A Cuban state-run newspaper recently promoted an article touting the alleged benefits of using human urine as an agricultural fertilizer, the independent website Cubanet reported on Wednesday.
A publication called 5 de Septiembre, which is the official government-run newspaper of Cuba’s Cienfuegos province, recently “shared an article suggesting that Cubans fertilize crops with human urine,” Cubanet relayed on May 11.
“As has happened on other occasions with different [Cuban] state media, September 5 republished an article shared by a foreign media outlet, in this case Agence France-Presse (AFP), which on April 28 published [an article titled] ‘Human Urine, an Unexpected but Effective and Less Polluting Fertilizer,” the Cuban news website detailed.
“It should be noted that September 5 does not refer to the original source of the article (AFP), but to the [online news] portal Gestión, from Peru, which reproduced it in full two days later,” Cubanet.org clarified.
News that Havana pushed Cuban farmers to use human urine as an alternative fertilizer in late April followed almost exactly one month after a state-run media outlet from Cuba’s Pinar del Río province promoted an article in late March describing the alleged nutritional value of cockroach milk.
The Facebook account of Radio Guamá, which is a local state-run radio station in Pinar del Río province, republished an article on March 29 “highlighting the ‘nutritional value’ of cockroach milk,” Cubanet.org reported at the time.
Cuba promotes ‘Cockroach Milk.’ (Zania Studio/iStock/Getty Images Plus, Elena Medoks/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
“The experiment … offers some details that you may find very interesting. We invite you to read this scientific curiosity to the end,” Radio Guamá wrote in a caption accompanying the republished article (originally from the Spanish magazine Mercatrace) on March 29.
An archived webpage from the news website of Radio Guamá appears to show that the state broadcaster also recommended the cockroach milk article to its readers in a separate but similar report on March 28.
The Communist Party of Cuba has previously suggested its citizens, many of whom suffer from food shortages caused by the policies of the Party, consume alternative food sources such as crocodiles, rodents, ostrich eggs, and banana peels.
Cuba is an impoverished country that owes much of its misfortune to the communist policies of Fidel Castro, who seized control of the island nation in 1959 and ruled through 2008. The nation’s ruling Communist Party has struggled to provide its citizens with sufficient food for decades. Established food shortages in Cuba have grown worse over the past five years due to the mismanagement of a top Communist Party leader named Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel shake hands during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. Putin hailed Cuba’s resilience in the face of the U.S. pressure as he hosted Diaz-Canel for talks on expanding cooperation between the old allies. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think we’re headed towards recession?
LLOYD BLANKFEIN: We’re certainly heading — it’s a very, very high risk factor. There’s a path, a narrow path, but I think the Fed has very powerful tools. It’s hard to finely tune them and hard to see the effects of them quickly enough to alter it. But I think they are responding well. It’s definitely a risk. If I was running a big company I would be very prepared for it. If I was a consumer, I would prepared for it. But it’s not baked in the cake.
The White House claimed President Joe Biden’s administration made the baby formula shortage crisis a top priority as early as February, even though the president claimed ignorance of the problem on Thursday.
“This is something he is focusing on very acutely and again I said 24/7 we’ve been working on this since we have learned about this back in February,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily briefing about Biden, calling the issue “one of the presidents top priorities.”
Biden bristled when asked by reporters on Friday if he could have acted sooner to fix the crisis.
“If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could’ve, but we moved as the problem became apparent to us,” Biden said.
The president did not even personally mention the crisis until Friday, despite weeks of reports highlighting the problem.
“I’ll answer the baby formula question because, all of a sudden, it’s on the front page of every newspaper,” Biden grumbled on Friday.
He announced the launch of a new government website to help parents locate baby formula in stores, but it was beset by extremely long hold times and unhelpful information.
Jean-Pierre alluded to a comment from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bacerra claiming the Biden administration had been working on the issue since February and even as early as last year in 2021.
CNN: “You are satisfied with the government’s response throughout [the baby formula shortage]?”
HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra: “FDA has kept me apprised of this from LAST YEAR. We have been moving as quickly as we can” pic.twitter.com/5WRZa5chYg
“You’ve heard us talk about this, you’ve heard colleagues talking about what we have done since February,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been working on this 24/7.”
Jean-Pierre refused to offer a timeline for when supplies of baby formula would return to normal.
“What I can say is there are a lot of dates floating around out there,” she said.
President Joe Biden struggled Monday with the correct pronunciation of the name of Aaron Salter Jr., a heroic ex-cop and security guard who died Saturday confronting the Buffalo mass shooting suspect.
“We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and their families who understand what it takes, what’s at risk, to save and protect all of us,” Biden said. “That includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salder — Slater, excuse me — who gave his life trying to save others.”
Biden spoke about Salter during a Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor ceremony at the White House for law enforcement and public safety officials.
Salter was a Buffalo police officer for 30 years before retiring in 2022 and taking a security job at the Tops Friendly Market where the shooting took place.
Salter hit the alleged shooter with at least one round from his pistol, but it was blocked by the alleged shooter’s bulletproof armor. Salter was later shot and killed during the attack.
“You’re the heart and soul and very spine of this country and communities,” Biden continued, praising the public safety officials in the room.
During the ceremony, Biden also botched the name of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat congressman from New York.
“Excuse me. You can call me ‘Bidden,’” Biden joked, mispronouncing his own name. “We’ve known each other so long and I still stumbled. I apologize.”