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Crisis en Cuba: la cosecha de azúcar no alcanzó las 150.000 toneladas y se convirtió en la peor en más de un siglo

La zafra (cosecha) de 2024/2025 en Cuba no superó las 150.000 toneladas de azúcar, lo que supone el peor resultado en más de un siglo y menos de la mitad de lo obtenido el año pasado, según cálculos de EFE basados en fuentes oficiales.
La cifra es aún peor que las estimaciones independientes publicadas hasta la fecha y apenas algo más de la mitad del modesto plan estatal para esta temporada de producción de azúcar, un producto que durante décadas fue pilar fundamental de la economía cubana, primera exportación nacional y fuente de orgullo.
De “desastre” califica estos datos un antiguo responsable del ahora extinto Ministerio de la Industria Azucarera (Minaz) de Cuba, que pide mantener el anonimato.
Este volumen, advierten los expertos, resulta insuficiente para las necesidades internas del país, pone en aprietos a la industria del ron cubano (que tiene el azúcar nacional como ingrediente imprescindible) e impide de nuevo que La Habana cumpla su acuerdo de suministro preferente con China.
El cálculo se ha elaborado a partir de una treintena de reportes parciales de medios oficiales nacionales y regionales, y ante la falta de información comprensiva por parte de instituciones y medios oficiales. EFE solicitó una entrevista con la azucarera estatal Azcuba, pero no ha obtenido respuesta.
La suma de los objetivos de los quince centrales azucareros operativos en esta zafra (menos de un 10 % de los que llegaron a funcionar en Cuba) no llega a las 280.0000 toneladas de azúcar, según estas informaciones. Los centrales azucareros son fábricas en las que se procesa la caña de azúcar.
Por el contrario, no se ha informado públicamente del resultado total de la cosecha, pese a su relevancia económica.

Distintos medios oficiales difundieron por separado las cifras de producción de diez centrales (entre ellos los principales del país, como el Antonio Guiteras de Las Tunas y el Ciro Redondo de Ciego de Ávila) por un total de 95.584 toneladas.
De la cosecha de los otros cinco centrales no se puede encontrar información pública, pero sí de sus objetivos, que sumaban 52.068 toneladas de azúcar.
Si como publicó Granma -órgano oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC, único legal)- tan sólo uno de los 15 centrales operativos -el Melanio Hernández- logró su meta, entonces se puede inferir que la zafra 2024/2025 no superó las 150.000 toneladas.
Algunos centrales han tenido resultados muy pobres. El Dos Ríos de Santiago de Cuba apenas logró 2.700 toneladas, de las 20.811 planificadas (13%); y el Antonio Guiteras sumó 7.200, de las 45.000 previstas (16%).
Según distintas fuentes históricas, Cuba no producía menos de 150.000 toneladas desde el siglo XIX, cuando las guerras de independencia frente a España lastraron la producción del ya entonces cultivo principal de la isla. En 1989, por el contrario, el país alcanzó los ocho millones.
Cuba llegó a ser el primer exportador mundial de azúcar y contó con más de 160 centrales. A lo largo de los años suscribió acuerdos preferenciales con Estados Unidos (antes de la revolución) y con la URSS.
Tras el derrumbe del sector los expertos señalan, entre otras causas, la obsolescencia de los centrales, la falta de inversiones y recursos materiales (equipos, combustible, etc), los apagones, las adversidades climatológicas, la escasez de personal capacitado y las ineficiencias.
El ex responsable del central destaca a EFE que se está plantando poca caña por hectárea y que parte de la materia prima se pierde por no procesarla rápidamente por los cortes eléctricos, las averías y la falta de combustible.

Este jubilado, que lloró el día que vio las ruinas en que se ha convertido el central que dirigió, señala que quizá, en las condiciones actuales, sería más barato importar el azúcar que producirlo en Cuba.
La industria azucarera cubana vive un continuado declive desde hace décadas, en parte por el contexto externo (caída del bloque socialista europeo, sanciones estadounidenses, precios en el mercado internacional…), pero también por decisiones propias, entre las que destaca el proceso de reestructuración del sector a principios de siglo.
La del azúcar es otra más de las crisis que padece la isla, en una situación económica y social muy complicada desde 2020. En estos cinco años el producto interno bruto (PIB) de la isla se ha contraído un 11% y las previsiones apuntan a una nueva caída este ejercicio.
(EFE)
Agricultural Markets,Corporate Events,South America / Central America,SAN CRISTOBAL
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La guerra en Oriente Medio: el exilio iraní en Francia recibe amenazas de muerte del régimen persa y refuerzan la seguridad

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US Navy sinks second Iranian ship as over 200 crew rescued near Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka began offloading 208 crew members from a second Iranian vessel a day after 87 people were killed and several others were still missing following a U.S. submarine strike on an Iranian warship in the same region.
«After detailed discussions with all parties, Sri Lanka has decided to assist the Iranian vessel,» Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told reporters at a press briefing in Colombo, Reuters reported.
Among the crew members being offloaded the ship, which is near the port of Colombo, were 53 officials, 84 cadets, 48 senior sailors and 23 sailors, Dissanayake said.
Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal. (AP Photo)
The Iranian ship, the IRIS Dena, was sunk Wednesday off Sri Lanka’s coast in the Indian Ocean. Officials there have dispatched two freezers to store 87 bodies recovered at sea.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the ship was «effectively neutralized» in a Navy «fast attack» using a single Mark 48 torpedo. He added that the U.S. Navy achieved «immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.»
TRUMP OVERSEES US STRIKES ON IRAN FROM MAR-A-LAGO, SPEAKS WITH NETANYAHU: WH

An injured Iranian sailor is moved on a stretcher at Galle National Hospital, where the sailors are receiving treatment, following a submarine attack on the Iranian military ship, IRIS Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka, in Galle, Sri Lanka, March 5, 2026. (Reuters/Thilina Kaluthotage)
Iran contends the ship was sunk in international waters without warning.
«The U.S. will bitterly regret the precedent it has set,» Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X.
Iran has asked Sri Lanka to assist with the repatriation of the bodies.
Sri Lankan officials said the Dena was on its way home after taking part in a naval exercise organized by India in the Bay of Bengal from Feb. 18 to 25.

Healthcare workers unload the bodies of Iranian sailors from a vehicle who died when their IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
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Search and rescue operations would continue for an estimated 10 people who remain unaccounted for, they said.
war with iran,military,iran
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House Democrats vote to continue DHS shutdown despite Iran threat, Noem’s ouster

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House Democrats largely voted to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown to keep going on Thursday, shrugging off Republicans’ concerns about the increased domestic terror threat amid the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran.
It comes hours after President Donald Trump shocked Capitol Hill by ousting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as his replacement.
But that did not stop the vast majority of Democrats from voting against a bipartisan DHS funding bill aimed at funding the cabinet agency through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
Nearly identical legislation already passed the House in January, but House GOP leaders wanted to force the vote again in light of heightened national security concerns within the country’s borders.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Nov. 3, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
While largely symbolic, it shows Republicans’ pressure strategy is falling on deaf ears as the left continues to protest President Donald Trump’s strategy to combat illegal immigration.
The bill was the product of original bipartisan negotiations that followed the longest-ever full government shutdown in U.S. history, which ended in November after 43 days.
It would fully fund all aspects of DHS while also including new guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanded by Democrats, like a body-worn camera mandate and new required training on public engagement and de-escalation.
But Democrats walked away from the deal en masse amid fallout from Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which saw two U.S. citizens shot and killed by federal agents during anti-ICE demonstrations there. The operation has since ended.
Democratic leaders are still insisting on withholding their caucus’ support, however, until further restrictions are put on ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on the ground in various cities.

A person holds an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian demonstrators protest against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled to reporters that Noem’s ouster was not enough.
«It’s not like Kristi Noem was the one who was involved in negotiating anything. She was a corrupt lackey. So we were dealing with the White House before, and we’re going to continue to deal with the White House at this point,» he said.
Meanwhile, the resulting DHS shutdown has taken on new significance as the U.S. continues its campaign to take out Iran’s top leadership and its military sites.
Republican leaders are warning that keeping DHS in a shutdown state is dangerous for national security, given its jurisdiction over agencies that monitor threats from home and abroad.
SWALWELL PRESSED ON DEMOCRATS’ RESISTANCE TO FULLY FUNDING DHS AMID IRAN THREAT
«Now is the time to be vigilant at home and to ensure that all of our doors are locked, so to speak,» Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a press conference Wednesday. «And yet, as all this is happening, we have Democrats running around here playing political games in Congress. It’s infuriating. They’ve shut down the very agency that is responsible for securing the homeland.»

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses for questions from reporters as he arrives for an Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Republicans’ argument «insane» when asked by Fox News Digital earlier this week.
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«Donald Trump launches an unauthorized war in the Middle East. … He decides that he wants to spend billions of dollars to bomb Iran, rather than spend taxpayer dollars to lower the grocery bills that are crushing the American people, and then wants to use his unauthorized war as an excuse to continue spending taxpayer dollars to brutalize or kill American citizens by continuing to unleash ICE without restriction on the American people?» Jeffries posed. «I think it’s ridiculous.»
It’s the Senate, however, where passing that DHS funding bill is actually key to ending the shutdown. The upper chamber voted again Thursday on the original legislation that passed the House in January, but it failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.
house of representatives politics,government shutdown,homeland security,war with iran,politics
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