With his crusade against the private sector in Holguín, Queipo makes merit to succeed Díaz-Canel

Holguin/If there is a name that these days the holguineros pronounce with crooked face and almost biting each syllable is that of Joel Queipo Ruíz, first secretary of the Communist Party (PCC) in the province. Since last April the official assumed the positionunleashed a witch hunt against entrepreneurs and peasants that has caused fines, product confiscations and numerous closed shops.

The Chinese Fair, one of the most important points of sale in the Holguinera capital, is among the main objectives of the Queipo Crusade. “This, since the end of last year, has become a constant battle and now they want to evict us,” he tells 14ymedio José Alberto, owner of one of the stalls of the popular market. Although the merchant has his papers in order he has already begun to liquidate his products to leave.

The authorities have warned the merchants of the fair that the municipal ceremony of the next act for July 26 will take place in the place, and that at that time there should be no vestiges of the market. In the streets, it is rumored that “Queipo wants to give that joy to Raúl Castro in his land of birth.” The general spends more and more time in the nearby Cayo Saetía, where he has located a retreat from which he frequently comes out of official events and meetings.

“When Queipo premiered in office, more inspectors began to arrive and the raids multiplied.”

“They have been harassing us for months. When Queipo premiered in office, more inspectors began to be notic It would happen, but we have been in this tension for almost a year, “he explains. “First they said it was against the illegal stalls, some tables and wheelbarrows that were put, without a license, to sell near the avenue, but they have also made our lives impossible to which we have roles.”

José Alberto points out that the offensive reached the limit this February. “They just warned us that we have to sell all the merchandise because they are going to close the Chinese Fair to prepare this entire area for the act of 26. Those who do not comply with that orientation before February 16 will receive a fine of 30,000 pesos, “he says. The announcement has raised a controversy that even arrives at the Official means.

“You have to look for a solution to the problem, not to remove it,” says a journalist from the program in the foreground of the telecrystal telecentro that alludes to the popular metaphor of “throwing the sofa” in the face of any problem, eliminated its visible expression but not its causes. Obviously annoyed with the order to get the merchants from the fair, the reporter recognizes that “crimes are committed there but there are also legal people, there are people who are authorized.”

In the place it is estimated that they work between merchants, carriers and other intermediaries more than 1,000 people. “It is true that this is very disorganized but those are not ways to improve the operation of the fair,” adds José Alberto to this newspaper. In the wide market, they can be found, together with the food, fruits and household goods, a wide range of informal offers that includes from medications and games with bets to blood donations.

The residents of the surrounding areas feel between two waters. On the one hand the market is the main source of which their dishes nourish but many point out the disorder and lack of hygiene prevailing at the fair. “It is not about closing, but to invest to improve all this, that we have water, paved areas and warehouse areas,” says José Alberto criticism and adds: “One of the problems we have is that they want to impose us Prices, but the inspectors evaluate our merchandise at the official rate of the dollar for 123 pesos, but nothing that is sold here was bought like this, we have to pay the change as they really are, 340 pesos and more. ”

When the official press announced the dismissal of Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez as the first secretary of the PCC in the province and the incorporation into the position of Joel Queipo Ruíz, in Holguín many contained their breath. “We already knew him from the days of the pandemic when he was organizing this as if it were a military unit, so people knew what was coming,” says the owner of a MSME that sells food and cleaning products near the city center.

“Unfortunately we were right,” summarizes the woman who prefers anonymity. “Queipo is trying to compete with Díaz-Canel who was also secretary of the party in Holguín and here he made a political career to be where he is.” The Cuban ruler unleashed during his term in the province, between 2003 and 2009, an offensive against illegalities. At the point of view, the electrical engineer put the smuggling of milk that came from the private farms to the interior of the city.

The operations on the roads, the confiscation of thousands of liters and the arrest of several involved spread their fear in a territory where the rationed market barely sells milk for children under seven years and chronic patients.

The hard hand extended to all kinds of commercial operations. “People say he did it to get rid of Fidel and Raúl Castro,” warns the woman who then worked in a state entity. “Everyone knows that the brothers were born in this province and that whoever controls Holguin, controls Cuba,” he says. “The strategy served him because shortly after we saw him go up and up to where he is now.”

That reason for controls, fines and arrests was baptized by the Holguineros as “Rastrillo Operation”

That reason for controls, fines and arrests was baptized by the Holguineros as “Rastrillo Operation” because it shook the legal and informal commercial framework. “People were afraid to go out with a jaba or a package of their home because in any corner the police could stop and check what you were carrying,” recalls the entrepreneur. “My grandmother prayed to move Díaz-Canel to another position and in the end it passed, but as we say here ‘fell up.”

Queipo seems to trace the script of the current ruler and there is no plenty of reasons to believe that he will end up in a position of power similar to that of his model. With just 53 years, the secretary of the provincial PCC is one of the names which is considered to be appointed as President of the Republic of Cuba in April 2028. The current electoral law establishes that to sit in the presidential chair it is a requirement not to exceed 60 years and have more than 35.

If the Constitution says, Díaz-Canel will not be able to extend its presidency with a third term and Queipo brings together another of the indispensable conditions: being deputy to the National Assembly. Among the unwritten requirements, but taken into account when “selecting” a president, it is a picture that already holds charges in the partisan and government nomenclature. If a hard hand reputation is added to that, the equation benefits the Camagüeyano, graduated in nuclear physics.

“I am not surprised that Queipo is on that path of flat 14ymedio A former colleague of the Máximo Gómez de Camagüey Vocational School. “In our group it was the most mediocre of all, it did not stand out in anything, or in basketball despite its good stature,” he recalls.

For Maykol, a private carrier who moves products to the Chinese Fair, the main reason for “the cleaning that Queipipo is doing” is Raúl Castro’s holguin. “Everyone knows that it is spending more and more here and wants to keep everything calm around them,” says man. “It is also a way of showing off, to tell Raúl ‘look how well I am doing, you have to take me into account for larger things.'”

“Now the inspectors are all over the road to San Germán and stop everyone who is moving something,” details the driver of the electric tricycle with which he moves products from several nearby farms. “The first thing that has happened is that people who had a position in that area have closed it, whether legal or illegal because they fall above and do not release you until you hit you a fine or confiscate some merchandise.”

The main affected: customers, says the carrier. “There are many poor people in this area who have to buy on the edge of the road because there they sell a lot to retail, you find the same with small cookie packages for children who with detergent who forward in small portions and gives you for a washing ” Maykol believes that the current attack has increased corruption among inspectors. “With one hand they put the fine and with the other they ask you for money to remove it.”

The controls redoubled from December. In the first week of that month the call for a national exercise of prevention and confrontation of crime, corruption, illegalities and social indisciplines was made. But in Holguín the inspections that characterized the offensive They remained After the closing date. In the streets it was rumored then that Queipo had “oriented” to continue the offensive against illegalities in the territory throughout the first half of December, but the controls have followed until today.

That is why when José Alberto listened to the inspector that this week he has repeated again that he has to finish off all his merchandise because “on February 16 there is not a single tent at the Chinese Fair”, he knows that man only verbalizes a message that comes above: “Queipo already looks as president of Cuba and is acting in Holguin.”