Embarrassed for Others / Rebeca Monzo
Rebeca Monzo, Translator: Unstated
Yesterday, watching on my planet's television the images of the May Day
parade, I couldn't but feel embarrassed.
How is it possible that a people, whose civil rights have been and are
being trampled on, by a regime that maintains its power at all costs,
for fifty-three years, can allow itself to be a part of such a farce.
There was a larger audience than for the Mass offered by Benedicto XVI.
It's clear that both concentrations were convened by the government
itself, which is why I didn't feel motivated to participate in either
one, despite the fact that I am still religious.
A friend of mine, who is a civilian worker in a repressive ministry,
came over and very proudly showed me a splendid pair of boots, modern,
comfortable, of the best quality, that they handed out to those in her
organization who agreed to march. I don't know what other ministries or
workplaces offered, or with what subtlety they made their threats. I
think I understand the fear that overcomes them, and their desire to
keep their jobs at all costs, but I can't get my head around seeing
"self-employed workers" waving placards in support of the regime. I just
managed to see the huge banner of La Pachanga (a cafe restaurant),
because I couldn't stomach any more time in front of the screen.
What was made very clear to me, is that these people don't deserve that
civic and honest citizens are constantly being exposed to defend them. I
have come, once again very regretfully, to conclude that each people has
what it deserves. This is demonstrated by more than half a century of
indoctrination.
May 2 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18038
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Cuba to buy dozens of tractors
Cuba to buy dozens of tractors
Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) agreed to sell Cuba "close to 100″
Belarus-assembled tractors, Prensa Latina reported.
Details of the purchase were not disclosed. Cuban and Belarus officials,
according to press reports, have negotiated assembly of MTZ tractors on
the island.
MTZ is currently building an assembly plant in Venezuela, with a
capacity of 10,000 tractors per year. Some of the production in
Venezuela will eventually be sold in other Latin American markets, a MTZ
official told Prensa Latina.
Cuba's relationship with the state-owned company dates back to the
Soviet era.
Cuba will buy MTZ's 1523 model, a mid-range product with 150 horsepower
and an air conditioned cabin. MTZ officials told Prensa Latina that the
Cuban purchase will not be affected by EU sanctions. Belarus is subject
to economic sanctions from the European Union.
http://www.cubastandard.com/2012/05/02/cuba-to-buy-dozens-of-tractors/
Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ) agreed to sell Cuba "close to 100″
Belarus-assembled tractors, Prensa Latina reported.
Details of the purchase were not disclosed. Cuban and Belarus officials,
according to press reports, have negotiated assembly of MTZ tractors on
the island.
MTZ is currently building an assembly plant in Venezuela, with a
capacity of 10,000 tractors per year. Some of the production in
Venezuela will eventually be sold in other Latin American markets, a MTZ
official told Prensa Latina.
Cuba's relationship with the state-owned company dates back to the
Soviet era.
Cuba will buy MTZ's 1523 model, a mid-range product with 150 horsepower
and an air conditioned cabin. MTZ officials told Prensa Latina that the
Cuban purchase will not be affected by EU sanctions. Belarus is subject
to economic sanctions from the European Union.
http://www.cubastandard.com/2012/05/02/cuba-to-buy-dozens-of-tractors/
May Day in Cuba: The Doctors Out in Front
May Day in Cuba: The Doctors Out in Front
May 2, 2012
Fernando Ravsberg*
HAVANA TIMES, May 2 — This year's May Day demonstration in Havana's
Revolution Square was led by a broad representation of health care
workers, whose work abroad has turned into the principal source of
income for the country.
Tens of thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses and medical technicians
annually bring in more foreign exchange than tourism and family
remittances – the two sources that in the 1990s were the oxygen that
allowed the country to withstand the brutal economic crisis.
The majority of the physicians work in Venezuela in "social missions"
promoted by Hugo Chavez, but officials of Cuba's Ministry of Public
Health report that there's cooperation in dozens of places in the
Americas, Africa, Asia and even Europe.
Moreover, this trend seems to be progressively extending to other
sectors, with Cuban professionals engaged in several countries as water
engineers, architects, chemists, computer scientists and sports
trainers. There are thousands of them now working in several African
nations.
The sale of medical services
The Cuban government manages these statistics with great discretion, but
all sources conclude that there are about 40,000 of their health care
workers serving overseas – most of them in Venezuela, but also in 69
other countries.
According to studies by centers specializing in the analysis of the
Cuban economy, health care personnel bring in $5 billion USD annually, a
significant figure when compared with the $2.4 billion received from
tourism or the $1.2 billion from remittances.
The doctors spend periods of two years working in one country or
another, during which time they receive part of their salary there while
another part goes to their family in Cuba (who are paid in regular pesos
and convertible pesos, and are given a discount card to make purchase in
stores). Likewise, on their return to Cuba, these workers are allowed to
import a large amount of goods with them.
However, the salaries received by these doctors represent a small part
of what the Cuban contracting company charges customers who demand their
services. This means the bulk of the money goes into the state treasury,
making it one of the government's highest profit-generating activities.
"People of Science"
Public health has been one of the greatest accomplishments of the Cuban
Revolution, which is not mere propaganda: Health indexes of Cubans are
enviable when compared to the rest of the region. Photo: Raquel Perez
In January 1960, in one of his first speeches as prime minister, Fidel
Castro announced that "the future of our country must necessarily be a
future of people of science" and the following year he launched the
nation straight into a massive literacy campaign.
Half a century later, Cuba has more than 1 million professional
graduates in diverse branches – of which 70,000 are doctors, or about 10
times more than the country had when the victorious barbudos (bearded
guerillas) entered Havana.
Despite the country being left with only 3,000 doctors after the
revolution, the provision of medical assistance to other countries began
immediately, as far afield as Algeria. Such aid was provided for decades
for free.
It was at the insistence of President Hugo Chavez that this system of
"internationalism" be transformed into a relation of South-South
exchange in which Cuba provides tens of thousands of doctors, teachers
and coaches while Venezuela pays with oil.
With the arrival of Raul Castro to the presidency, that system was
extended to relations with other nations, such as South Africa, Algeria
and Angola. Some 3,000 Cuban professionals are working in Angola, whose
services annually contribute more than $100 million to the island's economy.
The new strategy
The government's new policies seem to pursue the use of those human
resources that are available to Cuba: that wealth of college graduates
that the national economy is unable to assimilate and see themselves
forced to do other jobs.
Although currently the work of most doctors serving in other countries
is charged for, Havana has retained free missions – such as in Haiti,
where hundreds of Cuban aid workers have played a prominent role since
the earthquake and in the fight against cholera.
Cuba is also involved in other altruistic projects, such as "Operation
Milagro" (which has restored eyesight to millions of people), medical
research in the ALBA bloc nations, and a school of medicine that
graduates thousands of doctors from across the Americas and the Third
World every year.
The fact that the May Day march was led by health care personnel is a
tribute to one of the sectors that has worked best internally over the
last five decades and today is also the mainstay of the Cuban economy.
—–
(*) An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the Spanish
original) published by Cartas Desde Cuba.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68998
May 2, 2012
Fernando Ravsberg*
HAVANA TIMES, May 2 — This year's May Day demonstration in Havana's
Revolution Square was led by a broad representation of health care
workers, whose work abroad has turned into the principal source of
income for the country.
Tens of thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses and medical technicians
annually bring in more foreign exchange than tourism and family
remittances – the two sources that in the 1990s were the oxygen that
allowed the country to withstand the brutal economic crisis.
The majority of the physicians work in Venezuela in "social missions"
promoted by Hugo Chavez, but officials of Cuba's Ministry of Public
Health report that there's cooperation in dozens of places in the
Americas, Africa, Asia and even Europe.
Moreover, this trend seems to be progressively extending to other
sectors, with Cuban professionals engaged in several countries as water
engineers, architects, chemists, computer scientists and sports
trainers. There are thousands of them now working in several African
nations.
The sale of medical services
The Cuban government manages these statistics with great discretion, but
all sources conclude that there are about 40,000 of their health care
workers serving overseas – most of them in Venezuela, but also in 69
other countries.
According to studies by centers specializing in the analysis of the
Cuban economy, health care personnel bring in $5 billion USD annually, a
significant figure when compared with the $2.4 billion received from
tourism or the $1.2 billion from remittances.
The doctors spend periods of two years working in one country or
another, during which time they receive part of their salary there while
another part goes to their family in Cuba (who are paid in regular pesos
and convertible pesos, and are given a discount card to make purchase in
stores). Likewise, on their return to Cuba, these workers are allowed to
import a large amount of goods with them.
However, the salaries received by these doctors represent a small part
of what the Cuban contracting company charges customers who demand their
services. This means the bulk of the money goes into the state treasury,
making it one of the government's highest profit-generating activities.
"People of Science"
Public health has been one of the greatest accomplishments of the Cuban
Revolution, which is not mere propaganda: Health indexes of Cubans are
enviable when compared to the rest of the region. Photo: Raquel Perez
In January 1960, in one of his first speeches as prime minister, Fidel
Castro announced that "the future of our country must necessarily be a
future of people of science" and the following year he launched the
nation straight into a massive literacy campaign.
Half a century later, Cuba has more than 1 million professional
graduates in diverse branches – of which 70,000 are doctors, or about 10
times more than the country had when the victorious barbudos (bearded
guerillas) entered Havana.
Despite the country being left with only 3,000 doctors after the
revolution, the provision of medical assistance to other countries began
immediately, as far afield as Algeria. Such aid was provided for decades
for free.
It was at the insistence of President Hugo Chavez that this system of
"internationalism" be transformed into a relation of South-South
exchange in which Cuba provides tens of thousands of doctors, teachers
and coaches while Venezuela pays with oil.
With the arrival of Raul Castro to the presidency, that system was
extended to relations with other nations, such as South Africa, Algeria
and Angola. Some 3,000 Cuban professionals are working in Angola, whose
services annually contribute more than $100 million to the island's economy.
The new strategy
The government's new policies seem to pursue the use of those human
resources that are available to Cuba: that wealth of college graduates
that the national economy is unable to assimilate and see themselves
forced to do other jobs.
Although currently the work of most doctors serving in other countries
is charged for, Havana has retained free missions – such as in Haiti,
where hundreds of Cuban aid workers have played a prominent role since
the earthquake and in the fight against cholera.
Cuba is also involved in other altruistic projects, such as "Operation
Milagro" (which has restored eyesight to millions of people), medical
research in the ALBA bloc nations, and a school of medicine that
graduates thousands of doctors from across the Americas and the Third
World every year.
The fact that the May Day march was led by health care personnel is a
tribute to one of the sectors that has worked best internally over the
last five decades and today is also the mainstay of the Cuban economy.
—–
(*) An authorized translation by Havana Times (from the Spanish
original) published by Cartas Desde Cuba.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68998
Cuba: A Little Hunger and Lot of Poor Eating
Cuba: A Little Hunger and Lot of Poor Eating
May 2, 2012
Alfredo Fernandez
HAVANA TIMES, May 2 — As a Cuban, I'm always surprised with the way my
fellow citizens refer to hunger as a "thing of the past," since we felt
it sharply back in the 1990s. The fact is, however, that this isn't
always the case.
A brief review of that miserable decade reminds me that we used to eat
bistec de toronja ("grapefruit steak," consisting of breaded and fried
grapefruit skins) as well as soy picadillo (the worst ground meat-like
substance that any human beings ever tasted in the twentieth century, a
"mystery meat" that survives up through today).
Some less fortunate individuals even got to the point of trying bistec
de colcha de trapear (mop-tassel steak).
In the '90s we got used to cooking without oil — on those rare occasions
when we did cook — sometimes without salt and using animal fat; bread
was also scarce. In short, at times the Cuban diet reached extremely low
levels.
Today it's true that our normal food has reappeared, though not without
much effort. One can commonly find oil, salt, an occasional chicken leg
or a newly introduced ground-turkey product (which, though still
expensive for workers, sometimes can afford the luxury of being edible).
Oh, and some beans, which remain available pretty much all year round at
the market.
Nonetheless, now it would be worth asking if the diet that we Cubans eat
today is in line with the parameters accepted by the World Health
Organization.
It's no lie that the act of eating in Cuba has improved compared to the
'90s. But to tell the truth, our diets are still very far from what's
acceptable. The low wages that Cubans earn make it impossible to balance
their diets with fruits, cereals, fiber and protein, as can any worker
earning an average wage in this world.
Without a doubt, Cubans today live in the "empire of carbohydrates,"
with so much white bread and sugar at the center of our diets many of
our diseases are caused by excessive consumption of these – oh, and of
course those illness are still influenced by the nutritional
deficiencies as a result of the mythic '90s.
Two years ago "El Panfilo" (literally "the simpleton") — a resident of
the Vedado neighborhood, with a few shots of rum already under his belt
— had the audacity to interrupt a promotional video for the group
Ogguere with his now famous call for "jama!" (food).
Many people around the world were astonished that in such a short time
this unique video was seen by more than a million people on YouTube.
Yet and still, when I see my wages for the month and note that there's
nothing I can really buy with them, I always wonder: Did the hunger of
the '90s ever end?
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68989
May 2, 2012
Alfredo Fernandez
HAVANA TIMES, May 2 — As a Cuban, I'm always surprised with the way my
fellow citizens refer to hunger as a "thing of the past," since we felt
it sharply back in the 1990s. The fact is, however, that this isn't
always the case.
A brief review of that miserable decade reminds me that we used to eat
bistec de toronja ("grapefruit steak," consisting of breaded and fried
grapefruit skins) as well as soy picadillo (the worst ground meat-like
substance that any human beings ever tasted in the twentieth century, a
"mystery meat" that survives up through today).
Some less fortunate individuals even got to the point of trying bistec
de colcha de trapear (mop-tassel steak).
In the '90s we got used to cooking without oil — on those rare occasions
when we did cook — sometimes without salt and using animal fat; bread
was also scarce. In short, at times the Cuban diet reached extremely low
levels.
Today it's true that our normal food has reappeared, though not without
much effort. One can commonly find oil, salt, an occasional chicken leg
or a newly introduced ground-turkey product (which, though still
expensive for workers, sometimes can afford the luxury of being edible).
Oh, and some beans, which remain available pretty much all year round at
the market.
Nonetheless, now it would be worth asking if the diet that we Cubans eat
today is in line with the parameters accepted by the World Health
Organization.
It's no lie that the act of eating in Cuba has improved compared to the
'90s. But to tell the truth, our diets are still very far from what's
acceptable. The low wages that Cubans earn make it impossible to balance
their diets with fruits, cereals, fiber and protein, as can any worker
earning an average wage in this world.
Without a doubt, Cubans today live in the "empire of carbohydrates,"
with so much white bread and sugar at the center of our diets many of
our diseases are caused by excessive consumption of these – oh, and of
course those illness are still influenced by the nutritional
deficiencies as a result of the mythic '90s.
Two years ago "El Panfilo" (literally "the simpleton") — a resident of
the Vedado neighborhood, with a few shots of rum already under his belt
— had the audacity to interrupt a promotional video for the group
Ogguere with his now famous call for "jama!" (food).
Many people around the world were astonished that in such a short time
this unique video was seen by more than a million people on YouTube.
Yet and still, when I see my wages for the month and note that there's
nothing I can really buy with them, I always wonder: Did the hunger of
the '90s ever end?
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68989
Cuba's New Mantra: Viva Private Business
Cuba's New Mantra: Viva Private Business
by Nick Miroff
Listen to the Story
Two self-employed florists prepare bunches of flowers in Havana last
year. The Cuban government is stepping up economic reforms and estimates
that in four or five years, nearly half the workforce will be employed
in the private sector.
text size A A A
May 2, 2012
Socialism has been Cuba's official economic policy for more than a
half-century, and some 85 percent of the Cuban workforce is employed by
the state.
But that is changing fast. Communist authorities say that nearly half of
Cuba's economic activity will shift to the private or "non-state" sector
in the next four or five years.
Those plans signal a new urgency to Cuban President Raul Castro's
economic reforms, and one reason is that Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, the island's biggest benefactor, is battling cancer and facing
re-election in October.
The new approach was evident in this year's May Day parade in Havana,
which was a little different from the Soviet-style processions of the past.
Between the drumming and the dancing girls writhing around on floats in
tightfitting tops, it was hard to hear Cuban officials exhorting workers
to greater efficiency and more discipline.
The state workers, duty-bound to attend the parade, were making the most
of it, even if there wasn't a lot to celebrate. Average salaries in Cuba
remain stuck at about $20 a month, with officials saying wages can't
rise until productivity increases.
Still, there was a growing contingent of new Cuban workers on the march
this year: self-employed entrepreneurs and private business owners like
Lazaro Enciso. Carrying a banner with some of his 20 employees, he said
he'd come to show support for Raul Castro's liberalization moves.
"This is a new way to create jobs for our country," said Enciso, who
runs a snack bar, a clothing shop and another business selling religious
items. "As long as you're entrepreneurial, honest and revolutionary,
there's no obstacle to success here."
Venezuelan Lifeline In Jeopardy?
As Cubans marched and chanted "Long live the revolution," the island's
biggest financial backer, Venezuela's Chavez, was in a Havana hospital
for another round of cancer treatments.
Chavez provides the island with two-thirds of its oil on favorable
terms, along with more than $5 billion a year in exchange for the Cuban
doctors and other professionals working in Venezuela.
Now, with Chavez so ill he has prayed on national television for Jesus
to spare his life, Cuban economist Pavel Vidal says it's clear the
economic reforms must move faster.
"Cuba's economy is small, and from a political-economic standpoint, it's
closed, with a high level of dependency on access to hard currency for
growth," says Vidal. "A loss of support from Venezuela would send Cuba
into a recession."
Vidal and others say the damage to Cuba's economy wouldn't be as severe
as the sudden demise of the Soviet Union a generation ago. The island's
relationship with Venezuela is more interdependent, and even if Chavez
is no longer in power, it might take time for their two-way trade to
untangle.
Despite Changes, More Openness Needed
Still, the possibility is putting pressure on Raul Castro to broaden the
reforms. Cuban entrepreneurs still can't contract directly with foreign
suppliers or wholesalers, and the government only grants licenses in
about 200 types of trades and businesses.
A Havana car wash is one example of Cuban entrepreneurs learning to
diversify beyond selling snacks or renting rooms to tourists. But the
driveway-sized business only has space to wash and vacuum one vehicle at
a time, and it's always full.
Hildelisa Cespedes says her family is waiting to see if local officials
will let them rent out a rundown garage around the corner that is owned
by the state, the kind of arrangement Cuban authorities say they're
still studying.
"If we had a bigger place, we could have more customers and hire more
workers," Cespedes says. "We're ready to make the investment."
Cuba's uncertain economic outlook may find a new lifeline even if
Venezuelan support dries up. A host of foreign companies are starting to
drill for oil in the deep water off Cuba's north coast. If sizable
deposits are found, the crude could take years to bring to market, but
economists say Cuba's government would get access to fresh lines of
credit right away.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/02/151860734/cubas-new-mantra-viva-private-business
by Nick Miroff
Listen to the Story
Two self-employed florists prepare bunches of flowers in Havana last
year. The Cuban government is stepping up economic reforms and estimates
that in four or five years, nearly half the workforce will be employed
in the private sector.
text size A A A
May 2, 2012
Socialism has been Cuba's official economic policy for more than a
half-century, and some 85 percent of the Cuban workforce is employed by
the state.
But that is changing fast. Communist authorities say that nearly half of
Cuba's economic activity will shift to the private or "non-state" sector
in the next four or five years.
Those plans signal a new urgency to Cuban President Raul Castro's
economic reforms, and one reason is that Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, the island's biggest benefactor, is battling cancer and facing
re-election in October.
The new approach was evident in this year's May Day parade in Havana,
which was a little different from the Soviet-style processions of the past.
Between the drumming and the dancing girls writhing around on floats in
tightfitting tops, it was hard to hear Cuban officials exhorting workers
to greater efficiency and more discipline.
The state workers, duty-bound to attend the parade, were making the most
of it, even if there wasn't a lot to celebrate. Average salaries in Cuba
remain stuck at about $20 a month, with officials saying wages can't
rise until productivity increases.
Still, there was a growing contingent of new Cuban workers on the march
this year: self-employed entrepreneurs and private business owners like
Lazaro Enciso. Carrying a banner with some of his 20 employees, he said
he'd come to show support for Raul Castro's liberalization moves.
"This is a new way to create jobs for our country," said Enciso, who
runs a snack bar, a clothing shop and another business selling religious
items. "As long as you're entrepreneurial, honest and revolutionary,
there's no obstacle to success here."
Venezuelan Lifeline In Jeopardy?
As Cubans marched and chanted "Long live the revolution," the island's
biggest financial backer, Venezuela's Chavez, was in a Havana hospital
for another round of cancer treatments.
Chavez provides the island with two-thirds of its oil on favorable
terms, along with more than $5 billion a year in exchange for the Cuban
doctors and other professionals working in Venezuela.
Now, with Chavez so ill he has prayed on national television for Jesus
to spare his life, Cuban economist Pavel Vidal says it's clear the
economic reforms must move faster.
"Cuba's economy is small, and from a political-economic standpoint, it's
closed, with a high level of dependency on access to hard currency for
growth," says Vidal. "A loss of support from Venezuela would send Cuba
into a recession."
Vidal and others say the damage to Cuba's economy wouldn't be as severe
as the sudden demise of the Soviet Union a generation ago. The island's
relationship with Venezuela is more interdependent, and even if Chavez
is no longer in power, it might take time for their two-way trade to
untangle.
Despite Changes, More Openness Needed
Still, the possibility is putting pressure on Raul Castro to broaden the
reforms. Cuban entrepreneurs still can't contract directly with foreign
suppliers or wholesalers, and the government only grants licenses in
about 200 types of trades and businesses.
A Havana car wash is one example of Cuban entrepreneurs learning to
diversify beyond selling snacks or renting rooms to tourists. But the
driveway-sized business only has space to wash and vacuum one vehicle at
a time, and it's always full.
Hildelisa Cespedes says her family is waiting to see if local officials
will let them rent out a rundown garage around the corner that is owned
by the state, the kind of arrangement Cuban authorities say they're
still studying.
"If we had a bigger place, we could have more customers and hire more
workers," Cespedes says. "We're ready to make the investment."
Cuba's uncertain economic outlook may find a new lifeline even if
Venezuelan support dries up. A host of foreign companies are starting to
drill for oil in the deep water off Cuba's north coast. If sizable
deposits are found, the crude could take years to bring to market, but
economists say Cuba's government would get access to fresh lines of
credit right away.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/02/151860734/cubas-new-mantra-viva-private-business
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Fear of White / Agustín Valentín López Canino
Fear of White / Agustín Valentín López Canino
Agustín Valentín López Canino, Translator: Unstated
The man dressed in white walks up to the exit gate at the airport. A
person with a calculating official face stops him and asks, "Do your
clothes have something to do with the Ladies in White?
The man's voice quivers. He's scared like a deer caught in the headlights.
"No, no, I do not know what you mean."
They let him pass and he boards the plane bound for Nassau, from there
to continue on a flight to the United States. He now has a Spanish
passport. As the plane takes off, he thinks: "No more white clothes, I
swear." To deny one's nationality is a means of acquiring rights.
The Cuba that is forgotten after one acquires a foreign passport, a visa
to travel abroad, or exile.
The man in white lives better than the dispossessed. He has a rental
car, and conducts unscrupulous business on his trips abroad. He knows it
is wrong, knows what is corrupt, unworthy, immoral, low, but he closes
his eyes and take advantage of the opportunities, the rights that go
with foreign passports, of course. He discards and is almost against
the opposition, he doesn't want to know about it, not even to know it
exists. There are thousands of Cubans like him, who look away from the
sinking Cuba.
Today, leaving for the United States, a young man with whom I have a
deep friendship, so I ask a favor of him that has no relationship to
politics. I cut a plastic bottle in half and place a rose inside, and
wrap up a petrified shell to send to a friend. My hunch tells me he
won't take it to the airport, which is what happens. The next day his
mother tells me.
"Please forgive him, his aunt told him not to try it. He could lose out."
It's been more than a year since I saw my daughter. The person I love
most in this world. Finally she and her husband left. With them, I
wanted to deliver a letter that he had no political connotation. Her
husband treated me almost contemptuously and reproachfully (it was his
nerves). My daughter almost fought me, it tore my heart out when she
left. For her and for the country.
Dozens of friends have gone to the United States, even some politicians
who had provided support and assistance when they were in this infernal
land, they come and go so many times it's like they're traveling from
one side to another of this city, not only do they forgot about me but
about Cuba.
Except those involved with the opposition, the rest are cultural groups,
intellectuals or scientists, including the "internationalists," minor
dictators ordered not to jeopardize their chance at the rights and they
become a repudiation brigade not to injustice about Cuba, but
suppressing any call for justice for Cuba.
I do not want anyone to come and demand the right and justice that
belongs to us, we who hourly eat the dust that plagues our nation and
allow ourselves to be torn to pieces by the tyranny that makes all
Cubans, in one way or another, scum, miserable garbage, beggars for
rights. But neither to I want so much humiliation falling on the nation
sold at the price of the scraps of power.
We Cubans do not need weapons to defeat the dictatorship and establish
democracy. We just need a minimum of honor, decency, shame, dignity, and
enough courage to exercise it. The people of Cuba have buried their
demands for justice. We don't deserve their reprimands and the dead. But
nor do I deserve that Christ went to the cross for me, and yet there he
was, martyred for my sins. But there is a difference, Christ is God and
we Cubans, who are we?
Martí's dream is my own and one can no longer say "The palms are brides
who wait, and we must place justice higher than the palms."
The palms that are left are forgotten brides, crying for their Cuban
boyfriends who abandoned them, trading them in a horrible and cowardly
exchange for American, Spanish, Ecuadorian or Venezuelan passports.
Because they lacked the courage to be Cuban in Cuba from within and
below. My Cuba and yours, the Cuba I love with tears and strength, with
all my heart and my desire for freedom, there is not enough wind to
embrace it.
1 May 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18033
Agustín Valentín López Canino, Translator: Unstated
The man dressed in white walks up to the exit gate at the airport. A
person with a calculating official face stops him and asks, "Do your
clothes have something to do with the Ladies in White?
The man's voice quivers. He's scared like a deer caught in the headlights.
"No, no, I do not know what you mean."
They let him pass and he boards the plane bound for Nassau, from there
to continue on a flight to the United States. He now has a Spanish
passport. As the plane takes off, he thinks: "No more white clothes, I
swear." To deny one's nationality is a means of acquiring rights.
The Cuba that is forgotten after one acquires a foreign passport, a visa
to travel abroad, or exile.
The man in white lives better than the dispossessed. He has a rental
car, and conducts unscrupulous business on his trips abroad. He knows it
is wrong, knows what is corrupt, unworthy, immoral, low, but he closes
his eyes and take advantage of the opportunities, the rights that go
with foreign passports, of course. He discards and is almost against
the opposition, he doesn't want to know about it, not even to know it
exists. There are thousands of Cubans like him, who look away from the
sinking Cuba.
Today, leaving for the United States, a young man with whom I have a
deep friendship, so I ask a favor of him that has no relationship to
politics. I cut a plastic bottle in half and place a rose inside, and
wrap up a petrified shell to send to a friend. My hunch tells me he
won't take it to the airport, which is what happens. The next day his
mother tells me.
"Please forgive him, his aunt told him not to try it. He could lose out."
It's been more than a year since I saw my daughter. The person I love
most in this world. Finally she and her husband left. With them, I
wanted to deliver a letter that he had no political connotation. Her
husband treated me almost contemptuously and reproachfully (it was his
nerves). My daughter almost fought me, it tore my heart out when she
left. For her and for the country.
Dozens of friends have gone to the United States, even some politicians
who had provided support and assistance when they were in this infernal
land, they come and go so many times it's like they're traveling from
one side to another of this city, not only do they forgot about me but
about Cuba.
Except those involved with the opposition, the rest are cultural groups,
intellectuals or scientists, including the "internationalists," minor
dictators ordered not to jeopardize their chance at the rights and they
become a repudiation brigade not to injustice about Cuba, but
suppressing any call for justice for Cuba.
I do not want anyone to come and demand the right and justice that
belongs to us, we who hourly eat the dust that plagues our nation and
allow ourselves to be torn to pieces by the tyranny that makes all
Cubans, in one way or another, scum, miserable garbage, beggars for
rights. But neither to I want so much humiliation falling on the nation
sold at the price of the scraps of power.
We Cubans do not need weapons to defeat the dictatorship and establish
democracy. We just need a minimum of honor, decency, shame, dignity, and
enough courage to exercise it. The people of Cuba have buried their
demands for justice. We don't deserve their reprimands and the dead. But
nor do I deserve that Christ went to the cross for me, and yet there he
was, martyred for my sins. But there is a difference, Christ is God and
we Cubans, who are we?
Martí's dream is my own and one can no longer say "The palms are brides
who wait, and we must place justice higher than the palms."
The palms that are left are forgotten brides, crying for their Cuban
boyfriends who abandoned them, trading them in a horrible and cowardly
exchange for American, Spanish, Ecuadorian or Venezuelan passports.
Because they lacked the courage to be Cuban in Cuba from within and
below. My Cuba and yours, the Cuba I love with tears and strength, with
all my heart and my desire for freedom, there is not enough wind to
embrace it.
1 May 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18033
Marching on their own? / Miriam Celaya
Marching on their own? / Miriam Celaya
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting
The official press has been announcing the parade this May 1st with a
newly added component to the "army" of workers that will march in
support of the revolution and socialism: the self-employed.
I've been reflecting on the theme (I'm showing an alarming tendency to
reflections) and I cannot quite understand the issue. Aren't the
self-employed a sector that represents private enterprise? Haven't we
been taught in school that private property is one of the "evils of
capitalism," a source of exploitation for the proletariat? Has the Cuban
system created a new species, the owner-laborer? Something else is
really bothering me: What union does a restaurant or cafeteria owner, or
a street vendor with a vegetable and fruit cart belong to? Will they
parade in favor of high tax rates and in support of the lack of
wholesale markets for the procurement of the materials they need? Are
they the new cuckolded and abused?
I can't begin to imagine, for example, the wealthy owners of certain
important "eateries" in Havana — and I beg readers to allow me to omit
names, I am not trying to point at the more successful Cuban
entrepreneurs — walking in the sun towards the Plaza Cívica, chanting
slogans for the proletariat, or singing that song that says "let's
change the world's stage by sinking the bourgeois empire." It's too
unreal, too perverse.
Nevertheless, this is Castro's Cuba, so, mocking the poet, don't thee be
surprised of anything. I know that many self-employed individuals, those
engaged in the crafts trade from the stands that occupy space leased
from the State, such as the once elegant department store Fin de Siglo,
have been ordered to "become members of a syndicate" — as has been
stated in the official press — including the payment of union dues and
have recently been asked to attend a meeting to sign their commitment to
attend the march. I haven't been able to confirm this fact, but we know
that it is also common practice for any state employee.
Paradoxically, employees of a restaurant or any other privately owned
business do not have the possibility to organize their own union capable
of facing an employer in order to defend their interests, though many
work longer hours than stipulated by the country's labor laws, can be
dismissed by their employers without the right to compensation, and lack
almost all labor rights, demonstrating that "self-employed unionism" is
another false formula of the system to maintain the oppression of
individuals beyond their relative economic independence from the state.
It is obvious that, when convening "independents" to this parade, the
government has the intention to continue to monitor the supply of
slaves, even the sector of freedmen, i.e., those who are in the first
phase of buying their freedom through their economic activity,
independent of the Master. Official control mechanisms deem important
that those individuals who turn autonomous do not become independent or
associate freely, and, at the same time, the government needs to offer
the world the impression that private businessmen and manufacturers are
aligned with the revolution, thus legitimizing the "renewal."
Worst of all is that there is a representative sample of the
self-employed who will lend themselves to the new farce. So then, the
self-employed will march this May 1st under the banners of socialism,
and maybe soon a "union of revolutionary self-employed" will be
established. This won't, even remotely, be a march on anyone's own account.
Translated by Norma Whiting
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18028
Miriam Celaya, Translator: Norma Whiting
The official press has been announcing the parade this May 1st with a
newly added component to the "army" of workers that will march in
support of the revolution and socialism: the self-employed.
I've been reflecting on the theme (I'm showing an alarming tendency to
reflections) and I cannot quite understand the issue. Aren't the
self-employed a sector that represents private enterprise? Haven't we
been taught in school that private property is one of the "evils of
capitalism," a source of exploitation for the proletariat? Has the Cuban
system created a new species, the owner-laborer? Something else is
really bothering me: What union does a restaurant or cafeteria owner, or
a street vendor with a vegetable and fruit cart belong to? Will they
parade in favor of high tax rates and in support of the lack of
wholesale markets for the procurement of the materials they need? Are
they the new cuckolded and abused?
I can't begin to imagine, for example, the wealthy owners of certain
important "eateries" in Havana — and I beg readers to allow me to omit
names, I am not trying to point at the more successful Cuban
entrepreneurs — walking in the sun towards the Plaza Cívica, chanting
slogans for the proletariat, or singing that song that says "let's
change the world's stage by sinking the bourgeois empire." It's too
unreal, too perverse.
Nevertheless, this is Castro's Cuba, so, mocking the poet, don't thee be
surprised of anything. I know that many self-employed individuals, those
engaged in the crafts trade from the stands that occupy space leased
from the State, such as the once elegant department store Fin de Siglo,
have been ordered to "become members of a syndicate" — as has been
stated in the official press — including the payment of union dues and
have recently been asked to attend a meeting to sign their commitment to
attend the march. I haven't been able to confirm this fact, but we know
that it is also common practice for any state employee.
Paradoxically, employees of a restaurant or any other privately owned
business do not have the possibility to organize their own union capable
of facing an employer in order to defend their interests, though many
work longer hours than stipulated by the country's labor laws, can be
dismissed by their employers without the right to compensation, and lack
almost all labor rights, demonstrating that "self-employed unionism" is
another false formula of the system to maintain the oppression of
individuals beyond their relative economic independence from the state.
It is obvious that, when convening "independents" to this parade, the
government has the intention to continue to monitor the supply of
slaves, even the sector of freedmen, i.e., those who are in the first
phase of buying their freedom through their economic activity,
independent of the Master. Official control mechanisms deem important
that those individuals who turn autonomous do not become independent or
associate freely, and, at the same time, the government needs to offer
the world the impression that private businessmen and manufacturers are
aligned with the revolution, thus legitimizing the "renewal."
Worst of all is that there is a representative sample of the
self-employed who will lend themselves to the new farce. So then, the
self-employed will march this May 1st under the banners of socialism,
and maybe soon a "union of revolutionary self-employed" will be
established. This won't, even remotely, be a march on anyone's own account.
Translated by Norma Whiting
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18028
Hard-up Cuba celebrates scaled-down May Day
1 May 2012 Last updated at 21:39 GMT
Hard-up Cuba celebrates scaled-down May Day
Sarah Rainsford By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Havana
Tens of thousands of workers marched through Revolution Square in Havana
in Cuba's traditional May Day celebration.
As they surged past shouting "Long live Fidel and Raul!" and "Down with
imperialism!", a dancing choir sang songs from the revolution and
President Raul Castro smiled and waved in greeting.
A huge poster on the wall of the National Library vowed that Cuba would
never return to capitalism; workers carried banners proclaiming
"Socialism or death!" or waved images of Lenin and Che Guevara.
They were familiar scenes on this Communist-run island, a highly
organised annual show of support.
But Cuba is in the midst of major changes - cutting state employment and
subsidies - making this an uncertain time for workers.
'Preserve socialism'
In a bid to ensure the system here survives, the government is
attempting an urgent overhaul of the struggling, centrally-planned economy.
As a banner across Revolution Square put it, it is a drive to "preserve
and perfect socialism".
The plan is to reduce the bloated state payroll by around 20%, or a
million workers, and cut costs.
So far, a limited amount of private business has been permitted to
absorb them.
More than 370,000 licences have been issued for everything from watch
repairers to privately-run restaurants as workers abandon state salaries
of around $20 a month, and strike out in business alone.
But earlier this month, a senior official indicated that bigger change
was afoot.
"Within four or five years, between 40% and 45% of GDP will result from
non-state production," Esteban Lazo told the Havana city government.
Today, the figure is around 5%.
The next stages might include an expansion of the co-operative system
beyond agriculture to light industry. Highly educated - but low-paid -
young Cubans hope the categories for self-employment will expand, to
include professions like law or architecture.
Cunning advertising
For the moment it's the private restaurant sector that's most popular,
offering the most potential for profit. But there are difficulties,
including restrictions on advertising.
So one new entrepreneur decided to get creative this May Day.
"Whether we're state employees or not, we're still workers and marching
on 1 May is a habit here," explained Sergio Alba Marin, owner of
Pachanga cafe.
The La Pachanga restaurant supporting May Day The La Pachanga restaurant
advertised its support for May Day, circumventing a ban on TV advertising
So the businessman handed staff bright red T-shirts and caps emblazoned
with his logo, and they all joined the workers' parade.
Banner held high, they marched alongside a giant fake cigar representing
the state firm Cohiba and a cage full of live hens, brought by workers
at a state research institute.
"Of course it's an advert. We want people to see we're there, that we're
present," Mr Alba said of his own efforts. "There are no TV adverts
here, but we do what we can."
Cost-cutting
Meanwhile, in the still-vast state sector, Cuba is on efficiency drive.
"We must increase productivity at work, discipline and quality," trade
union leader Salvador Valdes Mesa instructed workers in his May Day speech.
"We must make clear that making savings is a key source of funds," the
unionist added.
In a sign of that policy in practice, this year's May Day parade was a
scaled-down affair. There were fewer fixed stands and posters, and fewer
workers too - meaning less state spending bringing them to the square.
In fact, the whole event was over in what locals called record time. The
last worker had filed out of Revolution Square by 09:15, well under two
hours after it all started.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17916076
Hard-up Cuba celebrates scaled-down May Day
Sarah Rainsford By Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Havana
Tens of thousands of workers marched through Revolution Square in Havana
in Cuba's traditional May Day celebration.
As they surged past shouting "Long live Fidel and Raul!" and "Down with
imperialism!", a dancing choir sang songs from the revolution and
President Raul Castro smiled and waved in greeting.
A huge poster on the wall of the National Library vowed that Cuba would
never return to capitalism; workers carried banners proclaiming
"Socialism or death!" or waved images of Lenin and Che Guevara.
They were familiar scenes on this Communist-run island, a highly
organised annual show of support.
But Cuba is in the midst of major changes - cutting state employment and
subsidies - making this an uncertain time for workers.
'Preserve socialism'
In a bid to ensure the system here survives, the government is
attempting an urgent overhaul of the struggling, centrally-planned economy.
As a banner across Revolution Square put it, it is a drive to "preserve
and perfect socialism".
The plan is to reduce the bloated state payroll by around 20%, or a
million workers, and cut costs.
So far, a limited amount of private business has been permitted to
absorb them.
More than 370,000 licences have been issued for everything from watch
repairers to privately-run restaurants as workers abandon state salaries
of around $20 a month, and strike out in business alone.
But earlier this month, a senior official indicated that bigger change
was afoot.
"Within four or five years, between 40% and 45% of GDP will result from
non-state production," Esteban Lazo told the Havana city government.
Today, the figure is around 5%.
The next stages might include an expansion of the co-operative system
beyond agriculture to light industry. Highly educated - but low-paid -
young Cubans hope the categories for self-employment will expand, to
include professions like law or architecture.
Cunning advertising
For the moment it's the private restaurant sector that's most popular,
offering the most potential for profit. But there are difficulties,
including restrictions on advertising.
So one new entrepreneur decided to get creative this May Day.
"Whether we're state employees or not, we're still workers and marching
on 1 May is a habit here," explained Sergio Alba Marin, owner of
Pachanga cafe.
The La Pachanga restaurant supporting May Day The La Pachanga restaurant
advertised its support for May Day, circumventing a ban on TV advertising
So the businessman handed staff bright red T-shirts and caps emblazoned
with his logo, and they all joined the workers' parade.
Banner held high, they marched alongside a giant fake cigar representing
the state firm Cohiba and a cage full of live hens, brought by workers
at a state research institute.
"Of course it's an advert. We want people to see we're there, that we're
present," Mr Alba said of his own efforts. "There are no TV adverts
here, but we do what we can."
Cost-cutting
Meanwhile, in the still-vast state sector, Cuba is on efficiency drive.
"We must increase productivity at work, discipline and quality," trade
union leader Salvador Valdes Mesa instructed workers in his May Day speech.
"We must make clear that making savings is a key source of funds," the
unionist added.
In a sign of that policy in practice, this year's May Day parade was a
scaled-down affair. There were fewer fixed stands and posters, and fewer
workers too - meaning less state spending bringing them to the square.
In fact, the whole event was over in what locals called record time. The
last worker had filed out of Revolution Square by 09:15, well under two
hours after it all started.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17916076
Facades and Dangers
Facades and Dangers
April 30, 2012
Dariela Aquique
HAVANA TIMES, April 30 — Busy and centrally located Heredia Street in
Santiago de Cuba contains much of our history – especially that which
relates to culture, since still located there is the house of Jose Maria
Heredia, the writer of the classic song "Niagara."
This artery extends for roughly twelve blocks. However, only three of
them (between Calvary and San Pedro are very active – for several reasons.
First, this is because they are embedded in the city's so-called
"historic district," whose buildings evidence a variety of architectural
styles dating back to various periods but that have been preserved over
time.
These have undergone restoration after restoration, sometimes by the
occupants of dwellings, who are required to maintain the character of
these structures.
On certain occasions (usually as a result of a visit by some important
dignitary or due to some special event), restoration work is ordered of
the Office of the Curator of the City, which is responsible for
maintaining the patrimonial values of these structures.
On this street we can find significant and very popular sites
(especially for tourists), such as La Casona de Artex, the Carnival
Museum, the provincial headquarters of UNEAC and its art gallery (La
Confronta), the birthplace-museum of Herida, the "Casa de la Trova" and
numerous tables full of crafts on sale by local artisans.
No less important, but without enjoying such an influx of foreigners,
but also on this street is the monumental Elvira Cape Provincial Library.
Adding to the avenue's attractions is a small gallery of photos, books
and records called the "La Galeria de Eddy," as well as the cozy "El
Holandes" restaurant. These two private businesses currently enjoy
popularity and must be mentioned when talking about this street.
The sad thing about our walk down this street is when we stop and look
at the housing stock — assets that are currently in deplorable condition
— which contrast to the other buildings in a kind of light-dark
contraposition.
The second floor of the building on Heredia and San Felix street has
been propped up for than six years, though people always say that it's
full scale renovation is imminent. Otherwise it is likely that it will
likely collapse at any time, given the unfortunate occurrences that
happen on this well-known street.
Apathy, or what would be the imprudent closing of a facility that
generates a significant cash flow in foreign currency, have caused not
only the houses on Heredia to be exposed to dangerous degrees of
deterioration.
A poster, barely visible, hangs from the balcony of the "Grand Hall" on
the second floor of the Casa de la Trova, where almost every day of the
week this space is crowded with tourists and visitors who are there to
enjoy the music of groups of traditional artists or any other guest
performers.
There, people drink and dance as the music reverberates through the
flimsy beams that hold up the colonial-style balcony. Almost no one
notices the small poster alerting disaster. It reads "Danger of Collapse."
So, on this street where the poet Jose Maria Heredia was born, an avenue
that is famous for its cultural nights back in the 1980's, the route of
bards and dilettantes, the witness of gatherings on the stairs, a street
crowded with people walking up and down, you can see its painted facades
and — running against the grain— a vacant lot, where years ago a
building caught fire and was never rebuilt. Wood supports keep fragile
floors falling in pieces and a small sign warns of danger.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68744
April 30, 2012
Dariela Aquique
HAVANA TIMES, April 30 — Busy and centrally located Heredia Street in
Santiago de Cuba contains much of our history – especially that which
relates to culture, since still located there is the house of Jose Maria
Heredia, the writer of the classic song "Niagara."
This artery extends for roughly twelve blocks. However, only three of
them (between Calvary and San Pedro are very active – for several reasons.
First, this is because they are embedded in the city's so-called
"historic district," whose buildings evidence a variety of architectural
styles dating back to various periods but that have been preserved over
time.
These have undergone restoration after restoration, sometimes by the
occupants of dwellings, who are required to maintain the character of
these structures.
On certain occasions (usually as a result of a visit by some important
dignitary or due to some special event), restoration work is ordered of
the Office of the Curator of the City, which is responsible for
maintaining the patrimonial values of these structures.
On this street we can find significant and very popular sites
(especially for tourists), such as La Casona de Artex, the Carnival
Museum, the provincial headquarters of UNEAC and its art gallery (La
Confronta), the birthplace-museum of Herida, the "Casa de la Trova" and
numerous tables full of crafts on sale by local artisans.
No less important, but without enjoying such an influx of foreigners,
but also on this street is the monumental Elvira Cape Provincial Library.
Adding to the avenue's attractions is a small gallery of photos, books
and records called the "La Galeria de Eddy," as well as the cozy "El
Holandes" restaurant. These two private businesses currently enjoy
popularity and must be mentioned when talking about this street.
The sad thing about our walk down this street is when we stop and look
at the housing stock — assets that are currently in deplorable condition
— which contrast to the other buildings in a kind of light-dark
contraposition.
The second floor of the building on Heredia and San Felix street has
been propped up for than six years, though people always say that it's
full scale renovation is imminent. Otherwise it is likely that it will
likely collapse at any time, given the unfortunate occurrences that
happen on this well-known street.
Apathy, or what would be the imprudent closing of a facility that
generates a significant cash flow in foreign currency, have caused not
only the houses on Heredia to be exposed to dangerous degrees of
deterioration.
A poster, barely visible, hangs from the balcony of the "Grand Hall" on
the second floor of the Casa de la Trova, where almost every day of the
week this space is crowded with tourists and visitors who are there to
enjoy the music of groups of traditional artists or any other guest
performers.
There, people drink and dance as the music reverberates through the
flimsy beams that hold up the colonial-style balcony. Almost no one
notices the small poster alerting disaster. It reads "Danger of Collapse."
So, on this street where the poet Jose Maria Heredia was born, an avenue
that is famous for its cultural nights back in the 1980's, the route of
bards and dilettantes, the witness of gatherings on the stairs, a street
crowded with people walking up and down, you can see its painted facades
and — running against the grain— a vacant lot, where years ago a
building caught fire and was never rebuilt. Wood supports keep fragile
floors falling in pieces and a small sign warns of danger.
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=68744
Kuwait- KFAED signs KD 7.5 million loan agreement for Cuba
Kuwait- KFAED signs KD 7.5 million loan agreement for Cuba
MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) - 02/05/2012
(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development (KFAED) signed a loan agreement of KD 7.5 million to finance
rehabiliation of water network and sewage project in Havana, the
Republic of Cuba.
KFAED's press release said, on Tuesday, that another related guarantee
and project agreements were also signed between the Fund and
representatives of the Republic of Cuba, namely the Institute of
Hydraulic Resources.
The Guarantee Agreement was signed on behalf of the Republic of Cuba by
Vice Minister of Finance and Prices Felix Martinez Suarez. The Loan
Agreement was signed on behalf of the Central Bank of Cuba "Banco
Exterior de Cuba" its President Jacobo Peison Weiner; furthermore, the
Project Agreement was signed on behalf of the Institute of Hydraulic
Resources' Vice President by Jva Jose Gonzalez Escudero. All three
Agreements were signed on behalf of KFAED's Director-General Abdulwahab
Al-Bader.
The aims of the Project are to meet the future demand for drinking water
, reduce the loses in the transmission and distribution networks and
protect the natural resources and the environment for about 550 thousand
inhabitants living in 12 municipalities within the city of Havana
through rehabilitation of water and sewerage network and installation of
water meters.
The 12 municipalities within the project area are divided into two
groups based on the degree of urgency. The first group consists of 7
municipalities namely; Cotorro, San Miguel, Guanabacoa, Habana del Este,
Habana Vieja, La Lisa and Arroyo Naranjo.
The second group consists of 5 municipalities namely; 10 de Octubre,
Centro Habana, Cerro, Marianao and Boyeros. This is the third loan
provided by KFAED to the Republic of Cuba. Two past loans of KD 7.5
million were also given to Cuba to finance the Santiago de Cuba Water
Supply System.
http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093509335/Kuwait-KFAED-signs-KD-7.5-million-loan-agreement-for-Cuba
MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) - 02/05/2012
(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic
Development (KFAED) signed a loan agreement of KD 7.5 million to finance
rehabiliation of water network and sewage project in Havana, the
Republic of Cuba.
KFAED's press release said, on Tuesday, that another related guarantee
and project agreements were also signed between the Fund and
representatives of the Republic of Cuba, namely the Institute of
Hydraulic Resources.
The Guarantee Agreement was signed on behalf of the Republic of Cuba by
Vice Minister of Finance and Prices Felix Martinez Suarez. The Loan
Agreement was signed on behalf of the Central Bank of Cuba "Banco
Exterior de Cuba" its President Jacobo Peison Weiner; furthermore, the
Project Agreement was signed on behalf of the Institute of Hydraulic
Resources' Vice President by Jva Jose Gonzalez Escudero. All three
Agreements were signed on behalf of KFAED's Director-General Abdulwahab
Al-Bader.
The aims of the Project are to meet the future demand for drinking water
, reduce the loses in the transmission and distribution networks and
protect the natural resources and the environment for about 550 thousand
inhabitants living in 12 municipalities within the city of Havana
through rehabilitation of water and sewerage network and installation of
water meters.
The 12 municipalities within the project area are divided into two
groups based on the degree of urgency. The first group consists of 7
municipalities namely; Cotorro, San Miguel, Guanabacoa, Habana del Este,
Habana Vieja, La Lisa and Arroyo Naranjo.
The second group consists of 5 municipalities namely; 10 de Octubre,
Centro Habana, Cerro, Marianao and Boyeros. This is the third loan
provided by KFAED to the Republic of Cuba. Two past loans of KD 7.5
million were also given to Cuba to finance the Santiago de Cuba Water
Supply System.
http://www.menafn.com/menafn/1093509335/Kuwait-KFAED-signs-KD-7.5-million-loan-agreement-for-Cuba
Journalism group cites censorship in 10 countries
Posted on Wednesday, 05.02.12
Journalism group cites censorship in 10 countries
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A journalists' group says that the Horn of Africa nation
Eritrea leads the world in imposing censorship on the media, followed
closely by North Korea, Syria and Iran.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says in a report released Wednesday
that 10 countries suppress news coverage by barring international media,
putting "dictatorial controls" on domestic media, and imposing other
restrictions.
Rounding out the 10 worst censors are Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan,
Burma which also is known as Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Belarus.
The committee, a nonprofit organization based in New York, works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide.
Many of the countries on this year's list also were on the committee's
last list, published in 2006.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2778672/journalism-group-cites-censorship.html
Journalism group cites censorship in 10 countries
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A journalists' group says that the Horn of Africa nation
Eritrea leads the world in imposing censorship on the media, followed
closely by North Korea, Syria and Iran.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says in a report released Wednesday
that 10 countries suppress news coverage by barring international media,
putting "dictatorial controls" on domestic media, and imposing other
restrictions.
Rounding out the 10 worst censors are Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan,
Burma which also is known as Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Belarus.
The committee, a nonprofit organization based in New York, works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide.
Many of the countries on this year's list also were on the committee's
last list, published in 2006.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2778672/journalism-group-cites-censorship.html
Cuban émigrés call for more involvement in the country
Posted on Wednesday, 05.02.12
Cuban émigrés call for more involvement in the country
Cuban government-sponsored meeting of émigrés in Washington heard
requests for them to be more involved in Cuba.
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
A weekend meeting of Cuban diplomats and émigrés in Washington heard
calls for the Raúl Castro government to allow the émigrés to return,
invest and buy property in the island just like any resident,
participants said Tuesday.
The by-invitation-only gathering of about 115 Cubans living in the
United States issued a final declaration that hewed closely to the
topics mentioned in the invitations issued two months ago by the Cuban
diplomatic mission in Washington.
It demanded the end of the U.S. embargo and all other sanctions, the
release of five Cuban spies convicted in South Florida in 1998, the
island's removal from the U.S. list of countries that support
international terrorism and an end to Washington's financial support for
pro-democracy programs in Cuba.
Among other items, it also urged the U.S. government to extradite Cuban
exile Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face terrorism charges and
eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act because it spurs illegal migration to
the United States.
But some participants said that during the closed-door meeting several
émigrés urged Havana authorities to give Cubans living abroad the same
rights as Cubans living on the island. They said they prefer "émigré"
over "exiles" to avoid any political connotation.
Most Cubans living abroad now need Cuban government permits to return to
the island and are not being allowed in most cases to buy properties or
invest in businesses under their own names. The U.S. embargo also limits
Cubans living in the United States.
Cuban officials told participants at the conference Saturday that the
government is "on the irreversible path to normalize relations with the
émigrés," said Hugo Cancio, a participant and Miami music promoter who
owns Fuego Entertainment.
Cancio added that if the Cuban government does offer more equal
treatment, the U.S. émigrés are likely to become more active in opposing
U.S. sanctions on the island.
Castro and other island government officials have spoken several times
about the need to improve relations with Cubans living abroad and to
change the laws and regulations that control emigration as well as the
rights of émigrés.
But several days when the official announcement of the reforms was
expected have come and gone without a word. Unconfirmed reports now
making the rounds of Havana say the changes may be unveiled at the
mid-summer meeting of the legislative National Assembly of Peoples Power.
Sympathizers say Castro wants to correct past wrongs and promote
reconciliation with Cubans abroad, while opponents complain that he only
wants their money because of Cuba's dire economic straits.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2778186/cuban-emigres-call-for-more-involvement.html
Cuban émigrés call for more involvement in the country
Cuban government-sponsored meeting of émigrés in Washington heard
requests for them to be more involved in Cuba.
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
A weekend meeting of Cuban diplomats and émigrés in Washington heard
calls for the Raúl Castro government to allow the émigrés to return,
invest and buy property in the island just like any resident,
participants said Tuesday.
The by-invitation-only gathering of about 115 Cubans living in the
United States issued a final declaration that hewed closely to the
topics mentioned in the invitations issued two months ago by the Cuban
diplomatic mission in Washington.
It demanded the end of the U.S. embargo and all other sanctions, the
release of five Cuban spies convicted in South Florida in 1998, the
island's removal from the U.S. list of countries that support
international terrorism and an end to Washington's financial support for
pro-democracy programs in Cuba.
Among other items, it also urged the U.S. government to extradite Cuban
exile Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela to face terrorism charges and
eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act because it spurs illegal migration to
the United States.
But some participants said that during the closed-door meeting several
émigrés urged Havana authorities to give Cubans living abroad the same
rights as Cubans living on the island. They said they prefer "émigré"
over "exiles" to avoid any political connotation.
Most Cubans living abroad now need Cuban government permits to return to
the island and are not being allowed in most cases to buy properties or
invest in businesses under their own names. The U.S. embargo also limits
Cubans living in the United States.
Cuban officials told participants at the conference Saturday that the
government is "on the irreversible path to normalize relations with the
émigrés," said Hugo Cancio, a participant and Miami music promoter who
owns Fuego Entertainment.
Cancio added that if the Cuban government does offer more equal
treatment, the U.S. émigrés are likely to become more active in opposing
U.S. sanctions on the island.
Castro and other island government officials have spoken several times
about the need to improve relations with Cubans living abroad and to
change the laws and regulations that control emigration as well as the
rights of émigrés.
But several days when the official announcement of the reforms was
expected have come and gone without a word. Unconfirmed reports now
making the rounds of Havana say the changes may be unveiled at the
mid-summer meeting of the legislative National Assembly of Peoples Power.
Sympathizers say Castro wants to correct past wrongs and promote
reconciliation with Cubans abroad, while opponents complain that he only
wants their money because of Cuba's dire economic straits.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/02/2778186/cuban-emigres-call-for-more-involvement.html
In freedom, defecting actors have humble dreams
Posted on Tuesday, 05.01.12
In freedom, defecting actors have humble dreams
By Fabiola Santiago
fsantiago@MiamiHerald.com
When I meet them Tuesday afternoon, the young couple is sitting in front
of the brightly lit make-up mirrors at the studios of América TeVé in
Hialeah Gardens.
Anailín de la Rúa and Javier Núñez Florián are about to go live on Maria
Laria's afternoon talk show Arrebatados (Rapturous), their umpteenth
interview since the 20-year-old actors from Cuba came out of hiding and
announced their defection.
"We're still not able to take in everything that has happened," de la
Rúa tells me when I ask them at what moment during their carefully
plotted escape they realized they were truly free. "We're still in shock."
Núñez Florián, wearing a tight-fitting black T-shirt that says in large
letters "VIVA MIAMI," simply nods.
Freedom is wondrous and scary, too large for words.
"Leaving is the dream of all Cubans," de la Rúa says. "Well, at least of
all of us young Cubans who don't see a future there. We want to work
hard and to see the fruits of our labor, and that is not possible in
Cuba. Nothing is possible in Cuba."
The couple arrived from Havana at Miami International Airport on April
18 and were supposed to take a connecting flight to New York to
participate in the Tribeca Film Festival, where the movie Una noche (One
Night) by the British director Lucy Mulloy was having its U.S. premiere.
In the film, De la Rúa and Núñez Florián, both 20, play an inseparable
brother and sister who plot with a friend their escape from Cuba on a
raft — their first cinematic role. They were cast separately — she while
on a beach, he at the casting call — and they fell in love while filming
four years ago.
In real life, they also became inseparable.
The decision to leave everyone they loved behind and to take the travel
opportunity to flee put them in a similar place to the characters they
played. "But we were lucky, we didn't have to leave on a raft," she says.
They gave up on their first opportunity when they first traveled to
Berlin, where the film was first shown earlier this year. But once in
Miami, they abandoned the film's third protagonist, Dariel Arrechada,
and a film producer at the airport.
They were so scared to lose their bid for freedom that they sat out the
Tribeca Film Festival hiding in Hialeah. The film went on to win three
awards, including a best actor award for Nuñez Florián, who shared the
honor with co-star Arrechada.
"Freedom has a price and it is high," Nuñez Florián says. "We were
willing to pay it. We're sorry we missed it but it was worth it. We
couldn't take the risk'' of being returned to Cuba.
They're learning many new things, not only about the world outside but
about Cuba itself. They didn't know, for example, about the gritty
writings about life on the island of the internationally renown blogger
Yoani Sánchez and of the activism of the dissident movement.
"We only know about how our generation feels in Cuba — hopeless,
resigned to the misery," de la Rúa says.
But now they see a road of opportunity — and hopefully jobs, if not
casting calls — in Las Vegas, where Nuñez's brother, who traveled to
Ecuador and then made it to the United States, now lives.
Their first big goal: to learn English.
"It's the first thing we want to do," de la Rúa says.
She adds: "All we want to do is work and to be able to help our families
in Cuba. We're not here to get castings and be famous or anything like
that. If that happens, great, but we're here for a future and we know we
can have one because we're willing to work hard."
"They're decent kids who grew up in humble neighborhoods in Havana and
have a humble vision for their lives," says Wilfredo Allen, the Miami
immigration attorney handling their application for political asylum.
During the television show, Nuñez-Florián gets to talk live with his
mother in Havana.
"He's my youngest son and he's my life," the woman tells Laria, the show
host.
And to her son, she advises: "Study, become a good actor."
It is de la Rúa who is silent now.
Tears flow.
"We want to be here," she finally says, "but this is a sacrifice because
we love our families and we're not likely to see them for a long time
again."
After the show, the young couple flies to Las Vegas, their plane ticket
donated by the station, leaving behind the recording of another story of
the Cuban exile experience.
Theirs may be woven with the distinct threads of a new generation, with
a reality different from those who came before them, but their dreams,
as will be their new journey of loss of country, family separation, and
hope — that oversized hope that comes with freedom — are common to us all.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/01/2778257/in-freedom-defecting-actors-have.html
In freedom, defecting actors have humble dreams
By Fabiola Santiago
fsantiago@MiamiHerald.com
When I meet them Tuesday afternoon, the young couple is sitting in front
of the brightly lit make-up mirrors at the studios of América TeVé in
Hialeah Gardens.
Anailín de la Rúa and Javier Núñez Florián are about to go live on Maria
Laria's afternoon talk show Arrebatados (Rapturous), their umpteenth
interview since the 20-year-old actors from Cuba came out of hiding and
announced their defection.
"We're still not able to take in everything that has happened," de la
Rúa tells me when I ask them at what moment during their carefully
plotted escape they realized they were truly free. "We're still in shock."
Núñez Florián, wearing a tight-fitting black T-shirt that says in large
letters "VIVA MIAMI," simply nods.
Freedom is wondrous and scary, too large for words.
"Leaving is the dream of all Cubans," de la Rúa says. "Well, at least of
all of us young Cubans who don't see a future there. We want to work
hard and to see the fruits of our labor, and that is not possible in
Cuba. Nothing is possible in Cuba."
The couple arrived from Havana at Miami International Airport on April
18 and were supposed to take a connecting flight to New York to
participate in the Tribeca Film Festival, where the movie Una noche (One
Night) by the British director Lucy Mulloy was having its U.S. premiere.
In the film, De la Rúa and Núñez Florián, both 20, play an inseparable
brother and sister who plot with a friend their escape from Cuba on a
raft — their first cinematic role. They were cast separately — she while
on a beach, he at the casting call — and they fell in love while filming
four years ago.
In real life, they also became inseparable.
The decision to leave everyone they loved behind and to take the travel
opportunity to flee put them in a similar place to the characters they
played. "But we were lucky, we didn't have to leave on a raft," she says.
They gave up on their first opportunity when they first traveled to
Berlin, where the film was first shown earlier this year. But once in
Miami, they abandoned the film's third protagonist, Dariel Arrechada,
and a film producer at the airport.
They were so scared to lose their bid for freedom that they sat out the
Tribeca Film Festival hiding in Hialeah. The film went on to win three
awards, including a best actor award for Nuñez Florián, who shared the
honor with co-star Arrechada.
"Freedom has a price and it is high," Nuñez Florián says. "We were
willing to pay it. We're sorry we missed it but it was worth it. We
couldn't take the risk'' of being returned to Cuba.
They're learning many new things, not only about the world outside but
about Cuba itself. They didn't know, for example, about the gritty
writings about life on the island of the internationally renown blogger
Yoani Sánchez and of the activism of the dissident movement.
"We only know about how our generation feels in Cuba — hopeless,
resigned to the misery," de la Rúa says.
But now they see a road of opportunity — and hopefully jobs, if not
casting calls — in Las Vegas, where Nuñez's brother, who traveled to
Ecuador and then made it to the United States, now lives.
Their first big goal: to learn English.
"It's the first thing we want to do," de la Rúa says.
She adds: "All we want to do is work and to be able to help our families
in Cuba. We're not here to get castings and be famous or anything like
that. If that happens, great, but we're here for a future and we know we
can have one because we're willing to work hard."
"They're decent kids who grew up in humble neighborhoods in Havana and
have a humble vision for their lives," says Wilfredo Allen, the Miami
immigration attorney handling their application for political asylum.
During the television show, Nuñez-Florián gets to talk live with his
mother in Havana.
"He's my youngest son and he's my life," the woman tells Laria, the show
host.
And to her son, she advises: "Study, become a good actor."
It is de la Rúa who is silent now.
Tears flow.
"We want to be here," she finally says, "but this is a sacrifice because
we love our families and we're not likely to see them for a long time
again."
After the show, the young couple flies to Las Vegas, their plane ticket
donated by the station, leaving behind the recording of another story of
the Cuban exile experience.
Theirs may be woven with the distinct threads of a new generation, with
a reality different from those who came before them, but their dreams,
as will be their new journey of loss of country, family separation, and
hope — that oversized hope that comes with freedom — are common to us all.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/01/2778257/in-freedom-defecting-actors-have.html
After 50 years, Cubans hope to travel freely
Posted on Tuesday, 05.01.12
After 50 years, Cubans hope to travel freely
By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press
HAVANA -- After controlling the comings and goings of its people for
five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous
decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a
"radical and profound" change is weeks away.
The comment by Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon has residents, exiles
and policymakers abuzz with speculation that the much-hated exit visa
could be a thing of the past, even if Raul Castro's government continues
to limit the travel of doctors, scientists, military personnel and
others in sensitive roles to prevent a brain drain.
Other top Cuban officials have cautioned against over-excitement,
leaving islanders and Cuba experts to wonder how far Havana's leaders
are willing to go.
In the past 18 months, Castro has removed prohibitions on some private
enterprise, legalized real estate and car sales, and allowed compatriots
to hire employees, ideas that were long anathema to the government's
Marxist underpinnings.
Scrapping travel controls could be an even bigger step, at least
symbolically, and carries enormous economic, social and political risk.
Even half measures - such as ending limits on how long Cubans can live
abroad or cutting the staggeringly high fees for the exit visa that
Cubans must obtain just to leave the country - would be significant.
"It would be a big step forward," said Philip Peters, a Cuba expert at
the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. "If Cuba ends the restrictions
on its own citizens' travel, that means the only travel restrictions
that would remain in place would be those the United States imposes on
its citizens."
The move would open the door to increased emigration and make it easier
for Cubans overseas to avoid forfeiting their residency rights, a fate
that has befallen waves of exiles since the 1959 revolution.
It could also bolster the number of Cubans who travel abroad for work,
increasing earnings sent home in the short term and, ultimately,
investment by a new moneyed class.
Scrapping exit controls should win Cuba support in Europe, which
improved ties after dozens of political prisoners were freed in 2010.
But Peters and several other analysts said they doubt the new rules
would bring about any immediate shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, which
includes a ban on American tourism. Those restrictions are entrenched
and enjoy the backing of powerful Cuban American exiles.
"I don't think it would lead to a drastic change in U.S. policy, but an
accumulation of human rights improvements could lead to an incremental
change," Peters said.
Cuba-born Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, said any
discussion about immigration reform on the island is a peripheral issue.
"The kind of changes I'm interested in are not about immigration," said
Ros-Lehtinen, who heads the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. "I'm
interested in changes that affect fundamental freedom, democracy and
respect for human rights."
U.S. officials said they have been watching for an announcement for
months, noting there has been such talk as far back as August. But
nothing has happened, and they are skeptical that the Castro regime is
truly committed to such reform.
Asked about possible reciprocal measures, one U.S. official said the
Obama administration can't promise anything because it doesn't know what
exactly Cuba plans to announce. The official wasn't authorized to speak
publicly and demanded anonymity.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. "would certainly
welcome greater freedom of movement for the Cuban public."
Rumors of the exit visa's imminent demise have circulated on and off for
years. The whispers became open chatter last spring after the Communist
Party endorsed migration reform at a crucial gathering. But Castro
dashed those hopes in December, saying the timing wasn't right and the
"fate of the revolution" was at stake.
Alarcon's comments, made in an interview published in April, revived
hopes that a bold move is coming.
"One of the questions that we are currently discussing at the highest
level of the government is the question of emigration," he told a French
journalist. "We are working toward a radical and profound reform of
emigration that in the months to come will eliminate this kind of
restriction."
But on Saturday, Vice Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez told exiles
not to set their hopes too high, vowing the government would maintain
some travel controls as long as it faced a threat from enemies in
Washington.
Havana residents say they are anxiously waiting to see what the
government does.
"The time has come to get rid of the exit visa," said Vivian Delgado, a
shop worker. "It's absurd that as a Cuban I must get permission to leave
my country, and even worse that I need permission to come back."
Added Domingo Blanco, a 24-year-old state office worker: "It's as if one
needed to ask to leave one's own house."
Many Cubans are reluctant to talk about their own experience with the
exit visa. One woman named Miru, who has been trying to leave Cuba since
2006, shared her story on the condition her full name not be used for
fear that speaking with a foreign journalist could land her in trouble.
"This has been a very long process," she said of her odyssey, which
began when her husband defected from a medical mission in Africa and
sought asylum in the U.S.
First, she had to get a letter releasing her from her job at a
government ministry - a process that took five years. Only then could
she apply for the exit visa. That was three months ago, and Miru still
hasn't received an answer. Officials say her case is complicated but
won't give a specific reason for the delay.
"I am very anxious to see my husband again," she said.
The exit controls are a Cold War legacy of Cuba's alliance with the
Soviet Union. They were instituted in December 1961 to fight brain drain
as hundreds of thousands of doctors and other professionals fled, many
for new lives in Florida. That was three months before the U.S. embargo
barring most trade with the island went into full effect.
Over the years, it has become much easier for Cubans to obtain
permission to travel, though many are still denied, and it is
particularly hard to take children out of the country.
Also, the exit visa's $150 price tag is a small fortune in a country
where salaries average about $20 a month. In addition, the person the
traveler wishes to visit must pay $200 at a Cuban consulate.
Those who leave get only a 30-day pass, and the cost of an extension
varies by country. In the U.S., the fee is $130 a month. Those who stay
abroad more than 11 months lose the right to reside in Cuba. Before
2011, any property would automatically go to the state.
"The Cuban government has monetized every part of the humiliating
process of coming and going," said Ann Louise Bardach, a longtime Cuba
expert and author of "Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana
and Washington." "Getting out means running a gantlet, and it is all
based on how much humiliation you can endure, and by the time they end
up in Miami, people are filled with hate and dreams of revenge."
Cuban officials have long portrayed the measures as necessary to counter
Washington's meddling. They accuse the U.S. of trying to lure away
doctors by letting them walk into any American consulate and request asylum.
Cuban officials say even ordinary islanders are encouraged to leave by
U.S. regulations that automatically grant asylum to any who reach
American shores, a policy Cuba says has encouraged thousands to attempt
the dangerous trip on leaky boats and makeshift rafts across the Florida
Straits.
It's not clear how emigration reform will affect dissidents, who are
routinely denied permission to leave and could still find themselves on
some form of no-exit list.
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, dissident blogger Yoani
Sanchez called the exit controls "our own Berlin Wall without the
concrete ... a wall made of paperwork and stamps, overseen by the grim
stares of soldiers." She has been denied travel papers at least 19 times
by her own count.
Some hardliners in Florida predict any change will be merely a sleight
of hand designed to export malcontents, ease a severe housing shortage
and fob off legions of superfluous state workers.
But for hundreds of thousands of Cubans like Miru, the exit visa is a
personal matter, not political. After six years separated from her
husband, she clings to hope that she will finally obtain permission or
benefit from a change in the law.
"I have followed all the rules of my country," she said. "I'll be so
happy to leave."
---
Associated Press writers Andrea Rodriguez and Peter Orsi in Havana,
Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, and Bradley Klapper in Washington
contributed to this report.
Follow Paul Haven on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paulhaven
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/01/v-fullstory/2777920/after-50-years-cubans-hope-to.html
After 50 years, Cubans hope to travel freely
By PAUL HAVEN
Associated Press
HAVANA -- After controlling the comings and goings of its people for
five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous
decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a
"radical and profound" change is weeks away.
The comment by Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon has residents, exiles
and policymakers abuzz with speculation that the much-hated exit visa
could be a thing of the past, even if Raul Castro's government continues
to limit the travel of doctors, scientists, military personnel and
others in sensitive roles to prevent a brain drain.
Other top Cuban officials have cautioned against over-excitement,
leaving islanders and Cuba experts to wonder how far Havana's leaders
are willing to go.
In the past 18 months, Castro has removed prohibitions on some private
enterprise, legalized real estate and car sales, and allowed compatriots
to hire employees, ideas that were long anathema to the government's
Marxist underpinnings.
Scrapping travel controls could be an even bigger step, at least
symbolically, and carries enormous economic, social and political risk.
Even half measures - such as ending limits on how long Cubans can live
abroad or cutting the staggeringly high fees for the exit visa that
Cubans must obtain just to leave the country - would be significant.
"It would be a big step forward," said Philip Peters, a Cuba expert at
the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. "If Cuba ends the restrictions
on its own citizens' travel, that means the only travel restrictions
that would remain in place would be those the United States imposes on
its citizens."
The move would open the door to increased emigration and make it easier
for Cubans overseas to avoid forfeiting their residency rights, a fate
that has befallen waves of exiles since the 1959 revolution.
It could also bolster the number of Cubans who travel abroad for work,
increasing earnings sent home in the short term and, ultimately,
investment by a new moneyed class.
Scrapping exit controls should win Cuba support in Europe, which
improved ties after dozens of political prisoners were freed in 2010.
But Peters and several other analysts said they doubt the new rules
would bring about any immediate shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, which
includes a ban on American tourism. Those restrictions are entrenched
and enjoy the backing of powerful Cuban American exiles.
"I don't think it would lead to a drastic change in U.S. policy, but an
accumulation of human rights improvements could lead to an incremental
change," Peters said.
Cuba-born Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, said any
discussion about immigration reform on the island is a peripheral issue.
"The kind of changes I'm interested in are not about immigration," said
Ros-Lehtinen, who heads the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. "I'm
interested in changes that affect fundamental freedom, democracy and
respect for human rights."
U.S. officials said they have been watching for an announcement for
months, noting there has been such talk as far back as August. But
nothing has happened, and they are skeptical that the Castro regime is
truly committed to such reform.
Asked about possible reciprocal measures, one U.S. official said the
Obama administration can't promise anything because it doesn't know what
exactly Cuba plans to announce. The official wasn't authorized to speak
publicly and demanded anonymity.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. "would certainly
welcome greater freedom of movement for the Cuban public."
Rumors of the exit visa's imminent demise have circulated on and off for
years. The whispers became open chatter last spring after the Communist
Party endorsed migration reform at a crucial gathering. But Castro
dashed those hopes in December, saying the timing wasn't right and the
"fate of the revolution" was at stake.
Alarcon's comments, made in an interview published in April, revived
hopes that a bold move is coming.
"One of the questions that we are currently discussing at the highest
level of the government is the question of emigration," he told a French
journalist. "We are working toward a radical and profound reform of
emigration that in the months to come will eliminate this kind of
restriction."
But on Saturday, Vice Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez told exiles
not to set their hopes too high, vowing the government would maintain
some travel controls as long as it faced a threat from enemies in
Washington.
Havana residents say they are anxiously waiting to see what the
government does.
"The time has come to get rid of the exit visa," said Vivian Delgado, a
shop worker. "It's absurd that as a Cuban I must get permission to leave
my country, and even worse that I need permission to come back."
Added Domingo Blanco, a 24-year-old state office worker: "It's as if one
needed to ask to leave one's own house."
Many Cubans are reluctant to talk about their own experience with the
exit visa. One woman named Miru, who has been trying to leave Cuba since
2006, shared her story on the condition her full name not be used for
fear that speaking with a foreign journalist could land her in trouble.
"This has been a very long process," she said of her odyssey, which
began when her husband defected from a medical mission in Africa and
sought asylum in the U.S.
First, she had to get a letter releasing her from her job at a
government ministry - a process that took five years. Only then could
she apply for the exit visa. That was three months ago, and Miru still
hasn't received an answer. Officials say her case is complicated but
won't give a specific reason for the delay.
"I am very anxious to see my husband again," she said.
The exit controls are a Cold War legacy of Cuba's alliance with the
Soviet Union. They were instituted in December 1961 to fight brain drain
as hundreds of thousands of doctors and other professionals fled, many
for new lives in Florida. That was three months before the U.S. embargo
barring most trade with the island went into full effect.
Over the years, it has become much easier for Cubans to obtain
permission to travel, though many are still denied, and it is
particularly hard to take children out of the country.
Also, the exit visa's $150 price tag is a small fortune in a country
where salaries average about $20 a month. In addition, the person the
traveler wishes to visit must pay $200 at a Cuban consulate.
Those who leave get only a 30-day pass, and the cost of an extension
varies by country. In the U.S., the fee is $130 a month. Those who stay
abroad more than 11 months lose the right to reside in Cuba. Before
2011, any property would automatically go to the state.
"The Cuban government has monetized every part of the humiliating
process of coming and going," said Ann Louise Bardach, a longtime Cuba
expert and author of "Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana
and Washington." "Getting out means running a gantlet, and it is all
based on how much humiliation you can endure, and by the time they end
up in Miami, people are filled with hate and dreams of revenge."
Cuban officials have long portrayed the measures as necessary to counter
Washington's meddling. They accuse the U.S. of trying to lure away
doctors by letting them walk into any American consulate and request asylum.
Cuban officials say even ordinary islanders are encouraged to leave by
U.S. regulations that automatically grant asylum to any who reach
American shores, a policy Cuba says has encouraged thousands to attempt
the dangerous trip on leaky boats and makeshift rafts across the Florida
Straits.
It's not clear how emigration reform will affect dissidents, who are
routinely denied permission to leave and could still find themselves on
some form of no-exit list.
In a recent New York Times opinion piece, dissident blogger Yoani
Sanchez called the exit controls "our own Berlin Wall without the
concrete ... a wall made of paperwork and stamps, overseen by the grim
stares of soldiers." She has been denied travel papers at least 19 times
by her own count.
Some hardliners in Florida predict any change will be merely a sleight
of hand designed to export malcontents, ease a severe housing shortage
and fob off legions of superfluous state workers.
But for hundreds of thousands of Cubans like Miru, the exit visa is a
personal matter, not political. After six years separated from her
husband, she clings to hope that she will finally obtain permission or
benefit from a change in the law.
"I have followed all the rules of my country," she said. "I'll be so
happy to leave."
---
Associated Press writers Andrea Rodriguez and Peter Orsi in Havana,
Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami, and Bradley Klapper in Washington
contributed to this report.
Follow Paul Haven on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paulhaven
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/01/v-fullstory/2777920/after-50-years-cubans-hope-to.html
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Open Sesame… Travel Restrictions in Cuba / Jeovany Jimenez Vega
Open Sesame… Travel Restrictions in Cuba / Jeovany Jimenez Vega
Jeovany J. Vega, Translator: Unstated
On Friday, April 20, Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament,
in an interview with the digital daily World, of the Huffingtonpost.com,
reaffirmed Raul Castro's announcement from last year that Cuba will
launch "… a radical and thorough immigration reform in the coming months
…" which will remove restrictions we've had for decades on Cubans
traveling abroad. Let's remember that even now, to travel abroad Cubans
need an exit permit, at the extortionate cost of $150 U.S., which is
good for 30 days and can be extended 10 times, after which they must
return home or lose the right to reside in their own country.
In force since the dawn of the Revolutionary process, restrictions
imposed on the travel of Cubans to and from abroad, have become one of
the most serious stigma carried by this government. This abusive policy
has been responsible for an incalculable amount of suffering for our
people, having separated for decades, and even permanently, thousands of
families.
Alarcon also said that "… there is another explanation for these
restrictions: the need to protect our human capital. The training of
physicians, technicians, teachers, etc., is very expensive to the Cuban
State and the United States does everything to deprive us of this human
wealth."
Sustained by the need to avoid a brain drain, among other arguments,
this policy has systematically deprived Cubans of one of the most basic
rights of man: the right to free movement and to choose where to live.
But in resolving this issue, it seemed much simpler to our government to
retain, by force, the professionals, than to guarantee them a dignified
way of life which, in medical terms, would be the equivalent of
amputating the limb of a patient suffering from lymphatic vessel
inflammation which, it is true, regardless of the consequences, would
"solve" their problem.
Alarcon said the reform will also favor the Cuban immigrants who today
need an entry permit, who do not now have the same "profile" as those
who left in the early years.
"Things have changed a lot (…). Nearly half a million Cubans installed
outside our borders visit each year. The vast majority of Cuban
migration has a normal relationship with their country of origin…"
What has never been even remotely normal, however, is the relationship
of the Cuban State with respect to that emigration. As for the "profile"
of these emigrants, Mr. Alarcón knows that definitely changed after that
wave of the first five years of the Revolution, when it constituted
mainly of former Batista supporters and oligarchs.
By the time of Camarioca, of the Mariel boat lift, and of the Maleconazo
and the subsequent rafter crisis in 1994, Cuban migration had been made
up of people who were, as a rule, younger, and desperate to having lost
all hope in their country.
Alarcon also said that "…the immigration issue (…) has always been used
as a weapon to destabilize Cuba since 1959 and as an element of
distortion of the Cuban reality…" and, he says it as if he were talking
about some sneaky trick orchestrated by Yankee think tanks, as if it
were a true aberration systematically and massively perpetrated for half
a century by the Cuban Government against the will and interest of its
people.
At this point some questions present themselves: Why right now and how
far will they dare to go? In Havana circles of thought whose opinion I
could sound out, it is said that these measures could be oriented with
the foresight to open the door to a Cuban emigration that so far has
been unnaturally excluded from investing in its own country due to the
absurd policy followed by our government, which for decades has
preferred to negotiate with foreign investors before offering any
opportunity to offer its own emigrants or their descendants. This
posture presumably reflects a deep fear of the influence that they might
come to gain in the domestic political environment.
This may or may not be the result of the uncertainty that surrounds Hugo
Chavez, whose health is perceived to be broken just a few months before
the upcoming Venezuelan elections — because losing his support now would
be lethal — as will be seen.
But what offers few doubts is that the emigration, although eager to
invest in Cuba, given the traumatic memory of the expropriations of the
past, might be demanding a series of legal safeguards to make sure that,
this time, their investment would not be impounded, beginning with
radical changes in their migratory status which, until today, has
completely denied their Cuban citizenship.
Another side of the coin makes this moment most "opportune" — for the
Cuban government — as the time to make this decision, because if they
finally decide to open the doors wide, then there would be embassies in
Havana that would possibly close theirs, and show more aversion to
issuing visas, not to mention that the U.S. government might repeat the
controversial Cuban Adjustment Act.
Even so, those who finally manage to travel will find the majority of
their destinations in the world mired in the worst economic crisis since
the Crash of 1929, and not offering too many opportunities right now to
any newcomers. If to this we add that those who leave no longer face the
confiscation of their house and so can leave here their home, family and
concrete interests and can return when they please, then I would dare to
predict that the first wave of emigrants would stabilize in a few years.
In exchange, the remittances would increase and provide considerable
oxygen to the economy — in this sense the investments of the emigrants,
were they authorized, would be crucial — and the country would begin to
flow in a much more natural way.
So, how far will they dare to go. They certainly have to be thinking
big, or everything would be half measures. For an immigration reform
today at the level the Cuban people need, they have to leave behind all
the current policies. They have to guarantee, unequivocally, through an
appropriate body of binding laws, that every Cuban citizen can enjoy his
or her right to freely leave the country, and equally to enter it
without conditions of any kind including, of course, political ones, for
differences of opinion, which would exclude only those involved in
terrorist acts, or those who have a debt to the legal system, beyond
which absolutely any official who dared to violate this right of a Cuban
citizen would be legally called before a People's court.
It is also urgently needed to eliminate once and for all the ominous
category of "final departure," a monster that has uprooted entire
generations of Cuba, as well as the controversial "letters of
invitation" and of course, crushed under its own weight, the odious
permission to leave or "white card" whose funeral no one would attend.
But one point I can not overlook in this matter is one of the most
controversial nuances, and that is the solution to the problem or
releasing those workers in my sector who are required to apply for
permission if they wish to permanently or temporarily leave the country.
Who could forget the thousands of former members of the Cuban Public
Health sector, who, overwhelmed by spurious wages and harsh living
conditions, and finding no other means whatsoever to emigrate, decided
to leave from some Medical Mission work abroad, and so were branded with
the status of deserters and condemned to banishment, not permitted to
enter their own country for at least 10 years?
Would anyone dare to catalog as normal the relations with these
emigrants before such heinous treatment? Without any doubt, we can
assert that the workers in the Cuban Public Health have received the
most denigration treatment in this story and today our government has
the opportunity to redeem its position, hopefully to act with wisdom.
Any approach that they apply to the immigration issue at this time, that
does not address everything at once and guarantees our right to travel,
will restrict the freedom of the Cuban people, and therefore work
against the prosperity of the country.
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18006
Jeovany J. Vega, Translator: Unstated
On Friday, April 20, Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament,
in an interview with the digital daily World, of the Huffingtonpost.com,
reaffirmed Raul Castro's announcement from last year that Cuba will
launch "… a radical and thorough immigration reform in the coming months
…" which will remove restrictions we've had for decades on Cubans
traveling abroad. Let's remember that even now, to travel abroad Cubans
need an exit permit, at the extortionate cost of $150 U.S., which is
good for 30 days and can be extended 10 times, after which they must
return home or lose the right to reside in their own country.
In force since the dawn of the Revolutionary process, restrictions
imposed on the travel of Cubans to and from abroad, have become one of
the most serious stigma carried by this government. This abusive policy
has been responsible for an incalculable amount of suffering for our
people, having separated for decades, and even permanently, thousands of
families.
Alarcon also said that "… there is another explanation for these
restrictions: the need to protect our human capital. The training of
physicians, technicians, teachers, etc., is very expensive to the Cuban
State and the United States does everything to deprive us of this human
wealth."
Sustained by the need to avoid a brain drain, among other arguments,
this policy has systematically deprived Cubans of one of the most basic
rights of man: the right to free movement and to choose where to live.
But in resolving this issue, it seemed much simpler to our government to
retain, by force, the professionals, than to guarantee them a dignified
way of life which, in medical terms, would be the equivalent of
amputating the limb of a patient suffering from lymphatic vessel
inflammation which, it is true, regardless of the consequences, would
"solve" their problem.
Alarcon said the reform will also favor the Cuban immigrants who today
need an entry permit, who do not now have the same "profile" as those
who left in the early years.
"Things have changed a lot (…). Nearly half a million Cubans installed
outside our borders visit each year. The vast majority of Cuban
migration has a normal relationship with their country of origin…"
What has never been even remotely normal, however, is the relationship
of the Cuban State with respect to that emigration. As for the "profile"
of these emigrants, Mr. Alarcón knows that definitely changed after that
wave of the first five years of the Revolution, when it constituted
mainly of former Batista supporters and oligarchs.
By the time of Camarioca, of the Mariel boat lift, and of the Maleconazo
and the subsequent rafter crisis in 1994, Cuban migration had been made
up of people who were, as a rule, younger, and desperate to having lost
all hope in their country.
Alarcon also said that "…the immigration issue (…) has always been used
as a weapon to destabilize Cuba since 1959 and as an element of
distortion of the Cuban reality…" and, he says it as if he were talking
about some sneaky trick orchestrated by Yankee think tanks, as if it
were a true aberration systematically and massively perpetrated for half
a century by the Cuban Government against the will and interest of its
people.
At this point some questions present themselves: Why right now and how
far will they dare to go? In Havana circles of thought whose opinion I
could sound out, it is said that these measures could be oriented with
the foresight to open the door to a Cuban emigration that so far has
been unnaturally excluded from investing in its own country due to the
absurd policy followed by our government, which for decades has
preferred to negotiate with foreign investors before offering any
opportunity to offer its own emigrants or their descendants. This
posture presumably reflects a deep fear of the influence that they might
come to gain in the domestic political environment.
This may or may not be the result of the uncertainty that surrounds Hugo
Chavez, whose health is perceived to be broken just a few months before
the upcoming Venezuelan elections — because losing his support now would
be lethal — as will be seen.
But what offers few doubts is that the emigration, although eager to
invest in Cuba, given the traumatic memory of the expropriations of the
past, might be demanding a series of legal safeguards to make sure that,
this time, their investment would not be impounded, beginning with
radical changes in their migratory status which, until today, has
completely denied their Cuban citizenship.
Another side of the coin makes this moment most "opportune" — for the
Cuban government — as the time to make this decision, because if they
finally decide to open the doors wide, then there would be embassies in
Havana that would possibly close theirs, and show more aversion to
issuing visas, not to mention that the U.S. government might repeat the
controversial Cuban Adjustment Act.
Even so, those who finally manage to travel will find the majority of
their destinations in the world mired in the worst economic crisis since
the Crash of 1929, and not offering too many opportunities right now to
any newcomers. If to this we add that those who leave no longer face the
confiscation of their house and so can leave here their home, family and
concrete interests and can return when they please, then I would dare to
predict that the first wave of emigrants would stabilize in a few years.
In exchange, the remittances would increase and provide considerable
oxygen to the economy — in this sense the investments of the emigrants,
were they authorized, would be crucial — and the country would begin to
flow in a much more natural way.
So, how far will they dare to go. They certainly have to be thinking
big, or everything would be half measures. For an immigration reform
today at the level the Cuban people need, they have to leave behind all
the current policies. They have to guarantee, unequivocally, through an
appropriate body of binding laws, that every Cuban citizen can enjoy his
or her right to freely leave the country, and equally to enter it
without conditions of any kind including, of course, political ones, for
differences of opinion, which would exclude only those involved in
terrorist acts, or those who have a debt to the legal system, beyond
which absolutely any official who dared to violate this right of a Cuban
citizen would be legally called before a People's court.
It is also urgently needed to eliminate once and for all the ominous
category of "final departure," a monster that has uprooted entire
generations of Cuba, as well as the controversial "letters of
invitation" and of course, crushed under its own weight, the odious
permission to leave or "white card" whose funeral no one would attend.
But one point I can not overlook in this matter is one of the most
controversial nuances, and that is the solution to the problem or
releasing those workers in my sector who are required to apply for
permission if they wish to permanently or temporarily leave the country.
Who could forget the thousands of former members of the Cuban Public
Health sector, who, overwhelmed by spurious wages and harsh living
conditions, and finding no other means whatsoever to emigrate, decided
to leave from some Medical Mission work abroad, and so were branded with
the status of deserters and condemned to banishment, not permitted to
enter their own country for at least 10 years?
Would anyone dare to catalog as normal the relations with these
emigrants before such heinous treatment? Without any doubt, we can
assert that the workers in the Cuban Public Health have received the
most denigration treatment in this story and today our government has
the opportunity to redeem its position, hopefully to act with wisdom.
Any approach that they apply to the immigration issue at this time, that
does not address everything at once and guarantees our right to travel,
will restrict the freedom of the Cuban people, and therefore work
against the prosperity of the country.
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18006
Kuwait funding Havana water project
Kuwait funding Havana water project
The head of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) signed
an agreement April 30 in Havana with the Instituto Nacional de Recursos
Hidráulicos to fund the reconstruction of water and sewer lines in the
Cuban capital, the Kuwaiti embassy said in a press release.
No details about the project or funding were released. If previous
history is an indicator, the funding is in the shape of a low-interest loan.
Kuwait has previously funded water rehabilitation projects in Santiago
de Cuba and Holguín. In 2003, KFAED granted Cuba a $10 million loan for
the $100 million Santiago project. In 2009, KFAED granted a $15.3
million loan for the $40 million renovation of the water system in the
city of Holguín; this project is still ongoing.
KFAED's average loan period is 22 years, with an average grace period of
four years, and an average interest rate (including service charge) of
3.2 percent annually, according to the agency's 2011 financial report.
The new agreement was signed by Abdulwahab Al-Bader, general director of
the Kuwait Fund, and Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca.
Kuwait opened an embassy in Havana in 2010.
http://www.cubastandard.com/2012/05/01/kuwait-funding-havana-water-works/
The head of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) signed
an agreement April 30 in Havana with the Instituto Nacional de Recursos
Hidráulicos to fund the reconstruction of water and sewer lines in the
Cuban capital, the Kuwaiti embassy said in a press release.
No details about the project or funding were released. If previous
history is an indicator, the funding is in the shape of a low-interest loan.
Kuwait has previously funded water rehabilitation projects in Santiago
de Cuba and Holguín. In 2003, KFAED granted Cuba a $10 million loan for
the $100 million Santiago project. In 2009, KFAED granted a $15.3
million loan for the $40 million renovation of the water system in the
city of Holguín; this project is still ongoing.
KFAED's average loan period is 22 years, with an average grace period of
four years, and an average interest rate (including service charge) of
3.2 percent annually, according to the agency's 2011 financial report.
The new agreement was signed by Abdulwahab Al-Bader, general director of
the Kuwait Fund, and Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca.
Kuwait opened an embassy in Havana in 2010.
http://www.cubastandard.com/2012/05/01/kuwait-funding-havana-water-works/
The "New" Prospects / Fernando Dámaso
The "New" Prospects / Fernando Dámaso
Fernando Dámaso, Translator: Unstated
These days, officially marking the fiftieth anniversary of the creation
of the Union of Young Communists, in numerous acts of its leaders they
have repeated ad nauseam that the youth vanguard's mission is to
maintain the sovereignty and independence of the country and the
irreversibility of socialism. If this was said by some octogenarian it
would be understandable, but in the mouths of young people it is an
absurdity, explicable only by the degree of indoctrination they have
been subjected to during the process of their education.
A country may not proclaim itself sovereign and independent, if every
one of its citizens is not. Also, to speak of sovereignty and
independence in the XXI century, when most countries eliminate borders
and unify their economies and policies, in an increasingly globalized
world, reflects obsolete concepts and eras happily overcome by human
development. Still worse is to use the word irreversibility, and most of
all with regards to some failure.
One supposes that young people, always open to the new and changing,
would bet on a modern and developed country, involved in the world,
corresponding to the time in which they will undertake their life
projects. In this country, this cannot be done, involved as it is in a
permanent crisis, where has taken root inefficiency and arbitrary laws
and political, economic and social regulations remain factors that
hinder their freedom and initiative.
To engage young people with a totally outdated ideology and politics,
which have adversely affected the country's existence as a nation, is
not only unfair it is immoral. Everyone can strongly defend his own
ideas, wrong or not, during all the years of his life, but has no right
to impose them on the new generations.
As if that weren't enough, to great fanfare, they are announcing the May
Day parade, and in addition to counting on the massive participation of
the workers (who will neither protest nor complain, because of all they
have and they will only parade to give thanks), will include fifty
thousand young people, (one thousand for each year of the fiftieth
anniversary), not a single one more nor a single one less, with the
precision of organized and controlled spontaneity of the participants,
well known to have been applied also in the countries of the extinct
socialist camp.
But nevertheless, we have made some progress: no longer do they
establish and publish the authorized slogans the workers can put on
their signs, which was common in previous parades, lest some confused
worker would raise a flag to the wrong thing.
These youth leaders, appointed by the party in their different instances
and controlled by it, many dogmatic and gray, repeating old speeches,
without wanting to recycle them carrying something new, luckily do not
represent the majority of young Cubans.
We have seen many, who have disappeared as fast as they arose, swept by
those who one day gave them a leading role. In short, the last thing we
need are these new prospects. I prefer many civic young people, lovers
of their country, restless, irreverent, questioning it all, full of
questions, intelligent and even inexperienced, but responsible. Maybe
they will be able to undo our economic, political and social wrongs, and
guide the Nation along the paths of prosperity and development.
April 29 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=17997
Fernando Dámaso, Translator: Unstated
These days, officially marking the fiftieth anniversary of the creation
of the Union of Young Communists, in numerous acts of its leaders they
have repeated ad nauseam that the youth vanguard's mission is to
maintain the sovereignty and independence of the country and the
irreversibility of socialism. If this was said by some octogenarian it
would be understandable, but in the mouths of young people it is an
absurdity, explicable only by the degree of indoctrination they have
been subjected to during the process of their education.
A country may not proclaim itself sovereign and independent, if every
one of its citizens is not. Also, to speak of sovereignty and
independence in the XXI century, when most countries eliminate borders
and unify their economies and policies, in an increasingly globalized
world, reflects obsolete concepts and eras happily overcome by human
development. Still worse is to use the word irreversibility, and most of
all with regards to some failure.
One supposes that young people, always open to the new and changing,
would bet on a modern and developed country, involved in the world,
corresponding to the time in which they will undertake their life
projects. In this country, this cannot be done, involved as it is in a
permanent crisis, where has taken root inefficiency and arbitrary laws
and political, economic and social regulations remain factors that
hinder their freedom and initiative.
To engage young people with a totally outdated ideology and politics,
which have adversely affected the country's existence as a nation, is
not only unfair it is immoral. Everyone can strongly defend his own
ideas, wrong or not, during all the years of his life, but has no right
to impose them on the new generations.
As if that weren't enough, to great fanfare, they are announcing the May
Day parade, and in addition to counting on the massive participation of
the workers (who will neither protest nor complain, because of all they
have and they will only parade to give thanks), will include fifty
thousand young people, (one thousand for each year of the fiftieth
anniversary), not a single one more nor a single one less, with the
precision of organized and controlled spontaneity of the participants,
well known to have been applied also in the countries of the extinct
socialist camp.
But nevertheless, we have made some progress: no longer do they
establish and publish the authorized slogans the workers can put on
their signs, which was common in previous parades, lest some confused
worker would raise a flag to the wrong thing.
These youth leaders, appointed by the party in their different instances
and controlled by it, many dogmatic and gray, repeating old speeches,
without wanting to recycle them carrying something new, luckily do not
represent the majority of young Cubans.
We have seen many, who have disappeared as fast as they arose, swept by
those who one day gave them a leading role. In short, the last thing we
need are these new prospects. I prefer many civic young people, lovers
of their country, restless, irreverent, questioning it all, full of
questions, intelligent and even inexperienced, but responsible. Maybe
they will be able to undo our economic, political and social wrongs, and
guide the Nation along the paths of prosperity and development.
April 29 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=17997
Believers and Nonbelievers; Sympathizers and Non-sympathizers / Yoani Sánchez
Believers and Nonbelievers; Sympathizers and Non-sympathizers / Yoani
Sánchez
Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sánchez
The last time the Plaza of the Revolution was full, crammed with people,
was when Benedicto XVI offered his homily in Havana. The television
broadcasters repeated, with a strange insistence, that attending this
Mass were "believers and non-believers." To ears not trained in Cuban
official discourse, that affirmation might sound like a gesture of
inclusion and tolerance. But, it was more a clarification — and not
subtle in the least — that not everyone in the multitude was Catholic,
nor could the Pope count on such a large flock among us. If you paid
attention to every word spoken by the government representatives, Cubans
were there because of "discipline," out of "respect," or because they
are an "equable" people, but not, in fact, because of faith.
I wonder whether this May Day they will also throw out such contrasting
adjectives. They could, for example, say that on this Workers' Day both
"Revolutionaries and Non-revolutionaries" are marching, which would not
be absurd on a day that should have a labor and union tone, not a
political one. Can you imagine the grave voice of the announcer
affirming that in the flag-waving crowd there are both "employed and
unemployed"? Of these, the latter would undoubtedly have to be the most
energetic block, because the number of unemployed workers in 2012 has
grown to 170 million throughout the Island. In front of the microphones
they should make the distinction that in the mass of people facing the
statue of Jose Marti are found "sympathizers and non-sympathizers" with
Raul's government. Because after all, who would believe that a million
individuals are all in agreement with the administration of a president?
There will be no surprises nor nuances, but rather attempts to lump
together hundreds of thousands of participants and present them as a
unanimous chorus supporting the system. And May Day once again will be
hijacked, like so many times before. From the podium those who salute
will be precisely those who should be called out and criticized on the
banners, not those who should be leading a workers commemoration. The
day will end without demands being made of this boss named "the State"
to raise salaries, lower the cost of living, or improve working
conditions. Instead, every little head seen from the Plaza's tower will
be counted as a round of applause. Every individual who marches will be
taken as a faithful "believer" in the Party, as someone who has no
doubts, no questions, no demands.
30 April 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18003
Sánchez
Translator: Unstated, Yoani Sánchez
The last time the Plaza of the Revolution was full, crammed with people,
was when Benedicto XVI offered his homily in Havana. The television
broadcasters repeated, with a strange insistence, that attending this
Mass were "believers and non-believers." To ears not trained in Cuban
official discourse, that affirmation might sound like a gesture of
inclusion and tolerance. But, it was more a clarification — and not
subtle in the least — that not everyone in the multitude was Catholic,
nor could the Pope count on such a large flock among us. If you paid
attention to every word spoken by the government representatives, Cubans
were there because of "discipline," out of "respect," or because they
are an "equable" people, but not, in fact, because of faith.
I wonder whether this May Day they will also throw out such contrasting
adjectives. They could, for example, say that on this Workers' Day both
"Revolutionaries and Non-revolutionaries" are marching, which would not
be absurd on a day that should have a labor and union tone, not a
political one. Can you imagine the grave voice of the announcer
affirming that in the flag-waving crowd there are both "employed and
unemployed"? Of these, the latter would undoubtedly have to be the most
energetic block, because the number of unemployed workers in 2012 has
grown to 170 million throughout the Island. In front of the microphones
they should make the distinction that in the mass of people facing the
statue of Jose Marti are found "sympathizers and non-sympathizers" with
Raul's government. Because after all, who would believe that a million
individuals are all in agreement with the administration of a president?
There will be no surprises nor nuances, but rather attempts to lump
together hundreds of thousands of participants and present them as a
unanimous chorus supporting the system. And May Day once again will be
hijacked, like so many times before. From the podium those who salute
will be precisely those who should be called out and criticized on the
banners, not those who should be leading a workers commemoration. The
day will end without demands being made of this boss named "the State"
to raise salaries, lower the cost of living, or improve working
conditions. Instead, every little head seen from the Plaza's tower will
be counted as a round of applause. Every individual who marches will be
taken as a faithful "believer" in the Party, as someone who has no
doubts, no questions, no demands.
30 April 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18003
Whatever We Need to Do for the Freedom of Cuba, We Will Continue Doing
"Whatever We Need to Do for the Freedom of Cuba, We Will Continue Doing"
Translating Cuba, Translator: Raul G.
After being confined to a dungeon of the Versalles Police Unit in
Santiago de Cuba for 27 days, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba,
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, narrates how his recent arrest occurred, of
which "crimes" he is being accused of, and sends out a message to the
international and national (Cuba) community in the following interview:
Pedazos de la Isla: We have heard the testimonies of your wife, Belkis
Cantillo, and of your daughter Martha Beatriz about what happened in
your home on April 2nd. Tell us about that moment from your own experience.
José Daniel Ferrer García: I was detained on April 2nd, 2012 after
consecutively participating in two programs on Radio Marti. Upon
finishing the final program, the 3 main chiefs from the repressive
organisms of the Castro tyranny of Santiago de Cuba showed up to my
house along with other members of the political police and the national
police. They raided my home, tearing down the door and taking my wife
amid physical blows. They even used forced against my mother-in-law.
I only had enough time to send out a message on Hablalo sin Miedo,
detailing that my home was being invaded. They forcibly took my wife
and I, another relative, and 7 other activists from UNPACU who were
carrying out their activities in favor of freedom.
After they detained us, the police officials stayed in my house, sacking
it. They took laptops, 2 printers, lots of information on CDs, USB
drives, lots of books, print outs from UNPACU, our cell phones, photo
cameras, microphones, TV cards (during those days we had just finished
recording images from the papal visit to Cuba), blank sheets of paper,
pens, everything. They robbed us as they regularly rob the home of any
peaceful dissident.
PDLI: Have they returned any of these materials which they stole from you?
JDFG: None of the things they robbed from me have been returned. It is
all in their possession (the regime), including my wife's cell phone and
my cell phone. They even robbed flashlights and photographs.
PDLI: What happened after they arrested you?
JDFG: They took us to different police units- some to Micro 9, other to
"La Tercera". My wife, our other relative, and I were taken to the
Versalles Unit, to the department of Criminal Operations and
Instruction. After 72 to 96 hours, they started to release the rest of
the activists, including my wife.
PDLI: You spent 27 days detained. During this time, you declared
yourself on hunger strike, you received threats, etc. Now that they
released you, what do you know of what is happening with other activists
from UNPACU who are still being held?
JDFG : In these very moments, there are still two of our members in
prison. One of them- Dany Lopez de Moya- was sentenced under a false
judicial process which the regime routinely puts in practice in the
Castro tribunals. Moya was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months of prison
for the supposed crime of resistance and disobedience to the
authorities. There is also the case of Bismark Mustelier Galan who is
in preventative prison in the Aguadores Jail, waiting for a trial for
the supposed crime of "attempt" when he did not do such a thing. He was
actually the victim of an arbitrary and violent arrest on behalf of one
of the delegates from the Ministry of the Interior in Palma Soriano and
another police agent.
PDLI: Their were many civic demonstrations throughout the island in
demand of your liberation, as their also were in the Cuban exile
community and in other parts of the world. How does all this solidarity
make you feel?
JDFG : It has made my spirit stronger, especially upon seeing all of the
brothers and sisters who have displayed valor, intelligence and
sacrifice not only in this Eastern region but in other parts of the
country, as well as my brothers in exile and many other people around
the world. There has been much solidarity. Now, we must continue in
the fight and put our grain of sand for the freedom and democracy of Cuba.
PDLI: In your case, you still have pending accusations…
JDFG : They released me on the afternoon of April 29th under the warning
that there is still an open process against me. They gave me a file
number- 66- in which they accuse me of "instigating, organizing, and
financing" acts of public disorder in the Eastern region of Cuba.
According to them, our peaceful actions in favor of the democratization
of Cuba are acts of provocation which contribute to public disorder.
They have told me that if i continue "organizing, inciting, and
financing" these kinds of actions, then they would accelerate the
process against me and taken me to prison under supposed crimes of
disorder and I would have to serve the rest of my sentence of the Black
Spring of 2003. In other words, I would have to serve the remaining 17
years of my 25 year sentence, in addition to more time which they would
add for the crime of public disorder.
They told me that, if on the contrary, I understand this and chose the
"best" way out and avoid this situation, turning ourselves into a
"closed door" opposition, an opposition of only denouncements, of
moderate and timid actions, then they would possibly analyze my case and
decide a new verdict. This is their threat.
PDLI: And what is your response to this threat?
JDFG : My response is that whatever we need to do, in a peaceful manner,
for the freedom of Cuba, we will continue doing. And if we have to
return to prison, then we will go back to prison. As the saying goes,
in a nation where the elemental rights of men are violated, the best
place for an honest man is a jail cell.
–
For more information from Cuba:
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia – Cell Phone (temporary): +5352-997-987 //
Twitter: @jdanielferrer
Post taken from Pedazos de la Isla: Follow this blog for daily
up-to-the-minute reports about what is happening in Cuba to opponents of
the regime, independent journalists, alternative bloggers and others.
30 April 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18000
Translating Cuba, Translator: Raul G.
After being confined to a dungeon of the Versalles Police Unit in
Santiago de Cuba for 27 days, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba,
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, narrates how his recent arrest occurred, of
which "crimes" he is being accused of, and sends out a message to the
international and national (Cuba) community in the following interview:
Pedazos de la Isla: We have heard the testimonies of your wife, Belkis
Cantillo, and of your daughter Martha Beatriz about what happened in
your home on April 2nd. Tell us about that moment from your own experience.
José Daniel Ferrer García: I was detained on April 2nd, 2012 after
consecutively participating in two programs on Radio Marti. Upon
finishing the final program, the 3 main chiefs from the repressive
organisms of the Castro tyranny of Santiago de Cuba showed up to my
house along with other members of the political police and the national
police. They raided my home, tearing down the door and taking my wife
amid physical blows. They even used forced against my mother-in-law.
I only had enough time to send out a message on Hablalo sin Miedo,
detailing that my home was being invaded. They forcibly took my wife
and I, another relative, and 7 other activists from UNPACU who were
carrying out their activities in favor of freedom.
After they detained us, the police officials stayed in my house, sacking
it. They took laptops, 2 printers, lots of information on CDs, USB
drives, lots of books, print outs from UNPACU, our cell phones, photo
cameras, microphones, TV cards (during those days we had just finished
recording images from the papal visit to Cuba), blank sheets of paper,
pens, everything. They robbed us as they regularly rob the home of any
peaceful dissident.
PDLI: Have they returned any of these materials which they stole from you?
JDFG: None of the things they robbed from me have been returned. It is
all in their possession (the regime), including my wife's cell phone and
my cell phone. They even robbed flashlights and photographs.
PDLI: What happened after they arrested you?
JDFG: They took us to different police units- some to Micro 9, other to
"La Tercera". My wife, our other relative, and I were taken to the
Versalles Unit, to the department of Criminal Operations and
Instruction. After 72 to 96 hours, they started to release the rest of
the activists, including my wife.
PDLI: You spent 27 days detained. During this time, you declared
yourself on hunger strike, you received threats, etc. Now that they
released you, what do you know of what is happening with other activists
from UNPACU who are still being held?
JDFG : In these very moments, there are still two of our members in
prison. One of them- Dany Lopez de Moya- was sentenced under a false
judicial process which the regime routinely puts in practice in the
Castro tribunals. Moya was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months of prison
for the supposed crime of resistance and disobedience to the
authorities. There is also the case of Bismark Mustelier Galan who is
in preventative prison in the Aguadores Jail, waiting for a trial for
the supposed crime of "attempt" when he did not do such a thing. He was
actually the victim of an arbitrary and violent arrest on behalf of one
of the delegates from the Ministry of the Interior in Palma Soriano and
another police agent.
PDLI: Their were many civic demonstrations throughout the island in
demand of your liberation, as their also were in the Cuban exile
community and in other parts of the world. How does all this solidarity
make you feel?
JDFG : It has made my spirit stronger, especially upon seeing all of the
brothers and sisters who have displayed valor, intelligence and
sacrifice not only in this Eastern region but in other parts of the
country, as well as my brothers in exile and many other people around
the world. There has been much solidarity. Now, we must continue in
the fight and put our grain of sand for the freedom and democracy of Cuba.
PDLI: In your case, you still have pending accusations…
JDFG : They released me on the afternoon of April 29th under the warning
that there is still an open process against me. They gave me a file
number- 66- in which they accuse me of "instigating, organizing, and
financing" acts of public disorder in the Eastern region of Cuba.
According to them, our peaceful actions in favor of the democratization
of Cuba are acts of provocation which contribute to public disorder.
They have told me that if i continue "organizing, inciting, and
financing" these kinds of actions, then they would accelerate the
process against me and taken me to prison under supposed crimes of
disorder and I would have to serve the rest of my sentence of the Black
Spring of 2003. In other words, I would have to serve the remaining 17
years of my 25 year sentence, in addition to more time which they would
add for the crime of public disorder.
They told me that, if on the contrary, I understand this and chose the
"best" way out and avoid this situation, turning ourselves into a
"closed door" opposition, an opposition of only denouncements, of
moderate and timid actions, then they would possibly analyze my case and
decide a new verdict. This is their threat.
PDLI: And what is your response to this threat?
JDFG : My response is that whatever we need to do, in a peaceful manner,
for the freedom of Cuba, we will continue doing. And if we have to
return to prison, then we will go back to prison. As the saying goes,
in a nation where the elemental rights of men are violated, the best
place for an honest man is a jail cell.
–
For more information from Cuba:
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia – Cell Phone (temporary): +5352-997-987 //
Twitter: @jdanielferrer
Post taken from Pedazos de la Isla: Follow this blog for daily
up-to-the-minute reports about what is happening in Cuba to opponents of
the regime, independent journalists, alternative bloggers and others.
30 April 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=18000
The Cardinal of Disgrace / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
The Cardinal of Disgrace / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Translator: AnonyGY, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
I have no words to describe the recent statements made by his Eminence
Cardinal and Archbishop of Havana Jaime Lucas Ortega Alamino during his
stay last week in the United States of America.
Those who have followed each of the press releases that mention in one
way or another the statements of the highest Cuban authority within the
Catholic Church, have noticed that despite the fact that he has spoken
in a deliberate tone, the language used by the Cuban cardinal places at
disadvantage the credibility of the good function of the Catholic
hierarchy in the island. He has repeated in his discourse the same
phrases used by the ruling class.
All of us who follow the evolution of the Catholic Church in Cuba, have
denounced on many occasions the so badly called relationship between
Church and State, and the complicity of the Church with the silence of
the true existing situation in the island related to the lack of a state
of rights and also the lack of places for free religious worship.
Maybe for many people the last two visits of the Popes to the island are
more than enough, if we would add some minutes on domestic television,
or the last tour of the pilgrimage of the Virgin, to show the world the
false freedom of worship in Cuba.
Today's comment does not attempt to criticize the role of the Church in
Cuba, but it tries to put in its right place he who uses the Catholic
Church for his own benefit and in defense of those who are sinking the
nation into an increasing poverty.
Today I want to use this article or comment as a pulpit, and from it
denounce the words of someone who does not deserve to wear the purple
color used by martyrs of the Christian faith. The last words spoken by
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, on April 24th during his mediation at the
Church and Community Forum sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center of
Latin American Studies of Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. As many have judged, his speech was similar to one of the
many speeches dictated by the office of the Department of Ideology of
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
We would have to ask such a Cuban Cardinal, "How could he have access to
the police records of each person who occupied the Caridad Church in
Havana?" We would also ask, "How could he obtain the information that
such acts of civil disobedience were organized from Miami?" I understand
this time, like many other times, that the Cardinal spoke more than he
should, and now he has to withstand all the critics coming from
different latitudes.
I never imagined to hear, from the lips of the highest pastor of the
Cuban Church, so much malice for those who try to promote full respect
to the basic freedom of each man. To call those who serve unfair
sentences under the most terrible conditions not described by people
like him "common delinquents," at some international meeting, makes him
an accomplice of a corrupt and inert government.
We would have to ask Jaime, "How would he feel if we call him delinquent
because of the fact he was sentenced to compulsory work during the years
of UMAP* together with many other priests and religious people who
practiced faith?"
I am a true catholic, I love the faith of the church, I love my
motherland and the freedom experienced in the abandonment of each of our
vicissitudes on the shoulders of Jesus who deserves to be called The
Greatest Man of All Times. But every time I face situations like the
ones today, by means of which the judgment of the world is focused on
the behavior of the Catholic hierarchy on the island, I see myself with
the obligation to ask that the whole Cuban clergy not be judged for the
behavior of him whom I dare to name the Cardinal Puppet of Castros Brothers.
It is my wish that there be a new awakening of the Christian faith in a
Cuba free from stereotypes and obsolete dogma which place next to the
ruling class those who have to walk next to the poorest people. It is my
wish that the body of the Cuban church receives a transfusion of young
blood with a new zest for life and who will promote a new nation where
true patriotic and Christian values are practiced.
For today I say goodbye to someone who does not deserve to be called
Cardinal and even less Cuban, people like him should be sentenced to
forgetfulness or, it would be better to say, to be sentenced to carry
the weight of the disgraceful history that only he using his high
position has invented, only God knows, and his terrestrial accomplices
for in exchange for benefits.
Translated by: AnonyGy
*Note: UMAP = Military Units in Aid of Production, a series of
concentration camps for religious believers, homosexuals, and others who
ran afoul of the Castro regime. Cardinal Ortega was interned in a UMAP
camp when he was younger.
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=17989
Translator: AnonyGY, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
I have no words to describe the recent statements made by his Eminence
Cardinal and Archbishop of Havana Jaime Lucas Ortega Alamino during his
stay last week in the United States of America.
Those who have followed each of the press releases that mention in one
way or another the statements of the highest Cuban authority within the
Catholic Church, have noticed that despite the fact that he has spoken
in a deliberate tone, the language used by the Cuban cardinal places at
disadvantage the credibility of the good function of the Catholic
hierarchy in the island. He has repeated in his discourse the same
phrases used by the ruling class.
All of us who follow the evolution of the Catholic Church in Cuba, have
denounced on many occasions the so badly called relationship between
Church and State, and the complicity of the Church with the silence of
the true existing situation in the island related to the lack of a state
of rights and also the lack of places for free religious worship.
Maybe for many people the last two visits of the Popes to the island are
more than enough, if we would add some minutes on domestic television,
or the last tour of the pilgrimage of the Virgin, to show the world the
false freedom of worship in Cuba.
Today's comment does not attempt to criticize the role of the Church in
Cuba, but it tries to put in its right place he who uses the Catholic
Church for his own benefit and in defense of those who are sinking the
nation into an increasing poverty.
Today I want to use this article or comment as a pulpit, and from it
denounce the words of someone who does not deserve to wear the purple
color used by martyrs of the Christian faith. The last words spoken by
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, on April 24th during his mediation at the
Church and Community Forum sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center of
Latin American Studies of Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. As many have judged, his speech was similar to one of the
many speeches dictated by the office of the Department of Ideology of
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
We would have to ask such a Cuban Cardinal, "How could he have access to
the police records of each person who occupied the Caridad Church in
Havana?" We would also ask, "How could he obtain the information that
such acts of civil disobedience were organized from Miami?" I understand
this time, like many other times, that the Cardinal spoke more than he
should, and now he has to withstand all the critics coming from
different latitudes.
I never imagined to hear, from the lips of the highest pastor of the
Cuban Church, so much malice for those who try to promote full respect
to the basic freedom of each man. To call those who serve unfair
sentences under the most terrible conditions not described by people
like him "common delinquents," at some international meeting, makes him
an accomplice of a corrupt and inert government.
We would have to ask Jaime, "How would he feel if we call him delinquent
because of the fact he was sentenced to compulsory work during the years
of UMAP* together with many other priests and religious people who
practiced faith?"
I am a true catholic, I love the faith of the church, I love my
motherland and the freedom experienced in the abandonment of each of our
vicissitudes on the shoulders of Jesus who deserves to be called The
Greatest Man of All Times. But every time I face situations like the
ones today, by means of which the judgment of the world is focused on
the behavior of the Catholic hierarchy on the island, I see myself with
the obligation to ask that the whole Cuban clergy not be judged for the
behavior of him whom I dare to name the Cardinal Puppet of Castros Brothers.
It is my wish that there be a new awakening of the Christian faith in a
Cuba free from stereotypes and obsolete dogma which place next to the
ruling class those who have to walk next to the poorest people. It is my
wish that the body of the Cuban church receives a transfusion of young
blood with a new zest for life and who will promote a new nation where
true patriotic and Christian values are practiced.
For today I say goodbye to someone who does not deserve to be called
Cardinal and even less Cuban, people like him should be sentenced to
forgetfulness or, it would be better to say, to be sentenced to carry
the weight of the disgraceful history that only he using his high
position has invented, only God knows, and his terrestrial accomplices
for in exchange for benefits.
Translated by: AnonyGy
*Note: UMAP = Military Units in Aid of Production, a series of
concentration camps for religious believers, homosexuals, and others who
ran afoul of the Castro regime. Cardinal Ortega was interned in a UMAP
camp when he was younger.
April 30 2012
http://translatingcuba.com/?p=17989
Press Freedom Matters
Press Freedom Matters
04-30-2012
Press freedom matters because without a free press, few other human
rights are attainable.
Press freedom matters because without a free press, few other human
rights are attainable. A strong press freedom environment encourages
the growth of civil society, which leads to stable democracies and
political and economic development. That's why the United States is
highlighting journalists around the world who are suffering
intimidation, imprisonment, and sometimes death for exercising their
right to free expression.
Yoani Sanchez is a Cuban blogger who is not permitted to leave the
country. She has attracted an international following for her blog,
Generación Y, which gives readers unprecedented insight into the harsh
realities of life in Cuba. Her work has won numerous awards, including
Columbia University's Maria Cabot prize for journalism, and the
Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award in 2011. But
Cuba's Communist government has refused to allow her to leave the
country to accept these honors. Requests by Ms. Sanchez to travel have
been denied 19 times.
Freedom of movement is a fundamental human right recognized in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States urges the
Cuban government to allow Ms. Sanchez to travel abroad freely and for
all governments to stop the use of travel bans against journalists or
dissidents for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Elsewhere, Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen has been silenced by the
Chinese government. Wangchen was detained by Chinese authorities in
March 2008 on charges related to his 25-minute documentary titled
"Leaving Fear Behind." The film is based on 40 hours of footage and
over 100 interviews conducted over five months. Filmed in China's Amdo
region (located principally in Qinghai Province), the footage includes
interviews with Tibetans who expressed views on a range of issues from
the Dalai Lama to the human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China.
Wangchen was reportedly beaten, deprived of food and sleep during
interrogations, and held incommunicado for a full year. He was tried in
secret in 2009 and is serving a six year sentence in Xichuan Prison,
Qinghai Province.
The United States urges the Chinese government to respect the universal
human rights of all Chinese citizens.
Press freedom is a fundamental human right that must be respected by all
governments. The United States will continue to shine the spotlight of
international attention on all those who abuse this basic human right.
http://www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/Press-Freedom-Matters--149575695.html
04-30-2012
Press freedom matters because without a free press, few other human
rights are attainable.
Press freedom matters because without a free press, few other human
rights are attainable. A strong press freedom environment encourages
the growth of civil society, which leads to stable democracies and
political and economic development. That's why the United States is
highlighting journalists around the world who are suffering
intimidation, imprisonment, and sometimes death for exercising their
right to free expression.
Yoani Sanchez is a Cuban blogger who is not permitted to leave the
country. She has attracted an international following for her blog,
Generación Y, which gives readers unprecedented insight into the harsh
realities of life in Cuba. Her work has won numerous awards, including
Columbia University's Maria Cabot prize for journalism, and the
Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award in 2011. But
Cuba's Communist government has refused to allow her to leave the
country to accept these honors. Requests by Ms. Sanchez to travel have
been denied 19 times.
Freedom of movement is a fundamental human right recognized in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States urges the
Cuban government to allow Ms. Sanchez to travel abroad freely and for
all governments to stop the use of travel bans against journalists or
dissidents for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Elsewhere, Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen has been silenced by the
Chinese government. Wangchen was detained by Chinese authorities in
March 2008 on charges related to his 25-minute documentary titled
"Leaving Fear Behind." The film is based on 40 hours of footage and
over 100 interviews conducted over five months. Filmed in China's Amdo
region (located principally in Qinghai Province), the footage includes
interviews with Tibetans who expressed views on a range of issues from
the Dalai Lama to the human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China.
Wangchen was reportedly beaten, deprived of food and sleep during
interrogations, and held incommunicado for a full year. He was tried in
secret in 2009 and is serving a six year sentence in Xichuan Prison,
Qinghai Province.
The United States urges the Chinese government to respect the universal
human rights of all Chinese citizens.
Press freedom is a fundamental human right that must be respected by all
governments. The United States will continue to shine the spotlight of
international attention on all those who abuse this basic human right.
http://www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/Press-Freedom-Matters--149575695.html
Hola, America! Actor defectors denounce Cuba
Hola, America! Actor defectors denounce Cuba
By NICOLE DANNA in Miami and BETH DEFALCO in NY
Last Updated: 2:33 AM, May 1, 2012
Posted: 1:09 AM, May 1, 2012
They're hoping for a Hollywood ending.
The two Cuban actors who defected in Miami as they headed to the TriBeCa
Film Festival for a screening of their film about twins escaping the
Communist island, told The Post yesterday they want to stay in America
to pursue their show-business dreams.
Had they not defected themselves, "we would have wound up being like
every other Cuban,'' said Javier Nunez Florian, speaking for both
himself and his co-star and girlfriend Anailin de la Rua de la Torre.
"I would have continued to be a waiter, and she would have kept selling
jewelry.
"We want to better our lives, and to help our parents," he said through
a translator.
Their film, "Una Noche,'' won several awards at the festival — including
best new director and best cinematography. Nunez shared the best actor
award, although he wasn't there to claim it.
"We are very happy to be here,'' said de la Rua, "We're very proud of
the awards the movie won.''
Nunez said, "The film was never shown in Cuba. There we would not be
able to become an artist or an actor."
The 20-year-olds play two of three people who attempt to float to
freedom on a raft. Nunez's character dies.
The two have been living in Miami since their defection April 18.
Their immigration lawyer, Wilfredo Allen, said they would be persecuted
if they returned.
"Actors and dancers are viewed as something to glorify the revolution
with, so when they defect, they are viewed as traitors," said Allen.
"They don't want to be in a system where their lives and their choices
are not their own. ''
Allen is confident they'll be granted asylum.
Until their status is settled, they plan to live in Las Vegas with
Nunez's brother, who works in a restaurant.
Both said that until acting opportunities turn up, they're willing to
take any job to support themselves.
The two stars have been dating since filming the movie about a year ago.
As for the possibility of marriage, that part of the script has yet to
be written.
"In the future, perhaps,'' Nunez said.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/hola_america_Zx6RN1lEqCZZzvpAQlbRNN
By NICOLE DANNA in Miami and BETH DEFALCO in NY
Last Updated: 2:33 AM, May 1, 2012
Posted: 1:09 AM, May 1, 2012
They're hoping for a Hollywood ending.
The two Cuban actors who defected in Miami as they headed to the TriBeCa
Film Festival for a screening of their film about twins escaping the
Communist island, told The Post yesterday they want to stay in America
to pursue their show-business dreams.
Had they not defected themselves, "we would have wound up being like
every other Cuban,'' said Javier Nunez Florian, speaking for both
himself and his co-star and girlfriend Anailin de la Rua de la Torre.
"I would have continued to be a waiter, and she would have kept selling
jewelry.
"We want to better our lives, and to help our parents," he said through
a translator.
Their film, "Una Noche,'' won several awards at the festival — including
best new director and best cinematography. Nunez shared the best actor
award, although he wasn't there to claim it.
"We are very happy to be here,'' said de la Rua, "We're very proud of
the awards the movie won.''
Nunez said, "The film was never shown in Cuba. There we would not be
able to become an artist or an actor."
The 20-year-olds play two of three people who attempt to float to
freedom on a raft. Nunez's character dies.
The two have been living in Miami since their defection April 18.
Their immigration lawyer, Wilfredo Allen, said they would be persecuted
if they returned.
"Actors and dancers are viewed as something to glorify the revolution
with, so when they defect, they are viewed as traitors," said Allen.
"They don't want to be in a system where their lives and their choices
are not their own. ''
Allen is confident they'll be granted asylum.
Until their status is settled, they plan to live in Las Vegas with
Nunez's brother, who works in a restaurant.
Both said that until acting opportunities turn up, they're willing to
take any job to support themselves.
The two stars have been dating since filming the movie about a year ago.
As for the possibility of marriage, that part of the script has yet to
be written.
"In the future, perhaps,'' Nunez said.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/hola_america_Zx6RN1lEqCZZzvpAQlbRNN
Latin Heartthrob William Levy Talks About Growing Up Hungry in Cuba
Latin Heartthrob William Levy Talks About Growing Up Hungry in Cuba
By JUJU CHANG (@JujuChangABC) and ERIN BRADY
April 30, 2012
Latin sensation William Levy has salsa danced into our hearts on
"Dancing With the Stars," but while this Spanish soap opera actor and
former underwear model seems to be on top of the world now, his life
wasn't always so glamorous.
In an interview with "Nightline," Levy, 31, talked about growing up in
Cuba, and spending much of his childhood hungry. He told Nightline that
every family's food was rationed, and with each person allocated a daily
portion of bread, and a quarter of a chicken each month. Children were
also given a milk ration until they turned 3. Watch the full story on
"Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
As a teenager, Levy said he dreamt of escaping on a raft and risking his
life to get to the United States.
"It's a do-or-die situation," he said. "You can't just stay there and
just let people step all over you."
He was 14 when his family was granted political asylum in the U.S. and
moved to Miami. Levy said he remembers being thunder-struck on his first
trip to the grocery store.
"I never saw an apple before in my life," he said, laughing.
"Strawberry, I never saw before in my life."
'DWTS' Season 14: Jenkins Takes Top Spot Watch Video
William Levy on Cuba Watch Video
Hollywood to DC Watch Video
"My uncle told me, you know, just go ahead, get this little cart and go
ahead and get whatever you want," he continued. "So I saw a box of
strawberries. I open, I get a strawberry and I get an apple…my uncle
started crying, you know, but laughing at me."
Levy said the experience of leaving Cuba and coming to the U.S. taught
him to appreciate how lucky he is.
"Every time I eat, I think about it, 'Oh my God, imagine if I ate this
in Cuba,'" he said. "You get to enjoy so much everything you do. For me,
life is incredible."
But much has changed since Levy was that skinny little boy from Cuba who
was teased when he first arrived in Florida.
He played baseball in college and bulked up, which didn't hurt his
career as an underwear model.
Levy got into acting almost a decade ago and is now arguably the king of
the telenovela, the massively popular genre of Spanish-language soap
operas with a loyal global audience.
Levy's reputation as a lady-killer has caught headlines over the years.
Rumors swirled that Levy was having an affair with Jennifer Lopez after
he starred as her love interest in her music video, "I'm Into You." At
the time, J.Lo was going through a divorce from then-husband Marc
Anthony. But Levy denied the affair.
"I wish I could explain [the rumors]," he said. "I try to live my life
and, you know, try to keep doing what I'm doing, and not let these
things or comments get in my head."
But much of his life has been chronicled on the covers of Spanish People
magazine, including his long-term relationship with Mexican-American
actress Elizabeth Gutierrez. The couple has two children together, but
Levy said he is not ready to get married. At least not yet.
"Right now I'm pretty comfortable in, you know, in my position that I
have now," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/latin-heartthrob-william-levy-talks-growing-hungry-cuba/story?id=16244941#.T5--TVIrr8k
By JUJU CHANG (@JujuChangABC) and ERIN BRADY
April 30, 2012
Latin sensation William Levy has salsa danced into our hearts on
"Dancing With the Stars," but while this Spanish soap opera actor and
former underwear model seems to be on top of the world now, his life
wasn't always so glamorous.
In an interview with "Nightline," Levy, 31, talked about growing up in
Cuba, and spending much of his childhood hungry. He told Nightline that
every family's food was rationed, and with each person allocated a daily
portion of bread, and a quarter of a chicken each month. Children were
also given a milk ration until they turned 3. Watch the full story on
"Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT
As a teenager, Levy said he dreamt of escaping on a raft and risking his
life to get to the United States.
"It's a do-or-die situation," he said. "You can't just stay there and
just let people step all over you."
He was 14 when his family was granted political asylum in the U.S. and
moved to Miami. Levy said he remembers being thunder-struck on his first
trip to the grocery store.
"I never saw an apple before in my life," he said, laughing.
"Strawberry, I never saw before in my life."
'DWTS' Season 14: Jenkins Takes Top Spot Watch Video
William Levy on Cuba Watch Video
Hollywood to DC Watch Video
"My uncle told me, you know, just go ahead, get this little cart and go
ahead and get whatever you want," he continued. "So I saw a box of
strawberries. I open, I get a strawberry and I get an apple…my uncle
started crying, you know, but laughing at me."
Levy said the experience of leaving Cuba and coming to the U.S. taught
him to appreciate how lucky he is.
"Every time I eat, I think about it, 'Oh my God, imagine if I ate this
in Cuba,'" he said. "You get to enjoy so much everything you do. For me,
life is incredible."
But much has changed since Levy was that skinny little boy from Cuba who
was teased when he first arrived in Florida.
He played baseball in college and bulked up, which didn't hurt his
career as an underwear model.
Levy got into acting almost a decade ago and is now arguably the king of
the telenovela, the massively popular genre of Spanish-language soap
operas with a loyal global audience.
Levy's reputation as a lady-killer has caught headlines over the years.
Rumors swirled that Levy was having an affair with Jennifer Lopez after
he starred as her love interest in her music video, "I'm Into You." At
the time, J.Lo was going through a divorce from then-husband Marc
Anthony. But Levy denied the affair.
"I wish I could explain [the rumors]," he said. "I try to live my life
and, you know, try to keep doing what I'm doing, and not let these
things or comments get in my head."
But much of his life has been chronicled on the covers of Spanish People
magazine, including his long-term relationship with Mexican-American
actress Elizabeth Gutierrez. The couple has two children together, but
Levy said he is not ready to get married. At least not yet.
"Right now I'm pretty comfortable in, you know, in my position that I
have now," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/latin-heartthrob-william-levy-talks-growing-hungry-cuba/story?id=16244941#.T5--TVIrr8k
Cuban dissidents say Cardinal Ortega was wrong to call them criminals
Posted on Tuesday, 05.01.12
Cuban dissidents say Cardinal Ortega was wrong to call them criminals
The dissidents were part of a group of 13 who occupied a Catholic church
to press political demands in March.
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega has said that the 13 dissidents who occupied
a Havana church days before Pope Benedict XVI visited the island had
criminal records, were largely uneducated, and that one had mental problems.
But several members of the group contacted by El Nuevo Herald Monday
denied they had criminal records. One is an architect and others were
educated in a variety of jobs and professions, such as computer
technician, sports trainer, bookkeeper and forensic technician.
"I can only say that the 13 are a perfect reflection of Cuban society,
in which there is everything," said Havana human rights activist
Elizardo Sánchez, who angrily called Ortega's comments "incredible."
Ortega, already branded by critics as too friendly with the Raúl Castro
government, sparked a firestorm of controversy last week when he
criticized the 13 dissidents during a speech at Harvard University.
"All were old delinquents," he declared, adding that they "lacked a
level of culture." He described one as suffering from mental problems
and another as having been returned to Cuba by U.S. authorities after
serving six years in a U.S. prison.
The U.S. "excludable" was Carlos Miguel López Santos, who has claimed
that U.S. authorities returned him after mistaking him for another man
accused of terrorism, said María López Báez, head of a Havana chapter of
the Cuban Human Rights Commission.
Another of the 13 suffers from mental problems, said López by phone from
Havana. She added that those problems were created by the government
repression.
Ortega's office in Havana did not reply to an email asking if the
information about the group had come from the dissidents themselves or
from government officials.
López said 11 of the 13 were members of the little known Republican
Party of Cuba (PRC) and two of the Frank Pais November 30 Movement.
They occupied Our Lady of Charity Church in Havana March 13, and Ortega
asked the Cuban government to force them out the next day.
El Nuevo Herald reached six of the 13 by phone Monday:
.• Jennifer Hernandez Piloto, 23, said she had no criminal record and
no university studies but earned a diploma as a food preparation
technician. She is active in the PRC and the dissident Latin American
Federation of Rural Women.
• Her brother Yosiel Guia Piloto, 29, said he had no criminal record
either. He did not attend college and works as a bricklayer.
• Daysi Ponce Arencibia said she graduated from high school, has a
certificate as a computer technician and used to work in the Ministry of
Health. She added that she now repairs cigarette lighters and has no
criminal record.
• Ronnier Valentín Aguillón said he played competitive baseball, has a
bachelor's degree in sports medicine and now earns some income as a
practitioner of Santeria, one of Cuba's several African-based religions.
He said he was never convicted of anything.
• PRC spokesman Fred Calderon Muñoa said he studied commerce in a
university and worked as a bookkeeper in the archives section of a
Havana provincial government office.• Madeline Caraballo Betancourt,
42, the only one who acknowledged a criminal record, said she served six
months in prison in 2005 for criticizing the government.
Caraballo said she was fired from her job as a forensic medicine
technician in Havana after complaining about a blood transfusion that
made her HIV-positive. She now buys and sells used clothing and other items.
López said PRC director Vladimir Calderón Frías, 46, is an architect
with no criminal record.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/30/2776374/cuban-dissidents-say-cardinal.html
Cuban dissidents say Cardinal Ortega was wrong to call them criminals
The dissidents were part of a group of 13 who occupied a Catholic church
to press political demands in March.
By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega has said that the 13 dissidents who occupied
a Havana church days before Pope Benedict XVI visited the island had
criminal records, were largely uneducated, and that one had mental problems.
But several members of the group contacted by El Nuevo Herald Monday
denied they had criminal records. One is an architect and others were
educated in a variety of jobs and professions, such as computer
technician, sports trainer, bookkeeper and forensic technician.
"I can only say that the 13 are a perfect reflection of Cuban society,
in which there is everything," said Havana human rights activist
Elizardo Sánchez, who angrily called Ortega's comments "incredible."
Ortega, already branded by critics as too friendly with the Raúl Castro
government, sparked a firestorm of controversy last week when he
criticized the 13 dissidents during a speech at Harvard University.
"All were old delinquents," he declared, adding that they "lacked a
level of culture." He described one as suffering from mental problems
and another as having been returned to Cuba by U.S. authorities after
serving six years in a U.S. prison.
The U.S. "excludable" was Carlos Miguel López Santos, who has claimed
that U.S. authorities returned him after mistaking him for another man
accused of terrorism, said María López Báez, head of a Havana chapter of
the Cuban Human Rights Commission.
Another of the 13 suffers from mental problems, said López by phone from
Havana. She added that those problems were created by the government
repression.
Ortega's office in Havana did not reply to an email asking if the
information about the group had come from the dissidents themselves or
from government officials.
López said 11 of the 13 were members of the little known Republican
Party of Cuba (PRC) and two of the Frank Pais November 30 Movement.
They occupied Our Lady of Charity Church in Havana March 13, and Ortega
asked the Cuban government to force them out the next day.
El Nuevo Herald reached six of the 13 by phone Monday:
.• Jennifer Hernandez Piloto, 23, said she had no criminal record and
no university studies but earned a diploma as a food preparation
technician. She is active in the PRC and the dissident Latin American
Federation of Rural Women.
• Her brother Yosiel Guia Piloto, 29, said he had no criminal record
either. He did not attend college and works as a bricklayer.
• Daysi Ponce Arencibia said she graduated from high school, has a
certificate as a computer technician and used to work in the Ministry of
Health. She added that she now repairs cigarette lighters and has no
criminal record.
• Ronnier Valentín Aguillón said he played competitive baseball, has a
bachelor's degree in sports medicine and now earns some income as a
practitioner of Santeria, one of Cuba's several African-based religions.
He said he was never convicted of anything.
• PRC spokesman Fred Calderon Muñoa said he studied commerce in a
university and worked as a bookkeeper in the archives section of a
Havana provincial government office.• Madeline Caraballo Betancourt,
42, the only one who acknowledged a criminal record, said she served six
months in prison in 2005 for criticizing the government.
Caraballo said she was fired from her job as a forensic medicine
technician in Havana after complaining about a blood transfusion that
made her HIV-positive. She now buys and sells used clothing and other items.
López said PRC director Vladimir Calderón Frías, 46, is an architect
with no criminal record.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/30/2776374/cuban-dissidents-say-cardinal.html
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