Cuba Alleges Trafficking Ring Operated from Russia | DW News

Sep 5, 2023 | Cuba says it has uncovered a trafficking ring recruiting people to fight for Russia in Ukraine. The government in Havana believes nationals living in Russia as well as back home are being signed up under false pretenses. Cuba is a close ally of Russia - but after the allegations became known, the foreign ministry felt compelled to stress it is not involved in the war in Ukraine. It added that authorities are working to dismantle the network.

Cuba uncovers ‘human trafficking ring’ recruiting for Russia’s war in Ukraine: Havana says it is dismantling network seeking to recruit Cubans as mercenaries as Moscow attempts to boost its forces »

Cuba: High Prices, Lines and Shortages | DW Documentary

Oct 22, 2022 | In Cuba, the socialist project begun by revolutionary hero and former president Fidel Castro is teetering on the verge of failure. The nation is sinking deeper into crisis, with many people’s daily lives marred by shortages of food, medicine and electricity.

Cuba has been subject to sanctions for decades. Despite recent attempts at reform, the country is increasingly isolated and economically dependent. A currency reform enacted in 2021 is also causing major problems, with inflation soaring and prices skyrocketing. Food is scarce, and lines in front of the few state-run stores are getting longer and longer.

Poverty is on the rise. Even the famous ingenuity of the Cuban people is reaching its limits as they try to cope with the day-to-day effects of the crisis. Images of bygone revolutionaries are fading in the streets the capital, Havana, and all over the island. Official voices continue to broadcast the state’s ideology, but ordinary people are losing hope that things will improve.


Related article here.

‘Cuba Is Depopulating’: Largest Exodus Yet Threatens Country’s Future

THE MEW YORK TIMES: The pandemic and tougher U.S. sanctions have decimated Cuba’s economy, prompting the biggest migration since Fidel Castro rose to power.

BARACOA, Cuba — Roger García Ordaz makes no secret of his many attempts to flee.

He has tried to leave Cuba 11 times on boats made of wood, Styrofoam and resin, and has a tattoo for each failed attempt, including three boat mishaps and eight times picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard and sent home.

Hundreds of homemade, rickety boats have left this year from the shores of Baracoa, a fishing village west of Havana where Mr. García, 34, lives — so many that locals call the town “Terminal Three.”

“Of course I am going to keep on throwing myself into the sea until I get there,” he said. “Or if the sea wants to take my life, so be it.”

Living conditions in Cuba under Communist rule have long been precarious, but today, deepening poverty and hopelessness have set off the largest exodus from the Caribbean island nation since Fidel Castro rose to power over half a century ago. » | Ed Augustin and Frances Robles | Saturday, December 10, 2022

Cuba’s First LGBTQ Hotels - BBC News

Feb 14, 2022 | The Rainbow Hotel, described as Cuba's first LGBTQ hotel, reopened in December following Covid restrictions. While guests enjoyed the five-star service by the pool or a walk along the pristine sands, Cuba has not always been so welcoming to the gay community. In the early part of communist leader Fidel Castro's rule, homosexual men and women were sent to work camps for supposed "re-education". Attitudes on the island have markedly improved since then but outside of tourist hotels the Cuban government has clamped down on recent protests and some LGBTQ activists say that the hotel is an attempt by the state to mask its poor human rights record.

Cuba: High Prices, Lines and Shortages | DW Documentary

Oct 22, 2022 | In Cuba, the socialist project begun by revolutionary hero and former president Fidel Castro is teetering on the verge of failure. The nation is sinking deeper into crisis, with many people’s daily lives marred by shortages of food, medicine and electricity.

Cuba has been subject to sanctions for decades. Despite recent attempts at reform, the country is increasingly isolated and economically dependent. A currency reform enacted in 2021 is also causing major problems, with inflation soaring and prices skyrocketing. Food is scarce, and lines in front of the few state-run stores are getting longer and longer.

Poverty is on the rise. Even the famous ingenuity of the Cuban people is reaching its limits as they try to cope with the day-to-day effects of the crisis. Images of bygone revolutionaries are fading in the streets the capital, Havana, and all over the island. Official voices continue to broadcast the state’s ideology, but ordinary people are losing hope that things will improve.

Cuba Just Voted to Legalise Same-sex Marriage and Adoption for Queer Couples: ‘Love Wins!’

The Cuban government urged its citizens to vote 'yes' on a broad legislative package, which will improve LGBTQ+ and women's rights in the country. (Getty)
PINK NEWS: Cuba’s citizens have approved a broad family law code that will usher in same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ+ friendly measures in a historic vote.

Millions of Cubans turned out to vote for or against a major overhaul of the island country’s over four-decade-old family code. The package included the historic step of legalising same-sex marriage, allowing LGBTQ+ couples to adopt children and other progressive measures.

Campaigners said preliminary results indicated that the LGBTQ+ friendly package will be approved after millions voted in favour of the referendum on Sunday (25 September).

The Cuban national centre for sex education (CENESEX) – which has advocated for broadening LGBTQ+ rights in the country – wrote on Instagram that “love and affections won” after approximately 67 per cent of citizens voted in favour of the package. » | Maggie Baska | Monday, September 26, 2022

Les Cubains approuvent le mariage entre personnes de même sexe : Près de 67 % des votants ont dit oui au nouveau code des familles lors du référendum qui s’est tenu le 25 septembre. Mais l’abstention importante et les bulletins contre traduisent un mécontentement envers le pouvoir communiste. »

Cuba : la diplomatie humanitaire | ARTE Reportage

Apr 9, 2022 • Cuba est une étrange petite île. Ravagée par une crise économique sans précédent, abandonnée des touristes qui assuraient sa survie, sous-équipée et isolée par un blocus aussi vieux que sa révolution, Cuba a réussi à maîtriser la Covid et en prime, à fournir au reste du monde une assistance médicale.

Depuis 2020 en effet l'île a envoyé environ 3 000 professionnels de santé en mission temporaire dans 42 pays, dont le Mexique, la principauté d'Andorre, l'Afrique du Sud, l'Italie, Koweit ou la France pour assister et renforcer leurs équipes médicales. Cette politique de coopération est un des points forts de la diplomatie cubaine depuis plus de 50 ans. Voulue par Fidel Castro, elle fait toujours la fierté de ses successeurs. Mais elle fait aussi grincer quelques dents... Ses détracteurs constatent que ces missions facturées aux Etats hôtes sontdevenues le poste le plus important du commerce extérieur cubain (dix milliards de dollars en 2019, selon l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce), et que l'Etat ne lésine pas sur les pressions idéologiques pour obtenir l'appui enthousiaste, obligatoire et quasiment bénévole des médecins. Théoriquement, les bénéfices qu'il en retire devraient profiter aux patients cubains, ce qui est loin d'être le cas. Notre équipe a pu s'immerger quelques jours dans cette belle mécanique de communication : humanisme révolutionnaire d'un côté, contrôles permanents et pragmatisme calculateur de l'autre. Cuba est décidément toujours une étrange petite île...

Reportage d'Annabel Lecouffe-Robaglia (France, 2022)
Disponible jusqu'au 26/03/2025

Business Insider: Why Cuban Cigars Are So Expensive | So Expensive

Jul 11, 2020 • Cuban cigars hold a reputation as the world's most opulent tobacco product. A box of good quality Habanos can cost thousands of dollars. Every hand-rolled Cuban cigar goes through about 500 manual tasks from seed to cigar. But over the last 25 years, cigars made in other countries in the Caribbean and Central America have become comparable in quality, consistency, and cost. Some experts suggest that up to 95% of all Cuban cigars in the US, which hasn't allowed the import of Cuban cigars since the 1962 embargo, are actually counterfeit. So why are Cuban cigars so desirable? And is that why they're so expensive?

‘Terror’: Crackdown after Protests in Cuba Sends a Chilling Message

The July 11 demonstration against the government drew large crowds. An estimated 700 protesters are now being held by the government. Credit...Yamil Lage/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
THE NEW YORK TIMES: In a remarkable act of defiance, thousands of Cubans took to the streets two weeks ago and chanted “We’re not afraid!” Many are now terrified.

The courage many Cubans showed when they poured into the streets two weeks ago, chanting “Down with the dictatorship!” and “We are not afraid!” has curdled into fear for many. Hundreds have been detained, the police have staked out the homes of activists and, among government critics, there is a widespread sense that the crackdown is far from over.

Maykel González, an independent journalist taken into custody after the July 11 protests, has ventured out of his home rarely in recent days, frightened by the surveillance and harassment that other protesters are enduring.

“At any moment they could show up at my door,” said Mr. González, 37. “It’s a fear that’s with me from the moment I wake up.”

When Cubans, spurred by a severe economic crisis, erupted in a rare wave of public rallies, government critics on the island and abroad hoped the act of defiance would force the island’s authoritarian rulers to embrace political and economic reforms.

Instead, the response by authorities has been draconian. State-run media outlets denounce demonstrators as vandals and looters. Police officers have gone door-to-door making detentions. » | Ernesto Londoño and Daniel Politi | Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Manifestations à Cuba : Washington sanctionne le ministre de la défense cubain

LE MONDE : Le président américain Joe Biden a prévenu que ces sanctions financières décidées à la suite de la « répression » des récentes manifestations à Cuba n’étaient « qu’un début ».

Les Etats-Unis ont imposé, jeudi 22 juillet, des sanctions financières au ministre de la défense cubain, Alvaro Lopez Miera, et à une unité spéciale du ministère de l’intérieur, pour la « répression » des récentes « manifestations pacifiques et prodémocratie » à Cuba, tout en menaçant de nouvelles mesures punitives.

« Ce n’est qu’un début. Les Etats-Unis vont continuer à sanctionner les responsables de l’oppression contre le peuple cubain », a prévenu le président Joe Biden dans un communiqué, condamnant « sans ambiguïté les arrestations massives et les simulacres de procès »visant « ceux qui osent parler ». » | Le Monde avec AFP | jeudi 22 juillet 2021

Biden Considers Reauthorizing Remittances and Sending More Diplomats to Cuba

THE RIO TIMES: The U.S. government on Monday announced it is considering reauthorizing remittances to Cuba and also the transfer of more diplomatic officials to the island, two ex-president Donald Trump's measures that Joe Biden would reverse.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - President Biden decided to explore these measures following July 11 protests in Cuba, the largest in several decades, as reported by a U.S. official.

The package of measures includes the setting up of a "working group on remittances" intended to "identify the most effective way" for the money to "directly reach the hands of the Cuban people," among others.

In November last year Trump banned the sending of remittances to Cuba, a measure with which the U.S. rapidly increased the economic suffocation of the island and which Biden has maintained during his first six . . . » | Latin America News | Tuesday, July 20, 2021 | [ R$ ]

Subscriptions to this excellent, Brazilian English-language newspaper, The Rio Times, are available here

A Cuba, le gouvernement fait un premier geste face aux pénuries

LE MONDE : Le gouvernement va autoriser temporairement les habitants à rapporter de voyage des aliments, médicaments et produits d’hygiène sans payer de taxes.

Une première mesure pour apaiser la population, à Cuba, trois jours après des manifestations historiques. Le gouvernement a annoncé, mercredi 14 juillet, autoriser temporairement les habitants à rapporter de voyage des aliments, médicaments et produits d’hygiène sans payer de taxes et sans limite de valeur. » | Le Monde avec AFP | jeudi 15 juillet 2021

Democracy Now! “We Just Want the Basics”: Rare Protests in Cuba amid Deep Economic Crisis, Ongoing US Blockade

Jul 14, 2021 • We go to Havana, Cuba, to look at what is behind protests that brought thousands of people into the streets of Havana and other cities in rare anti-government protests denouncing the island’s economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuba is facing its harshest phase of the pandemic with skyrocketing infections, and people are scrambling to cope amid shortages of medicine, food and other resources due to catastrophic U.S. sanctions. Thousands of others in Cuba led counterprotests in support of the Cuban Revolution and President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Cuban journalist Daniel Montero, a journalist with the independent news organization Belly of the Beast, says many people were demanding an end to communism on the island, but the protests were not entirely driven by ideology. “We just want more food. We just want medicine. We just want the basics,” he says many protesters told him in interviews.

Cuba Blames US as the Country Sees Biggest Protests in Decades | DW News

Jul 13, 2021 • Cuba saw its largest anti-government protests in decades this weekend, with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel cracking down on the demonstrators. Cuban police were deployed to major cities such as Havana on Monday following the protests a day earlier. Streets in Havana were quiet due to the ramped up police presence. Authorities have blocked social media sites in an attempt to censor information about the demonstrations. Mobile internet outages — the only way Cubans can go online — are also common. At least 100 demonstrators, journalists and activists have been arrested since Sunday's protests, according to the exiled Cubalex human rights group.

Thousands of Cubans poured into the streets of Havana and other cities on Sunday in the largest demonstrations against the government in nearly 30 years. The protesters chanted slogans such as "Down with the dictatorship" and "We want liberty." Others shouted "No tenemos miedo" or "We are not afraid."

Diaz-Canel and other top Cuban officials have accused the US of orchestrating the unrest. The Cuban president said Monday that the US is pursuing a "policy of economic suffocation to provoke social unrest in the country." He tweeted that "the counterrevolution dreams of war between Cubans" and emphasized national unity. The US has put Cuba under a comprehensive embargo since 1962, limiting economic trade. Diaz-Canel had previously called on communist supporters to confront "provocations" by the protesters. Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, a top official in the Communist Party of Cuba, said the demonstrations were funded by the US government to foment "instability and chaos" in the country. He compared the protests to the US-backed demonstrations in 2019 against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a Cuban ally.


More on this story here, here and here

Miami Mayor: ‘We Are Absolutely Ready’ for Possible Cuban Arrivals

Jul 13, 2021 • ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with Miami mayor and child of Cuban refugees, Francis Suarez, as Cuban Americans in South Florida take to the streets in solidarity with the demonstrations in Cuba.

‘Everyone Has a Tipping Point’: Hunger Fuels Cuba’s Protests »

Cubans Take to the Streets in Protests against Communist Regime | DW News

Jul 12, 2021 • Anti-government protests in Cuba amid food shortages and COVID surge.

Protests have broken out in Cuba, with thousands of people taking to the streets against the communist regime.

Demonstrators expressed frustration at food shortages, rising prices and the lack of COVID-19 vaccines. The government has tried to blame the US for the unrest and is rallying its own supporters. It is the greatest show of discontent with the socialist government since the 1990s. Like back then, the trigger for this protest is the desperate economic situation.

Right now, the country is suffering from food shortages. Soon the police arrived and began to drag off people in the crowd. The arrests and the violence only make the demonstrators angrier. "We are not afraid" they cry out. Supporters of the government have been out in the streets too. President Miguel Diaz-Canel himself led a rally. It was organized quickly - in a town outside Havana, where the anti-government protests began early on Sunday.

With the president encouraging his supporters to mobilize against his opponents - there were ugly confrontations. A group of government supporters detain opposition protesters.

A communist regime has ruled Cuba since 1959. It has survived the fall of the Soviet Union and the death of its founder, Fidel Castro. Now, it is again being challenged. But displays like these show it is unlikely to go without a fight.


Related: Thousands March in Cuba in Rare Mass Protests amid Economic Crisis »

Thousands March in Cuba in Rare Mass Protests amid Economic Crisis

THE GUARDIAN: US sanctions and coronavirus crisis lead to food shortages and high prices, sparking one of the biggest such demonstrations in memory

The biggest mass demonstrations for three decades have rippled through Cuba, as thousands took to the streets in cities throughout the island, demonstrating against food shortages, high prices and communist rule.

The protests began in the morning, in the town of San Antonio de los Baños in the west of the island, and in the city of Palma Soriano in the east. In both cases protesters numbered in the hundreds.

With millions of Cubans now with mobile internet on their phones, news of the protests quickly swept to Havana. By early afternoon, thousands marched through central Havana, chanting “homeland and life” and “freedom”.

“I’m here because of hunger, because there’s no medicine, because of power cuts – because there’s a lack of everything,” said a man in his 40s who didn’t want to give his name for fear of reprisals.

“I want a total change: a change of government, multiparty elections, and the end of communism.” » | Ed Augustin and Daniel Montero in Havana | Monday, July 12, 2021

Overthrow: 100 Years of US Meddling & Régime Change, from Iran to Nicaragua to Hawaii to Cuba (March 2018)

As special counsel Robert Mueller continues his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, we take a look back at Washington’s record of meddling in elections across the globe. By one count, the United States has interfered in more than 80 foreign elections between 1946 and 2000. And that doesn’t count U.S.-backed coups and invasions. We speak to former New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer, author of “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.”

Obama Speechwriter on Trump's "Healthy Regard for Dictators"

Ben Rhodes played a key role in crafting both the Iran deal and the historic thawing in relations between the US and Cuba - and was by Obama's side on all but one of his overseas trips. Here he gives his views on the world after Obama.

Rhodes was deputy foreign policy advisor and speechwriter for the Obama administration, joining the Obama campaign as a speechwriter when he was just 29 years old. Rhodes stayed on for the full eight years of his term, tasked with the role of interpreting and explaining Obama's vision for the world.

In a new book, he reveals that after the election of Donald Trump, Obama wondered whether his presidency came too early, for a world that wasn't ready.

Will a New President Mean Change for Cuba? | Inside Story

Who will succeed the Castros - Fidel and Raúl - has been the subject of intense speculation in Cuba for decades. We now know it is Miguel Diáz-Canel, the 57-year-old Vice President. He was sworn in as president on Thursday, replacing Raúl Castro. But Raul, who is 87, will continue to play a big role in policy decisions as head of the ruling Communist party.

The biggest challenges the new president faces are economic. Although unemployment stands at less than three percent, earnings are low. The government is the main employer and state salaries average 30 dollars a month. Reforms to boost private enterprise introduced by Raúl Castro have been accompanied by cuts in subsidies and pensions. And Cuba has a dual currency system that distorts the economy. One is used to pay wages and local goods; the other in tourism and foreign trade. Unifying the two would raise the price of imports.

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault | Guests: Carlos Alzugaray, former Cuban Ambassador to the EU; Vicki Huddleston, former US Chief of Mission in Havana; Andrew Otazo, Executive Director of the Cuba Study Group