Camajuani in Suspense over Corruption

Camajuani in Suspense over Corruption / Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on October 21, 2015

Juan Juan Almeida, 24 September 2015 — Cuba is trying to silence a
national "explosion" of great intensity, which implicates officers of
the Interior Ministry (MININT), the Ministry of the Armed Forces
(MINFAR), the Cultural Goods Fund (a Cultural center promoting and
selling art and handicrafts), the National Bank of Cuba, foreign
businessmen and artisanal shoemakers in the Camajuaní municipality of
Villa Clara.

According to sources inside the National Prosecutor's office, one of
those implicated was surprised overseas by the news, and in order to
evade justice, prefers not to return.

Fraud, falsification, bribery, extortion, contraband, abuse of
authority, illicit enrichment, tariff violation, tax evasion of the
National Tax Administration and influence peddling are among the
presumed crimes for more than 50 people in different training centers.

The estimated amount of bribery charges exceeds five million pesos
(US$188,679) and is expected to continue being sniffed out; right now
there's an impasse in the legal process.

By decision at the highest level of Government, the affair acquired a
"character of secrecy" in order to not tarnish His Holiness's visit to
the island, to not give a bad impression to possible investors, and,
furthermore, because it involves several officials whose names don't
appear on the list of those implicated.

A BIT OF HISTORY

Camajuaní is a small municipality, founded in the 19th century, located
in the northeast of Villa Clara, right at a crossroads and railroad
lines. This easy public thoroughfare converted it into a settlement for
merchants and traders.

Because of this, decades of a planned economy and "revolutionary"
experiments (half revolutionary, half communist) didn't manage to keep
the entrepreneurial spirit from passing, like DNA, from generation to
generation.

In Camajuaní, the footwear industry is the local engine of growth. So an
important number of artisanal shoemakers are members of the Cultural
Goods Fund, a State institution that has the peculiarity of permitting
artisans to break the State's monopoly on imports.

The artisans in the Fund can leave Cuba and buy raw material, machines
and/or tools to use in production; they can import quantities of
material from specified countries by making use of a special document
called the "Importation Document;" and they can sell their products to
people, businesses and/or ministries.

This may seem simple, but no: This sector of Cuban entrepreneurs also
has to face the general corruption in a narrow legal framework and a
widespread social prejudice. It's very easy to offend when almost
everything is prohibited.

So, faced with increasing demand, these artisans, in order to expand
production, and because State procedures are so cumbersome, falsified
the Importation Document.

Others, more astute, began to alter the import permit and their
productive capacity by bribing Customs bosses and agents, MININT
officials and important executives of the Cultural Goods Fund, who
permitted them, in exchange for green bills, to change the
classification "artisanal machinery" to "industrial equipment."

A secure market. The boots bought by the Armed Forces and the Youth
Labor Army normally are made by COMBELL, a depressed company that tries
to guaranty a supply to the military.

But when this isn't achieved, a practice that appears premeditated, the
Armed Forces impresarios open up a bidding in which the artisans
participate.

The Cuban authorities presume that these operators, now in prison, won
the bidding after buttering up those in uniform with decision-making
power, along with National Bank officers, who, after receiving a
commission, gave preference to the Fund.

What's bad is that the private workshops that gave a living to a good
number of people, including former workers from the health industry, who
before earned a laughable salary and, today, as private individuals, can
earn 100, 150 and even 200 pesos daily, will have to close for lack of
raw material; it's only a question of time.

The Camajuaní municipality has a population of under 60,000 inhabitants.
It's worrisome to know that an important part of them will be left
unemployed; and, logically, this will cause major problems.

Translated by Regina Anavy

Source: Camajuani in Suspense over Corruption / Juan Juan Almeida |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/camajuan-in-suspense-over-corruption-juan-juan-almeida/