In August 2023, faced with the shortage of banknotes, the Central Bank of Cuba approved several provisions to promote the so-called bancarización (banking reform) / 14ymedio 14ymedio, Madrid, April 8, 2024 — ‘Bancarización’* — banking reform — is stagnating in Cuba despite the many hours spent promoting it in the official media. Last year, 30% of banking operations were carried out in cash, despite the fact that only 77% of the 800 ATMs on the Island dispense it, according to data offered by the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC). In a meeting held this Saturday attended by Miguel Díaz-Canel and Manue ..read more

Salvador Valdés Mesa considers it an “indiscipline” for producers to shy away from State contracts. / Estudios Revolución 14ymedio, Madrid, April 17, 2024 — Salvador Valdés Mesa, annoyed, reproached Cuban producers on Tuesday for “getting used” to taking their products “to the highest bidder, the one who pays them the most.” The surprising argument encouraged a few days of bureaucratic meetings around the “Government’s projections to boost the economy” from which, despite having been informed profusely, no one made anything clear. “The information given refers to a number of actions and identi ..read more

The raft with 19 migrants was located on Monday by an air patrol / @CBPAMORegDirSE/X 14ymedio, Havana, April 16, 2024 — The United States Border Patrol recorded the arrival in Florida of 47 Cuban rafters between April 4 and 15. On Monday, the Coast Guard intercepted 19 migrants from the Island and handed them over for their deportation process, according to social networks. The US authorities told the rafters that they would be returned to their country of origin. Similarly, they “they will not be able to enter the United States for a period of five years, in addition to not being eligibl ..read more

Workers of the Puerto Padre saltworks load bags of the product from the processing plant. / Periódico 26 14ymedio, Madrid, April 15, 2024 — The Las Tunas Puerto Padre saltworks employees are forced to walk 1.6 miles from the center of the mounds “where the sun burns mercilessly” to the factory several times a day due to the company’s lack of transport, said Periódico 26, the provincial newspaper, on Monday. It is not the worst data for the “lost salt.” The salt pan produces so much that it could expand its goods beyond Las Tunas, Holguín and Villa Clara. If it does not do so, they say, it is ..read more

The main event of the International Workers’ Day will not be held at the Plaza de la Revolución to save on fuel  The Anti-imperialist Platform, which is completing remodeling works that began in 2019, is just over 13,000 square meters. / Cubadebate 14ymedio, Madrid, 15 April 2024 — The celebration of May 1, international workers’ day, once again dispenses with what was its usual venue for decades and moves to the Anti-imperialist Platform in Havana. The news was given by Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, general secretary of the Cuban Workers’ Union (CTC) this Sunday, who pointed out fuel sa ..read more

The trash collection containers were resold for up to 15,000 pesos, reported the official Fuerza del Pueblo website. Citizens arrested for the diversion of garbage cans / Collage 14ymedio, Havana, April 15, 2024 — The head of Comunales de Santa Clara, in Villa Clara, has been arrested for diverting garbage collection cans for resale in the informal market. According to the state Fuerza del Pueblo page on Facebook, the official, Dianel García, was arrested along with three other individuals who collaborated with him. The information indicates that García provided the containers to someone named ..read more

Díaz Canel met with the first deputy minister of Vietnam, Tran Luu Quang, who has spent two days on an official visit to Cuba / Revolution Studies 14ymedio, Havana, April 16, 2024 — Cuba and Vietnam agreed on Monday to a protocol that covers more than 50 new agreements to strengthen bilateral cooperation in numerous sectors of the economy, trade, investment and other areas, such as education and science. The document is the result of the 41st Intergovernmental Commission for bilateral economic and scientific-technical collaboration, finalized by the first deputy ministers of Vietnam, Tran ..read more

Puddles under the new plastic pipe are accumulating and now begin to fill with foam, stones and grasses / 14ymedio 14ymedio, Juan Matos, Manzanillo (Granma province), April 11, 2024 — With orders from the municipal company Aqueduct, a backhoe opened a long ditch in the central Martí Street, in the port city of Manzanillo. The objective: to install a new central pipe to replace the old one, which had multiple leaks. But the cure, say the neighbors, given the ditch and debris that make the street impassable – is worse than the disease. In its path, the vehicle not only tore off the pavement and ..read more

4,500 people, spread over five rural communities in the municipality of Yaguajay, have to resort to costly water trucks or buckets. (14ymedio) 14ymedio, Madrid, 11 April 2024 — Barely 48% of the Cuban population receives water daily in conditions of quality, availability and accessibility. Despite the fact that the Government is committed by article 76 of the Constitution, which establishes that all people have the right to it and obliges the State to “create the conditions to guarantee access,” only 5,400,035 Cubans of the 11,089,511 who, according to official statistics, resided on the Islan ..read more

The majority of Cuba’s young people — those who left and those who stayed — are no longer interested in mass rallies Almost all the speakers whom Fidel Castro thrust into stardom later faded under the brightness of the four stars on his little brother Raúl’s shoulder straps / Centro Fidel Castro 14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, 13 April 2024, Madrid — Those open mass rallies in which Hassan Pérez Casabona stunned the crowds with his rapid-fire barrage of words are still fresh in the minds of many Cubans. At the end of each Saturday, the streets were a sea of trampled flags, empty plastic ..read more