Sunday, February 8, 2015

Cuba - The Other Embargo

Cuba: The Other Embargo / Ivan Garcia
Posted on February 7, 2015

Last summer, 48-year-old Lisván, owner of a small photographic studio in
a neighbourhood in the east of Havana, personally suffered the
consequences of the absurd prohibitions that the Castro regime imposes
on its citizens.

With the profits made from his business and after saving a part of the
money sent to his family from abroad, he stayed for five nights with his
wife and daughter in the hotel Meliá Marina Varadero, for 822 pesos
convertibles.

"On the beach I struck up a friendship with a group of Canadians. One
morning they wanted to invite me to come fishing on a yacht they had
rented. But, in spite of being a guest at the hotel, the marina hotel
management did not allow it. No Cuban citizen, resident in the island,
is allowed to get on a boat with a motor, without government permission"
said Lisván.

Ten years ago, the prohibitions were even stranger. Cubans could not
stay in luxury hotels, rent cars or have a cellphone line.

If you sit down in a hotel lobby, you become a suspicious person in the
eyes of State Security. With Raúl Castro's coming to power, following
his brother Fidel's executive with its fingers in everything, various
discriminatory regulations were repealed.

The Cubans were third class citizens in their own country. Óscar, a
barman in a five star hotel in Havana, fought as a private soldier in
the civil war in Angola.

"The ones who supported Fidel, who hardly could eat anything in our
country because of the scarcity, we were not allowed to go into a
foreign friend's apartment. And the Cubans who went off to Florida,
called 'worms' by the government, had the right to enjoy the tourist
centres. It was an Olympic-sized contradiction", recalls Óscar.

In the winter of 2015 these prohibitions no longer exist. But various
regulations which breach the inalienable rights of the island's citizens
remain in force.

They talk a lot about the the US economic and financial embargo on the
Raúl Castro regime, with arguments for and against, but not much is said
in the international forums about the olive green state's embargo on its
people.

The internal embargo has become more flexible, but we Cubans still don't
have the right to open an internet account at home, travel or fish in a
motor boat or access certain health services reserved exclusively for
foreigners.

Civil rights hardly exist. They forbid the formation of political
parties. Demonstrations in the street. Workers' strikes. independent
trade unions, free popular elections to elect a president. Independent
newspapers or arranging to watch cable TV.

It's an imprisonable crime to personally offend the President. And,
since 2002, following a campaign by Fidel Castro, no civil groups may
introduce a proposal to change the Constitution.

The system is perpetual. The Cuban leaders are an untouchable caste. The
people owe duties to them, not the other way round. Only the state can
put out news, books and movies.

Although independent journalists do exist, as well as dissident parties
and an emerging civil society, the government maintains legislation
which allows the sanctioning of political disagreement with years in jail.

Cuba is the only country in the Western hemisphere where political
opposition is illegal. Making fun of or caricaturing executives of the
autocracy is not permitted. A magazine like Charlie Hebdo is impossible
in the island.

Discriminatory rules which prohibit Cubans going where they want in
their own country are still in force. Like decree 217 of 1997. the
Ministry of the Interior dismantles small local wifi networks where
youngsters play on the internet, send movies, or chat.

And some of these perverse regulations have gained a new lease of life.
The customs service has implemented a group of measures to to stop Cuban
travellers bringing things in.

These rules affect the quality of life and the pockets of Cuban
families. Ask Migdalia, an engineer, about this. In the last two months
she has spent 75 CUC to receive parcels exceeding the one and a half
kilos authorized by the customs.

There weren't any "counter-revolutionary" leaflets or luxury items in
the suitcases. Just clothes and presents for her daughter's birthday. It
is the Castro government's embargo that is the more damaging to the
Cuban in the street. The other one, the US one, gets the media attention
but is less effective.

Iván García

Photo: Cubans can't rent or get into yachts or other types of boats in
Meliá Marina Varadero, or other hotels or places on the coast. Taken by
Cuba Contemporánea.

Translated by GH

6 February 2015

Source: Cuba: The Other Embargo / Ivan Garcia | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-the-other-embargo-ivan-garcia-2/

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