”

These reforms have arrived at a time when Cuba is mired in a serious crisis that has lasted six years, during which the Island’s Gross Domestic Product has contracted by 15%, according to official figures. The situation has worsened since January, when the U.S. began applying a policy of “maximum pressure” on Cuba with an oil blockade and a series of additional sanctions aimed at bringing about political and economic changes by the regime.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Neighborhood Market with “Better” Prices

The Ayestarán location awaits its official opening this Monday while customers protest an offering they consider expensive and limited.

Inside the Ayestarán Neighborhood Market, employees were finishing placing the products because, they said, today is the opening and “Government people” are coming. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, September 28, 2026 – At the doors of the brand-new Neighborhood Market on Ayestarán Street, in Havana, customers crowded together Monday morning. Several women approached the glass, shaded their eyes with their hands to overcome the reflections and inspected the shelves, which were still only half full. The door was closed. Inside, employees were finishing placing the products because, as one of them explained to 14ymedio, today is the opening and “Government people” are coming.

The establishment, located at 207 Ayestarán, between Néstor Sardiñas and Perfecto Lacoste, in the municipality of Cerro, is part of the Neighborhood Market project, an initiative that the Ministry of Domestic Trade has promoted as a formula for recovering state-owned premises and stabilizing the retail sale of basic products. According to the regulations, state-owned establishments are awarded through bidding for management by mipymes [small and medium-sized enterprises – SMSE in English], cooperatives, self-employed workers and other economic actors.

In Ayestarán, the newly painted blue-and-white premises certainly looks more presentable than many state-run stores in the capital and is light-years away from looking like the dilapidated ration-market bodegas. On the windows, Neighborhood Market signs alternate with the name Doña Luisa and the logo of DV Alimentos Sanos Super Deliverde. Inside there are new display cases, a refrigerator and shelves that this Monday still showed large empty spaces. continue reading

The 900-milliliter bottle of oil costs 2,600 pesos; a kilogram of powdered milk, 4,500; rice, 800, and black beans, 600. / 14ymedio

The anticipation, however, began to diminish when curious customers discovered the price list. The 900-milliliter bottle of oil costs 2,600 pesos; a kilogram of powdered milk, 4,500; rice, 800, and black beans, 600. Each egg costs 130 pesos, or 3,900 per carton. A can of tomato paste costs 1,000 pesos and a can of Spam, 1,100. The 500-gram package of luncheon meat sells for 900 pesos, while soap costs 380 and each roll of toilet paper, 190.

“I don’t see many products either,” said a woman leaning on a cane as she looked through the glass. The prices, she maintained, can also be found at some mipymes. Los Mercados de Barrio [Neighborhood Markets], according to what the authorities have announced, have a limited catalog that includes products such as vegetable oil, powdered milk, chicken, ground meat, rice, sugar and coffee, as well as cleaning supplies such as detergent, soap and toilet paper.

“This isn’t a Neighborhood Market, this is just any old mipyme,” another woman shouted toward the inside so the workers could hear her. “The milk is just as expensive as elsewhere, and the toilet paper is even more expensive,” she protested.

The reaction contrasts with the project’s official presentation. Just a few hours earlier, Minister of Domestic Trade Betsy Díaz Velázquez had inaugurated another Neighborhood Market in the Sierra Maestra housing development, in Boyeros. The official station Radio Rebelde said that these establishments seek to offer food and cleaning products at prices between 10% and 15% lower than those at other stores. The Government also grants incentives to private operators, including a tax rebate and exemption from rent during the first two years.

“I don’t see many products either,” said a woman leaning on a cane as she looked through the glass. / 14ymedio

The Cuban News Agency itself joined in the enthusiasm and said that there are already 24 establishments throughout the country operating through a “service administration and commercialization contract” between the selected economic actor and the state-owned company that owns the property. The official press presents the initiative as a possibility for reducing costs and prices thanks, among other advantages, to a 5% sales tax.

None of that tax framework consoled those doing the math in front of the Ayestarán door this Monday.

“Why are they going to open this if it’s the same thing the mipymes already have?” another woman asked. A passing man intervened to point out that, at least, the oil was cheaper than at other establishments. The response came immediately, almost like a chorus: “That oil isn’t cheap for anyone.”

In Ayestarán, the newly painted blue-and-white premises certainly looks more presentable than many state-run stores. / 14ymedio

“We settle for everything; this is really a scam,” another woman insisted. Around her, the others nodded as they continued mentally comparing the prices with salaries, pensions and what they had seen in other stores.

The scene summed up the challenge facing the commercial experiment. Since this is not a subsidized bodega, and no matter how many tax benefits they receive, prices will respond to the law of supply and demand.

“This is disrespectful,” one of the women concluded before walking away from the still-closed door. “They are making fun of us to our faces every day and we allow them to do it.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Bakery That Never Goes Dark: Nighttime Lines in Guanabacoa for One or Two Pounds of Bread

Residents cross areas at high risk of muggings, such as La Cotorra, to reach the establishment

Numerous people wait at night in front of the bakery, one of the few lit spots in the area during the blackouts. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, September 28, 2026 / At eight or nine at night, when much of the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa is in darkness, the only state bakery that keeps working during the blackouts stays lit and surrounded by people thanks to a generator. The establishment is next to the well-known “Guanabacoa traffic light,” at the intersection of Vía Blanca and the Corral Falso road.

The scene repeats itself every day, and it is at sundown that the line takes on its true dimensions. Dozens of people crowd in front of the bakery, some by the door, others sitting wherever they can find a spot, while motorcycles pile up on the sidewalk. In the images taken by 14ymedio, the light from the establishment falls on those waiting and leaves the rest of the street plunged in darkness.

Many come to buy just one or two pounds of bread. For some of those in line, that will be their entire meal that night or their breakfast the next morning.

Residents from different parts of Guanabacoa, and from Regla as well, make their way to the bakery. For some, the route means crossing La Cotorra at night, at the entrance to the municipality, an area that took its name from the old water bottling plant that once operated there and that the blackouts and poor lighting have made especially unsafe. continue reading

The fear is not unfounded. 14ymedio recently documented, in that same area, the assault on a couple whose electric moped was snatched at knifepoint by two hooded men. The attack happened at night, on a poorly lit avenue at the entrance to Guanabacoa.

Even so, the lack of alternatives drives many to make the trip. The chance of finding bread in the middle of a blackout outweighs the risk of crossing dark, isolated streets. And if the bread runs out before they reach the counter, there is not much leeway: come back the next day, look in another municipality or wait for the power to come back.

Residents say that “fights” are common and that on occasion the Police have had to intervene

Nor is the wait at the bakery by any means peaceful. Residents say that “fights” are common and that on occasion the Police have had to intervene. In a line where it is unclear whether there will be enough bread for everyone, any dispute over a place in line can end in shouting or shoving.

Scenes like this are repeated in other parts of the island. In the municipality of Regla, after more than 26 hours without electricity, numerous people were already standing in line at daybreak in front of a bakery, a bank and other basic services. In Matanzas, another line formed in front of a bakery in the Versalles neighborhood where only ten trays of long loaves had been baked: there, seeing people waiting was itself the sign that there was still something left to buy.

Translated by GH.

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A Family Tree to Help Cuban Families Rediscover Their Roots

Cuba Research Project launches a collaborative tool that makes it possible to trace ancestors among more than 600,000 historical records from the island

The database also includes the official register of 74,000 mambí fighters from Cuba’s War of Independence. / Public domain

14ymedio, September 28, 2026, Madrid/Cuba Research Project, the free online resource devoted to the island’s genealogy and demography, announced this week the launch of Árbol Genealógico de Cuba [Cuban Family Tree], a collaborative tool that allows users to build and document their family roots, connect their ancestors with the records available in the archive and find possible links with other families’ public trees.

The new tree expands the search tools the project already offered, which currently brings together more than 600,000 records distributed across 30 collections. Users can search, free of charge, databases of civil and parish records, cemeteries and burials, censuses, passenger lists, naturalizations, school records and documents related to military service.

The tool allows users to build a family tree directly on the site or import an existing one using a GEDCOM file – a format used to exchange genealogical information. People added to the tree can be linked to the archive’s records, while users can also consult the trees that other families have decided to make public.

Among the most notable collections is a historical list of passengers on ships that arrived in Cuba or left the island, with almost 340,000 records. The oldest date from the 16th century, although most are from the 19th. continue reading

The tool makes it possible to build and document family roots, connect ancestors with the available records and find links with other families’ public trees

The archive also includes 47,824 names from death notices published in the newspaper Diario de La Marina between 1868 and 1960, compiled by Lydia E. Reyes, as well as more than 18,000 names from burial notices for Havana’s Colón Cemetery published between 1920 and 1921.

Another collection brings together more than 15,000 records of people from the Canary Islands who emigrated to Cuba during the 19th century. The material was originally compiled from data held by various town councils and by the now-defunct Emigrant Museum of Teguise, in Lanzarote.

The database also includes the official register of 74,000 mambí fighters from Cuba’s War of Independence, naturalization certificates issued between 1904 and 1939, and records from various cemeteries on the island. Among the latter is that of the Centro Macabeo, in Guanabacoa, considered the oldest Jewish cemetery in Cuba, established in 1910.

The project has also added reference works for family research, such as the nine volumes of Historia de Familias Cubanas [History of Cuban Families], by the Count of San Juan de Jaruco, which gathers genealogical information on 841 Cuban surnames.

“If enough people do it, this will become the largest collection of Cuban genealogy ever assembled, and it will have been built by Cubans themselves”

“Half a million records took us three years and dozens of volunteers working name by name,” said the project’s founder, Richard Villalba, in a statement in which he also encourages more people to contribute. “Families hold far more than we will ever have,” he said. “If enough people do it, this will become the largest collection of Cuban genealogy ever assembled, and it will have been built by Cubans themselves.”

The project accepts contributions of documents, photographs, parish or civil records, passenger lists and other materials that may help expand the archive. Users can also flag errors in existing records and submit corrections directly from each person’s entry. Cuba Research Project says its goal is to gather, preserve and index these materials so that they can be searched in a single, free digital archive.

Translated by GH

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Instead of Oil, Cubans Will Get a $9 Million Mosque Funded by Saudi Arabia

The Portuguese construction company Engimov, in charge of the project, has fenced off the land next to the Tallapiedra thermoelectric plant in Havana

After nine years of announcements, the perimeter of the complex has finally been fenced off. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana/Madrid, September 28, 2026 / The perimeter of the former Tallapiedra thermoelectric plant, in Old Havana, has finally been fenced off so that work announced almost ten years ago can begin. Over this decade, the plant’s old smokestacks have gone dark for good; one day they will stand in contrast to the minarets of the King Salman Mosque. The complex is expected to have prayer halls with capacity for some 500 people, a public library, a dining hall, green spaces and community rooms.

According to official sources, the estimated budget is $9.3 million, provided by Riyadh through the Saudi Fund for Development, although the investor is formally the Office of the Historian, which manages the funds.

The site has recently been marked with signage, as this newspaper was able to verify, and a sign displays the name of the project – King Salman Mosque – the construction permit number and the names of the companies carrying out the project. The design is by Restaura, the specialized entity of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (Ohch) that carries out the main conservation, restoration and urban development work in the capital’s Historic Center. The construction itself is being carried out by the builder Engimov Caribe. continue reading

The company is headquartered in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) and its capital is 100% Portuguese, as the builder states on its own website. In addition to civil works – including industrial and logistics buildings – it collaborates on residential buildings and hotels, and it also sells – through its own website – kitchen furniture and building materials.

The project’s file number indicates that the permit was obtained in 2020, although talk of this construction began almost four years earlier. As early as 2014, initial plans were circulating to build a mosque in Havana whose look would recall that of Ortaköy, in Istanbul.

The initiative came from Turkey, which was prepared to put up sufficient capital, and from the insistence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at the end of that year insisted on a pre-Columbian Muslim presence on the island. “Muslims’ contact with America dates back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178. It wasn’t Christopher Columbus. Islam spread across the American continent even before Columbus arrived,” he said. The president, who remains in office, stated: “Columbus recounts that there was a mosque on a hill on the coast of Cuba. I am going to talk with my Cuban brothers about how fitting it would be to build a mosque on top of that hill.”

It is not very clear why the plans came to nothing, since the Cuban government, which had initially given a flat no, later backtracked and gave the green light to a project that never materialized. At the time, the number of Muslims living on the island was estimated at about 5,000; their meeting and prayer place in the capital was the Abdallah Mosque, on Oficios Street. In 2016, the first plans for the new construction project began to circulate, by then financed by Saudi Arabia.

The idea was to build a large complex that could hold some 10,000 worshippers, the largest in Latin America. According to the ambassador in Riyadh, Vladimir González, the island had “a small Muslim community in the country; very organized. I feel honored to make life easier for them as Muslims in Cuba,” he said in 2022.

In 2016, the first plans for the new construction project began to circulate, by then financed by Saudi Arabia. / 14ymedio

In recent years, the Saudi fund has financed seven projects on the island related to health, sanitation and infrastructure, with a total value of some $193.3 million, in addition to the amount earmarked for the mosque. Furthermore, in 2021, a source from the Office of the Historian of Havana told 14ymedio that there was a loan of $26.6 million for the Program for the Rehabilitation and Construction of Social Works, but that resources had been taken from it for the Fidel Castro Ruz Center, in El Vedado, which opened in December of that year.

“The loan was supposed to be for housing, but they took part of it for the Center and for the Capitol too,” said that source. This made it possible to raise the pharaonic building dedicated to Fidel Castro. In addition, part of the money went to the project for the future King Salman Mosque, which even now, in 2026, does not yet have its foundations laid.

Translated by GH.

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Havana Chronicles: The ‘Chemical’ Adds Collapsed Bodies to the Havana Landscape

In San Lázaro, a young man slumped against a wall barely manages to attract the attention of passersby.

On the wall, of the mutilated street name, only one word survives: “Persevere”. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, September 27, 2026 / In San Lázaro, you have to look both up and down at the same time. Up, to avoid the sight of gutted balconies, exposed beams, and pieces of buildings that seem to be calculating when to collapse. Down, to avoid tripping over the holes in the sidewalk and discovering, from time to time, someone else who has also fallen.

Next to a tree and against the blue wall of a house, a young man sits on the ground. He is strong, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, but his body is slumped, his head bowed on his chest, in a posture that Havana residents have come to recognize. Lacking a diagnosis, those who pass by the area have a street word for situations like this: “on drugs.”

Life goes on just a few meters away. Pedestrians, classic cars, and tricycles pass by. No one seems too surprised. Perhaps that is the most unsettling thing: these scenes have ceased to be exceptional in some areas of Havana.

In the absence of a diagnosis, those who pass through the area already have a street word for situations like this: “enchemicado” (‘chemicaled’).

In the absence of a diagnosis, those who pass through the area already have a street word for situations like this: “enquimicado” [‘chemicaled’]. / 14ymedio

In a few years the “chemical,” as several synthetic cannabinoids are popularly known, has gone from being an issue that the authorities rarely spoke of, to become a problem even official television recognizes. In May 2025 , the Ministry of the Interior reported 342 people accused of drug trafficking and use in Havana and 810 cases opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office related to these crimes. The police had identified 74 “complex environments” in the capital at that time and highlighted eight particularly problematic areas. continue reading

The list included neighborhoods in Playa, Marianao, La Lisa, Boyeros, Old Havana, San Miguel del Padrón, and Cerro. Central Havana needed no introduction: there, as even the official spokesman Humberto López admitted at the time, “drugs exist, everyone knows it, and they’ve existed for years.” Authorities also acknowledged their concern about drug use among minors.

Since then, the geography seems to have become less precise because the problem is now occurring in broad daylight and on busy avenues. Just a few weeks ago, at the corner of Reina and Galiano, two young men were collapsed under the influence of the drug. While they were incapacitated, a man took advantage of the situation to steal one of their backpacks and disappeared into the crowd. The incident happened the day after a drug raid on that same street.

San Lázaro Street looks like an open scar that runs through the city from Old Havana to Vedado. / 14ymedio

Now the scene repeats itself, with different coordinates: San Lázaro. Few avenues could offer a more fitting backdrop for this young man paralyzed by the drug, because the entire street resembles an open wound that cuts through the city from Old Havana to Vedado. On both sides, are buildings surviving with amputated balconies, walls without plaster, boarded-up windows, and supports that long ago ceased to aspire to elegance, focusing instead simply on not collapsing.

On a corner, an old yellow car drives past a facade riddled with rubble. On the wall, bearing the street name, also mutilated, only one word survives: “Persevere.” A little further on, the young man will remain, for hours, slumped against a wall.