The Minister of Transportation informs us about summer projects, a time of increased demand for public transportation services.

Cubadebate | internet@granma.cu

June 28th, 2025

The Cuban Minister of Transportation, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, through his Facebook profile informed of actions geared at dealing with seasonal increase of need for services, summer in Cuba, while confronting the economic limitations affecting most sectors in the country.

«Provision of local services is most affected, particularly the services provided by provincial corporations. We are talking about essential services that ensure basic access to Cubans to a variety of destinations and if diminished they directly affect the daily life of Cubans», said the minister.

A portion of the initiatives are geared at mitigating these effects, explained Rodríguez Dávila, for instance the spread of services with electric tricycles, «a process we have been following and showing to everybody step by step from its beginnings. These vehicles are an acceptable alternative and are functioning already not only in Havana but in Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Matanzas, Cárdenas, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas, Holguín, Gibara, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Baracoa y Nueva Gerona».

He added that in what is left of this year, the goal is to add 150 more tricycles to this program, to ensure that the provinces that are not yet included, and some additional municipalities, will be included and will have opportunity to contribute to the expansion of this initiative which has been widely accepted by people everywhere in Cuba.

At the same time, the minister noted that we are advancing with a Project to install renewable energy sources with capacity to store and accumulate energy so we ensure a total energy back up no longer dependent on our Electro-energetic National System (Sistema Electroenergético Nacional, SEN).

The new 100 microbuses will begin to operate in many provinces of Cuba. This flotilla will be distributed as follows -50 microbuses to the capital, 20 will go to Santiago de Cuba, 10 to Holguín, 10 to Camagüey, 5 to Villa Clara and 5 to Ciego de Ávila. We will inform you of the specific routes the microbuses will follow in each territory in the coming days.

The Minister added, in the specific case of Sancti Spíritus, a service of electric microbuses adapted to transport up to 11 passengers has been implemented and received with enthusiasm. «Actually, there are 28 in function now while the program continues on its first stage -until completing 50 units, and from there on expansion to other localities is planned and will follow».

The railway system is also in the process of revitalization. We have trains departing every four days, he said, and local services have been reactivated with high demand in particular in provinces in Center and Eastern Cuba. This Project has been possible because of the incorporation of new “ferro-buses” and the recovery of motor cars.

«For instance, the route Morón-Esmeralda, Holguín-Alto Cedro (benefitting five municipalities and seven rural communities), the Manzanillo train, or the local routes of Boquerón, Caimanera, Manuel Tames, Honduras and Cuneira in Guantánamo all fit the case. There is also the Pinar del Río-La Habana train offering service too. Soon we will have the train to Expo-Cuba and to Eastern Beaches in Havana. We already have train services to Morón-Camagüey, Guantánamo-Holguín and Morón-Perea starting this July», he explained.

According to Rodríguez Dávila there are plans for 45 additional trains warranting transportation of other organisms and ensuring people are not affected by train departures. Additional trains will increase general capacity and will help increase people's transportation through an accommodating waiting list.

Regarding sea transportation, he explained that the ferry “Perseverancia” goes every other day to Nueva Gerona and Batabanó, and that while there is room a catamaran is added to the service. The service is awaiting the addition of a second catamaran soon coming into service.

He also added that flights shared with foreign flying companies are back in place, connecting Havana with Holguín, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba, as well as with Nueva Gerona.

«Summer is here, we need to make twice the effort to ensure proper transportation. The Ministry, with other organizations, has also designed a plan to ensure capacity to move 15 000 students, teachers and workers to their provinces in July, as well as their return planned for the end of August and beginning of September», explained the Minister. The plan, he said, will be centered mainly in using trains and buses from the Automotor Empresarial Group (Grupo Empresarial Automotor (GEA), with support from the Ministry of Tourism (Ministerio del Turismo (MINTUR) and the Company of Tourism Transport (Empresa de Transporte del Turismo (TRANSTUR S.A).

«There will be support for interprovincial transportation of people in general, but we have to be aware that it will have limitations and may not be able to completely cover the demand during these months», he explained.

Similarly, intermodal services connecting Youth Island with the Eastern provinces and Pinar del Río, to and from Batabanó, as buses of TRANSTUR and TRANSGAVIOTA will ease evacuation of terminals at critical times, in return trips transporting tourists, explained the Minister.

He also pointed out that during July Cuba will have the Student Games, which will require transporting more than 10 000 student-athletes at national level. Locally the priority will be transport towards beach and recreative centers, depending on fuel availability.  On the other hand, he pointed out, we have also been transporting towards camping centers by GEA, a fundamental of transportation this summer as it is the rule.

«Despite obstacles, like fuel availability, lubricants and other essential elements, with the initiatives we have been developing we pretend to confront this summer stage with capacity to transport the highest number of passengers as possible. All this is always linked to fundamental security measures, as always, to avoid incidents attempting against the physical integrity of passengers and transporters», finalized Rodríguez Dávila.

Translation NSCUBA (Nova Scotia)

 

Medicines and farm machinery, a cooperation with concrete results

Díaz-Canel visited scientific and industrial institutions that support and increase collaboration with the Island

Author: René Tamayo León | internet@granma.cu

June 27, 2025 09:06:55

MTZ is one of the eight largest producers of tractors in the world, and covers around 10% of the world demand for this agricultural equipment. Photo: Estudios Revolución

MINSK.- The cooperation between Cuba and the Academfarm biotechnological company and the strengths and obstacles still facing these exchanges were analyzed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
The Head of State visited on Thursday morning the facilities of a scientific center promoted since 2009 by President Alexander Lukashenko to generate and produce new medicines, all of them innovative.
The entity has maintained relations with Cuban scientific institutions since 2023, after signing a Memorandum of Collaboration with BioCubaFarma in November of that year, in the context of the reception of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz at the institution.
Since then, the relationship has evolved, including dialogues for the constitution of the Academsol joint venture with the Cuban MedSol, which will be a closed joint stock company, created for an indefinite period of time and operating as a commercial organization in accordance with the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus. Both partners will have a 50 percent share in this partnership.

Academfarm executes five of the seven projects implemented by Biocubafarma and its Belarusian counterparts within the framework of the 18 projects between the island and the National Academy of Sciences of the sister nation, whose President Vladimir Karanik hosted the head of state during his stay at the center on Thursday.
Among the projects is that of Medsol for the finishing stage of medicines registered in Cuba, and another one on the supply of drugs through Medicuba; a third one is on the joint development of innovative preparations for the treatment of HIV, cancer, schizophrenia, anemia and other diseases.
The fourth project deals with regulatory authority registrations; and the fifth is about joint research with the Center for Molecular Immunology on the Simavax lung cancer vaccine.
Díaz-Canel underscored the relevance of his meeting with managers and specialists of the scientific institution as part of his official visit to the Republic of Belarus "to strengthen and expand the historic relations between our peoples".
He stressed the importance of knowing what is being done here. He described this cooperation as an interaction in the science and innovation sector, which, he explained, is one of the pillars of government management in the largest island of the  Antilles to solve the main problems it faces.
It is a management of science and innovation, he said, which also includes external cooperation. "And what could be better than to develop these links with a friendly country, a brother country", he emphasized.
The president reaffirmed his conviction that Cuba and Belarus can further deepen their ties in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as he verified the day before at the Belmedpreparaty company and the exhibition organized for him at the headquarters of this institute by the local state-owned pharmaceutical holding company.

The Caribbean statesman recalled words he shared the day before with President Alexander Lukashenko, who said that our two countries, despite being punished by the hegemonic powers, cannot stop at the sanctions they suffer, but must move forward in cooperation and find solutions to our problems. And it is this concept - emphasized Díaz-Canel - that should guide us to advance also in science and innovation.
The head of state pondered how Belarus has its own innovative technologies for the generation of biopharmaceuticals, which can be complemented with Cuba's development in these areas.
He referred to "the many expectations, hopes and satisfaction" that come from the fact that the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and several Cuban institutions have 18 projects to manage the challenges of the economy and society, due to their holistic approach.
These are projects -he added- that are going well and that in a short time will yield important results. These are samples -he added- that speak of the political will and the potential we have to work together. What we cannot do," he warned, "is to stop, what we cannot do is to stop".
Yuriy Mikitski, General Director of Academpharm, explained that the origin of the scientific-pharmaceutical company lies in a recommendation of President Lukashenko to the National Academy of Sciences to face an acute flu epidemic in 2009, whose best palliative was a highly expensive drug of U.S. origin. "And in two years," he recalled, "we managed to produce a drug for the welfare and health of our people.

HOW TO START UP A BIG MACHINE                                                                                                                                                                                          On Thursday, during which he also took part in the high-level segment of the 4th Eurasian Economic Forum, the Cuban President visited the Minsk tractor factory, the iconic industry producer of MTZ tractors, of which there are about 45,000 in Cuba that, acquired over half a century, due to their age require major repairs and restorations.

Founded on May 29, 1946, MTZ is one of the eight largest tractor producers in the world. It covers around ten percent of the world's demand for such agricultural equipment.

The Minsk Tractor Works, which employs about 30,000 people, has produced more than three million tractors, of which more than 500,000 have been exported to about 100 countries.
Today they have more than 60 models of different types of machines, in more than one hundred variants for all climatic and operating conditions, according to their managers informed the President of the Island.
The Belarusian specialists described as positive the recent experience with the assembly of a dozen MTZ tractors at the Empresa Mecánica Héroes del 26 de Julio, in Holguín (Holmeca), an initiative that will now be expanded with about fifty of these machines. The purpose is for this to be the beginning of a much broader cooperation.
Taking advantage of Díaz-Canel's visit to the tractor plant, where the Cuban delegation was accompanied by the Minister of Industry, Alexander Yefimov, the authorities prepared an exhibition attended by about a dozen entities that lead the powerful Belarusian industry for the manufacture of agricultural machinery and implements, work vehicles and specialized transport.
Along with the president, toured the exhibition the member of the Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; Emilio Lozada García, Head of the Department of International Relations of the Central Committee; Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, and Santiago Pérez Benítez, Cuban Ambassador to Belarus, among other members of the delegation.
In the voice of their main managers, the Cuban visitors were informed about the productions of several legendary companies, such as Belaz, with its large trucks for the transportation of minerals; MAZ, a well-known brand in Cuba; Amkomp, specialized in equipment for the construction sector; GZPD, manufacturer of diesel engines for different uses; and GOMSELMASH, producer of simple and complex equipment, such as large grain harvesters, among others.
The managers of the Belarusian companies, many of which have a long history of collaboration with Cuba, expressed their interest in maintaining and increasing these links and thus complying with the agreements reached by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

        

Producing can have an impact in the farm, the municipality and the country.

Villa Clara has shown a notable capacity for recovery and growth in an economic line of vital importance to the country, like tobacco.

Freddy Pérez Cabrera | internet@granma.cu

The tobacco sector in Villa Clara has generated a considerable number of working positions, fundamentally for women and youth. Picture by Endrys Correa Vaillan.

 

Villa Clara.–In La Puntilla, a farm located in Falcón, lives Linner Marrero Turiño, fairly considered the main producer of tobacco in Cuba, candidate to the title of Man Cigar in 2024.

Thirteen years ago, motivated by tradition received from his father, Juan Marrero, he began to develop links to the cultivation of tobacco, first through the technology of sun and stick, extended after to tobacco covered, in which nobody does better than he does in Cuba, because of the mastery he achieved.

For best results, he faced challenges, including the removal of the marabú, an invasive thorny plant, to ensure sufficient area for the cultivation of tobacco and other plants.  During the harvest, Linnel’s focus is producing more than 175 000 tobacco beams, which represent 13 per cent of the tobacco to be harvested in this territory. These numbers point to Linnel’s quality as tobacco producer and to his application of science and technical knowledge to it, something he believes in deeply.

«I do not believe I am superior to anybody just because I produce a bit more tobacco; I hope we become all very good at this because if we do Cuba wins», he says humbly, and adds that he would like to help others, particularly youth who begin to work in this area.  

His routine at work, he explains, includes being up at 5 in the morning and sometimes not finishing until after 9 pm, his farm is demanding because it produces not only tobacco but also beans, yuca, corn, sweet potatoes, and he raises animals too. And yet, it is mainly because of this that he has been able to become self-sufficient and sustainable.

 

To have an idea of the magnitude of the Project young Linnel Marrero started, it would be enough to say that he not only contributes extraordinarily to tobacco export but that the past year he has also produced 20 tons of beans and 30 tons of corn, besides yuca and sweet potatoes in line to feed people and animals. 

«I have 200 workers who help me in many ways, who I pay a decent salary and tried to ensure they enjoy good living conditions as required by the work we do», he explains. Fortunately, he is not the only one capable of ensuring proper tobacco for our cigars, there are others who have been following his steps and are prominent like him in this province.

The path to recovery.

Only four or five years ago, the Start Tobacco Company (Empresa de Acopio y Beneficio del Tabaco La Estrella) was in the red for more than five million pesos,  and the number of producers were below 25, both indicators speaking about the challenging situation of the company but also of Villa Clara itself as a province.

Changes in direction and a new integrated strategy of development, have made possible to achieve what people wanted, that is transforming this territory into one of the main producers of tobacco in the country. In fact, it is now prominent in producing tobacco layers crucial in producing cigars for export.

Antonio Subí Pérez, general director of the above name company, has been instrumental and in charge of such transformations -or as he correctly says, change is never the work of one person in particular but of the tobacco family who follow and support that person implementing changes needed, and turning the company around making it successful and productive.

«We count 72 tobacco producers and 400 using the sun and stick technology, " he explains, "motivation is high, particularly among tens and tens of youth incorporated into this work and attracted by the successful results of more experienced, older producers."

Three years ago this province delivered 9 000 handfuls of layers for export but at the end of last year's campaign it was able to deliver more than  200 000, most of them of top quality for the making of cigars for export to the most demanding markets. From an economic perspective, The Star concluded the first quarter of 2025 with more than 16 million pesos in utilities.

According to the Director of The Star, there are visible increases in territory dedicated to the plantation of tobacco under cover in this area, which went from 100 hectares four years ago to more than 346 hectares today. The total area of tobacco cultivation, planned to be 1500 hectares soon, is proof of the sustained growth in this area. This year we harvested 1 million 800 thousand tobacco beams, the plan is to finish with 1 million 850 thousand, which means more than a ton per hectare, a number never achieved before in the province.

Currently, 30 producers from Villa Clara are responsible for more than 10 000 tobacco beams, while 11 producers respond for more than 20 000 tobacco beams, four respond for  more than 50 000 tobacco beams and 3 respond for above 100 000 tobacco beams.  Among these last producers are Noel Rolando Benitez, Linnel Marrero and Orelvis Peñate who are at the head of tobacco production in the province.  

Applying the newest science and technology has been crucial in fomenting and ensuring tobacco production in Villa Clara. Many houses are helping the processing, tunnels are destined to produce tobacco postures and also photovoltaic panels used by producers to favor irrigation and tobacco treatment, among other things.     

Thanks to all this focus and work and the sustainable growth of this area of production Villa Clara has been able to warrant 66 percent of tobacco layers demanded by our country, according to Subí Pérez, who spares no praise to the men and women working this sector in the province. Tobacco production has created an important number of jobs mainly for women and young people.

 

It is much more than tobacco.

The growth in income generated by tobacco cultivation was shared to other communities and centers of social  interest -like hospitals, senior homes and children homes. In solidarity with people the tobacco family shared awareness that many were facing need during these challenging times Cuba is facing. Equipment needed, utensils, food, toys and other articles were provided that contributed to improve living conditions in hospitals attending children and oncological patients. Help was also provided to vulnerable seniors for example. Equally important has been the sector contribution to territorial development -a one percent that is sent directly to local governments, like the city of Placetas which received more than 3 million pesos for that concept last year.  Important too has been the sector contribution to employment generation in communities, and within a variety of work within tobacco production. For example 30 selected in diverse areas of Villa Clara include those where more than one thousand women and youth work who were until then unemployed and not studying. 

Translation  NSCUBA Canada