Translating Cuba – English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island

Havana Chronicles: Three Weeks Later, I Return to Streets With Less Food and More ‘Closed’ Signs

The offensive against private businesses has reduced the offerings in a city where getting a package of chicken is a whole expedition

Faced with the option of opening and risking a fine of thousands of pesos, the owners prefer to suspend sales. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, Yoani Sánchez, August 19, 2026 / I went out into the street after almost three weeks of convalescence. I descended the 14 flights of stairs as if I was an 80-year-old woman. On reaching the ground floor, I took a deep breath and consoled myself with the thought that, by the time I returned, the electricity would surely be back on and I could take the elevator. Lost illusions.

I decided to take Conill Street, stopping first to say hello to the garbage dump on the corner. Although it had been cleaned once recently, it had grown back to the size of a country, with its own ecosystem, its habitual inhabitants, and the people who scavenge for food among the waste. The steps of the Ministry of Agriculture were crowded with people sitting and staring at their mobile phone screens. The internet connection is so bad that customers of the state monopoly Etecsa wander from block to block looking for a spot with a functioning data signal. At the entrance to the unproductive Ministry of Agriculture they’ve found a 4G hotspot.

I cross Rancho Boyeros with great cautioun. The last thing I need right now is to twist an ankle on one of the many potholes or get hit by one of the few electric tricycles that travel along the avenue. Upon reaching the other side, I come across the first of several signs I’ll see along this short walk. “Closed,” it reads in the window of a small shop that until a few days ago offered a limited selection of basic products. I turn onto Central. On the corner of Tulipán, another handwritten sign repeats the same word. Across the street, at a garage where you could buy everything from cold water to soda crackers, the gate is down.

“Closed,” reads the sign on the window of a small shop that until a few days ago offered a limited selection of basic goods. / 14ymedio

The offensive against on private businesses that don’t respect the price caps ordered by officialdom, or that refuse electronic payments has reduced the number of small markets in my neighborhood to just a handful of poorly stocked shops with long-faced employees. There is no chicken, sausages, vegetable oil, or ground beef, among many other missing items. Faced with the option of opening and risking a fine of thousands of pesos, the owners prefer to suspend sales and accumulate days of zero profit until the storm passes. “This is the land of the two-week break,” a neighbor I run into tells me. “Right now, the inspectors are giving up,” she adds.

Frustrated, I start heading home. The Tulipán Street market is still on my way. “I’m sure I’ll find something there,” I encourage myself. My body, at rest for so many days, is starting to show signs of continue reading

exhaustion. I sit down against a wall, take out a bottle, and take a long swig of the sugary guava juice I made before leaving. The dose of sucrose works quickly, and I manage to cross back across the wide avenue that connects El Vedado with the airport.

As I approach Tulipán Market, I notice the difference. There are fewer cart vendors outside, fewer sellers offering goods on the sidewalks, and much less of the usual hustle and bustle. The refrigerators are off, several kiosks are closed, and the butchers’ chalkboards display barely any lard complete the panorama. In the three weeks since I last visited, the place feels completely different.

I leave with my bag empty. In Estancia, a man and his son sit on the sidewalk calling out in low voices, “Chicken, chicken!” A package of about seven or eight small drumsticks costs 3,000 pesos. There’s no other option. I take out the money and pay. The teenager hands me a dripping plastic bag with the completely thawed meat. I hurry back to my building.

I call from downstairs to tell my husband to wait for me on the seventh floor and help me finish bringing up the groceries. My legs are stiff, and I feel like my fever has returned. I take another long gulp of guava juice and reach the halfway point of the stairs I have to climb. Reinaldo is there. I have to sit down and rest before limping on to the top floor.

As soon as we got home, we started cooking some of the chicken. There’s no time to wait: it’s thawed and we have no way to store it. We’ve been without electricity for almost 24 hours now.

The Havana Chronicles can be read here

______________________

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.

A False Earthquake Alert Sends Thousands of Cubans Into the Streets Across the Island

Civil Defense confirmed that “no seismic movement has been recorded in the national territory during the afternoon this Tuesday.”

Residents of Havana left their homes and took to the streets alarmed by the false earthquake alert. / Social media

14ymedio, Havana, August 18, 2026 – At approximately three in the afternoon this Tuesday, thousands of Cubans across the Island were startled when they received a loud alarm on their phones urgently informing them of an “earthquake alert.”

In Havana, the warning triggered nervousness among residents who immediately rushed to leave their buildings. “Remain calm and seek shelter somewhere nearby,” the alert on the phones indicated, a message that sparked scenes of panic. The vast majority were caught by the alarm in the middle of the blackout. Several accounts received by the 14ymedio newsroom described elderly people with their walkers hurrying to get out as best they could. In the Luyanó neighborhood, according to witnesses at the scene, an elderly woman screamed for them not to let her die alone. Some only managed to get out in their underwear, while others tried to rescue their pets.

A phone displays the earthquake alert received by thousands of users on the Island. / 14ymedio

On the street, neighbors looked at one another amid uncertainty, nervous laughter and fear. Some elderly people were still trying to finish making their way down the stairs as their strength allowed. Others regretted having left their cat sleeping under the bed.

Minutes later, Cuba’s Civil Defense reported through its official channels that, according to confirmation from the National Center for Seismological Research (Cenais), “no seismic movement has been recorded in the national territory this continue reading

Tuesday during the afternoon.”

“In the event of any real event, our official systems and channels will activate the corresponding protocols in a timely manner”

Dr. Enrique Arango, head of research at Cenais, described the alert that reached mobile phones and caused confusion among the population as “completely false.” “In the event of any real event, our official systems and channels will activate the corresponding protocols in a timely manner,” Arango stressed.

Following the scare, the official media began repeatedly issuing clarifications ruling out that it was an earthquake. Versions circulated on social media attributing the warning to an alleged Etecsa drill or a failed test, which Cubadebate quickly denied.

In an Island where residents constantly suffer from blackouts, shortages and bad news, Google seems to be taking the blame

The official media outlet pointed to the operation of Google’s earthquake alert system for Android phones as a possible explanation: the mechanism operates using accelerometers built into phones, which can detect movements compatible with the first vibrations of an earthquake. When numerous devices register similar signals at the same time, the system analyzes that data and can send an alert to phones located in the area. It is designed to gain a few seconds in the event of an earthquake, but its estimates can be wrong and an automatic alert by itself does not constitute confirmation that a tremor has occurred.

So far, the authorities have not explained what signal or movement could have triggered the mass activation of the alert. On an Island where residents constantly suffer from blackouts, shortages and bad news, Google seems to be taking the blame for the scare that sent neighbors running from their homes this Tuesday. The earthquakes that shook Venezuela and Colombia in recent weeks are still very fresh in the memories of Cubans and left many with the feeling that another major earthquake could occur at any moment in the region.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Only the Hospital and Water Pumping System have Power on Cuba’s Isla de La Juventud

An audio recording reveals how a powerful neighbor manages to restore electricity to his circuit by taking it away from residents of San Lázaro Street, in Centro Habana.

The Héroes del Baire General Teaching Hospital, on the Isle of Youth / Victoria

14ymedio, Havana, August 18, 2026 – This Tuesday, only the hospital and the water pumping system on Isla de La Juventud will have guaranteed power to operate. The rest of the territory was left practically without electricity from 6 in the morning due to the fuel deficit affecting generating plants.

The territory’s Electric Company reported in a Facebook message, with a photograph of a brief physical document, that photovoltaic circuits A230 and A030 will be energized between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. With this schedule, “one generating unit will remain operating at 75% of its capacity.”

To close its message, the company asked for “understanding, support and discipline to face this complex scenario.”

The responses were not long in coming. Dozens of island residents reproached the lack of electricity, an issue that has worsened during the year: “No, don’t screw around anymore. Enough, please. Food spoils in two hours. Imagine this situation now. How long will we continue living like this, in such an inhumane way?”

“They make the announcement and everyone has to fend for themselves. They don’t say whether the oil is already on its way, they don’t say anything. They drop the bombshell and that’s it”

Someone else added: “And they don’t say when it might be restored. They make the announcement and everyone has to fend for themselves. They don’t say whether the oil is already on its way, they don’t say anything. They drop the bombshell and that’s it.”

The episode expands an electricity crisis in the special municipality that in February forced blackouts to be extended in four-hour cycles because of the shortage of fuel for continue reading

generation. It was also noted that “the measures being reported today are not permanent; their implementation will depend on how the availability of fuel evolves.”

As the months passed, the situation in the territory took on more dramatic overtones. At the end of May, the general director of the Electric Union, Rubén Campos Olmo, acknowledged that Isla de la Juventud was operating with barely six hours of electricity a day, despite having been considered for years one of the territories with the greatest energy stability in the country.

By June, everything had gotten worse, as in the rest of the country. A report in the official newspaper Victoria indicated that the territory would barely have 120 minutes of electricity supply guaranteed per day.

At the national level, the outlook is no better. According to the daily report from the Electric Union, this Tuesday, during the period of peak demand, when solar energy is no longer contributing anything to the national electric system (SEN), the state company estimates a projected shortfall of 2,369 MW against a maximum demand of 3,350 MW.

Many residents have denounced “interference in the blackout system and preferences for circuits,” as reflected in a complaint collected by 14ymedio in Havana

The bleak outlook is due, in part, to units 6 and 8 of the Máximo Gómez Thermoelectric Plant, in Mariel, as well as unit 6 of Diez de Octubre and unit 2 in Felton, “being out of order,” while unit 3 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna plant, in Santa Cruz, units 5 and 6 of Renté, and unit 5 in Diez de Octubre “are undergoing maintenance.” Added to this is Unit 3 of the Antonio Maceo plant, which is out of service “due to moisture in the generator’s control cabinet.”

In total, eight of the country’s 16 thermoelectric generation units are not operational. This source is responsible for 40% of the energy mix and is supplied with domestic crude oil. Another 40% of the mix is handled by generating engines, but this energy source, which requires diesel and fuel oil, is shut down because of the fuel shortage resulting from the oil blockade and sanctions imposed by Washington on the Island.

The precarious energy situation in the country has caused, particularly since March, a wave of protests in various parts of the country.

The complaints have not been limited solely to the electricity supply: many residents have denounced “interference in the blackout system and preferences for circuits,” as reflected in a complaint collected by 14ymedio in Havana.

The source, who asks to remain anonymous, maintains that “San Lázaro Street, full of el químico — drugs — and danger at all hours, was almost entirely disconnected in order to connect another circuit, P326, which is even larger and generates greater electricity demand, to provide electricity to the television networks.”

The neighbor shares an audio recording of just over seven minutes in which the voice of a man can be heard boasting that he can restore the P326 circuit and announcing the arrival of a truck carrying utility poles “between tomorrow and the day after.” The man adds that, “once the truck with the poles arrives, the number one priority of the Ministry of Energy and Mines is the restoration of protected circuit 326, which is the circuit belonging to us that is being affected at this moment.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Oil and Powdered Milk Prices Drive Up Inflation in Cuba

In July, the monthly CPI rose 2.56%, the cumulative figure since January reached 15.12%, and the year-on-year rate stood at 20.70%

Sale of oil, at 4,500 pesos, at an informal stand on Galiano Street, in Havana. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, 19 August 2026, Madrid / For another month, official data – far more benevolent than independent estimates, such as those of economist Steve Hanke – once again confirm what ordinary Cubans see for themselves every day: inflation shows no let-up. According to the most recent report from the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), the consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.56% in July compared with the previous month.

The cumulative increase in prices reached 15.12% since January, while the year-on-year variation stood at 20.70%, well above the figure recorded for the same period the previous year (14.37%). Hanke, for his part, in a chart published this same Tuesday, places the island among the countries with the highest inflation in the world, with a year-on-year rate of 67%, behind only Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan.

As the main factor behind the rise (accounting for 63.18% of the total) are, once again, food and non-alcoholic beverages. These grew 3.51% during the month, above the overall average. Their weight in the consumer basket means that this increase has a far greater impact than that of other categories, whose prices rose even faster, such as alcoholic beverages and continue reading

tobacco (which rose 6.07%) and, to a lesser extent, restaurants and hotels (3.68%).

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation

Among food items, the highest costs go to bottled oil, which has officially ranged from 1,400 pesos per litre (the lowest price recorded, in Pinar del Río) to nearly 2,800 (in Havana). Next comes powdered milk, at between 900 and 1,500 pesos per pound.

Transport recorded a monthly increase of 1.05% and contributed 4.06% to the rise, while miscellaneous goods and services rose 2.33%, with an effect of 4.86%. Furniture and household goods rose 2.22% and contributed 2.10% to the overall increase.

The remaining categories had a smaller impact. Housing services rose 1.60%, with an effect of 1.32%; clothing and footwear rose 1.30%, with an effect of 0.97%; and recreation and culture rose 0.80%, with an effect of 0.50%. Communications barely changed, at 0.08%, while health prices fell 0.01%.

The data presented this Wednesday by Onei do not yet reflect the new measures implemented by provincial governments in an attempt to halt inflation, which consist basically of price caps, controls on commercial profits, inspections, and fines. The result of the new regulations, however, is already becoming visible on the streets: lost products, an exponential rise in food prices on the informal market and, above all, closed businesses.

Translated by GH

______________________

Iberia Extends Suspension of Flights to Cuba Until June 2027

From Madrid, only Air Europa flies, three times a week, and Air China, once as part of its route from Beijing

Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines. / EFE

14ymedio, Madrid, August 19, 2026 / The Spanish airline Iberia will extend the suspension of its direct flights to Cuba until at least June 30, 2027. The company itself confirmed this to 14ymedio, citing “the situation the country is going through, which has significantly affected both demand and operating conditions.”

Iberia also reports that ticket sales will reopen starting in July of next year, “provided that conditions allow.” For customers who already hold an issued ticket, the company has expanded its flexibility conditions.

Affected passengers can therefore choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to one of these regional alternatives – precisely competitors of the island – Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Mexico.

Last April, Iberia announced that it was canceling its route to Cuba, at least during the low season. It was the first time in the Spanish airline’s history that it had done so for reasons attributable to conditions on the island – in this case, the unprecedented drop in tourism. At the time, it stated that it intended to resume flights for the high season, starting in November, but continue reading

this will ultimately not happen.

Affected passengers can choose a cash refund, a refund via voucher, or a change of destination to Miami, Panama, Santo Domingo, or Mexico

Until then, the company maintained three weekly flights from Madrid to Cuba, which were reduced to two in May. Since June, the only remaining option with Iberia – still in effect – is to fly to Panama and from there on to the island with Copa Airlines, which has a codeshare agreement with the Spanish airline.

Iberia was one of the few airlines that persevered on its routes to Cuba, despite the unprecedented energy crisis, which worsened after the United States’ intervention in Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro and the subsequent oil blockade against the island. On February 9, it announced that, despite the shortage of jet fuel, it would keep its flights to Havana operating, refueling in the Dominican Republic. The lack of travelers from Spain, however, ultimately made the operation unsustainable.

Currently, the only airlines flying from Madrid to the island are Air Europa, with three weekly flights and a refueling stop in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) on the return flight, and Air China, as part of its route from Beijing.

According to the most recent data released by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), tourist arrivals have fallen below the dismal figures recorded during the covid pandemic. Only 28,100 international travelers arrived on the island in June, slightly below the previous two months, when the figure stood at just over 30,500.

Traditional tourist markets for the island now carry little weight: Spain contributed 704 travelers that month, Canada 698, and Russia 99. The final blow to visits from the Iberian Peninsula came from the threat of sanctions against foreign hotel chains, mainly the Spanish companies Meliá, Iberostar, and Barceló, which withdrew from the country in July. The next Onei report will show the effects on the sector.

Translated by GH.

______________________

The Cuban Regime Targets Doraykis Delgado and the Two Creators of ‘Despingovery Channel’

Eight people detained after participating in a pot-banging protest on August 3 in Calabazar, Havana, are being held incommunicado at the El Vivac detention center.

Protest that took place in Alamar, Havana, last July 7, in which Doraykis Delgado González participated. / Screenshot

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 – The legal organization Cubalex has issued an alert about Doraykis Delgado González, imprisoned at the El Guatao women’s prison in Havana, for participating in a demonstration a month and a half ago. Accused of “defamation of institutions and organizations and of heroes and martyrs,” the NGO reports, she is being held in provisional detention, without the right to bail, and the authorities have rejected the request to change the precautionary measure.

“Her situation is especially concerning because she suffers from hemophilia and requires specialized medical monitoring and care,” Cubalex also indicates. Delgado González, known as Koky, is the mother of an 8-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, who “since her imprisonment have been left in the care of neighbors while their father works, as they have no other relatives who can look after them.”

Detained last July 7, the woman had participated in a demonstration over the lengthy blackouts, at the taxi base in Zone 14 of Alamar, in the eastern part of the capital, which she herself recounted in a live broadcast. In it, she said, “We expressed our feelings,” because “we’ve had enough, we’re now tired.” And she continued: “Government and Party officials came with the Police, with those henchmen, to repress us, but their act fell apart, because continue reading

they found that we were peacefully demanding our rights.”

“People, Cuba’s freedom is in our hands, not in anyone else’s hands. There is no savior there”

After keeping the street closed for more than three hours, she recounted, “Oh, what a surprise, at 7:15 they restored electricity to Zone 14. The only thing they came to do was deploy patrol cars to intimidate and mistreat us.” In her post, Delgado González recounted that the officers insulted them with foul language, and snapped, “that’s enough misbehaving.” “You want to see how badly behaved I really am?”, the woman replied. “I came into this world to be happy, not for anyone to come and put pressure on me; I don’t have a pressure-cooker complex.” She also warned: “These people don’t understand unless you do it the hard way. They’re masochists. When they cut it again, we’re going to come back and do the same thing.”

The woman urged people not to stay in their homes “waiting for a miracle,” declaring: “People, Cuba’s freedom is in our hands, not in anyone else’s hands. There is no savior there.” We owe it, she insisted, “to the political prisoners, to those who have been forced to leave this country, to those who have been killed, and to all those children and bedridden people who cannot raise their voices but can no longer endure it.”

Cubalex states that keeping Delgado González in provisional detention “for participating in a peaceful protest not only violates her rights and increases the risks to her health, but also seriously affects her children,” in addition to “intimidating other people so that they do not take to the streets to demand their rights.” For this reason, they demand her “immediate release.”

“He did not commit any kind of crime; he did not steal; he did not throw stones; he did not break anything”

A case similar to Koky’s, Martí Noticias recalls, is that of Lumey Guzmán Fernández, also a resident of Alamar, who was detained on July 9 after posting videos in which she denounced the power cuts and called on neighbors to demonstrate.

The Cuban-American newspaper also reports that at least eight people are being held incommunicado at the El Vivac detention center in Havana following a protest against the endless power outages on August 3.

One of them is activist Pedro Lázaro Gutiérrez Collado, son of Luis Jesús Gutiérrez Campos, a delegate of the Movimiento Opositores por una Nueva República. In statements to Martí Noticias, the dissident said: “He did not commit any kind of crime; he did not steal; he did not throw stones; he did not break anything.”

The Cuban regime, meanwhile, has also rejected the precautionary measure requested for Eduardo Ceballos Pérez, creator of the satirical social media program Despingovery Channel and in prison since last June 1. His mother, Marieta Pérez Alfaro, pleaded in a post this Monday: “If Eddy Ceballos has no criminal record, there is no real risk of flight that would make sentencing difficult. There is no risk that he will interfere with the evidence; he poses no danger to third parties. Why must the provisional detention measure imposed at the beginning of the proceedings be maintained?”

“What is the military secret that lies in an abandoned area, officially disabled since 2025, that has no boundaries, signage, or security?”

The woman was referring to the video for which Ceballos ended up detained, in which he documented an abandoned military installation with Soviet missiles from the 1960s, radars, bunkers and disused weaponry. “What is the military secret that lies in an abandoned area, officially disabled since 2025, that has no boundaries, signage, or security and is routinely used as a playground by children from the area?” Pérez wondered.

For the same humorous publication, the cameraman for Despingovery Channel, Cristian Rodríguez, was also detained, with both accused of espionage, a crime for which they could receive a sentence of up to 30 years. “I do not understand why the criminal case and the precautionary measure remain unchanged,” Pérez Alfaro continued. “If a man’s suffering and a family’s pain are not important in the legal sphere, what should matter is the fact that such a serious crime as espionage is being charged against Eddy Ceballos and Cristian Rodríguez without evidence that confirms it to this day”.

In an interview with 14ymedio, Ceballos’s wife, Daniela Escarra, with whom he has a young daughter, stated that his detention has the sole objective of “generating fear and silencing influencers on the Island.”

Translated by Regina Anavy
______________________

Cuban Agents Used Uniforms of Athletes from Other Countries to Infiltrate in the Dominican Republic

‘Diario Libre’reports that some were identified by Dominican security personnel when they were pursuing athletes who were trying to leave the Island delegation.

La reincidencia de los agentes cubanos llevó a los organismos dominicanos a establecer un protocolo especial de seguridad ante lo que consideraron “una injerencia”. / Facebook/Embajada Cuba RD

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / Cuban state security agents infiltrated sports facilities in the Dominican Republic during the 2026 Santo Domingo Central American and Caribbean Games to monitor the Island’s athletes and prevent further defections, according to an investigation published Tuesday by Diario Libre.

According to the Dominican newspaper, some of the agents even wore uniforms of athletes from other countries to gain access to the venues and approach Cuban competitors without arousing suspicion. The operation was detected by Dominican security agencies, which removed several of those involved from the facilities.

The infiltration by Cuban security forces intensified during the first part of the competition, when two defections had already occurred: Moisés David Torres Puig, on the same day as the opening of the Games; and rower Leah Daniela Almeida, a bronze medalist.

One of the incidents occurred during an indoor competition at Parque del Este. Dominican military personnel detected Cuban agents pursuing athletes from the Island who were trying to leave the delegation. In response, security at the venue temporarily continue reading

closed the doors and began identifying the people inside.

Dominican military personnel detected Cuban agents pursuing athletes from the Island who were trying to leave the delegation

The authorities checked the accreditations against the Games’ database, which included more than 7,000 athletes and about 3,000 coaches and delegation members. According to Diario Libre, this was how Cuban citizens who were not accredited to perform security duties in the country were identified, and the authorities expelled them from the venue.

The Dominican newspaper reports that another similar incident occurred that same day at an outdoor stadium. The repeated presence of the Cuban agents led Dominican authorities to establish a special security protocol in response to what they considered “interference.”

Diario Libre was unable to determine whether the agents who were detected were arrested or whether Dominican authorities initiated any judicial proceedings against them.

The report takes on significance after the Government of the Dominican Republic ordered nine members of the Cuban diplomatic mission and their relatives to leave the country, without explaining the reasons for the measure. Cuba’s Foreign Ministry described it as “an act of subordination” by Santo Domingo to Washington’s policy toward the Island and said that its diplomats had acted in accordance with the Vienna Convention and that there was no reason to justify their expulsion.

The information revealed Tuesday by ‘Diario Libre’ is consistent with testimony obtained by ’14ymedio’ from one of the five Cuban athletes who abandoned the delegation during the Games

The Dominican newspaper El Día had reported that the Cuban officials expelled by the Government of Luis Abinader were allegedly carrying out intelligence activities by taking advantage of their diplomatic accreditations, but according to that version, the expulsion was not related to the athletes’ defections and was simply a coincidence.

However, the information revealed Tuesday by Diario Libre is consistent with testimony obtained by 14ymedio from one of the five Cuban athletes who abandoned the delegation during the Games. The athlete said he had been warned that the Cuban authorities were trying to locate him and was advised not to connect to social media to avoid being found.

“I do believe 100% that it is because of our case,” the athlete said. “They wanted to kidnap us in a country where they have no right to do that.”

The five athletes who abandoned the delegation were fencers Adán Núñez and Hershey Daniela de la Cruz; softball team’s center fielder Yasmani Álvarez; rower Leah Daniela Almeida, a bronze medalist; and field hockey team’s goalkeeper Moisés David Torres Puig.

Cuba’s sports delegations have maintained controls for decades aimed at preventing their members from leaving official teams during international competitions

Cuba’s sports delegations have maintained controls for decades aimed at preventing their members from leaving official teams during international competitions. In June 2022, during the U-23 Baseball Pan American Championship in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Cuban authorities asked the Police for help locating baseball players Alfredo Fadraga and Yosvany Ávalos, who had left the team camp. Both were located and returned to the delegation, which subsequently sent them back to Cuba.

A month later, during a futsal tournament in Guatemala, the Cuban delegation informed local authorities that three players were missing in an effort to prevent them from leaving the country.

At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, at least seven Cuban athletes also abandoned the delegation and reported that delegation officials were withholding their passports to make potential defections more difficult. Chilean authorities did not participate in operations to return them and said that the athletes could legally remain in the country while their visas were valid.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Without Giving Details on the Sentences, an Official Report in Cuba Registers 49 Femicide Trials in 2025

Adolescent pregnancy, starting at age 10, remains at a high level and is considered a “serious social and health problem”

“Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority” / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / A total of 49 femicides were tried on the island during 2025. This is indicated by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), in a document released this Monday through the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality (Ocig), which does not specify when the killings occurred.

The figure provided by the official body is, in its own words, that of “female persons aged 15 and older who were victims of murder at the hands of their partners, ex-partners, or other persons for gender-related reasons, known through judicial proceedings tried in the year 2025.” This represents, as the Ocig boasts, “a slight decrease” in the number of murder victims known through judicial proceedings compared to both the previous year (76) and 2023 (60).

For 2025, the platform Alas Tensas recorded 48 femicides, and 14ymedio – which does not consider murders in robberies or other random circumstances to be gender-related – recorded 42. The fact that the official body reports no victims for Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Guantánamo, and Isla de la Juventud reaffirms that those 49 reported killings may have occurred continue reading

in previous years: at least in the first four provinces, according to independent media data, femicides did in fact occur last year.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.”

By province, Havana had the most cases (12), and its rate (1.54 per 100,000 women) rises slightly above the average of 1.19/100,000. The highest rate by far is found in Mayabeque, with 4.37/100,000 and 6 victims, followed by Ciego de Ávila, with 2.55/100,000 and 4 women killed, and Camagüey, with 2.16/100,000.

Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.” Of the total, 32 had minor children, who were left motherless, totaling 54 children. 75.5%, the report continues, “had no employment ties.”

The age group with the highest concentration of victims is 22 to 44 years old (38), and by type of area, more cases occur in urban areas (33) than in rural areas (16). Lastly, the Ocig notes: “Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority. None of the victims had any type of disability at the time of death.”

Furthermore, as also reported in the same document, the adolescent pregnancy rate in Cuba remained at its highest level – between 1.3 in 2021 and 1.4 per 1,000 girls in 2025 – in the youngest age group (10 to 14 years old). That indicator’s trend for the 15-to-19 age group did decline over that period, from 48.5 to 43.2 per 1,000.

“This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society”

For the youngest adolescents (10-14 years old), the highest rates by province were recorded in Mayabeque (2.2 per thousand), Guantánamo (2), Granma and Holguín (both with 1.9), followed by Camagüey (1.8), Pinar del Río (1.7), Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus (1.4 each).

The Ocig presents the figures with a note: “This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society. Let us care for and educate so as to build a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is without risk, and every young person achieves their full development.”
18% of the total number of adolescent pregnancies in Cuba involve girls under 14 years old, according to official data published by the Ministry of Public Health.

The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Reinol García Moreiro, described the data as worrying. He stressed that births to mothers under 15 years old are on the rise: there were 381 in 2021, while in 2022 and 2023 there were 397 and 419, respectively.

He also warned about unions between adults and minors as one of the main causes of this problem.

Adolescent pregnancy in Cuba is considered a “serious social and health problem” by the authorities, with close to 18-19% of total births coming from mothers between 15 and 19 years old.

Translated by GH.

______________________

Boat With 19 Cubans Aboard Remains Missing a Week After Leaving Pinar Del Río

Among the passengers, who were headed to Mexico, are seven minors, including two-year-old twins

Images of some of the missing rafters, shared by relatives. / Mario Vallejo/Facebook / Mario Vallejo/Facebook

14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / At least 19 Cubans, including 7 minors, remain missing a week after setting out on a boat from Pinar del Río. The alarm was raised a few days ago by relatives of the rafters, who had had no word from them since their departure on August 11 at around two in the afternoon, and who asked for help from the authorities or from anyone who might know whether they had been assisted by the coast guard, a pleasure boat, or fishermen.

Broadcaster Mario Vallejo made an appeal on his social media, in a post to which he attached images captured by the rafters themselves aboard the vessel.

According to a report published this Monday by Martí Noticias, Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, through the Standing Guard of the Fifth Naval Region (RN 5), headquartered in Isla Mujeres (Quintana Roo), has not yet located the vessel. “The search-and-rescue naval stations within the jurisdiction have been placed on alert by RN 5, pending further information about the case,” an official from the agency told the Cuban-American newspaper. He also stated that “the port captaincies and all search-and-rescue naval stations are aware of the vessel.”

“It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled”

The agent, who did not give his name, was asked by Martí Noticias whether helicopters were being used in the search, and replied: “They have not been deployed; that is up to the naval command to decide.”

In Cancún, where the rafters are presumed to have been headed, some relatives are waiting, such as Yunaidy Martínez Ramírez, a native of Havana. “My entire family is on that boat,” she told Martí Noticias. Her husband and their three young children are among the missing. She gave that outlet some details about the crossing and expressed her fear: “It was a boat that was in good shape, but an engine broke down and then continue reading

they ran out of gas more than halfway through the trip because it spilled. The boatman said they would try to sail under sail… They brought food, but after so many days I’m afraid they may have nothing left.” That communication suggests that the boat was, in fact, not a makeshift vessel, since they had radio contact.

Among the passengers are also the twins Leosdel and Leosniel, only two years old, along with their mother, Yusimy Garrobo Leiva, 35, residents of Vertientes, Camagüey.

Martínez Ramírez denounced to Martí Noticias the slowness of the Mexican authorities’ response: “The Navy always tells me the same thing: that they are searching without results. In the first few days they kept passing me from one office to another. The twins’ father and I had to go directly to the main base; if we don’t call, they tell us nothing. They have helicopters and ships to search by air and sea; they should be searching faster. I’m desperate, going out of my mind, about to go look for them myself.”

Martí Noticias recalls a similar case that occurred on August 8, when a boat that also set out from Pinar del Río bound for Cancún sank near Las Martinas after suffering a breakdown. The disaster claimed the lives of young Leodannis Sánchez, 17, and his partner Osmaikel, 19.

After a long stretch with little news of rafters, on August 13 at least a dozen Cuban migrants came ashore at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West, Florida. They were traveling in a boat they had stolen from the state-run company Marina Marlin Tarará, and are now in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Translated by GH.

______________________

With Prices of $20 to $50 per Bucket, Cimex Sells Cuban-Made Paint in Foreign Currency

The state-run store in Matanzas offers all the colors needed for the city’s peeling façades; all that is missing are the customers.

La Casa del Pintor store, popularly known as El Fuego, in the city of Matanzas. / 14ymedio

Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, August 17, 2026 – The saleswoman extends her arm toward shelves packed with buckets of paint as if she were displaying a collection of valuable pieces. White, black, terracotta, yellow. At La Casa del Pintor store, popularly known as El Fuego, in the city of Matanzas, there are enough colors to imagine a city different from the one waiting just outside the door: peeling façades, walls eaten away by dampness, and homes that have not seen a paintbrush in years. The establishment, belonging to the Cimex Corporation, linked to the military conglomerate Gaesa, looks more like a paint museum than a store intended to sell it.

“We accept payment in cash dollars and by bank transfer,” the employee explains, somewhat surprised by the arrival of a customer, when serving buyers should be part of her routine. “I can guarantee the product’s excellent quality and good coverage,” she adds. She later admits, however, that she herself has not been able to buy a bucket, even to give the façade of her home a single coat.

The explanation lies in some small stickers placed on the shelves. Prices range from $20 to $50, depending on the color and size of the container. A figure that helps explain why, during the eight hours the store remains open, the premises are practically empty.

The establishment, belonging to the Cimex corporation, linked to Gaesa, looks more like a paint museum than a store intended to sell it. / 14ymedio

“Those who have been able to buy it have confirmed to me that it adheres very well to the walls. I would have to put together four salaries just to try the cheapest one,” the worker laments.

There is something surreal about the scene. Dozens of perfectly aligned buckets, with their red lids and intact labels, wait for customers who almost never arrive. Outside, Matanzas displays a very different palette: the gray of crumbling plaster, the green of dampness, and that indefinable shade that walls acquire after years without maintenance.

Customers are also not allowed to open the containers to check the product before taking it home. They must rely on the lot number, expiration date, and information on the label. “It’s a shame that, being a product made in Cuba, it is sold in U.S. dollars,” comments a customer who continue reading

, surprisingly, arrives in the middle of the morning.

From the street, El Fuego looks like a store intended for the newly wealthy, although inside, the air conditioning can do little during blackouts. The door remains open, but many passersby do not even turn their heads. They know in advance that what is sold behind the glass is not intended for their wallets.

“Those who have been able to buy it have confirmed to me that it adheres very well to the walls. I would have to put together four salaries just to try the cheapest one”

“Certainly, it is a lack of respect toward the population, especially in this La Marina neighborhood, which is falling to pieces,” complains Argelio, a local resident. “Only people who have family abroad or those who run big businesses can buy there. Meanwhile, the poor have to continue living with walls blackened by grime.”

A 67-year-old retiree from the state Commerce sector, Argelio points out another peculiarity. Less than two blocks away, vinyl paint is sold at a private business. “The other day I was curious enough to take a look, and they have almost the same colors in both places. The difference is that the private seller charges 3,500 pesos per liter and, as you would expect, they add something to it so that the product goes further.”

He also criticizes the fact that a store specializing in paint does not have different types of brushes or other accessories needed to complete the job. The irony goes so far that it was the saleswoman herself who told him where he could find cheaper paint.

“Since I live on my pension, I don’t have the money to indulge in painting my house with products sold in dollars,” he admits. Nevertheless, he says that if he could afford it, he would prefer to buy the sealed container at El Fuego rather than take a chance on discounted or adulterated products that are abundant on the informal market.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

Meteorologists Warn of the Effects of El Niño on Cuba

The phenomenon could cause effects on the island such as high temperatures, drought and the risk of a cyclone

House destroyed by Hurricane Melissa, in November 2025, in the town of Guamá, Santiago de Cuba. / EFE/Ernesto Mastrascusa

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, August 17, 2026 / Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) warns that this year the presence of the El Niño climate phenomenon could cause effects such as high temperatures, drought and the risk of a cyclone affecting the island.

Known as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), it is an interaction between ocean and atmosphere that occurs when surface temperatures in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific rise above their usual values, explains an article published this Sunday on the state-run site Cubadebate.

Among the possible effects associated with El Niño, Cuban specialists foresee a summer with high temperatures and a lack of rainfall due to a combination of atmospheric and oceanic factors that could favor the occurrence of meteorological drought and water stress in the country. In addition, they point out that under El Niño conditions, which will extend until continue reading

the end of 2026, cyclonic activity in the Atlantic basin usually decreases, but its influence does not eliminate the risk of a cyclone’s impact.

Insmet’s forecast anticipates a cyclone season “less active than normal” and estimates a 40% probability that Cuba will be directly affected by at least one hurricane during the current cycle, which runs until November 30.

In the case of tropical storms, the probability of a direct impact rises to 75%

Meanwhile, in the case of tropical storms, the probability of a direct impact rises to 75%.

According to the forecast, up to eleven tropical cyclones are expected to form, eight of them developing in the Atlantic Ocean basin, two in the Caribbean Sea and one in the Gulf of Mexico.

Five of the cyclones are anticipated to potentially reach hurricane strength, and two would be classified as major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale).

Among the hurricanes that have affected Cuba in recent years are Melissa (2025), Oscar and Rafael (2024) and Ian (2022).

Cuba has still not fully recovered from the devastation caused by the impact of Melissa in the eastern provinces of Guantánamo, Granma, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba – with winds of 200 kilometers per hour and rainfall of up to 400 millimeters in some parts of the country.

Its impact caused no fatalities, but did cause extensive material damage to more than 116,000 homes, as well as 600 state medical facilities, more than 2,000 educational centers, some 100,000 hectares of crops, and transportation, telecommunications, electricity and water supply infrastructure.

Translated by GH

______________________

José Martí, ‘Persona Non Grata’ in the Galician Village of Fidel Castro’s Father

The socialist mayor of Láncara conveys the feelings of local residents: “Martí was one of the organizers of the war of independence, in which nearly 50,000 Spanish soldiers died”

Unveiling of the bust of José Martí in Láncara (Lugo, Galicia), in the presence of, among others, Cuba’s ambassador to Spain, Marcelino Medina, and consul Ingrid Izquierdo. / Cuban Consulate in Galicia

14ymedio, Madrid, August 17, 2026 / The mayor of Láncara, in the Galician province of Lugo, has asked Cuban consul Ingrid Izquierdo to remove the bust of José Martí installed next to the house where Ángel Castro – Fidel Castro’s father – was born, which was unveiled last Thursday to mark the centenary of the birth of the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

In a letter published Saturday on his social media, the mayor, socialist Darío Piñeiro, conveys to the representative of the island in the Cantabrian region “the deep unease and indignation” of local residents toward the newly unveiled statue.

According to his letter, the monument is perceived by the public “not as a diplomatic symbol, but as a direct insult to ordinary people, reviving tensions, divisions, and a climate of confrontation that harks back to dark times such as the Cuban war.” For this reason, he calls for its “immediate removal.”

“No symbol in our municipality should be a source of discord, provocation, or offense to the local population, regardless of whether it stands within the boundaries of private property,” the mayor states. He continues: “The community has made clear its demand that this space be continue reading

free of an element that generates hostility and widespread rejection. Our city’s public or private space cannot become a stage for grievance or a reminder of old wars that wound the sensibilities of our people.”

“I find it regrettable that around 300 people are celebrating the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth while the Cuban people are starving”

Piñeiro warns in the letter that “should a satisfactory response or the removal of the piece not be obtained, the Town Council will proceed, as a corresponding measure, to the immediate removal of the monument of similar characteristics located on municipal public land,” referring to another statue of Martí located in the village of A Pobra de San Xiao, which belongs to the same municipality of Láncara.

In the same post where he made his letter public, the mayor adds a comment in quotation marks – without clarifying whether it is his own opinion or that of a fellow citizen – which reads: “I find it regrettable that around 300 people are celebrating the centenary of Fidel Castro’s birth while the Cuban people are starving. I sincerely believe they lack sensitivity and dignity.”

The same text goes on to say that “José Martí was one of the organizers of the war of independence between Cuba and Spain, in which nearly 50,000 Spanish soldiers died, among them many Galicians and residents of Láncara. I do not find it acceptable that the families of those soldiers have to see a bust of the executioner of their relatives on a daily basis.” Fidel Castro’s own father took part in that war after enlisting in the Spanish Army.

“Martí was the intellectual author of Moncada, as Fidel himself stated, and remains the ethical and political wellspring of the Cuban Revolution”

And he ends with a third point: “I ask that you be consistent with your ideals: I cannot understand how someone who identifies as a communist and opposes private property in his own country can own property in Spain, which he could well have donated to the Town Council or to the Val de Láncara cultural association. It is contradictory to be a communist in Cuba and a capitalist in Spain, all the more so given that the transfer or sale of the house was made to a group of businessmen. Do they merely claim to be communists, or are they only communists when it suits or benefits them?”

Piñeiro himself confirmed to the local press that he will send the letter to the Cuban Consulate for Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, headquartered in Santiago de Compostela, this Tuesday, since Monday is a local holiday.

The bust next to Ángel Castro’s house is a donation from the Láncara-Cuba Friendship Association, and was indeed unveiled on August 13 in a massive event led by the association’s president, Antonio Sobrado; the island’s ambassador to Spain, Marcelino Medina; and consul Izquierdo. The authorities of the Láncara Town Council, governed by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, did not attend, however.

“Martí was the intellectual author of Moncada, as Fidel himself stated, and remains the ethical and political wellspring of the Cuban Revolution. To honor Martí and Fidel today is to reaffirm the continuity of a deeply humanist, pro-independence, and Latin Americanist line of thought, one that continues to inspire those who believe in a more just world,” were the words of Ambassador Medina when the statue was unveiled.

“Cuba’s government must reassess its strategy for becoming part of world trade and open the doors that would allow it to do so”

Castroite media covered the event in detail, with extensive criticism of the United States’ “genocidal blockade” of the island and songs by Silvio Rodríguez. At the same event, the Friendship Medal of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (Icap) was awarded to Ángel García Seoane, mayor of Oleiros (A Coruña) for the past 23 years on behalf of the independent party Alternativa dos Veciños.

García Seoane heaped praise on Fidel Castro and closed his speech with a “Homeland or death, we shall overcome,” but he also said that “Cuba cannot keep bleeding out through the departure of its youth” and that “the course must be changed while preserving the values of the revolution.” In a statement carried by El Español, he asserted: “Cuba’s government must reassess its strategy for becoming part of world trade and open the doors that would allow it to do so.”

The house where Ángel Castro was born, now converted into the Center for the Interpretation of Galician Emigration, was the “epicenter” of tributes in Spain to Fidel Castro for his centenary. Unveiled by Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl Castro, on July 28, 2022, the building was visited by the leader of the Cuban Revolution in 1992, accompanied on that occasion by then-president of Galicia Manuel Fraga, a former Francoist minister.

Translated by GH

______________________

‘The Game is Over’ for Small Businesses in Matanzas, Cuba

Amid increasingly expensive merchandise, impoverished customers, and price caps, many private businesses are operating on razor-thin margins or surviving thanks to remittances.

“People are buying the bare essentials to survive.” / 14ymedio / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, August 16, 2026 — When the armchairs disappeared from the porch and Milagros replaced them with two wooden shelves, she thought she had found a way to shore up the family finances without leaving home. In Pueblo Nuevo, Matanzas, where the steady flow of neighbors ensures constant attention to any storefront, she began with sweets, cleaning products, and some basic goods. Seven years later, the shelves are still there, but the initial optimism has shrunk almost at the same rate as her customers’ purchases.

“My sister, who lives abroad, gave me an initial contribution of $200, which in 2019 was enough to open a small business,” she recalls. Now, after years behind the counter, Milagros is torn between continuing and temporarily closing. “For quite some time now, I’ve barely managed to recover what I invested in buying merchandise.”

The scene is repeated throughout Matanzas. Porches converted into cafés, garages transformed into shops, and windows protected by bars that serve as counters display soft drinks, packages of cookies, canned goods, and jars of mayonnaise. The merchandise is there, but customers arrive only in dribs and drabs. Some ask about prices and walk away; others buy just one thing.

“The prices of all products in the MSMEs that import goods are constantly rising.” / 14ymedio

Milagros explains the arithmetic that is suffocating her. “The prices of all products in the MSMEs that import goods are constantly rising. A package of spaghetti, for example, now costs me 100 pesos more than it did last month, which means 50 pesos less in profit.” On top of that, there is an increasingly impoverished customer base. “People are buying the bare essentials to survive. Before buying cookies, parents have to put at least a boiled egg on their children’s plates.”

The recent pricing policy has added another dose of uncertainty. In June, the Government eliminated the nationwide price caps that had been imposed since 2024 on five imported food products, including chicken and cooking oil, after admitting that the measure had failed to contain inflation and had contributed to shortages. However, in Matanzas, authorities have once again tightened the screws on continue reading

small businesses and reintroduced maximum prices. Local inspections have also multiplied, with threats of fines of up to 60,000 pesos and even closure for those who refuse electronic payments. The offensive has gone so far as to introduce a slogan for inspectors: “Territorial inspection, a weapon of the Revolution!”

For merchants like Milagros, every new regulation ultimately collides with an elementary reality: authorities can limit her selling price, but no one guarantees how much she will be able to pay for merchandise tomorrow. Sales at her small business, even with inflation, are “well below 5,000 pesos a day,” less than eight dollars. After the pandemic, she had to let go of the employee she had hired. “The good thing is that since I’m at home, I don’t have to pay rent.”

“For quite some time now, I’ve barely managed to recover what I invested in buying merchandise.” / 14ymedio

A few streets away, Mariano knows that other expense well. He is 71 and has been selling merchandise since the days when “street hustler” was a phrase uttered with official disdain. “I’ve never had as much trouble as I do now getting merchandise,” he says.

In his shop, some products seem to be waiting indefinitely for a buyer. Mariano tries to lower prices until they are barely above the minimum profit, but he knows that food is what sells best. He has considered taking advantage of a good refrigerator to sell meat products and eggs, although the power outages turn any investment in refrigeration into a dangerous gamble. “I’ve thought a lot about how to get out of this situation, and the truth is that the dominoes are closed.”

For the past three months, Mariano has been paying his employee with part of the money his son sends him from the United States. The business, conceived to generate income, now survives thanks to a remittance. The garage rental alone costs him 30,000 pesos a month. Perfumes, deodorants, and other items remain stuck on the shelves, capital tied up in goods that cannot be converted back into cash.

In the porches of Pueblo Nuevo, improvised counters can still be found behind balustrades and bars. / 14ymedio

“If it weren’t for the fact that my pension isn’t enough even to get through a week, I would sell whatever is left, including the display cases, and go home to rest,” he confesses.

In the doorways of Pueblo Nuevo, improvised counters can still be found behind balustrades and bars. There are cans carefully lined up, bread hanging in transparent bags, and small signs for electronic payments, which are often there simply to satisfy inspectors. What is scarce is the customer capable of sustaining this network of tiny businesses.

Milagros looks at her shelves and thinks about the additional assistance her sister wanted to send her to relaunch the business. She chose to stop her. “With things as bad as they are, it’s better not to start making purchases that end up sitting unsold.”

Mariano sums it up in fewer words, with no entrepreneurial hope left: “This isn’t about a bad spell, nor is it that the location isn’t good for that type of sales. What’s happening is that Cubans are hitting rock bottom.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

A Report Calls on Spain to Break with the Cuban ‘Kleptocracy’

The Disenso Foundation reopens the debate over unpaid debts and the lack of transparency in the management of Havana’s debt to Madrid.

14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 / The Disenso Foundation, the think tank linked to Vox, Spain’s radical right-wing party, has published through its Foro Madrid platform a report whose title leaves no doubt about its intention: Cuba, a criminal regime sustained from abroad. The document reviews 67 years of repression, Soviet and Venezuelan subsidies, and concludes with a series of recommendations for Spain to break with the Cuban “kleptocracy.”

It is openly a text aimed at influencing public policy, but among its pages there is an issue that deserves attention: Cuba’s debt to Spain, one of the least transparent chapters in the bilateral relationship.

The report puts that debt at 1.97 billion euros, a figure that the Spanish Government acknowledged in 2020 in response to a parliamentary question from Vox. The figure is correct, although already outdated. At the end of that year, the Ministry of Economy certified Cuban public debt of 1.93755 billion euros, almost two-thirds of everything owed to Spain by Ibero-American countries. In 2021, it even rose to 2.03 billion. Since then, it has become much more difficult to publicly reconstruct the exact evolution of the balance.

Just three months ago, the Supreme Court opened a crack in that opacity. The high court accepted that the records of the Paris Club could remain secret, but rejected the Government’s automatic invocation of foreign relations as grounds for concealing how Spain applied the debt write-offs, restructurings, and extensions of payment terms granted to Cuba and Venezuela.

In 2021, researcher Guillermo Rocafort requested, under the Transparency Law, the files relating to those operations. The ministry refused

The case dates back to 2021, when researcher Guillermo Rocafort requested, under the Transparency Law, the files relating to continue reading

those operations. The ministry refused. Among the Treasury officials responsible during that process was Carlos Cuerpo, who later became Minister of Economy and is now first vice president of the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez.

The history of the debt write-offs is summarized in the report. In 2015, 201 million euros were restructured and 110.8 million were forgiven. A year later, another operation affected 2.242 billion euros, of which 1.492 billion were canceled. The 2016 agreement also included a debt-conversion program for up to 375 million euros which, after remaining pending for years, was finally activated in July 2025.

The Juan de Mariana Institute has attempted to put a figure on the opportunity cost of those concessions. In a calculation published in July, the institute argues that if the 2.444 billion euros in 2016 debt had accrued compound interest of 8% annually, the theoretical balance would today exceed 5.28 billion euros. Although this is a hypothetical exercise, it is useful for showing how much that capital would have grown had it remained intact and earned interest at that rate.

On the private-sector side, the Foro Madrid report falls short. It speaks of “around 300 million euros” owed to more than 300 Spanish companies and questions why some of those unpaid debts have not been covered through public export credit insurance, as companies victimized by Havana are demanding.

“It has not gone down because it was collected,” the PP argued, “but because some creditor companies have closed or entered insolvency proceedings (gone bankrupt)”

The Senate currently uses a considerably higher figure. In May, during a motion by the Plural Parliamentary Group, Senator Maria Teresa Pallarès recalled that the debt to Spanish companies was estimated at around 350 million euros in 2017 and stated that it has now “risen to more than 500 million.”

Senator Manuel Milián Querol, of the People’s Party, did not dispute that magnitude and spoke of “nearly 200 companies,” mostly small and medium-sized businesses, still waiting to collect hundreds of millions of euros. He added another paradox reported by those affected: some companies may even have had to pay taxes in Spain on profits recorded on their books that they never actually managed to collect in Cuba.

But official statistics present a different picture. According to data from the Economic and Commercial Office of Spain in Havana cited during the same debate, “registered” commercial debt stood at around 255 million euros, below the 284 million recorded in 2023.

How much does Cuba really owe Spain? How much has been forgiven? How much remains outstanding? How many companies have suffered the consequences of the unpaid debts?

That is precisely one of the questions the Government has yet to resolve. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) attributed the decline in the recorded figure to “the monitoring carried out” by the Commercial Office and collection efforts. The PP offered a very different explanation: “It has not gone down because it was collected,” Milián argued, but because some creditor companies have closed or entered insolvency proceedings (gone bankrupt), meaning they disappear from certain statistics while the debt remains unpaid.

In light of that discrepancy, on May 5 the Senate approved a demand that the Government provide a rigorous accounting of unpaid debts through February 2026, broken down by economic sector, company size, and age of the debt. It also called for the creation of an audited census of creditors and set a maximum deadline of three months. That deadline has already expired.

The Foro Madrid report thus has the merit of once again putting an issue that rarely makes headlines on the table: how much Cuba really owes Spain, how much has been forgiven, how much remains outstanding, and how many companies have suffered the consequences of the unpaid debts.

The opacity surrounding Cuban debt is not an invention of Vox or the PP, nor is it a recent anomaly. It has spanned Spanish governments of different political orientations, which for decades have combined credits, renegotiations, write-offs, and payment deferrals without taxpayers being able to easily reconstruct the final balance. That is, beyond Foro Madrid’s political conclusions, the thread that still has much more to unravel.

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________

El Proyecto (The Project) Positions Itself as an Act of Resistance Amid the Chaos Gripping Cuba

David González has turned his home into “a cultural refuge for many young people in Havana who may not have anywhere else to go.”

El joven David González, fundador de El Proyecto, en las escaleras de su vivienda convertida en centro cultural. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 – In a city where power outages have lasted more than 20 hours a day for months, a space has emerged where people can enjoy concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, parties and other cultural initiatives even when the national electricity system (SEN) is in total collapse. Admission costs just 300 pesos (about 50 cents at the current exchange rate) because, according to its founder, David González, who spoke to 14ymedio, the intention is not to turn it into a lucrative business, but to create a self-sustaining refuge amid the severe crisis facing the Island.

El Proyecto is the name of this space for cultural gatherings and respite from political persecution. It operates in González’s own home, a colonial mansion belonging to his family that has now been converted into an independent cultural center. The venue, located at the corner of 11th and 14th Streets in Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, has gained popularity, especially among young people, as a meeting place for culture, partying, freedom and resistance.

The young David González, founder of El Proyecto, on the stairs of his home, which has been converted into a cultural center.

“There is no dictatorship here, there is no SEN here, there are no problems with electricity or water here, and everyone is welcome,” said the 29-year-old González in a conversation with this newspaper, sitting naturally on the stairs in front of the doors to the cultural space. With signs on its walls such as “How much longer?” and “The feeling of collapse,” and decorative details such as a fan paying tribute to the young people imprisoned from the independent platform El4tico, El Proyecto has also become a space for freedom of expression and inspiration for “a change toward a better future” in Cuba.

With signs on its walls such as “How much longer?” and “The feeling of collapse,” El Proyecto has also become a space for freedom of expression. / 14ymedio

“El Proyecto emerged out of a need, as a kind of alternative to the chaos we are living through,” González says. The young man, a graduate in Social Communication and a former Chevening scholar in the British program, explains that the initiative began with film screenings and then expanded to parties and alternative music concerts in different genres, such as jazz, folk and rock. At first, the activities were free, but the growing audience led them to begin charging admission in order to sustain them. To keep the center operating during prolonged power outages, it has batteries and EcoFlow power stations.

The space has gained popularity especially among young people, as a meeting place for culture, partying, freedom and resistance. / 14ymedio

In addition to concerts, which mainly feature young artists, El Proyecto has also organized visual arts exhibitions, such as the one held last July 10 in tribute to 11J, “an extremely important anniversary for us as young Cubans,” González told 14ymedio, referring to the massive citizen protests of July 11, 2021, which ended in severe repression and more than a thousand protesters being imprisoned.

For González, the 11J exhibition was “our declaration of intentions in a peaceful way” and, he added, it sought “to encourage reflection on what we are doing as Cubans in present-day Cuba.” “It was a tribute to everyone who is imprisoned, to everyone who shouted for their survival, for their freedom, and who also shouted for us, representing us as young people, as the people of Cuba.”

González spoke about how El Proyecto positions itself as an act of resistance against the discouragement that can be caused by “all the things you see around you: the garbage that is in front of you, the electricity going out, the lack of water, rising prices, insecurity in the streets….” For the young man, it is about “reconverting the chaos,” using it as a catalyst rather than an obstacle and “understanding what our role is in the midst of that chaos.”

El Proyecto offers alternative music concerts in different genres, such as jazz, folk and rock. / 14ymedio

“I feel a responsibility as a young Cuban with regard to the future of Cuba,” González says about El Proyecto’s intentions. “I don’t believe that we have the solution here to all the structural problems that we have been suffering from for some time because of our current political system, but I do believe that, in some way, we are implementing changes.”

“I believe that the sum, the progression of small gestures like the ones we are bringing to fruition is precisely what can lead us to achieve that great change that we are all dreaming of,” González continues.

“There is a very harmful obsession in the social fabric that only one group of people is going to implement the great change we need, and I think it has to be viewed differently: in a more horizontal, more humble way, where we create from our own corner, from the humility of these resources.”

Creating a refuge where young people feel free to express themselves artistically, without obstacles caused by a lack of resources or government censorship, is, for González, an act of “resistance” in the face of the alarming situation affecting the Island. “And I think that, in some way, we have achieved it, which makes me extremely proud,” González says, “Having turned my home into a cultural refuge for many young people in the city of Havana who perhaps have nowhere else to go.”

“I believe that precisely in that creation lies our greatest achievement, in managing to ensure that people, without turning their backs on Cuba, without turning their backs on their reality, can rethink things and can also find hope in connecting with other human beings,” he adds.

El Proyecto seeks to be accessible to all types of audiences “with the intention that everyone can be welcome, regardless of their financial means, ideology, or way of thinking.” David González insists that the space is not intended to become a lucrative business: “it is not set up with the intention of taking money from people; it is set up with the intention that you can feel that it is an affordable space, that you can come with 500 pesos, 1,000 pesos and have a wonderful time.”

“Although everything may be turned off in the city, we are going to continue being here, even if the SEN collapses three times in a row.” / 14ymedio

“And this is our way of supporting that change, this is our way of saying that we are here, that we dream of a better Cuba, that we dream of a future,” the young communicator confesses.

El Proyecto also plans to soon host stage performances, such as dance and theater, thereby expanding its programming to other artistic expressions. Sitting on the stairs while greeting neighborhood residents, González says he would like to achieve having “people see us as a beacon, as a light shining in the middle of darkness,” although he is not referring literally to electricity, “but rather from the point of view of the message.”

“For me, the important thing is that people associate us with resistance, and with the fact that although everything may be turned off in the city, we are going to continue being here, even if the SEN collapses three times in a row.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

______________________