Faraj Allah Jarjour’s family paid $7,300 to transport his remains to Quebec and was given a coffin with the body of a Russian
Faraj Allah Jarjour next to his family in an image from 2021 / Facebook/Faraj Jarjour
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — The family of Faraj Allah Jarjour, the Syrian who lived in Canada and died on March 22 of a heart attack while vacationing in Cuba, still has not received explanations from the island’s authorities, who sent the body of another person to Quebec . “Until now we have no answers. “Where is my father?” declared Miriam, the traveler’s daughter, to the Inquirer portal.
According to Miriam, they paid 10,000 Canadian dollars (7,300 US dollars) to transport her father’s body, as indicated by the Canadian consulate in Havana. However, at the end of last week they were given the remains of a “20-year-old Russian with several tattoos.”
The body of the young Russian was sent to his country, but as of Monday they had no news of the whereabouts of Faraj Allah Jarjour’s remains. The Canadian consular authorities in Cuba blame “the company on the island that coordinates the return of the remains,” Miriam said. The 68-year-old tourist’s family has emailed officials, including a member of Parliament, who offered to contact Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. continue reading
The death of Faraj Allah highlighted the shortcomings at the Meliá Varadero Hotel, where the family had arrived two days before to spend a week’s vacation with all services included, La Tijera published on its social networks.
Miriam said that the hotel does not have medical facilities, so her father’s body was covered and remained under the sun for more than eight hours. Furthermore, due to the lack of transportation, a vehicle transported Faraj Allah’s remains to Havana for certification.
The case of this lost corpse illustrates, once again, the state of the tourism industry in Cuba, which has not raised its head since Covid-19 and which, however, continues to have Canada as the first country in number of foreign visitors.
So far Faraj Allah’s family has spent 25,000 Canadian dollars (18,248 US dollars) throughout the process, including 15,000 Canadian dollars (10,950 US dollars) for funeral services.
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Image shared on her networks by Alina Bárbara López Hernández, after several hours of detention by State Security / Facebook
14ymedio, Havana,April 23, 2024 — The Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH) denounced on Monday that, “in the midst of the poverty” that the Island is experiencing, the Cuban Government “dedicates enormous resources to increase repression against intellectuals, trade unionists and independent journalists,” pointing out several repressive acts committed by the political police in recent days.
The organization, based in Madrid, mentioned the arrest of reporter Camila Acosta, a collaborator of CubaNet, this Sunday in Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas, “when she was on her way to visit relatives of political prisoners. Four police cars participated” in the operation, orchestrated by State Security.
In the same province, last Thursday, Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández “suffered bodily injuries due to police brutality during an arbitrary arrest.” The academic was detained for several hours at the Playa police station, and after returning home she denounced the mistreatment she suffered in a Facebook post. continue reading
“We warn of the upsurge in violations and call on the international democratic community to denounce these facts”
López Hernández reported that doctors diagnosed her with a “right humeral dislocation (sprain of the right shoulder)” and a “subluxation in the thumb of the left hand.”
Also in Matanzas, but this time in the municipality of Colón, the secretary general of the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba, Iván Hernández Carrillo, was summoned by the regime, “as part of the harassment campaign he suffers.”
Last week, in Camagüey, independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada was interrogated twice, explains the OCDH report. The former professor was ultimately fined 3,000 pesos “for violating Decree Law 370, a law used by the Havana regime to silence activists, journalists and citizens” after being accused “of publishing memes, comments and even “liking” other publications.”
Also, “the former political prisoner Luis Darién Reyes Romero was intimidated with a gun in the middle of the street in Old Havana by a repressor dressed in civilian clothes,” a fact classified by the OCDH as “serious.” The video circulated on social networks in which Reyes Romero showed the face and weapon of the State Security agent while chasing him.
“We warn of the upturn in violations and call on the international democratic community to denounce these facts. Likewise, we support the efforts of the Cuban Catholic Church to mediate the serious crisis that the country is experiencing,” the organization concludes.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Galiano Street, in Central Havana, has become a showcase for misery
An old woman has half a dozen disposable razors for sale, some that are also ’discarded’
14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Cubans who emigrate to Miami have an expression for those who remain on the Island, those whom they support with their remittances: “Cubans with faith.” The word “faith” in Spanish is “fe,” which stands for “family in the exterior,” meaning relatives abroad. Eduardo, who left the country three years ago on the “route of the volcanoes” (through Nicaragua), doesn’t understand how “those who don’t have fe” can survive.
“Every week I have more and more acquaintances in Cuba asking me to send them money, because they don’t have children who can send them some. But I can’t handle everyone; I have children there too,” says this 40-year-old from Havana. “Distant relatives write my mom to ask for my help, as if I were a millionaire. I wish I could, but I know that’s not the solution.”
Aurora was an artist in the principal theaters of Cuba and always believed in the Revolution
If she ever dares to tell those relatives to ask for “saving” in front of the Plaza de la Revolución, they call her an “anti-patriot” and a “Trumpista.” The suffering of relatives who couldn’t emigrate becomes dramatic in the case of the elderly.
Aurora was an artist in the principal theaters of Cuba and always believed in the Revolution. Today, widowed and alone, with a pension that does not reach 2,000 pesos and not a single family member who sends her money from abroad, she barely survives. Eating, although little, is not such a problem: there is always a neighbor who has a slightly more comfortable life, either because of business “on the left” or from receiving remittances, and will help with a little rice or beans or both. The biggest problem is electricity. She can’t pay the new prices, so Aurora doesn’t even turn on the lights at night: one more risk to add to her 85 years and her reduced mobility. continue reading
On a step under the arches, an old man sells cigars and rubber parts for pots and coffee makers / 14ymedio
Like him, hundreds of thousands of elderly Cubans – two and a half million over 60 years of age on the Island – are on the verge of extreme poverty. Those who don’t even have a roof over their heads sleep in the streets. Several of them take advantage of the busiest roads of the capital to resell a few items, always scarce, always of poor quality. One of them is Galiano street, in Central Havana, a true showcase of misery.
An old woman had half a dozen disposable razors for sale this Tuesday, of those that are also discarded: few people can shave with those gadgets that they sell in state shops.
Later, on a step under the arches, another old man sells cigars and rubber parts for pots and coffee makers. Others offer sweets, liquid detergent, instant soft drinks or batteries.
“It’s not just that it’s not enough for them to live on, it’s that it’s useless for them,” said a woman who helps her 80-year-old mother as much as she can and who bought, out of charity, a battery pack in Galiano on Tuesday. “It’s just that 1,500 pesos of pension in this country is nothing. And look how hungry they are, how much need and sadness.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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Sandra Hernández, at the door of her house, in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus / 14ymedio/Courtesy
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Three words in blue ink – Patria y Vida… Homeland and Life – written on the facade of her house were enough for Sandra Hernández to understand State Security’s speedy response even in small towns like hers. After the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), there was not a single gesture against the Government in the municipality of Cabaiguán, except hers. A few hours later, an act of repudiation and numerous slogans on her wall awaited her.
“That day, July 13, my husband and I decided to put ’Homeland and Life’ on the front of the house, because my daughter was barely one year old and I couldn’t go with her to the street to protest,” Hernández tells 14ymedio from the Dominican Republic, where she has been living for several months. “We painted the words around four in the afternoon on the facade of my building, supposedly inviolable before the law, although they didn’t care about that,” she says.
The graffiti, which alluded to the song of the same name and which became the anthem of the protests of 11J, marked a before and after in the life of Hernández and her family. “At night the president of the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) arrived asking why I had written that and said we shouldn’t have done it in his CDR. He alluded to my deceased mother and grandmother, reminding me that they had been good revolutionaries, and told me that it was enemy propaganda,” she says.
When she finally thought that things would calm down, the family received another visit: “At 10 at night about 12 people arrived at my door. They were from the Federation of Cuban Women, the Union of Young Communists and other official organizations, saying that they wanted to ’converse’. I told them that that was not a good time to visit and that they could come back the next day.” The entourage left, says Hernández, but State Security did not stand idly by. continue reading
“In the early morning I was awakened by a strong chemical smell, similar to that given off by the Cabaiguán refinery. I realized that it was coming from the house itself, and I ran to open the kitchen door to ventilate,” she says. Before the family knew it, they had filled the front of the house with revolutionary slogans, and only the word “Homeland” remained. The strong smell came from the liquid asphalt that the regime’s agents had used – along with a blue paint – to scribble slogans and erase her sign.
Words painted by Sandra Hernández on July 11, 2021 / 14ymedio/Courtesy
“They used a blanket with chlorine that I had at the entrance for people to clean their shoes because of covid, and they painted with it. The substance they used, which is also toxic and flammable, is controlled by the State, and people aren’t supposed to use it. It’s made in the Cabaiguán refinery, and I don’t know how they dared to smear the walls with that. They didn’t care that we had a girl, and the substance irritated her eyes and parts of her body,” says Hernández. “They also urinated at the door.”
“At five in the morning,” she continues, “the act of repudiation began.” Hernández still has the recording of almost an hour of “anti-imperialist” slogans and communist hymns. Some acquaintances, incited by State Security, called her to ask her to remove her sign. “When I told them I wouldn’t, they hung up.”
The “act of reaffirmation” also had a police presence to block access to the street, flags and posters, broadcasters from Radio Cabaiguán – who installed a speaker system in the municipality’s maternal hospital – and many unknown people who were there by order “from above”.
“They monitored us continuously, especially when there were rumors of demonstrations, and they threatened our friends that ’there would be consequences’ if they approached us / 14ymedio/Courtesy
“After the event, reprisals began,” she said. “They monitored us continuously, especially when there were rumors of demonstrations, and they threatened our friends that ’there would be consequences’ if they approached us. People also came to ask us strange questions and tell us that they were on our side. They encouraged us to do acts of vandalism such as poisoning the aqueduct, attacking the thermoelectric plant or asking if we agreed to send the girl to school.” According to Hernández, during the two years they were in Cuba after the event, the family had to think carefully about every word they said in public. “They asked us nonsense to see if they could incriminate us.”
Finally, she and her husband were expelled from their jobs: she as an architect in a construction company in Cayo Santa María and he as a hydraulic engineer in the International Economic Association of the municipality. From there, everything became more difficult.
Before the family realized it, they had filled the front of the house with revolutionary slogans, and only their written word “Homeland” could be seen / 14ymedio / Courtesy
I have recordings of conversations at work where they tell us that it was an order from the Government, that they were ordered to chuck us out and that they were not interested in our job performance, just that we had to get out of there. Then we couldn’t find work; we were abandoned,” she relates.
“I tried a job as a photographer, but first they didn’t want to give me the license and then, when I insisted so much that they gave it to me, they did everything possible so that I didn’t have clients.” For the family, carrying out any procedure was an ordeal, since the authorities got in the way of every step. “If it took two days for a person to get a document in the civil registry, it would take me two months or more. When I applied for a passport, they didn’t want to give it to me either, because I was ’regulated’ (forbidden to leave the country), and I had to call many institutions and insist strongly that they give it to me,” she explains.
Two years after the protests, when her husband finally got the humanitarian parole to travel to the United States, the family had by then lost contact with many relatives, lost their professional careers and sold their property – including the house where they painted the sign – “to be able to eat.”
“Now I’m with my daughter in the Dominican Republic waiting for the parole to come to me as well. Of course, I arrived legally,” she explains. “In Cuba, with a government that is not worried about an architect and her family dying of hunger, we could not stay.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The facts may constitute a crime of “injuries, illegal deprivation of liberty and disclosure of the secret of communications”
Alina Bárbara López Hernández during an interview in April 2023. / EFE
14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — Professor Alina Bárbara López Hernández filed a complaint against the four agents who arrested her last week when she was traveling to Havana to hold a protest
The record of receipt of the complaint before the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Matanzas highlights that the reported events “could be related to the commission of the crimes of injuries, illegal deprivation of liberty and disclosure of the secrecy of communications,” all of which are contemplated in the penal code.
“As a victim, I can be part of the process and appoint a lawyer, which I will do,” the intellectual added on her Facebook account.
“As a victim, I can be part of the process and appoint a lawyer, which I will do”
In the document, to which EFE had access, the complainant describes the attacks she suffered from the agents last Thursday at the Bacunayagua police checkpoint, when she was traveling from Matanzas to Havana.
López, 58, claims in the complaint that she was forced to return to Matanzas “for no apparent reason” and that, as she “refused without receiving an explanation,” “they pushed her, hit her” and “they put her into the patrol car through the force.”
Once in the vehicle, the text continues, “after being immobilized in the lying position” they “attacked her by leaning on one of her knees, slapped her and twisted her right hand.” continue reading
Then they left her locked up, alone and in the sun for an indeterminate amount of time inside the police vehicle and, when she protested to be let out, one of the officers recorded her on video with his cell phone, which ended up being uploaded to social networks.
The complaint also states that the agent who attended to the historian assured that her arrest was “prophylactic work” and that a medical certificate of injuries was not going to be made because “she would not be charged.”
López also published on her social networks that last Saturday she went to the Faustino Pérez provincial hospital for an examination, since she continued to feel pain.
López also published on her social networks that last Saturday she went to the Faustino Pérez provincial hospital for an examination, since she continued to feel pain. “The X-rays diagnosed me with a right humeral dislocation (sprain of the right shoulder) and is immobilized with a sling, and a subluxation in the thumb of my left hand, which is immobilized with a cast for 21 days,” she added. “All of this is the result of the police brutality that was exercised against me yesterday.”
The professor was traveling to Havana to carry out her protest on the 18th of each month in the Central Park of the capital, which she has been carrying out for more than a year in the Parque de la Fraternidad in Matanzas, where she goes alone and with a sign in white.
For these symbolic protests she has been arrested several times in recent months and as a result, sentenced at the end of last year to pay a fine for the crime of disobedience.
The intellectual has declared herself in “contempt” with that sentence and refused to pay the fine, aware that this could put her in jail, as she has written in different articles on social networks.
The NGO Prisoners Defenders, based in Madrid, denounced that this trial “without guarantees” had “political motivations” and sought only to “repress the exercise of the fundamental rights” of López Hernández, whom it described as a “victim of conscience.”
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The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba issues a statement supporting the bishops’ proposal
Meeting of the Cuban bishops with the Government, in April 2023 / Revolución Studies
14ymedio, Havana, 22 April 2024 — The Christian Democratic Party of Cuba (PDC) issued a statement this Monday in which it supports the Catholic Church as a “fair and impartial mediator” to “find a peaceful and inclusive solution” on the Island. The organization in exile does not mention it explicitly, but appreciates the “open, sincere, and well-intentioned offer, which can open the door to a better future for our people in freedom, respect, harmony, well-being and peace,” referring to the proposal for dialogue between the Government and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC), expressed by its secretary, Ariel Suárez, on the American NBC network last Thursday.
In the protests of March 17, Father Suárez said in that interview, the pain “became a cry,” which was “heard” and “accepted” by “all levels of the country.” “At least everyone has agreed in considering that that cry reflected anguish, it reflected desperation and that it was obviously asking for a situation different from the one that was being experienced,” the priest said.
The bishops “have invited us to pray,” Ariel Suárez also recalled, alluding to the prelates’ message issued this past Easter, but not only that. Furthermore, he mentioned, “they have confirmed the pain of the people and have also invited the Church, if the different political actors so consider it, to offer a space for dialogue,” so that “all these positions, different but not necessarily contradictory,” can help to “seek concrete solutions that this people needs.” continue reading
“We must say more clearly that we Cubans can love Cuba with different visions”
“We must say more clearly that we Cubans can love Cuba with different visions, with different perspectives, and that it is important to put the love for Cuba and the desire to improve the life of this people in its present and in its future above these differences,” the priest concluded.
Similarly, this Sunday the president of the COCC and bishop of the diocese of Holguín, Emilio Aranguren, alluded to that newspaper in statements to Radio and Television Martí. “In Cuba we use the words we all understand. It is important, therefore, to have the willingness and the space to talk about the common good, which is exactly our thing, which is why I consider that the important thing is to have the willingness. Logically, the Catholic Church desires, and is willing, to exchange with all the groups that make up society,” said the prelate.
A source from the archdiocese of Havana tells this newspaper that what Ariel Suárez expressed “is a subtle message” that the bishops send to the regime to say that the Church can mediate “despite the regrets.” The suggestion comes, in effect, at a bad time in the relations between the regime and the prelates, as was reflected in this year’s Holy Week.
In addition, he explains that “if there is dialogue” it is something “very timid” and that, in any case, as he insists, “the Government is very tense.” “The usual thing in this type of case is that things are known after the conversation, because the condition that the Government places on the Conference is that it maintains secrecy and does not leak any information.”
The general opinion within the Cuban Catholic Church is that the Vatican, at this time, “is not helping much either.” After last year’s meeting with the COCC, the island’s leaders froze any type of contact with the Church.
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The moment when the 27 Cuban rafters were rescued by the crew of the Carnival / Carnival Cruise Line cruise ship ‘Paradise
‘14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — A group of 27 Cuban rafters was rescued this Sunday by the Carnival ship Paradise that was heading to Honduras. The ship, which was covering the route from Tampa (Florida) to Roatán, turned when it detected the migrants asking for help from a boat adrift 20 miles west of the Island, the Fox News portal published.
Fox News indicated that the people were taken on board, “received medical attention and were provided with food.” The wooden raft was in “poor condition” and “did not carry supplies” for all the migrants, the Cruicehive site highlighted.
After the rescue, the crew of the cruise ship notified both the United States Coast Guard and officials in Roatán, but it has not yet been known whether the rafters will be handed over to Honduran or American authorities. According to the logbook of the Paradise , which set sail from Florida last Saturday, the ship will make a five-night voyage through the Caribbean. continue reading
Carnival’s ’Paradise’ cruise ship has made four rescues in its short history, three of them of Cuban rafters / Carnival Paradise Cruise Ship
This Monday, the cruise crew must disembark in Roatán and after a brief stay, continue its route, which marks a visit to Cozumel (Mexico) on Tuesday. The return to Tampa is scheduled for April 25.
The Paradise ship records three rescues of this type in its recent history. The most recent are from 2022. In August of that year six rafters about to shipwreck were helped. In July the ship took on 20 migrants who were in a wooden boat propelled by oars.
The rescue of these rafters occurs a few days after the United States Border Patrol reported the disembarkation in Florida of 47 Cuban rafters between April 4 and 15.
Last Monday, the US Coast Guard intercepted 19 migrants from the Island and handed them over for deportation proceedings. The US authorities have reiterated to the rafters that when they are taken into custody, that they will be returned to their country of origin. Likewise, it is highlighted that “they will not be able to enter the United States for a period of five years, in addition to not being eligible to request asylum.”
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Between the 11J protests in 2021 and those of this March there are multiple points in common, as ’14ymedio’ and ‘Yucabyte’ confirmed
A group of protesters in Miami protesting on a boat after the July 11 protests
14ymedio/Yucabyte, Havana, 21 April 2024 — On March 17, the flood of rumors reached a fever pitch comparable to, though less intense, those of 11 July 2021 (which were quickly baptized ’11J’). Fed up with long blackouts and supply shortages, Cubans again took to the streets to protest the government’s management of the crisis. A few hours later, images of the demonstrations flooded social media.
The protests of 2021 and those of this March share several things in common, as 14ymedio and Yucabyte have found in their monthly audits. These include calls for the release of jailed protesters, anti-government graffiti and slogans, and the banging of pots and pans, which heralded the start of demonstrations. There were also rumors of a fleet of boats from Miami coming to the aid of the protesters as well as a counterattack by state media, which very quickly disseminated its version of events by all means possible.
Those who anticipated a harsh crackdown by the police were surprised to learn that repression was not widespread. Legal action against the protesters was taken later, after State Security – as it did after 11 July 2021 – analyzed video footage posted on social media. It quickly became apparent that the government would likely respond with more caution this time and would not issue a “combat order” like the one that an unsettled Miguel Díaz-Canel gave on 11 July 2021. continue reading
Those who anticipated a harsh crackdown by the police were surprised to learn that repression was not widespread
Though there were reports of plainclothes agents and truckloads of Black Wasp special forces circulating among the crowd, they never attacked the demonstrators, a fact that government television programs such as “Con Filo” and “Desde la Presidencia” — created ad hoc by Díaz-Canel to redirect the narrative about the demonstrations — boasted about.
Meanwhile, there were reports on social media, accompanied by unconvincing images, of monuments to Fidel Castro being burned in Cienfuegos and Mayabeque as well as of demonstrators allegedly throwing stones at movie theaters and state institutions. There were also photos of cardboard signs with slogans such as “Down with the dictatorship” in unidentified areas as well as trashcan fires in Havana.
Access to the internet, mobile phones and landlines were reported down in heavily militarized areas such as San Antonio de los Baños, the town where the 11 July protests originated. Several people posted on social media that there were more plainclothes police on the street than ordinary citizens.
Social media commenters in Bayamo reported telecommunication problems, slow connectivity and trucks ferrying brigades of special troops. Commenters in Camagüey province noted the presence of special police and State Security agents in parks and central locations in the city of Florida. Similarly, rumors were spreading that recruits in some military units from Mayabeque were being ordered to dress in civilian clothes in order to suppress protests.
Alongside the protests and closely related to them, speculation about other plots began cropping up on social media
Alongside the protests and closely related to them, speculation about other plots began to cropping up on social media. One of them was the purported killing of José Daniel Ferrer, an opposition figure currently imprisoned in Santiago de Cuba, one of the epicenters of the demonstrations. The rumor was fueled by similarities between Ferrer and Alexei Navalny, archenemy of Vladimir Putin’s regime, whose suspicious death in prison prompted comparisons with his Cuban counterpart.
Concern that Ferrer was at risk of becoming a Cuban Navalny was also the subject of statements and op-eds that circulated during the protests.
In what many saw as an imitation of Hugo Chávez’ long-running, unscripted TV talk show “Aló Presidente” (“Hello, Mr. President”), Díaz-Canel’s new program was a measure of just how concerned the government was not only about reality but also about the version being presented on social media. There was little doubt in the Cuban president’s mind about March 17. “These events were instigated by counterrevolutionary platforms and American politicians to generate a social upheaval on the island,” he said. In his view it was “virtual Cuba” that had gone through several days of protests, not “the real Cuba.”
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Coveted by clients, merchants and informal sellers, the tuber has also been the motive for several crimes on the Island.
A truck loaded with potatoes supplies the agromarket on Camilo Cienfuegos Avenue, in Lawton, Havana / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana, 17 April 2024 — The potato harvest during this year’s campaign in the fields of Artemisa has been a failure. This is admitted by the official press, which reports that of the 5,600 tons projected for harvest in the municipalities of Güira de Melena, San Antonio de los Baños and Alquízar, only 3,600 tons were obtained.
According to the official media El Artemiseño, Miguel Sánchez García, general director of the Agricultural and Forestry Business Group of the province, said that the biggest problem of the harvest was that the 280 hectares (692 acres) planted, of which 270 (667 acres) have been collected, did not yield as expected, and barely 14.5 tons were obtained from each.
However, the manager is clear about the causes of this disaster: “We couldn’t apply the 16 irrigation sprinklers due to the continuous electrical impairments just when the crop needed it most; on top of that, the rains caused rot,” Sánchez said, blaming the country’s energy situation.
Although the potatoes harvested from state seeds complied with the plan, the imported seed did not. There were eight electrical interruptions at the peak of the growing cycle,” he lamented. continue reading
During this season, in which Cubans chase after potatoes and pay scandalous prices for them, customers notice not only their quantity but also their quality
The authorities insisted, despite the obvious losses, that in many parts of the province the national average for the potato harvest, which didn’t reach 10 tons per hectare (2.5 acres), was exceeded and even doubled.
With the tubers collected, “the potato has been guaranteed for the standard family basket of the province, seven markets in Havana and the Frutas Selectas Company,” in addition to the fact that, “since the beginning of the harvest, eight pounds of potatoes have been distributed to each person in the province,” celebrates the local newspaper.
During this season, in which Cubans chase after potatoes and pay scandalous prices for them, customers notice not only their quantity but also their quality. In the Cuban capital, for example, many complain that the tuber requires a lot of cooking time to soften properly. As confirmed this week by 14ymedio, the price of a pound of potatoes in the markets is 180 pesos.
Sought after by customers, merchants and informal sellers, the potato has also been the motive of several crimes on the Island. The most recent example: the theft of 1,293 pounds in the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución last March. Destined for the 431 residents of the area, the potatoes disappeared after multiple “violations” that left a notable shortage.
The administrator of the market where the robbery occurred was arrested and taken to the Zapata and C station, according to the official website of the municipal government, which assured that the event would be investigated. After an inspection at the premises, “an adulterated weight” was found that served to give customers a lower quota than they were entitled to.
However, the figures offered by Sánchez García were higher than those published on the Council’s page and were taken up in a report by Tribuna de La Habana. According to the preliminary count, it said, 1,609 pounds of the tuber were missing, destined for 536 consumers.
Another article published in Tribuna weeks ago warned about the theft of potatoes from state refrigerators, “where the tubers selected for seed for later harvests or reserves that allow normal distribution are concentrated.” The note regretted that, with the disappearance of the Soviet Union – which was supplying the Island “throughout the year” – potatoes have gone from piling up “rotting in sacks in front of any food stall” to being a “strategic” food.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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On Friday, the regime also announced the dismissal of Manuel René Pérez Gallego in Las Tunas after 19 years in office
Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez (center) next to Joel Queipo Ruiz (right) / Roberto Morales Ojeda
14ymedio, Havana, April 21, 2024 — The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) dismissed Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez this Saturday as first secretary in the province of Holguín, the second dismissal of this type in the week and the seventh so far this year. The position will be held by Joel Queipo Ruiz who, according to the PCC, “has maintained a link with the province in complex moments such as COVID-19.”
Queipo Ruiz, 52, served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department. The regime highlights his 28 years of experience in political direction, “initially in the Union of Young Communists (UJC) where he came to serve as first secretary of the provincial committee in Havana and as a member of the National Bureau to attend to the ideological sphere.” In addition, he is a deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power and states that he has a master’s degree in nuclear physics.
Queipo Ruiz served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department
About Santiesteban Velázquez, who took office on June 26, 2018, it was said only that “he will be assigned other responsibilities in the auxiliary structure of the Central Committee,” without specifying what they will be.
The dismissal of Velázquez, which the regime proclaims as the “integral strategy for the policy of cadres,” is in addition to those carried out in recent weeks in Havana, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Ciego de Ávila. continue reading
Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office. His place was occupied by Walter Simón Noris, who was a member of the PCC executive bureau in Camagüey.
At the beginning of April, the first secretary of Mantua, in Pinar del Río, Liusmara Rodríguez Soriano, was dismissed. A source told 14ymedio that this was a result of the official’s poor management in the territory.
Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office
“He made a lot of mistakes. There have been more homes affected by floods and cyclones in recent years in the municipality. There are still people who have been asking for materials and help to repair their little house for ten years and more,” said the source from Pinar del Río. In addition, “he gave power to people who used cement and roofs as if this were a private farm.”
Last February, three ministers were dismissed, one of them – the former head of Economy and former deputy prime minister Alejandro Gil – who is under investigation for an alleged crime of corruption, as announced a month later.
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The activist’s daughter, Rufina Velázquez, confirmed the information through her Facebook account
Ramón Jesús Velázquez Tamayo with his daughter, Rufina Velázquez, after returning to the United States / Rufina Velázquez
14ymedio, Havana, 21 April 2024 — The activist and former Cuban political prisoner, Ramón Jesús Velázquez Toranzo, returned to the United States this Saturday when he was released by State Security after being imprisoned for more than a month in Villa Marista, in Havana. The news was confirmed by his daughter Rufina Velázquez through her Facebook account, this Saturday afternoon.
Velázquez Toranzo had returned to the Island from the United States, where he lives, and was arrested on March 8 at the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity del Cobre, in Santiago de Cuba after calling for a peaceful march in the church to pray for Cuba. He was accompanied by his wife, Bárbara María González Cruz, one of his children, René Ramón Velázquez González, and a niece, Lorena Velázquez Hechavarría.
The old man is at home! In the land of freedom and stronger than ever
Apparently, the opponent traveled immediately after his release, on April 19. “The old man is at home! In the land of freedom and stronger than ever. It was fast yesterday, and he wanted to be at home before giving the news. With an unbreakable spirit, as always,” the daughter added in a post accompanied by a photo of both of them. continue reading
Two days ago, Rufina Velázquez shared a video where she explained that her brother had been informed that she could visit Velázquez Toranzo on April 19 and that, after the visit, she could offer more details about her father’s status.
After the arrest, the Catholic missionary was taken to the headquarters of State Security, Villa Marista, in Havana. As a sign of protest against the arbitrary decision, he went on a hunger strike which led to him to need medical attention and exacerbated his skin cancer.
The only thing they have told him is that they will release him, but only with a forced exile, that is, completely banished, without being able to return to Cuba
State Security said that the reason for the arrest, as Rufina Velázquez told Radio Martí, was “inciting the people and involving a minor.” “The only thing they have told him is that they will release him, but only with a forced exile, that is, completely banished, without being able to return to Cuba, and my father does not accept this condition,” the daughter stressed.
During the month of March, protests took place in several provinces to demand electricity, food and freedom. Prisoners Defenders (PD) counted 38 detainees up to the 25th of that month, most of them in Holguín (13) and Santiago de Cuba (12).
The report published by PD every month, pointed out that up to February there were 1,066 political prisoners in Cuba. The document
says that of the total number of detainees, 33 are minors and of them, 29 are serving sentences “for sedition.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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The thousands of Cubans who reside in the country remain, as well as 53 doctors on an international mission
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published a multitude of images promoting the return of Cubans stranded in Haiti / Cuban Foreign Ministry
EFE/14ymedio, Port-au-Prince, 22 April 2024 — The Government of Cuba, on Sunday night, “successfully” concluded the repatriation of the 248 citizens who had been stranded in Haiti for more than a month due to the serious security crisis in that country. The last three groups – out of a total of six – arrived today on two flights of the Haitian airline Sunrise, two to the city of Camagüey and one to Santiago de Cuba.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X that he “successfully concluded the safe transfer to Cuba, by air, of Cuban citizens who were in Haiti.”
In similar terms, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, thanked “the Haitian entities involved” and congratulated the Cuban embassy in Haiti.
Bruno Rodríguez thanked “the Haitian entities involved” and congratulated the Cuban embassy in Haiti
A statement released by the local Foreign Ministry explained that the Cuban diplomatic legation made “systematic arrangements” with Sunrise Airlines, which had transported the Cubans to Haiti and agreed to”keep the option of returning them to Cuba” when “the conditions were created to do so.” continue reading
He said that the Cuban State “paid for this unique operation for all stranded Cubans who voluntarily took this alternative” on six flights to Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba since last Friday.
He also stated that because Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport has been closed, it was not possible to guarantee repatriation by that route.
Therefore, the embassy “coordinated the voluntary departure of Cuban citizens by land to the city of Cape Haitiano,” from where they returned.
In addition to the Cubans who had traveled to Haiti to buy items that are scarce in their country and resell them on their return, several thousand Cubans and 53 Cuban health professionals on a medical mission reside in Haiti.
One of them celebrated the operation on the Foreign Ministry’s website but also remembered those who remain there. “Excellent mission, but there are still more than 200 Cubans living in Haiti. It is worth noting that these flights were planned by Sunrise Airlines for passengers who had tickets to Cuba before and after the date of the closure of the Toussaint Louverture international airport in the Haitian capital,” he said.
“Excellent mission; there are still more than 200 Cubans living in Haiti
The new episode of violence in Haiti broke out at the end of February after the escape of 3,000 prisoners from two prisons in Port-au-Prince, including gang leaders who regained control of their territories.
Since then, the governments of different countries have proceeded to evacuate their citizens by different means, while Cubans have had to wait more than 50 days, desperate due to the lack of money.
At the beginning of April, several of them published a video on social networks in which they urged the Island’s authorities to take more forceful measures to rescue them. “All countries have already taken their citizens out of here. We are the only ones left,” they claimed.
The Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, resigned shortly thereafter, and a nine-member transitional presidential council must now seek a replacement.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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“What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them”
When garage sales became legal three years ago, it allowed many business which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally.
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, 18 April 2024 — Women’s purses, babies’ shoes and several small home appliances are piled up on one of the tables. “These items have just come in and I haven’t had a chance to organize them yet,” the saleswoman tells a young customer, pointing to the Oster blender in a corner of a store operating out of a garage in Havana’s Vedado district.
“If you want, I can show you the cookware catalogue,” the vendor adds as she opens some black bags containing children’s books, household accessories and a huge teddy bear with a red heart in the middle of its chest. “Give me your number and I’ll send you photos through WhatsApp. We have flat screen TVs, Bluetooth speakers and a couple of microwaves. All used but in good condition.”
Cinthya, a 38-year-old woman who has been selling secondhand goods for three years, has never had so much merchandise. “I’m not accepting anything else until I can get rid of what I already have. Business is very slow. What used to sell in a few days now takes weeks or even months,” she says.
“I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave”
Cynthia and her husband, who drives a Ural motorcycle with sidecar inherited from his father, visit houses to evaluate everything from pots and pans to bottles of water that she might be able to sell later. “I have a network that alerts me when a family is getting ready to leave. But I only take on serious clients, people who have been recommended.”
There has long been a market for secondhand goods in Cuba, a country that has lurched from one crisis to another for decades. This type of business has not always been legal, however. When authorities lifted restrictions on privately run garage sales three years ago, it allowed many businesses which had been operating on an informal basis to do so legally. continue reading
“People associate secondhand goods with out-of-date clothing like what used to be sold in ‘trapi-shopping’ stores,” says Cynthia, referring to state-run retail outlets common throughout the island in the late 20th century that sold low-quality, government-imported clothes. “What’s for sale now are the belongings of local people who are leaving and can’t take everything with them.”
“At first, I accepted everything I saw and lost a lot of money. But now my husband and I only buy what we know will sell,” she explains. “We make sure to test the appliances. They can’t have dents or scratches. And no equipment cobbled together with pieces from here and there.”
“Modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes”
Cynthia notes in her catalogue that she prefers “modern televisions, bedding and towels in perfect condition, cutlery, pots and pans, clothes.”
“People start out wanting to sell their house and everything in it so they can leave the country. Then they realize it would take too long if they wait for the house to sell first and then auction off the furnishings and equipment later,” explains Cinthya. “That’s when we come in. We go and evaluate what they want to sell.”
Other vendors buy secondhand items from markets in nearby Panama, Mexico or Florida for resale on the island. “Nowadays, it’s really hard to turn a profit in the used-goods business,” admits Leo, a young “mule” who lives in Taguasco, a town in Sancti Spíritus province.
“I have my contacts in Panama and a few years ago I got a visa that allowed me to take frequent shopping trips. I was able to ship back some secondhand goods as unaccompanied baggage. But now there is so much stuff for sale here that I’d rather focus just on clothing and new shoes,” he says.
“The owners themselves try to sell everything before they leave they leave [the country] on the [humanitarian] ‘parole’ program or by some other way,” says the Sancti Spíritus resident, who prefers to remain anonymous. There are a lot of people in this situation, trying to get rid of a washing machine, a refrigerator or children’s clothes. I knew some people who even sold a toilet bowl before getting on the plane.”
“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices”
Leo believes that, although secondhand electronics are cheaper than comparable, brand-new products sold in MLCs — the island’s hard-currency retail stores — buyers remain very leery. “They know that the person who sold you the audio equipment won’t be here next week when it stops working and you want your money back.”
“The most problematic items are mobile phones, computers and other electronic devices that require skill and knowledge to figure out if they have a problem invisible to the naked eye,” he explains. “I tried doing this myself for awhile until I had an issue with a tablet I bought from a someone who left for Nicaragua. I sold it to a neighbor and it didn’t even last three days. That’s when I got out.”
“In addition to what I bring back from Panama, I deal in secondhand restaurant and business utensils. Mainly prep tables, table and chair sets, forks, spoons, knives, glasses. I’ve even sold bar counters.” As Leo points out, all these objects have one thing in common. “No cables or light bulbs so no surprises. What you see is what you get. You don’t have to worry that it won’t turn on one day.”
A few steps below Leo’s operation, arranged very informally, are items for sale that have been with Cuban families for generations. Coffee cups that belonged to the clan’s matriarch, pillows on which dozens of heads have rested and living room sets in need of some glue and new rattan.
Countless belongings, once destined to remain with their owners for the rest of their lives but which, because of the migratory stampede, have ended up in garage sales or ads on some digital website. They carry descriptions that reveal their histories and their owners’ desperation to make some money off them before they leave, or rather before they are able to leave.
“I am selling an orange juicer, twelve ceramic plates brought back from the GDR [German Democratic Republic] in the 1980s, a glass tray that is used for the oven and an electric toaster, all for 10,000 pesos,” reads a Facebook post. “The tableware is very pretty, with plates and bowls. It has sentimental value for me so I hope whoever buys it will take good care of it.”
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The deplorable condition of the nursing home of the municipality of Primero de Enero was what most horrified the prime minister
At the exit of a medical center, an 85-year-old man approached the minister and let fly a litany of ailments / Manuel Marrero Cruz
14ymedio, Havana, April 20, 2024 — With an entourage of eleven ministers, three deputy prime ministers and twenty senior officials, Manuel Marrero left Ciego de Ávila this Friday dissatisfied with the results of the province and leaving behind a trail of slogans and catchphrases. “We’re not here to ask for the impossible,” “Efficiency does not depend on good luck” and “We have to get our act together” were some of the “tips” he offered in what – the official press emphasizes – is his third annual visit to make sure the cadres understand that the country is living in a “war economy.”
“We have focused on what has not been done,” Marrero said, explaining the “method” of his entourage to “correct distortions and boost the economy.” The deplorable condition of the nursing home of the municipality of Primero de Enero in Avila was what most horrified the prime minister, Invasor admits. “We can’t sleep peacefully,” the ruler concluded.
Deficient food and buildings in poor condition, two characteristics that also affect, according to the provincial Communist Party newspaper, “maternity centers, children without family protection, grandparents’ homes, homeless and psychiatric centers.” The situation is so alarming that the leader ordered them to “change their godfather” because of the “poor attention given to them by the Bocanaza cooperative, from the territory itself.”
Marrero, whose entourage contained deputy prime ministers Inés María Chapman, Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca and Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, said he urged local leaders to “come up with a plan of measures to solve the problems.” continue reading
“Review the statistics and check on the ground that they are true, because the people can’t eat statistics,” Tapia Fonseca said
“Review the statistics and check on the ground that they are true, because the people can’t eat statistics,” said Tapia Fonseca, “with his usual eloquence,” adds Invasor. The numbers are, in fact, serious. The newspaper itself regretted in March that the livestock of Ciego de Ávila has decreased in the last 12 years by more than 5,100 animals each year, and that it has just 12,300 liters (3,249 gallons) of milk a day, half of what it should offer.
Marrero combined voluntarism* and scolding in each of the meetings, especially during those he held with the agricultural and industrial sector, which fail to “shake off the damage of decades.”
He verified, inspecting the situation of the sugar harvest, that the Ecuador sugar mill is “unstable” and that the Ciro Redondo – on which the hopes for the harvest depended- is “a giant with feet of clay, unable to function because the synchronization with the surrounding bioelectric plant has not been made effective.”
Chapman, who moved away from the entourage to inspect the municipality of Florencia, was not optimistic in his evaluation either: not only the drought, but also the terrible management of Water Resources in the province, have caused a critical water shortage. The main reservoir of the municipality only has 7 million cubic meters of water, when it should have 30 million. The local managers defended themselves: they have broken pipes and no pumping equipment.
In addition, they said , the little fuel available to Hydraulic Resources is spent on moving the tanker trucks that distribute water to the 6,500 residents in Florence who “officially” lack it.
The only discreet success of the municipality is its canning factory, which fulfilled its plan of 500 tons of tomato puree
The only discreet success of the municipality is its canning factory, which fulfilled its plan of 500 tons of tomato puree in the first quarter of the year. However, it is not known what happened to the product, because they were “hit” with the lack of packaging to market it.
For his part, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, visited the psychiatric hospital of Ciego de Ávila. The “problems” were multiple. They do not have nurses or custodians; it has not been repaired in more than 20 years and lacks medicines, its managers admitted to the official. “By not having all the medicines we need, it is difficult to get patients to improve, and that is why admission times have increased,” said one of the doctors.
Even more alarming is the situation of the patients: seven malnourished and 10 “with a weight less than recommended.” The lack of food has become one of the “triggering factors of psychosis.” Upon leaving the medical center, an 85-year-old man approached the minister, the newspaper says, and described a litany of ailments with no apparent solution.
The conclusion of Portal Miranda, quoted by Invasor, is not good news for the sick: “Althout the intention is to reinsert them into their family as soon as possible, some will be admitted here for a long stay.”
* Translator’s note: In other words, it’s the responsibility of the provincial leaders, rather than the State, to solve problems.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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René Pérez Gallego, who will have “other responsibilities,” will be replaced by Walter Simón Noris
Pérez Gallego, the former first secretary of the province, was dismissed without explanation /Periódico 26
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, April 20, 2024 — The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) reported this Friday the dismissal of its first secretary in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego. The official was “liberated” from his tasks – a euphemism commonly used to refer to the dismissal of officials – after a meeting of the provincial committee in Las Tunas, chaired by the secretary of organization of the Central Committee of the PCC, according to a statement by the Party. “The dedication of Pérez Gallego to the tasks of the partisan organization in the province for 19 years was recognized, and he will be assigned other responsibilities,” it added, without specifying his new designation.
Walter Simón Noris, 54, a graduate in Physical Culture, who until now was a member of the executive bureau in the Party committee in the province of Camagüey, will be the new first secretary in the province.
Noris has “30 years of experience in political management, where he has had an upward transition”
According to the report, Noris has “30 years of experience in political management and has had an upward transition.”
This new replacement in a position of provincial leadership of the Communist Party is in addition to those carried out in recent weeks in Havana, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Ciego de Ávila.
The last to be dismissed, at the beginning of April, was the first secretary of Mantua, in Pinar del Río, Liusmara Rodríguez Soriano. 14ymedio’s source in the municipality said that he was removed because of mismanagement in the territory. “He made a lot of mistakes. Homes affected by floods and hurricanes have been added in recent years in the municipality; there are still people who have been asking for materials and help to repair their houses for ten years and more,” he said. continue reading
“In the distribution of materials, Liusmara privileged his people, gave power to people who used cement and roofs as if this were a private farm. There was a lot of discomfort and strong rumors of the diversion of resources destined for those affected,” he added, so his dismissal could be a consequence of that “dubious management.”
In recent months there has been an unusual number of changes in political figures in Cuba
In recent months there has been an unusual number of changes in political figures in Cuba, both within the party and in several ministries, although the regime assures that this is “standard” operating procedure for updating positions.
In February alone, three ministers were dismissed, and one of them -the prime minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil – is under investigation for an alleged crime of corruption, as announced a month later.
Likewise, in recent weeks, the president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), a trade union organization in the orbit of the PCC, was also replaced.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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14ymedio, Havana, 23 April 2024 — The family of Faraj Allah Jarjour, the Syrian who lived in Canada and died on March 22 of a heart attack while vacationing in Cuba, still has not received explanations from the island’s authorities, who sent the body of another person to Quebec . “Until now we have no answers. “Where is my father?” declared Miriam, the traveler’s daughter, to the Inquirer portal.
