Warning: You may feel some things are surrealistic, improbable, or absurd but all is true. Remember, Cuba is under the control of a totalitarian state with the only objective of keeping the power at any cost. This report will show you the actual situation in Cuba, that one that the state propaganda tries to deny.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela at the United Nations (UN) revealed that Cuba trained Venezuelan soldiers to torture. This was said by lawyer Francisco Cox, a member of the Mission, in a conversation broadcast by Amnesty International (AI).
The monitoring body discovered that Venezuela's General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) uses torture to obtain self-incriminations and apparently false accusations against other people. Several former DGCIM officials claimed to have been trained by Cuban military personnel who also participated directly in the torture actions.
The UN Mission was able to document the arbitrariness of the arrests, verifying that on several occasions there was no court order. Modus operandi that bears the signature of Cuban State Security where judges contribute to masking the arbitrariness of power by modifying the dates in arrest or search orders when victims denounce arbitrariness and abuse of power.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela was established in 2019 by the UN Human Rights Council to evaluate alleged human rights violations committed in the South American country since 2014.
Electrical shutdowns make a comeback to the country life. Blackouts last between one and four hours, but are periodic. In a day can be until 12 hours of electricity power off programed. Each province has his own Telegram channel where inform the schedules of the electric grid shutdowns.
Santiago de Cuba Electrical Company channel - https://t.me/electricastgo
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The value of 1 dollar is 240 Cuban pesos (CUP). Now the Cuba minimum pension is around 6.29 USD, the minimum wage is 8.75 USD and the average salary is 17.5 dollars; all amounts are on a monthly basis.
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Some banks implemented limits to cash withdraws to only 2000 CUP per client, the shortage of cash continue and people trust each time less in banks and government promises. Despite stating at the beginning of “banking process” that withdrawal limits would not apply to natural persons, this is what is happening.
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State companies owe millions of pesos to Cuban farmers. These deliver their productions as agreed, but it can take years to receive payment. This discourages producers and worsens the food crisis that the nation is experiencing.
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The managers of the Melanio Hernández sugar mill, in Sancti Spíritus, predict that the harvest of the current period will be worse than that of 2022-2023. Despite having the land ready, due to the lack of fuel, the planting plan has not been fulfilled for two years, so that hardly any seed has been sown.
The terrible state of this industry, in other times exporting pillar, contrasts with the high investments in the construction of hotels despite the little economic foundation for it.
In the last six months the hotel occupancy rate was 27.9%; That is, of every 10 rooms, about 7 have not been occupied by international tourists. The data is far from being a good indicator, however, the construction of new rooms continues to rise. Something absurd since not even in the best years of tourism in Cuba has it been possible to exceed the average figure of 60% occupancy.
If the cane planting plan has not been fulfilled for two years due to lack of resources, eight hotels have been inaugurated since 2022 and it is expected that before the end of 2023 at least another five will complete the list of new openings.
The worrying thing is that the money used for the development of the hotel sector is fundamentally Cuban, to the detriment of other sectors that require investment and would offer an immediate positive impact on the country's economy. Even worse is that it is not known exactly how much each of the new projects has cost.
Lack of medicines, high cost of food, and political repression are the constant in Cuba. When this fact change I will report it.
A journalist from the government press reported that due to the difficult economic situation in the country, the National U-23 Baseball Series has been suspended. For the same economic reason, the national championship for 9-10 years, the final stage of Baseball 5 and the National Women's Baseball Cup have not been held this year, in addition to the National Under-18 Championship that was left unfinished.
In addition to baseball, which has always been the privileged sport in the country, there are several other sports that cannot complete their competitions scheduled for the year due to logistical and budget difficulties.
This, together with the miserable salaries they receive, is one more incentive for baseball players (athletes in general) to emigrate to third countries looking for a better economic and social opportunity at an increasingly younger age.
Already in 2021, one of the most spectacular escapes occurred when 12 of the 24 called up for the U-23 World Championship held in Aguascalientes, Mexico, left the Cuban team. From 2016 to January 2022, there have been 635 players who left the country. This is a similar number to the number of players participating in the island's National Series.
This is all for today Cuba: inside view report, thanks for reading and remember that you can check the other reports here:
