Escapan jóvenes cubanos …virtualmente
Fanáticos de los videojuegos se reunen sin consignas políticas,
derrumbes, ni miserias
lunes, julio 7, 2014 | Kabir Vegas Castellanos
LA HABANA, Cuba -Las LAN Parties (Fiestas en Redes de Área Local) son un
fenómeno relativamente reciente y poco conocido, pero que va tomando
fuerza entre los jóvenes cubanos.
Son organizadas por fanáticos de los videojuegos, que cargan con sus
computadoras, y se reúnen en una casa particular para escapar por un
rato de su agobiante realidad refugiándose en el mundo virtual de sus
juegos preferidos.
Los participantes de estos eventos son, en su mayoría, jóvenes
estudiantes. Coordinar el día de la fiesta se les hace bien difícil pues
debe coincidir sus días libres y los intereses de sus respectivas
familias. Debido a la complicada situación de la vivienda en Cuba, el
hacinamiento y la convivencia forzada de generaciones diferentes,
encontrar un lugar para las fiestas es siempre una tarea complicada.
Con suerte, a veces aparece un adulto, quizás de más de treinta años,
que vive solo y es un declarado fan de los videojuegos. Contar con una
casa completa para una LAN Party es un verdadero privilegio. La libertad
es total, el número de jugadores es mucho mayor y se aprovechan todas
las áreas de la casa.
Poco a poco van llegando los entusiastas participantes. Como pocos
pueden costearse el lujo una laptop, la mayoría tienen que transportar
sus PCs de escritorio, las cuales desarticulan previamente y transportan
con la ayuda de uno o dos amigos. En muchas ocasiones los padres no
autorizan a los muchachos a llevar las computadoras por miedo que en el
trayecto se averíe alguna pieza cara como el disco o duro o el monitor.
El conjunto final de computadoras reunidas es generalmente heterogéneo:
desde monitores planos hasta viejos displays "fondillones" de color
amarillento. Debido al intenso calor tropical y la falta de aire
acondicionado, estos se calientan con rapidez, así que también hay que
llevar ventiladores, que se multiplican y se suman a los que aporta el
anfitrión. SURGE entonces otro problema: conseguir extensiones para
incrementar el número de tomacorrientes disponibles.
Para colocar las máquinas se habilitan todo tipo de muebles, trastos o
cajas, frente a los cuales los muchachos se sientan en posturas a veces
incómodas.
Otro problema común es la gran diversidad en la potencia de las
máquinas. En las de los más afortunados, que cuentan con buenas
computadoras, los juegos corren velozmente, pero en otras hay que
configurar los gráficos al mínimo o, simplemente, no se puede jugar por
su insuficiente potencia.
A veces se recluta la exacta cantidad de gente para pasar una velada
óptima. En otras ocasiones se reúnen tantos que se hace inevitable jugar
por turnos.
Pero, poniendo lo mejor de sí, entre chistes, risas y discusiones, los
jugadores enfrentan las limitaciones de su equipo, el opresivo calor, el
sueño, y las protestas de sus estómagos.
Cuando el hambre es insoportable, si hay alguna panadería cerca y hay
pan y dinero, se compran varios panes y se devoran, con agua como bebida
acompañante.
A menudo, el amanecer sorprende a los jugadores que, con grandes ojeras
y dolores en todo el cuerpo, deben cargar con sus armatostes para
regresar a casa en el transporte público, que puede tardar horas en
llegar. Volver a la pesada realidad es duro para estos jóvenes, pero
para ellos vale la pena a cambio de una noche de escape en mundos
virtuales donde sin consignas políticas, derrumbes, ni miseria.
Source: Escapan jóvenes cubanos …virtualmente | Cubanet -
http://www.cubanet.org/destacados/escapan-jovenes-cubanos-virtualmente/
Monday, July 7, 2014
Another Day Without His Children
Another Day Without His Children / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on July 6, 2014
Today is the second Father's Day that two teenagers will spend without
their dad, like many; they will throw him a kiss through the bars of the
Lawton prison settlement, if the strict vigilance that the dictator
dedicated to Angel Santiesteban doesn't prevent it.
Three guards and some officials, just for him, watch him constantly.
This "common inmate" must be very important to make the Cuban people pay
for such "guarding." Every official costs more than a thousand pesos,
and there are three trios taking it in turn over 24 hours, generation a
cost of more than seven thousand pesos a month, plus the gasoline for
their transportation, and that of the bosses who come daily to check in
person how the guarding of Angel is going.
Also today, there are many dads who will miss the warm kiss of their
children, from the capricious vengeance of a dictator who violently
represses and imprisons all those who fight peacefully for freedom.
Ramón Muñoz, Alan Gross, Jorge Cervantes, just to mention some of the
many political prisoners of the Castro dictatorship, will, like Angel,
spend another day without their children and many of them will spend the
day without their parents.
The dictator brothers will celebrate — with their children and
grandchildren — gobbling and drinking with no limits everything
forbidden to Cubans, while pretending to the world to be everything they
aren't, laughing at the thousands of families separated by the distance
of exile for over half a century.
The mother of his child, along with the Political Police, managed to
imprison him on false charges, all of which accusations were not proven,
not the guilt of her ex-husband — she never proved that anything
happened — rather her own guilt was proved because a false accusation is
a crime and harms the reputation of another person. But the mother of
his son didn't manage to turn her son against his father; he is as
attached to him as ever. Angel will receive the kiss that his son blows
him from a distance, a kiss that will deservedly caress his heart,
because for Angel Father's Day is every day, and his children show how
incredibly proud they are of him.
I lost my father many years ago and the best way I can honor him is to
live the ethical teachings and principles he passed on to me. I know
that he — wherever he is — is proud that I am doing what I'm doing for
Angel.
The Editor
15 June 2014
Source: Another Day Without His Children / Angel Santiesteban |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/another-day-without-his-children-angel-santiesteban/
Posted on July 6, 2014
Today is the second Father's Day that two teenagers will spend without
their dad, like many; they will throw him a kiss through the bars of the
Lawton prison settlement, if the strict vigilance that the dictator
dedicated to Angel Santiesteban doesn't prevent it.
Three guards and some officials, just for him, watch him constantly.
This "common inmate" must be very important to make the Cuban people pay
for such "guarding." Every official costs more than a thousand pesos,
and there are three trios taking it in turn over 24 hours, generation a
cost of more than seven thousand pesos a month, plus the gasoline for
their transportation, and that of the bosses who come daily to check in
person how the guarding of Angel is going.
Also today, there are many dads who will miss the warm kiss of their
children, from the capricious vengeance of a dictator who violently
represses and imprisons all those who fight peacefully for freedom.
Ramón Muñoz, Alan Gross, Jorge Cervantes, just to mention some of the
many political prisoners of the Castro dictatorship, will, like Angel,
spend another day without their children and many of them will spend the
day without their parents.
The dictator brothers will celebrate — with their children and
grandchildren — gobbling and drinking with no limits everything
forbidden to Cubans, while pretending to the world to be everything they
aren't, laughing at the thousands of families separated by the distance
of exile for over half a century.
The mother of his child, along with the Political Police, managed to
imprison him on false charges, all of which accusations were not proven,
not the guilt of her ex-husband — she never proved that anything
happened — rather her own guilt was proved because a false accusation is
a crime and harms the reputation of another person. But the mother of
his son didn't manage to turn her son against his father; he is as
attached to him as ever. Angel will receive the kiss that his son blows
him from a distance, a kiss that will deservedly caress his heart,
because for Angel Father's Day is every day, and his children show how
incredibly proud they are of him.
I lost my father many years ago and the best way I can honor him is to
live the ethical teachings and principles he passed on to me. I know
that he — wherever he is — is proud that I am doing what I'm doing for
Angel.
The Editor
15 June 2014
Source: Another Day Without His Children / Angel Santiesteban |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/another-day-without-his-children-angel-santiesteban/
Money Bristles, Yesterday and Today
Money Bristles, Yesterday and Today / Miriam Celaya
Posted on July 6, 2014
About the previous post, which -as expected- elicited many well and
ill-intentioned comments, I noticed one in particular, a reader
commenting about what used to be our digital magazine Consenso, which
the commentator himself referred to as having opened a Cuban window on
the world. I happen to agree with him and, as part of the management
group and the editorial board of that magazine, I thank him for the
memories and the praise.
But the truth is that his comment inspired me to search through those
articles that were published at the time in Consenso, among which I
found one from my friend and colleague Reinaldo Escobar relating to the
subject of the debate: money. Because, though some were biased in
reading my post and tried to twist the meaning of what I said,
attributing it to my personally attacking those "who did not
like14ymedio.com", when read correctly, it shows that what I attack is
the vice of envy, questioning other's finances, exactly the same matter
that Reinaldo Escobar discussed in Consenso in 2007. Contrary to my
habit of not posting here articles I have not authored, I reproduce it
today, with the previous authorization of the writer. You be the judge
about its worth, and I hope you enjoy it.
Money Bristles
Reinaldo Escobar
It seems almost superfluous to explain that any political activity
generates costs, from the essential existence of a professional staff,
dedicated to party work on a full time basis, to the development and
dissemination of documents, including trips involving transportation,
food and lodging outside the cities where they reside; organizing
seminars, meetings or press conferences, or simply connecting to the
Internet. Can you think how it would be possible to carry out politics
without these things?
There isn't the slightest possibility for an entity in the nascent Cuban
civil society to establish anything like a lucrative business to cover
the costs of political work. There are no cafeterias, rental rooms,
bicycle repair shops or birthday clown entertainers willing or able to
meet those expenses. Not even one of the leaders of the internal
opposition has his own resources, family assets from before the
revolution, or has jewelry to sell or an inheritance to enjoy; most of
them do not receive a salary, they are unemployed. However they engage
in politics in a professional manner, they secure their own
transportation and stays away from home, they undertake conferences,
print documents, receive and send emails. Where does the money come from?
The Cuban government's answer to this question is that the money comes
from the US, be it Florida exiles, independent foundations, or the
American government itself, which, if there ever was any doubt, has just
approved an $80 million budget to this effect. It is known that some EU
or Latin American countries also contribute, but it is clear that,
according to the official interpretation of the facts, this last source
of funds is, when all is said and done, from the US, by way of an
extensive and tangled pathway.
Perhaps the most interesting question is not where the money comes from,
but under what conditions it is received.
José Martí raised funds for Cuban independence from selfless Tampa
cigars manufacturers, but also from wealthy American, Mexican and Cuban
philanthropists. There used to be a picture at the Museum of the
Revolution, long ago removed, where Fidel Castro was seen sitting at a
table in front of a mountain (a small mountain) of dollars. The photo
was taken in New York, while raising funds to buy the yacht Granma, plus
weapons for the 82 revolutionaries. Were these donations subject to any
conditions? Of course they were! The funds were donated, in the first
case, to end the humiliating Spanish colony and in the second, on
condition to overthrow Batista's dictatorship. There is no evidence, not
even hallway gossip, giving the impression that the money was used for
the personal benefit of the apostle [as Cubans call Jose Marti], who
always wore the same threadbare black suit, or on luxuries of the
foremost leader, who, it is rumored, did not cross his legs in public so
none could see the holes on the soles of his shoes.
The triumphant Cuban revolution received lots of aid from the Soviet
Union and other socialist countries, and I am speaking just of what is
euphemistically called "fair trade between poor and developed
countries". I'm talking about ships full of weapons and other war
supplies, about college scholarships, technology transfer, collaboration
of police intelligence, even of space travel, which would have never
happened if Cuba had not complied with the condition of becoming the
first socialist country in the Western Hemisphere. It is a historical
fact that when Che Guevara traveled to China, a joint communique was
issued on completion of his trip, as is the custom, in which the
Chinese, bragging with sincerity, objected to the qualification of
"disinterested" made by the Cubans about the support the Asian giant was
giving the small island.
In those early years, parallel to the subsidy of the revolution, the
financing of the counterrevolution began. It is well documented that at
least between 1959 and 1965 almost all the opposition activities were
directly funded by the CIA, the Pentagon, and the US State Department.
The central characters themselves have stated so, and all of them
justified this financing, so obviously stipulated by the fact that the
government of Fidel Castro was supported by Communist powers.
Today, Cuban dissidents are imprisoned when it is shown, or when there
is a conviction, that they have received money from the US. That was, in
every case, the heaviest accusations resulting in disproportionate
sentences to which the 75 of the Black Spring of 2003 were subjected.
This went as far as to include in the same boat journalists receiving
payment in exchange for articles in foreign newspapers. It led, among
other consequences, to new divisions among the internal opposition:
those not receiving money and receiving it through the U.S. Interests
Section, and those who did not receive funds from the US, but from
independent institutions in Europe and Latin America.
What almost no one asks is where the money comes from today to publish
all those costly national and provincial newspapers, organs of the
Communist Party, of the Union of Young Communists, or the Central Cuban
Workers Union. How were the open forums financed all this time, the
militant marches, the whole material base of the "Battle of Ideas", the
campaigns for the rescue of the five combatants of the Interior
Ministry, jailed in the United States, the trips abroad, the foreign
guests at political events, billboards on highways, t-shirts with
slogans, or the little flags.
Would it be possible to pay all that with the monthly member
contributions to these organizations, which isn't even enough to pay the
salaries of thousands of professional cadres scattered throughout the
whole country, in every province, in every municipality, occupying
premises that do not pay rent, where water and electricity are consumed,
where there are phones and secretaries, gas-guzzling cars that include a
chauffeur?
Political work involves disbursements, be it from the opposition or the
government. If the party in power has at its disposal boxes of public
funds to cover expenses and those in the opposition, besides not having
even legal recognition, also don't have, literally, a place to drop
dead, what is the recommendation? To let the government do whatever it
wants without offering the slightest resistance, or to limit the action
only to within earshot, without even a megaphone to amplify it?
The only option the members of the opposition on the island have been
cornered into, in order to be able to exercise their specific political
tendency, is that of accepting financing from whomever offers it, unless
they are OK with being a "family faction" without the least echo in
society. This is part of the deliberate intention on the part of the
government to disallow any alternative of political change in Cuba. This
intention stretches from a long series of die-hard slogans (socialism or
death, we are ready to shed the last drop of blood, the Island will sink
in the sea first…) to the modification of the constitution to enact the
immobility of the system. The harder it is to dissent, the better for
the government. If the material and legal obstacles aren't enough, if
fear of going to jail is not enough, that's where the ethical scruples
(prejudices?) come in, preventing decent people from accepting funds
that automatically turn them into mercenaries of the imperialism.
Ideally, the Cuban media should not be the party's fiefdom, but a public
space for all political persuasions; with the state budget partially
allocated to fund the work of civil society and of political parties
duly registered under the law. If the state, instead of distributing all
these funds and resources in an impartial manner, funds that proceed
from the working class, monopolizes them only for the favored party, it
loses its moral right to ask where the opposition's money comes from.
Additionally, it should not deny anyone the possibility of becoming a
disinterested donor or a calculating investor. The state should protect
those citizens who have a political proposal, the right to defend it and
have it compete publicly and on equal terms, without being forced to
sell their souls to the devil.
Translated by Norma Whiting
Posted 9 June 2014 by Miriam Celaya
Source: Money Bristles, Yesterday and Today / Miriam Celaya |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/money-bristles-yesterday-and-today-miriam-celaya/
Posted on July 6, 2014
About the previous post, which -as expected- elicited many well and
ill-intentioned comments, I noticed one in particular, a reader
commenting about what used to be our digital magazine Consenso, which
the commentator himself referred to as having opened a Cuban window on
the world. I happen to agree with him and, as part of the management
group and the editorial board of that magazine, I thank him for the
memories and the praise.
But the truth is that his comment inspired me to search through those
articles that were published at the time in Consenso, among which I
found one from my friend and colleague Reinaldo Escobar relating to the
subject of the debate: money. Because, though some were biased in
reading my post and tried to twist the meaning of what I said,
attributing it to my personally attacking those "who did not
like14ymedio.com", when read correctly, it shows that what I attack is
the vice of envy, questioning other's finances, exactly the same matter
that Reinaldo Escobar discussed in Consenso in 2007. Contrary to my
habit of not posting here articles I have not authored, I reproduce it
today, with the previous authorization of the writer. You be the judge
about its worth, and I hope you enjoy it.
Money Bristles
Reinaldo Escobar
It seems almost superfluous to explain that any political activity
generates costs, from the essential existence of a professional staff,
dedicated to party work on a full time basis, to the development and
dissemination of documents, including trips involving transportation,
food and lodging outside the cities where they reside; organizing
seminars, meetings or press conferences, or simply connecting to the
Internet. Can you think how it would be possible to carry out politics
without these things?
There isn't the slightest possibility for an entity in the nascent Cuban
civil society to establish anything like a lucrative business to cover
the costs of political work. There are no cafeterias, rental rooms,
bicycle repair shops or birthday clown entertainers willing or able to
meet those expenses. Not even one of the leaders of the internal
opposition has his own resources, family assets from before the
revolution, or has jewelry to sell or an inheritance to enjoy; most of
them do not receive a salary, they are unemployed. However they engage
in politics in a professional manner, they secure their own
transportation and stays away from home, they undertake conferences,
print documents, receive and send emails. Where does the money come from?
The Cuban government's answer to this question is that the money comes
from the US, be it Florida exiles, independent foundations, or the
American government itself, which, if there ever was any doubt, has just
approved an $80 million budget to this effect. It is known that some EU
or Latin American countries also contribute, but it is clear that,
according to the official interpretation of the facts, this last source
of funds is, when all is said and done, from the US, by way of an
extensive and tangled pathway.
Perhaps the most interesting question is not where the money comes from,
but under what conditions it is received.
José Martí raised funds for Cuban independence from selfless Tampa
cigars manufacturers, but also from wealthy American, Mexican and Cuban
philanthropists. There used to be a picture at the Museum of the
Revolution, long ago removed, where Fidel Castro was seen sitting at a
table in front of a mountain (a small mountain) of dollars. The photo
was taken in New York, while raising funds to buy the yacht Granma, plus
weapons for the 82 revolutionaries. Were these donations subject to any
conditions? Of course they were! The funds were donated, in the first
case, to end the humiliating Spanish colony and in the second, on
condition to overthrow Batista's dictatorship. There is no evidence, not
even hallway gossip, giving the impression that the money was used for
the personal benefit of the apostle [as Cubans call Jose Marti], who
always wore the same threadbare black suit, or on luxuries of the
foremost leader, who, it is rumored, did not cross his legs in public so
none could see the holes on the soles of his shoes.
The triumphant Cuban revolution received lots of aid from the Soviet
Union and other socialist countries, and I am speaking just of what is
euphemistically called "fair trade between poor and developed
countries". I'm talking about ships full of weapons and other war
supplies, about college scholarships, technology transfer, collaboration
of police intelligence, even of space travel, which would have never
happened if Cuba had not complied with the condition of becoming the
first socialist country in the Western Hemisphere. It is a historical
fact that when Che Guevara traveled to China, a joint communique was
issued on completion of his trip, as is the custom, in which the
Chinese, bragging with sincerity, objected to the qualification of
"disinterested" made by the Cubans about the support the Asian giant was
giving the small island.
In those early years, parallel to the subsidy of the revolution, the
financing of the counterrevolution began. It is well documented that at
least between 1959 and 1965 almost all the opposition activities were
directly funded by the CIA, the Pentagon, and the US State Department.
The central characters themselves have stated so, and all of them
justified this financing, so obviously stipulated by the fact that the
government of Fidel Castro was supported by Communist powers.
Today, Cuban dissidents are imprisoned when it is shown, or when there
is a conviction, that they have received money from the US. That was, in
every case, the heaviest accusations resulting in disproportionate
sentences to which the 75 of the Black Spring of 2003 were subjected.
This went as far as to include in the same boat journalists receiving
payment in exchange for articles in foreign newspapers. It led, among
other consequences, to new divisions among the internal opposition:
those not receiving money and receiving it through the U.S. Interests
Section, and those who did not receive funds from the US, but from
independent institutions in Europe and Latin America.
What almost no one asks is where the money comes from today to publish
all those costly national and provincial newspapers, organs of the
Communist Party, of the Union of Young Communists, or the Central Cuban
Workers Union. How were the open forums financed all this time, the
militant marches, the whole material base of the "Battle of Ideas", the
campaigns for the rescue of the five combatants of the Interior
Ministry, jailed in the United States, the trips abroad, the foreign
guests at political events, billboards on highways, t-shirts with
slogans, or the little flags.
Would it be possible to pay all that with the monthly member
contributions to these organizations, which isn't even enough to pay the
salaries of thousands of professional cadres scattered throughout the
whole country, in every province, in every municipality, occupying
premises that do not pay rent, where water and electricity are consumed,
where there are phones and secretaries, gas-guzzling cars that include a
chauffeur?
Political work involves disbursements, be it from the opposition or the
government. If the party in power has at its disposal boxes of public
funds to cover expenses and those in the opposition, besides not having
even legal recognition, also don't have, literally, a place to drop
dead, what is the recommendation? To let the government do whatever it
wants without offering the slightest resistance, or to limit the action
only to within earshot, without even a megaphone to amplify it?
The only option the members of the opposition on the island have been
cornered into, in order to be able to exercise their specific political
tendency, is that of accepting financing from whomever offers it, unless
they are OK with being a "family faction" without the least echo in
society. This is part of the deliberate intention on the part of the
government to disallow any alternative of political change in Cuba. This
intention stretches from a long series of die-hard slogans (socialism or
death, we are ready to shed the last drop of blood, the Island will sink
in the sea first…) to the modification of the constitution to enact the
immobility of the system. The harder it is to dissent, the better for
the government. If the material and legal obstacles aren't enough, if
fear of going to jail is not enough, that's where the ethical scruples
(prejudices?) come in, preventing decent people from accepting funds
that automatically turn them into mercenaries of the imperialism.
Ideally, the Cuban media should not be the party's fiefdom, but a public
space for all political persuasions; with the state budget partially
allocated to fund the work of civil society and of political parties
duly registered under the law. If the state, instead of distributing all
these funds and resources in an impartial manner, funds that proceed
from the working class, monopolizes them only for the favored party, it
loses its moral right to ask where the opposition's money comes from.
Additionally, it should not deny anyone the possibility of becoming a
disinterested donor or a calculating investor. The state should protect
those citizens who have a political proposal, the right to defend it and
have it compete publicly and on equal terms, without being forced to
sell their souls to the devil.
Translated by Norma Whiting
Posted 9 June 2014 by Miriam Celaya
Source: Money Bristles, Yesterday and Today / Miriam Celaya |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/money-bristles-yesterday-and-today-miriam-celaya/
If the Shoe Fits
If the Shoe Fits… / Miriam Celaya
Posted on July 6, 2014
As expected, the birth of the new site 14ymedio.com attracted immediate
attacks from the servers of the Cuban regime. A few hours after the
media's first appearance, it was redirected by official cyber-hosts to a
dedicated page (oh, the satrapy's supreme homage!), not to the
disqualification of counterrevolutionary journalistic medium as such,
but to its "insignificant" manager, the multi-award-winning – and
multi-abominated — Yoani Sánchez-Cordero, evil among the worst.
Interestingly, the essence of the invectives against Yoani the terrific
is not the legitimacy of exercising the right to free opinion, of
creating an information media to and from Cuba, or of the desire that
the media become, in addition to a source of diffusion, an enterprise
producing income to Yoani and her associates, paying for her
collaborators, promoting independent journalism and creating sources of
employment. "The chicken in a chicken and rice meal", as the ever
soporific Lázaro Barredo might say, who had been director of the
libelous "Granma" for a brief period, but who has currently disappeared
from the public scene. It is about questioning what capital this blogger
has available to fund such an enterprise, whether or not she deserved
the awards she has received, and about the nature of her fabulous
emoluments, which, in the imaginary collective of her embittered
detractors is close to half a million dollars.
However, what is truly amazing is that there are some petty characters
in the internal dissent (and even more conspicuous, characters of "the
external"), who have joined the same chant, thus indicating that the
perverse nature of the olive green autocrats has soaked into the
conscience of Cubans beyond suspected limits, also poisoning a sector of
those who call themselves – and indeed are — enemies of the Cuban
dictatorship.
This virulence has reached such magnitude that it instills pity. How
mediocre can an individual be who even feels threatened in the presence
of the mere presumption of the success of others? Why must the
prosperity or the awards and recognitions received by others be a cause
for concern, especially when those "others" not only were and are our
fellows in the cause, but at times have opened space and have shared
with us their fortunes and misfortunes? What dark Cuban trait deprives
us at times of the greatness of rejoicing in the victory of others?
In recent days I have been a witness to, not surprisingly, attacks
launched on the new newspaper 14ymedio.com from our own "trenches" as if
we were their worst enemies. Fortunately, many more words of praise and
encouragement have been sent from the most diverse points, than the sour
bile generated by the ever resentful.
The most poisonous reviews, of course, come from the most mediocre
subjects. Some of these consider themselves "journalists", perhaps in
response to some magical genetic inheritance, though not necessarily
from qualifications or pedigree, or because they feel they have
exclusive rights of "antiquity". If the latter were true, then we would
have to recognize the special rights of the political power of the
regime that has been exerting them for over 55 years in Cuba.
Also not missing in this sui generis repudiation meeting are certain top
dogs inflamed with messianic aspirations, those who always know how,
when, and where things should be done, and who cannot conceive, much
less tolerate, something that is as healthy as it is helpful for the
development of freedom which is simply called competition.
There are those who claim that competition, in order to be healthy, must
have fair opportunities, which remedies the disastrous (and false)
vulgar egalitarianism imposed by the Castros, whose deplorable
consequences we know so well. They are clueless, despite living on
"information" that such a thing as "equality" does not exist in any part
of the world, and that one has to go out and seek the "opportunities",
such as wealth, they have to be conquered, creating them by intellect
and efforts, because they do not fall from heaven, like divine grace, on
anyone's shoulders. And when one reaches them, there is absolutely no
obligation to share them. In fact, it is morally harmful to do so.
Believe it or not, there are individuals from the Cuban dissidence who –
in tune with the government itself — consider others' successes as an
obstacle to their own fulfillment, and, in the licentiousness of their
personal frustration, they take hold of what action they deem
appropriate, including complaints and catharsis about the hardships of
the "un-rewarded" or the "unfunded for professional performance" –what
we often call a cry baby – with such resentment that it reminds us of
the national motto: "I don't want to be as well-off as the Joneses, I
just want for the Joneses to be as fucked up as me."
These kind of individuals don't consider talent, hard work, drive,
courage, will power or – let's say it brazenly and give it its due
–ambition. For them, from 14ymedio.com, there is "unfair competition",
just because Yoani Sánchez has received funding (oh, what a damn word!)
and because she can count on a decent enough comfortable place to work,
so she doesn't need to use the conjugal bed as a sofa. I would consider
this an advantage a bit more hygienic than a status symbol, but – of
course — I understand that we don't all think alike. What is true is
that, for some of the more stubborn enemies of the Castros, comfort and
money (other people's) are as dirty as for the olive green elite itself.
However, many conveniently ignore that they have received (or are
receiving) financial help — something that I sincerely admire and hope
never runs out – way before 14ymedio, before someone was awarded, and
certainly, before the independent Cuban blogosphere was born and
developed, otherwise they could not have sustained their newspapers or
magazines, a reason for having allowed payment for collaborations for
some time now. And congratulations.
That's something, for instance, that the magazine Consenso, and later
Contodos (2004-2007), could never do just because they lacked financing,
a reason why many of them did not collaborate with that project, since
they have always worked for money, as is normal and reasonable, though
there have always been romantics that do certain things for free. It is
understood that nobody is obligated to do it. So what's the problem? Why
are they wearing themselves thin attacking other independent projects?
Isn't it better that we have the greatest possible number of
publications in order to continue penetrating the wall of the regime's
information monopoly?
Another practice that the "pure ones" demonize is marketing. They call
it "media hype" as if it were something obscene, and they talk about
"inflated ego", "lack of humility" (a special merit that they apparently
believe abounds among them). Because, at the height of perfidy, Yoani
Sánchez is not settling for creating a newspaper, period, but she aims
to "create the best newspaper", states a critic (or should I say a
criticizer?). And the question arises, what harm is there in pursuing
perfection? Why shouldn't anyone wish to reach that goal at a healthy
pace, particularly when they work so hard to that end?
Personally, as a citizen journalist, I am in the habit of believing that
the better I do my job, the more my readers appreciate it, whether or
not they are in agreement with my opinions. So, with every effort I
undertake, I go beyond, getting close or not to a certain extent, the
perfection I aim for, why settle for less? Why should this be a flaw?
It is curious that certain people often parasitize on the opinions of
others and present them as their own (which in itself is unfair, and
even fraudulent), people who lack education, training or qualification —
academic or self-taught — people who "decorate" with lies or hype the
information given to them, who make up non-existent people in interviews
they publish and limit their relative success in the overwhelming
mediocrity (even more) of those around them – which, de facto, melds
them into mediocre individuals — might seek to establish themselves as
champions of honesty and virtue as well
And, since excessive vanity inevitably leads to the ridiculous, the
sorrowful orphans lie or misrepresent reality: 14ymedio.com has never
claimed to be the first independent digital medium in Cuba, or declared
itself "anti-Castro" (or "anti" anything, but rather, "pro" rights,
although it seems that the same is not equal), which is why, from the
opposite ends, Yoani is accused of falling into "ambiguities" because
there is always some moron who, despite lacking his own projects, feels
he has the right to issue guidelines about what the projects of others
should and must be.
And, finally, to finish off so much Castro-socialist drivel, designed
for those masterfully defined as "perfect Latin-American idiots" by
three academics a lot wiser than I am, let's leave, once and for all,
the eternal posture of the mentally herniated poor little victims, who
will have to be fed and subsidized forever. Neither Yoani Sánchez nor
14ymedio.com, nor absolutely anyone else, other than the same
individuals, are responsible for their own lack of success or of
"financiers" to overcome their woes.
The formula for prosperity, dear idiots of this island village, is not
to wait for generous patrons to appear, but to have something to offer.
You should not have to sit down and wait for some bored mogul to want to
"do justice" and throw you a financial bone.
Perhaps the wailing crew of the day should use the energy they employ in
lamentations to work more efficiently and creatively. Incidentally, it
would not be a bad idea for them to get up to date with the present.
Don't feel put out, none of that! These are only a few suggestions. That
said, be adventurous, take risks. I am referring, in particular, to
financial and professional risks, so don't come back again with the
morsel that this one or that one was taken prisoner, or that they take
their lives into their own hands "on the street", because that is a risk
that all of we Cubans take, from the daredevil who establishes a
political party or who writes independently to the poor devil who steals
three pounds of meat from a warehouse. This is another one of our best
entrenched myths. In Cuba, jail does not depend on anybody's merits, but
on the whim of the satrapy.
And if someone chooses to be personally offended by this post, know that
I can't be bothered with such tackle, but I respect all your conscious
choices. If I have not mentioned names, is not to evade confrontation,
but because I will not give them a single hit or a smidgen of brain
cells, to a debate that, in addition, would be useless. We know that
some people are hopeless. Time is usually a wise judge. Also know that
making enemies does not move me, but false expectations are not
believable: I pick my enemies. I don't know if the recipients of this
post are at the height of the conflict or in the process of getting
there. At any rate, I wish you much success.
Published June 2nd, 2014, by Miriam Celaya
Translated by Norma Whiting
Source: If the Shoe Fits… / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/if-the-shoe-fits-miriam-celaya/
Posted on July 6, 2014
As expected, the birth of the new site 14ymedio.com attracted immediate
attacks from the servers of the Cuban regime. A few hours after the
media's first appearance, it was redirected by official cyber-hosts to a
dedicated page (oh, the satrapy's supreme homage!), not to the
disqualification of counterrevolutionary journalistic medium as such,
but to its "insignificant" manager, the multi-award-winning – and
multi-abominated — Yoani Sánchez-Cordero, evil among the worst.
Interestingly, the essence of the invectives against Yoani the terrific
is not the legitimacy of exercising the right to free opinion, of
creating an information media to and from Cuba, or of the desire that
the media become, in addition to a source of diffusion, an enterprise
producing income to Yoani and her associates, paying for her
collaborators, promoting independent journalism and creating sources of
employment. "The chicken in a chicken and rice meal", as the ever
soporific Lázaro Barredo might say, who had been director of the
libelous "Granma" for a brief period, but who has currently disappeared
from the public scene. It is about questioning what capital this blogger
has available to fund such an enterprise, whether or not she deserved
the awards she has received, and about the nature of her fabulous
emoluments, which, in the imaginary collective of her embittered
detractors is close to half a million dollars.
However, what is truly amazing is that there are some petty characters
in the internal dissent (and even more conspicuous, characters of "the
external"), who have joined the same chant, thus indicating that the
perverse nature of the olive green autocrats has soaked into the
conscience of Cubans beyond suspected limits, also poisoning a sector of
those who call themselves – and indeed are — enemies of the Cuban
dictatorship.
This virulence has reached such magnitude that it instills pity. How
mediocre can an individual be who even feels threatened in the presence
of the mere presumption of the success of others? Why must the
prosperity or the awards and recognitions received by others be a cause
for concern, especially when those "others" not only were and are our
fellows in the cause, but at times have opened space and have shared
with us their fortunes and misfortunes? What dark Cuban trait deprives
us at times of the greatness of rejoicing in the victory of others?
In recent days I have been a witness to, not surprisingly, attacks
launched on the new newspaper 14ymedio.com from our own "trenches" as if
we were their worst enemies. Fortunately, many more words of praise and
encouragement have been sent from the most diverse points, than the sour
bile generated by the ever resentful.
The most poisonous reviews, of course, come from the most mediocre
subjects. Some of these consider themselves "journalists", perhaps in
response to some magical genetic inheritance, though not necessarily
from qualifications or pedigree, or because they feel they have
exclusive rights of "antiquity". If the latter were true, then we would
have to recognize the special rights of the political power of the
regime that has been exerting them for over 55 years in Cuba.
Also not missing in this sui generis repudiation meeting are certain top
dogs inflamed with messianic aspirations, those who always know how,
when, and where things should be done, and who cannot conceive, much
less tolerate, something that is as healthy as it is helpful for the
development of freedom which is simply called competition.
There are those who claim that competition, in order to be healthy, must
have fair opportunities, which remedies the disastrous (and false)
vulgar egalitarianism imposed by the Castros, whose deplorable
consequences we know so well. They are clueless, despite living on
"information" that such a thing as "equality" does not exist in any part
of the world, and that one has to go out and seek the "opportunities",
such as wealth, they have to be conquered, creating them by intellect
and efforts, because they do not fall from heaven, like divine grace, on
anyone's shoulders. And when one reaches them, there is absolutely no
obligation to share them. In fact, it is morally harmful to do so.
Believe it or not, there are individuals from the Cuban dissidence who –
in tune with the government itself — consider others' successes as an
obstacle to their own fulfillment, and, in the licentiousness of their
personal frustration, they take hold of what action they deem
appropriate, including complaints and catharsis about the hardships of
the "un-rewarded" or the "unfunded for professional performance" –what
we often call a cry baby – with such resentment that it reminds us of
the national motto: "I don't want to be as well-off as the Joneses, I
just want for the Joneses to be as fucked up as me."
These kind of individuals don't consider talent, hard work, drive,
courage, will power or – let's say it brazenly and give it its due
–ambition. For them, from 14ymedio.com, there is "unfair competition",
just because Yoani Sánchez has received funding (oh, what a damn word!)
and because she can count on a decent enough comfortable place to work,
so she doesn't need to use the conjugal bed as a sofa. I would consider
this an advantage a bit more hygienic than a status symbol, but – of
course — I understand that we don't all think alike. What is true is
that, for some of the more stubborn enemies of the Castros, comfort and
money (other people's) are as dirty as for the olive green elite itself.
However, many conveniently ignore that they have received (or are
receiving) financial help — something that I sincerely admire and hope
never runs out – way before 14ymedio, before someone was awarded, and
certainly, before the independent Cuban blogosphere was born and
developed, otherwise they could not have sustained their newspapers or
magazines, a reason for having allowed payment for collaborations for
some time now. And congratulations.
That's something, for instance, that the magazine Consenso, and later
Contodos (2004-2007), could never do just because they lacked financing,
a reason why many of them did not collaborate with that project, since
they have always worked for money, as is normal and reasonable, though
there have always been romantics that do certain things for free. It is
understood that nobody is obligated to do it. So what's the problem? Why
are they wearing themselves thin attacking other independent projects?
Isn't it better that we have the greatest possible number of
publications in order to continue penetrating the wall of the regime's
information monopoly?
Another practice that the "pure ones" demonize is marketing. They call
it "media hype" as if it were something obscene, and they talk about
"inflated ego", "lack of humility" (a special merit that they apparently
believe abounds among them). Because, at the height of perfidy, Yoani
Sánchez is not settling for creating a newspaper, period, but she aims
to "create the best newspaper", states a critic (or should I say a
criticizer?). And the question arises, what harm is there in pursuing
perfection? Why shouldn't anyone wish to reach that goal at a healthy
pace, particularly when they work so hard to that end?
Personally, as a citizen journalist, I am in the habit of believing that
the better I do my job, the more my readers appreciate it, whether or
not they are in agreement with my opinions. So, with every effort I
undertake, I go beyond, getting close or not to a certain extent, the
perfection I aim for, why settle for less? Why should this be a flaw?
It is curious that certain people often parasitize on the opinions of
others and present them as their own (which in itself is unfair, and
even fraudulent), people who lack education, training or qualification —
academic or self-taught — people who "decorate" with lies or hype the
information given to them, who make up non-existent people in interviews
they publish and limit their relative success in the overwhelming
mediocrity (even more) of those around them – which, de facto, melds
them into mediocre individuals — might seek to establish themselves as
champions of honesty and virtue as well
And, since excessive vanity inevitably leads to the ridiculous, the
sorrowful orphans lie or misrepresent reality: 14ymedio.com has never
claimed to be the first independent digital medium in Cuba, or declared
itself "anti-Castro" (or "anti" anything, but rather, "pro" rights,
although it seems that the same is not equal), which is why, from the
opposite ends, Yoani is accused of falling into "ambiguities" because
there is always some moron who, despite lacking his own projects, feels
he has the right to issue guidelines about what the projects of others
should and must be.
And, finally, to finish off so much Castro-socialist drivel, designed
for those masterfully defined as "perfect Latin-American idiots" by
three academics a lot wiser than I am, let's leave, once and for all,
the eternal posture of the mentally herniated poor little victims, who
will have to be fed and subsidized forever. Neither Yoani Sánchez nor
14ymedio.com, nor absolutely anyone else, other than the same
individuals, are responsible for their own lack of success or of
"financiers" to overcome their woes.
The formula for prosperity, dear idiots of this island village, is not
to wait for generous patrons to appear, but to have something to offer.
You should not have to sit down and wait for some bored mogul to want to
"do justice" and throw you a financial bone.
Perhaps the wailing crew of the day should use the energy they employ in
lamentations to work more efficiently and creatively. Incidentally, it
would not be a bad idea for them to get up to date with the present.
Don't feel put out, none of that! These are only a few suggestions. That
said, be adventurous, take risks. I am referring, in particular, to
financial and professional risks, so don't come back again with the
morsel that this one or that one was taken prisoner, or that they take
their lives into their own hands "on the street", because that is a risk
that all of we Cubans take, from the daredevil who establishes a
political party or who writes independently to the poor devil who steals
three pounds of meat from a warehouse. This is another one of our best
entrenched myths. In Cuba, jail does not depend on anybody's merits, but
on the whim of the satrapy.
And if someone chooses to be personally offended by this post, know that
I can't be bothered with such tackle, but I respect all your conscious
choices. If I have not mentioned names, is not to evade confrontation,
but because I will not give them a single hit or a smidgen of brain
cells, to a debate that, in addition, would be useless. We know that
some people are hopeless. Time is usually a wise judge. Also know that
making enemies does not move me, but false expectations are not
believable: I pick my enemies. I don't know if the recipients of this
post are at the height of the conflict or in the process of getting
there. At any rate, I wish you much success.
Published June 2nd, 2014, by Miriam Celaya
Translated by Norma Whiting
Source: If the Shoe Fits… / Miriam Celaya | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/if-the-shoe-fits-miriam-celaya/
National Security and Defense of Cattle
Cuba: National Security and Defense of Cattle / Juan Juan Almeida
Posted on July 6, 2014
The "National Defense Council" is, in exceptional situations, the
highest institution of power. Whenever it meets, it is charged with
internal order, security, foreign policy, military forces, plus all the
economic, legal and social activity of the country.
So it is logical to understand why the luggage of the Cuban leaders are
filled with reserves of Imodium, Kaopectate, Pepto-Bismal and all the
anti-diarrheals in existence, before leaving for the Extraordinary
Summit of the Group of 77 plus China, held in Bolivia, the Army General
Castro Ruz called for a Defense Council his First Vice President and his
Vice Presidents and a select representation of civilian and military.
The topic was the illegal slaughter of cattle that — as argued — is
aggravated in the current socioeconomic circumstances:
recording-breaking in southern Cienfuegos. The Pearl of the South, as
this beautiful city is known, is the province where the highest rate of
cattle theft and slaughter.
The pandemic of killers — as revealed in this important meeting — is
seriously affecting the national economy; it further reduces the almost
non-existent cattle herd and affects the animal heritage of the State
companies, cooperatives and individual producers.
This fact, and other administrative issues that of course are ignored,
were responsible for the insufficient availability of beef cattle for
people's consumption (as if citizens even received beef), with effects
on the food industry, tourism and even light industry because of the
lack of skins for the making of shoes and other leather goods for
export. The words fly, we know that during the important meeting there
was talk about creating rules and measures intended to exercise more
control over the livestock industry, and making new regulations aimed at
exorcising the evil of illegal slaughter.
The Revolution dictates, and the revolutionaries comply with the need to
confront the problem by creating a joint integrated commission for
officials from the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture and the National
Police, with special participation in the issue by the forces and
measures of State Security.
For the first time, to anyone's knowledge, in a government meeting no
one mentions "the Blockade"; I imagine that it's pretty convoluted to
blame the United States for the Cuban amateurs. But the prize for the
day's hero, or the fool of the moment, depending on your point of view,
was won by Gustavo Rodriguez, agricultural engineer and Minister of
Agriculture.
The comment is heard among the most select gossip of the Cuban political
class.
They say that in the full meeting, where the job is to obey, the man,
armed with the courage that comes from ingenuity, and not rebellion,
criticized the inefficient of the State and its legal mechanisms. He
said that, "Increasingly severe criminal penalties haven't been able to
stop the crime; we should recognize the farmers' ownership of their
animals and implement other alternatives to address the problem, such as
legalizing and regulating the controlled slaughter of cattle, and
gradually implement it, in an experimental way and with a tax policy and
prices capable of governing the trade in beef."
"El Chino*" got upset and let out a shout that was heard in China;
leaving the only alternative and unanimous proposal to increase
repression, sanctions and the prison population. Oh! And to keep under
observation the opinion offered by the comrade minister.
*Translator's note: "El Chino" (the Chinese man) is reference to Raul
Castro.
25 June 2014
Source: Cuba: National Security and Defense of Cattle / Juan Juan
Almeida | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-national-security-and-defense-of-cattle-juan-juan-almeida/
Posted on July 6, 2014
The "National Defense Council" is, in exceptional situations, the
highest institution of power. Whenever it meets, it is charged with
internal order, security, foreign policy, military forces, plus all the
economic, legal and social activity of the country.
So it is logical to understand why the luggage of the Cuban leaders are
filled with reserves of Imodium, Kaopectate, Pepto-Bismal and all the
anti-diarrheals in existence, before leaving for the Extraordinary
Summit of the Group of 77 plus China, held in Bolivia, the Army General
Castro Ruz called for a Defense Council his First Vice President and his
Vice Presidents and a select representation of civilian and military.
The topic was the illegal slaughter of cattle that — as argued — is
aggravated in the current socioeconomic circumstances:
recording-breaking in southern Cienfuegos. The Pearl of the South, as
this beautiful city is known, is the province where the highest rate of
cattle theft and slaughter.
The pandemic of killers — as revealed in this important meeting — is
seriously affecting the national economy; it further reduces the almost
non-existent cattle herd and affects the animal heritage of the State
companies, cooperatives and individual producers.
This fact, and other administrative issues that of course are ignored,
were responsible for the insufficient availability of beef cattle for
people's consumption (as if citizens even received beef), with effects
on the food industry, tourism and even light industry because of the
lack of skins for the making of shoes and other leather goods for
export. The words fly, we know that during the important meeting there
was talk about creating rules and measures intended to exercise more
control over the livestock industry, and making new regulations aimed at
exorcising the evil of illegal slaughter.
The Revolution dictates, and the revolutionaries comply with the need to
confront the problem by creating a joint integrated commission for
officials from the Ministries of Justice, Agriculture and the National
Police, with special participation in the issue by the forces and
measures of State Security.
For the first time, to anyone's knowledge, in a government meeting no
one mentions "the Blockade"; I imagine that it's pretty convoluted to
blame the United States for the Cuban amateurs. But the prize for the
day's hero, or the fool of the moment, depending on your point of view,
was won by Gustavo Rodriguez, agricultural engineer and Minister of
Agriculture.
The comment is heard among the most select gossip of the Cuban political
class.
They say that in the full meeting, where the job is to obey, the man,
armed with the courage that comes from ingenuity, and not rebellion,
criticized the inefficient of the State and its legal mechanisms. He
said that, "Increasingly severe criminal penalties haven't been able to
stop the crime; we should recognize the farmers' ownership of their
animals and implement other alternatives to address the problem, such as
legalizing and regulating the controlled slaughter of cattle, and
gradually implement it, in an experimental way and with a tax policy and
prices capable of governing the trade in beef."
"El Chino*" got upset and let out a shout that was heard in China;
leaving the only alternative and unanimous proposal to increase
repression, sanctions and the prison population. Oh! And to keep under
observation the opinion offered by the comrade minister.
*Translator's note: "El Chino" (the Chinese man) is reference to Raul
Castro.
25 June 2014
Source: Cuba: National Security and Defense of Cattle / Juan Juan
Almeida | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-national-security-and-defense-of-cattle-juan-juan-almeida/
The Loneliness of the Tobacco Growers
The Loneliness of the Tobacco Growers / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on July 6, 2014
Reinaldo Escobar, Pinar del Rio, 5 July 2014
The tobacco growers of San Juan y Martinez listened — between
astonishment and helplessness – to the National Assembly debates. They
expected that their difficulties and the problems of payment would be
addressed during the discussions of some committee. They were disappointed.
In the Rafael Morán, cooperative, located in the town of San Juan y
Martinez, frustration spread among the farmers. Just weeks earlier, the
producers had been visited by a representative of the National
Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), representatives of the Communist
Party in the town, and several members of the National Tabacuba
Business. The tobacco farmers expressed their difficulties and
complaints to these officials.
The meeting was part of the government campaign called "We're going for
more …" whose visible face was Vice President Jose Ramon Machado
Ventura. The State offensive to improve production led to these meetings
between the producers and the authorities of the sector. In the meetings
the feeling of many producers emerged, some of which asserted publicly
that "If there's no change in the price of tobacco, it is going to be
very difficult."
Among the main complaints expressed by the tobacco farmers was the
discrepancy between the real costs of producing tobacco and the price
that the state companies pay for dried tobacco. According to the
official figures, it should cost a farmer 1.255 Cuban pesos (CUP) to
produce 100 pounds of tobacco, but in reality the costs far exceed the
official estimate.
Even the slightest setback so that leads the tobacco harvest to being
considered "affected," which lowers its price and leaves the producer in
arrears. The disagreement with the payments made by State, the only
permitted buyer, for the so-called "affected tobacco," also showed up at
the meeting. This supposedly damaged raw material is used industrially
in the production of cigarettes. In the case of the plantations of San
Juan y Martinez, the "affected leaves" are excellent quality and quality
cigars and cigarettes can be made with them.
"It brings in great wealth in hard currency, and yet the peasant loses,"
the producer laments.
The State standards establish that tobacco is "affected" if it doesn't
have good colors nor an adequate constitution to be considered high
quality. But this doesn't justify the paltry price of 345 Cuban pesos
(CUP) per 100 pounds, established by the official valuation. If a farmer
has the least amount affected, then he loses all the economic support
that could pay for the crop. For its part, the State gets huge
dividends, especially in the international market.
Hence, the concern of these tobacco growers on seeing that the National
Assembly hasn't been informed that there is no review process for the
popularly called "purchase law." The absence of any discussion of this
subject made the growers feel cheated and forgotten. In the case of
Pinar del Rio the prices are higher than in other provinces, so the
dissatisfaction is higher in other tobacco-growing regions of the country.
"We haven't seen our demands reflected," claims Néstor Pérez González.
"We also discussed the situation of poverty in the area, which is
reflected in the farmers' standard of living and doesn't reflect the
fact that this municipality exceed its tobacco production goals," the
farmer says.
During the conversation Néstor Pérez expressed his concern without
restraint." This year has been critical, so we are predicting a worse
economic scenario for the area." The crop damage has been caused by
excessive rainfall during the period. A consequence of this situation is
that the farmers have perceived the injustice of low payments for the
so-called "affected tobacco" more seriously. "It will be affected, but
it brings in great wealth in hard currency, and yet the peasant loses,"
the producer laments.
"The so-called 'cost sheets' that they are offering us are well below
the real costs of production; thus our demand that the prices should be
raised," says Juan Pablo, who combines his tobacco with the growing of
lowers and fruit. The problem greatly affects the cooperatives such as
the Basic Units of Cooperative Production (UBPC).
The tobacco growers have taken the pulse of the situation and feel that
are being left aside. "We had the illusion that the Assembly would
reflect and we would glimpse some change." However, the last
parliamentary session has brought more frustration than hope to the
tobacco growing area of San Juan y Martinez and the mythical Hoyo de
Monterrey.
Source: The Loneliness of the Tobacco Growers / 14ymedio, Reinaldo
Escobar | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-loneliness-of-the-tobacco-growers-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
Posted on July 6, 2014
Reinaldo Escobar, Pinar del Rio, 5 July 2014
The tobacco growers of San Juan y Martinez listened — between
astonishment and helplessness – to the National Assembly debates. They
expected that their difficulties and the problems of payment would be
addressed during the discussions of some committee. They were disappointed.
In the Rafael Morán, cooperative, located in the town of San Juan y
Martinez, frustration spread among the farmers. Just weeks earlier, the
producers had been visited by a representative of the National
Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), representatives of the Communist
Party in the town, and several members of the National Tabacuba
Business. The tobacco farmers expressed their difficulties and
complaints to these officials.
The meeting was part of the government campaign called "We're going for
more …" whose visible face was Vice President Jose Ramon Machado
Ventura. The State offensive to improve production led to these meetings
between the producers and the authorities of the sector. In the meetings
the feeling of many producers emerged, some of which asserted publicly
that "If there's no change in the price of tobacco, it is going to be
very difficult."
Among the main complaints expressed by the tobacco farmers was the
discrepancy between the real costs of producing tobacco and the price
that the state companies pay for dried tobacco. According to the
official figures, it should cost a farmer 1.255 Cuban pesos (CUP) to
produce 100 pounds of tobacco, but in reality the costs far exceed the
official estimate.
Even the slightest setback so that leads the tobacco harvest to being
considered "affected," which lowers its price and leaves the producer in
arrears. The disagreement with the payments made by State, the only
permitted buyer, for the so-called "affected tobacco," also showed up at
the meeting. This supposedly damaged raw material is used industrially
in the production of cigarettes. In the case of the plantations of San
Juan y Martinez, the "affected leaves" are excellent quality and quality
cigars and cigarettes can be made with them.
"It brings in great wealth in hard currency, and yet the peasant loses,"
the producer laments.
The State standards establish that tobacco is "affected" if it doesn't
have good colors nor an adequate constitution to be considered high
quality. But this doesn't justify the paltry price of 345 Cuban pesos
(CUP) per 100 pounds, established by the official valuation. If a farmer
has the least amount affected, then he loses all the economic support
that could pay for the crop. For its part, the State gets huge
dividends, especially in the international market.
Hence, the concern of these tobacco growers on seeing that the National
Assembly hasn't been informed that there is no review process for the
popularly called "purchase law." The absence of any discussion of this
subject made the growers feel cheated and forgotten. In the case of
Pinar del Rio the prices are higher than in other provinces, so the
dissatisfaction is higher in other tobacco-growing regions of the country.
"We haven't seen our demands reflected," claims Néstor Pérez González.
"We also discussed the situation of poverty in the area, which is
reflected in the farmers' standard of living and doesn't reflect the
fact that this municipality exceed its tobacco production goals," the
farmer says.
During the conversation Néstor Pérez expressed his concern without
restraint." This year has been critical, so we are predicting a worse
economic scenario for the area." The crop damage has been caused by
excessive rainfall during the period. A consequence of this situation is
that the farmers have perceived the injustice of low payments for the
so-called "affected tobacco" more seriously. "It will be affected, but
it brings in great wealth in hard currency, and yet the peasant loses,"
the producer laments.
"The so-called 'cost sheets' that they are offering us are well below
the real costs of production; thus our demand that the prices should be
raised," says Juan Pablo, who combines his tobacco with the growing of
lowers and fruit. The problem greatly affects the cooperatives such as
the Basic Units of Cooperative Production (UBPC).
The tobacco growers have taken the pulse of the situation and feel that
are being left aside. "We had the illusion that the Assembly would
reflect and we would glimpse some change." However, the last
parliamentary session has brought more frustration than hope to the
tobacco growing area of San Juan y Martinez and the mythical Hoyo de
Monterrey.
Source: The Loneliness of the Tobacco Growers / 14ymedio, Reinaldo
Escobar | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-loneliness-of-the-tobacco-growers-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/
A look at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist's call to end the US/Cuba trade embargo
A look at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist's call to end
the US/Cuba trade embargo
Posted: July 5, 2014 - 12:41pm | Updated: July 5, 2014 - 12:46pm
By The Associated Press
MIAMI | When Charlie Crist went to Miami's Little Havana recently, the
Democratic candidate for governor stood before a crowd and said what few
politicians have in decades of scrounging for votes in the
Cuban-American neighborhood: End the trade embargo against Cuba.
"If you really care about people on the island, we need to get rid of
the embargo and let freedom reign," he said, shouting above a small band
of protesters who responded with chants of "Shame on you!"
Crist's supporters cheered louder.
It was a scene inconceivable just a few years ago, when politicians were
careful about what they said on the issue, for fear of alienating
Cuban-American voters, many of whom fled Fidel Castro's Cuba in the 1960s.
But Democrats now sense an opening with newer Cuban arrivals and
second-generation Cuban-Americans who favor resuming diplomatic
relations with the communist island.
In a sign of just how much the climate has shifted, Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who backed trade limits when she ran for president in
2008, is now calling for the embargo to be lifted. She described it as
"Castro's best friend" and said it hampers "our broader agenda across
Latin America."
Her words mark the first time a leading presidential contender from
either political party has suggested reversing the 52-year-old policy.
The efforts represent the largest challenge to Cuban-American orthodoxy
in decades and could help reshape American foreign policy.
It also could alter the political landscape in the largest swing-voting
state, where Republicans long have dominated the Cuban vote by taking a
hard line on the embargo.
Crist's campaign will be the first statewide test of whether the trade
restrictions are still a live wire for politicians in Florida, home to
70 percent of the nation's Cubans.
Crist is a former Republican governor who once said he would only visit
Cuba "when it's free." Now that he's a Democrat and trying to regain his
old job, he has floated the idea of going to Havana "to learn from the
people of Cuba and help find opportunities for Florida businesses."
He argues that the embargo has failed because it has not toppled the
Castro government but has hurt the Cuban people. "The definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result," he told reporters at the opening of a campaign office
in Little Havana.
Florida Republicans are outraged, casting Crist's position as a betrayal
of the Cuban-American community.
"I'm going to stand with Cuban-Americans that believe in freedom,
believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and oppose the
oppression of Cuba," said GOP Gov. Rick Scott. Crist, he added, will "be
standing with Castro."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential GOP presidential candidate whose
parents left Cuba in the 1950s, said the embargo is "the last tool we
have remaining to ensure that democracy returns to Cuba one day."
Lifting the embargo, he said, would "further entrench the regime in
power by giving them more money to carry out their violent repression of
people's fundamental rights and dignity."
Nationwide, the share of Cuban registered voters who identify with or
lean toward the Democratic Party has doubled in the past decade, from 22
percent to 44 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Less than
half of Cuban voters now affiliate with the Republican Party, down from
64 percent over the same time period.
President Barack Obama won Florida twice, campaigning on easing travel
restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit their families on the
island and allowing them to send more money to their relatives. In 2012,
he captured nearly half the Cuban-American vote, a record for a Democrat.
The shift is driven in part by changing demographics.
Cuban-Americans, once the dominant bloc of Florida's Hispanic vote, have
seen their political clout diminished by a huge influx of Puerto Ricans,
Mexicans and people from Central and South America, who lean Democratic.
In the 2012 election, 42 percent of Hispanic voters in the state were
Cuban, an 11 percentage point drop from 2000, according to the Census
Bureau's Current Population Survey.
The exiles who arrived in the decade and a half following Cuba's 1959
revolution have been dying off while their children and fresh waves of
immigrants hold a different view of Cuba. More than one-third of the
Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County arrived after 1995, with many
supporting travel and trade policies that strengthen ties between the
U.S. and Cuba, said Guillermo Grenier, a lead researcher for the Cuban
Research Institute at Florida International University.
Even some of South Florida's most prominent Cuban-American business
leaders, long among the most strident defenders of the embargo, are
publicly talking about investing in Cuba.
"The politics are way behind public opinion on this one," said Steve
Schale, a Democratic consultant and Crist adviser who managed Obama's
Florida campaign in 2008.
Overall, polls of the community have confirmed a tilt toward engagement,
with the most recent survey by Florida International University finding
Cuban-Americans in Miami split over the embargo, which was a near
record, and 71 percent saying it had not worked either very well or at all.
"The embargo! It's so screwed up!" said Caridad Novo, as she sipped
espresso at a cafe in Doral, a Miami suburb.
The 52-year-old Cuban, who came to Florida during the 1980 Mariel boat
crisis, said U.S. trade restrictions drive up the cost of sending goods
to her family in Cuba. Shipping a 4-pound can of milk to her 3-year-old
grandson in Havana costs $55, she said.
But some scholars and political operatives say Crist risks energizing
Republicans in the conservative exile community while attracting little
support from younger Cuban-Americans and newer arrivals, who tend to be
less politically active.
The recent Florida International University poll found that less than
one-third of those who have arrived since 1995 are U.S. citizens. Voter
registration rates among newer arrivals lag their older counterparts by
double digits.
"What is changing is opinions" on the embargo, Grenier said. "But for
the opinions to become relevant to policymakers, they have to translate
into more than just opinions. They have to be votes."
Associated Press
Source: Analysis: A look at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie
Crist's call to end the US/Cuba trade embargo | jacksonville.com -
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2014-07-05/story/democratic-gubernatorial-candidate-charlie-crist-calls-ending-us
the US/Cuba trade embargo
Posted: July 5, 2014 - 12:41pm | Updated: July 5, 2014 - 12:46pm
By The Associated Press
MIAMI | When Charlie Crist went to Miami's Little Havana recently, the
Democratic candidate for governor stood before a crowd and said what few
politicians have in decades of scrounging for votes in the
Cuban-American neighborhood: End the trade embargo against Cuba.
"If you really care about people on the island, we need to get rid of
the embargo and let freedom reign," he said, shouting above a small band
of protesters who responded with chants of "Shame on you!"
Crist's supporters cheered louder.
It was a scene inconceivable just a few years ago, when politicians were
careful about what they said on the issue, for fear of alienating
Cuban-American voters, many of whom fled Fidel Castro's Cuba in the 1960s.
But Democrats now sense an opening with newer Cuban arrivals and
second-generation Cuban-Americans who favor resuming diplomatic
relations with the communist island.
In a sign of just how much the climate has shifted, Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who backed trade limits when she ran for president in
2008, is now calling for the embargo to be lifted. She described it as
"Castro's best friend" and said it hampers "our broader agenda across
Latin America."
Her words mark the first time a leading presidential contender from
either political party has suggested reversing the 52-year-old policy.
The efforts represent the largest challenge to Cuban-American orthodoxy
in decades and could help reshape American foreign policy.
It also could alter the political landscape in the largest swing-voting
state, where Republicans long have dominated the Cuban vote by taking a
hard line on the embargo.
Crist's campaign will be the first statewide test of whether the trade
restrictions are still a live wire for politicians in Florida, home to
70 percent of the nation's Cubans.
Crist is a former Republican governor who once said he would only visit
Cuba "when it's free." Now that he's a Democrat and trying to regain his
old job, he has floated the idea of going to Havana "to learn from the
people of Cuba and help find opportunities for Florida businesses."
He argues that the embargo has failed because it has not toppled the
Castro government but has hurt the Cuban people. "The definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result," he told reporters at the opening of a campaign office
in Little Havana.
Florida Republicans are outraged, casting Crist's position as a betrayal
of the Cuban-American community.
"I'm going to stand with Cuban-Americans that believe in freedom,
believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and oppose the
oppression of Cuba," said GOP Gov. Rick Scott. Crist, he added, will "be
standing with Castro."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential GOP presidential candidate whose
parents left Cuba in the 1950s, said the embargo is "the last tool we
have remaining to ensure that democracy returns to Cuba one day."
Lifting the embargo, he said, would "further entrench the regime in
power by giving them more money to carry out their violent repression of
people's fundamental rights and dignity."
Nationwide, the share of Cuban registered voters who identify with or
lean toward the Democratic Party has doubled in the past decade, from 22
percent to 44 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Less than
half of Cuban voters now affiliate with the Republican Party, down from
64 percent over the same time period.
President Barack Obama won Florida twice, campaigning on easing travel
restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit their families on the
island and allowing them to send more money to their relatives. In 2012,
he captured nearly half the Cuban-American vote, a record for a Democrat.
The shift is driven in part by changing demographics.
Cuban-Americans, once the dominant bloc of Florida's Hispanic vote, have
seen their political clout diminished by a huge influx of Puerto Ricans,
Mexicans and people from Central and South America, who lean Democratic.
In the 2012 election, 42 percent of Hispanic voters in the state were
Cuban, an 11 percentage point drop from 2000, according to the Census
Bureau's Current Population Survey.
The exiles who arrived in the decade and a half following Cuba's 1959
revolution have been dying off while their children and fresh waves of
immigrants hold a different view of Cuba. More than one-third of the
Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County arrived after 1995, with many
supporting travel and trade policies that strengthen ties between the
U.S. and Cuba, said Guillermo Grenier, a lead researcher for the Cuban
Research Institute at Florida International University.
Even some of South Florida's most prominent Cuban-American business
leaders, long among the most strident defenders of the embargo, are
publicly talking about investing in Cuba.
"The politics are way behind public opinion on this one," said Steve
Schale, a Democratic consultant and Crist adviser who managed Obama's
Florida campaign in 2008.
Overall, polls of the community have confirmed a tilt toward engagement,
with the most recent survey by Florida International University finding
Cuban-Americans in Miami split over the embargo, which was a near
record, and 71 percent saying it had not worked either very well or at all.
"The embargo! It's so screwed up!" said Caridad Novo, as she sipped
espresso at a cafe in Doral, a Miami suburb.
The 52-year-old Cuban, who came to Florida during the 1980 Mariel boat
crisis, said U.S. trade restrictions drive up the cost of sending goods
to her family in Cuba. Shipping a 4-pound can of milk to her 3-year-old
grandson in Havana costs $55, she said.
But some scholars and political operatives say Crist risks energizing
Republicans in the conservative exile community while attracting little
support from younger Cuban-Americans and newer arrivals, who tend to be
less politically active.
The recent Florida International University poll found that less than
one-third of those who have arrived since 1995 are U.S. citizens. Voter
registration rates among newer arrivals lag their older counterparts by
double digits.
"What is changing is opinions" on the embargo, Grenier said. "But for
the opinions to become relevant to policymakers, they have to translate
into more than just opinions. They have to be votes."
Associated Press
Source: Analysis: A look at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie
Crist's call to end the US/Cuba trade embargo | jacksonville.com -
http://jacksonville.com/breaking-news/2014-07-05/story/democratic-gubernatorial-candidate-charlie-crist-calls-ending-us
End of Dual Currency Won’t Hurt the Population
Cuba: "End of Dual Currency Won't Hurt the Population"
July 5, 2014
According to the head of the economic reforms Marino Murillo
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban government said today that the planned
elimination of the dual currency on the island will not cause a price
increase or affect the "purchasing power" of the population, reported
dpa news.
The elimination of the dual currency prevailing on the island since the
90s "will have no effect" nor will there be "price increases for these
causes," said Marino Murillo, the official in charge of Cuba's program
of market reforms.
Speaking to the Cuban parliament meeting in Havana, the so-called "czar"
of the island's economic reforms said: "People's purchasing power"
(already one of the lowest on the continent) "will be respected."
Cuba has two currencies since 1994. The Cuban peso (CUP), which state
salaries and pensions are paid, and the convertible peso (CUC),
comparable to the dollar and whose exchange rate is 25 times that of
CUP. The hard currency is mostly used in the tourism sector and in
stores where imported products are sold, including many basic food products.
Raul Castro's government announced in October 2013, a "time table" to
eliminate the dual currency, considered by experts as a key reform
needed to boost the recovery of the Cuban economy. The change provides
for the elimination of the CUC.
The announcement of the reform caused some concern among sectors of the
population who have savings in CUC, often saved in cash at home.
Not the solution in itself
Murillo admitted that the monetary reform in itself will not solve the
problems of the Cuban economy, mired in a chronic crisis for over two
decades, after the demise of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc.
The reform alone will not solve "the problems of the economy or solve
the purchasing power of wages," said Murillo, quoted by Prensa Latina.
Average wages in the large state sector on the island are around 20 CUC
a month.
Cuba recently lowered its economic growth forecasts for 2014 from 2.2
initially expected to 1.4 percent, due to a "higher than expected slowdown."
President Raul Castro today chaired the second plenary session of the
year of the Cuban legislature. Nearly 600 delegates of the National
Assembly are meeting behind closed doors on Saturday with the focus of
the gathering being economic and budgetary matters.
It is also expected that Raul Castro will close the session with a
speech that will be partially or totally published in the coming days.
The last time the full parliament met was in late March when it
unanimously approved a new foreign investment law, which seeks to kick
start the ailing economy with the arrival of capital from abroad.
Source: Cuba: "End of Dual Currency Won't Hurt the Population" - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104685
July 5, 2014
According to the head of the economic reforms Marino Murillo
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban government said today that the planned
elimination of the dual currency on the island will not cause a price
increase or affect the "purchasing power" of the population, reported
dpa news.
The elimination of the dual currency prevailing on the island since the
90s "will have no effect" nor will there be "price increases for these
causes," said Marino Murillo, the official in charge of Cuba's program
of market reforms.
Speaking to the Cuban parliament meeting in Havana, the so-called "czar"
of the island's economic reforms said: "People's purchasing power"
(already one of the lowest on the continent) "will be respected."
Cuba has two currencies since 1994. The Cuban peso (CUP), which state
salaries and pensions are paid, and the convertible peso (CUC),
comparable to the dollar and whose exchange rate is 25 times that of
CUP. The hard currency is mostly used in the tourism sector and in
stores where imported products are sold, including many basic food products.
Raul Castro's government announced in October 2013, a "time table" to
eliminate the dual currency, considered by experts as a key reform
needed to boost the recovery of the Cuban economy. The change provides
for the elimination of the CUC.
The announcement of the reform caused some concern among sectors of the
population who have savings in CUC, often saved in cash at home.
Not the solution in itself
Murillo admitted that the monetary reform in itself will not solve the
problems of the Cuban economy, mired in a chronic crisis for over two
decades, after the demise of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc.
The reform alone will not solve "the problems of the economy or solve
the purchasing power of wages," said Murillo, quoted by Prensa Latina.
Average wages in the large state sector on the island are around 20 CUC
a month.
Cuba recently lowered its economic growth forecasts for 2014 from 2.2
initially expected to 1.4 percent, due to a "higher than expected slowdown."
President Raul Castro today chaired the second plenary session of the
year of the Cuban legislature. Nearly 600 delegates of the National
Assembly are meeting behind closed doors on Saturday with the focus of
the gathering being economic and budgetary matters.
It is also expected that Raul Castro will close the session with a
speech that will be partially or totally published in the coming days.
The last time the full parliament met was in late March when it
unanimously approved a new foreign investment law, which seeks to kick
start the ailing economy with the arrival of capital from abroad.
Source: Cuba: "End of Dual Currency Won't Hurt the Population" - Havana
Times.org - http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104685
Cuba’s Villa Clara Loses Two Pitchers
Cuba's Villa Clara Loses Two Pitchers
July 6, 2014
HAVANA TIMES — Two pitchers from Villa Clara were suspended indefinitely
from Cuban baseball after an attempt to escape the island two weeks
earlier, states the local Vanguardia newspaper.
Lefty Yasmany Hernandez and righty Diosdany Castillo were most likely
hoping to reach another country and then begin the process of trying to
get signed by a US Major League Baseball team, like dozens of Cuban
players in recent years.
Both pitchers were on Villa Clara's 2012-2013 league championship team.
Under the US embargo on Cuba, the island's players, with residence in
Cuba, cannot sign a contract with a MLB team. Instead, they must risk
leaving Cuba illegally, which often implies risking their lives at the
hands of people smugglers who charge hefty fees, to get them to Haiti,
Honduras, the Dominican Republic or Mexico, among other countries.
Villa Clara provincial baseball commissioner Jorge Luis Carvajal told
Vanguardia that the suspension occured after a "serious indiscipline".
It was the newspaper that made it clear that such a wording means
getting caught in an illegal escape attempt.
In cases like this, in baseball and other sports, the athletes, having
their careers ended by the Cuban authorities, see their only alternative
to continue trying the illegal exists until they are successful.
Source: Cuba's Villa Clara Loses Two Pitchers - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104687
July 6, 2014
HAVANA TIMES — Two pitchers from Villa Clara were suspended indefinitely
from Cuban baseball after an attempt to escape the island two weeks
earlier, states the local Vanguardia newspaper.
Lefty Yasmany Hernandez and righty Diosdany Castillo were most likely
hoping to reach another country and then begin the process of trying to
get signed by a US Major League Baseball team, like dozens of Cuban
players in recent years.
Both pitchers were on Villa Clara's 2012-2013 league championship team.
Under the US embargo on Cuba, the island's players, with residence in
Cuba, cannot sign a contract with a MLB team. Instead, they must risk
leaving Cuba illegally, which often implies risking their lives at the
hands of people smugglers who charge hefty fees, to get them to Haiti,
Honduras, the Dominican Republic or Mexico, among other countries.
Villa Clara provincial baseball commissioner Jorge Luis Carvajal told
Vanguardia that the suspension occured after a "serious indiscipline".
It was the newspaper that made it clear that such a wording means
getting caught in an illegal escape attempt.
In cases like this, in baseball and other sports, the athletes, having
their careers ended by the Cuban authorities, see their only alternative
to continue trying the illegal exists until they are successful.
Source: Cuba's Villa Clara Loses Two Pitchers - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104687
Cuban smuggling ring leader gets 20 years prison
Posted on Sunday, 07.06.14
Cuban smuggling ring leader gets 20 years prison
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- A man described by prosecutors as the leader of an extensive
Cuban human smuggling ring has been sentenced to 20 years in prison
following his conviction on multiple charges.
The sentence was imposed last week by a South Florida federal judge on
56-year-old Antonio Comin. He was convicted by a jury in March of nearly
100 criminal charges stemming from for-profit schemes to smuggle Cubans
into the U.S. using speedboats.
Trial evidence showed that in one of those ventures, smugglers carrying
29 Cubans intentionally ran their boat aground in the Florida Keys while
being chased by a Coast Guard vessel.
Seven others involved in the smuggling ring have been sentenced to
prison and an eighth will be sentenced later this month.
Source: MIAMI: Cuban smuggling ring leader gets 20 years prison -
Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/06/4221686/cuban-smuggling-ring-leader-gets.html
Cuban smuggling ring leader gets 20 years prison
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- A man described by prosecutors as the leader of an extensive
Cuban human smuggling ring has been sentenced to 20 years in prison
following his conviction on multiple charges.
The sentence was imposed last week by a South Florida federal judge on
56-year-old Antonio Comin. He was convicted by a jury in March of nearly
100 criminal charges stemming from for-profit schemes to smuggle Cubans
into the U.S. using speedboats.
Trial evidence showed that in one of those ventures, smugglers carrying
29 Cubans intentionally ran their boat aground in the Florida Keys while
being chased by a Coast Guard vessel.
Seven others involved in the smuggling ring have been sentenced to
prison and an eighth will be sentenced later this month.
Source: MIAMI: Cuban smuggling ring leader gets 20 years prison -
Florida Wires - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/06/4221686/cuban-smuggling-ring-leader-gets.html
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba
Posted on Saturday, 07.05.14
Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba
BY MICHAEL J. MISHAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- When Charlie Crist went to Miami's Little Havana recently, the
Democratic candidate for governor stood before a crowd and said what few
politicians have in decades of scrounging for votes in the
Cuban-American neighborhood: End the trade embargo against Cuba.
"If you really care about people on the island, we need to get rid of
the embargo and let freedom reign," he said, shouting above a small band
of protesters who responded with chants of "Shame on you!"
Crist's supporters cheered louder.
It was a scene inconceivable just a few years ago, when politicians were
careful about what they said on the issue, for fear of alienating
Cuban-American voters, many of whom fled Fidel Castro's Cuba in the 1960s.
But Democrats now sense an opening with newer Cuban arrivals and
second-generation Cuban-Americans who favor resuming diplomatic
relations with the communist island.
In a sign of just how much the climate has shifted, Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who backed trade limits when she ran for president in
2008, is now calling for the embargo to be lifted. She described it as
"Castro's best friend" and said it hampers "our broader agenda across
Latin America."
Her words mark the first time a leading presidential contender from
either political party has suggested reversing the 52-year-old policy.
The efforts represent the largest challenge to Cuban-American orthodoxy
in decades and could help reshape American foreign policy.
It also could alter the political landscape in the largest swing-voting
state, where Republicans long have dominated the Cuban vote by taking a
hard line on the embargo.
Crist's campaign will be the first statewide test of whether the trade
restrictions are still a live wire for politicians in Florida, home to
70 percent of the nation's Cubans.
Crist is a former Republican governor who once said he would only visit
Cuba "when it's free." Now that he's a Democrat and trying to regain his
old job, he has floated the idea of going to Havana "to learn from the
people of Cuba and help find opportunities for Florida businesses."
He argues that the embargo has failed because it has not toppled the
Castro government but has hurt the Cuban people. "The definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result," he told reporters at the opening of a campaign office
in Little Havana.
Florida Republicans are outraged, casting Crist's position as a betrayal
of the Cuban-American community.
"I'm going to stand with Cuban-Americans that believe in freedom,
believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and oppose the
oppression of Cuba," said GOP Gov. Rick Scott. Crist, he added, will "be
standing with Castro."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential GOP presidential candidate whose
parents left Cuba in the 1950s, said the embargo is "the last tool we
have remaining to ensure that democracy returns to Cuba one day."
Lifting the embargo, he said, would "further entrench the regime in
power by giving them more money to carry out their violent repression of
people's fundamental rights and dignity."
Nationwide, the share of Cuban registered voters who identify with or
lean toward the Democratic Party has doubled in the past decade, from 22
percent to 44 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Less than
half of Cuban voters now affiliate with the Republican Party, down from
64 percent over the same time period.
President Barack Obama won Florida twice, campaigning on easing travel
restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit their families on the
island and allowing them to send more money to their relatives. In 2012,
he captured nearly half the Cuban-American vote, a record for a Democrat.
The shift is driven in part by changing demographics.
Cuban-Americans, once the dominant bloc of Florida's Hispanic vote, have
seen their political clout diminished by a huge influx of Puerto Ricans,
Mexicans and people from Central and South America, who lean Democratic.
In the 2012 election, 42 percent of Hispanic voters in the state were
Cuban, an 11 percentage point drop from 2000, according to the Census
Bureau's Current Population Survey.
The exiles who arrived in the decade and a half following Cuba's 1959
revolution have been dying off while their children and fresh waves of
immigrants hold a different view of Cuba. More than one-third of the
Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County arrived after 1995, with many
supporting travel and trade policies that strengthen ties between the
U.S. and Cuba, said Guillermo Grenier, a lead researcher for the Cuban
Research Institute at Florida International University.
Even some of South Florida's most prominent Cuban-American business
leaders, long among the most strident defenders of the embargo, are
publicly talking about investing in Cuba.
"The politics are way behind public opinion on this one," said Steve
Schale, a Democratic consultant and Crist adviser who managed Obama's
Florida campaign in 2008.
Overall, polls of the community have confirmed a tilt toward engagement,
with the most recent survey by Florida International University finding
Cuban-Americans in Miami split over the embargo, which was a near
record, and 71 percent saying it had not worked either very well or at all.
"The embargo! It's so screwed up!" said Caridad Novo, as she sipped
espresso at a cafe in Doral, a Miami suburb.
The 52-year-old Cuban, who came to Florida during the 1980 Mariel boat
crisis, said U.S. trade restrictions drive up the cost of sending goods
to her family in Cuba. Shipping a 4-pound can of milk to her 3-year-old
grandson in Havana costs $55, she said.
But some scholars and political operatives say Crist risks energizing
Republicans in the conservative exile community while attracting little
support from younger Cuban-Americans and newer arrivals, who tend to be
less politically active.
The recent Florida International University poll found that less than
one-third of those who have arrived since 1995 are U.S. citizens. Voter
registration rates among newer arrivals lag their older counterparts by
double digits.
"What is changing is opinions" on the embargo, Grenier said. "But for
the opinions to become relevant to policymakers, they have to translate
into more than just opinions. They have to be votes."
---
Associated Press writers Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami and Matt Sedensky in
Riviera Beach contributed to this report.
Follow Michael J. Mishak on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mjmishak
Source: MIAMI: Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba -
Business Wires - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/05/4219513/democrats-courting-floridas-changing.html
Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba
BY MICHAEL J. MISHAK
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI -- When Charlie Crist went to Miami's Little Havana recently, the
Democratic candidate for governor stood before a crowd and said what few
politicians have in decades of scrounging for votes in the
Cuban-American neighborhood: End the trade embargo against Cuba.
"If you really care about people on the island, we need to get rid of
the embargo and let freedom reign," he said, shouting above a small band
of protesters who responded with chants of "Shame on you!"
Crist's supporters cheered louder.
It was a scene inconceivable just a few years ago, when politicians were
careful about what they said on the issue, for fear of alienating
Cuban-American voters, many of whom fled Fidel Castro's Cuba in the 1960s.
But Democrats now sense an opening with newer Cuban arrivals and
second-generation Cuban-Americans who favor resuming diplomatic
relations with the communist island.
In a sign of just how much the climate has shifted, Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who backed trade limits when she ran for president in
2008, is now calling for the embargo to be lifted. She described it as
"Castro's best friend" and said it hampers "our broader agenda across
Latin America."
Her words mark the first time a leading presidential contender from
either political party has suggested reversing the 52-year-old policy.
The efforts represent the largest challenge to Cuban-American orthodoxy
in decades and could help reshape American foreign policy.
It also could alter the political landscape in the largest swing-voting
state, where Republicans long have dominated the Cuban vote by taking a
hard line on the embargo.
Crist's campaign will be the first statewide test of whether the trade
restrictions are still a live wire for politicians in Florida, home to
70 percent of the nation's Cubans.
Crist is a former Republican governor who once said he would only visit
Cuba "when it's free." Now that he's a Democrat and trying to regain his
old job, he has floated the idea of going to Havana "to learn from the
people of Cuba and help find opportunities for Florida businesses."
He argues that the embargo has failed because it has not toppled the
Castro government but has hurt the Cuban people. "The definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result," he told reporters at the opening of a campaign office
in Little Havana.
Florida Republicans are outraged, casting Crist's position as a betrayal
of the Cuban-American community.
"I'm going to stand with Cuban-Americans that believe in freedom,
believe in democracy, believe in freedom of speech and oppose the
oppression of Cuba," said GOP Gov. Rick Scott. Crist, he added, will "be
standing with Castro."
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential GOP presidential candidate whose
parents left Cuba in the 1950s, said the embargo is "the last tool we
have remaining to ensure that democracy returns to Cuba one day."
Lifting the embargo, he said, would "further entrench the regime in
power by giving them more money to carry out their violent repression of
people's fundamental rights and dignity."
Nationwide, the share of Cuban registered voters who identify with or
lean toward the Democratic Party has doubled in the past decade, from 22
percent to 44 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Less than
half of Cuban voters now affiliate with the Republican Party, down from
64 percent over the same time period.
President Barack Obama won Florida twice, campaigning on easing travel
restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit their families on the
island and allowing them to send more money to their relatives. In 2012,
he captured nearly half the Cuban-American vote, a record for a Democrat.
The shift is driven in part by changing demographics.
Cuban-Americans, once the dominant bloc of Florida's Hispanic vote, have
seen their political clout diminished by a huge influx of Puerto Ricans,
Mexicans and people from Central and South America, who lean Democratic.
In the 2012 election, 42 percent of Hispanic voters in the state were
Cuban, an 11 percentage point drop from 2000, according to the Census
Bureau's Current Population Survey.
The exiles who arrived in the decade and a half following Cuba's 1959
revolution have been dying off while their children and fresh waves of
immigrants hold a different view of Cuba. More than one-third of the
Cubans residing in Miami-Dade County arrived after 1995, with many
supporting travel and trade policies that strengthen ties between the
U.S. and Cuba, said Guillermo Grenier, a lead researcher for the Cuban
Research Institute at Florida International University.
Even some of South Florida's most prominent Cuban-American business
leaders, long among the most strident defenders of the embargo, are
publicly talking about investing in Cuba.
"The politics are way behind public opinion on this one," said Steve
Schale, a Democratic consultant and Crist adviser who managed Obama's
Florida campaign in 2008.
Overall, polls of the community have confirmed a tilt toward engagement,
with the most recent survey by Florida International University finding
Cuban-Americans in Miami split over the embargo, which was a near
record, and 71 percent saying it had not worked either very well or at all.
"The embargo! It's so screwed up!" said Caridad Novo, as she sipped
espresso at a cafe in Doral, a Miami suburb.
The 52-year-old Cuban, who came to Florida during the 1980 Mariel boat
crisis, said U.S. trade restrictions drive up the cost of sending goods
to her family in Cuba. Shipping a 4-pound can of milk to her 3-year-old
grandson in Havana costs $55, she said.
But some scholars and political operatives say Crist risks energizing
Republicans in the conservative exile community while attracting little
support from younger Cuban-Americans and newer arrivals, who tend to be
less politically active.
The recent Florida International University poll found that less than
one-third of those who have arrived since 1995 are U.S. citizens. Voter
registration rates among newer arrivals lag their older counterparts by
double digits.
"What is changing is opinions" on the embargo, Grenier said. "But for
the opinions to become relevant to policymakers, they have to translate
into more than just opinions. They have to be votes."
---
Associated Press writers Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami and Matt Sedensky in
Riviera Beach contributed to this report.
Follow Michael J. Mishak on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mjmishak
Source: MIAMI: Democrats' Florida push calls for US shift on Cuba -
Business Wires - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/05/4219513/democrats-courting-floridas-changing.html
Cuba Wants You To Think It’s a Gay Paradise. It’s Not.
Cuba Wants You To Think It's a Gay Paradise. It's Not.
Cuba has come a long way on LGBT rights since putting gays in labor
camps. But don't believe the Castro family's gay-friendly PR.
BY JUSTIN ROHRLICH JULY 3, 2014
TRINIDAD, Cuba — I'm surprised to see a rainbow flag outside a tiny bar
called Gats Loco in Trinidad, an old sugar town on Cuba's Caribbean
coast. With a population of just under 75,000 and a reputation for
well-preserved colonial architecture, not cruising, a gay bar seems an
improbable niche-filler.
As of 1979, being gay is no longer a crime in Cuba, although under
Article 303a of the country's Penal Code, "publicly manifested"
homosexuality remains illegal, as does "persistently bothering others
with homosexual amorous advances." While I wonder whether or not Gats
Loco's conspicuous signage qualifies as a violation of Cuban law, I
watch a stray dog's legs collapse underneath it in the withering midday
heat. Gats Loco is the only bar in the area and they claim to have cold
beer. I head inside.
I sit down at the small counter, getting the impression that I am the
first customer they've had in a while. I ask the bartender for a
Bucanero Fuerte, the watery lager that is Cuba's go-to brew. He hands me
a cold one and sits down beside me. He says his name is Osmel, but
everyone calls him SiSi.
SiSi is an English professor who moonlights at the bar for extra cash.
He sharpens his grasp of American idioms by listening to heavy metal and
writing out the lyrics every night when he gets home. I figure he'll
love the copy of the Atlantic that I'm carrying in my backpack, which
features a headline across the cover reading, "What Straights Can Learn
From Same-Sex Couples." But when I hand it to him with a conspiratorial
wink, he looks perplexed. Then he breaks into a wide grin.
"Are you gay?" SiSi asks.
I tell him I am not. Neither is he. Nor is the owner. Nor are any of the
employees. Though incongruity is practically an art form in Cuba -- a
place where cabdrivers outearn cardiologists and Fidel Castro's son is a
golf champion -- I'm too curious not to ask how Gats Loco came to be.
"You know our president, yes?" SiSi asks, seeming to make a point of not
saying "Raúl Castro" out loud. "In 2010, he changed the rules and we
were allowed to open our own businesses. So, a friend of mine, he opened
this place."
He can see that he hasn't answered my question.
"Okay, so, this rainbow flag outside -- we are the only place in Cuba
with this flag in front," SiSi says. "I think it is European, and means
'inclusiveness.' Some people, I guess, know it as the gay flag, too. I
think the owner figured it might be good for business."
The gambit has already started to pay dividends. Not because Gats Loco
offers something unique to Cuba's gay community. Rather, it's because
Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl, niece to Fidel, and the director of
the state-run National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), has emerged
as Cuba's leading voice for the LGBT community in recent years. As the
story goes, when the straight, married mother of three heard about Gats
Loco and its rainbow flag, a representative sent word that Mariela would
be making an official visit to "sponsor" the bar. SiSi isn't sure what
the sponsorship entails beyond something about uniforms and logoed
aprons for the staff.
There are other gay bars on the island, but a gay bar willing to work
with the regime rather than against it is unusual. For Mariela, it's a
ready-made propaganda opportunity. And Gats Loco's owner wasn't going to
pass up a chance to ingratiate himself with a Castro.
The island is undoubtedly evolving, experiencing its first glimmers of
free enterprise in 55 years, but one thing has remained very much the
same: In Cuba, the regime is your ultimate customer. LGBT rights have
undeniably improved in Cuba over the past 50-odd years. But while there
have been some gains, many problems remain. The social stigma attached
to being gay in predominantly Catholic Cuba is present in the same ways
it is everywhere else in the world. Though the Castro family is no
longer sending LGBT people to labor camps as they did in the 1960s and
1970s, the only permitted LGBT movement in Cuba is the official,
state-run one that Mariela Castro has created. To that end, while the
rest of the world was celebrating Pride Week over the past several days,
Cubans weren't. The government in Havana refuses to recognize the
international week of LGBT rights celebrations, allowing only an
officially sanctioned gathering on May 17 -- under Mariela's patronage
-- to mark the World Health Organization's "International Day Against
Homophobia."
With Cuba essentially having been run as a family business since the
Castros took over in 1959, it's only natural that 52-year-old Mariela
ended up working for her dad. Daughter of President Raúl and niece to
"Maximum Leader" Fidel, Mariela, known pretty much exclusively by her
first name, occupies an interesting place in the Cuban zeitgeist, a sign
of a liberalizing society -- but only so far. "Brokeback Mountain" may
have aired on Cuban state television in 2008, but the control Mariela
and CENESEX wield over the LGBT agenda doesn't give many Cubans a sense
of ownership in their own cause.
On paper, Mariela is perfectly qualified to run CENESEX, where she has
been since 1990. She has degrees in psychology and human sexuality from
two of Cuba's premier universities. However, the LGBT Cubans I spoke to
almost universally described Mariela as a creation of the state
propaganda machine, a benevolent face the world can see calling for
tolerance while the regime's usual brand of everyday totalitarianism
continues. After all, Cuba's biggest industry is tourism, with more than
2 million visitors last year. Western tourists prefer a "friendly Cuba"
to a notorious human rights violator.
The state announced in 2008 that, per Mariela's direction, the national
health-care system would begin providing free gender-reassignment
surgeries to those who qualified. In May 2013, Mariela traveled to
Philadelphia to receive the Equality Forum's International Ally for LGBT
Equality Award, followed by a trip in October to Montreal, where she was
honored by the Conseil Québécois LGBT. This past December, the Cuban
parliament passed a new labor code that included a clause outlawing
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. (It can't hurt
Cuban Communist Party legislators to keep the boss's daughter happy.) On
its face, it would seem that Mariela has tried -- and continues to try
-- valiantly to move the LGBT agenda forward.
But not everyone's buying it.
"The reality for the LGBT community in Cuba is very different from that
described by the international media," Ignacio Estrada, a 33-year-old
gay man from Santa Clara, tells me. "We live under constant government
surveillance and harassment, while at the same time being manipulated
for their political purposes."
Ignacio is married to Wendy Iriepa, 40, a transgender Havana native who
once worked very closely with Mariela Castro at CENESEX. Under a 2007
pilot project, after pledging loyalty to the Revolution, she became the
first Cuban to receive government-sponsored sex-reassignment surgery and
underwent a full male-to-female transition.
Wendy may have been in Mariela's good graces, but as the founder of the
independent, and thus illegal, Cuban League Against AIDS, Ignacio was
considered a dissident. When Wendy marched with Ignacio and about 20
others in a small, unauthorized Pride Day parade in Havana in June 2011,
Mariela confronted Wendy, asking how she "could live, in bed and in a
home, with an enemy of the revolution." Wendy resigned from her position
at CENESEX immediately. Two months later, she and Ignacio were married
in Havana. The nuptials took place on August 13, 2011 -- Fidel Castro's
85th birthday. The guest list also sent a powerful message. Opposition
bloggers Yoani Sánchez and her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, were there.
Mariela wasn't invited.
"Mariela is a chameleon; she can change her character very easily," says
Ignacio. "She is very sociable with the people who work for her, but
never does anything for anyone without expecting something back in return."
Mario Jose Delgado is a gay activist and independent journalist in
Havana who also believes the outside world is being duped by Mariela. He
and other LGBT Cubans are "very unhappy about the awards and
recognition" she has received abroad, insisting, "It does not reflect
the feelings of the gay community on the island." Delgado says the
realities of LGBT life in Cuba are much uglier.
Last November, Delgado was headed home to the Alamar section of Havana
when three men in civilian clothes threw him into the backseat of a car.
They drove him to the outskirts of town, where he was beaten in the face
with a rock.
Delgado says the men, who have never been identified, were interested
only in the information he was carrying, which included names of members
of a Christian LGBT group Delgado belonged to called Divine Hope. The
attackers took his cellphone and USB drive, as well as his notes and
calendar, where the details of a demonstration Divine Hope was planning
to hold the next month were stored. They also took his baseball cap for
good measure.
Delgado is certain his attackers were state security agents, though it
is impossible to know for sure what exactly prompted the beating. He's
gay, he's Christian, and he's a blogger who is outspokenly anti-regime.
It's a volatile combination in Cuba, where activists of all stripes who
dare to organize independently are regularly targeted by the security
services.
Delgado doesn't have much to lose by speaking to reporters. But there
are plenty of LGBT Cubans who have settled into relatively comfortable
lives by not calling too much attention to themselves.
In Havana, I rent a room in a private home (the Cuban government
legalized this in 1997). Two men live here and it is obvious they are a
couple, though they never say it. One of them has carved out a
successful career working for the state theater, something that doesn't
happen by making waves on social issues. The dial-up connection in their
duplex apartment is a luxury in Cuba, but looks like an antique to me.
What also seems oddly outdated is the way they refer to one another as
"friends," something I haven't heard since the 1970s.
They obviously feel awkward about their situation. But living in
relative peace like this is a quantum advance from the era when same-sex
couples lived in fear of being rounded up and sent to a labor camp.
Even Fidel has come a long way. In a 2010 interview with the Mexican
newspaper La Jornada, he placed the blame for Cuba's historical
persecution of gays squarely on his own shoulders, calling it "a great
injustice."
"If anyone is responsible, it's me," he said. "We had so many and such
terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments, I was
not able to deal with the matter of homosexuals."
Mariela, on the other hand, tends to adopt an oddly casual, even
defensive, tone when discussing Cuba's history of homophobia. She seems
to view the people sent away by her father and uncle as some sort of
accidental by-catch, human turtles mistakenly caught in tuna nets. In
May 2012, Mariela was questioned by a Cuban-American audience member
about her uncle Fidel's "concentration camps for gay men" during an
appearance at the New York Public Library. Mariela quickly corrected her
interlocutor, taking exception to the term and insisting they were
segregated "training camps."
The exchange between Mariela and her audience brings to mind a Cuban
saying: Cada cual habla de la feria según le va en ella. "Everybody
experiences reality in a different way." The reality Mariela packages
and sells may not be anyone else's but her own. Similarly, the reality
of Cuba's LGBT population is unknowable to the rest of the island.
"As a country, we are so isolated and lost that we don't even know what
is going on in the neighboring town," says Mabel Cuesta, a lesbian who
left Cuba in 2006 and is now a professor of Hispanic Studies at the
University of Houston.
Cubans are prevented from fully communicating with one another. Internet
access is scarce, expensive, and slow. Mobile phone penetration is the
lowest in Latin America, at 11 percent. Vehicle ownership has been
described by analysts as "exceptionally low," and the public
transportation system is a disaster, hampering intercity travel.
This explains a lot about life on the island, Cuesta says -- including
some misperceptions about Gats Loco. "The first bar in Cuba with a
rainbow flag was actually El Mejunje, an LGBT center in Santa Clara that
opened in the early '90s," she says.
Like Gats Loco, Cuesta says, El Mejunje also began as an independent
operation. And, like Gats Loco, they also quickly found themselves being
offered "assistance" by the government. "Following the usual practice
that the Cuban regime has always had toward anything powerful and out of
their control, they made it official very soon."
Source: Cuba Wants You To Think It's a Gay Paradise. It's Not. -
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/07/03/cuba_wants_you_to_think_its_a_gay_paradise_its_not_castro_lgbt
Cuba has come a long way on LGBT rights since putting gays in labor
camps. But don't believe the Castro family's gay-friendly PR.
BY JUSTIN ROHRLICH JULY 3, 2014
TRINIDAD, Cuba — I'm surprised to see a rainbow flag outside a tiny bar
called Gats Loco in Trinidad, an old sugar town on Cuba's Caribbean
coast. With a population of just under 75,000 and a reputation for
well-preserved colonial architecture, not cruising, a gay bar seems an
improbable niche-filler.
As of 1979, being gay is no longer a crime in Cuba, although under
Article 303a of the country's Penal Code, "publicly manifested"
homosexuality remains illegal, as does "persistently bothering others
with homosexual amorous advances." While I wonder whether or not Gats
Loco's conspicuous signage qualifies as a violation of Cuban law, I
watch a stray dog's legs collapse underneath it in the withering midday
heat. Gats Loco is the only bar in the area and they claim to have cold
beer. I head inside.
I sit down at the small counter, getting the impression that I am the
first customer they've had in a while. I ask the bartender for a
Bucanero Fuerte, the watery lager that is Cuba's go-to brew. He hands me
a cold one and sits down beside me. He says his name is Osmel, but
everyone calls him SiSi.
SiSi is an English professor who moonlights at the bar for extra cash.
He sharpens his grasp of American idioms by listening to heavy metal and
writing out the lyrics every night when he gets home. I figure he'll
love the copy of the Atlantic that I'm carrying in my backpack, which
features a headline across the cover reading, "What Straights Can Learn
From Same-Sex Couples." But when I hand it to him with a conspiratorial
wink, he looks perplexed. Then he breaks into a wide grin.
"Are you gay?" SiSi asks.
I tell him I am not. Neither is he. Nor is the owner. Nor are any of the
employees. Though incongruity is practically an art form in Cuba -- a
place where cabdrivers outearn cardiologists and Fidel Castro's son is a
golf champion -- I'm too curious not to ask how Gats Loco came to be.
"You know our president, yes?" SiSi asks, seeming to make a point of not
saying "Raúl Castro" out loud. "In 2010, he changed the rules and we
were allowed to open our own businesses. So, a friend of mine, he opened
this place."
He can see that he hasn't answered my question.
"Okay, so, this rainbow flag outside -- we are the only place in Cuba
with this flag in front," SiSi says. "I think it is European, and means
'inclusiveness.' Some people, I guess, know it as the gay flag, too. I
think the owner figured it might be good for business."
The gambit has already started to pay dividends. Not because Gats Loco
offers something unique to Cuba's gay community. Rather, it's because
Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl, niece to Fidel, and the director of
the state-run National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), has emerged
as Cuba's leading voice for the LGBT community in recent years. As the
story goes, when the straight, married mother of three heard about Gats
Loco and its rainbow flag, a representative sent word that Mariela would
be making an official visit to "sponsor" the bar. SiSi isn't sure what
the sponsorship entails beyond something about uniforms and logoed
aprons for the staff.
There are other gay bars on the island, but a gay bar willing to work
with the regime rather than against it is unusual. For Mariela, it's a
ready-made propaganda opportunity. And Gats Loco's owner wasn't going to
pass up a chance to ingratiate himself with a Castro.
The island is undoubtedly evolving, experiencing its first glimmers of
free enterprise in 55 years, but one thing has remained very much the
same: In Cuba, the regime is your ultimate customer. LGBT rights have
undeniably improved in Cuba over the past 50-odd years. But while there
have been some gains, many problems remain. The social stigma attached
to being gay in predominantly Catholic Cuba is present in the same ways
it is everywhere else in the world. Though the Castro family is no
longer sending LGBT people to labor camps as they did in the 1960s and
1970s, the only permitted LGBT movement in Cuba is the official,
state-run one that Mariela Castro has created. To that end, while the
rest of the world was celebrating Pride Week over the past several days,
Cubans weren't. The government in Havana refuses to recognize the
international week of LGBT rights celebrations, allowing only an
officially sanctioned gathering on May 17 -- under Mariela's patronage
-- to mark the World Health Organization's "International Day Against
Homophobia."
With Cuba essentially having been run as a family business since the
Castros took over in 1959, it's only natural that 52-year-old Mariela
ended up working for her dad. Daughter of President Raúl and niece to
"Maximum Leader" Fidel, Mariela, known pretty much exclusively by her
first name, occupies an interesting place in the Cuban zeitgeist, a sign
of a liberalizing society -- but only so far. "Brokeback Mountain" may
have aired on Cuban state television in 2008, but the control Mariela
and CENESEX wield over the LGBT agenda doesn't give many Cubans a sense
of ownership in their own cause.
On paper, Mariela is perfectly qualified to run CENESEX, where she has
been since 1990. She has degrees in psychology and human sexuality from
two of Cuba's premier universities. However, the LGBT Cubans I spoke to
almost universally described Mariela as a creation of the state
propaganda machine, a benevolent face the world can see calling for
tolerance while the regime's usual brand of everyday totalitarianism
continues. After all, Cuba's biggest industry is tourism, with more than
2 million visitors last year. Western tourists prefer a "friendly Cuba"
to a notorious human rights violator.
The state announced in 2008 that, per Mariela's direction, the national
health-care system would begin providing free gender-reassignment
surgeries to those who qualified. In May 2013, Mariela traveled to
Philadelphia to receive the Equality Forum's International Ally for LGBT
Equality Award, followed by a trip in October to Montreal, where she was
honored by the Conseil Québécois LGBT. This past December, the Cuban
parliament passed a new labor code that included a clause outlawing
employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. (It can't hurt
Cuban Communist Party legislators to keep the boss's daughter happy.) On
its face, it would seem that Mariela has tried -- and continues to try
-- valiantly to move the LGBT agenda forward.
But not everyone's buying it.
"The reality for the LGBT community in Cuba is very different from that
described by the international media," Ignacio Estrada, a 33-year-old
gay man from Santa Clara, tells me. "We live under constant government
surveillance and harassment, while at the same time being manipulated
for their political purposes."
Ignacio is married to Wendy Iriepa, 40, a transgender Havana native who
once worked very closely with Mariela Castro at CENESEX. Under a 2007
pilot project, after pledging loyalty to the Revolution, she became the
first Cuban to receive government-sponsored sex-reassignment surgery and
underwent a full male-to-female transition.
Wendy may have been in Mariela's good graces, but as the founder of the
independent, and thus illegal, Cuban League Against AIDS, Ignacio was
considered a dissident. When Wendy marched with Ignacio and about 20
others in a small, unauthorized Pride Day parade in Havana in June 2011,
Mariela confronted Wendy, asking how she "could live, in bed and in a
home, with an enemy of the revolution." Wendy resigned from her position
at CENESEX immediately. Two months later, she and Ignacio were married
in Havana. The nuptials took place on August 13, 2011 -- Fidel Castro's
85th birthday. The guest list also sent a powerful message. Opposition
bloggers Yoani Sánchez and her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, were there.
Mariela wasn't invited.
"Mariela is a chameleon; she can change her character very easily," says
Ignacio. "She is very sociable with the people who work for her, but
never does anything for anyone without expecting something back in return."
Mario Jose Delgado is a gay activist and independent journalist in
Havana who also believes the outside world is being duped by Mariela. He
and other LGBT Cubans are "very unhappy about the awards and
recognition" she has received abroad, insisting, "It does not reflect
the feelings of the gay community on the island." Delgado says the
realities of LGBT life in Cuba are much uglier.
Last November, Delgado was headed home to the Alamar section of Havana
when three men in civilian clothes threw him into the backseat of a car.
They drove him to the outskirts of town, where he was beaten in the face
with a rock.
Delgado says the men, who have never been identified, were interested
only in the information he was carrying, which included names of members
of a Christian LGBT group Delgado belonged to called Divine Hope. The
attackers took his cellphone and USB drive, as well as his notes and
calendar, where the details of a demonstration Divine Hope was planning
to hold the next month were stored. They also took his baseball cap for
good measure.
Delgado is certain his attackers were state security agents, though it
is impossible to know for sure what exactly prompted the beating. He's
gay, he's Christian, and he's a blogger who is outspokenly anti-regime.
It's a volatile combination in Cuba, where activists of all stripes who
dare to organize independently are regularly targeted by the security
services.
Delgado doesn't have much to lose by speaking to reporters. But there
are plenty of LGBT Cubans who have settled into relatively comfortable
lives by not calling too much attention to themselves.
In Havana, I rent a room in a private home (the Cuban government
legalized this in 1997). Two men live here and it is obvious they are a
couple, though they never say it. One of them has carved out a
successful career working for the state theater, something that doesn't
happen by making waves on social issues. The dial-up connection in their
duplex apartment is a luxury in Cuba, but looks like an antique to me.
What also seems oddly outdated is the way they refer to one another as
"friends," something I haven't heard since the 1970s.
They obviously feel awkward about their situation. But living in
relative peace like this is a quantum advance from the era when same-sex
couples lived in fear of being rounded up and sent to a labor camp.
Even Fidel has come a long way. In a 2010 interview with the Mexican
newspaper La Jornada, he placed the blame for Cuba's historical
persecution of gays squarely on his own shoulders, calling it "a great
injustice."
"If anyone is responsible, it's me," he said. "We had so many and such
terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments, I was
not able to deal with the matter of homosexuals."
Mariela, on the other hand, tends to adopt an oddly casual, even
defensive, tone when discussing Cuba's history of homophobia. She seems
to view the people sent away by her father and uncle as some sort of
accidental by-catch, human turtles mistakenly caught in tuna nets. In
May 2012, Mariela was questioned by a Cuban-American audience member
about her uncle Fidel's "concentration camps for gay men" during an
appearance at the New York Public Library. Mariela quickly corrected her
interlocutor, taking exception to the term and insisting they were
segregated "training camps."
The exchange between Mariela and her audience brings to mind a Cuban
saying: Cada cual habla de la feria según le va en ella. "Everybody
experiences reality in a different way." The reality Mariela packages
and sells may not be anyone else's but her own. Similarly, the reality
of Cuba's LGBT population is unknowable to the rest of the island.
"As a country, we are so isolated and lost that we don't even know what
is going on in the neighboring town," says Mabel Cuesta, a lesbian who
left Cuba in 2006 and is now a professor of Hispanic Studies at the
University of Houston.
Cubans are prevented from fully communicating with one another. Internet
access is scarce, expensive, and slow. Mobile phone penetration is the
lowest in Latin America, at 11 percent. Vehicle ownership has been
described by analysts as "exceptionally low," and the public
transportation system is a disaster, hampering intercity travel.
This explains a lot about life on the island, Cuesta says -- including
some misperceptions about Gats Loco. "The first bar in Cuba with a
rainbow flag was actually El Mejunje, an LGBT center in Santa Clara that
opened in the early '90s," she says.
Like Gats Loco, Cuesta says, El Mejunje also began as an independent
operation. And, like Gats Loco, they also quickly found themselves being
offered "assistance" by the government. "Following the usual practice
that the Cuban regime has always had toward anything powerful and out of
their control, they made it official very soon."
Source: Cuba Wants You To Think It's a Gay Paradise. It's Not. -
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/07/03/cuba_wants_you_to_think_its_a_gay_paradise_its_not_castro_lgbt
Cuba examines weak economy, seeks 'socialist development'
Cuba examines weak economy, seeks 'socialist development'
Havana (AFP) - Cuba's National Assembly opened its biannual session,
with the communist island's faltering economy topping the agenda, but no
plans unveiled for change.
President Raul Castro, 83, addressed the assembly, which discussed why
one of the world's last command economies has not grown faster, after
six years of very tentative reforms.
"Our growth rate is not something we are pleased with, but it does not
discourage us in the least," the president said.
Castro urged Cuban workers, who earn the equivalent of $20 a month, to
work "hard and optimistically, to turn this around and guarantee growth
rates that will make socialist development possible."
But he failed to unveil new strategies at the day-long meeting of 612
legislators and other senior officials.
The government has said it plans to end an unpopular dual currency
system, but has not given a timeframe for doing so.
- Two currencies or one? -
The dual currency system is blamed for aggravating social inequality,
which also worries the government.
"We don't want shock methods to be imposed, or for the (change) to be
traumatic for people, which also adds to the degree of complication" of
the change, said Marino Murillo, the government official in charge of
the slow, limited reforms.
Many Cubans fret that they might lose saving in pesos if the traditional
peso is eliminated in favor of the CUC, a second local currency equal to
the dollar (25 pesos) and accepted where only hard currency is accepted.
The government does not want to trigger a run on banks.
Castro, however, stressed to the assembly that "it is appropriate to
underscore that (Cuban) bank deposits will be guaranteed" in hard
currencies and local ones.
And he blamed US sanctions for Cuba's economic hardship.
Yet however keen for growth, Cuba -- the only communist-run one-party
state in the Americas -- has refused to adopt market economics as have
allies China or Vietnam. It fears such reforms would cause social strife.
The government has pared state payrolls, and allowed more Cubans to be
self-employed.
But it produces little outside the mining sector. One of its key exports
are government health workers on state contracts.
Havana depends massively on ally Venezuela for cut-rate oil and other
cooperation.
In a country with ample farmland for its population of 11 million, Cuba
still imports most of its food.
Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez told a farm committee that the
industry is experiencing "problems in all spheres" on the island, which
will spend some $2 billion in precious hard currency on imported food.
Cuba's economy in 2013 grew by 2.7 percent, below the official target of
3.6 percent.
Havana last month lowered its growth forecast from 2.2 percent to 1.4
percent, blaming "adverse" economic conditions, including fewer than
expected funds sent to its citizens from their relatives overseas.
Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo said at a recent Council of Ministers
meeting that growth in Cuba was just 0.6 percent for the first half of
the year.
While the government has legalized such activities as buying and selling
cars and homes, few Cubans have the resources to make big purchases.
Source: Cuba examines weak economy, seeks 'socialist development' -
Yahoo News -
http://news.yahoo.com/cubas-lawmakers-examine-faltering-economy-172805914.html
Havana (AFP) - Cuba's National Assembly opened its biannual session,
with the communist island's faltering economy topping the agenda, but no
plans unveiled for change.
President Raul Castro, 83, addressed the assembly, which discussed why
one of the world's last command economies has not grown faster, after
six years of very tentative reforms.
"Our growth rate is not something we are pleased with, but it does not
discourage us in the least," the president said.
Castro urged Cuban workers, who earn the equivalent of $20 a month, to
work "hard and optimistically, to turn this around and guarantee growth
rates that will make socialist development possible."
But he failed to unveil new strategies at the day-long meeting of 612
legislators and other senior officials.
The government has said it plans to end an unpopular dual currency
system, but has not given a timeframe for doing so.
- Two currencies or one? -
The dual currency system is blamed for aggravating social inequality,
which also worries the government.
"We don't want shock methods to be imposed, or for the (change) to be
traumatic for people, which also adds to the degree of complication" of
the change, said Marino Murillo, the government official in charge of
the slow, limited reforms.
Many Cubans fret that they might lose saving in pesos if the traditional
peso is eliminated in favor of the CUC, a second local currency equal to
the dollar (25 pesos) and accepted where only hard currency is accepted.
The government does not want to trigger a run on banks.
Castro, however, stressed to the assembly that "it is appropriate to
underscore that (Cuban) bank deposits will be guaranteed" in hard
currencies and local ones.
And he blamed US sanctions for Cuba's economic hardship.
Yet however keen for growth, Cuba -- the only communist-run one-party
state in the Americas -- has refused to adopt market economics as have
allies China or Vietnam. It fears such reforms would cause social strife.
The government has pared state payrolls, and allowed more Cubans to be
self-employed.
But it produces little outside the mining sector. One of its key exports
are government health workers on state contracts.
Havana depends massively on ally Venezuela for cut-rate oil and other
cooperation.
In a country with ample farmland for its population of 11 million, Cuba
still imports most of its food.
Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez told a farm committee that the
industry is experiencing "problems in all spheres" on the island, which
will spend some $2 billion in precious hard currency on imported food.
Cuba's economy in 2013 grew by 2.7 percent, below the official target of
3.6 percent.
Havana last month lowered its growth forecast from 2.2 percent to 1.4
percent, blaming "adverse" economic conditions, including fewer than
expected funds sent to its citizens from their relatives overseas.
Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo said at a recent Council of Ministers
meeting that growth in Cuba was just 0.6 percent for the first half of
the year.
While the government has legalized such activities as buying and selling
cars and homes, few Cubans have the resources to make big purchases.
Source: Cuba examines weak economy, seeks 'socialist development' -
Yahoo News -
http://news.yahoo.com/cubas-lawmakers-examine-faltering-economy-172805914.html
Dallas Entrepreneurs’ Organization will visit Cuba in the fall
Dallas Entrepreneurs' Organization will visit Cuba in the fall
By HANAH CHO Staff Writer hcho@dallasnews.com
Published: 05 July 2014 09:12 PM
When you think of Cuba, you don't exactly think of the island nation as
a hub of private enterprises.
But that's what makes the country so intriguing to members of the Dallas
chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization who will have a rare opportunity
to visit Cuba this fall and learn from entrepreneurs doing business there.
Entrepreneurship still flourishes in Cuba even though private business
owners face more barriers than Americans do, says Julie Nelson, owner of
Frisco-based event planning company Meeting Muse, which is organizing
the trip.
In fact, more than 1 million people, or 20 percent, of Cuba's workforce
can be classified as wholly private sector, according to a study by
senior fellow Richard Feinberg of the Brookings Institution.
"Entrepreneurs are always forced to think outside the box," Nelson said.
"These people are put in a very small frame of what they can and cannot do."
Nelson and EO member Jessica Nunez returned Wednesday from Cuba, where
they finalized the agenda for the October trip with other EO members.
They expect about 30 EO members and their spouses to participate in the
trip.
Nunez, CEO of Nunez PR Group in Dallas, said the global organization
promotes collaboration and sharing experiences with other entrepreneurs.
"We look to create unique experiences," Nunez said. "What better way to
learn that than to get out of the normal and get into what someone else
is doing. Cuba is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore
entrepreneurship in a different way and learn about the challenges in a
country controlled by government. As Americans, we have so much
curiosity because we can't go."
The trip agenda includes having keynote speakers such as a Cuban
economist and visiting paladares, a term used in Cuba to describe
restaurants run mostly by families.
EO members will be dining at those businesses as well as learning more
about how paladares operate.
The trip to Cuba is made possible because it's a licensed education
exchange trip known as a people-to-people tour. People-to-people trips
can only be offered by travel companies that have gotten a license
through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Nelson's Meeting Muse is working with a licensed travel company to
facilitate EO's trip.
The Dallas group will be accompanied by a Cuban guide and an interpreter.
Follow Hanah Cho on
Twitter @hanahcho.
Source: Dallas Entrepreneurs' Organization will visit Cuba in the fall |
Dallas Morning News -
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/small-business/20140705-dallas-entrepreneurs-organization-will-visit-cuba-in-the-fall.ece
By HANAH CHO Staff Writer hcho@dallasnews.com
Published: 05 July 2014 09:12 PM
When you think of Cuba, you don't exactly think of the island nation as
a hub of private enterprises.
But that's what makes the country so intriguing to members of the Dallas
chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization who will have a rare opportunity
to visit Cuba this fall and learn from entrepreneurs doing business there.
Entrepreneurship still flourishes in Cuba even though private business
owners face more barriers than Americans do, says Julie Nelson, owner of
Frisco-based event planning company Meeting Muse, which is organizing
the trip.
In fact, more than 1 million people, or 20 percent, of Cuba's workforce
can be classified as wholly private sector, according to a study by
senior fellow Richard Feinberg of the Brookings Institution.
"Entrepreneurs are always forced to think outside the box," Nelson said.
"These people are put in a very small frame of what they can and cannot do."
Nelson and EO member Jessica Nunez returned Wednesday from Cuba, where
they finalized the agenda for the October trip with other EO members.
They expect about 30 EO members and their spouses to participate in the
trip.
Nunez, CEO of Nunez PR Group in Dallas, said the global organization
promotes collaboration and sharing experiences with other entrepreneurs.
"We look to create unique experiences," Nunez said. "What better way to
learn that than to get out of the normal and get into what someone else
is doing. Cuba is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore
entrepreneurship in a different way and learn about the challenges in a
country controlled by government. As Americans, we have so much
curiosity because we can't go."
The trip agenda includes having keynote speakers such as a Cuban
economist and visiting paladares, a term used in Cuba to describe
restaurants run mostly by families.
EO members will be dining at those businesses as well as learning more
about how paladares operate.
The trip to Cuba is made possible because it's a licensed education
exchange trip known as a people-to-people tour. People-to-people trips
can only be offered by travel companies that have gotten a license
through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Nelson's Meeting Muse is working with a licensed travel company to
facilitate EO's trip.
The Dallas group will be accompanied by a Cuban guide and an interpreter.
Follow Hanah Cho on
Twitter @hanahcho.
Source: Dallas Entrepreneurs' Organization will visit Cuba in the fall |
Dallas Morning News -
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/small-business/20140705-dallas-entrepreneurs-organization-will-visit-cuba-in-the-fall.ece
Cuba's lawmakers examine weak economy
Cuba's lawmakers examine weak economy
Last Updated: Sunday, July 06, 2014, 04:34
Havana: Cuba's National Assembly opened its biannual session, with the
communist island's faltering economy topping the agenda.
President Raul Castro, 83, was due to address the assembly yesterday,
which plans to examine why one of the world's last command economies has
not experienced greater growth, after six years of very tentative reforms.
The day-long meeting of 612 legislators and other senior officials got
under way at 1300 GMT.
The government has said it plans to end an unpopular dual currency
system, but has not given a time frame for doing so. And it did not
immediately unveil one Saturday.
In a country where workers earn an average USD 20 a month, the dual
currency system is blamed for aggravating social inequality, which also
worries the government.
"We don't want shock methods to be imposed, or for the (change) to be
traumatic for people, which also adds to the degree of complication" of
the change, said Marino Murillo, the government official in charge of
the slow, limited reforms.
Still, Cuba -- the only communist-run one-party state in the Americas --
has refused to adopt market economics as have allies China or Vietnam.
It fears such reforms would cause social strife.
The government has pared state payrolls, and allowed more Cubans to be
self-employed.
But it produces little outside the mining sector. One of its key exports
are government health workers on state contracts.
Havana depends on ally Venezuela for cut-rate oil, and in a country with
ample farmland for its population of 11 million, Cuba still imports most
of its food.
Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez told a farm committee that the
industry is experiencing "problems in all spheres" on the island, which
will spend some USD 2 billion in precious hard currency on imported food.
Cuba's economy in 2013 grew by 2.7 per cent, below the official target
of 3.6 per cent.
Havana last month lowered its growth forecast from 2.2 per cent to 1.4
per cent, blaming "adverse" economic conditions, including fewer than
expected funds sent to its citizens from their relatives overseas.
AFP
Source: Cuba`s lawmakers examine weak economy -
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/cuba-s-lawmakers-examine-weak-economy_945383.html
Last Updated: Sunday, July 06, 2014, 04:34
Havana: Cuba's National Assembly opened its biannual session, with the
communist island's faltering economy topping the agenda.
President Raul Castro, 83, was due to address the assembly yesterday,
which plans to examine why one of the world's last command economies has
not experienced greater growth, after six years of very tentative reforms.
The day-long meeting of 612 legislators and other senior officials got
under way at 1300 GMT.
The government has said it plans to end an unpopular dual currency
system, but has not given a time frame for doing so. And it did not
immediately unveil one Saturday.
In a country where workers earn an average USD 20 a month, the dual
currency system is blamed for aggravating social inequality, which also
worries the government.
"We don't want shock methods to be imposed, or for the (change) to be
traumatic for people, which also adds to the degree of complication" of
the change, said Marino Murillo, the government official in charge of
the slow, limited reforms.
Still, Cuba -- the only communist-run one-party state in the Americas --
has refused to adopt market economics as have allies China or Vietnam.
It fears such reforms would cause social strife.
The government has pared state payrolls, and allowed more Cubans to be
self-employed.
But it produces little outside the mining sector. One of its key exports
are government health workers on state contracts.
Havana depends on ally Venezuela for cut-rate oil, and in a country with
ample farmland for its population of 11 million, Cuba still imports most
of its food.
Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez told a farm committee that the
industry is experiencing "problems in all spheres" on the island, which
will spend some USD 2 billion in precious hard currency on imported food.
Cuba's economy in 2013 grew by 2.7 per cent, below the official target
of 3.6 per cent.
Havana last month lowered its growth forecast from 2.2 per cent to 1.4
per cent, blaming "adverse" economic conditions, including fewer than
expected funds sent to its citizens from their relatives overseas.
AFP
Source: Cuba`s lawmakers examine weak economy -
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/cuba-s-lawmakers-examine-weak-economy_945383.html
Economy stalled, Cuba resists speedier path to free enterprise
Economy stalled, Cuba resists speedier path to free enterprise
BY DANIEL TROTTA
HAVANA Sun Jul 6, 2014 8:51am BST
(Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro told parliament on Saturday the
communist country's market-oriented reforms must remain gradual, a clear
signal he would resist calls to accelerate change in order to address an
underperforming economy.
He also praised Cubans for "defeating imperialism" by resisting U.S.
aggression ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Since taking over for his ailing older brother Fidel in 2008, Raul
Castro, 83, has enacted widespread reforms such as turning state
enterprises into private cooperatives, freeing Cubans to work in small
private businesses, and reducing the role of the state in everyday life.
The reforms have raised expectations for improvements in the economy
while also generating debate within the ruling Communist Party about how
much more free enterprise should be allowed.
Castro said the pace of reforms would remain deliberate.
"The gradual nature of a series of activities that we are approving is
indispensable," Castro told 548 members of the National Assembly in its
one-day, semiannual meeting.
The reforms have created a new class of wealthy Cubans, but a large
majority still lives on $20 a month and overall Cuban productivity has
stagnated. Low salaries remain a chronic complaint, even with free
education, healthcare and a ration card good for a small amount of basic
foodstuffs.
Castro blamed the 52-year-old U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for much of
the country's economic difficulty, saying the Cuban people deserved a
medal for resisting U.S. hostility.
"We have had success. We have had success in which our people have
played a fundamental role. ... They have resisted and they are defeating
imperialism," Castro said.
The man charged with implementing the reforms, Marino Murillo, told the
assembly more salary increases would be tied to productivity and that
more state enterprises would be turned into private cooperatives in
order to improve efficiency.
For example in the food products and services sector, the government had
authorized 498 cooperatives, of which 249 were functioning, said
Murillo, a member of the elite Poltiburo.
Cuba has also now authorized 467,000 people to work in the private
sector, making them eligible to work in nearly 13,000 businesses, mostly
restaurants, Murillo said.
The assembly meets more to hear updates on the economy and government
activities rather than to approve laws. Special sessions are sometimes
called to pass major legislation, as with a foreign investment law
approved in March.
The Cuban economy grew just 0.6 percent in the first half, forcing the
government to revise down its full-year projection to 1.4 percent from a
target of 2.2 percent established in December, Economy Minister Adel
Yzquierdo told the assembly.
Yzquierdo attributed the downward revision, which had been previously
reported, to industries such as tourism, sugar and nickel mining coming
up short of projections.
Other sectors outperformed expectations, Yzquierdo said. Transportation,
warehousing and communications grew 6.2 percent while agriculture,
livestock and fishing grew 5.6 percent. Sugar was up 5.3 percent, but
well short of the target of 17.5 percent.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Source: Economy stalled, Cuba resists speedier path to free enterprise |
Reuters -
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/06/uk-cuba-parliament-idUKKBN0FB01P20140706
BY DANIEL TROTTA
HAVANA Sun Jul 6, 2014 8:51am BST
(Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro told parliament on Saturday the
communist country's market-oriented reforms must remain gradual, a clear
signal he would resist calls to accelerate change in order to address an
underperforming economy.
He also praised Cubans for "defeating imperialism" by resisting U.S.
aggression ever since the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Since taking over for his ailing older brother Fidel in 2008, Raul
Castro, 83, has enacted widespread reforms such as turning state
enterprises into private cooperatives, freeing Cubans to work in small
private businesses, and reducing the role of the state in everyday life.
The reforms have raised expectations for improvements in the economy
while also generating debate within the ruling Communist Party about how
much more free enterprise should be allowed.
Castro said the pace of reforms would remain deliberate.
"The gradual nature of a series of activities that we are approving is
indispensable," Castro told 548 members of the National Assembly in its
one-day, semiannual meeting.
The reforms have created a new class of wealthy Cubans, but a large
majority still lives on $20 a month and overall Cuban productivity has
stagnated. Low salaries remain a chronic complaint, even with free
education, healthcare and a ration card good for a small amount of basic
foodstuffs.
Castro blamed the 52-year-old U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for much of
the country's economic difficulty, saying the Cuban people deserved a
medal for resisting U.S. hostility.
"We have had success. We have had success in which our people have
played a fundamental role. ... They have resisted and they are defeating
imperialism," Castro said.
The man charged with implementing the reforms, Marino Murillo, told the
assembly more salary increases would be tied to productivity and that
more state enterprises would be turned into private cooperatives in
order to improve efficiency.
For example in the food products and services sector, the government had
authorized 498 cooperatives, of which 249 were functioning, said
Murillo, a member of the elite Poltiburo.
Cuba has also now authorized 467,000 people to work in the private
sector, making them eligible to work in nearly 13,000 businesses, mostly
restaurants, Murillo said.
The assembly meets more to hear updates on the economy and government
activities rather than to approve laws. Special sessions are sometimes
called to pass major legislation, as with a foreign investment law
approved in March.
The Cuban economy grew just 0.6 percent in the first half, forcing the
government to revise down its full-year projection to 1.4 percent from a
target of 2.2 percent established in December, Economy Minister Adel
Yzquierdo told the assembly.
Yzquierdo attributed the downward revision, which had been previously
reported, to industries such as tourism, sugar and nickel mining coming
up short of projections.
Other sectors outperformed expectations, Yzquierdo said. Transportation,
warehousing and communications grew 6.2 percent while agriculture,
livestock and fishing grew 5.6 percent. Sugar was up 5.3 percent, but
well short of the target of 17.5 percent.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Source: Economy stalled, Cuba resists speedier path to free enterprise |
Reuters -
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/07/06/uk-cuba-parliament-idUKKBN0FB01P20140706
Raul Castro - Economic changes must be gradual
Posted on Saturday, 07.05.14
Raul Castro: Economic changes must be gradual
BY PETER ORSI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA -- President Raul Castro reiterated Saturday that Cuba's program
of reforms will remain cautious and gradual, despite recent
disappointing GDP numbers that show the country's already-struggling
economy slowing.
Days after Cuba downgraded its 2014 economic growth forecast by nearly a
percentage point, Castro told parliament during the first of its
twice-annual regular sessions that the reforms "have great complexity
but are advancing" at the necessary pace.
"This process, to be successful, must be conducted with the appropriate
gradualness and be accompanied by the permanent control of different
party and government structures at all levels," Castro said in a
25-minute speech.
"Gradualness is not a whim, much less a desire to delay the changes that
we must make," he added. "On the contrary, it is about a need to ensure
order and avoid gaps that would lead us directly to mistakes that
distort the proposed objectives."
Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the one-day session at a
convention center in western Havana. His comments were broadcast later
on state TV.
Vice President Marino Murillo, Castro's reforms czar, said a nascent
project to eliminate Cuba's unique dual currency system is continuing
and warned islanders that monetary unification itself will not increase
their purchasing power.
"For that to happen, we must produce more," Murillo said.
Cuba's economy minister announced at the end of June that officials were
lowering their GDP growth expectations to 1.4 percent for the year, down
from a previous forecast of 2.2 percent for 2014 and from 2.7 growth
recorded last year.
Castro and other officials say the reforms do not amount to an embrace
of capitalism, but are rather an "update" of Cuba's socialist model to
survive in the 21st century global economy.
Cuba has decentralized state-owned enterprises, legalized home and used
car sales and let hundreds of thousands of people open or work for small
businesses in the private sector.
Parliament also considered a report Saturday from the comptroller's
office on its attempts to root out corruption. No specifics were given
on the nightly newscast.
Official media reported that Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez said
Cuba's food imports have reached $2 billion a year, but the government
believes the island could produce 60 percent of that.
Cuba's parliament typically meets twice a year, once in the summer and
again in December. Lawmakers also called an extraordinary session this
spring to approve a law that seeks to attract badly needed foreign
investment.
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter-Orsi
Source: HAVANA: Raul Castro: Economic changes must be gradual - Latest
News - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/05/4219755/cuba-mulls-economy-graft-in-parliament.html
Raul Castro: Economic changes must be gradual
BY PETER ORSI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA -- President Raul Castro reiterated Saturday that Cuba's program
of reforms will remain cautious and gradual, despite recent
disappointing GDP numbers that show the country's already-struggling
economy slowing.
Days after Cuba downgraded its 2014 economic growth forecast by nearly a
percentage point, Castro told parliament during the first of its
twice-annual regular sessions that the reforms "have great complexity
but are advancing" at the necessary pace.
"This process, to be successful, must be conducted with the appropriate
gradualness and be accompanied by the permanent control of different
party and government structures at all levels," Castro said in a
25-minute speech.
"Gradualness is not a whim, much less a desire to delay the changes that
we must make," he added. "On the contrary, it is about a need to ensure
order and avoid gaps that would lead us directly to mistakes that
distort the proposed objectives."
Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the one-day session at a
convention center in western Havana. His comments were broadcast later
on state TV.
Vice President Marino Murillo, Castro's reforms czar, said a nascent
project to eliminate Cuba's unique dual currency system is continuing
and warned islanders that monetary unification itself will not increase
their purchasing power.
"For that to happen, we must produce more," Murillo said.
Cuba's economy minister announced at the end of June that officials were
lowering their GDP growth expectations to 1.4 percent for the year, down
from a previous forecast of 2.2 percent for 2014 and from 2.7 growth
recorded last year.
Castro and other officials say the reforms do not amount to an embrace
of capitalism, but are rather an "update" of Cuba's socialist model to
survive in the 21st century global economy.
Cuba has decentralized state-owned enterprises, legalized home and used
car sales and let hundreds of thousands of people open or work for small
businesses in the private sector.
Parliament also considered a report Saturday from the comptroller's
office on its attempts to root out corruption. No specifics were given
on the nightly newscast.
Official media reported that Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez said
Cuba's food imports have reached $2 billion a year, but the government
believes the island could produce 60 percent of that.
Cuba's parliament typically meets twice a year, once in the summer and
again in December. Lawmakers also called an extraordinary session this
spring to approve a law that seeks to attract badly needed foreign
investment.
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter-Orsi
Source: HAVANA: Raul Castro: Economic changes must be gradual - Latest
News - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/05/4219755/cuba-mulls-economy-graft-in-parliament.html
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Cuba mulls economy, graft in parliament session
Cuba mulls economy, graft in parliament session
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban parliamentarians are meeting in one of their
twice-annual sessions and the state of the economy is foremost on the
agenda.
The comptroller's office is also expected to deliver a report on its
attempts to root out corruption.
Members of parliament met earlier this week in committee to discuss
matters including the development of biotechnology and agricultural
production.
Official media reported that Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez said
Cuba's food imports have reached $2 billion a year, but the country
believes it could produce 60 percent of that domestically.
Foreign journalists were not allowed access to Saturday's session.
Source: Cuba mulls economy, graft in parliament session - Yahoo News -
http://news.yahoo.com/cuba-mulls-economy-graft-parliament-session-150935232.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCtGbhTxX4AR4LQtDMD
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban parliamentarians are meeting in one of their
twice-annual sessions and the state of the economy is foremost on the
agenda.
The comptroller's office is also expected to deliver a report on its
attempts to root out corruption.
Members of parliament met earlier this week in committee to discuss
matters including the development of biotechnology and agricultural
production.
Official media reported that Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez said
Cuba's food imports have reached $2 billion a year, but the country
believes it could produce 60 percent of that domestically.
Foreign journalists were not allowed access to Saturday's session.
Source: Cuba mulls economy, graft in parliament session - Yahoo News -
http://news.yahoo.com/cuba-mulls-economy-graft-parliament-session-150935232.html;_ylt=AwrBJSCtGbhTxX4AR4LQtDMD
Putin to visit Cuba, Argentina, Brazil - Kremlin
Putin to visit Cuba, Argentina, Brazil: Kremlin
Friday, 04 July 2014 22:29 Posted by Muhammad Iqbal
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin will next week begin a major Latin
America tour that will take him to Cuba, Argentina and Brazil as he
seeks to counter Russia's growing international isolation over the
Ukraine crisis.
Putin will begin his six-day tour with the July 11 visit to Cuba, where
he will meet President Raul Castro and the 87-year-old father of the
Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, the Kremlin said on Friday.
The visit to the Communist-run island will come as tensions remain high
between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis. Havana has sided
with its old ally Russia in the conflict.
Putin and his Cuban hosts are expected to discuss cooperation in energy,
transport, aviation, space and health, the Kremlin said.
Ahead of the visit, Russian parliament voted on Friday to write off 90
percent of Cuba's Soviet-era debt of more than $35 billion (26 billion
euros) and said the rest would be earmarked for investment projects in Cuba.
From Cuba, Putin will travel to Argentina for trade and energy talks
with President Cristina Kirchner, before moving on to a summit of the
BRICS group of developing countries in Brazil.
On the sidelines of the summit, Putin is expected to meet leaders of
China, India and South Africa, the Kremlin said.
The highlight of the trip's final leg will be a handover ceremony at the
end of the World Cup finals, where Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
will pass on responsibility for the tournament to Putin.
Russia will host the football extravaganza in 2018 and has pledged to
spend billions of dollars on stadiums and infrastructure for the tournament.
The Kremlin strongman will also meet with Brazilian business people as
he seeks investment for his country's embattled economy.
Source: Putin to visit Cuba, Argentina, Brazil: Kremlin -
http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/182386-putin-to-visit-cuba-argentina-brazil-kremlin.html
Friday, 04 July 2014 22:29 Posted by Muhammad Iqbal
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin will next week begin a major Latin
America tour that will take him to Cuba, Argentina and Brazil as he
seeks to counter Russia's growing international isolation over the
Ukraine crisis.
Putin will begin his six-day tour with the July 11 visit to Cuba, where
he will meet President Raul Castro and the 87-year-old father of the
Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, the Kremlin said on Friday.
The visit to the Communist-run island will come as tensions remain high
between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis. Havana has sided
with its old ally Russia in the conflict.
Putin and his Cuban hosts are expected to discuss cooperation in energy,
transport, aviation, space and health, the Kremlin said.
Ahead of the visit, Russian parliament voted on Friday to write off 90
percent of Cuba's Soviet-era debt of more than $35 billion (26 billion
euros) and said the rest would be earmarked for investment projects in Cuba.
From Cuba, Putin will travel to Argentina for trade and energy talks
with President Cristina Kirchner, before moving on to a summit of the
BRICS group of developing countries in Brazil.
On the sidelines of the summit, Putin is expected to meet leaders of
China, India and South Africa, the Kremlin said.
The highlight of the trip's final leg will be a handover ceremony at the
end of the World Cup finals, where Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
will pass on responsibility for the tournament to Putin.
Russia will host the football extravaganza in 2018 and has pledged to
spend billions of dollars on stadiums and infrastructure for the tournament.
The Kremlin strongman will also meet with Brazilian business people as
he seeks investment for his country's embattled economy.
Source: Putin to visit Cuba, Argentina, Brazil: Kremlin -
http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/182386-putin-to-visit-cuba-argentina-brazil-kremlin.html
BoI bans trade with Cuba after US ruling
BoI bans trade with Cuba after US ruling
Colm Kelpie
PUBLISHED 03/07/2014|00:00SHARE
US regulations are forcing Bank of Ireland to restrict services to
Irish customers doing business with Cuba.
The Irish Independent has seen correspondence from the lender written to
long-standing customers with legitimate business interests in Cuba
telling them it can no longer process international transactions to or
from the Caribbean island.
The ban comes as French bank BNP Paribas was hit with a $9bn (€6.5bn)
fine by the US amid allegations it violated US sanctions involving Cuba,
Iran and Sudan.
Bank of Ireland has a tie-up with a leading bank in the US which handles
all of Bank of Ireland's transactions under new European payment rules
known as the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
The US lender is bound by US regulations which ban payments being made
to Cuba, Iran and Sudan, Bank of Ireland said.
Bank of Ireland confirmed that it had written to affected customers who
are doing business with Cuba explaining that it could not process
payments on their behalf.
"Our correspondent bank for all SEPA transaction is a leading US bank
who must comply with its own regulatory requirements and obligations and
to avoid a possible exposure to regulatory sanctions and penalties,"
Bank of Ireland said in a statement.
"As a result of the decision by our correspondent bank, we are not in a
position to process such transactions.
"This affects all international payments to or from Cuba and also any
related SEPA payments."
The US government has sanctions in place against a select number of
countries including Cuba, Iran and Sudan. The EU has also had sanctions
in place against Iran and Sudan but not Cuba.
AIB declined to comment when asked by the Irish Independent if it was
facing similar problems concerning Cuba.
The Department of Finance said the decision was a commercial one for
Bank of Ireland and declined to comment further.
Bank of Ireland would not disclose the name its correspondent bank, but
said it did not have one handling euro-area payments before the
introduction of SEPA earlier this year.
It is not clear why a correspondent bank is now required for
transactions under SEPA and a Bank of Ireland spokeswoman declined to
comment further when asked if it had any plans to change this arrangement.
It also declined to say how many of its customers were affected.
French bank BNP Paribas this week pleaded guilty to two criminal charges
and agreed to pay almost $9bn to resolve accusations it violated US
sanctions against Sudan,
Cuba and Iran. In an unprecedented move, regulators banned BNP for a
year from conducting certain US dollar transactions, a critical part of
the bank's global business, in addition to the record-breaking fine.
In addition, the bank will need to prohibit all US dollar clearing as a
correspondent bank for unaffiliated third-party banks in New York and
London for two years.
The US has brought at least 22 cases against financial firms since 2009
for doing business or handling funds linked to sanctioned countries.
Penalties totalling $4.9bn have been levied against the 21 other banks
since US President Barack Obama took office.
Most of those cases targeted overseas banks, with less than $90m in
fines imposed on US firms.
Indo Business
Source: BoI bans trade with Cuba after US ruling - Independent.ie -
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/boi-bans-trade-with-cuba-after-us-ruling-30402541.html
Colm Kelpie
PUBLISHED 03/07/2014|00:00SHARE
US regulations are forcing Bank of Ireland to restrict services to
Irish customers doing business with Cuba.
The Irish Independent has seen correspondence from the lender written to
long-standing customers with legitimate business interests in Cuba
telling them it can no longer process international transactions to or
from the Caribbean island.
The ban comes as French bank BNP Paribas was hit with a $9bn (€6.5bn)
fine by the US amid allegations it violated US sanctions involving Cuba,
Iran and Sudan.
Bank of Ireland has a tie-up with a leading bank in the US which handles
all of Bank of Ireland's transactions under new European payment rules
known as the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)
The US lender is bound by US regulations which ban payments being made
to Cuba, Iran and Sudan, Bank of Ireland said.
Bank of Ireland confirmed that it had written to affected customers who
are doing business with Cuba explaining that it could not process
payments on their behalf.
"Our correspondent bank for all SEPA transaction is a leading US bank
who must comply with its own regulatory requirements and obligations and
to avoid a possible exposure to regulatory sanctions and penalties,"
Bank of Ireland said in a statement.
"As a result of the decision by our correspondent bank, we are not in a
position to process such transactions.
"This affects all international payments to or from Cuba and also any
related SEPA payments."
The US government has sanctions in place against a select number of
countries including Cuba, Iran and Sudan. The EU has also had sanctions
in place against Iran and Sudan but not Cuba.
AIB declined to comment when asked by the Irish Independent if it was
facing similar problems concerning Cuba.
The Department of Finance said the decision was a commercial one for
Bank of Ireland and declined to comment further.
Bank of Ireland would not disclose the name its correspondent bank, but
said it did not have one handling euro-area payments before the
introduction of SEPA earlier this year.
It is not clear why a correspondent bank is now required for
transactions under SEPA and a Bank of Ireland spokeswoman declined to
comment further when asked if it had any plans to change this arrangement.
It also declined to say how many of its customers were affected.
French bank BNP Paribas this week pleaded guilty to two criminal charges
and agreed to pay almost $9bn to resolve accusations it violated US
sanctions against Sudan,
Cuba and Iran. In an unprecedented move, regulators banned BNP for a
year from conducting certain US dollar transactions, a critical part of
the bank's global business, in addition to the record-breaking fine.
In addition, the bank will need to prohibit all US dollar clearing as a
correspondent bank for unaffiliated third-party banks in New York and
London for two years.
The US has brought at least 22 cases against financial firms since 2009
for doing business or handling funds linked to sanctioned countries.
Penalties totalling $4.9bn have been levied against the 21 other banks
since US President Barack Obama took office.
Most of those cases targeted overseas banks, with less than $90m in
fines imposed on US firms.
Indo Business
Source: BoI bans trade with Cuba after US ruling - Independent.ie -
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/boi-bans-trade-with-cuba-after-us-ruling-30402541.html
Russia Cuts Cuba’s Debt to US $3.5 Billion
Russia Cuts Cuba's Debt to US $3.5 Billion
July 4, 2014
Putin Arrives in Havana on July 11th
HAVANA TIMES — The Russian Parliament approved today the cancellation of
90% of Cuba's 35 billion dollar debt (26,000 million euros) from Soviet
times, the same day the Kremlin announced a visit by President Vladimir
Putin to the island on July 11.
Nonetheless, Cuba must repay the remaining US $3.5 billion over ten
years, reported dpa news.
The Soviet Union was the main trading partner and strategic ally of
Fidel Castro during the time of the Cold War. The collapse of the
socialist bloc put the island on the brink of economic collapse in the
early 1990s.
When in Havana, Putin plans to meet with both President Raul Castro, 83
and former leader Fidel Castro, 87.
The Russian leader will then continue on to Buenos Aires, where he will
meet with the Argentine President Cristina Fernández.
Putin will also attend a summit in Brazil of the BRICS emerging
economies group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) on 15
and 16 July in Fortaleza and Brasilia.
Source: Russia Cuts Cuba's Debt to US $3.5 Billion - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104666
July 4, 2014
Putin Arrives in Havana on July 11th
HAVANA TIMES — The Russian Parliament approved today the cancellation of
90% of Cuba's 35 billion dollar debt (26,000 million euros) from Soviet
times, the same day the Kremlin announced a visit by President Vladimir
Putin to the island on July 11.
Nonetheless, Cuba must repay the remaining US $3.5 billion over ten
years, reported dpa news.
The Soviet Union was the main trading partner and strategic ally of
Fidel Castro during the time of the Cold War. The collapse of the
socialist bloc put the island on the brink of economic collapse in the
early 1990s.
When in Havana, Putin plans to meet with both President Raul Castro, 83
and former leader Fidel Castro, 87.
The Russian leader will then continue on to Buenos Aires, where he will
meet with the Argentine President Cristina Fernández.
Putin will also attend a summit in Brazil of the BRICS emerging
economies group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) on 15
and 16 July in Fortaleza and Brasilia.
Source: Russia Cuts Cuba's Debt to US $3.5 Billion - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=104666
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