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Cubana, seguidora de los Santamaría. Periodista, apasionada, con defectos, siempre intentando ser justa.

There is no water, food spoils, children cry; people on the streets look like zombies, sad, silent, hopeless. This is a portrait of today’s Cuba.“Exceptional situation” is the new term that the government invented to call the massive blackout that has persisted on the island since September 27th and has brought many to the brink of despair.Without a real idea of ​​when the ordeal will end, messages on social networks like WhatsApp, Messenger and Telegram, share testimonies and catharsis on the very difficult moment people are living.<h2>Food uncertainty</h2>The top concern of Cubans after the continuous hours of blackout is food. The anxiety is logical. For a long time now it has been very difficult to access food, not only because of scarcity, but also because of high prices. Some basics are only available in dollar-priced stores via MLC cards, a currency in which almost no one receives at work.For some it has not been enough to leave the refrigerator closed. In many places “it leaks”. They have given up drinking cold water to cool off from the heat to maintain the lower temperature for as long as possible to preserve food.“In my house we are two elderly people, the little food that we can buy at high prices has defrosted and we constantly boil the milk, which cost us so much. What can we do if we don’t even have anything to cook on because a sack of charcoal costs 500 pesos?&nbsp;I have been through many difficult times, but none like this one,” says Virgina Maria, a resident of Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara, after a day without electricity.Testimonies like hers are common and constant. Those who live with children, the elderly or sick people are the ones who have suffered the most from the prolonged blackout that still does not have a clear solution date. And remember, there were already hours long daily blackouts in most places before the total outage.Lianet, a 28-year-old widowed mother living in Jagüey Grande, comments desperately that she does not know what to feed her children and her sick mother. “You can’t even go to a store to buy something like you used to. Without electricity they don’t open and, on top of that, without MLC you can’t buy either”. She says that she lives “day-to-day” and her work requires electricity. “We are five and the State only pays me 2,258 pesos (Less that 20 USD a month) and besides, I’m renting. And nobody cares!”In Sierra de Cubitas, Barbara Trimiño’s family had to cook all the food they kept in the freezer. They ended up sharing it with their neighbors. “It was going to spoil, and it was better to give it to others than to watch go off what had cost us so many hours in lines and sacrifice,” laments Barbara.The massive blackout that Cuba is experiencing took families of the center and east of the country by surprise since they were not affected by the passage of Hurricane Ian. In most of these provinces, where blackouts were already scheduled daily for three, four or five hours, people are used to keeping their refrigerator door closed to preserve low temperatures. Others have found a way to preserve their food by salting or even frying the meat and leaving it in lard.However, the main “main dishes” that are available on the island are sausages, mincemeat and chicken, foods that cannot be preserved through these methods.<h2>They haven’t suspended classes but…</h2>Ariana Salgado assures she will not take her children to school while there is a blackout at night. They do not rest; much less her. She can’t send them tired, sleepy. “The teacher has scolded me because they fall asleep on their desks,” she says.She has decided that during these days of blackout she will not go to work either. “I need to be at home in case they turn on the power. And if I’m at work when they turn on the electricity, how am I going to charge the equipment, run the refrigerator, prepare food?” she asks.The reasoning was not her’s alone. As mothers and fathers have commented on social networks, this Wednesday, September 28, several children were absent from school. Also many teachers.However, some parents prefer to take them to school to do housework in case the electricity is restored. Others have picked them up at noon because without electricity it is not possible to make lunches.A supposed announcement of the National Assembly suspending classes went out on social networks and was denied hours later. However, some colleges and other institutions that have boarding students have suspended classes until next week. Some, after the passage of the hurricane; others, due to the energy contingency.It is not new that some parents refuse to send their children to school if they had a blackout the night before. However, the days that some have lived not only without electricity, but also without water, which can’t be pumped, have caused many more to consider not taking their children to kindergarten or primary school. Many have also decided not to go to work.<h2>Some profit from the disaster, others share</h2>In some parts of the country the electrical service has been temporarily restored. Some important entities, such as hospitals, funeral homes, police stations or bakeries, have continued to function thanks to power plants.The same has happened in some homes. Sometimes people offer their outlets for others to charge their equipment.Mayra Ramírez has a backup electric generator that her son brought from the United States a few weeks ago. Her neighbors in the Playa neighborhood of Matanzas, have recharged their phones and lamps there. “I can’t help as many as I’d like because the plant is underpowered, but someone can always charge up,” she said.“Come to my house to cook, boil milk, charge equipment, whatever you need,” is a message that is repeated over and over again in a Facebook group of Cuban mothers.“This is my address, my phone number. Here you have my humble little house if you need it”, says a mother who understands perfectly well the desperation of parents with small children.In other Telegram, WhatsApp and Facebook groups, people are also mobilized to share their electricity with those who need it. They even offer to help the families of linesmen and other workers of the Electric Company who came in brigades to the west of the country, or others from the province working in the recovery of the system and who left their homes in the dark.<figure class="image-ql" src="/uploads/Recargas_de_celulares_Cuba_1_db9d41740c.jpg" alt="cables celulares silla personas" caption="Picture taken from social networks." width="100" style="width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" link="" contenteditable="false"><a href="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-image-inner-post"><img src="/uploads/Recargas_de_celulares_Cuba_1_db9d41740c.jpg" alt="cables celulares silla personas"></a>Picture taken from social networks.</figure>However, also, according to reports on social networks, in some places they charge 100 and 200 pesos for the charge of each cell phone. There is always someone who takes advantage of the misfortune of others.In several comments to a publication, users criticize that people are aware of others needing to charge their cellphones, forgetting that for many it is the only way to be informed, communicate, have light (with the flashlight or the screen), or that children entertain themselves during hours of despair and uncertainty.<h2>Resist and win?</h2>In some municipalities of the country, different circuits had the service restored since Wednesday the 28th. Many others remain turned off and people wonder how it is possible that electricity is not shared equally. Seeing the neighbor lit up when another suffers more than 20 hours of blackout can cause anger, but the culprits are not there.The few responses from the administrators of the UNE (Electric Co.) Facebook page when they allow comment – ensure that this difference is due to the fact that “there are prioritized circuits.”“But the priority —says a local from Las Tunas— can be a hospital, a factory, a bakery or the house of the governor or the first secretary [of the Communist Party]”.Information provided on the government media — fragmented, incomplete, sometimes late — does not satisfy most users. The UNE Facebook page, for example, is updated with relevant information at intervals of seven to nine hours.On television, to which a large part of Cuba does not have access due to the lack of electricity, the UNE technicians are unable to offer simple, easily understood information. The radio, in many cases, maintains its usual programming of music and radio soap operas.To make matters worse, the authorities dared to predict the “restoration of the system” in six or eight hours, a period of time already far exceeded.Other social network users show concern about the triumphalism in the official media, the lack of empathy in the face of the difficult situation that was already being experienced for months; the non in-person appearance live of the main authorities to explain in detail and without detours the current situation and its possible solutions or, even, to offer apologies. They say “the causes are being investigated”, but rarely are those responsible made known.In the provinces of Las Tunas and Holguín, pots-and-pan protests were reported. It is the way citizens express their boredom and discontent when there are blackouts.How much longer must a people “resist”? In less than a year they have suffered sustained inflation, food and medicine shortages, an explosion in a Havana hotel, a fire at the Super Tanker Base, a hurricane that devastated a province, and an unstable energy situation for months that has ended with a massive blackout of more than 48 hours and still counting. How much more?<blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/how-cubans-cope-with-long-hours-of-total-blackout/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/como-han-vivido-los-cubanos-las-largas-horas-de-apagon-total" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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How Cubans Cope with Long Hours of Total Blackout

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Licenciada en Periodismo por la Universidad de La Habana (2014). Master en Comunicación para el Desarrollo y Cambio Social por la Universidad de Sussex en Reino Unido (2018). Investigadora en temas de comunicación para el desarrollo y y cambio social.

The eye of the hurricane entered the city of Pinar del Río around 6:30 a.m. on September 27, 2022. This time it is Ian, but the people of Pinar del Rio remember Gustav, Ike, Isidore, Lily, among others.In the social networks some describe an apparent calm. The one that in these cases arrives before and after the storm.“Outside the wind howls, you hear things fly. We don’t know what we’ll see when we go out on the streets tomorrow,” said a journalist from the provincial radio station.Nelson Simon, a well-known writer from Pinar del Río, also described the uncertainty felt on Tuesday: “We are in the dark. The noise and the banging of the wind are hellish. It has stopped raining a while ago. The wind is sustained and from time to time increases its intensity. It is as if everything were shaking… When the wind picks up, you close your eyes and tighten your eyelids as if wanting to hold onto what surrounds us.”The most recent tropical cyclone warning from the Meteorology Institute reports that “the center of Hurricane Ian made landfall around 4:30 a.m., through La Coloma in the south of Pinar del Río province, with maximum sustained winds of 205 kilometers per hour. However, associated with the transit of the eye over the province, a calm was recorded that lasted 48 minutes. Its central minimum pressure had dropped to 952 hPa and was moving north at 19 kilometers per hour.”<figure class="image-ql" src="/uploads/Huran_ian_Ismet_52a39cd949.jpg" alt="mapa trayectoria ciclón" caption="The path of Hurricane Ian as charted by Insmet on Tuesday morning September 27." width="100" style="width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" link="" contenteditable="false"><a href="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-image-inner-post"><img src="/uploads/Huran_ian_Ismet_52a39cd949.jpg" alt="mapa trayectoria ciclón"></a>The path of Hurricane Ian as charted by Insmet on Tuesday morning September 27.</figure>In San Juan and Martínez they confirm the death of a person. “A power line caught fire and the man tried to turn it off,” explains journalist Yusley Izquierdo. In less than 24 hours, about 202 millimeters (7.6 inches) of rain have fallen.A significant impact on light roofs was no surprise: “There are no roofs left here,” a resident tells via WhatsApp audio. Masonry houses rumbled in the wind. The doors and windows seemed not to resist. Some gave way with the wind.Gladis Melisa Martínez’s desperate call confirmed the sadness of what was happening: “Please, I need help. Somebody call the fire department or the police, we couldn’t reach them. My house is in front of the polyclinic, next to the Maternity Hospital. The house above. The entire roof blew off, we are with my girl in the closet. We cannot go out because of the trees.” At dawn on Tuesday, it was learned that the family had been able to take shelter in a neighbor’s house.“In San Luis the storm has surely finished with what little there was,” Olga Lidia Torres dares to affirm, about what she has heard and experienced during the early morning hours.In Pinar del Río nobody slept. Who can sleep through this? They don’t dare to go out either. Now they wait in the dark early Tuesday for the storm to blow over. Windows with boards crossed so that the wind does not open them, bags of sand and earth on the roofs to prevent a gust of wind from lifting them, electrical equipment on high ground so that they are not damaged by floods.The El Toque team confirmed that several areas of Pinar del Río do not have Internet or mobile phone access. “Here even walls have fallen,” says an interviewee. Elevated water tanks have also been among the most affected structures.Now it isn’t raining, but the wind continues very strong. The dawn sky will be white, like sunrises after a hurricane. There will be no trees or plants standing. The streets will be filled with rubble.The people of Pinar del Río know perfectly well what measures they must take in the event of a hurricane warning, not because they have experienced and repeated this numerous times, but because it reduces the damage that weighs more heavily on a tired people. There are still people affected by previous cyclones, who lost their homes and belongings, until today, irrecoverable.Ian was moving slow when the sun rose in the west of the island. It was furious with La Coloma. It still has some way to go until it moves away from the north coast and some wonder “why this punishment from nature. As if everything that Cuba already suffers has not been enough.”Prayers, prayers, requests for mercy, promises… Pinar del Río residents do not know who to entrust themselves to. They ask that there be no loss of human lives, but they know that material losses, in tense moments of scarcity, will be significant. The future will be even harder.<h2>The Isle of Youth</h2>Further south, on the Isle of Youth, people also suffered winds of more than 110 km/h. The damage is not yet quantifiable, but the images shared on networks show a bleak picture: fallen trees, raised roofs, collapsed structures, floods.There, starting early Monday afternoon, the weather conditions began to deteriorate, and several places were left without electricity.Numerous people with vulnerable homes – made of wood and thatched roofs – were evacuated and sheltered in the homes of relatives.The provincial station Radio Caribe suffered damage to the roof of the lobby, according to its workers. In the shared video it is possible to appreciate the strong winds.Photos of fallen trees and branches (but not much more damage) can be seen in the areas near the Heroes del Baire Hospital, located in Nueva Gerona.<figure class="image-ql" src="/uploads/Arbol_caido_Nueva_Gerona_huracan_Ian_d1ce6a987a.jpg" alt="árbol caído huracán" caption="A fallen tree. Photo: Taken from the Facebook profile of Gerardo Mayet Cruz. " width="100" style="width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; cursor: pointer;" link="" contenteditable="false"><a href="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="ql-image-inner-post"><img src="/uploads/Arbol_caido_Nueva_Gerona_huracan_Ian_d1ce6a987a.jpg" alt="árbol caído huracán"></a>A fallen tree. Photo: Taken from the Facebook profile of Gerardo Mayet Cruz. </figure>According to Insmet, the Cuban Meteorology Service, at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday some of the most significant rain accumulations reported were in the “Cuba-France Friendship” meteorological stations with 148.7 millimeters, 134.4 millimeters in La Fe and 121.0 millimeters in Punta del Este, all in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.By dawn Tuesday it stopped raining on the Isle of Youth and the gusts of wind were not felt, but the news is still limited. Journalist Gerardo Mayet reported on his networks: “there is no electricity [since Monday] and many do not have a charge on their mobile phones.&nbsp;With improved weather the Municipal Defense Council can visit the remote areas. Here in my radius of action (Nueva Gerona) I don’t see much damage. I suppose to the south and in La Fe, yes.”The social networks, communicators profiles, and local press media remain, for the most part, without updating. The latest posts date from 13 hours ago. The last message from the well-known journalist Yuliet Perez (La Yuli de Cuba), a resident of La Fe, was at dawn: “What fear… outside everything roars and rattles.”When there is no danger, the residents of Pinar del Río, Isla de la Juventud, and the rest of western Cuba, hit by the “other” tragedy, will take to the streets. Surely, we will see the available aid arrive there, the help sent in a symbolic way by the Cubans who were able to sleep.Meanwhile, some will continue to wonder what we have done to deserve this. Others, more positive, will question: now what do we do?<blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/hellish-hours-for-cuba-with-the-passing-of-hurricane-ian/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/otras-terribles-horas-para-cuba-por-el-paso-del-huracan-ian" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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Hellish Hours for Cuba with the Passing of Hurricane Ian

“Put the electricity back on,&nbsp;pin**! was a demand that became a&nbsp;conga&nbsp;line protest after a 15-hour blackout at the Universidad de Camaguey. The video, that went viral on social media, showed a reality that isn’t new at higher education centers in Cuba.“Everything happened on June 15th. There hadn’t been any electricity since 6 AM, and they put it on at 7 PM. It was supposedly only for 12 hours, but they cut it again fifteen minutes later,” a student in Camaguey says. “It annoyed people and they began to sing from their balconies until they went down to Plaza Cultural and the&nbsp;conga&nbsp;that we saw on the Internet came together.According to the third-year Electrical Engineering student, dinner that day had been soup with white rice and an egg, which made the students even more annoyed.“I don’t know if it was because of the blackout, but coming home sweaty and tired of sports games, and not having electricity or water to shower, is too much,” he said.Universidad de Camaguey has been suffering 8-12 hour blackouts everyday, just like the rest of the province, ever since the latest energy crisis began in March.“These bothersome blackouts also impact the water supply system at the university, making it practically impossible to get to the third and fourth floor apartments in student accommodation over the past week,” an article in&nbsp;Adelante&nbsp;newspaper read.However, the almost three-hour extension wasn’t due to the electricity company’s (UNE) planning, but to an overload at the residential block that includes the Agramonte headquarters.While information in the newspaper and on the University website differs in terms of how long it took for the electricity came back, the local newspaper admitted that the response from those responsible for fixing the blackout problem came “late”.<h2>Switching off self-study</h2>It’s 1 AM and there are two young women in the living room of the women’s residence at a Cuban university. The first shift have a Calculus exam and feel like they haven’t studied enough. Stretched out on the floor, with light coming from the only bulb in the corridor, they revise equations from textbooks and notebooks. The electricity came back two hours ago, they couldn’t study before.“We aren’t final year students, we’ve also had to revise for other subjects,” Martha Elena explains in a WhatsApp voice message. “The first years of Mechanical Engineering are the hardest, but completing the year with food and water shortages and blackouts, is a great feat.”“Not doing anything,” “copying work” and “trying to follow educational and recreational activities that don’t require electricity” were some students’ responses to the question “what do you do when there’s a blackout?”, and others belonging to a form that was handed out before writing this article.It was established that the situation in different universities is very similar across the country: blackouts in the evenings/night are the most annoying because they make it hard for students to study on their own and take part in recreational activities.“We have to sit on a staircase, down a corridor or a place with electricity,” a Journalism student at the “Martha Abreu” Central University in Las Villas said. “Sometimes, it’s even dangerous because you have to walk through places that are pitch black. It’s a good thing we have cellphones with a flashlight.”Young university students from almost every generation are familiar with blackouts: whether it’s because of irregularities with the National Grid or because of structural problems and overconsumption at student residences with kitchens and improvised stoves that are turned on during “peak hours”.Water tank pumps, refrigeration rooms in dining halls, pots, boilers and lights are high energy-consuming appliances at Cuban educational centers. Many stop working during blackouts. Education-related places and services like labs, libraries, WIFI connections, etc. also stop working.“Being in the “hospital area” of the city doesn’t even save us from blackouts,” Jorge Lopez says, a student from the University of Medical Sciences in Las Tunas. “When I know there’s going to be a blackout all night and I need to study, I go to my aunt’s house, but not every student has this opportunity.”According to him, another option they have is to take advantage of the sun in their free afternoons to study or they all gather around a classmate’s laptop in the night. “But there isn’t enough battery or eyesight that can put up with it,” she says.<h2>What’s going on at university?</h2>Several Cuban universities have an Energy Efficiency Management System, with people in charge of controlling consumption and forcing savings by cutting down lab hours, turning off air-conditioning units and other measures that reduce energy consumption, but they damage devices and processes.Although a study by the Universidad de Matanzas revealed that the Energy Efficiency System managers didn’t stay in the position for long because they find better paid opportunities and they constantly have to train new managers. Internal saving measures aren’t enough during the energy crisis. Education institutions are included in blocks and circuits established by region and they also have their own blackout schedule.For example, Universidad de Camaguey is on four circuits, but two of them are residential mains with a blackout schedule: one that feeds the Jose Marti campus and the other that reaches the kitchen/diner and student residences in the Agramonte campus. The two remaining ones don’t have a fixed schedule: there are blackouts when necessary.Roger Castro is well aware of the difference. He studies on the main campus and his girlfriend studies at the former University of Pedagogical Sciences, both of which are separated by a single avenue. “Depending on where the blackout is, I “slip away” to her university or she comes to mine,” he says.After the June 15th&nbsp;conga, the university board held meetings with students to “explain” why there are blackouts.In an interview with the Department of Communications, Davel Borges Vasconcellos, responsible for the Energy Efficiency and Green Energy program, explained that they are seeking alternatives so that blackouts don’t impact water pumps to student residences.He added that one of these projects “seeks to use the generator that supplies the kitchen/diner, for the residence too. Once it’s connected, we’ll be able to have electricity in the residence and be able to pump water, even if there is no electricity supply here.He added that this is a very ambitious project, and it needs a lot more resources and time, but they have the University’s support to do this.Implementing these possible solutions announced after the “scandal” of the student&nbsp;conga&nbsp;could be postponed, or fall on deaf ears, like they normally do.A 2012 study by Universidad de Las Tunas identified the main problems with energy consumption as: “the existence of many water leaks on the internal and external network that implied additional work for water pumps and the poor isolation of cold rooms and air-conditioned areas.”High energy-consumption was also identified at the Student Residence, not using computer’s energy saving potential and poor and infrequent records of electricity consumption.A decade later, many of these problems still await a solution or have become worse under stricter economic restrictions in Cuba.Blackouts or modifying opening hours of services to save electricity during “energy crises”, form part of the karma of Cuba’s further education. This image has been repeated over the years and is like a deja-vu: during hot nights and blackouts, you can see students from the residence sitting on benches and in outdoor areas. Others prefer to stay in “living rooms”, “fighting off” the mosquitoes too.<blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/blackouts-at-a-cuban-university-a-survival-course/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/apagones-en-la-universidad-asignatura-de-supervivencia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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Blackouts at Cuban Universities: a Survival Course

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Graduada de Periodismo en 2018 por la Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas. Viviendo sin fanatismos desde 1993. Sinceridad y sobriedad, ahí está la clave.

The fan turns on and Martha gets out of bed. Her eyes close as she tries to switch on the computer. She’d fallen asleep just an hour earlier. It’s hard to rest during a blackout: the heat is unbearable.Martha is a self-employed worker at a photo studio in Las Tunas. She not only takes photos, but then she also edits them at home. Every session needs to be ready in no more than a week.“Ever since “scheduled blackouts” started, my work hours – and life – has been a disaster. Now, we must take the photos we’d take in a day, over two,” she says.She plans photo sessions at the studio and outside locations, depending on the blackout schedule. However, sometimes the Electric Company (UNE) doesn’t keep to its schedule and she has to improvise when customers come in and there isn’t any electricity.“Sometimes, we can go ahead with the photos in outdoor locations, but sometimes we can’t. It all depends on transport, sunlight, the weather, etc.”Martha says that she used to work in the mornings when she didn’t have a session scheduled, and at night if she had something left over to do. Now, her working hours “depend on the UNE: whenever the electricity comes on, I work, it doesn’t matter if its midnight or the early morning. Whenever, not only because of the commitment to my customers, but also because taxes are the same. They cut the electricity and make our work hard, but they are still strict with ONAT payments.”<h2>Shutting down private production</h2>The residential sector in Cuba consumes 60% of electricity generation. A lot of the time, business owners run their businesses from their own homes, or at rental spaces rented out by the State. The irregular electricity supply also affects them.Behique is an artisan jewelry brand that has grown beyond its native city of Cienfuegos and is now reaching different areas in Cuba and the rest of the world. With a selection of gems, mainly set in silver, it has a workshop to create and mold its pieces.According to Diana Ortega, the owner, blackouts have affected every aspect of family-run businesses and even dynamics at home. “Creating in such unfavorable conditions has become our Sisyphus boulder,” she laments.“Blackouts have affected pretty much all our processes, from the creative seed to sales management because the terrible (electricity) planning is whimsical and unpredictable. We’ve closed the workshop for days. We couldn’t even make something special for Father’s Day, like we have in previous years,” she explains.Against this backdrop of irregularity and uncertainty, businesses haven’t been able to come up with a strategy to optimize working hours at the studio. It’s even harder for Diana with a little girl around the house.“You can’t come up with a plan when you have a 5-year-old who also needs strategies and time. After spending never-ending nights with fans and happy stories, you must deal with the next day, with all of the exhaustion and despair, with customers who carry the same burden as you, a lot of the time. This is why management is also affected.”The old Ice Factory in Las Tunas – which had shut down for over two years – was rented out to Hielo Caribe SLR, making headlines just over two months ago. The private business made headlines for its ice and ice-cream stick production, with different flavors.In an interview with ACN news, its founder, Humberto Baldoquin Labrada, said that one of his main objectives is to increase sales and diversify production. However, weeks later, production was in jeopardy because of scheduled blackouts lasting over 8 hours every day, and high temperatures.Even though Humberto says that it’s hard to work without electricity, he says that they took the initiative to adapt production and adjust working hours according to blackouts published by the Electricity Union in Las Tunas.Hielo Caribe SLR, just a month old, can’t afford to stop production now and asked provincial authorities to move their retail points to places with electricity.It’s true that these transfers are uncomfortable and even mean spending resources, but Humberto prefers to see this as an alternative rather than halting production. “Wherever there’s electricity, that’s where we’ll be,” he says.<h2>Not only economic consequences</h2>According to Sara Rodriguez, blackouts have been a return to the past. Not only living in darkness at any time of day, but also because her beauty salon in Sancti Spiritus has been directly affected as she isn’t able to offer services using electricity.This is the case of a tattoo studio, which had to stop working in the middle of a non-scheduled blackout. The tattoo artist has found a solution with a wireless machine, and he works out in the backyard, for light.Another service that has nearly grinded to a halt is facial treaments, as most of them rely on electrical machines. A few minutes without electricity, and the wax heater for depilation purposes stops working and customers also need it.Sara, who is a hairdresser, has continued with hair cuts and color, but has stopped giving keratine treatments regularly – one of the most highly-sought-after services – because it requires a hairdryer and straightener, both of which use electricity.Customers are becoming more and more uneasy amidst this landscape, as they not only lose access to many services, but those who are able to receive them don’t get the quality and comfortable service a salon normally offers, with air-conditioning and the final touches.“You have customers sitting for two hours, with their heads full of foil, with the robe on, and heat. They sweat, there isn’t enough air… Luckily, none of them have fainted yet. Sometimes, they must leave with wet hair like back in the ‘80s, when you didn’t dry or style their hair,” Sara says.For businesses that depend on electricity and the Internet, this new season of blackouts has been stifling in more than one sense.Carla runs a digital communications agency from Santiago de Cuba. Her services are directly linked to content management on social media for Cuban and foreign businesses, which she needs electricity for to be able to access her work devices.Although she’s learned she needs to leave all her devices charged up from the night before, when blackouts are six or eight hours long, the devices run out of charge and cut her working day. “There are days I can only work two hours,” she explains.“This happens to all of us here at the agency. For example, the designer who works on a desktop, has to adjust to when there is electricity, which is mostly at night.”The days when blackouts are more intense and regular, the grid where Carla lives (and works), suffers blackouts from the morning. This situation reduces her ability to be 100% efficient.“There’s consequences hardly anyone is talking about, but it’s the most serious for me: psychological harm.” When day breaks without electricity, my drive and mood change. I start feeling bad, I sweat, have headaches and I’m a lot less productive. This also influences team management, and my employees must put up with my bad mood,” she says.Blackouts in the morning also leave a mark on her relationship with clients, as this is also when she coordinates work meetings with them.“I’ve had to cancel meetings with clients for this reason. Lots of them are understanding and we set a new date, but others are unable to change their schedules around the electricity company, because they have so much work to do.”<blockquote>This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/blackouts-in-cuba-a-menace-to-the-private-sector/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English&nbsp;</a>from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/apagones-en-cuba-mas-jaque-al-sector-privado" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.</blockquote>

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Blackouts in Cuba: A Menace to the Private Sector

People know La Crema for his “musical news”: reggaeton videos that tell you what’s going on in Cuba, keeping to reality more than news reports in Cuba’s state-controlled media.The artist’s songs talk about prices of the dollar; the MLC (USD priced) stores; innards, ostrich and decrepit chicken; US emigration via Nicaragua; the price of “poor Internet connection” with mobile data and even the ridiculous motto of the National Food Production Company (PRODAL): “Long live the sausage!”Luis Alberto Vicet Vives – the name on his ID which very few people know him by – composes, dances, edits and produces. He writes a song in a matter of hours. He discovers a viral issue and there’s soon a reggaeton song about it on his YouTube channel. He composes with his feet firmly set on the ground, talking about what people say on the street and in Cuban WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram groups.However, Vicet Vives’ songs aren’t heard on the radio and the artist can’t perform concerts in squares or other open spaces. People listen to him on the same platforms where much of his inspiration comes from: social media.“I don’t care if my talent’s recognized or not/ I do it because it comes from me.”***“I started out in this world ever since I was a little boy, when my grandmother – the singer of the Magaly Bernal cabaret group –&nbsp;took me to her shows. At junior high I was always taking part in living up the morning line up, because dancing was my thing before music. I was at a dance school and I then made my debut as an amateur in Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba.I was a member of the Candido Fabre orchestra, a band called&nbsp;Fever Son, and then I went to Havana to form part of the band&nbsp;To’ mezclao.&nbsp;In 2014, I decided to create my own band.“You know how all of this works here in Havana/ They dug me a grave as soon as they saw me / gossip on their tongues, making drama/ for singing about whatever I felt like.”“In 2020, an evaluation committee at the Cuban Institute of Music decided that we weren’t trained enough to play instruments live and with DJ equipment. The group had been together for six years, and we didn’t book another gig after that audition. Ever since then, I’ve had to go it alone, but I received support from people on social media, many YouTubers, (foreign) TV programs and I’m still going.“Pay me in dollars so I can buy at the store/ because I don’t know where I’m going to get them/ I only get paid in Cuban pesos/ you tell me where! you’re forcing me to hustle.”“Doors shut for me in Cuba and I began to compose advertising jingles, songs for different websites, businesses, foreign YouTube channels… I got by. I had no choice at the end of the day. They took away my band and nobody cared about how I was going to get by. But thanks to God and all of the saints, here we are, with the blessing of Yemaya and Chango.“You took away my job, but I won’t starve to death./ Crema, you don’t have any money./ My time will come, don’t worry, I’m not impatient./ Crema, you don’t have any money.”“I used to make reggaeton, merengue, kizomba, bachata and salsa music, but not with this sense of comedy. I began as an amateur, focusing and seeing how you’d write these kinds of songs. I composed love songs at first, and I slowly got a taste for it. Melodies always come to my mind, humming to myself, and I knew that the lyrics had to be coherent. I began to write about current affairs, and I’m surprised by the way I describe the news and what’s going around me.&nbsp;“There’s a ruckus out on the street/ ostrich is coming in instead of chicken / there’s nothing in the Ditu (kiosk) / and get ready because they’re going to turn off the lights.”“The radical shift came after the song&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3u7muhZeZU" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Avestruz’s</a>&nbsp;success. Nothing was going on with my career and even though some people listened to me, it wasn’t the same. When the audience saw their lives in this song, they identified with it and with myself, as a Cuban. I put myself in the people’s shoes.People tell you: “Oh my God, now they’re going to give us innards!” People say: “Innards, innards, innards. Oh my God!” Ladies and gentleman, what is this?” And that’s how a song comes about.I try to tell and reflect everyday experiences, what’s happening in Cuba, in my work: people’s needs, reality, shortages.“Why are they criticizing me?/ I just sing what I hear on the street/ I’m not inflating.”“I sing about everything that’s going on with a sense of comedy, energy and charisma. I don’t know how exactly, but I get loads of ideas to make a song quickly. When I hear a piece of news, I familiarize myself with it and I read the news published here and then I go to the street, to hear what people are saying. I draw my own conclusions and that’s how I get the final song. Some people have called my work the “musical news” and other people tell me that they watch my videos when they want to know what’s happening in Cuba. I see myself as a musician that talks about Cuban reality, a song journalist.&nbsp;“Just when I thought I was ready for the action/ boom!/ I lose my connection.”“I make my own videos. I edit, color correct and write the script. I do everything. I call up the music producer, we make the song, record it and when the song is ready, I say: now what shall I invent? Then, some acquaintances help me to film parts of the video. A friend I have living in the US, or the guys from Camaguey-based comedy group&nbsp;Aprieta y Traga, who by the way, embarked on the journey to cross the border not too long ago. I don’t like to release the video when the news isn’t hot, I do it when it’s really “hot off the press” so that it is effective. I had a person who recorded my videos, but because they weren’t always available and it took a while to do them, I went to YouTube and learned how to edit in (Adobe) Premiere Pro by watching tutorials. I’m a company all on my own!“San Isidro just wants to talk / peacefully so you can hear what they have to say/ they want what’s best, not what’s bad/ let them speak.”“A neighbor once told me one time that I couldn’t put on my song&nbsp;San Isidro, but I was at home and put it on real loud. In Spain, they played this song during the protests to support the San Isidro Movement. They also “played” it in New York, Italy and Germany.“The day you know about the month you know/ a whole load of things have happened that everybody knows about/ we have to talk about it like this now, in code/ because they are watching you and you know it.”“At the end of the day, I’m just making art and if they stop me from leaving Cuba or something similar, they will be committing a great injustice because I’m just saying what I see at the end of the day There’s always a little fear in real life, but art comes before everything else. Plus, it’s bad for people to see things and keep quiet, because your opinion should always come first. You have to respect my opinion, just like I need to respect yours. We have to have freedom of speech and just like Jose Marti once said: “Humor is a whip with bells on the tip.”“Everyone I know wants to leave/ and they want to sell everything and never come back/ that’s because it’s been so many years of suffering/ and wages aren’t enough to eat or put clothes on your back.”“To perform live today, you have to play in a private bar, and I’m so disappointed in it all that I’m not interested in any of it. I’m doing what I do, my way. I’m on my way and when the opportunity presents itself, I’ll grab it.“People are buying dollars now/ to leave by air or sea/ nobody wants to be here, they want to leave/ and they sell you their house so they can go to Nicaragua.”“I haven’t left Cuba because the opportunity hasn’t presented itself and I’m not ready to risk my life in the journey starting in Nicaragua. You see me messing around with stories and kidding around, but I don’t like to put my life in danger. It’s a very difficult and dangerous journey. I’m waiting for the opportunity to come where I know I can get to my destination safely. I hope it comes sooner rather than later. If only God and all the saints give it to me, I wouldn’t think about it twice, I’d be very happy to leave.“God squeezes you, but he doesn’t choke you/ he makes things hard but then he lightens it up/ The light always comes back after a blackout/ there’s always calm after the storm.”“I’ve always had big ideas. I would like to do this same work in the future, and create my own ad jingle company wherever I am. It’s very hard to grow when you’re in Cuba, and I could expand under different circumstances. I would like to be able to move forward with my music career because, in addition to these songs, I have my repertoire of music that is very different to what I’m making today.***Fragments from La Crema songs. This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/interviews/la-crema-covers-cuban-reality-better-than-the-tv-news/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/la-crema-cuenta-la-realidad-cubana-mejor-que-el-noticiero" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">Spanish</a>.

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La Crema Covers Cuban Reality Better Than the TV News

Cuban émigrés tend to stay connected with events in their country of origin, be it through contact with relatives, social networks or different media. Some, perhaps driven by a certain nostalgia, go further and try to follow the series, soap operas and other programs that are broadcast on the island.Cuban television, live?The portal<a href="https://teveo.cu/live/video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;teveo.cu</a>&nbsp;of the Institute of Information and Social Communication (formerly the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, ICRT), contains a repository of audiovisual materials produced by&nbsp;Cuban stations and television centers. In addition, it offers live broadcasts of&nbsp;<a href="https://teveo.cu/live/audio?p=7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">79 stations</a>&nbsp;produced by Cuba’s radio network.However, the highlight&nbsp;of this website is the<a href="https://teveo.cu/live/video" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;live transmission</a>&nbsp;of five channels: the teletext channel of the Cuban News Agency (ACN), Canal Caribe, Tele Rebelde, Cubavisión and Cubavisión Internacional.&nbsp;Supposedly they can be seen live, but in reality–a fact confirmed in several countries and using several browsers–only the ACN channel and Cubavisión Internacional work. Those seeking to access the rest of the channels invariably receive a message on their screen:&nbsp;the video could not be loaded due to a network or server failure, or because the format is incompatible.The Cuban television website (<a href="http://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">www.tvcubana.icrt.cu</a>) offers the option to watch these and other channels, including:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/educativo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;educational</a>&nbsp;and<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/educativo-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;educational 2</a>,<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/multivision" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;Multivision</a>,<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/canal-clave" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;Key Channel</a>,<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/habana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;Havana Channel</a>,and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/cubavisionplus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;Cubavisión Plus</a>&nbsp;(in HD).&nbsp;In fact, however, only live Cubavisión Internacional is available. For the rest, only the channel’s banner -or the same message that appears on the Teveo platform- appears.The multinational network Telesur, which is viewed in Cuba, can be seen through the webpage&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tvcubana.icrt.cu/cartelera-de-la-tv-cubana/multivision" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Multivision</a>, but only during the time it is actually being broadcast there.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor can live TV be accessed through the official page of the ex-ICR (<a href="https://www.icrt.gob.cu/live-tv/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">https://www.icrt.gob.cu/live-tv/</a>) or the platform&nbsp;<a href="https://www.picta.cu/home" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Picta</a>,&nbsp;Cuba’s so-call YouTube channel.&nbsp;This is despite the fact that both sites claim to offer this option.&nbsp;Some émigrés often watch Cuban TV by using Kodi software, a multimedia entertainment center through which you can access TV channels from various countries.&nbsp;But according to recent user reports, Cuba’s TVC signal is hard to find.&nbsp;Informational SpacesFacebook is another way to access most Cuban newscasts and other television programs, even in direct transmission.&nbsp;The news programs&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/cubadebate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Cubadebate</a>&nbsp;y&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/mesaredondacuba" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Mesa Redonda</a>&nbsp;provide live broadcasts almost daily through their Facebook pages.&nbsp;Individual news reports can also be found on Canal Caribe’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.Other sources of programming are the Facebook pages and YouTube channels of other telecenters.&nbsp;In the case of sports, at the beginning of the 61st&nbsp;National Baseball Series, some provinces took the initiative of broadcasting the games live through their Facebook pages.&nbsp;However, this was abruptly suspended.&nbsp;According to a<a href="https://www.facebook.com/VisionTunera/posts/5564331866930179" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;publication</a>&nbsp;of the TunasVisión telecenter, the National Series baseball games could not be broadcast due to legal disputes over transmission rights.In 2020, the World Baseball and Softball Confederation<a href="https://www.wbsc.org/es/news/gametime-earns-international-exclusive-rights-for-cubas-serie-nacional" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">&nbsp;announced</a>&nbsp;that its platform OTT GameTime.sport had acquired exclusive rights for the international transmission of the games of the 60th&nbsp;Cuban National Series.On many occasions, Cuban television, and in particular the channel Tele Rebelde, has announced that they cannot transmit certain sports competitions because they lack the budget to buy the broadcast rights.&nbsp;&nbsp;As the management of Tele Rebelde explained in December of 2020, “To access most of the main competitions, you first have to buy the broadcast rights, something that has not been possible due to the difficult economic situation that our country is suffering. We apologize to you, and we will continue to strive to improve programming options.”Series, soap operas and sundriesMany Cubans living abroad follow national soap operas, even the Brazilian ones, that are broadcast in prime time on Cubavisión.There are also YouTube channels that specialize in Cuban soap operas, adventure programs and dramatic series.&nbsp;&nbsp;On YouTube, you can find programs ranging the police serial&nbsp;Your Own War, to the most recent episodes of&nbsp;Calendar&nbsp;and the soap opera&nbsp;Tú, which are uploaded scarcely minutes after they are broadcast on the island.To find many of these programs, which are also broadcast in groups and on Telegram channels, you only need to google them.In addition, it is possible to find materials produced in Cuba on such sites as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.picta.cu/home" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Picta</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://mochila.cubava.cu/portada" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">La mochila</a>.&nbsp;These are managed by the Youth Computer Club as an alternative to the “weekly package.”&nbsp;These sites include both Cuban and foreign content that is downloadable, and that is organized into different categories such as series, movies, documentaries, children’s, sports, humor, etc.Because of US sanctions against Cuba and the tense relations between the two countries, there is no way for Cuba to obtain broadcast rights for US programming.&nbsp;This means, according to a 2013 BBC report, that the US content that is broadcast there is pirated.&nbsp;&nbsp;The embargo also affects the copyrights of Cuban artists who cannot receive the income from their work that is due them.&nbsp;As Kenia Padrón, the principal specialist of the Department of International Relations of the Cuban Agency for Music Copyright (ACDAM)&nbsp;<a href="http://www.acn.cu/especiales-acn/73255-el-bloqueo-sinonimo-de-perdidas-por-derecho-de-autor-musical-en-cuba-fotos" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">explained</a>, “until relations are normalized, neither Cubans nor US citizens will have the possibility of receiving the royalties for their work.” This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/how-to-watch-cuban-state-tv-outside-of-cuba/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/como-ver-la-television-cubana-fuera-de-cuba" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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How to Watch Cuban State TV Outside of Cuba

Foreign currency prices – as well as the Cuban magnetic card currency (MLC) – have shot up on Cuba’s illicit market in recent weeks.According to the rates tracked by El Toque on a daily basis (which are calculated by taking the average of figures found on buying and selling ads of foreign currency), the USD went up from an exchange rate of 72 pesos on January 1, 2022, to 100 pesos today.In June 2021, the annoucement of a “temporary suspension” of cash deposits in USD at Cuban banks made the 50 peso value stay below other currencies such as the euro and the MLC.Ever since then, “transactions began to appear involving USD deposits for MLC cards and these began to show a higher value than cash, which is explained by the fact they can be used to purchase goods that are only sold at stores created for this purpose,” economist Mauricio de Miranda explained. “The need to buy goods led to a preference expressed in USD deposits for the MLC cards and not in cash.”In October 2021, Cuban economist Pavel Vidal identified some events that impacted supply and demand of foreign currency on the street:&nbsp;“The pandemic, a drop in tourism, economic recession and flights being canceled, can all be identified as the key factors that continue to keep the number of dollars and foreign currency entering the market low. Meanwhile, public sector wages and pensions have gone up, as has inflation, institutionalized dollarization, and pesos cannot be exchanged for foreign currencies legally at bureaus de change and banks.“Meanwhile, uncertainty surrounds currency policy, all leading to an increased demand for foreign currency: whether this is because more foreign currency is needed on the illicit market to make a transfer or because people are just seeking security in more stable currencies at times of currency crisis,” noted Vidal.A drastic spike in USD value in recent days has not only meant that it has exceeded the MLC, but that it now stands closer to the euro – its value stands at 0.07 cents less than the international rate – for the first time ever and, even more interesting yet, it could be a sign of other things getting worse.<h3>Dollars for leaving Cuba</h3>While exact figures of the number of Cubans who have traveled to Nicaragua ever since visas no longer became a requirement, hasn’t been made publicly available, the huge demand recorded by airlines and popular perception show that the figure isn’t only high, but will remain so for some time.“They go down the drain,” Alejandro, a young self-employed worker living in Santa Clara, says about dollars and people. “There are many people who have made or about to make the journey to the US’ southern border, and they are taking advantage of the visa exemption in Nicaragua to do so.” Statistics from the Customs and Border Protection Department (CBP) cited by Cibercuba reveal that during the first three months of this fiscal year, 20,476 Cubans entered the US via Mexico or other illegal routes, with a record number in December.“In recent months, figures on Cuban migrants have begun to challenge those in the 2021 fiscal year, which ended on September 30th, when 39,303 Cubans made their way to the US via land, 38,674 of whom by crossing the Mexican border,” the statement adds.Expensive airline tickets from Havana to Managua (over US $1,200 for a required round trip ticket depending on stop-overs and duration time) and payment for traffickers (several thousand USD), as well as food, living and transport costs in every country they need to cross, make the entire journey round up to over 10,000 USD, even. Migrants also tend to look for some money so they don’t arrive at their destination empty-handed. Alejandro calls it “the VIP journey”. “The few dollars available “fly” as they are essential for those who are leaving.Tais agrees. She is preparing for her trip to Nicaragua and has bought almost 3000 USD, in 100 and 50 dollar bills. Her brother in the US bought her the plane ticket for February. Despite embarking on this journey with some friends, she says she’s scared to travel with so much cash in unsafe conditions.“When we decided to leave, I started buying all of the USD I could,” she says. “I’ve had to buy them for 80 to 100 pesos. The dollar’s value went up in the Telegram groups where people sell them, in just a few days.”Many people attribute the recent spike in USD value in the past few weeks to a possible exodus of Cubans. Even though the Havana-Managua route hogs most flights, there isn’t just one destination for people who decide to emigrate. Where they travel through depends on people’s financial means and the amount they are able to collect, which is never under $3,000.“It’s madness,” a 40-year-old woman from Cienfuegos says, who prefered to remain anonymous and is leaving Cuba for good thanks to a plane ticket to Nicaragua, which she paid $2,500 for.She had been “lucky” to buy USD for 95 CUP each, because “some kind spirits or people in a hurry sold them a little cheaper,” she explains.The value of USD going up on the illicit market is also a result of shortages at stores – in pesos or MLC -, which, given the lack of competition, means that anyone with something to sell can set their own price.“We’re desperate. It’s sad because you know that leaving is your only choice. Sometimes, you take the risk, even without having all the money you need,” she admits. “I never dreamed of paying so much for one ticket, although I’ve seen even more absurd prices; but there’s no other choice. When you’re drowing, you try to take a breath, under any circumstance.”Crisis statistics verify her words. At the National Assembly of People’s Power in December 2021, Alejandro Gil, minister of Economy and Planning, explained that “the blow to our incomes” in the past 18 months exceeds 3 billion USD.Gil admitted that there are over 500 state-led companies that registered a loss in 2021 and admitted the existence of a partial dollarization of the economy in intercompany relationships and the private sector. He presented an inflation figure on retail prices by 70%; especially of food, transport and building materials, due to “digressions in the design of the Reforms Process.”Nevertheless, many economists disagree about the official inflation figure.“Today, ONEI reported that inflation in Cuba stood at 77.33% in 2021, a figure that tends to undervalue inflation because the calculation takes consumer structures that are over 10 years old into account. The Economist Intelligence Unit has estimated inflation at 740%,” Pedro Monreal wrote on his Twitter account.His colleague Mauricio de Miranda replied that “we’ll have to see if [the ONEI] have considered the effect devaluation on the illicit market is having on Cubans’ pockets, who can only access MLC stores by buying foreign currency on the illicit market.<h3>Dollars for buying goods abroad</h3>Daniel travels to Russia every two or three months. He makes a living by buying goods there so he can then resell them in Cuba. Given chronic shortages on the island, he came to the conclusion that any product he could bring back from Moscow would have a winning chance of selling quite easily on the illicit market.“I buy all of the euros, US or Canadian dollars I can and then I change them into rubles when I get there,” he says. “I can’t go to Moscow with Cuban pesos, obviously, and if the CADECA (Cuban bureau de change) won’t change them for me, I have to “hunt” for the lowest exchange rates I can find on social media.”Before, Daniel used to choose the bills he bought; but now, given a lack of supply and tremendous demand, he takes any bill he can get that isn’t ripped or stained, it doesn’t matter if they’re old or wrinkled up.He takes some precautions and doesn’t buy them from just anyone. “I almost always buy them from somebody who comes from abroad, or people who look decent to me. There are a lot of scams out there.”Ailen and Marlen, two sisters from Cienfuegos with a five-year entry visa for Panama, are also searching for foreign currency for their trips and purchases.“We’re not leaving the country right now, but we have quite a bit of money saved,” Ailen says. “We’re afraid it’ll get a lot more expensive and then it’ll be harder for us to get.”Amidst a landscape of foreign currencies shooting up in value on the street, Marlen took out some money from her peso account that came from selling a house, and “invests” it in foreign currency. “Then, when I leave and come back to Cuba with merchandise, I’ll sell it and make a profit from the markup,” she says.According to an EFE news agency feature, some 34,500 Cubans entered the Colon Free Trade Zone in Panama between January and September 2019, and they spend over 100 million USD per year in their purchases.However, Cubans are not only buying in Panama. Statistics from the Havana Consulting Group estimate that over 48,000 Cubans went abroad in 2017 to buy merchandise. It’s estimated that the “total amount of purchases by Cuban entrepreneurs that same year amounted to over a billion USD, 61.5% of which (620 million USD) were spent in the US, followed by Panama (14.9%), Mexico (8.4%), the Dominican Republic (4.9%) and Guyana (4.5%).”<h3>Dollars for reselling</h3>A young engineer, who prefered to remain anonymous, says that out of all of the cities where he normally buys foreign currency in the center of the country, Santa Clara is the most expensive. “The dollar sells for 100 and 105 pesos; while it hasn’t passed 90-something yet in Cienfuegos, and I’ve seen it for 80 in Matanzas.”“If 60 pesos for 1USD seemed expensive to us a while ago, it really was a mistake not to buy them at that price. We’d be millionaires!” he jokes.He says it as a joke, but others have made this into a business. Seeing how the USD was going up in value, they collected huge amounts waiting for it to go over the 100 peso barrier.Claudio, a Las Tunas resident who makes a living “hustling”, has a “piece of land” saved up for when the USD reaches its highest exchange rate.“I bought them for 80 pesos in early January from a friend who came from Texas. I thought about selling them when the exchange rate hit 103 pesos per dollar, but something tells me that it’s going to keep going up in value,” this 32-year-old health technician suspects.“I don’t have any plans to travel, so I’m going to wait for them to go up so I can sell them and then, when they go down, I’ll have enough money to buy more than I did initially. It’s a good deal,” he concludes.<h3>Regulating the market</h3>Many people wonder if the USD will reach 150 pesos, like it did back in the nineties.Oscar Fernandez, an economist and professor at Havana University, explains that the difference between the official 24:1 exchange rate and the illicit market exchange rate (which is quadruple that today), and the State’s inability to ensure foreign currency is sold at banks, has been one of the causes of the national currency’s devaluation.Fernandez explained that the inflation process Cuba is experiencing right now, was inevitably going to happen because it’s a global phenomenon triggered by the pandemic and the national situation is worse because of US sanctions.&nbsp;Nevertheless, he points out that the “Reforms Process sparked a reset in the economy: financial variables intervened at a very delicate time. These high inflation rates that are hitting the country hard are linked to fluctuations on the informal exchange market, as prices handled by the State are not dynamically growing.”To prove his point, the professor mentioned the fact that fuel prices have remained intact, but taxi drivers have raised their fares, even so.“Private drivers’ living costs have gone up, because everything being sold in MLC stores is following chaotic standards; it’s not following a model standard, as there is a crack in benchmarks of money’s purposes. As a result, currency chaos ensues because of value loss,” he added.Talking about possible solutions, Fernandez pointed out that it’s urgent the State finds a way to intervene and manage the informal foreign currency exchange market, just like it did in the nineties when the exchange rate went up to 150 CUP : 1 USD, and they were able to bring it down to 20 : 1.“They were able to regulate it with market-based instruments and an economic policy,” the professor stressed. “If the dollar on the informal market remains a reference, street prices will never go down and wages will never be enough.” This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/why-the-us-dollar-has-risen-sharply-in-cuba/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/aumento-del-usd-en-el-mercado-informal-cubano-posibles-causas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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Why the US Dollar Has Risen Sharply in Cuba

Diana Ochagavia Castañeda found out the worst way after paying 600 pesos ($24 at the official rate) for a menstrual cup that never opened up, once she tried to use it.“I knew about the advantages of these products and went to buy one near my work as soon as I could,” she says. “I tried putting it in every possible way I could, but the same thing always happened: it was so soft that when I folded it, it never went back to its original shape.”Sometimes, being aware of risks isn’t enough to avoid them. Diana knew that buying it on the street always implies a risk and that there are “Chinese copies” being sold really cheap at some stores and that Cubans import them from abroad.“I only realized the difference when I bought a “real” one. I didn’t even try and return it by that point. When I bought it, I knew I was taking a gamble,” she admits.Once she discovered it was a scam, Diana found the&nbsp;Copa Menstrual Habana&nbsp;Facebook page, where Liana Liz Perez promotes the use of menstrual cups and helps women who want to start using these feminine hygiene products.Liana warns about the importance of flagging these scams with products of dubious quality and safety that might even cause skin allergies or disease in the reproductive organs.<h3>Not only in Havana</h3>The uVe project recently donated menstrual cups, thanks to a collaboration with US project The Flow Period – which advocates for affordable and reusable menstrual products all over California and in other cities in the world – and writer Delphine Hirsh.The uVe effort has made various donations to gyms, recreational centers and other places women go to in the provinces of Havana, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus.“Beyond just donating cups, we are interested in reaching the communities that need them the most: who have no information about them, who have no access to menstrual hygiene products, etc.,” Sam Olazabal says, founder of uVe. “There are many people who could have access to the cup and don’t, that’s why the most important thing is knowing how to use it and verify that they are quality cups.”Sam explains that shortages of this kind of product mean that the illicit market takes advantage to sell them at a markup, even when they are poor quality.Menstrual cups are not only harder to find in other provinces, but they are tend to be an unknown option much of the time.Claudia Montane believes that there is more and more information about them in Santiago de Cuba, but that because so few women are using them, when she bought her own, she didn’t discover she’d been scammed until a few days later.“I paid 250 pesos and I looked up videos on how to use it; but it always fell out. I was leaking after half an hour. I realized that I was folding it and putting it in like it said in the instructions, but that it wasn’t popping back into its original shape like it should,” she says.When Claudia bought her cup, the packaging was already open, but “she didn’t know much and it was the only thing she could find around here.”She spent two months trying to make it work, despite suspecting something wasn’t quite right; until she contacted Liana Liz via the&nbsp;Copa Menstrual Habana&nbsp;page and was able to compare hers with other cups.“I also confirmed the scam when I compared prices,” she says. “Menstrual cups are normally expensive and the one I’d bought was allegedly the Aneer Care brand, which is very expensive and I bought it for just 250 pesos here.”Aneer Care (US) is a certified brand of menstrual cups, “but widely ripped off by Chinese companies which are globally reported,” Liana Liz explains.A graduate in Pharmaceutical Sciences, she insists on the importance of knowing how to identify a well-made menstrual cup, given the fact that copies are not only uncomfortable, but can also cause health problems.“Cups need to undergo a verification process of technical regulations and toxicity testing, to prevent any kind of harm, reaction or allergy,” she explains.It’s becoming easier and easier to find menstrual cups for sale on social media in Cuba. Dalila* gets them “brought over from abroad.”She knows that the cups she sells for 550 pesos are copies, “but they’re good”, she assures us. “I’ve been using one for a year. The originals cost 1000 pesos or more.”The seller receives these products in bulk which she then sells, along with clothes, shoes and cosmetics, on her Whatsapp catalog when she has them.While she refuses to comment on where her products come from or how much they cost, she doesn’t hide the fact they’re copies from her customers; but if they don’t ask, she doesn’t say anything either.“It’s my job to sell them,” she admits. “If I start explaining that these aren’t originals, I probably wouldn’t sell any. People need to inform themselves before they buy and decide whether to take the risk or not. It’s the customer’s responsibility.”&nbsp;In reality, it’s the seller who’s failing to meet customer protection regulations. There are actions you can take against this kind of behavior by making a civil complaint; but it’s unlikely this will happen as they incur disproportionate costs and time.<h3>How can you spot a fake menstrual cup?</h3>Look at the product and seller information. It’s important to have the name of producer, contact information, distribution company and health authority that regulates and authorizes its commercialization on the packaging and box.Instructions should have certification, usage and composition details in them, at least.Cups should be entirely made out of medical silicone or medical grade plastic, be hypoallergenic and have no trace of any chemical substance. These characteristics mean the pH inside the vagina isn’t affected and infections, nor other adverse reactions or diseases are contracted.If a medical silicone or medical grade plastic menstrual cup is folded, it immediately returns to its original shape. If a cup takes time to go back to its original shape after being folded, you have reason to suspect it’s a fake.Plus, these safe materials mean that you can sterilize the cup with boiling water without it losing shape or consistency.A menstrual cup has no odor. Some people who have bought fake menstrual cups say that they smell of plastic. They also say that they waited to boil them in hot water to see if they lost this smell.&nbsp;Before buying a menstrual cup, it’s important to seek out all available information out there to get a clear idea of what they look like and to ask the seller everything you need to.Menstrual cups aren’t normally cheap. While their price can be one of its disadvantages, being able to use them over years makes this a worthy investment. However, there are some cups that are being sold relatively cheap, compared with the average price (20-30 USD). For example, Croing cups (are sold two for one) and Deliplus cups (9 euros per cup). Both of them have all of their production, commercialization and health certification information on the packaging.It’s also recommended you open a menstrual cup at the time of purchase if you are doing this on the street, and check that it isn’t out of shape or that the plastic is wrinkled. Given the fact that menstrual cups are only being sold on the illicit market in Cuba, it’s important to pay attention to these details to stop scams and stay healthy.*Editor’s note: For many decades feminine hygiene products have repeated shortages in Cuba, being of low priority for the government, which along with the military, have a monopoly on retail store sales. This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/dangerous-business-of-fake-menstrual-cups-in-cuba/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/el-peligroso-negocio-de-las-copas-menstruales-falsas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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Dangerous Business of Fake Menstrual Cups in Cuba

Mystery enshrouds Belkis Ayon Manso’s death (Havana, 1967-1999); the same mystery that can be seen in her work, full of fascinating paradoxes: incomplete yet expressive faces, missing mouths that don’t keep quiet, art made by a woman about a secret world that only accepts men, a religious and magical world recreated within the view of an atheist spectator.&nbsp;Nobody knows why this painter locked herself in the bathroom on that fateful day in 1999 and shot herself in the head. Nobody knows why she did it. But her engravings do.&nbsp;Her last works were perhaps a premonition of her suicide: “darker and more dramatic, space is reduced to circles with a single face in the foreground that introduces the spectator into a universe of intense internal conflict and profound existential anguish,” reads the press release for the exhibition “Collagraphs, Belkis Ayon”, inaugurated at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, on November 17th.The exhibition includes 80 large format pieces, out of which 50 are collagraphs (almost all of which are unpublished), created between 1986 and 1999. Some of them have been displayed in the US, at the El Museo del Barrio in New York (2017), the Fowler Museum at UCLA in Los Angeles (2017) and the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston (2018).&nbsp;They arrived in Europe for the first time thanks to the&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/a-belkis-ayon-retrospective-sikan-in-europe/blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Belkis Ayon Estate Foundation</a>, headed by her nieces, who inherited the protection of this family and national heritage from their mother, Katia Ayon Manso (who passed in 2019).&nbsp;It is also the first time that a Cuban woman’s work is being displayed at the Reina Sofia Museum, and the second time a retrospective of an artist from the island is being held, after the retrospective dedicated to Wilfredo Lam in 2016.“The exhibition approaches the artist’s work from her first visual investigations about the secret Afro-Cuban society&nbsp;Abakuá, imagery that has accompanied her since the presentation of her dissertation at Havana’s San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts in 1988; moving towards her black and white engravings in the 1990s, as a more appropriate medium for expressing the existential drama that is seen in her work; to her large format pieces that are marked by their scenography where you travel through a complex visual and symbolic universe that syncretizes&nbsp;Abakuá&nbsp;mythology and rituals with the main iconographic elements of Catholicism,” the press release reads.&nbsp;The exhibition has been curated by Cristina Vives, from the Estudio Figuero Vives, who was also a close friend of the artist and preferred to remember Ayon as a “civic Cuban woman” who “would have continued to work and navigate hardship” if she were still alive today.Ayon’s work centers around imagery of the&nbsp;Abakua, a secret male society that fascinated this woman from Havana, who graduated from the University of Arts of Cuba (ISA). Her first work on the subject dates to 1985. Ayon dedicated special attention to princess Sikán, the only woman in&nbsp;Abakuá&nbsp;lore, who was sacrificed by men.&nbsp;“Sikán’s prominence and the similarity between her features and that of the artist reveal a high degree of identification, as if Ayon embodies the analogous existential complexity and fate of her character,” the author’s presentation reads. She painted a series of circular pieces with irregular shapes for the last exhibition before her death. They are believed to mark a point of synthesis in her career, where the allegorical stories from the mythology about Sikán become autobiographical, influenced by the artist’s own experiences: “they reflect both Ayon and Sikan.”She is the only internationally renowned artist up until this day with a complete series of work dedicated to this secretive religious society, which has over 30,000 followers today. Plus, as Manuel Borja Villel, director at the Reina Sofia Museum says, “Ayon has left a series of work behind that occupy an important place within the history of Cuban and international contemporary engraving.”“Belkis’ pieces portray different&nbsp;abakuá&nbsp;ceremonies, with a feminist spirit (…). In&nbsp;La cena&nbsp;(the dinner), Sikán is sitting in the middle of the table, imitating a painting of the last dinner of Christ (…). Belkis became a reference and master of her technique,” the Mujeres Bacanas website reads.&nbsp;Ayon only lived 32 years on this Earth, but she reached full artistic maturity. In her work she also depicted, in addition to the mysteries of a religion that she was banned from, “pressing issues in the 1990s: censorship, violence, intolerance, exclusion, inequality, the mechanisms of control and power structures.”Her work is disturbing. It can stir intrigue, sadness, fear. It is also complex because of her use of collagraphy, an unusual engraving technique based on molds built like collages, which Ayon chose to do while her colleagues focused on installation art.“The almost 200 series of ghost-like silhouettes she left when she died are being kept in a hostile climate like the Caribbean, in tailored cedarwood boxes and full of mothballs to absorb the humidity,” El Pais&nbsp;newspaper published in a review. “The successive exhibitions held in the US in recent years has multiplied interest in her work and the Reina Sofia is even hoping for some pieces to become a part of its permanent collection.”Belkis Ayon’s art overwhelms you. Her figures seem to want to find something inside those who look at them, as if the painter is transcending death through their eyes, just like princess Sikan.—–*Reina Sofia Museum from November 12th until April 18th 2022. Sabatini Building, 3rd floor. Price:&nbsp;General entry costs 10 euros. Free admission: Monday to Saturday (closed Tuesdays): from 18:00 to 20:00 Sundays: from 13:30 to 14:30. This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/a-belkis-ayon-retrospective-sikan-in-europe/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/retrospectiva-de-belkis-ayon-sikan-en-europa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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A Belkis Ayon Retrospective: Sikan in Europe

Saily Gonzalez Velazquez is a hyperactive woman. However, she speaks slowly. She knows that rushed words can be misinterpreted.Her business – which she’s had to close down recently because of pressure she’s been subjected to – has been a kind of refuge for civil society groups such as animal rights advocates and people from the LGBTIQ+ community.Saily was one of the signees of the request to hold a peaceful protest for change, an initiative by the Archipielago platform, which was denied authorization by the Government, which has called it “illegitimate”, “unconstitutional”, and encouraged by foreign enemies.“In doing this, they revealed that they have no respect for minority groups’ rights in Cuba. They also proved that they are extremely dangerous, as they openly manifested their willingness to repress our initiative, telling lies about our appeal.”“They are also using this line of communication at workplaces with talks on the issue, and successive acts of “revolutionary reaffirmation”. They are trying to discredit our magic by any means possible in their attempt to get people to oppose it – which I don’t think they will be able to do, but it’s their strategy. They want to stop our protest, by any means possible.”In spite of attempts to dissuade members of Archipielago and the declaration that the protest is illegal – an argument they can they use to lock up protestors-, Saily has decided to protest on this day.“It’s my constitutional and human right, and I’m doing everything I can to do this.”In the eyes of this 30-year-old woman from Santa Clara, Archipielago is “basically a pluralist group where anyone can share their ideas.”“Dialogue is promoted here between different sectors of Cuban civil society. I don’t believe that it’s the platform for establishing a dialogue with pro-government political forces, as they don’t recognize us and, plus, they’ve proven that they don’t want to enter a dialogue. It’s just a Facebook group, for now.”Like some other Archipielago members, Saily has also been a victim of the government’s slander campaign and “character assassination” in state-controlled media. “It’s unfortunate, but it proves that they have no other weapons than slander and lies to attack us. What we’re doing right now is totally legitimate and is born from our real desire to live in a country with rights.”Like some other members of the group, she hasn’t been “summoned” after handing in a request to hold the protest and receiving the Government’s negative response, although she has been a victim of police harassment and surveillance.“I received a phone call once asking me what Archipielago was and who Yunior Garcia was,” she says. “I explained to them that it’s a Facebook group and that we are people who want freedom and rights for Cuba.”While State Security harassment has become more intense since the platform mobilized to organize a civil protest, she had been “a target” for a long time before this.Ever since 2016, when she took part in a program for entrepreneurs via the US Embassy in Havana, Saily has had an “officer who attends to her.”Accused of being a “mercenary”, “paid off by Imperialism” and whatever other insult trolls on social media can think of (she calls them cyberthugs), Saily had to make a decision which might have been drastic and radical for her – an enthusiastic entrepreneur.“I recently had to close down my business Amarillo B&amp;B, because we know that here in Cuba these kinds of food businesses always operate on the brink of legality, so it was very easy for them to lock us up if they wanted to and so, I decided to close it, as a precaution.”Slowly Saily, who studied up to the fifth year of her Languages degree at the Central University of Las Villas, has gone from being the main coordinator of Amarillo Coworking, FullGao and rental owner to a political activist for Cubans’ rights and freedom.Her social media is full of “DMs” in which she not only reports injustice with people who were arrested and detained after the 11J Protests, but also about the Government’s poor practices and decisions in administrating the economy and the pandemic in Cuba.“Before this, I tried to create the Cuban Entrepreneurs Network, but it was an initiative that never saw the light of day, precisely because of State Security agents harassment of every one of us who were to be its members.”The July 11th protests and events that came later then motivated this young woman to practice a “more frontal, energetical and constant” political activism. She not only uses her Facebook profile to talk with her audience, but has also taken to Twitter, where she talks about business management and exercises, as well as civil rights.Saily always talks as “we”. She doesn’t only think about herself when she dreams about a better Cuba, her discourse includes everyone.“The Cuba I want is a Cuba where there are equal opportunities for everyone.” Where people aren’t discriminated against or given priority to because of their political ideology,” she concludes.This article was translated into&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/interviews/at-archipielago-we-want-freedom-rights-for-cuba/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">English</a>&nbsp;from the original in&nbsp;<a href="https://eltoque.com/saily-gonzalez-velazquez-en-archipielago-queremos-libertad-y-derechos-para-cuba" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 123, 255);">Spanish</a><a href="https://eltoque.com/saily-gonzalez-velazquez-en-archipielago-queremos-libertad-y-derechos-para-cuba" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(10, 10, 10);">.</a>

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At Archipielago, “We Want Freedom & Rights for Cuba”

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cuido60.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Cuido60</a>&nbsp;platform – observatory of old age, care and rights – launched the tool “<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1ujttpHWdiO0V5ODVx5jzlZDRoh53KbdF&amp;ll=22.137537537219366%2C-80.64024304055405&amp;z=7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">Interactive Map of Intervention in Old Age: projectos and services for the edlerly in Cuba</a>,” which allows this age group and their caregivers to locate institutions, initiatives and programs for the elderly in Cuba or their caregivers.According to Alejandra Lache, a junior researcher at Cuido60, this tool allows information to be provided to researchers, caregivers and families, as well as connecting them with Cuban civil society organizations and with services available in every region (transport, home visits, training for caregviers, food, etc.).The initiatives mapped here are not only linked to the State, but also to NGOs, religious institutions, local citizen-led initiatives, community projects and others.Constantly updated and open to collaboration, the interactive map pinpoints homes for the elderly – state-run or private – by region – with details and contact information; “daycare” centers; canteens run by the Family Assistance System; and other services linked to food, laundry, leisure activities and psychological check-ups with the elderly.&nbsp;“Compiling information for building this tool isn’t easy. Much of the information isn’t available or isn’t so easy to access, so it’s important that the people, organizations or others that run different projects relating to taking care of the elderly – whether it’s training, care and other projects – contact us so we can include them and complete the map,” urged Elaine Costa, the executive director of Cuido60. “This information will also help studies and investigations that follow.”The interactive map helps people who care for the elderly, or even the elderly themselves, by providing them with the information they need to contribute to this age group leading a dignified life, as they are extremely vulnerable and are at even greater risk now during the COVID-19 pandemic.Caregivers, who are themselves elderly a lot of the time, will find services and training programs, as well as psychological guidance. Society overall will see a tool that helps to give visibility and sensitize people to those aged 65+.“We know that people accessing the tool from Cuba may have problems with Internet access or limited bandwith and coverage. This is why we have tried to set up different ways to visualize the map on Android or iOS devices, and in Google search engines,” Lache explains.&nbsp;Elaine Acosta added that “as an observatory, they are interested in boosting skills and the organization of Cuban civil society in a way that helps to promote change and will improve the situation of the elderly and their caregivers.”According to these researchers, this map also points out the gaps that exist in services and confirms the unequal distribution of assistance programs.“It allows us to see these limitations better, as well as other very useful information, so we can analyze problems, identify needs, carry out studies and propose solutions,” Acosta said.According to the II National Survey on Population Aging (ENEP 2017), there are 4,220,616 people aged over 50 in Cuba, which has a total population of 11.2 million. The statistic that proves the importance of encouraging initiatives that care for these individuals, especially those who live alone: 17,4%, with an average age of 71, and 54% are women.&nbsp;The study also revealed that “80.6% of people aged 65+ suffer from at least one chronic disease, high blood pressure being the most common, while 50% have at least two of these kinds of conditions.” This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/interactive-map-for-the-elderly-and-caregivers-in-cuba/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/un-mapa-interactivo-para-personas-mayores-y-sus-cuidadores-en-cuba" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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Interactive Map for the Elderly and Caregivers in Cuba

When most Cubans hear about a death today, they don’t think about heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease – the top three causes of death in the country, but about COVID-19. Plus, we are living in a time when many people doubt just how accurate daily death counts, announced by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), are. They are right to have doubts.The official number of COVID-19 deaths in Cuba does not match the real number; which prevents us from having a more realistic idea about the pandemic’s impact on the country. The minister of Public Health himself, Jose Angel Portal Miranda, admitted that his data is biased. Authorities from several provinces have called these numbers into question – maybe by accident -, which are reported every morning by the national director of Hygiene and Epidemiology at MINSAP, Francisco Duran.Technicalities when declaring a COVID-19 death may be watering down the real death count due to the pandemic, and are instead being recorded as the result of other ailments.A health official in Guantanamo – whose position was not identified – admitted that there are many deaths caused by bacterial pneumonia, with more serious clinical pictures, “but if they didn’t have a positive PCR test, they can’t be classified as COVID-19 deaths, even though their bodies are then mixed with positive bodies for burial.”ALARM BELLS RINGINGIhosvany Fernandez, director of Communal Services in Guantanamo, told local press that on August 1, 3 and 4, there had been 80, 61 and 67 burials respectively. These figures are six times the average of daily deaths in 2020 (11) and they aren’t justified by any mass-casualty accident or natural disaster.In addition to explaining that over 20-something of these burials had followed protocol for the handling of COVID-19 corpses, Fernandez’s statements were the first sign of an official undercounting deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2. On these very same days – August 1st, 3rd and 4th – MINSAP’s reports for Guantanamo were 10, 8 and 9 respectively.Days later, an article in Ciego de Avila’s&nbsp;Invasor&nbsp;newspaper revealed that the minister of Health had admitted that his ministry wasn’t accurately reporting the real number of deaths.“The daily death count issued by MINSAP only includes the deceased who had a positive PCR test at their time of death, which the Health minister admitted exclusively to&nbsp;Invasor; also aware of the bias in this data, because not every dead person was able to do a PCR test or get a PCR test result back,” the weekly paper from Ciego de Avila confirmed.Several local news reports from Cienfuegos reported that daily burials ranged between 45-50, which is unusual compared to previous years – when there were only 10 fatalities on average, according to the Health Statistical Yearbook.The urgency in increasing burial capacity at cemeteries in Las Tunas, Pinar del Rio, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Guantanamo, Santa Clara, among other provinces, proves that there has been a spike in deaths in recent months. However, you have official statistics on the one hand, and corpses on the other.NOT A COVID-19 DEATH IF THERE’S NO POSITIVE PCR TESTSARS-CoV-2 diagnosis tests are in shortage in Cuba. MINSAP has admitted this. The update of health protocols in late July is, partly, due to the spike in infections and not enough tests. According to the document, only symptomatic patients with a positive antigen test are given a PCR test and, in asymptomatic cases, contacts of confirmed cases “are to be on alert.”MINSAP official, Aldo de Jesus Muñoz, told Perlavision, “we’ve stopped buying medicines in Cuba to buy PCR and antigen tests.”Many people have complained on social media about long lines to get a COVID-19 test done, or having “allegedly” had the disease – with symptoms of the virus – without getting lab confirmation because of shortages of these diagnosis tests. If these shortages are affecting the living, there are even less resources to confirm whether a COVID-19 was the cause for a death.Amidst this crisis of diagnosis tests – which the provincial health director in Pinar del Rio has recognized-, many COVID-19 deaths haven’t been identified as such. It doesn’t matter whether a person was in direct contact with an infected person, if there are signs of the disease in their X-ray or if they had specific symptoms like a loss of smell and taste: COVID-19 isn’t the cause of death if there isn’t a positive PCR test to back it up.In Las Tunas, doctor Viviana Gutierres, the provincial health director, recognized that the population’s questions about official statistics of daily deaths in the province were valid.Gutierrez explained to&nbsp;26&nbsp;weekly paper: “looking at the numbers, we have had some 160 patients with a clinical history that correlates with SARS-CoV-2, but not all of these cases have been confirmed with a PCR test, and so we haven’t been able to report them as such.”The doctor added that “even though evidence points to this, there isn’t a test to support it and, as a result, the doctor following the case, in a GP clinic or assistance center, can’t sign off the death with a likely cause, if they don’t have a lab result. It’s really difficult to do this, off of just what the doctor sees at that time.”Herein lies the reason for the government’s undercounting of COVID-19 deaths: it’s impossible to attribute a death to COVID-19, without a PCR result to prove this.A health official in Guantanamo explained to local TV that deaths are categorized depending on their test result: confirmed (with a positive PCR test), post COVID-19 (with a negative PCR test) or suspected cases with symptoms (those who lack a PCR test result).The National Action Protocol for COVID-19, which was updated in July, states that only patients with moderate or severe symptoms will have a PCR test administered. Those with mild symptoms will be given an antigen test and, if the result is positive, a specimen will be taken for a PCR test. Many people have died without being given their test result back or, even, without having done a test.According to a statement from doctor Francisco Duran, “there are cases where people die and the diagnosis is still unclear, and this can take 24 – 48 hours.”In Las Tunas, for example, a committee evaluates the clinical and epidemiological history, evolution and likely cause of every death. They can change the death certificate, in some cases.“Up until now (August 18th), 49 people have died from COVID-19, even though the technical committee that evaluates these cases checked a total of 155,” the provincial deputy director of Health, Gregory Perez Hector, said in a TV appearance. “When a patient is suspected of having COVID-19 and passes away, this disease can’t be recorded on the death certificate without a PCR test having been done.”WHAT DOES THE WHO/PAHO PROTOCOL OUTLINE?Issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International guidelines for certification and classification (coding) of COVID-19 as cause of death considers a “death due to COVID-19 is defined for surveillance purposes as a death resulting from a clinically&nbsp;compatible illness, in a probable or confirmed COVID-19 case, unless there is a clear alternative&nbsp;cause of death that cannot be related to COVID disease (e.g. trauma). There should be no period of&nbsp;complete recovery from COVID-19 between illness and death. A death due to COVID-19 may not be attributed to another disease (e.g. cancer) and should be counted independently of preexisting conditions that are suspected of triggering a severe course of&nbsp;COVID-19.”According to codes established by the WHO, COVID-19 should be noted or recorded on the death certificate of “every death caused by the disease, or suspected of causing or contributing to the death.”According to every country’s availability of resources, and in order to ensure a uniform and standardized record of deaths, the WHO suggested classifying COVID-19 deaths when the virus is identified, or when it hasn’t been identified but there is a clinical/epidemiological diagnosis, or suspicion or likelihood of infection that suggests this.It also advises that the specification of the causal sequence leading to death is important and should be noted.For example, Cienfuegos’ provincial Public Health board told the press that they included closed death certificates of patients and reported the intermediate and basic causes of death. After checking similar records published in different provinces, we were able to verify that none of them replicated Cienfuegos’ practice of contemplating these details, as suggested by the WHO/PAHO.Every country uses its own method to declare COVID-19 deaths; as a result, comparisons of mortality rates worldwide are inaccurate.For example, countries such as Belgium and the US include cases confirmed by a lab, or with an X-ray or clinical symptoms that suggest this disease as a likely or presumible cause of death. In spite of this, it is estimated that death counts could be inaccurate by quite a wide margin.This margin of inaccuracy would be greater in countries such as Cuba, which amidst a deficit of resources to diagnose the disease, still adheres to the method of including deaths with a positive PCR test and, in some cases, patients who are still in hospital even when their last result came back negative.However, according to virologist Amilcar Perez Riverol, “hospitalized COVID-19 patients typically tested negative with their PCR test between days 11-14 after they begin to show symptoms. However, symptoms and complications derived mainly from viral replication and a deregulated immune response persist and are related to the disease, by genesis or indirectly.“A significant percentage of patients who have died from COVID-19 around the world, were already testing negative with PCR tests.”Inaccuracies in the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercounting_of_COVID-19_pandemic_deaths_by_country" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has been a problem in many countries</a>. This is why the WHO has urged the majority to use the same methodology.Colombian economist Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, co-founder of the Our World in Data website, explained that “countries regularly face technical restrictions and political incentives that also affect the process.The obsession with rankings among countries is a real problem today, which isn’t anything more than political noise and a perception. Plus, it’s wrong because the data isn’t exact enough and many different methodologies are being used to collect data,” Ortiz-Ospina added.Scientist Amilcar Perez Riverol agrees that comparisons should be only be made if there is a standardized approach.“Cuba and its health authorities have adopted an approach they understood. However, this approach automatically voids any comparison with deaths in any region or the world,” he wrote.BURIAL PROTOCOL IF CONSIDERED A COVID DEATHYoandra Pileta received the negative PCR test result, several days after her mother had passed. However, her mother was buried as a suspected case of COVID-19 and, even though the laboratory ruled out the disease, Pileta hasn’t been able to remove her mother’s remains from the Manuel Tames cemetery in Guantanamo to put them in a family vault.Cuban protocol for declaring COVID-19 deaths doesn’t line up with international guidelines, but it does for burials.“Once a person has died of suspected or confirmed COVID-19, any body fluids leaking from orifices, such as the mouth or nose, should be contained, these can be covered with gauze or cotton. The body should be introduced into the body bag within the same room the death took place. This body bag should be sprayed or atomized inside and outside with disinfectant for hospital use or with sodium hypochlorite solution, before introducing the body,” national protocol states.According to Ihosvany Fernandez, director of Communal Services in Guantanamo, these body bags are impermeabel and special, but if there aren’t enough, black trash bags are authorized to be use: one on the head and the other on the legs so they can be tied at the torso.“Every body bag must have the deceased’s details, doctor’s name and the name of the institution where they died,” he explains. Then, it should be cremated or placed in a coffin for burial.“Bodies should be handled by health and necrological services wearing PPE at all times, which must also be burnt after use. These measures are to be applied regardless of whether the death took place in a home, medical center or anywhere else,” the document concludes.Every suspected case of COVID-19 – whether there is confirmation from the lab or not – must follow this protocol, which includes a ban on wakes and family members being in contact with the body.The reality is that most deaths in Cuba today don’t have to be COVID-19 related. According to the 2020 Statistical Yearbook of Health, there was a high average of daily deaths linked to heart disease (82) cerebrovascular disease (29), malignant tumors (71), and even respiratory disease (19) – such as flu and pneumonia -, which have been the main causes of death in recent years.Nevertheless, if the number of COVID-19 deaths doesn’t drop, this virus could become the fifth cause of death for Cubans in 2021. Even the fourth, if these reports weren’t inaccurate.Death certificates stating COVID-19 as the cause of death with a lab result might have been an effective methodology in 2020 and the first few months of 2021; however, with the recent spike in cases and deaths and shortages of diagnosis tests, this method isn’t in keeping with the new circumstances. The method needs to be updated because the undercounting of Cuban deaths could be greater than that of other countries with a different protocol or greater diagnosis capacity, or both.“It is becoming clearer and clearer here in Cuba, just like it has in other countries at the time, that numbers need to be checked and standardized according to approaches used by the PAHO and other countries,” virologist Perez Riverol suggested. This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/cuba-is-underreporting-covid-19-deaths/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/minsap-cuenta-menos-muertes-por-COVID-19-que-las-reales" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.

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Cuba Is Undecounting COVID-19 Deaths

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Cuba: “Covid-19 Saved Me from Prison Beatings”

MC desperately asked for a lawyer for advice in a Facebook group. She wanted to know whether her workplace had the right to reproach her or fire her because of her posts and comments on social media. She had used a frame on her profile photo with the hashtag #SOSCuba, she had shared posts about the July 11th&nbsp;protests (11J), and she found out that her workplace was checking every employee’s personal profiles.This is what she wrote via Messenger, in a couple of messages. “I’m afraid to speak out. At my work, there are people who are dedicated to checking workers’ profiles and I’ve been told that they even have access to our messages.”Persecution and punishment in the wake of these protests hasn’t been limited to the courts. Since 11J, quite a few people have received administrative sanctions, have been laid off or forced to resign because they have publicly criticized the Cuban government or a specific government measure.A lot of the time, they justify it with “work pays for the Internet and we didn’t give it to you to do this” or “how are you going to be so ungrateful to the Revolution that has given you this job.”However, workers who paid for their own access to the Internet are also coerced, threatened, sanctioned or let go.Fear of giving a “like”“I see posts, but I don’t react or comment,” a journalist tells me. “For a few years now, my director, with help from the IT guy, have been checking even the “likes” we give.“After the 11J Protests, we were told to pay close attention to social media to “fight” and share posts by “some pro-government influencers.”M closed down her account because she found that order cynical. “I excused myself by saying that there was a lot of hate online – which is true – and I shut it down temporarily. I talk to friends and family via WhatsApp.”Like her, very few people agree to post their real names in complaints like these. They are afraid of reprisals. Others prefer to quietly look for other work, far from state institutions.This is what Luis did, a worker at the Computing and Electronics Youth Club, who contacted various users on Twitter to look for a job offer with the self-employed and without any connection to the State.“I’ve been working at the Youth Club for over five years and, in the beginning, they didn’t really pay a lot of attention to social media. In fact, some were blocked,” he says.According to Luis, the Department of Social Communication decided to give the issue more importance and would send constant tips about which accounts to follow, which content to share, and which hashtags to use.“This intensified to the point that every month, they counted how many posts each center had published and, if you didn’t comply, your Internet for the month, which was given to you to work, was taken away.”Luis explans that users would lose their Twitter accounts lots of the time, because they registered via a Youth Club email account and the platform labeled it&nbsp;spam.“I alerted the department about this issue and how Twitter detects when you copy and paste the same hashtags, in the same order, with the same characters and spaces. The ones we were sent by email.”There are tools that allow you to automate tweets. “You can configure it so that every time a website publishes an article, you can tweet the link and even include certain hashtags,” the journalist explains.Since July 11th, the government has given the order to every “cybersoldier” to use the hashtags #LaCallesEsDeLosRevolucionarios, #MiMoncadaHoy, #VictoriaPopular y #PonleCorazón, , M says.Luis confirms this. “They began to demand that we publish hashtags such as #ACubaPonleCorazon, and anyone caught with a #SOSCuba would be fired from their jobs. However, this was all done verbally so there would be no written record of this.”Luis, who says he is known because of his frequent activity on social media, has said that his managers called him in to tell him “to be very careful with what I posted, for me not to become the leader.”“They threatened me, telling me that I could lose my job in the blink of an eye,” he says.Creating a fake account was Luis’ way around this, so he can express himself freely. There, he’s honest. He felt safe behind a face that wasn’t his own; but he couldn’t bear being in a place where he was being pressured to pretend to be something he wasn’t. “Now, they’ve sent us to look after parks “against the enemy”, as if that wasn’t enough,” he says disappointed, while holding onto the hope he can find a job without ties to the State. But it isn’t easy.Changed position for sharing a VPNOn July 12th, Liset sent several workmates a VPN. After Internet access was cut because of the protests on Sunday 11th, over a million Cuban installed the application Psiphon on their cellphones that allowed them to sidestep&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/layoffs-and-threats-for-supporting-cubas-july-11-protests/blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">the Government’s blockade on the Internet</a>.Liset shared the VPN (Virtual private network) via Zapya, or Bluetooth, and helped her colleagues to install it. She also showed them some videos of police officers repressing protestors.“I spoke about some of the horrors I had seen in videos posted the day before and I gave my opinion on them. I believe some police officers were abusers and that’s exactly what I said.”Liset says that her boss intervened in the conversation and justified the repression. “He called the protestors “criminals”; I couldn’t hold my tongue. I explained my point of view, which was different to his.”According to Liset, that “strong exchange of words” stayed in the reception of their workplace, as a simple discussion between two people who think differently. However, her sincerity would have consequences.“The next day, in the morning work meeting, my boss warned that anyone who spoke about politics at work would be sanctioned,” the engineer says. “He called me into his office and told me that he had decided to change my department.”The sudden decision from her superior was a punishment. While Liset still has her job, she was transferred to a department where working conditions are not as good.“Two days later, he told me that I was being transferred because he needed me there; but I know that it was because I spoke freely and supported the 11J protestors,” Liset says.In the new office, she has no air-conditioning and almost nobody talks to her. “I’m on the verge of suffocating, but I hold out. I can’t afford to lose my job. I have a little girl to look after.”&nbsp;Liset says that ever since July 12th, when she spoke her mind out loud and clearly, she feels that some colleagues are watching over her, that others approach her mysteriously to try and “get her talking” about what happened on 11J. She prefers to keep quiet, to avoid the subject, to talk about something else, pretend. Being honest hasn’t helped her.They don’t kick you out but they force you to hand in your resignationRobiel Vega is very interested in sports. He barely uses his social media – Facebook and Twitter – to talk about anything else. Until July 11th that is. That day, he decided “not to keep quiet any longer and to accept the consequences for his way of thinking.”“The manipulation people are subjected to via TV and their president Miguel Diaz-Canel is unacceptable,” the IT engineer wrote on his wall after the Cuban leader’s speech. He expressed his total disagreement with the Government and the repression of dissident thought.“I know that this post will bring drastic and definitive consequences for my life, but I’m ready to accept them without any fear,” he wrote.Not even 24 hours had passed before his certainty became reality. The following morning, when Robiel entered his manager’s officer, he saw his Facebook post on the computer screen.“They gave me a political trial and accused me of being a coward, traitor to the Homeland, and not being trustworthy,” he remembers.Ever since November 2020, Robiel has been working as a specialist at the Provincial Board of Finances and Prices in Las Tunas city. He has always been responsible and never been targeted.“They couldn’t say anything about my work during my time there,” he says. “I wanted to resign, but they told me I couldn’t, that “I had to take what came my way and to wait for the measure and the sanction.”They finally let him resign because his employment file wasn’t there anyway.“I preferred to step back without putting up a fight. I didn’t want to waste time, money or energy in a process like that. Plus, I wasn’t interested in still working there,” he says. “What the director did make clear was that if I didn’t resign, he would do everything in his power to fire me and make my time here unbearable.”Robiel is disappointed when he remembers how none of his colleagues came to help him. They agreed with him being “forced” to resign. “In this country, thinking differently and dissenting is the worst crime you can commit,” this engineer from Las Tunas remembers with disappointment.In the end, it was all a political matter, there weren’t any professional reasons; in fact, they had previously put me as my boss’s “back up” because of my good work. In short, the same old story.” Luckily, he says that his 9-year-old daughter won’t have to suffer the financial effects of her father losing his job because he is a sports writer for an independent media.“Cases like these are more common than we think,” Robiel concludes.I don’t agreeMany people believe that it’s best not “to put up a fight” when they are kicked out, because they rarely win. Alejandro Perdomo Garcia doesn’t agree.He made his complaint for a sanction imposed on him public on Twitter, which forced him to leave his workplace after he posted a tweet that said: “Mr president Diaz-Canel, you can give us back the Internet now because we’re still confused.”The Tourist Assistance student was referring, with his post, to Internet access being cut after the July 11th protests and the label “confused” used by the Cuban leader to refer to people who took part in the protests and were saying they supported the Revolution.That was the only thing he addressed to Diaz-Canel in his post, but he was accused of expressing negative opinions and a lack of respect for the Cuban leader on social media.On August 3rd, in another tweet addressed to the Cuban president, Alejandro made the measure of his “definitive separation from his workplace” public. “I think they took this action because of my way of thinking and expressing myself,” he said.“Alejandro’s conduct when he spread, expressed or promoted protests with no respect for the president of the Republic is a serious violation of professional discipline as is stipulated in Order 18/2013, Domestic Order Regulations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) (…), which considers spreading, expressing or promoting any kind of subversive propaganda a serious transgression, incompatible with the nature of a FAR member,” a copy of the sanction stated, which he shared on his social media.According to the document, “the internal disciplinary regulation for employees at the Cuban Commercial Society Gaviota Tourism Group Ltd. establishes that dishonoring, denigration, indecent assault, contempt or anything that affects the imagine or prestige of a cadre of the Cuban State, political, mass and social organizations in this country, is a serious violation of professional discipline.”Alejandro, who prefers not to talk to the press until his appeal hasn’t been sorted, has explained that he disagrees with the sanction because he doesn’t believe his comment was disrespectful.The sanction also indicated that, as proof, they would bear in mind the interview the company had with the student and his posts on social medial.Taking a quick look at Alejandro’s digital profiles, you can see that he hasn’t disrespected anyone. However, maybe using the hashtags&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/layoffs-and-threats-for-supporting-cubas-july-11-protests/blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">#SOSCuba</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/layoffs-and-threats-for-supporting-cubas-july-11-protests/blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">#LibertadDePensamiento</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/layoffs-and-threats-for-supporting-cubas-july-11-protests/blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(40, 157, 204);">#SomosContinuidad</a>, ironically, was also used as proof of his “serious violation of professional discipline.”Nevertheless, Alejandro had clarified that he was fired from his job, but that he wasn’t expelled from the Tourism Department at Havana University. He also stressed that while the sanction document stated that it had been the department who had presented the information about the student’s conduct, he had been told by the institution that they were unaware of the incident.He is now waiting for his appeal to have a happy ending and for the injustice to be recognized and reversed.For years, state employees have been forced to use their personal profiles on social media in a certain way, openly or not. Explicitly or subtly, they are expected to share certain content and to interact according to party-line censorship rules. Amidst the landscape of political polarization in the country, and the severe crisis it is experiencing, pressure to declare one’s support for the Government has been stepped up and, in the meantime, sanctions against those who choose a different path has become more systematic.&nbsp; This article was translated into <a href="https://havanatimes.org/features/layoffs-and-threats-for-supporting-cubas-july-11-protests/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">English</a> from the original in <a href="https://eltoque.com/expulsiones-y-amenazas-laborales-otras-consecuencias-del-11j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spanish</a>.